The Apparition || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Chapter fifteen

Noah returned to the school the next day, still carrying a tangle of emotions stuck in his chest. The scene between John and Brendon lingered on him like an ink stain on a blank page. He found Brendon sitting on a wooden bench near a pile of materials. It was late, and most of the volunteers had already left. The air was thick with the distant hum of the last tools and the silence that nestled between them. Brendon was nervously twirling a cigarette between his fingers, but he didn’t light it.

Noah approached him with a tumultuous heart but a determined mind. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was seeking: clarity, perhaps? Or a way to learn more about Ruby, the girl he had only known during the most tragic moment of her life.

"Brendon, can we talk?" Noah asked, breaking the silence.

Brendon looked up, deep shadows under his eyes and a weary expression on his face. "Talk about what, rockstar?" he replied, but his tone suggested that he already knew.

"Ruby," Noah said directly. "I need to know more about her. About who she was."

Brendon sighed, dropping the cigarette to the ground without lighting it. He stood up slowly, running his hands through his hair, pacing back and forth. "What do you want to know, Noah? There’s not much to tell."

Noah fixed his gaze on him. "Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?"

Brendon stopped and exhaled in defeat. "Okay. Ruby... Ruby was special but complicated. I don’t think I ever fully understood her, even after everything we went through together. We met as kids; she was always the one dreaming big. Always with one foot in the clouds, you know?"

Noah remained silent, trying to visualize that Ruby in his mind, the one who now seemed so close yet so elusive in his dreams.

"And then," Brendon continued, "there was Michael, my son. Ruby loved him like he was her own. She did more for him than Jen or I ever did, though Jen would never admit it, and that always broke me. We... we had one night together, but it wasn’t what you think. It wasn’t just attraction or sex. I’d gone to pick up Michael from her place, but Jen had decided to take him to her parents' that day. We had fought really badly that day. Jen can make me regret even leaving prison. Ruby, on the other hand, made me want to change, and I was trying... I swear. Then Ruby told me she wanted to leave. One day, after what happened with Jen, she confessed to me that she had applied for a job in Europe with Emma. I was... I don’t know, angry, hurt, but I also thought it was better for her, you know... to get away from me."

Noah froze in disbelief. "Wait, you’re saying Ruby wanted to leave?"

Brendon nodded. "Yes. She applied for a job, was waiting for a response. I don’t know if she ever got it, but... she wasn’t sure. It was like she wanted to escape everything. From what we have done together."

Noah thought that everything now made perfect sense. The puzzle was coming together on its own. He recalled the photo of Ruby and Michael on the refrigerator in Brendon’s house. Jen must have ripped it off, perhaps before attacking Ruby in front of the school. He envisioned Brendon at the table in that rundown kitchen, tears on his face and tape in his hands.

Noah felt paralyzed. Ruby, the girl he only knew as a shadow in his dreams, had lived a life that completely eluded him. A life full of choices he would never fully understand.

Later that evening, Noah found himself staring at his phone. He needed to talk to Emma. She had been Ruby’s best friend, and maybe she could fill the gaps Brendon hadn’t been able to. After calling her, they met at a nearby bar.

Emma’s eyes were marked by a weariness that went beyond mere grief.
"Noah," Emma began as soon as they sat down, "I imagine you talked to Brendon. I’ve gotten to know you, and after John’s outburst, I was sure you wouldn’t let it go."