Concrete Jungle || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Chapter eight

Noah jolted awake, his heart racing chaotically in his chest, as if he had just emerged from a nightmare. His head throbbed, a dull buzzing he couldn’t shake off. He didn’t understand where he was or who he was; for a moment, reality was just a confused mélange of sounds and shadows. Then he felt Elise’s body against his. She was warm, alive. Her heart beat slowly but steadily, and her breath, although labored, was still there, present. A wave of relief washed over him for a moment, but then, like a tide, fear came crashing back down upon him.

The pain in his hands was sharp. The blood was crusted over, the wounds still fresh, but there was nothing he could do to treat them. He merely clenched his fists, biting his lip to stifle a scream.

Elise stirred slightly, sighing as if each breath was a battle. Noah closed his eyes and, for a moment, stayed there, holding her, feeling her body tremble. He feared that if he let go of her, he would lose her forever. But that contact no longer reassured him. It was beginning to feel suffocating. Every movement, every little whisper of Elise’s body made him feel as though he was being watched, scrutinized. Like an insect trapped under a magnifying glass.

The thought crept in slowly, like a serpent slithering in the shadows.

They are watching us.

Noah couldn’t shake it off. Every gesture they made, every word exchanged, every breath… someone was watching.

Someone was analyzing their lives as if they were guinea pigs in an endless experiment. But why? What was their purpose?

He glanced around the cell, searching for something that would confirm his suspicions. But there was nothing. No cracks, no visible cameras. Just the cold, damp walls. Through the small hatch where their captors would pass things to them, a sharp, grating sound was heard, a sign that someone was using it. Noah reached into the narrow opening and found some bandages to tend to his wounded hands.

He noticed that every time they gave him something to treat himself, a crucial item was always missing: the disinfectant. As if it were too dangerous to provide him with, something that might lead him to consider ending it all. Drinking the disinfectant and finally leaving behind this vile world.

He wrapped the bandages around his scraped hands. The pain was still indescribable, but at least with the wounds covered, they wouldn’t get further infected.

He found himself thinking that whoever was behind all this cared for them in some way.

Cared for him.

And yet he felt an invisible weight upon him, a constant scrutiny. They were studying him; he could feel it.

He tried to push that thought away, but the sensory deprivation and the drugs still coursing through his veins rendered him unstable. The walls seemed to close in, tightening around him. He had to concentrate; he had to do something to keep from going insane. And the only way was to keep talking, to keep Elise alert, to distract her from the agony they were enduring. And perhaps, at the same time, to distract himself.

“Have I ever told you about the time I almost destroyed my first guitar?” Noah said, his voice cracking but trying to sound as normal as possible. Elise didn’t respond, but it seemed to him that her eyes were a bit more open, albeit blurred by pain and fatigue.

“It was a gift from my grandfather,” he continued, a bitter smile on his lips. “I was sixteen, and I had just started playing with my band. It was the only thing that really mattered to me. I wasn’t good at school, I didn’t get along with anyone, but with music… well, with music, I could express what I couldn’t put into words.”

He paused for a moment, trying to keep track of his thoughts. He needed to keep talking. He had to keep her awake. “One day we were in a garage, rehearsing, and my best friend—well, he was at the time—made me furious over something trivial. I don’t even remember what it was. The fact is, I grabbed the guitar and threw it against the wall. And… I won’t even tell you the sound it made when it broke.”

A nervous laugh escaped his lips, but it quickly turned into a sigh. “My grandfather was furious. He said he would never buy me another one. But then… he taught me how to fix it. And from that moment on, I started treating that thing with more respect. Because, you know, some things you can’t replace; you just have to do your best to keep them together.”

Elise weakly moved her head, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Noah caressed her face, his fingers smeared with blood. He couldn’t lose her too. Not after everything they had been through.

But the thought crept in again.

We are entertaining them.

They are watching us.

They want to see how far we can go before we break.

Noah swallowed, trying to dispel that paranoia. “I’ve had a pretty complicated life,” he continued, his voice lower. “But I managed to build my own normality. I never imagined I’d end up in a place like this… taking care of you.”

He leaned closer to her, studying her carefully. Her eyes were half-closed, but she still seemed present. Elise was still fighting, even though each breath appeared to be a struggle.

Noah lowered his gaze to Elise, her pale face, closed eyes, and cracked lips trembling slightly with every ragged breath that broke the silence. Her skin was cold to the touch, but he never pulled away from her, despite the agony of watching her slowly fade. Every second seemed to steal a fragment of life from her, but he refused to give up. He bent closer, gently brushing her hair, almost afraid that a sudden movement might shatter her completely.

“Elise…” he whispered, his voice fragile. “You can’t leave me here. Not now.”

A faint moan escaped her lips, catching him by surprise. Elise’s eyes fluttered open slightly, her gaze clouded with exhaustion and pain. She couldn’t speak, but for a moment, her eyes met his, and in that silent exchange, Noah felt something unexpected—a connection, a deep bond. She was suffering, fighting to stay tethered to this cruel world, but she wasn’t doing it just for herself. Noah realized that he, too, depended on her, on her presence, on her touch. They were no longer just two strangers thrown together into this nightmare; they had become something more.

“I know you  think you wouldn’t have made it without me” he said, a bitter smile on his lips, as he gently caressed her face. “But the truth is... I wouldn’t have made it without you.”

Those words weighed heavy on his heart. It was a truth he had never wanted to admit, not even to himself. But in that moment, with Elise barely breathing beneath his fingers, he understood that everything keeping him alive was her. His need to care for her, to see her survive just one more day. If it hadn’t been for Elise, Noah would have already crumbled, lost to the madness creeping in like a shadow.

“Maybe we haven’t known each other for long,” he went on, trying to keep his tone light, even though every word burned inside him. “But I’m not letting you go. I’m not letting you die here.”

Elise didn’t respond, but her hand moved weakly, finding his. It was an almost imperceptible gesture, but to him, it was like a sign. Elise was still there, still present. Even though her body was frail, something within her was holding on. And he would hold on with her, until the very last breath.

Noah leaned down, resting his forehead against hers, and closed his eyes. No more words were needed. In that silent contact, he understood that they had become one, bound by suffering, by shattered hope, but above all, by their mutual need. It didn’t matter how desperate the situation was, how close they were to the abyss. As long as Elise was with him, as long as he could feel her beside him, Noah would keep fighting.

“We… we will get out of here,” Noah whispered on her skin, but his words sounded hollow, as if he didn’t even believe them himself. “I promise you.”

But deep down, he knew there was no way out. There was no escape from that bottomless pit. Even if they physically survived, something within them had already shattered. Elise, fragile and on the brink of death, and he, consumed by paranoia and terror. Both of them were prisoners, not only of that cell but of their own minds.

Perhaps, in the end, that was the true purpose of the kidnappers. Not only to keep them physically imprisoned but to destroy them from within, slowly, inexorably.

Noah’s heart hammered against his chest. He felt the weight of the chains, no longer tethered to his wrists but anchored in his mind, felt the sound of his bloodied hands moving across the cold stones. But Elise was still there, beside him, and as much as that awareness kept him tethered to reality, it was also the source of his torment.