Concrete Jungle || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Chapter ten

Noah could no longer count the days since he had been imprisoned in that cell. Time seemed to have liquefied, lost in an endless darkness. The cold, oppressive cell had become their entire world, a cage from which there was no escape. Every sound, every breath, every movement felt like it dragged on in an eternal present. The only element that made him perceive the passage of time was Elise's deteriorating condition.

Each day, her body grew frailer, a hollow shell gradually extinguishing before his eyes. Every time he looked at her, guilt crushed him. “It’s my fault,” he would murmur, almost like a mantra in his mind. He couldn’t shake the idea that somehow, he had brought her to this point.

A metallic sound distracted him. The usual food tray had slid into the cell, just like always, a macabre ritual. There was no trace of who had delivered it, only that cold metal stopping a few steps away from him. Noah stared at it, his stomach twisted with hunger but also with fear. He knew what that food contained—poisoned, drugged, like the last time. Yet it was the only thing they could eat, the only hope to keep Elise alive for another day, another hour.

He bent down and picked up the tray, his heart racing. He couldn’t afford not to eat. He couldn’t afford not to give her that food, even if every fiber of his being screamed at him to stop, to not further poison her. But hunger and desperation were stronger.

“Elise,” he whispered as he brought the food to her parched, trembling lips. She was so weak that she couldn’t even hold the bite in her mouth, and he had to help her chew, swallow. Each morsel he fed her felt like a stab to the heart. But he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t let her die.

He took a few bites himself, as his mind grew increasingly foggy, more and more confused. The drug in the food was subtle yet relentless. He felt his body grow heavy, his legs giving way, but he kept cradling her, holding her close.

She is my heart. If it stops beating, I die.

Noah cradled her in his arms, wrapping his body around her to warm her. He stroked her hair, matted with dust and blood, tangled like his thoughts. He pressed close to her, as if the warmth of their bodies was the last bastion against the cold of death that hovered in the cell. He whispered sweet words, hoping they could tether her to life. But Elise no longer responded. Each of her breaths was a feeble hiss, a sigh threatening to extinguish at any moment.

And as her body failed, Noah’s mind fractured.

Someone is watching us.

He was certain now. He felt the invisible eyes fixed on them, as if they were lab rats in an experiment whose purpose he couldn’t fathom.

They’re waiting for one of us to die.

“Elise, hold on…” he whispered, but his voice trembled. “Please… don’t leave me…”

But Elise was now distant, perhaps already beyond the threshold of life. Her body relaxed in Noah’s arms, and he felt a chilling terror creeping up his spine. It can’t be over. He shook her weakly, trying to rouse her consciousness.

“Elise!” he shouted, but received no response.

His heart exploded in a grip of pure pain. Breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t let her go. Not like this. Not now.

Tears streamed down his face as he clutched Elise tighter. “Help her!” he cried, addressing those invisible watchers he knew were behind that wall. “Please! Don’t let her die!”

His screams echoed in the cell, bouncing off the stone walls, but there was no answer. Just silence. The silence of a sentence. Noah clung to Elise’s body, sobbing in desperation, his face pressed against her cold chest.