Concrete Jungle || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Chapter seventeen

The world seemed to freeze for Noah as the man gazed at him with an expression that conveyed more than words ever could.

"Noah, it's important for all of us that you and Elise will be fine. You have to come inside with me. At least, if you don't want her to die"

The words reverberated in his mind, an echo of a reality he had never imagined. “But why? Why me?”

The masked man observed Noah, the silence between them thick with unbearable tension. Then, his voice came out calm, measured. “You never had a choice, Noah. You never did.”

Noah held Elise tighter in his arms, feeling her lifeless, weak body against him. “What are you saying?” His voice was broken, trembling under the weight of fear and confusion.

The man took a step forward, his hands clasped behind his back. “You and Elise... you were part of a project that began long before you could even understand the world. Children taken from orphanages, without any ties. Perfect for shaping, for manipulating.”

A cold shiver ran down Noah’s spine. "Manipulated... how?"

“We took children like you, those without families. We raised you, and everything you are... everything you think you are, was programmed. Your memories, your feelings. Every aspect of your life has been an experiment. Didn’t you ever wonder why your existence felt so... empty?”

Noah shook his head in disbelief. But the man’s words echoed inside him, too familiar to be completely false. “I... I only remember... fragments,” he barely admitted.

Suddenly, like a flash, an image surged into his mind: a nurse leading him by the hand into a white room. A sterile, cold room. And in the corner, a little girl with frightened eyes.

Elise.

“We made sure you met as children,” the man continued, cutting through Noah’s memory. “We wanted to see what would happen if two people, isolated from the world, would naturally bond. But we didn’t expect your connection to become this strong. Since then, no matter how many times we wiped your memory, you always found your way back to her.”

“No...” Noah shook his head, pain swelling inside him. "That’s not true. I chose to stay with her! I chose to protect her!"

The masked man stared at him, unmoving. “You chose? Every emotion you’ve ever felt has been studied, calibrated. When you were children, you were monitored, observed, controlled. You’ve never had the freedom to decide anything for yourself. Not your love for music, not your passions. And certainly not your feelings for Elise.”

Another flash of memory tore through Noah's mind: he and Elise, older now, running down a dark corridor, hand in hand. Both terrified, trying to escape from something. But he couldn’t remember what or whom.

“Every time your feelings for her grew too strong, we reset them,” the man explained, his voice cold and detached. “We couldn’t allow you to remember too much. But no matter how many times we did it, you always bonded with her again.”

Noah lowered his gaze to Elise, pale and lifeless in his arms. The weight of those words was crushing him. “Even she... she was manipulated, like me?”

The man nodded. “Elise has always been a key part of the project. She, too, grew up under our control. But unlike you, she never showed that... spark of rebellion. She was always more docile, more easily influenced. So we used her as a catalyst. Her presence was the emotional trigger we needed to push you beyond your limits.”

Noah felt like he was suffocating. Elise, the person he had loved, the one he had sworn to protect, had been nothing more than a pawn in the same cruel game. He couldn’t stand it. “This isn’t fair,” he murmured. “You had no right to do this to us.”