After

Chapter 3

Richelle's pov
Noah? Noah? Noah! It's Noah! I'm stunned for a few moments, my mouth dropping wide open in shock. So that's why I recognised his voice! This is happening! This is really happening! Yet I still haven't shown him my face.

"Richelle?" his voice asks softly, with a slight hint of worry.
As a reply, I tightly wrap my arms around him and bury my head into his chest. He hugs me even more tightly, resting his head on my shoulder. I feel a few tears dripping down my face and then I feel his on my shoulder. We both just sit there for a bit, hugging in the middle of the village's dust road, with no one else there.

"Richelle, can I...can I see your...your face? Please, I need to," he says, breaking the silence and gently pulling away.
I take a deep breath and look up. There I see him. It's not blurry anymore, I can see his face perfectly well. His sparkling blue eyes, that are now filled with small tears, his sleek brown hair always gelled, just like he always did, and his perfect cheek bones. Yes, that's Noah alright! The Noah I always called my best friend! But his reaction to me was different. In fact, he flinched back a little which made me look back down, biting my bottom lip.

But as soon as I did that, I felt two fingers slowly pulling my chin back up. This time, he starred at me without flinching away. He looked at my cuts, my bruises, my scars but he didn't run off thinking it was gross. Instead, he says, "Do you want to come home with me? I can clean your cuts, you can have a shower, change your clothes, have something to eat and rest."

"Yes, thank you. I missed you so much," I say back, hugging him tightly, again.
"I missed you as well! I can't believe out of all the days I was ill, it was then! I mean, this is practically all my fault! If I had been with you, this wouldn't have happened!" he exclaims, hugging me again.
"Noah! This is not your fault!" I exclaim back, feeling a few tears drip down my face, remembering that day, that awful day. "You can't blame yourself for what happened," I whisper into his chest and he replies with a small, "Ok."

"So, do you still want to stay with me?" he asks, gently pulling me away so I can look up at him.

I nod and give him a small smile. But then something crosses my mind. Where's my family? My mother? My father? My sister? Where are they? Where is anyone? It seems as though no one is here!

"Uh, Noah," I ask with a shaky voice, "where's my family?"
He lets out a sad sigh before replying, "Richelle I'm so sorry to tell you but your family, well they moved away a year after you disappeared. They didn't think that they'd ever see you again. I'm so sorry."
"Oh," I say in return, feeling quite sad.
They've gone? They just left when I was left alone with that psycho man! I nervously tug at the ends of my hair, wondering what to say next.

"But don't worry! You can stay with me for a while, I don't mind!" He says, trying to make me smile.
I let out a nod and a thank you. He's really kind, I missed him so much. We both stood up and he looked at my legs. They were clearly visible, after all, I was only wearing a short, dirty white gown. He looked shocked, my legs were badly bruised, bleeding and I had a visible limp. All that running before had made it worse.

"Come here," he says, walking closer to me, picking me up and wrapping my legs around his waist and he wraps his arms around my waist.
Yes, that's what couples do. And yes, we aren't a couple. But Noah has such a caring soul, he won't let me walk like that. He began walking, so I gently wrap my arms around his neck and rest my head on his shoulder. Knowing that I'm safe with him, I close my eyes, almost as if I'm drifting off to sleep. But I don't. I can't sleep, not now.

"You're going to be ok," he whispers over and over softly, almost as if he wants me to sleep, but I don't.
In fact, I'm scared to! What if I wake up somewhere different? What if this is all just a dream? What if I got to sleep, wake up and Noah won't be there? What do I do then?

"Richelle, you can rest, you're safe now," he says softly, almost as if he is reading my thoughts. "But I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do."

Ok, I'm extremely tired and I need to sleep but maybe I should just check with Noah that he'll stay with me, just incase.
"You'll be there when I wake up, right?" I ask, still with my eyes shut.
"Of course," he replies calmly.
And with that, I drifted off to sleep. Noah has always had something of mine- my trust.