After

Chapter 7

Noah's pov
"Then what is it?" Amanda asks, looking at me, furrowing her eyebrows slightly and giving me a confused look.
"This may be a lot to take in," I continue, "I think you should sit down."

Slowly, she takes a seat on our old armchair, crossing her arms. Her mouth opens, and she spits out, "Go on."
"Well," I begin, "do you remember that girl that went missing ten years ago? Richelle Jackson?"
"How could I forget? It was all over the news! And then, a few years later, her family moved out so she has no chance of getting back to civilisation!" she exclaims, leaving me confused as Richelle doesn't need her family when she has friends, not matter if she has lost them or not. "What about her?"

"Well, the thing is, she's upstairs," I say, gritting my teeth and forming a worried smile on my face, whilst Amanda's turns slightly pale.
"What? Don't joke like this Noah!" she yells, instantly making me place my fingers to my lips, 'shushing' her.
"You'll wake Richelle!" I whisper-shout, making Amanda's face turn angry.

"Noah!" She shouts, making me take a step back, "This is no time for your silly jokes! I'm tired and I want to go to bed! So stop joking about this! There is no girl that was kidnapped ten years ago upstairs! Why would you lie about that? Stop making up stories! There is no one upstairs!"

Oh, she's so wrong. But I don't want to argue. Her face has turned red with rage, it looks like steam is about to spirt out of her ears! Me and Amanda have had small fights before, but she's fuming right now! Why doesn't she believe me? Why would I lie about this? Now I'm angry!

"Noah.." a quiet voice says shakily, not Amanda though. The top stair creeks, making mine and Amanda's head turn towards it. Standing there, is Richelle. Why didn't I give her some of Amanda's pyjamas? Oh yes, because Amanda would've killed me if I do! She doesn't like sharing at all! "Who's that?"

I quickly run up the stairs towards her, seeing her little worried face. Poor Richelle! She probably heard Amanda shouting, and got frightened. So, I pull her into a hug. She becomes tense for a moment, but soon relaxes in my arms.

"Sh, Richelle. Don't worry," I say calmly, gently rubbing her back.
"But, but who's that?" she asks, pulling away to look at Amanda.

I bet she believes me now! In fact, it looks like she completely does! Her jaw is dropped wide open, as if it wants to reach the ground! Her eyes are as wide as an elephant, and her face has gone from red to white. Now she looks worried!

"That's Amanda, my fiancé," I reply as the two girls make eye contact.
"Fiancé?" Richelle asks, taking her eyes off Amanda, and focusing on me.
"Yes, she's my fiancé."
"She was shouting, shouting about me. Wasn't she?"
"You just came as a bit of a shock to her, that's all," I say, now looking at Amanda, indicating for her to say something.

She catches on, and is awoken from her trance. Slowly, she stands up and creeps up the stairs towards me and Richelle. As soon as Richelle sees her walking towards us, she begins to back away.

"It's ok," Amanda says softly, edging a bit closer towards us, making Richelle stop. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Amanda won't even hurt a fly! You're completely safe Richelle," I say with a smile, putting an arm around Amanda, making Richelle walk back towards us.

"I'm sorry," Richelle mutters in Amanda's direction.
"Sorry? What for?" Amanda asks, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"For creating chaos between you two," Richelle replies, making me look at her with sympathy.
"Oh Richelle! You did not! I was just a bit cranky, that's all!" Amanda continues, "Besides, working until this time of night and having your fiancé tell you that there's another woman in the house made me a bit angry!"
A bit?
"But I'm fine with you now!" Amanda finishes, smiling at Richelle.

"Oh, ok," Richelle replies quietly, yawning.
"I think we should all go to bed now," I say, knowing how tired the two girls are, even though I'm not too tired.
"I can agree with that!" Amanda exclaims, while Richelle slowly nods.
"Come on, let's go!" I exclaim as we all begin to walk forwards.

Amanda dashes off into our room, whilst I gently stop Richelle from walking into hers. She turns around with a slightly worried look on her face. Why is she worried? I tilt my head slightly in confusion, but shrug it off.

"Are you ok to go to sleep alone?" I ask, "I can stay with you if you want."

Instantly, she shakes her head no, looking at me with scared eyes. What?
"No, don't! Amanda will shout at me, go to her, quickly!" She whispers, pointing at mine and Amanda's bedroom door.
"No she won't," I reply softly, "you don't need to be afraid."
"But, but what if she gets angry at me for keeping you from her?"
"She won't Richelle, I'll make sure she doesn't."
"Thank you," she says quietly, hugging me one last time before scurrying off into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

I'll take that as a 'no' then. Maybe my words didn't calm her down, what else can I do? I can't believe that Amanda scared her that much! Richelle'll be fine though, she'll get used to Amanda.

"No?" Amanda calls out, using my nickname, "you coming?"
"Yes!" I reply, "be there in a second!"

Then, I walk into our bedroom and feel something hit my face.
"Ouch!" I say, not too loudly, for Richelle's sake.
"Oh don't be such a baby! Pyjamas don't hurt!" Amanda replies, pointing at what she threw at me.

My pyjamas! Quickly, I change into them and climb into bed with Amanda.
"Look. I'm sorry about before," she quickly says, looking at me, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, I should've."
"Don't worry about it, I get that it was a lot to take in."
She smiles and wraps her arms around me, slowly drifting off to sleep. But, I can't seem to! All I can think about is Richelle's scared face when she heard Amanda! She still seems afraid, running off into her bedroom like she did! I told her that Amanda won't hurt her, but she still seems afraid.

After a while of thinking about Richelle, I fall asleep as well.

-
I was actually quite surprised that you were all so shocked about Amanda. In the book's description, I mention that a new character is introduced, but oh well. Hope you enjoyed this! Also, thanks for 1K in six chapters! ❤️