Love & Carnage✗Noah Foster [2]

Chapter Seven// Storytime

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"In this school people get killed by knife wielding maniacs every twenty years, give or take."

--Noah Foster

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"Where exactly are we going? Eli!" I squealed as he grabbed my waist and hoisted me onto the roof. "I could've done it myself." I huffed. "Don't worry about it." He laughed. I stood up to see the roof. It was a big, private roof. We were all the way across town now. He jumped up beside me, standing instantly. "Holy..." I whispered. From where we were, I could see over the entire town. "Right?" Eli laughed. "In Atlanta, there's so much you can do, but here in Lakewood... I have to get creative." Eli said. "Yeah... not a lot happens here. Well, besides the murders." I chuckled lowly. "Yeah, I read about that." Eli told me. "And yet... you still came here?" I smiled over at the boy. He walked towards the edge, where there was a big concrete, fence-like thing. "I don't know, maybe I like the mystery of it all." He leaned over the edge, looking down. "I sure don't." I scoffed. "So... why this roof?" I wondered. Eli looked over at me. "Having a view of the city is perfect. It's a great escape, a great place to go if you want to get away from the world." Eli explained. "What are you escaping from?" I asked. "My mom, mostly." Eli told. "What's she like?" I turned around, and leaned my back against the small wall. "She's a child. Between the two of us, I'm the adult." Eli revealed. "What happens is... she gets herself into a lot of trouble, and I have to save her. And then we pack up, and leave town." I stared at him in horror. That sounded awful. If my mother was like that... I don't know if I could survive. "I don't really have friends, because of all of the moving." Eli shrugged. "I've never had friends." I told him. "Well, up until now."

"People found me weird... and I guess nobody wants to be friends with... weird." Eli said with a small chuckle. I frowned at him. "Well, Kieran's here for you now, and I promise you that some people in Lakewood are quite sweet." I nodded at him with a small smile. "Kieran's... Kieran's been--He's seems like he doesn't want me around."

"I'm sure that's not true. You're family." I added. "Kieran doesn't care if we're family." Eli scoffed. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if Kieran had to choose between shooting me or a chicken...he wouldn't hesitate to shoot me." Eli said darkly. My mouth fell open. "Don't say things like that. Kieran wouldn't hurt a fly." I assured him. "Maybe you just don't know him like I do." Eli huffed. I decided to leave it at that. Kieran's always been... nice to me. "So, tell me," he began. "What do you need to escape from? You're the pretty, popular girl. What could be wrong with your life?" He raised an eyebrow. I looked back to the landscape in front of me. "Everyone in this town think that they know us. The Lakewood Six, or whatever. But they don't know us. Not really." I whispered. "Lakewood Six?" Eli asked. I turned to him with a small smile.

"That's what they're calling us. The few people who survived the massacre a few months ago. People around here turn it into some kind of joke. But after that night, I can't sleep without a nightmare. Emma had to leave school for three months because of the trauma, Noah's--Need I go on?" I laughed. "No, no. I get it. Well, I mean... obviously I don't get it." Eli stuttered. We stopped talking for a second.

"What are your dreams like?" Eli asked suddenly. "What?"

"You told me that you had nightmares. What kind?" He said. I watched his blue eyes. "They're kind of creepy." I whispered. "I like creepy." He said. "I bet you do." I snickered. "Wanna tell me about them?" Eli said. I sighed. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. "Please?" He stepped closer to me. "I don't think you really know what you're asking for." I muttered. "I know how it feels to keep things bottled up, Arielle." Eli assured me. "You think people will call you crazy, right? Like people will judge you?" I looked at him again. "If you really want to hear." I said. I looked back to the landscape because I didn't think I could look at him while I told him the weird things that swirled around in my mind. "The first one happened the night after... well, I think you read about what happened." I waved my hand at him. "I had this dream in the hospital." I said, beginning to tell Eli the story.

Noah and I danced around a ballroom, dressed up in fancy clothing. I wore a white, long dress that puffed out at the bottom. Noah wore a black suit and he looked amazing. "Noah? Where are we?" I asked him. We were completely alone in the big ballroom. Noah stared straight over my head, not paying me any attention. He kept his palm on my hip, and his other in my hand. "Noah?!" I screamed this time. He still didn't hear me. There was classical music playing loudly. Noah moved his hand from my hip and spun me out and then back in. I stared up at him. "Noah?" I whispered. He looked almost as if he were in a daze. He moved us back to our first position. His left hand on my hip and his right hand in mine. "He can't hear you." I jumped as I looked to my right to see Nina. She wore a short red dress as she walked closer to me. "Why?" I asked. "Because this a dream and none of this is real." Nina smirked at me. "It feels real." I whispered. "Does this?" Nina walked towards me and before I knew what was happening I felt a huge pinch in my stomach. My mouth fell open and I dropped my hands from Noah. I looked down at the knife Nina held in my stomach. "Ni--"

Another blow came to my side. I gasped as I turned my head to see Noah holding a knife in my side. What? They both pulled their knives out at the same time. I held both of my wounds, but there was no use, the blood was pouring out. Their faces were neutral as they stared me down. "Noah?" I whimpered. "God, are you stupid, Arielle? They can't hear you!" She laughed like the mean girl she was. "They?" I whispered, holding my stomach wound. Suddenly two more blows came at my back. I screamed out, turning around. Audrey and Emma stood there, holding their knives. I screamed as I hit the floor. I lay there screaming at the pain. "Don't trust." They all said in unison. Nina the loudest. Suddenly, they all raised their knives and brought them down on me, stabbing me in places that I didn't think I'd ever be stabbed. There were more and more people starting to surround me. Each of them had knives.

Kieran, Brooke, Jake... Will and Riley, my mom, my sister, Rosie. "Don't trust!" They all screamed. "What?!" I screamed at them. "DON'T TRUST THEM!" They said. I closed my eyes as they kept on with their stabbing. If this wasn't a dream, I would be dead. I wanted death at that point. Suddenly, the pain was eased. I opened my eyes and all my friends were gone. I looked around me. Nothing. Not even Nina.

"Trusting too easily can get you hurt, Arielle. Haven't you learned." I looked beside me to see Piper. I could've screamed but nothing was coming out. She also had a knife. Of course. "Please..." I whimpered. She knelt down in front of my body. "Oh, shh, shh." She put a finger to my mouth. She leaned closer to me. "You're already dead."

"Woah." Eli mumbled after I had finished. "Yeah, I know." I laughed. "So everyone you knew--"

"Yup." I said. He just stared at me. We stopped talking after that, we just turned back to the scenery. I reached into my bag to grab my phone. "It's okay if I check my phone now, right?" I laughed. "Sure." Eli turned to me, quite interested in what was on my phone. My phone was blowing up. I had texts from Audrey, Noah, my mom, Katherine, Emma and Brooke.

Noah:

Arielle?

You skipped class, where are you?!

Arielle, this isn't funny!

Arielle, I need you to let me know that you're okay!

There were, like, a thousand more from him.

Audrey:

Arielle, tell me you're okay!

ALEXIS COVERED FOR YOU! SHE TOLD THE PRINCIPAL THAT SHE HIT YOU FIRST.

You'd better run into a brick wall!

Brooke:

THE POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU.

Your mom's been calling you for hours.

Police? Who called the police? Why did Alexis cover for me? She hates me. I looked up at Eli. "We have to go." I sighed. "Where?" Eli looked alarmed. "The police station, apparently."