Love & Carnage✗Noah Foster [2]

Chapter Nineteen// Certifiable

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"Oh and by the way, your lemon squares...taste like ass!"

--Gale Weathers

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"He's obsessed with the Lakewood Six." Told Noah over the phone. We walked past the bookshelves, as Audrey stared Stavo down. "He was the one handing out the doped-up shots last night." Audrey told Noah. "He's obsessed with Arielle--" I slapped her shoulder. "Hey!"

"No, he's not! It's just some drawings. Plus, you're in there, too." I looked at her with anger. "How much you wanna bet you're in there more than five times?" Audrey snarled at me. "He stares at her creepily." Audrey told Noah. "The point is, he's drawing all of our friends being brutally murdered. And, now, hello, one of our friends has been brutally murdered!" Audrey hissed at Noah. "I'm telling you it's not Stavo, okay? He's one of us... a horror fan, a friend." Noah told us. "And if you guys are right and I'm wrong, I will apologize." Audrey said. We looked through the books on the shelves at Stavo, who was talking to Zoe. "But if I'm right, what are you gonna say when Arielle's the one hanging from a banner with her insides on the outside?" Noah scoffed on the other line. I rolled my eyes, "are we done with using me as the examples?" I asked her. Audrey glared at me. Audrey and I walked past the bookshelves, and towards a door. Audrey absentmindedly leaned against it, making the door open. I grabbed her before she fell. Audrey shrugged me off, and I knew she was mad at me already. "Dude, the emergency door is disarmed." Audrey told Noah. "If you can sneak into the service hallway, you can get back in without being caught." She explained to Noah. With that, she hung up on him. She went back to the bookshelf, staring at Stavo. And Stavo... he stared right back. Again, his stare gave me a certain weird feeling. An off feeling. He scared me. Stavo raised his arm and made his hand look like a gun. He pointed it right at Audrey. And I watched as he made it look like he shot her. "Guys!" I jumped as I turned around to see Noah. "Dude, you scared the crap out of me!" Audrey turned around, too. She went back behind the bookshelves, watching Stavo through the books now. "I'm sorry." Noah apologized. "You okay?" He asked me, touching my arm. I pulled away from him. "I'm fine, but she's certifiable." I pointed at our friend. "Sh!" Audrey hissed at me. "I was out there and you were in here and it just, felt weird." Noah whispered to me. "What do you mean?" I frowned. "We're always together in times of intense peril... and I don't know. I--I was worried about you guys." Noah looked from me to Audrey. "Oh..." I whispered. "Thanks." Audrey shrugged. "Anyway, I've been watching Stavo."

"Stavo? I'm telling you--"

This time, Audrey raised her voice. "And I'm telling you this guy could be seriously messed up, Noah!" Noah and I both leaned down to look through the shelf. "We barely know the kid." Noah sighed. "I'm sorry he doesn't fit your accomplice profile, but he's got the same twisted sense of humor as the freak that's been calling me." My eyes widened, and I nudged Audrey's side. "You've been getting calls?" Noah stood up straight now. "I'm talking about the texts, the ones I showed you, the ones I got when Emma got back." Audrey played it off, looking back to Stavo. "You said 'calls'." Noah glared at his best friend. "Plus, didn't you think they were just pranks?" Audrey rolled her eyes. "She meant texts, Noah." I told him. "And I don't know what they are. Whatever!" Audrey said. "Stavo basically has "crazy psychopath" tattooed on his forehead, and I'm supposed to just ignore it? I can't. No, not under these circumstances. People are dying." I sighed, as Audrey has once again.. slipped up. "People? It's just one so far. You guys are my favorite people in the world, but you're both acting weird." Noah told. "We're all freaking out about Jake right now, but, trust me, you really need to take a breath." Noah suggested. "Piper was right under our noses and nobody saw it." Audrey pointed out. "So, what? You're just gonna go over there and accuse him of being a psycho killer?" Noah glared. "He's been sketching us, Noah. All of us!" Audrey sighed. "Today, I saw him drawing Kieran and Eli in a pool of blood." I looked at her in surprise. "What? Today, he was doing that?"

"Wow. Of all days." Noah rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know--!" Audrey stopped herself, as she realized he was screwing with her. She stood up straight again and looked Noah in the eye. "I'm just gonna ask him what that's all about. That's it." Audrey nodded. "It's not weird, it'd be weird if I didn't." Audrey told us. She walked past Noah and around the bookcase. "Wha--Audrey!" I called, rushing after her. "You, Stavo! What are you drawing?" Audrey asked, as she approached the boy. "Don't worry about it." He told her. He put his pen down. "Come on, you're staring at us all of the time. I'd like to see what we inspire in you." Audrey looked down at his tablet in his lap, and her face changed. She reached down and grabbed it quickly, rushing away. "Hey! Give that back!" Stavo stood up immediately. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Audrey asked him loudly. By now, everyone was watching. "D--don't look at that!" Stavo advised, following after her. "What is she doing?" Kieran hissed at me. "She was just gonna ask him what he was drawing." Noah spoke for me. Audrey hid behind two guys, who shoved Stavo away from her. "Give it back! It's not--Look, it's not--"

"What is it not?" Audrey hissed at him. "You want me to show everybody what you think it's not!" Audrey held the tablet in the air. I gasped, and all of the kids began murmuring. "Oh, my God."

It was me. And this time, I was all bloody this time. I was sitting in a chair, my long hair behind me. I smiled, but there was a creepy-ness to it. I had blood coming out of my nose, my ears, my eyes. I knew it was me... because the only thing he colored in, besides the blood, was my hair... "I like your hair." I remembered his words the first day we met. "This is what he's drawing." Audrey told everyone. "Oh, my God! You sicko!" Haley shouted at him. "They're just drawings! Just give it back!" Stavo told Audrey. He went at her again, but the two guys held him back. "You know what? It looks like it's more! A lot more!" Audrey held it up again to a different picture. "It's not what you think, it's not what you think!" Stavo yelled to everyone. "You know who does that? Serial killers!" Haley stated. "Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Stavo tried. "That's messed up, man!" Someone threw something, and Stavo ducked. It hit the wall above his head, shattering. There was excited chatter. "That's sick!" Another boy jeered. "Wha--it's not real. It's a comic book, a fantasy!" Stavo told everyone. I cupped my mouth, and stood behind Noah. "Liar!" Someone else shouted. A jock took the tablet from Audrey and threw it behind his back absentmindedly. "No, no, no! Careful with that!" Students, including me, gasped as the tablet made its way onto the floor, shattering. Audrey rushed towards it, and picked it up, putting it on the table to see the broken screen. "GET HIM!" Someone shouted. A boy punched Stavo in the face... hard. "Yeah!"

Soon, they all started joining in, kicking him while he was down. I felt terrible. "What did you do?!" I shouted at Audrey. I rushed towards the fight, where Kieran was trying to help. "What is wrong with all of you?! Get back!" All the jeering soon stopped as Sheriff Acosta and a few officers burst in. "Break it off!" He shouted at everyone. As everyone cleared Stavo, Acosta looked down and realized that it was his son. He sighed. He helped his son up, and began checking out his bloody face. I still cupped my mouth as I watched. Something by the door caught my eye. I turned to see Emma standing there, looking defeated. Her arm was bloody. "Emma?" Noah said.

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I searched the halls for my mom. She was supposed to be here. Everyone else's parents were here. I stood with Deputy Newsome in the hallway. "Do you know when she's coming?" He asked me. "I--I don't know. She's here somewhere. I just--" Just as I turned my head, I saw her. My mom. She was looking all around. "MOM!" I shouted. She turned her head and saw me. Her teary face, broke out into a smile. I ran at her, engulfing her in a hug.

"You're okay." She whispered into my hair. I breathed easily now. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling at home again. I hadn't hugged my mom in a long time. "I love you so much..." I cried. I didn't know why I was crying. Nothing had happened to me in there. But... Jake. "I love you, too." She said. "I thought you were hurt." I pulled away, and my mother grabbed my cheeks. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said. I smiled slightly at her, before she brought me back in for a hug.