Love & Carnage✗Noah Foster [2]

Chapter Forty// Eli?

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"Let's just say my mom's a co-dependent hophead, and I need a little break."

--Brooke Maddox

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I woke up sweating. I jumped up with a start. Another nightmare. I rubbed my forehead, and sighed. Zoe was there. She wasn't mad at me... no... she was trying to warn me. Those green eyes were literally glued into my brain. Those lifeless green eyes.

I got off the bed. I looked down at my phone that was on the nightstand. I grabbed it. It was only nine A.M.

I looked around my room, walking over to my dresser. I pulled open the drawer, pulling out the very first thing I saw, which was a red patterned dress. I pulled off my pajamas, and pulled the dress on. I pulled my wavy locks into a ponytail, that ended up falling to my left shoulder. Just as I was about to leave my room, I looked down and saw the drawings that Stavo had sent me. I smiled at them. I grabbed the one that was my favorite and folded it up, tucking it into my dress pocket.

As I was going down stairs, I remembered something... The car.

Oh, shit. I had left it at school with a broken window. It's fine, I'll just pretend someone broke into it... I thought to myself. I'm a terrible liar.

"Hey." I jumped, as Katherine came walking down the hallway, still in her pj's. "Where are you going?" She wondered. "Uhm, I'm going to see Noah." I said. "Oh, yeah... he's probably devastated." Katherine hummed. "Yep..." I said, walking down the remainder of the stairs. "You lost the car, didn't ya?" Katherine giggled. I whipped around, looking up at her. "What? I did no such thing--"

"Liar." Katherine said, hobbling over the stairs. She jumped onto the first step with her good foot. "My keys are in the bowl. Take my car--oh, and please do not hurt her. She's very precious." Katherine pleaded, a smile playing at her lips. "I promise." I grinned, rushing to the front door. I grabbed Kat's keys and turned back to her. "Thank you!" I called. "Mhm." She shook her head playfully, before turning and leaving. I smiled to myself and left.

I walked though the hospital halls, looking for Noah's room. Audrey had texted me, telling me that she was already here. I had brought coffee for them. I was sure to get Noah's favorite. Mocha, coconut, extra shot.

"Arielle." I stopped for a second. I turned my head. Nothing.

I shrugged, and began walking again. "Arielle." It sounded female. The whisper. I turned my head once more, and saw nothing, I then turned my head back, picking up the pace. I found Noah's room only seconds after. I walked in slowly, seeing as Noah was staring into space, and Audrey wasn't even here... "Noah." I whispered, closing the door behind me. He turned his head to look at me. He didn't speak, but he did look. Only before going back to staring into space. I walked closer to his bed. I put the coffee down on the little table beside his bed. "I got your favorite." I mumbled. "I can only have clear fluids." Noah whispered. I sighed, "right, right. Sorry." I said, and walked around the bed, to sit beside him. "Noah, please talk to me about this... I know you're hurting--"

"But you don't know. You haven't had two of your girlfriends be killed. I'm surprised you're still alive." Noah's words stung. I closed my eyes and thought about how to reply to that. "Whe--where's Audrey?"

"She went to see how close Emma was." He answered. The awkward silence hung there. I didn't know exactly what to say to him. "Um, I--"

I thanked God that Audrey, Emma, Brooke, and Kieran walked in at that moment. "Hey." They all said in unison. I stood up. "Hi."

Kieran held big balloons, while Brooke held her Ipad. "Hey, how're you doing?" Emma touched Noah's shoulder. He didn't answer. He stared straight ahead. "Hey, uh, we downloaded a bunch of movies to watch. All your creepy faves." Brooke said in a sing-song voice, holding the Ipad out to him. "Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, It Follows." Kieran listed. "I don't want to watch any of that." Noah said quickly. My friends and I all looked at each other in worry. "Zoe said it. I turn death into a puzzle I can solve instead of dealing with my feelings." Noah said. "I missed out on so much. Obsessing on slasher logic, playing detective... I'm done with all of it."

"What do you mean?" Brooke whispered. "I'm done with my murder obsession and everything that goes with it. I'm shutting down The Morgue."

"We can't give up, Noah." Kieran said. "Why not? He wins every game. I told my mom you guys would go over and take down the murder board and everything that goes with it." My mouth dropped and I looked up at Audrey, who seemed just as surprised as I was. Noah couldn't do this... When I met him, he lived for this stuff. I knew deep down he didn't want to. "I don't ever want to see any of that stuff again." Noah concluded. "Yeah... of course, Noah. Whatever you need." Emma touched his shoulder.

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"I can't believe Noah's actually going to give this stuff up..." I whispered more to myself than to anyone else in the room. "Yeah, well, he's just brokenhearted. He'll be back to normal creepy, murder-y stuff in a month. And then we'll be back here again, doing the opposite." Kieran said. "Kieran." Emma scolded her boyfriend. I grabbed the picture of Piper down. I shook my head at it. "Bitch." I mumbled, stuffing it into the box. Kieran side-glanced at me, his eyebrows furrowed. I decided to pretend like I didn't see him staring at me. I walked away from the board, towards Noah's desk, where Audrey and Emma were. "Audrey, is there anything that you haven't told me about Piper?" Emma asked her quietly. "No." Audrey stopped to look at her. "No, no. I promise, you know the whole horrible, embarrassing story." Emma nodded. I moved a couple of newspapers into the box I had. But I paused as I saw the photo booth pictures. I grabbed them.

I slowly began to smile. Zoe did look super pretty that night. I put the picture down. Beside me, Emma searched through the newspapers also, stopping, a look of sadness crossed her face. I got closer to her to read the newspaper clipping.

LAKEWOOD MOURNS WILL BELMONT.

I smiled sadly, walking back to the board to grab some more stuff. "Guys, guys. Come here. Look at this." I continued to put the newspapers on the board in the box. "Will's funeral." Audrey said as if it were no big deal. "No, look in the background." Emma said. "Oh, my God. That's Eli." Kieran said. I whipped around as I heard her say Eli's name.

"Wait, what?!" I whispered, peering over Emma's shoulder. "Look." Emma told me. I looked all around the black and white picture, until I saw it. In the background... was Eli. "Eli was in Lakewood?" I asked. "Did you know this?" Emma asked Kieran quickly. "No..."

A/N, I HAVE SOME KIND OF WRITERS BLOCK AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO CURE IT. I'M STILL WRITING, DON'T WORRY, BEBS!