Battle For The Heavens

f o u r

Ever since the last flashback, if you can even call it that, Noelle remained holed up in her room, only coming down for meals and such. She just sat and thought in her room, trying desperately to remember. To understand what was happening, what her visions meant. She just couldn't help but feel sad about it all. That sadness weighed her down as she felt the pain of not remembering. Not knowing who she really was, it hurt her.

It had been two days since she last spoke properly to either Julia or Andrew besides the normal 'pass the salt' stuff at dinner. Julia kept trying to talk to Noelle but Noelle would just space out and not respond. Julia tried everything. She offered her a trip to the hospital or the bookshop again or even both. She even went to Noelle's room and said  that they could have a girl's day together but she still made no progress.

Julia couldn't figure out what was wrong with Noelle so she tried the last thing she could think of. Andrew.

"Please Andrew. Just think about it!" Julia requested hopefully.

"No mom. I don't want to spend unnecessary time with that girl. We still don't know if we can fully trust her, you know?" Andrew ran a hand through his hair slowly.

"Oh give that notion a rest, would you? You know it's not true, you know that! Now please try and find out what's wrong with her. Take her out somewhere and get her mind off things till she's ready to talk about it. Just help her okay? You might find that she's not as bad as you think." Julia slowly tried to catch her breath after the mini rant that she had went on.

"Fine, I'll do it. But where would I take her anyway?" Andrew asked.

"You could take her to the coffee shop down the road." Julia smiled widely at her son, thankful for his cooperation.

"No. I don't want to be in such a confined space with her, mom," Andrew said, letting out a slightly annoyed breath.

"Okay fine. How about the amusement park? You could go to the one your father used to take you to!" Julia suggested excitedly.

"But that was our thing. I can't just go with someone else..." Andrew looked down at this, not meeting his mother's eyes.

"Oh Andrew! It's fine, I'm sure he'd want you to share the experience with others," Julia said encouragingly.

"But I....I guess you're right. He would want that." Andrew sighed deeply and shook his head slightly before looking up at Julia and saying, "fine, I'll do it."

***

Noelle looked up at the sound of soft knocks on her room door and she slowly got out of bed and opened her door, expecting to see Julia but was instead greeted by Andrew. "Hey," Andrew said softly, awkwardly rubbing his right hand on the back of his neck.

"Um hi," Noelle greeted in surprise.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to an amusement park with me. There's a great one about fifteen to twenty minutes away. It would be really fun." Andrew looked down at the floor, careful not to meet Noelle's eyes.

"An amusement park? I don't think I've been to one." Noelle cocked her head to the side in slight confusion.

Andrew just stared at her for a few seconds with his jaw practically lying on the floor before saying, "how have you never been to an amusement park? It's the most amazing place ever! It's got rides, haunted houses, cotton candy and all sorts of other fun things!"

"Oh wow, that does sound fun! I guess I could tag along." Noelle quickly looked down, her cheeks reddening slightly with embarrassment as she softly added, "I mean...only if it's not too much trouble for you."