Leuthold Preparatory | ✓

Chapter Thirteen

Lost Time

Drenched in cold sweat and panic, Noah awoke to his alarm clock's screech. His eyes found it easily, sat on his nightstand as it had been before; it's noise hadn't changed, it hadn't changed. Still grey and red with its little dial that seemed just a bit off each time it turned. The curtain swayed in with a breeze while morning light came in from the window.

"Cooper, the alarm," Liam's voice came in from the bathroom in such a monotonous way that Noah was surprised by it, he lifted his head and stared until Liam rapped on the wall to fortify his statement.

He reached over and slammed his hand on his alarm clock before he swung his legs over the side of his bed and felt along his chest with shaky hands. Each time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the operating room and the strange movement around him, Ms. Rae's voice echoed in the recesses of his mind.

Noah stumbled out of his bed and went to his wardrobe, opened the doors on both sides and found the mirror. He quickly lifted his shirt despite his look and distraught nature he could only focus on the haunted feeling his body had from the operation.

A fine, white line that was distinguished against his pale skin, it sat beneath the curve of his left ribs. It was so long that Noah could barely cover it with his entire hand. But it was healed, he thought as he dropped his soaked shirt and shuddered at the memory.

After a moment, Noah heard Hannil's voice: "Mate, your face." come to the forefront of his mind before he remembered the girl in the corridor, her eyeless being and the way she scratched his neck, face, and arm. Noah looked at his forearm, rubbed it roughly with his other hand and saw nothing but fine skin that was as pale as his stomach. In the mirror, his neck and face looked normal.

In the quiet, Noah could hear his own breath. In the quiet, Noah could hear things he hadn't before. He had gotten up for days and days before Liam and heard many, many noises. But he heard something that put a pause in his panic. Birds. Lots of them. People outside.

Noah went to the window and pushed aside the curtain. His brain nearly spun around again at the sight of green leaves, grass, rolling hills, a clear courtyard and a wave of pollen that went by the dormitory. Birds sang nearby, people walked by in shorts and skirts in the courtyard, the garden was full of greenery and flowers.

"Why are you panting so hard?" Liam asked as if he didn't want to.

Noah spun around and knocked over several things on his nightstand in the process. He spent a moment fumbling in attempts to get them but ended up leaving them on the floor before he approached Liam.

"Why—why is it green?" He asked.

"What?" Liam asked.

"Outside!" was all Noah could respond.

Liam paused for a long moment. "If you are pointing, it's really showing your intelligence." He said dryly before he moved forward and took a cream blazer off of the back of his desk chair, where had always kept his blazer and pulled it on.

Noah watched him for a moment or two longer before he collapsed onto his bed once more. He sat down and looked out of the window, his mind racked around at the image of late-spring rather than mid-autumn he had gotten used to. 

"Liam, you're not going to believe me," he said after a moment.

"About what?" Liam asked as he gathered his things into his bag. As usual, he was very meticulous about it as he kept his cane tucked under one shoulder.

"In the corridor, by the theater, I saw...I saw—"

"Are you going to tell me about that girl again?" Liam asked, his tone sounded annoyed and even frustrated before he continued, "I told you: I don't like scary stories. Besides, we decided a long, long time ago that you saw nothing."

"What?" Noah asked.

"Nothing!" Liam repeated with force. "Nothing happened! Why are you bringing it up now?"

"What the hell do you mean 'why'! It's—" Noah was cut-off when there was a knock on the door. A voice in German called out to Liam and Noah felt as though he understood part of it, it asked about some kind of game and Liam agreed before he faced Noah as best he could.

"Drop it, Cooper," Liam said as he tapped his way to the door and quietly opened it. "No need to drudge up the past like this."

Noah stared at the empty doorway long after Liam left. He looked back out into the early morning where people were already out and about. Cream jackets and skirts, dark trousers and shirts. The Spring uniform was the only one students were allowed to add their own likes to; the Spring uniform was the most distinct out of the four. 

He went for his datebook and flipped it open, it jarred him when he saw all the marked out days, the first one that wasn't read: MAY 28th, 2018. For years Noah had a habit of marking out each day that passed right before bed. The only time he didn't was when he had to mop the hall in front of the theater.

"Sinclair!" A male voice called up the steps and Noah heard Hannil's door open and close as the other voice rattled off in French.

Noah dropped his datebook and ran to Liam's open doorway. He was so loud that both boys stopped and looked at Noah in the doorway and Noah was suddenly aware of his disheveled appearance by how they looked at him strangely.

"You alright?" Hannil asked, his green eyes went from head to toe again and again. 

"Yes," Noah answered in a panic before he went back to his room and abruptly shut the door.

He could hear the boy that had called Hannil tell him to leave Noah alone in French. Noah hadn't been able to understand them before, he couldn't understand the words but he got the meaning of it no matter his translation errors.

He held his head as his back pressed against the door. He could see his datebook on the floor, open and showed all the crossed out days of May. The more he stared, the more his head hurt. The more he stared, the more he felt the passage of time. The more he stared, the more he felt he remembered. 

"An operating room?"

Liam's voice echoed in his head.

"What do you mean they did something to you?" It continued.

"You saw something in the woods and a ghost in the corridor? And now you're accusing Ms. Rae of...what are you accusing her of? Vandalizing your body? Putting something inside of you?"

Noah gripped his head tighter as if the memories were to pop his head clean off. He felt weaker the more he remembered, the more the voices came in with flashes of memories of Liam sat at his desk chair, his fingers on his book, paused in reading but only half-listening to Noah's panic.

"No, no," the memory said, "you shouldn't tell anyone this. Especially not Hannil. He'll just think you belong in a mental institution."

The pressure of the memory felt too great, his ears rang in ways Noah didn't know they could. He didn't know it could hurt to hear something inside of his head, it was louder than his alarm. Louder than the ticking of a clock. Louder than the sound of his knees hitting the wooden floor, crushed beneath its weight.

"Oh...okay," it was Hannil's voice that came in this time. It was disheartened, bitter even, "I suppose I misunderstood. I won't bother you again."

[ A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading!!!! this story is doing very well in the rankings and demographics! This chapter might seem a bit odd, but I know what I'm doing, I promise lol. 

Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter please vote and/or comment to let me know! I will be updating it soon!  Edit: I had to make a little change, my apologies!]