Moments Before

Noah Chapter 22

Hey guys! Work has been a little slow so I've had the privilege of writing a little bit more. I'm thinking of going to wattcon I just have to get my parents to agree. Have any of you guys been and what was it like? Worth it? Also if you guys see any misspelled words or typo's let me know so that I can fix them. Thanks. Hope you all had a fantastic day!

Chapter 22

"Other than tonight have you talked with him? At all. Any communication you need to tell me because if he takes this to court ... you have to keep me in the loop." Rico is sitting wordlessly staring into space. 

"None. Noah I hate that man. What he did to you, and Rico, and Lily and -" Sonya's voice broke and she glanced off at Lily and Rico. This is a discussion meant for our ears not theirs. 

"Rico you're going to take the spare mattress, we're going to set it up in Lily's room. You two are going to bed while we talk about this." It's my no room for arguments voice and for once Rico just nods. I pull the mattress up from the basement and deposit it in Lily's room. I hug both goodnight. Rico lays there and closes his eyes. He's not asleep but at least he's not trying to stay awake. 

"What if he takes us? Will I still get to see Mommy? What about school? I don't want to go live with that strange man Noah. He's weird." Lily's voice whispers hesitantly into the dark room. I see Rico twitch ever so slightly on the bed, he's intently listening. I can't lie to them but I don't want to freak them out either. 

"You will still see your mom. Just maybe not as often. I know that's scary but I'm not going to let that happen. And yeah, he is weird so if you see him around don't talk to him okay?" I kiss her forehead and exit the room. 

Sonya has wrapped herself in a thick cardigan and I've never seen the woman who practically raised me look so fragile. Tears collect in her eyes like reporters at a press conference. Her breathes are shaky and I can see her struggle to grab a hold of herself. I clear my throat and she glances up alarmed. 

"What are we going to do Noah? This shouldn't even be something you have to worry about. You're a child, you should be worried about math homework, and football, and getting caught drinking and, and, and girls." Her words started out slow and picked up speed rapidly. 

"There is a girl I'm worried about. See I worry about normal stuff too." Granted this girl's in the hospital and since I haven't heard anything I'm going to assume that she's still unconscious. She also has me inexplicably wrapped around my finger.

"You got here faster than I expected." Sonya does this when she feels the world closing in around her. She goes back and reviews everything. She's right, it would have been half an hour longer if we had come from home and not near the hospital. 

"We were at the hospital and-"

"Is Rico okay?" She turns to me startled and grabs my arm as if praying for the answer to be yes

"He's fine. Um, this girl from school. She was watching Rico cause you were at work and than someone broke into the apartment and um, she hasn't even woken up yet. It's a mess. And it's my fault, I can't do anything about that though. I can do something about this. I won't let Rico go back to live with him." I don't want to talk about Ashton because like I said, there's nothing I can do about it now. 

"Okay. She'll be okay you know. People your age are so resilient." She answers vaguely. 

"I guess. The doctors said she should wake up sometime soon but she'll be kind of out of it for a few days." 

"Wait, you let her babysit Rico?" Her mind snapped back to attention like a soldier who just got called back into line. 

"Yeah. Anyway, we need to figure out what we're going to do." I don't know why I brush her off like that but Sonya lets it slide. My conscious prickles me when I see the reminder crash into her. For just a few seconds she forgot that someone was going to try to take her child away from her and it sucks that I was the one to remind her.