How I See It

Chapter 8 - No More Hiding

My mind went to different places. Questions were coming and going. I held my cup as tight as I could. I was scared as hell, but I didn't have a choice. The only choice I had was to stay seated. I guess that hiding wasn't really an option. I looked at John and he looked at me.

He took a seat on the couch and held his microphone. The lights were so bright, my eyes started to tear up. The cameraman basically shoved the camera in my face. "Noah." I frowned and clapped back. "Why you saying my name like that? And who the hell gave you permission to come into my house and not even ask my mother to enter? You better get out and take your crew with you. I will not be answering your dumb questions."

He looks at his crew and starts to smile. I look straight into the camera and say "Yes, I am alive. Me and another inmate got out. A girl who's face was unclear helped us. We will forever be thankful. To the police, I ask you one thing. Please, don't come and arrest me again. I did NOT kill David! I was at my house the whole time. We have security footage. You never even bothered to look at that. But please, don't do it again."

I stand up and walk towards the stairs. I look back and into the camera. "Oh, and Mrs. Keenan. Your husband is cheating on you." John opens his mouth and cusses, even though he's on live TV. I look into his eyes and stay serious. "Get the hell out of my house. Now!"

He got up and threw my mug that was still filled with coco. It broke and he left the house with his crew. I looked at my mom and she nodded. I went to my room and grabbed my coat. As soon as I got to the front foor, my mother stopped me. "Noah, what do you think you are doing? You can't go outside!"

"Why not? Everyone probably watched the news. I. AM. ALIVE." I open the door and she grabs my arm but I yank it away. "I'll come back later. I promise." I shut the front door and look at my cellphone. It's on 2% and I sigh.

I walked off our property and into the street. People in my neighborhood looked at me and gasped. Hell, some people even ran up to me. "Noah, how are you alive?" "Noah, what happened?" "It's unfair that those other inmates died and you didn't" "Noah, Noah!" I start getting headaches and lumpy. I start to jog away from the people and it ends up being a run. A run from all the craziness.

I end up in another street where all the fancy houses are. I then remember something. I just can't seem to... Brooke! Her house is here somewhere. I look around and see the big house with bricks. I walk towards the gate and surprisingly it's open. I go to her front door and ring the doorbell. A few seconds later the door swings open.

"Noah! What the hell? How are you not dead right now?!" Brooke. She answered the door. No hello. No hug. Just.... That. "Didn't you see the news? A girl helped me and another inmate get out the van." She looks at me and frowns. She gives me a hug and tightens it. "I'm just glad you're okay."

The smell of her perfume takes me back to the night we met. "Do you want to come inside, maybe?" "Sure, thanks." She invites me in and takes me to the kitchen. "My parents aren't home, don't worry." I force a laugh out and she frowns. She opens the fridge. "Something to eat,drink?"

"No, I'm good thanks." I sit down on one of the chairs in the kitchen. I fold my arms and look around. Brooke takes out a pack of cigarettes and offers me one. "Isn't this bad for your health?" She laughs and shakes her head. "Life is short, so if you wanna live, stop asking permission. Do it now and regret later!" I take one and shake a bit. I've never done this before.

"It's okay. You probably need it more than I do. Here, look at me and repeat." She puts the cigarette in her mouth and I obey. She lits it and inhales deeply. I do the same and after I inhaled, I coughed my lungs out. "Atta boy!" It tastes weird but good in a way. It tastes like cherry. It's probably a flavored one.

I take another puff. "It's.. pretty good." She looks at me and nods. "You bet it is. Smoked my first one about 2 months ago. After that, I just did it every day." I feel bad doing this, but my life has already been torn apart. "What do you think I should do?" "What do you mean?" I still haven't decided whether to get out of the country or stay.

"I really want to get out of the country, but I don't wanna leave my friends and family behind." "If you would go, wouldn't it seem like you're running away from something?" I look down and play with my fingers. "Yeah, you're probably right."

I stand up and throw the cigarette away. "Thanks for inviting me in, but I need to go. Goodbye, Brooke." She looks at me with a weird look. "Umm... okay. Bye.?"

I leave the house knowing that I have friends who actually care about me. I walked to all of their houses, one by one. We cried and talked and hugged. We made plans and I got in touch with North. She couldn't believe what happened. We invited her also to go to the movies and have dinner afterwards.

Luckily for us, the cinema is just a few meters away from out houses. We don't live that far away from each other. We picked North up with Ava's mom's car and she dropped us off. We saw the new Star Wars movie. Everyone loves Star Wars. But I have to be honest, I've never seen one movie before.

I lied to them and told them that I saw the last one before the new one. When the movie was finished, we went to the Waffle House. We talked so much, they even figured out I haven't watched Star Wars yet. But hey, what are friends for if you don't live your life with them?
I was actually having fun. For once, I completely forgot about what happened. And that felt good.