Promise?

Chapter 4

Three whole weeks went by before Noah finally saw the fairy-girl again.

The days that passed in between that fateful night and when they'd meet again were like a blur to her. She went through the motions of her everyday life just as she always had; going to school, play dates with friends, working on homework and spending time with her parents when they got home from work... but it wasn't the same... her heart wasn't really in any of those things; her mind adrift elsewhere. Every minute of every day that passed was spent thinking about the girl.

Was she safe? Was she hurting? Had her cuts and bruises healed? Or... did she have more?

It was impossible for her not to think about the girl. She invaded every one of her waking moments... and even her dreams were filled with her except... it was within these dreams that all of the thoughts she dared not put into words manifested and took a dark turn.  It got to the point where Noah began to question the girl's very existence- had she even seen her at all? Did she even exist?

It was during these times that Noah felt at her lowest. She felt both sick and upset by the fact that such thoughts were actually starting to make sense to her. She could feel her convictions start to crumble... could feel herself begin to believe that the girl she'd spent the night with so many days ago actually was something she'd merely dreamt up.

And despite the inner turmoil she was facing Noah was also keenly aware of the way those around her watched her. Though to be fair, she didn't even notice it at first, too busy in her own thoughts to see how those around noticed the palpable difference within her. But one day, on a small window of a chance when she wasn't worrying about the girl Noah suddenly became aware of the way her parents watched and reacted to her; their eyes glued to her, their moves slow and cautious as if afraid to make any sudden movements that might scare her... it all just made her nervous.

So Noah forced her mind to remain in the present, her eyes and ears to take note of every minute detail going on around her while pretending to go about her days as she usually did. And she noticed something that worried her even more: whether she was eating, playing, working on her homework packet or simply drawing- her mother and father were always watching her with furrowed brows and eyes filled to the brim with something Noah couldn't quite understand much less decipher. It made her uncomfortable, yes, to be watched like some sort of animal but also painfully aware of the fact that her parents were looking for something in her actions, trying to uncover some sort of secret that only she knew. Which in retrospect she did; the girl and the circumstances revolving her (whether she was real or not) and the violence she'd seen inflicted on her body. She might not have all the answers (or any for that matter) but she wanted to believe in her heart of hearts that everything that had happened on that night so long ago was real... whether he parents believed her or not. Which was why she kept clinging to the memory of that night; dreaming and worrying about the girl with the glowing blue eyes.

And the more time passed with her parents watching and hovering over her at every turn Noah realized two things: she didn't like their scrutiny, not one bit and she didn't want her parents to know about the girl anymore. Though she'd been adamant about the girl's existence at the beginning, particularly after the shock of her sudden disappearance, her mother and father's behavior toward her and the fact that after she'd chosen to be honest with them and they still didn't believe her Noah it wasn't worth the effort anymore and quickly decided that she would keep the girl a secret-

Her secret.

So, she did the only thing she could to bring her plan to action: she lied.

She told her parents how she'd snuck out because she'd seen a cat, a small kitten actually and it just looked so hungry and cold, which was was the reason why she'd brought out so much food and clothes... And while her parents looked doubtful and even went as far as to ask her about the girl she'd brought up when they'd first found her Noah quickly and soundly explained that she'd been mistaken... it had all been a dream she'd been having where a girl who looked like a fairy came to her. To make her story even more believable Noah even went as far as to detail the dream itself minus all the blood and bandages of course; just sticking to the basics in the tale she weaved about how she'd met the fairy-girl in her dreams who was hurt and how she rode on her white horse up to defeat the terrible dragon who'd been keeping the girl prisoner in it's dark tower... much like some of recent fairy tales her mommy had been reading to her.

Noah had no idea how she was able to keep the lies rolling nor why they rolled off her tongue so easily (she'd never been able to lie to her parents so calmly before) but she didn't dare question it- she didn't want to give her parents a chance to see through the lies she was spinning... especially not when they seemed to be buying them... at least a little. But even after she'd been done with her "truth" and had sworn to them both that she was being completely honest Nina and Leo still looked at their young daughter with that strange funny sort of look in their eyes and  Noah knew.... it wasn't going to be all that easy to get them to really believe her much less stop all their hovering. And so it was that Noah began to plot out the next step in her plan- the one that would seal the deal and ultimately decide how everything would continue from then on; it was the only one she could think of that would turn the tides in her favor and that was to go back to her old normal self.

Noah forced herself to become that cheerful giggling person she'd once been in order for her parents to  stop their constant watch over her. And although she wasn't sure whether or not she was succeeding in making them believe her, it actually wasn't all that difficult to go back to her life before the fairy-girl. She laughed at every joke her daddy said (even when some of them weren't all that funny), begged to go to the park, the zoo, and any other extravagant place she could remember wanting to go to before that fateful night. She fought to finish her dinners, take a bath, go to bed- anything and everything that she remembered struggling against before.

And she saved the best act for last: questioning everything.

Why is the sky blue?

Why were apples red?

Why did some people have red hair and others didn't?

Could she get a puppy?

Why did she have to do homework?

All of the usual nonsense she would bombard her mother and father with before and yet none that was of any interest to her now. 

For the next few days this became her life- her daily routine and one Noah could only hope would be enough to make her parents finally believe her. And it was actually after about a week of putting up the act when all of Noah's hard work did indeed pay off. Her mother and father didn't look at her with those strange eyes of theirs anymore, their brows weren't furrowed and their lips weren't pursed into thin lines either. They smiled with their eyes twinkling and glistening with love and amusement whenever they fell on her or each other and their laughs filled the house with such joy it was enough to make even Noah giddy with it.

Everything was finally back to normal.

While on one hand Noah was glad and relieved at this (she didn't particularly like all of the careful attention her parents had been giving her) on the other it also made her a little sad because it began to really feel as though she'd never met the girl in the first place. It was as if she'd simply dreamt it all now that her parents weren't questioning her about it. And just as those dark thoughts buzzing around in her head, constantly whispering to her to forget about the girl grew even stronger... something happened...

Just when she'd been ready to resign herself to the fact that perhaps she'd never be able to see the girl again a slight sound like a soft tapping against her window one night jolted her back to the reality that was. She remembered what it was she'd been working so hard to protect all those weeks and suddenly it was like she could see things clearly and the butterflies that had once fluttered nervously in her belly so long ago suddenly began to move once more...