Promise?

Chapter 6

Noah awoke with a start.

She didn't know why but for some reason her little heart was pounding painfully against her chest.  She was scared and she didn't know why. As she sat up, blinking away the sleep from her eyes she looked down at her tiny hands and saw that they were shaking. Turning her gaze to the ceiling then to the window streaming dim light into the room and finally to the small form lying beside her Noah squeezed her hands closed to keep them from shaking any more than they already were. Whatever it was that had scared her awake was gone and quickly forgotten as she forced herself to let it go, not willing to spend any more time wondering about some dream... not when it already felt like she was in one...

Noah breathed, a small smile forming on her lips as she stared at the pale face peeking out from underneath the mass of silky black waves fanning around her. As she arched her back, stretched her arms out high above her head and felt her muscles strain against the pull, her eyes caught sight of the red glowing numbers on the Hello Kitty clock: 5:37 AM. Rubbing at her eyes once more she let out a deep breath of air before flopping back onto the bed. For the first time since she could remember Noah felt at peace. The day seemed brighter... her body was buzzing with electricity and warmth... there were fluttering butterflies in her stomach while the smile on her lips only grew wider- she was happy.

Turning onto her side and propping her head on her hand Noah took the chance to watch the sleeping girl beside her. It was hard to believe but the girl looked even more beautiful in the dim light of day. There was a peacefulness that softened her pale features and made her look less like a blank-faced doll and more like one of the sleeping princesses from her books.

As she stared at the girl Noah noticed several things she wouldn't have been able to had the girl been awake; her hair for example wasn't the pitch black she'd initially thought it was. In fact, it wasn't black at all but more of a very, very light brown- the color of the caramel cubes her daddy sometimes ate. The girl's lashes were thick and long and a darker shade of the brown in her hair- so dark in fact that they were practically black as they fluttered softly against her pale cheeks. As Noah continued to freely examine the sleeping girl the more it became like a treasure hunt of sorts as she kept finding hidden gems and jewels underneath all of the cuts and bruises marring her skin. High on the girl's cheekbone for example and just below the corner of her right eye was a small beauty mark like a tiny freckle that her fingers itched to touch. On the center of her left cheek was another freckle and another on the fleshy part of one of her un-pierced earlobes, one under the corner of the girl's bottom lip and Noah even spotted another under the girl's chin. So many freckles and yet so little time to find them all.

But aside from the wing like lashes, the spray of freckles dusting her skin and the way her tiny pink tongue peeked out from between her pale cracked lips there were the other things Noah wanted to ignore but couldn't. Dark shadows under both of the girl's eyes, like two perfect purple half-moons throbbing painfully against alabaster skin, old wounds that had healed into soft scars- barely noticeable at all against such pale skin unless Noah leaned down close enough to see them, bright blue and green veins that reminded her of spiderwebs pulsated softly just beneath the paper thin skin, protruding cheekbones, hollows under her eyes, shoulder bones and collarbone jutting out against the fabric of the black shirt she wore- these were the realities Noah didn't want to face... didn't want to accept. It made it harder to see the the girl as just a fairy... fairies didn't get hurt the way she was.

Noah blinked, caught herself just before her tiny, pink tipped finger brushed against the dark  shadow under one of the girl's eye. With a frown furrowing her brows Noah squeezed her hand into a tight fist and pulled her arm back, holding it tight against her chest.

She'd almost touched her...! What was wrong with her?

Biting her lip Noah took a deep breath. She had to be more careful... she didn't want the girl to wake up just yet... she wanted to keep looking at her a little longer. Counting to ten she exhaled a long silent breath and only when she trusted that she wouldn't reach for the girl again did she relax and unclenched her hand continuing with her observation. The girl's arms were splayed out before her on the bed in the small space between their two bodies, her hands curled into loose fists a like a baby's. As opposed to the side of her that Noah had seen so far, the girl looked so relaxed and vulnerable, finally looking like the little kid that she was...