Promise?

Chapter 8

For the next three weeks, Noah and the girl met in the late hours of the night and after a bit of coaxing from Noah they would sneak up to her room. They fell into a routine of sorts; she'd talk while the girl listened. The girl ate while Noah watched.

After the first four consecutive nights Noah picked up on a few things just from watching the girl. For example, she realized very early on that the girl couldn't read or write- this was after she'd accidentally handed the girl an expired cup of yogurt. Noah couldn't help but balk when she saw the girl about to take a big spoonful of the curdled stuff then snatched it out of her hand. "Hey, can't you see that it's gone bad? Didn't you see the date? See, down here: best by-" when she saw the girl peer at her quizzically with her head cocked to the side an invisible frown on her otherwise blank face as if she had no idea what the words on the yogurt cup said, Noah couldn't help but wonder. Then on another occasion when Noah decided they should play hangman and it was the girl's turn to be the one to write down the letters and draw the little hangman she saw how this one paused and stared at her with a blank expression on her her pale face, that was actually when she put two and two together and figured it out. And even though she wasn't sure if the fact that girl didn't speak had anything to do with her illiteracy Noah couldn't find it within herself to ask, afraid that if she did she might end up hurting the girl's feelings.

Rather than risking the chance of doing something so terrible Noah quickly decided to instead teach the girl everything she knew- even if what she "knew" wasn't all that much to begin with. But it didn't matter she would learn... she'd work harder in school and on her own to gain as much knowledge as she could so that she could teach the girl everything and more.

It started with Noah reading to her, as best she could one of the books she'd been reading in school making sure to sound out every word while doing her best to explain what each meant as they went along. She wasn't sure how much the girl understood but she was certain that the girl enjoyed the readings and the books Noah picked out for her. The way her already sparkling eyes glittered even more and the way she leaned into her, her sweet breath brushing against Noah's face whenever something exciting was happening was enough to make Noah enjoy reading even more than she already did. Eventually she began to switch things up; on some nights she'd greet the girl with blank sheets of paper and colored pencils, crayons, markers or paints so that they could spend the nights coloring or drawing. On other nights blank lined papers and pencils were what would be waiting for the girl as soon as they made it up to Noah's room. She did her best to teach the girl how to write, going as far as practicing her own spelling and penmanship whenever she could spare a moment in order to make things easier for the girl to understand (and make her writing prettier). They wrote all kinds of words- from books she'd been reading to her over the past few nights, the names of the snacks they ate, and eve  simple words like the names of colors and objects that might pop into Noah's head. There were times however when Noah would feel down as she watched the girl attempting to spell out a word in her neater than expected writing as she thought about teaching her how to spell her name except... well, she didn't exactly know what it was.

How sad she would think, as they sat on the plush carpet beside her bed doing their best to spell out the list of words and names she'd come up with for the night. How could she call herself the girl's friend when she didn't even know something as simple as her name. But then again... after everything they'd experienced, all the nights they'd spent together and the huge secret she'd been keeping for the girl Noah had never even thought to ask for her name. She knew that the girl wouldn't have provided it even if she had but the fact that Noah hadn't taken the initiative to do it made her feel all kinds of guilt.

It was sad but... Noah did her best to push the feelings away and go on with her lessons. She didn't want to push the girl, didn't want to make her feel forced or obligated to do anything she wasn't comfortable with- if she wanted Noah to know her name then she would tell her. Until then Noah would be patient, just like her mommy always told her to be.