“So we’re going to break into her house.” Sam looked at me with uncertainty as we sat on my living room couch and I explained the plan for unlocking the secret to Nova’s mind.
“It’ll be fine. I overheard my mom talking about how her parents are gone for the whole weekend visiting family in Missouri. And I know how to get into her room via her window from when we used to sit on her roof during the summer.”
Sam sighed and ran a hand through his unruly hair. “Okay Logan. Whatever you say.”
“Good. Now we just have to wait until my parents are asleep to sneak over.” I looked at the time on my phone. “Which will be a couple more hours. So, what should we do?”
***
My parents were both asleep by 1 am. Sam and I quietly walked out the back door and across the driveway to Nova’s house. It was built so (if strong and flexible) you could climb your way up the side to the roof, and then walk to her window.
We made it to the window and I unlocked it with the spare key Nova had kept hidden under a roof tile. I stepped into her room; it felt eerily empty and quiet.
Sam took a deep breath. “This is… weird.”
I nodded. The bed was still unmade, clothes were still on the floor, a book was haphazardly dog-eared that lay on her nightstand. I could feel every essence of Nova in that room and it was utterly terrifying.
“Okay. Don’t turn on any lights because I don’t want to alert any neighbors. Start looking for a notebook, or a diary or something that might give us a hint on what she was thinking.” I instructed Sam. We started to carefully go through her room, working in the dark as the time ticked by.
25 frustrating minutes later, Sam held up a notebook that was hidden under a pile of clothes in Nova’s closet. It was black and leather bound, exploding with pages of writing. I ran over and he opened it. The first page read:
The Anatomy of Our Fate
Nova Williams
“What the-”
“Turn the page.” I interrupted him.
The next page was in another language, which looked to be French. We kept turning pages, but to no avail. It was all in French.
“Did you know she spoke French?” I asked Sam.
“No… she took Spanish in school. Why would she write in French anyways?”
“So people like us wouldn’t be able to read it.” I sighed. “Hey, doesn’t Nina speak French?”
“Ya… let’s see if she can translate it.”
Another thing caught my eye. Behind the pile of clothing at the far corner of Nova’s closet was a mason jar, filled with money that had a green post-it note stuck to the top. I reached for it and pulled it out of the closet. The note read “New York” in messy pen. The money was a range of neat $100 bills to crumpled $1 bills. There had to be at least $1,000 in the jar.
“Was she planning on running away?” I stared quizzically at the money.
“With Nova, you could never know.”
Suddenly, I heard a sound. A slight grumble, and then a voice. I turned my head, wide-eyed, at Sam.
I stuffed the jar back in the closet and put the notebook under my arm, as Sam found a coffee stained journal page ripped out and on her nightstand.
“Take it-we have to go.” I whispered, heading towards the window. The voice was louder now, and I could tell it was coming from downstairs. I stepped onto the roof and closed the window quickly after Sam jumped out, and we scaled down the side and ran into my house.
A window turned on inside of Nova’s room. It was her brother. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Sam, still breathless as we stood in the kitchen.
“That was close… we’re stupid.”
“Look at this.” He brought over the coffee-stained notebook paper and held it up eye-level.
“I don’t have the passion anymore, and so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
- Kurt Cobain
I furrowed my forehead. “That’s weird. Keep it.”
We spent the next two hours trying to make heads or tails of the quote and how it pertained to Nova’s fate.
I looked at the kitchen clock. It was 5 am.
“Should we sleep or drink an excessive, probably unsafe amount of coffee?” I asked Sam. It was a Friday, meaning we had school in about 3 hours.
“The intelligent never sleep.” He gave a lopsided grin from his place surrounded by Nova’s papers.
“…We just broke into a house without bothering to make sure no one was home. I’d say we’re far from smart.”
“True.”
And with that, we fell asleep on the kitchen floor.
