Obsessive ~ Noah Foster [1]

Chapter Seven// Aftermath

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"Everyone has secrets. Everyone tells lies. And everyone is fair game. Until there's no one left."

--Noah Foster

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"GET ME A MEDIC!" I heard a women's voice scream. I was rolled over. All I could hear was sirens. "Arielle! Arielle, open your eyes!" I took a deep breath, opening my eyes, and sitting up. "Woah, woah. You're okay." Emma's mother sat beside me. "Riley... she--Where--?" I breathed. "You don't worry right now." I felt my eyes begin to close again. Riley was okay. That meant she was okay, right? I was so tired. I laid my head back down on the pavement. Suddenly Emma's mother backed away from me. I frowned, but soon realized it was because of the paramedics that surrounded me. A back was put behind my back, and two men picked me up, plopping me gently on a gurney. "I've already called your mother, Arielle. I'll be right here." Emma's mom assured me. I nodded gently, feeling totally out of it. I laid my head down on the gurney. They rolled me towards the front of the police station. The flashing lights nearly blinded me, so I closed my eyes.

"Arielle? IS THAT ARIELLE?" I heard the voice of Noah. "Hey, "Protect and serve," my ass!" He screamed. "Where were you! Where were you?!"

"Noah, calm down, okay? Breathe. Noah, stop!" Audrey said. That was the last thing I heard before I passed out again.

"Honestly, guys, this is a tough one to talk about. I mean, I've covered some terrible things, but last night... I felt it. The hunt for Tyler O'Neil ended in tragedy, and another Lakewood teen lost her life. And the press will by hyping, "The Curse of Brandon James and looking for someone to blame, but I've met these kids. And their loss is impossible to describe, so I'm not gonna try. My heartfelt condolences go to the friends and family of Riley Marra. I'm so sorry for your loss..."

I opened my eyes, and saw a white room. I was totally dead. I felt dead. If this is what death felt like... I didn't even wanna think about it. I sat up, feeling totally out of it. In the corner of my room, there was a chair. And on the chair, were a bunch of flowers, and cards, and balloons that said "Get Well Soon."

I sat up and sighed.

Barely three days in this town. Who were all these flowers from? "There must have been, like, a dozen people here, delivering flowers." I jumped, when I heard someone speak. I turned my head to see Noah sitting in the chair beside my bed. I frowned. "Don't worry, your mother just went home for a minute to check on your sister." Noah said, smiling slightly at me. "What are you doing here?" My voice came out as a rasp. I cleared my throat, and turned around to face him. "I wanted to see if you were okay." Noah said, truthfully. "I'm fine." I lied. I wasn't fine. I just wanted to know where Riley was. "How's Riley?" I asked. Noah looked down, and a tear escaped his eye. "Noah..?" I whispered. He looked back up at me. "Riley... she- I called her last night, and she was bleeding, and crying... and she told me that he stabbed her. And then... I tried to get her to stay with me... but she--she didn't make it." He whispered. "Oh, my God. I--I'm so very sorry, Noah." I cried. "They found you... uhm, in the parking lot, not far from Riley. You hit your head pretty hard, and you lost a lot of blood... from, you know, your leg." Noah gestured to under the blankets. I shifted in the bed, and pulled the blankets from my body. I was wearing a hospital gown, and my legs were bare, except for my thigh, where there was a white medical wrap around it. "I remember not being able to help her, Noah." I sobbed. "I couldn't help her. He--she-- I don't know...knocked me down, and then..." I trailed off. "I should've stopped them. I should've saved Riley."

"Hey, it's not your fault. The cops should have been there, Arielle." Noah stood up, and sat beside me. "I'm sorry." I whispered. "It's alright." Noah wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and let me rest my head on his shoulder. "Let's change the subject?" He suggested. I nodded. "Okay, who brought all these flowers?" I laughed, sniffling. Noah laughed, and pulled away, and stood from my hospital bed. He walked over to the chair, and picked up a bouquet of red roses. "Ooh, these ones are from Jake." Noah said in a sing-song voice. "Seriously?" I laughed. "Oh, there's a note."

"Arielle, get well soon. And when you are better, I'll be here if you need someone." Noah read aloud, as if he were in a play by Shakespeare. He burst out laughing. "Oh, my God! Jake totally wants you." Noah said. I laughed too. "Not gonna happen." I laughed. "Next." I said. "Most of these are from Brooke... oh, here's one from someone named Rosie." Noah picked up a stuffed bear. "Get better, Ari." Noah read. I smiled. "Ooh, Hydrangeas." Noah said, picking up some flowers. "There's a note." He told me. "Uhm... 'That was one hell of a game; did you have fun? Because I know I did'." I sat up in the bed, alarmed. "W--what? Who's that from?"

"It doesn't say." Another tear escaped my eye, as I realized. "Noah." I whispered. "Yeah?"

"Throw them out." I said. "What?" He asked. "Throw them out." I shouted.

xxx

I couldn't believe Riley was gone. This was all so screwed up. "You don't have to go to school today, honey." My mother sat on the edge of my bed. "Mom, I'm fine. But do you think I can wear pants today?" I watched her from my mirror. "No, you have to let it breathe." She told me. I sighed, "fine." My mother stood up. "I'll be in the car." With that, she left the room. I stared at myself in the mirror. I was forced to wear a dress. I never wore dresses. And now... everyone was going to see the beastly scar that... disgusting killer had left. Yes, it was a scar now. It'd probably be there forever. I closed my eyes. They had killed Nina, her boyfriend, and Riley. No, I didn't believe that Tyler could've done this. I didn't know him, but the way Nina used to talk about him... he came off as a tech savvy nerd, who was a bit of a scaredy cat. He didn't seem like it could be him.

At school, I regreted talking my mom into letting me go. As soon as I walked in the door, people stared at me. "Arielle!" In front of me, Rosie came rushing towards me. "Oh, my God. You're okay. I'm so glad, because I was so worried." Rosie wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. "I'm all good." I smiled, hugging her back. "Thank God. Did you get my teddy bear?" She smiled, pulling away from me. "Yes, thank you." I said. "No problem. I'm just glad you're okay."

I spent the day with Rosie, she came to every single one of my classes when class was done. She wanted to make sure I wasn't hounded. And trust me, I was. Especially in class. Rosie's friends were okay. I sat with them at lunch, but I ended up missing my friends. Wait... did I just say "my friends"? I guess I considered them my friends.

Rosie's friends consisted of two girls, and one guy. Jaymee was one of the girls, who had a resting bitch face, and was very quiet, so I didn't know if she liked me or not. Next was Jaclynn, who had a sweet smile, and a hilarious laugh, who seemed nice enough. The boy was named Nick, who was Jaymee's boyfriend. He wasn't quiet like Jaymee. He was actually quite loud like Rosie.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rosie asked me. I looked up at her, and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick." I stood from the picnic bench, and smiled at all of her friends, before walking towards the building.

Once inside, I, again, felt eyes on me. And heard the whispering. Everyone knew. Everyone knew that I was there. That I didn't save her...

I stared at the ground as I walked. And that's when I started fast-walking, not caring about the pain in my thigh. It burned, as I walked. Fuck, fuck, fu--

"Arielle." I stopped short, and looked up, realizing that I just about knocked into Noah. "Hey." I whispered. "Hey, are you okay?" I looked up at his eyes. They were red and puffy. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Yeah, yeah... I just really don't want to be here." He told me. "Me either." I said. "Do you wanna--"

"Skip?" I finished his sentence. "Yeah, do you want to skip?" I smiled a little. "There's only two more periods, we'll be fine."

"Then yes. I do."