Obsessive ~ Noah Foster [1]

Chapter Twenty-Nine//Truth-Telling

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"He wanted to take me to the carnival. I wanted to say yes."

--Brooke Maddox

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The sunlight was in my eyes as I woke up. "Hey, there." Noah stood over me. I lifted my head and realized that we were still at the lake. "Ugh," I groaned. "Ah, the classic showdown at the lake, tying together the past and the future." Noah sighed. "And Survivor Girl in the back of an ambulance." Audrey piped up. I looked beside me, realizing that she was there too. "Just like somebody predicted." Audrey laughed. "Exactly!" Noah cried out. "But I did not predict that there would be two survivor girls." He smiled down at me. I raised an eyebrow. "So you thought I would die?" I tried to speak, but it came out as a rasp.

"No, I thought we were all gonna die." Noah pointed at me. "But today... we're all sitting in the back of the ambulance together. Well, not literally, 'cause then we wouldn't all fit, but you know what I mean."

"I do." Audrey scoffed. "I'm just glad that Arielle's a good liar." Audrey sighed. I frowned slightly. "What?"

"Oh, "I have to pee"." Audrey mocked my voice. "I followed you out into the woods." Audrey revealed. I smiled slightly. "You were a genuine crime-fighting hero tonight, Bi-Curious." Noah complimented. "Right back at ya, Virgin." They both looked at me, and leaned down to group hug. I groaned at the slight pain as they hugged me. "Mm."

"Are you okay?" They both asked. "Not really." I laughed. "Okay, yeah, we should get you to the hospital." They pulled away from me.

I stared at my new wound in my full-body mirror. It looked huge and I wasn't sure I could ever wear a bikini anymore. I mean, not that I ever have, but..."Arielle." I turned my head to see my mother come into my room. I immediately smoothed the bandage back down over my future-scar. "Yeah?" I turned around fully. "Can we talk?" My mom asked, looking quite nervous. I nodded slightly, walking over to my bed and sitting down, patting the seat beside me. My mother closed the door to my bedroom, and walked in, sitting down beside me. "Now... before... you were asking all these questions about Aunt Tracy and Nina... and-- Well, you almost died the other day, and I thought that if you died not knowing the truth... well, that would just eat me alive." She whispered. "Mom, get to the point." I bit my lip in anticipation. "Well... I lied to you before. Your father and I had trouble having children after I had Kat. We weren't doing too well with our marriage and we thought that a baby might fix that." My mother paused, and I watched her face as she began to tear up. Oh, no. Something was definitely wrong. "But... the doctor told us it would be too dangerous for me to have another baby... so we tried adoption."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm adopted...?" I whispered. "No...well, yeah... but, no. Your aunt Tracy was young and back then, she and your uncle didn't have a lot of money. So when she found out she was having twins... she was putting one of them up for adoption, and so I took you. And at the hospital, when I first held you, I knew you were mine." My mother sniffled. "You're my baby, Arielle. Now, you can think that I'm not you're real mom, but I want you to know that you will forever be my real daughter. To me, you're not adopted, Arielle." I watched my mother with my eyes wide. "Arielle, will you say something...?" My mother whispered. "Can you please leave?" I asked. "Arielle--"

"No, Mom. I'm sorry, but I really need to be alone right now." I whispered.