Forever

| Chapter Eleven ~ I'm Not Afraid ~ |

Richelle's Pov
Silence filled the room. Runaway? Together? My heart began to beat faster than ever. I couldn't tell if I was scared or excited. My head was exploding with thoughts. Where would we go? How would we not get caught? How would we eat? How would we get money? My head was spinning and I was beginning to feel a little dizzy.

"Richelle?" Noah asked softly, mumbling into my hair. "I'm sorry...it was a stupid idea."

"No," I replied, quietly, "but...where would we go?"

He paused for a moment, pondering my question. I would love to run away with him, but it just didn't seem possible. It reminded me of a story I wrote. In fact, I could see the small pages on my windowsill, glistening in the sun. My pen sat next to them, almost asking me to write more.

Noah was about to answer me, when I suddenly screeched in pain. His head shot up, looking at me. What was happening? I couldn't think. I felt as though I couldn't move. An awful burning sensation was travelling through my head to my spine.

I had lost my hearing in that moment, and my eyes were tightly shut. My mouth was screaming; it felt excruciating. I had no idea what Noah was doing. I had no idea what I was doing.

Noah's Pov
"Richelle! Richelle! What's wrong! Talk to me baby!" I called out, but she didn't respond. "Richelle!"

I tried my best to calm her, but she wasn't listening. My hands began to shake a little from panic. What was happening? Why was she in pain? Could she even hear me? I called out to her once again, but there was no hope. I quickly checked the back of her head and back; they were still bleeding, but she wasn't in any extra pain before!

She suddenly began to violently shake. She wasn't screaming, but her eyes had rolled back into her head. Her hands were terribly shaking, so was the rest of her body. Crap! Why didn't I properly listen to her when she said she thought she had a seizure? I froze. I didn't know what to do.

She couldn't control it and I saw that she was about to fall from her bed. Instinctively, I caught her before she fell, and tried to lay her down on the floor as gently as I could. What...what was I supposed to do?! I made sure she didn't bump into anything, I knew that could really damage her.

"It's okay," I whispered, knowing she couldn't hear me but unsure if I was talking to her or myself.

It was almost as if those were the magic words; she stopped. Her flawless body lay unconscious on the floor in front of me. I was happy she wasn't having a seizure anymore, but now she was unconscious.

I was staring at her for only more than a few seconds before I felt myself being pulled back and pushed against Richelle's white wall. My face shattered as it hit the sudden snow, and I couldn't stop myself from letting out a groan of pain. That definitely wasn't Richelle....

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" a voice screamed into my ear, as I felt blood trickle down my face from my nose. "DO YOU HEAR ME?"

I turned my head to see who it was; Richelle's father. His veins were popping out of his face and I saw my parents gathering at the door. My mother gasped in horror as she saw Richelle. She bent down next to her, gently trying to shake her awake, but it wasn't working. It almost looked as though she were Richelle's mother, and not mine. I glanced at my father and he glanced back at me, completely confused. They weren't stopping Allan, so I would.

"I hear you," I replied, acting calmly as he loosened his grip a little, "but I don't think you heard me."

With that, I took a swipe at him, striking him hard across the face. He immediately let go of me, clutching his cheek. I tried to wile the blood off of my face whilst he was down.

"NOAH!" My father yelled, practically running to Allan to help him up. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

"OH YEAH," I retaliated, fuming with anger, "LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE DAD. LOOK AT HER!"

I pointed towards Richelle, who my mother had tried to sit up against the bed, still attempting to wake her. Everyone stared. I heard my mother gasp as she looked at the bed sheets. Her hand covered her mouth in shock. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she saw Richelle, helplessly laying there.

"It was him," I pointed back at Allan, who was teaming with rage.

He tried to take another swipe at me and I braced myself, but I heard my father say in such a calm manner, "don't hit my son."

His fist collided with Allan's face, shocking even myself. My mother stared in astonishment. Had he just hit Richelle's father? His 'friend for life'? I internally smiled and jumped up and down. I felt so proud of him. He finally saw him for who he was.

"How bloody dare you..." Allan began before he was interrupted by my father.

"This is for her," he said, fire in his eyes and he punched him again.

"You're out of the company,"Allan snarled, "both of you. I can't believe I considered letting you in."

I scoffed and began to go off on him, "well, I can't believe that you'd abuse your own child. I can't believe that you'd hit her with a belt. I can't believe that you'd cause her to have a seizure. I can't believe that you wouldn't even let her get medical help. I also cannot believe that you had four other children. Did you even know that Elizabeth saw you hurt Richelle today? I didn't think so."

I finished my speech and walked away from him, over to Richelle.

"I'm calling child services on you,"my father sternly told him. "You don't deserve any of the wonderful children you have."

A cruel smile curled onto his lips. His face looked awful. It looked broken.

"I can't believe you think that we'd let you do that," a female voice came from behind us.

Our heads spun around to see Mrs Nolet standing at the door, a gun in hand. She let out a psychotic laugh, an insane smile appearing on her face.

"Everyone's gone home," she excitedly told us, waving the gun around at us, clapping her hands together, "you can too. Just leave Richelle with us. We'll take good care of her. Tell no one."

Her smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. Allan got up, cracked his knuckles and stood next to the woman. Her expression had turned from insanity to pure evil in a split second.

"No," I firmly told her, stepping in front of my family. "Richelle is not staying with you. I don't care if you kill me. I'm not afraid of you."

My mother tugged at my shirt a little, pleading for me to come back.

"Oh you silly, silly boy," the woman said, shaking her head and laughing.

She aimed the gun at me and pulled the trigger. I didn't break eye contact with her, my stern expression staring into her soul.

The gun was suddenly knocked out of her hands, and a large bang echoed around the house. I hadn't been hit, no one had. The bullet went straight through the wall. How? I didn't have time to process what happened.

My eyes trailed down to see the gun in someone's hand; Elizabeth's.

"I guess this is the part where I say something witty."