Wrists

chapter 4

I wake up with a bandage around my head and another around my slightly chubby belly,  making it feel flat. I'm in a bed that's not my own futon that I have at home. It's huge and too white for my taste. The room wasn't a hospital room surprisingly considering where I was last left. There was a white canopy over my white bed that had white headboards and sheets. The carpet down below was white and the nightstands on the sides of my bed were white. White, white, white, white, white. There was a dresser about 5 feet to my left and another to my right. In front of the bed was a white entertainment center was black flat screen tv up against the wall above it.
    I try to sit up to get out of the bed, but my stomach aches and I fell back into the mountain of white pillows. I felt a remote near my left hand and blindly looked for it to turn the tv on because I hate silence. It fills the air making me feel small and chokes me. I start to worry that I didn't really find the remote and someone hid it so that I would have an attack. My heart starts pumping fast the weight of everything starts to fall on me and I start to hyperventilate. I throw my hands around the white sheets until I found something, anything to calm me down. Still thrashing I scream loud trying to get this silence out of my head. I hear someone running down the hall where I stayed and I kept flipping out until they entered the room.
    "Woah! Woah. Woah. Calm down Hope, it's alright, you're safe now," Noah says in his wonderful, calming, joking voice. Man did I miss him. He sits on the bed and I lean over and we share a little peck.
    "Now what was it that you were flipping out about," he puts his hand on my restless heart, "and are still worrying about?"
    "I couldn't find the remote to turn the tv on and silence is the bane of my existence," I say, "It feels like the world is collapsing on me and the silence just gets in my head and I obviously freak out. Ow," I say, my stomach once again cramping. "So what's my diagnosis doc?" I say with a painful smile, realizing that my lip was split.
    "You've got two bruised ribs, a minor concussion, and obviously you're scraped and bruised everywhere," Noah said.
    "Yeah, I noticed," I whimpered. Noah stood up and picked up the black remote and turned the tv on. It filled the once silent room with noise of the local news talking about something the President did. Then suddenly my father's face popped up, I grabbed the remote from Noah and turned up the tv.
    "Vice Principal and head boys basketball coach of Reagan High, Charles Black, was charged last Sunday with several accounts of child abuse," the news lady said, "Black has been found guilty of abusing his own daughter and several others in the school." Suddenly Jesse, one of my best guy friends, was on the news.
    "I thought Mr. Black was a cool guy," he hesitated, "Then one day we were working after practice and I... I... screwed up a free throw, and he got angry. I thought he was just gonna march up to my face and yell at me but he came up and slapped me across the face and kicked me in the crotch. I thought that would be the last time so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and we were in practice one day and I shot a three when I wasn't supposed to so he took me back to that place where he beat up Hope and punched and kicked me."
Then Jane flashed on the screen, "Mr. Black always seemed intimidating."
"Ohhh, not Jane," I said.
"It was just a normal day after school and he came up to me angry about something I did. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me out to where he apparently beat other kids and he kicked me in the stomach and hit me. I was scared to tell someone because it was me, a little freshman's word, against Mr. Black, the Vice Principal," she finished.
"No, no, no, no, no. I can't believe he did that to them," I said as I changed the channel and turned down the volume.
"Those two aren't the only ones, since you've been here 4 kids came out about them being beaten by your dad, and more are suspected but they don't want to come out," Noah told me.
"Who all came out about them being beaten?" I ask.
"Obviously Jesse and Jane were ready to tell the world about it. Then there were these two other kids Mackenzie and a Noah," he said. My heart dropped to the floor.
"Umm... what did he look like?" I asked.
"Tall, lanky, dark hair, dark eyes, etc."
"Did he wear glasses?"
"Yeah, from what I've seen of him at school," Noah said. My heart dropped even lower. Why Nerdy Noah? Why? Why? Why? I can't believe my dad would do something like that to all those children, and my potential soulmate. I can't even think of how those kids feel right now. I need to see them soon.
"Wait what day is it?" I ask Noah.
"Tuesday afternoon, I got home only a few minutes ago" he says.
"Wait did I fall into a coma?"
"Nah, you just needed rest. You basically slept, then I would come in here and feed you, and then you would go back to sleep," Noah explained.
"Good, so am I clear to go back to school doc?" I say with a smile.
"Yes, you can go tomorrow. All of your stuff has been moved here temporarily since you're not 18 yet you can't live by yourself so my family decided to take you in for the time being while your dad is in jail." I sit there speechless until I can't bear the quietness of the tv and I turn it back up and change the channel to Comedy Central where The Office is playing.
"You like The Office?" Noah asks.
"Duh, it's like the best comedy out there," I say, "So sad that it had to end so soon."
"Yeah. You want to try and walk down to the kitchen?" he asks.
"Sure," I reply. I try to sit and swing my legs over the white bed that had white sheets and my feet touched the white, soft, and fluffy carpet. I stood up and winced as my stomach cramped and Noah wrapped his arm around my back and picked my legs up and carried me like a baby out through the doorway and through the hallway with tan walls and more white carpet and down a set of stairs. Noah carries me into the living room which was about the size of any normal living room with tan walls, white carpet, and brown furniture. Once again there was a black flat screen tv on the wall of the room. He sets me down on the loveseat and I lie down.
"No, if you can sit up, sit up. It's better for you to get used to sitting up because you're going to school tomorrow," Noah demands. I sit up and he disappears into a doorway and comes back a minute later with an apple and throws it to me. I catch it and he turns on the tv and sits next to me and I put my head on his shoulder. We stay there for a while until Noah's mom came home and we had chinese for dinner. We sat at the table in an awkward silence until Mrs. Whitton broke it by saying, "Hope, I'm so sorry I feel like this whole situation started with me bringing up if you've met your soulmate yet." Then she started to sniffle a little bit and some tears formed in her eyes.
"Oh, Mrs. Whitton. It wasn't your fault, the truth would've come out sooner or later about my meeting Noah. See I believe that everything happens because something else set something off that set something else off. A chain reaction. If you guys had never moved here I wouldn't have met Noah. If Noah hadn't crashed into me with his skateboard then I never would've taken care of him or told him not to tell anyone that we found each other. It's all a chain of events and my dad chose to take a bad path and that lead to where he is now. See if you hadn't said that then we wouldn't have found out about all those kids he abused," I say.
"Hope, you're very right and very insightful. Thank you, you've made me feel better and please call me Michelle, I mean you are my son's soulmate after all," she replies.
"Ok, Mrs...- Michelle," I say with a smirk.
"So how was school today Noah? Make any new friends?" Michelle asks her son.
"Yeah, I met a few other kids named Noah. They actually asked me about you Hope, and if I was your soulmate," Noah replied nonchalantly.
"Really? Did you see Nerdy Noah?" I say.
"Nerdy Noah?" my soulmate Noah questions.
"Yeah, that's his nickname since there are so many Noahs at Reagan High, most people just call him Kent, his last name, or just Nerdy," I say, "He is one of my closest friends at school."
"Huh, well I haven't seen or heard of anybody like him. You'll have to show me who he is tomorrow when we go to school,"
"Wait, Hope are you sure you're ready to go to school just yet?" Michelle asks me.
I look to Noah as he gives me a slight nod and I say,"Yeah, I've had my rest. I also need to get to my volleyball practices soon."
"You play volleyball?" Michelle asks.
"Yeah, I mean my dad forced me to play but it's pretty fun I guess," I tell her.
"Well I used to play in college so if you need any pointers you can just come ask me,"
"Thanks, Michelle. I'll make sure to do so," I say.
"Well, I don't know about you guys but my belly's full and I'm ready to watch a movie. Who's in?" Noah asks.
"I think Hope needs her rest sweetie. She's got a big day tomorrow, but we can watch one together," Michelle says while sending me a wink.
"Yeah Noah, I think I need to sleep and regain some energy for all the questions I'm going to answer tomorrow," I add.
"You two are dangerous when you work together," Noah says with a laugh, "Need me to carry you princess?"
"No I think I'll be able to make it without you Prince Valiant, but I'll give you a holler if I need you to help me," I tell him. I stand up and say my goodnights to Michelle and Noah and start to head back to the room I am currently staying in. I make it up the stairs and down the hall into my bedroom and open the drawers to find that it had my pajamas in there all nice and folded. I took out my orange cloth shorts and my long sleeve purple pajama top. When I unfold my shorts I find a note from Noah in there:
       
            Hey Hope,
        I just wanted to tell you how pretty you
        are and you are nothing short of perfection
            Love Noah