A blunt pain spread across Noel's back as he shifted his position. He was sitting straddling against the wall and mindlessly forking the soggy mass on his bowl as a loud thunder crackled near his window.

Water splitter-splattered from its frame inside which was barely being registered by a sprightly Arizona. Arizona had been making small talks all evening as she sat there with her legs crossed near the window. The same soggy mass called noodles kept disappearing in her food hole keeping her stamina intact in the long marathon her mouth was running, to which Noel had been fleetingly nodding here and there. The thumping on his head top was really making it hard for him to focus. On anything at all.

Noel glinted at Arizona. The light coming from the neon street light overcast her soft features accentuating it even in his well light room, giving her an ethereal glow. He could not even fathom how could someone as petite as her lift that heavy pottery with a humongous cactus and break that bulletproof glass. If not for her wit though, Noel would not be slouching against the wall, alive and contemplating whether to eat this wormy like doodly mass swimming in a pool of tiny floating sparkles of spices.

Noel looked away and back at his bowl, nodding vaguely to something Arizona was saying about some local upcoming festival. He could not decide if letting her stay here was a good idea. There was still residual nitrous oxide in the air which was not lethal but hazardous nevertheless. Getting high on nitrous oxide aka laughing gas might be a common practice in the streets, in practice however, it was quite a deadly drug. Only a morsel is enough to parcel someone upstairs and he inhaled quite the amount. If not for Arizona, he might already have been there already.

On top of that he did not know how did the canister get in here which was bugging him even more so. And he had two theories.

It could have been thrown in by a druggie from the pub down the street to evade being arrested by the police on the run. His window was open in the morning when he got in. Or

The facility has found my whereabouts while I was away and this was just a warning.

Which made Noel frown. If he learnt anything from all those time he had spent there, it was the facility's sadistic strategy of toying with their prey for quite some times before the sheer pressure of being cornered crushes down upon it and it drowns towards its impending doom and Noel had no intention of associating Arizona with him and involve her into all this in case it was the later. She was too pure too be pulled into all this.

How do I ask her too leave though?

"The poison I've laced in them will soon expire if you don't eat them you know," Arizona chapped sulking which snapped Noel out of his faze. He looked at her and blinked at the bowl to grasp what she was talking about.

"Don't worry. I suck so much in cooking that the poison can not make its taste any worse than it already is."

Noel grinned. "It's not that I'm just not hungry."

Arizona's face flicked its glow into grey instantly.

"No no no. I'm totally feeling fine. I just don't eat at this time," Noel completed poking the bowl as far away from him as possible. His body was not really up for trying another deadly looking thingy in this less span of tip.

"You sure you don't want this?" Arizona narrowed her eyes as she retreated the bowl away from him.

Noel nodded which brightened up her face.

"You lose. You won't get it even if you cry for it. It's my favorite," Arizona grinned as her fork already rolled up the first puddle of noodles ready to be delivered in her mouth.

Noel just smiled. He had no doubt they were. It was her third bowl so far which, of course, were hers to begin with. The only variation Noel ever brought on his diet was flavoured ice instead of plain ice and he had every intention of keeping it that way.

"So, what are all these books for?" Arizona asked, slurping on her noodles.

"I read them."

"No way! Really?" Her eyes were glinting. "I could swear you sell them. I mean WOW!" Arizona marvelled at the room. The room was bashed with books and scripts and pages. Books of versatile disciplines were stacked from the ground to the window rim almost throughout the room. While most were of recent times, some looked like they were older than the earth itself. It was like every nerd's dream room. Arizona could only comprehend the fortune spent on here to procure scripts do rare. She could imagine a gentle evening light carousing his chiseled features as Noel drown himself amidst the overwhelming sea of letters.

But wait a minute...

"You don't go to Wilmore High, do you?" Arizona quizzed. She could not recall seeing him there and could not imagine there not being a buzz about it IF he ever did. After all, he was THE DEVIL OF KREMLIN.

"No."

Arizona arched her brow, looking at the books and back at him.

"I read them on my own accord."

Arizona whistled. "You must be from an island or something." That was the kind of motivation she wanted for her high school. But Noel looked at her like she just recited him the password to his bank account.

"Wait. You're actually an islander?" Arizona was in awe. "You looks could easily pass you to be from Harlin. You totally look like those chic hot boys from their patrolling squads." Arizona bit her tongue and instantly regretted her choice of words.

"I meant... you look too polished to be from somewhere as under poverished as Annexa or Kremlin."

Noel, on the other hand, stared at Arizona. While his face was stoic, the cogs of his mind were turning in all directions.

Out of the 14 different places I could hail from, the odds of Arizona mentioning an island was 7.143%

He was doubting if he lowered his guard too much around her. Earlier, after Arizona followed him, Noel hacked into the Kremlin database just to tick her off his mind. But her slate was as clean as a whistle. She was from Annexa, 17 with a stiling good academic report which he was not surprised given she was here on scholarship. Though there were multiple charges of theft, battery and assault against her father Freddie Wood, which was really common in Annexan men, Arizona's one was clean and that was all Noel wanted to know.

Then again...

The facility would be sure to cover tracts if they were spending someone to tail me.

As logics clashed and smashed in his mind pro and against her, Noel just nodded an yes. For some reason his mouth was conspiring with his gut and his gut was completely rebelling against the logical side of his head.

"Cooool! This is the first time I'm ever seeing someone from there," Arizona yelped in excitement, "I always imagined from from the seas to be more tanned. Looks like you were never a fan of sunshine." Arizona grinned.

"And where might you be from Miss Woods?"

"Please! Cut the formality. Call me Arizona. And I'm from Annexa."

Matches with the record

Noel nodded to himself.

"I know," Arizona tucked her hair behind her ear, "it's like a bummer. Bet islands are better than that."

"I doubt," Noel gave a weak smile as flashes of his life there flogged in his mind. He would switch places to live in anywhere but there any part of the day.

"So what's it like living in an island?" Arizona asked, her eyes glossing like a two year old, "do you guys swim like penguins? Or like do you only eat coconut?"

Noel didn't know if it was for the laughing gas in the air or the fact that Arizona said it in a really funny way, Noel just burst into laughter. "No! Why would you say that!" He just crouched down laughing. It took him quite the effort to remove that vivid imagery of all the scientists in their white coats flip-flopping around like a penguin that just popped up in his head with Arizona's words.

Arizona failed to see what was so hilarious. So she looked at him like a curious bunny.

"No," Noel finally stopped laughing. "We had multiplex towers and techs. And no, we had drinking water and speed boats," he completed wiping the tears off his eyes. His belly was hurting from laughter.

"So you guys have everything in the world?" Arizona retorted pouting, " how's that worse than Annexa?"

"A bit here and there. We had all the facilities alright." Noel wished he could tell what they did with those technologies to him and with him without scaring her away. She would never look at him the same.

"So you had lots of siblings?"

"Kind of?"

Arizona looked curious.

"126"

"Hey, if you don't wanna say. Don't. But don't lie."

" I didn't mean to. I'm an orphan. That's the number of us that was there when we started out."

Arizona pressed her lips.

Why didn't I think of that!

"What about yours?" Noel asked, wanting to divert the attention away from him. He so was not feeling comfortable with the limelight on him only.

"4," Arizona replied instantly. "There were 4 of us. Me, my ma and my younger brother. If it helps, family ain't always sunshine and glossy. Sometimes you'd just wish to run away," she completed with a grin.

Noel noted the lack of father figure in the sentence but decided against asking about it. For some reason it felt like that was what she wanted too. Instead Noel just nodded his head and contemplated how to say what he wanted to say next without coming across as a jackass.

" So... don't you have to be somewhere?"

Arizona looked, slurping her last bite. "Yeah?"

"You have a night shift at the Fruity People if I'm not wrong, right?"

"Had. I took a day off. I'm not being a bother, am I?" Arizona pouted.

"No, that's not what I meant," Noel pursed his lip his, "I meant to ask if you needed me to drop you off in this weather." He was actually thinking the other way of him being the bother. He did not want to guilt trap her here tonight.

"Someone's being chivalrous," Arizona grinned. "But don't bother. You don't need to get on your feet right now. What you need is a big, fat sleep. Seriously! You look like the grown up version of Casper, the friendly ghost."

Noel was just about to protest but Arizona cut short. "Please. What am I gonna steal from here? Your books? Stop acting like a guest in your own house." She pushed him down on the bed and tucked him in all the while Noel tried to think of a smart rebutal. But his head came back with nothing. He had spoken the most that day than he ever did in a month and that alone seemed to have tired him out.

How did I get so weak?

Were his exact thoughts as his world gradually faded from Arizona walking around to a complete darkness.

Arizona took the lead off the dumpster to dispose off the the plastic cups but instead she just stood there with her head low.

The sky had stopped pouring sometimes back and she knew it was a que for any sensible person to pull a conclusion to their stay and go back.

But...

Arizona bit the inner of her lips. She intended on staying the night and looking out. Arizona was feeling really pathetic for acting so overbearing. Never in her life had she gone through so many shades of emotions in one day. She looked at Noel through the window, sleeping like a baby. His slumped up shoulder and pale lips wailed the signs of exhaustion even from there. No way in hell did she believe him being a whippits smokers. She would know a druggie when she saw one but Noel was definitely not under that spectrum. She had lived with one her whole life to not know them head to toe, which left her with only one explanation.

Noel was definitely trying to take his own life.

And Arizona just could not take the thought. She had no clue what was so painful in his life that he decided on such a drastic step, but if there was anything that she had learnt from life that was things look up. Always. Maybe if not now but sometimes, somewhere in the future, they would. And Arizona wanted him to live to see that. He deserved to, at least more than those scumbags down the street.

Arizona could not guarantee he would not out act on his impulse in the future again but the least she could do now was remove any such cannister from the house and dump them off somewhere before he decided to suffocate himself to death anytime sooner. That was her plan before he abruptly woke up earlier. And that was exactly what she decided to do right then.

Arizona tiptoed back to the house and collected the burst up cannisters tat she had doused earlier. She snooped around some more making as less sound as possible. She noticed him fidgeting at the slightest noises.

But even after half an hour of riddling around, those two were the only ones she could find. Not wanting to walk up to the dumpster in this damp weather anyhow, Arizona just clanked them in her bag and decided for the door when she turned back to check on him one last time.

Noel seemed lost in deep sleep as his chest rhythmically went up and down. His body had long bruises and cuts here and there which Arizona could definitely vouch was not from kiddy things like falling off a bike or something. They were dark. And deep. And revealing nothing about its days.

She bent her knees to her cheeks and sat down. She just realized she was sitting with a person in a lone house of a deserted alley and she knew nothing about him in true sense. Her nosy mind started overflowing with questions starting with what shampoo he used to get such flawless hair.