12th November 2019

NOAH

"His name is Noah Stark."

The way she nearly whispered my name, the raw tenderness that laced through her familiar voice, made the nostalgia hit ten times harder. Clouding up with tears were her brilliant grey eyes, looking above and beyond when the person she truly wanted was right under her nose.

And yet, how could she know it was me when she didn't even remember my face?

I turned away on the guise of picking something up from my bag, wiping the unexpected moisture in my eyes that had transpired from seeing her again.

When I looked up, I found Renee sitting in the empty chair next to mine, her soft wavy hair now in a million tangles, her face flushed like she'd been crying.

"He risked his life to be with me, Sam," Her voice was shaking. "And now he's... He's suffering in a literal hellhole, all because of me!"

No, Ren, no. I wanted to say.

It was never your fault.

"Ren-" Clover started gently, but Renee simply shook her head, causing a single pearly tear to leak out of the corner of her eye.

What I'd give to capture that tear, pull her into my warm embrace, and tell her that I was right here.

And yet, I was this useless human called Oliver, who had vowed to protect his real identity like the idiot he was.

"I-I'm sorry," Sam let out an apology. "I thought Cloves was pranking me..."

"Of course, you'd think that," Clover hissed under her breath.

Sam glared at her but didn't say anything.

"How come you're here, Ren?" Clover focused her attention back on a distraught Renee. "I thought you weren't coming today."

"I did it," Renee chewed aggressively on her lower lip, her eyes stormy. "I destroyed it."

"You destroyed the meditation stimulator?!" Sam looked maddened, before throwing Clover a sour look.

Renee nodded, fighting hard to hold back her tears. The dark circles under her eyes were a play of shadows and light, with red streaks running through the whites of her eyes. Clearly, she'd been crying for the past few hours, looking too traumatised to even speak.

It broke me to see her like this.

"Why?" Clover's voice was filled with sympathy, as she scooted over to sit beside Ren. "You don't act so impulsively-"

"We can fix it, right?" Sam cut her off. "Ren, don't worry, I'll try to fix it back-"

"Fixing it isn't going to fix her problems," Clover snapped.

"What are you going to do?" Sam shot back. "Soothe her with words? Because that's exactly what your grandma did-"

"Guys, that's enough," I cut them off. I could see Renee looking at me for the first time, her eyes widening as if she... Recognised me?

As slight as the action had been, she averted her gaze, now looking at the floor.

"Fighting with each other isn't going to help her," I told them calmly, hoping that they didn't hate me for telling them off.

"He's right," Clover told Sam, who rolled his eyes.

We sat there awkwardly for a moment, with Clover and Sam staring daggers at each other, Renee still in pain, and I was a second away from revealing my identity.

"I'm hungry," Renee blurted out, probably trying to lighten the mood around the table. Unfortunately, we'd all eaten our lunch, our trays as clean as if there hadn't been any food there in the first place.

"Here," I fished into my backpack, pulling out the bag of marshmallows I'd decided to keep, in case I was having a really bad day.

"Marshmallows?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Good choice," Renee nodded in my direction, giving me a hint of a smile.

Did she know who I was?

I wondered if she'd written about my marshmallow obsession in the PDF. Maybe she did, and maybe little details like this would help her piece together my real identity.

However, Renee looked too disturbed today and I didn't want to burden her with who I really was. There would be an ideal day to break the news to her, and I was prepared to wait until she regained her composure.

Until then, I would remain as Oliver Jameson.

The bell rang, jolting us back to reality.

"Are you coming to class?" Clover asked Ren, who chewed noiselessly on the marshmallows, looking unnecessarily cute even in her distraught state. I could see the colour returning to her cheeks, soft pink splotches that made the familiar butterflies reappear in my stomach after months.

"Nope," She said, glancing my way. "Can I take these?"

Her diamond-like eyes found mine, and I nodded, thinking about how all I wanted was to stay in the cafeteria and empty the marshmallows with her.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Sam gave her a concerned gaze, trying to brush away her hair. Renee stepped back, just out of reach, all while a reassuring smile grazed her lips.

"She will," I spoke aloud, more harshly than I'd intended, "Her boyfriend is probably waiting to take care of her."

"Oh Oliver-" Clover began, but Renee cut her off with a slight shake of her head.

"You're right," Renee looked right at me, her grey eyes shining as she found my deep blue irises. "He's waiting for me to run into his arms."

I smiled.

Renee smiled.

"He is," I affirmed.

"He is," She repeated confidently, her dimple reappearing on her soft cheeks. "Thank you, Oliver."

And just like that, Renee walked out of the cafeteria, looking much less unhinged than before.

I heaved a sigh.

My Ren would be alright.

*****

12th November 2019

Johannes was a total hypocrite.

Only yesterday he'd been complaining that he didn't know how to use a phone. He'd pestered him to teach me, and we spent three hours straight on the simplest activity, where he'd acted like a literal moron, pressing every other button than the green one that calls.

And he'd even dared to call me a bad teacher.

But today, I found him hunched over the sofa, muttering grimly into the little device, unaware that I'd entered the apartment.

"-doesn't know right? Good, let's keep it that way..."

Did he know how to call people?

And who was he calling?

"Noah Stark? Ahh, he's being a pesky little bug as always, I wish I could squash him under my feet, but alas! Life doesn't always give you what you want..."

He heaved a sigh as if he were drowning in a sea of tragedy from being unable to squash me.

"Do you know how human poisons work? No? A shame son, I've always had a dream of poisoning someone, and who better to do it on, than on Noah Stark?" He still had his back to me, as he continued to complain into his phone.

This evil bat wanted to poison me?

I cursed in my head, hating him with my whole heart.

"A gun? Are you mad? I don't want a bloody murder, you fool! Besides, I want to see Noah writhe and die in pain, not something that takes his life away in the blink of an eye."

This was it.

I'm going to send Johannes straight into a coma.

I grabbed onto a porcelain vase, ready to smash it onto his head, when the evil bat decided to flip around and stare at me in the face, with all the arrogance in the world.

"Are you going to hit me? How despicable of you, boy, when I am your fake father?" Johannes looked anguished as if he hadn't been planning my murder a moment ago.

I heard someone's snorting laughter in the call, a gruff male voice that was strangely familiar.

Fergus.

"You wanted to kill me?" I glared at him, lowering the vase.

"Yes, boy. That's my greatest desire in the world," Johannes clutched his heart dramatically.

"Sir Johannes is simply pulling your leg, Noah Stark," Fergus chuckled from the phone, sounding out of breath. "How much I've missed his antics!"

"Keep quiet, Fergus. I desperately want to kill Noah Stark," Johannes spoke harshly, but I found the corners of his mouth turn up.

He was smiling? Johannes was still capable of that?

"Sure," I huffed, placing the vase carefully back into its place. Who would've thought that I'd fall for Johannes's silly prank?

"How are you able to call Fergus through a human phone?" I questioned Johannes.

"Boy, are you dense?" He rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you unite the Earthly and Spirit Internet three months ago? Or have you already forgotten about it?" He scolded.

Oh yeah, I did that.

The Pit had made me forget all the amazing things I'd done, only reiterating on my flaws.

"But, you can call people and stuff now?" I asked Johannes, thinking about how I could only send a text at that time.

"Yes, Noah Stark! Your friend Isaac tweaked it a bit, released the knowledge amongst the Astrascends. And now, I can talk to dear Fergus here." Johannes pointed to Fergus inside his phone, who had now switched on his video.

Despite suspecting Isaac for being the snake he was, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that we still worked on each other's inventions. Like I'd modified the Shield last year, he'd worked on my internet.

It almost made me wonder if we could go back to our old, brotherly bond.

Nope. He'd changed too much, and so did I.

Realising that I still hadn't acknowledged Fergus, I waved at him. "Hey, Fergus! How are you?"

"Hello, Noah Stark!" Fergus waved back, his large, knobbly hand obscuring his moon-like face. "I'm fine, just a bit lonely."

"Fergus, son, don't say that. We'll call you often, alright?" Johannes cooed lovingly.

"Thank you, Sir," Fergus grinned like a child.

Then Johannes began to ask him about Lord Augustus, whether he'd noticed our absence from the Pit, and if our getaway was as secret as we'd planned it to be. Fergus confirmed to us that we were safe and that Augustus had no clue that we'd left.

"Did Melody come over?" I asked Fergus, remembering that she visited me every other day.

"Ha! Are you still dreaming about Melody? Is Renee Durvont out of the picture now?" Johannes threw me a sly, teasing grin.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes. "Fergus, she was supposed to visit today, right?"

"You're correct, Noah Stark. Melody Davis did pay a visit to the Pit of Darkness," Fergus affirmed, and I noticed him running a nervous hand over his sweaty face.

I tensed. Melody was the weak link in our plan. If she knew, then Augustus would know too and I'd have to bid farewell to my dear freedom in the Earthly Realm.

"What did you tell her?" Johannes spat out, looking as agitated as I felt.

Fergus gulped, watching us frightfully.

"I told her that you'd e-escaped..."

And that's when Johannes lost it, erupting like a fiery volcano into a state of violent rage.

*****