Noah's house was stunning.

Obviously it looked like all of the other houses on the street, but somehow it stood out from the rest as if it were made of marble instead of granite. It even had a slight gleam to it like a thin sheet of rain had polished it.

"So...this is home I guess," he shrugged his shoulders and gestured that I go in first. From first-hand experience I immediately curled into a ball and awaited a savage dog- especially as I recalled that every household had a guard dog.

Nothing happened.

Noah laughed nervously and there was an awkward silence as I stood up,
"Err haha by any chance have you had an experience with Wilma?" He asked with a hint of anxiety in his voice.

"Yeah... I tried to run away once." The memory of that attempted escape seemed so ludicrous after all that had happened since then.
"How do you know Wilma?" I asked,

"Oh... well... you know when I was dragged away?"

"Yeah?"

"Well... let's just say Wilma was given a new bait to train with for a while." His cheeks changed and I couldn't restrain from showing by horror.

"Yeah, well, 'discipline is virtue' I guess." He looked away as if he preferred not to talk about the subject. I, at that time was not aware of this action and proceeded to ask,

"How did you escape?" He was a little startled the conversation was being continued, but he did his best to hide his surprise.

"Oh? That? Well... they forgot my birthday was that week so they just had to send me bruised back to my parents..." He put his hand on the back of his neck in the way people do when they're uncomfortable. I noticed this discomfort- but I didn't know to change the subject.

"But anyway... you should get cleaned up. My sister isn't going to be very happy with all this dirt. It will drive BowWow mad again."

I looked at him as if he had just spoken to me in a different language.

"Oh... BowWow is my dog. You know how on that first day of school the teacher said that each household has a dog based on importance and whatnot?"

"Yeah?"

"Well... my parents are human waste managers so..." he made a whistle to call 'BowWow'. A cream coloured rag of bones came skittering down the hall and for a second I thought he had a werewolf- before it skidded on the wooden floor and crashed into my leg.
"Meet BowWow. The most useless dog in the village."

"Oh wow! What kind is he?"

"She. And she's a greyhound. She doesn't do much... She runs. Sleeps. Eats. That's about it."

"At least she's low maintenance?"

"I guess... but she's good company. For instance she'll keep you company while I go shower. I smell like BowWow after being in the sea... except she finds the sea too cold." He muttered to himself as he made his way up the stairs.

***

I had to admit, BowWow was a cute dog. She wasn't a very cuddly dog because you could see her ribcage as if you were looking through an archway- but her eyes were a beautiful shade of brown like chocolate.

I remained in the hallway unsure of where to go when a second voice shot towards me. For some reason it made my whole body shiver as if ignited with venom.

"Noah? Is that you? You better not of have been on that bike again I'm telling you. You could get into trouble for-" A young adult of around 20 stepped into my line of sight and glared at me like I was some kind of bizarre species. She was tall and slender with dry blonde hair wrapped tight into a high ponytail, and she had green eyes like Noah. Her lips were pouted into an accusatory frown and her eyebrow was raised higher than the Heavens. She looked like a spitting image of Noah aside from the fact she had blonde hair and she was a woman.

"Hello," I ventured.

"Who are you?" She said defensively.

"I'm Flora, I'm-"

"Why are you here?" She interrupted.

"I'm a friend of Noah's. I-"

"Okay. Why are you here?" She repeated.

"We crashed... and he said I could get cleaned up here?" She only then noticed the mud and screamed.

"THE HALL! THE HALL! FOR GOD SAKE THE HALL!" She bull dog charged towards me and yanked me arm as she dragged me up the stairs.

"NOAH I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"He's in the shower." I pointed out.

"Mmm hmm. That's nice." She spoke as if I had just said the most boring thing instead of being polite and helpful.

She threw me into her bedroom with some face wipes. She then reached into her wardrobe and gave me a brown jumpsuit. I swear I saw a blue one like...

"Get changed carefully while I speak to Noah. The last thing I need is to be-" She looked at me as if she had forgotten she knew nothing about her social life.

"Don't. Touch. Anything." She quickly recovered, speaking to herself more than to me.

***

Once I had cleaned myself up and changed into new clothes, I walked towards the voices coming from across the hall. The door was left ajar and I could see the two of them inside. I was about to go in but the following conversation stopped me,

"Noah, you complete arse! How could you have left the bike? You know what are family is! They could take a fingerprint sample and identify us and you know where you'd be? Back in the Lab with Wilma faster than you could say, 'I'm sorry'. Do you even get that? You know our parents had to-" the floorboard creaked under my foot and in that split second Noah's sister was in my face.

"NOAH." Her brother idly moved next to his sister and looked at me sheepishly.

"How much of that did you erm... hear?" He asked.

"Not much... just about the 'you going back to the Lab' because of your parents."

Noah's sister cried in anger. "GET. OUT." She screamed, "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!" I ran faster than I had ever run in my life- even faster than my first escape.

"Flora!" I turned to find Noah coming after me.

"Don't speak of this to anyone, okay? You weren't meant to hear that. I admit it was careless of us to talk about it but... we didn't know you were listening. You most definitely can't tell your parents." I thought the question was a little odd but I agreed with him nonetheless- partly because it was wrong of me to have been eavesdropping.

I had my handle on the door when he said something so quiet I almost missed it.

"It's best if you don't see me again." He sounded like it was painful for him to say that.

"What?"

"It's too dangerous now you know."

"I don't know anything! I only heard a small bit of your conversation which makes no sense to me. You're my best friend, Noah. If I make a promise, I keep a promise."

"Look, I can't explain it, alright. Our family is in a bit of a mess right now and that's all I can say. Anything to do with them has very severe consequences. Please, please just understand this." He cupped my face and pleaded with me through his eyes. I couldn't bare to see him look so afraid.

"Can you please just tell me what is going on? Please? You can trust me." I wanted him to know I was here for him and that he was like a brother to me. His lip wobbled and his mouth parted slightly. A noise came out but before a sentence could follow his sister spoke,
"Noah..."

The sound was cut short and his mouth closed. He dropped his hands and looked to the floor.

"I... I can't. I can't go back to the Lab. That's all I can say."

It dawned on me that if this was the consequence then his family were indeed in deep trouble. I was aching to help them somehow but I knew he would forbid it.

"I- understand, Noah. I'll never forget that forsaken place."

Noah smiled and he gave me a look of gratefulness that I understood. He knew it was painful for the both us.

"I'll be going now." I nodded at the two of them and smiled sadly at Noah. He tried to smile back but he couldn't hide the tear that fell.

"That would be best." Noah's sister said coldly. "It was nice to meet you, Flora, was it?" She was smiling. Not kindly.

I opened the door and made my way down their driveway. They watched me leave on the verge of their front door.

"Why attempt when you can't achieve?" Noah's sister snarked.

No. Flora don't even think of that assumption.

But it was too late. It made sense and it was in my mind.

It wasn't possible... not Noah. He was too friendly.

But his family?

That was a whole different story.