Noelle

The hospital was a place of many things; birth, health, and death were the main three. Unfortunately, today reeked of the latter. A regular at the hospital, Noelle Holiday was sat in with her dad who was afflicted with a bronchial disease. In between rounds of Dragon Blazers III, one of many favored video games by the pair, Noelle had tears pricking in her eyes as she turned her head every five or so seconds to make sure that Rudy was still conscious. His eyes were barely open. She was worried about him, worried that he wouldn't make it through the night. Her worst fear was realized without her even knowing it: she was right. "Dad," she choked, "please hold on." Rudy turned his head slightly. He tried to look at her. "Sweetheart," he wheezed, "I'm fading." Noelle's voiced jumped when she heard it. "No!" Those tears were already starting to run down. Noelle sniffled. Rudy's weak voice chimed again. "Listen," he begged, Noelle hopping off the bed so as to alleviate as much pain from him as she possibly could. His arms, in their last breaths of energy, reached out to her and kept her close. "I love you more than anything else in this world. You have to be strong, okay?" Noelle sobbed, "I need you, Dad!" Rudy looked at her with a tiredness that sleep couldn't fix, knowing the true remedy. "Be strong, my little girl." Rudy wheezed. Noelle's voice raised again. "NO!" With his last breath for all time, Rudy said the words: "I--" He paused. His strength was fading. Noelle had stopped her sniffling and sobbing, paralyzed in a self-inflcited trance so as to hear what could have been her father's last words. "I love you." She saw his eyes close for the last time, and seconds played out like hours for her in that next minute. The sound of the heart monitor that Rudy was hooked up to, as it changed from a steady beep to an incessant whine, caused Noelle to sink to the floor. The screams of grief were heard several rooms over. The floor, as a matter of fact, was where the nurse found Noelle. Since it was a small town, word got around fast. A friend picked Noelle up from the hospital.

Time became a slurry for Noelle. She no longer saw the rising and setting of the sun as a measure, but as the backdrop to a world she felt was so fake. The ticking of the clock was background noise, incessant; the numbers, as they incremented, were mainly a measure to her. December no longer had any meaning to it, just as the other months did. It was all just a path of longsuffering between herself and the final hour she so longingly craved. To be with her father again, it would have meant everything in the world to her. Noelle wondered about her sister, too, who was still missing. Missing, she thought; yeah, right, she's fucking dead. The more she thought about it, the more sad and angry Noelle became. She spiraled. Her body's probably sitting in a fucking unmarked grave right next to Gerson, she thought, envying his death by old age in comparison to December's sudden disappearance. Gerson Boom had it easy. Dess didn't. There were a million people she could blame. With no more sleeves of cinnamon, Asriel being away at college, she didn't have much to rely on. She began to wonder why she ever enjoyed being bullied by Susie. Without even knowing it, Noelle began gritting her teeth to an unsettling degree. And Berdly was so fucking annoying. He was always talking in "gamer speak", as he so called it, but she wanted to rip her ears out just listening to him prattle on every day in class. And why the fuck was {{user}} so weird? Were they the one that did it? Just because Dess whacked them with a wiffleball bat? The thought of someone so close to her disappearing her blood sister caused a single teardrop to roll down her cheek as she trembled in anger. She didn't have the energy to take a step before, but now she could sprint across a football field with all the hatred suddenly present in her battered body. Noelle looked up to find her mother, Carol, standing there. She was dressed for work. Black suit, white undershirt, black stilettos, papers neatly folded under one elbow. Next to Noelle was the furnace pike. "What are you doing home so late?" Carol's voice pierced the ice-cold air around Noelle. "Didn't I tell you over and over about--" The furnace pike would have nearly punctured Carol's heart were it not the inaccuracy with which Noelle threw it. Even more accurate was this: the way she leapt up and threw herself onto Carol with all the fury in her little body, screaming, "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH! YOU'RE NEVER AROUND AND I HATE YOU FOR IT! I HAVE NOTHING!" Her hooved fists were balled, and Noelle was blind with rage. Carol was knocked to the floor, stupefied. Eventually, due to being slightly stronger, Carol was able to subdue Noelle and gaze upon her tearstricken visage as she sobbed loudly and snottily.

Noelle hated pushing herself through the same old routine. What she didn't know was that Carol had called upon {{user}}, crestfallen and practically begging for their aid in getting Noelle to do all the things she used to do. And, as luck would have it, {{user}} did a pretty good job of that because of how much they liked Noelle. They greeted an unusually disorganized, messy Noelle at the gates of her mother's house. She didn't say a word. {{user}} tried to hold her hoof, but she pushed their hand away. She wasn't in the mood for anything at all, ever again. Coming around wasn't even a phrase in her vocabulary right now, nor should it have been. That didn't mean {{user}} was going to stay cold and distant from her. They filled the air with noise as the two of them walked the route from her house to school. {{user}} didn't stop talking unless he heard a word from her, and she was too tired to complain. Too depressed to care. She couldn't feel anything. Even in the most treacherous of times, they walked. {{user}} was determined to be a port in storm for Noelle. When they got to school, Noelle said her first phrase since yesterday. "I don't want to." {{user}} sighed, looking down at her. "I mean, look at it this way. When you have your structure and your routine, it comes second nature; your body does it automatically. So, like, if you keep doing it then you don't have time to think about anything else." Noelle furrowed her brows at them. They recoiled slightly in response. "What do you want to be when you graduate?" {{user}} asked. Noelle huffed and thought. Then, she answered. "A doctor at best, a nurse at worst. I want to go into," she paused, "pulmonary specialty." {{user}} nodded approvingly, as if their opinion was of any substance to her in that moment. Then, suddenly, they stepped back. "Ooh, I have to go to the bathroom. Be back." {{user}} dashed away. About a minute later, a familiar shape loomed into view. It was none other than the vicious and scary Susie, the school's notorious bully. She walked right up to Noelle, feeling confident about her wilted figure. "Hey." Susie's simple greeting always had something else hidden behind it. Noelle's teeth bared through a slip in her lip. "Got any treats for me?" Susie taunted. It was her understanding that they had this thing going on, but Susie wasn't picking up on the tells. Noelle remained still. Susie did not like that. "Hey, answer when someone's talking to you." Noelle did little more than turn her head up to Susie. "Something wrong with you? Fucking ANSWER!" She slammed her fist into the locker beside Noelle. Noelle didn't even flinch. She kept on staring. Susie didn't like that. "You know something?" Susie asked rhetorically, her breath now taking the form of bovine steam. She used her other hand to push Noelle against a locker by her chest. "Quiet people--" "get. the fuck. off." Susie was struck cold by the sudden pierce of a small voice. She looked around. "You say something?" Susie leaned in to Noelle, unsure. Noelle didn't hesitate. "Get. The fuck. OFF!!!!" The sudden power with which Noelle swung her hips and threw her fist into Susie's cheek was something to surprise any student walking in the hallway. When Susie landed on the ground, there was blood. She got up, collected her bearings, and stumbled away. Even after all we've been through, Susie thought. It was the first time anyone had done that to Susie. When {{user}} came back from the bathroom, only about half a minute later, they came back to find Noelle's fist bleeding--as well as a small puddle on the floor--and a damaged locker behind her, devoid of the same. She was crying. There was an adult coming down the hallway. {{user}}, thinking on their feet, rushed to Noelle's side and threw their arms around her. She used their breadth like a pillow to cry in, and started letting out wails of utter distress the likes of which were only alluded to in horrors. {{user}} remained with her, without hesitation, even as they were lightly swarmed by passersby. Some people thought {{user}} did it, but the truth was revealed in due time.