Say goodbye
As we dance with the devil tonight
Don't you dare look at him in the eye
As we dance with the devil tonight
Breaking Benjamin~Dance with the devil
Chapter Seventeen
Noah
It's about three in the morning and I am wrapped in perfection. Bright is over my chest, her face over my peck and her arm draped up and on my shoulder her legs tangled in mine. I am unable to sleep. Part of me is terrified it’s a dream and I'll wake up in the morning on the bus with some fucking dirty fangirl. The other half of me is not willing to let it end. I want to call my sister and tell her the world didn't end and that there was good to be had… I wanted to call her and tell her how scared I was.
I shit you not I hear the faint buzzing of my iPhone from my jeans on the floor and cringe as I roll from the bed to get it. Damn near nothing could have pulled me from the heaven I was in, but a three am call tells me something's up. It's my sister and I am instantly on guard.
"Sissy?" I say and throw my jeans on, forgoing boxers and tip toe out of the room not wanting to wake my girl. Almost tripped at the notion of calling her mine. I had only ever called one mine.
"Hey man its Chad." Hearing the strain in his voice, everything, and I meaneverythinginside of me comes to a horrifying still.
"What is it bro?" I ask and I use a tone that is reserved for my sister when the dark comes to remind her of all she survived. Chad sounding this scared, scared me to my soul and I had to be strong for him. I was lacing my chucks and buttoning my pants when Bright came out painful shock at seeing me getting dressed in the dark. I shake my head to reassure her and pull her to my side so she can feel I am not bailing on her.
"Carrie woke up screaming and uh… look, I think you need to get over here Noah." He is silent for a moment and I look at Bright.
"Get dressed baby." She doesn’t hesitate and rushes to her room.
"I can't handle this. I have never seen her like this she's in a full meltdown." Chad takes pride in knowing he knows how to take care of her when shit gets too intense. The fact he is calling in reinforcements tells me something happened and she won't tell him.
"Its gonna be hours bro. I'm still in Cali." I only told Carrie that I stayed to bring Bright back and I have a fleeting moment that I should have waited for after the break and headed home where they need me, they all do.
"So are we. Carrie knew you were going to stay so she asked us to stay another night."
I smile knowing her. She had stayed in case it went to shit, even though she knows I would handle it and most likely not run off to them. She stayed because she needed to be where I was. "Well thank fuck for small favors."
I see Bright come rushing from her room with my shirt and hoodie, dressed in Jeans and a hoodie that says The Brew. I put the phone on speaker so I can finish getting dressed. "I can be there in about twenty minutes. Where's Noelle?"
I grab my keys from the counter where I threw them and follow Bright out the door. "She's sleeping, she has no clue what's up. I was able to calm her down but now she's just sitting in the chair in our room looking off to nothing and shaking. She ain't coming out of it Noah." He sounds truly scared and I want to tell him why but I can't, not over the phone.
"Alright, just go sit by her. Don't say or do anything unless she asks you too. I am on the road now." I say and set the Bluetooth on my phone and tear out of the lot of the Brew.
"Got it." He says and ends the call. The minute the radio blares and we know the call is ended, Bright turns it down and looks at me.
"What happened?" She is scared and trying so hard not to let me see it. She is so much like me, and so different too.
"Something with our dad. Carrie flipped out screaming then went catatonic. She's sitting in a chair staring at the wall on the bus shaking."
"Should we call 911?"
"No. I can handle it. This happens from time to time. It always will. It's usually reserved for some fucked up thing our dad did." I look at the cars lining the entrance to the freeway and curse. "Is there ever not road congestion in this shithole?"
"Don't take the freeway baby. Stay on Elm, it'll be empty this time of morning and it will bring you right to the stadium."
I take her hand and wind it with my fingers and kiss her knuckles. "He had to of reached out somehow. Fucking piece of shit. I should have killed him when I had the chance."
I hear her teeny gasp and she quickly looks out the window not letting me see her fear and I know I am scaring her. "The last time she went dark like this he broke into our house and beat her senseless then bound her to a table to rape her when the cops and our uncle got there. She was out of it for three days. The Doctor told me it was her minds way of protecting her. I had met with him like a month before, strapped and ready to kill him if I had too…" I shake my head in disgust. "I should have done it. That's why I know he did something and she won't tell Chad, she will only tell me."
"Why though? He's her husband?" I understood her question and she was right in a sense. It was so rare that Chad couldn’t calm her out and I had to come calm her. In those moments I know exactly why she needs me.
