#hey if anyone is reading my tags & u want an update on the spider situation i woke up this morning to a gift of a bug catcher meant for kids

[julia-highstorms]

If Jane Was Here (Noah’s POV) - Ch. 10

Summary: ILITW by Noah’s point of view. Previous chapters here

Author’s Note: all characters belong to Pixelberry Studios. From now on, I'll be writing with a gender neutral MC. I'll try to update all the previous character with the proper pronouns. And in next chapter the betrayal of our favorite beanie boy starts! [cries in emo]

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Pairing: Noah x MC

Word count: 2279

Tagging @kurbqa @miragemeister @yertletheturtle04 @mysteriouslady4 @klaudiana-beaumontkk @katiehawkeyebishop @melchann @imgoingtocurnyscho @jadedpixiescribbles @gameofstrangerwars @american-duchess @blackheartdreams @indiacater

If you want to be tagged, let me know!

Chapter 10 - I'm Not Scared

The nightmares kept coming, especially after Lily’s disconcerting text about the basketball game that happened that evening. Noah dreamed about Jane, Mr. Red, spiders and the darkness.

He woke up feeling more exhausted than when he went to sleep. He and Mom had a little argument, as usual, and he left for school. There, MC caught up with him as he walked up the front steps. They looked as tired as him.

“Wow, you look as bad as I feel. Didn’t sleep well?”

“Nightmares. You too?” – he nodded ruefully, rubbing his eyes.

“I can barely think straight. Pretty sure I called my mom a fascist for asking me to take out the garbage this morning.” – he said, as they stepped through the front doors.

As both of them walked down the hall, they spotted Andy walking in the opposite direction.

“Hey! How’re you holding up?” – MC asked the short boy.

“Hangin’ in there. How about y—”

“Hey, ‘King Kang’, you throw that game on purpose, or are you just an one-hit wonder?”

“But you’re glad those spiders showed up, huh? Nice excuse for ditching the game early!” – Andy flinched as the mocking voices shouted down the hall.

“Wha... Hey! You wanna say that to my face?!” – and then he walked past them, chasing the mocking laughter.

“We’ve gotta do something about this Mr. Red situation before one of us cracks.” – Noah observed.

“Well, I for one am done taking hits. It’s time we start hitting back.” – MC said with a determinated frown on their face.

“Yeah, totally!” – he felt slightly inspired by them. – “So uh... what do you want to do?”

“Homework.” – and then, they started furiously typing on their phone. Noah’s own phone vibrated inside his pocket. He fished it and read the group text.

MC: “ATTENTION LITTERALLY EVERYONE!”

MC: “Mr red is going to come after us all”

MC: “Which is definitely my fault and im sorry”

MC: “But I think we can all agree that we need to find a way to stop him”

MC: “Im going to the library tonight to get to the bottom of this”

MC: “To find some way to stop/banish/kill him.”

MC: “Can I count on you?”

Stacy surprisingly was the first one to text back:

Stacy: “I’ll be there.”

Noah: “You don’t have cheer practice or something?”

Stacy: “Duh, of course I do.”

Stacy: “But this is more important.”

Stacy: “C u after class!”

Noah would be lying if he said that the cheerleader’s text didn’t make him a little happier and hopeful.

He looked away from his phone screen. MC’s eyes were already on him and they had a small grin on their lips.

“We’re going to do this, Noah.”

“Yeah... we’re going...” – he couldn’t hold back a smile too.

The two teenagers kept walking down the hall and parted ways. He entered his Biology class and sat on his desk, when his cellphone suddenly buzzed on his hand. An audio blasted from the speakers – which was weird, because Noah always left his phone on vibrate mode only – and a video started playing...

“I HATE my life! Everyone thinks we’re this perfect little family...” – he watched an angry Stacy shouting madly.

Uh, why he was watching it? He reopened the group chat:

Noah: “Anyone else’s phone acting weird? This video of stacy just started auto-playing at full volume”

Andy: “I got it too, and I’m p sure I just saw her run down the hall”

Andy:  “what’s going on?”

MC: “It was Mr. Red. Has to be. Somehow he got that video and sent it to everyone”

MC: “We’ve gotta watch each other’s back today. Something tells me he’s not done yet...”

Andy: “Speaking of, anyone seen Ava?” – hmm, Noah hasn’t.

MC: “I haven’t...”

MC: “You don’t think something happened?!”

Lucas: “Something did”

Lucas:  “But it wasn’t Mr. Red...”

Andy: “what do you mean?”

But Lucas never answered.

Noah haven’t seen any of his friends the whole day and they didn’t texted if they were going to be there at the library, but at least he got MC’s back. After school, he headed towards the Main Street and did his homework at the library while he waited until it was the meeting time.

MC entered the library and headed straight to him.

“Hey, Beanie Boy.” – they whispered at him.

“Hey. Glad to see that at least someone showed up.” – he greeted them back. They pulled the chair beside his and sat down.

“Of course I’d show up. It was me the one who called this meeting, did you forget?” – he rolled his eyes, making MC chuckle.

He appreciated that MC wasn’t much the talking type like him. Or maybe they was, but knowing that he wasn’t, they said nothing else and both of them fell into a comfortable silence.

The minutes passed and no one else arrived. MC started pacing anxiously around the library as Noah drummed his fingers on the table. Where the hell was everyone?

He was starting to feel frustrated and disappointed again.

“...Think anyone else will come?” – they murmured.

“I knew this was gonna happen. I just knew—” – then, before he finished that sentence, the door banged open and Lucas stormed in:

“I got suspended!”

“What? Why?” – MC asked in shock.

“Because even though I tried to do the right thing, Mr. Red is determined to ruin my life. Point is, if there’s anything in this library that can kill that bastard, Im gonna find it if it takes me all year.” – he stopped and looked around them. – “Where’s everyone else?”

“Here.” – they heard someone say.

Turning to the front door, they saw Andy walking with the girls following him. Stacy shuffled beside the Asian boy, her face red from crying. She dropped a half-eaten pint of ice cream in the trash.

“I hope you guys don’t mind if I just curl up on the floor in a ball.”

“As long as I can join you.” – Lily told the cheerleader, dropping a garment bag from the dress store over the back of a chair, before sighing heavily. – “Guys, I’m not so sure about Britney...”

“Wow. You guys... you actually came!” – Noah was surprised to see everyone there that he had to say it out loud. For the first time in years, he felt like he had their support. He had his friends back.

“Of course we came! Why wouldn’t we?” – Stacy looked confused at him. Lily grinned sheepishly:

“We need to stick together now more than ever.”

“Wow, this is getting dangerously close to group hug territory.” – with one hand still on the door, Ava tried to back out of the room, but Stacy grabbed her by the collar.

“Oh no you don’t.”

“You’re not escaping that easily.”

“Ugh. UGH.”

“You all made it...” – it was MC who said this. They was smiling widely. – “Group hug. Seriously.”

“Nooooo...” – Ava complained.

“Yes. Get in here.” – the boys chuckled as they watched MC and the girls hugging each other, with Ava sighing heavily and rolling her eyes the whole time.

“Seeeee? Not so bad.” – Stacy told her.

“Nope. I hate this. You’re all gross.”

“Aww... we love you too, Ava.” – Lily giggled.

“Okay. So here’s what comes next.” – MC said as they pulled out. – “We’re looking for anything we can find on Redfield, or his weird monsters. Or cults from the 1800s... Or coma epidemics followed by multiple deaths... Oh, or some guy named Goddard Filleus.”

Okay, that was oddly specific.

“Who’s that?” – Noah asked.

“A scholar who came to Westchester in the 1800s. He was looking for a monster that lived in the woods... and I think he found it.”

“How’d you hear about him?”

“A little Bird told me.” – they grinned at him. Whatever the hell they meant with it, Noah decided to stop asking questions and start looking for answers.

“Alright! That should be more than enough to crack this thing. Let’s get to it.” – Lucas said, looking excited for the first time in a long time.

But again, it was being useless. Hours had passed, the searching was being fruitless and morale was running low.

“We haven’t found anything on Mr. Red. Anyone have any bright ideas?” – MC asked, closing another ancient book.

“My idea-maker is fried. I haven’t eaten anything all day...” – Lucas said. – “...and I can’t stop thinking about pizza.” – Noah’s stomach growled.

“I’d settle for a cup of coffee... and maybe a new identity.” – Stacy looked as tired as him.

“I just want to go outside for a walk.”

“Pff. Okay, grandpa.” – Ava rolled her eyes to Andy. – “Personally, I just want to break something. Preferably with a hammer. And I do know a warehouse nearby where I can do just that.”

MC turned to Lucas.

“Hey, Lucas! It’s pizza time.”

“But what about—”

“Pizza. Time.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go.” – he said, holding up his hands in defeat.

“Hey, make sure you bring enough to the class!” – Noah reminded them. He was starving too.

“Will do.” – MC winked at him as they and Lucas headed out.

The rest of the gang kept looking for something useful, but they got nothing. After twenty minutes, MC and Lucas were back.

“Did anyone ordered pizza?” – the Class President looked a litte less tense.

“Hell yeah!” – Andy shouted excited. The librarian shushed him. She was already being kind enough to let them eat inside.

As they dived into their pizzas – which were delicious –, Noah saw MC walking out with Ava. He wondered where in Westchester would there be a warehouse where you could just break stuff. Maybe he should ask its address to Ava later.

Ava and MC returned after a while.

“Come on, Stacy.”

“Huh?”

“You. Me. Coffee. Now.” – MC grinned at her. The cheerleader giggled.

“Gosh, how can I refuse such an eloquente invitation?”

“Can you bring me a chai?” – Lily asked them.

“Sure. Everybody text us your orders.”

They returned after other fifteen minutes. Noah’s iced coffee was great, and he felt a little energized with it.

He watched as MC and Andy left the library for a walk while he sipped on his drink. Unconsciously, his eyes would always follow and search for MC in a crowd.

“Don’t you want to take a break too, Noah?” – Lily asked him.

“Nah. I think it’s better if I keep on searching.” – he shrugged. And, to be honest, he was happy to be there, reunited with his friends.

Andy and MC soon rejoined them.

“All right, let me at those books!” – MC said, plopping down on the chair next to him. Their energy was so infectious that everyone seemed revitalized, attacking their tasks with renewed enthusiasm.

“Ooh! I just remembered there’s a rare books room in the back. Someone want to check it out with me?” – Lily proposed. Ava nodded.

“Aw yeah, if there are any ancient tomes of dark and forbidden magic in this place, that’s where they’ll be.”

“Need someone to help carry? I feel like I could lift about twenty books right now.”

“Only twnety? I thought your record was twenty-five.” – Stacy teased Andy, who rolled his eyes, still grinning.

“Let me know if you see ‘Volume II of Westchester Through the Ages’ back there. I’m almost through Volume I.” – Lucas asked the trio before they headed to the back of the library.

Noah nudged MC by his side with his elbow.

“Pass me that book, wouldja?” – he couldn’t contain a smirk too.

“Sure thing.” – they gave him the book and they dove back into research with contented smiles on their faces.

A while later, Noah heard Lily and MC talking about a children’s book. Andy approached them, telling something about a Mud Dude story.

“That’s the dirt monster! The thing that attacked me in my room!” – MC said, shock in their face. The rest of the gang clustered around them, Lily and Andy to look. They flipped through pages of unfamiliar illustrations and poems.

“’Never trust a bear’?”

“’Spiders, Snakes and Slimy Things’?” – Lucas and Stacy read some of the titles. Noah caught one too.

“’How to Teach a Dead Dog Tricks’? What kinda freaky kids’ book is this?” – he certainly had never saw or heard about it before.

MC flipped the book over to its cover, reading its title out loud:

“’Things That Live in the Woods. Poems and Drawings by... Cora Pritchard’?” – uh, that name rang a bell.

“Why does that sound so familiar?” – Lily asked, looking at her friends’ faces. Ava suddenly jumped by her side.

“I know that name! Cora Pritchard... That’s Pritch the Witch!”

“How would some old crackpot know about all this stuff?” – Noah asked her. But it was MC who answered him:

“I don’t know... but I know one way to find out.”

He saw that determined expression on their face. He knew excatly what they meant.

“We going where I think we’re going?” – MC nodded at him.

“Time to pay Pritch the Witch a visit.”

Noah and Lily shared a worried look, but they all agreed that they had to go to the old woman’s house. At least they were all going to do it. Together.

They climbed on Stacy’s and Lucas’ cars and they drove to a gravel road on the city outskirts.

“Why are we stopping?” – Andy asked from the passenger sit as Stacy parked and shut off the engine.

“There’s a gate. We’re gonna have to walk.”

“Yeah, sure, why not? How could anything bad happen to a bunch of teens all alone in the woods in the night?” – Noah said sarcastically from the backseat.

Then, he felt something warm on his hand. He looked to his side and MC looked back at him. They nodded at him, squeezing his hand slightly. That somehow was reassuring and he felt brave enough to go face Pritch the Witch.

They all piled out of Stacy’s car. Lily, Ava and Lucas did the same from his.

“So... can we just... go in?” – Lily asked, nervoulsy glancing to the woods around them.

“I’m not sure... What does that sign say?” – Lucas said, narrowing his eyes, trying to read it. Ava scrutinized the hand-painted sign partially obscured by a branch:

“Trespassers will be...’” – she lifted the branch. – “’...sacrificed’?”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” – Noah said, as if saying it out loud would actually turn it cool and not just freaking terrifying like it was.

It wasn’t cool.

All of them tensed, sharing nervous glances.

“We’ve come this far. We can’t give up now.” – MC said, with that brave face of theirs.

Lucas held up the gate’s rusty iron chain, letting everyone duck underneath it. The gang walked deeper into the woods, surrounded by the sound of the wind. None of them said anything and Noah walked the whole way there with one hand around MC’s forearm. He felt less scared feeling their presence right next to him.

A few minutes later, they crouched in the brush outside a run-down cabin. Smoke curled from the chimney. Amber light flickered from the windows.

“Who wants to be the brave one?” – he whispered to his friends.

“I’d do it... but I don’t wanna.” – Andy whispered back.

“What if the stories are true? What if she cooks us into little clay coffins?!” – Lily was just about to freak out. Noah didn’t blame her. He wanted to get the hell out of there the minute Stacy parked the car.

...Actually, the minute MC proposed them to go there. That was the most stupid idea they have ever had.

“Maybe we can peek inside?”

“I’ll take a look.” – Ava told Lucas. Everyone turned to watch her, who remained motionless.

“...Well?” – Stacy asked.

“...Any second now.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll knock on the door.”

“MC, wait!” – Noah said, but MC was already stepping into the clearing and climbing the porch steps. They lifted their arm and knocked on the door, but got no answer. – “Hello? M-Miss Pritchard?” – they knocked again, harder, but still no answer. – “Huh. Hey guys, I don’t thinks she’s—”

But as they turned away from the door, a creature suddenly slank out from around the back. The moss creature growled at the group, ready to attack.

“Holy crap!” – Andy shouted.

“Watch out, MC!” – Lucas told them as they backed away, rejoining them. The creature stalked forward, teeth bared.

“What do we do? MC, WHAT DO WE DO?!” – Stacy yelled, freaking out. Noah was pretty sure that he had just shitted his pants.

“I...”

But then the cabin door swang open, revealing a thin figure silhouetted against the light inside.

“Holy crap... it’s her...” – the beanie boy gasped, recognising Pritch the Witch.

The old woman looked over the group... then scowled.

“Looks like we’ve got some tresspassers. You’ve got thirty seconds to tell me what yer business is... before I let my dog rip you to pieces.”

#if jane was here #noah marshall #noah x mc #ilitw noah #it lives in the woods #ilitw #playchoices #ilitw fanfic #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #playchoices fanfiction