43 Clearing the mind

Noah brought Alice to an isolated place and helped her calm down. They eventually went back to class.

After school, they walked to building D to continue training. As Noah walked he noticed a girl near the corner of a building waving at him and telling him to come towards her. His head turned towards Alice to see if she saw her as well but she was looking somewhere else.

He walked holding Alice's hand until building D. Inside as Alice took off her shoes and got ready to spar. All of a sudden Noah asked, "Aren't you hungry? I'll go buy something to eat."

He then walked out and turned to the right entering the corner where he saw the girl. Other her two others were there as well.

He recognised the Trio, he had seen two, Polara and Amanda, this morning and the third, Joline, he had read about. Alice wanted to deal with them herself, but now they had come to him, he wasn't going to let them go.

...

When Noah left Building D to buy food, Alice wore her shoes and walked out, "Noah, I'll go with you."

But when she walked out she didn't see Noah, she looked for him and saw him enter a corner. She followed behind.

...

"Give me your number." Polara showed her phone screen with a dial pad ready to add a contact.

"Sure," Noah answered with the fakest smile he could muster. He pulled the phone out of her hand. He naturally didn't add his number. He started going through everything on it. First scrolling through her photos. With a quick scroll, he saw many pictures he could use as evidence.

She had photos of all the types of things she had done. What was better a lot of them had her and friends faces on them.

After that, he went through her messaging apps and saw all the harassment and threats she had put. Polara noticed that Noah was taking too long.

"Are you done?'

"Just a minute, I forgot my number." He continued scrolling through her messages, looking at all her discussion with her friends. Even the threats and blackmail she had done was there. Her phone had more than enough evidence.

"Hey he's been scrolling for a while, he hasn't been typing his number," Amanda whispered to Polara. Polara could see that as well and couldn't bear it anymore. Noah had been standing against the wall and the three stood in front of him.

She reached out to snatch her phone back, "Give me my phone back."

Noah dodged and in smooth swift steps walked out from between the three as they surrounded him.

He then reached into his bag and took out a sealable transparent plastic bag. He put the phone and sealed it.

"What are you doing?"

"Collecting evidence. It looks like you don't delete much from your phone. I'll have lawyers with the ministry of education meet your parents soon. Take care." Noah sneered as he answered.

"What?! No, you can't steal my phone."

Noah walked away without a care. Her friends could call the cops or whoever they wanted, no one would be able to do anything to him.

Noah didn't completely leave, after they couldn't see him anymore he found a spot to hide and waited.

The trio was left speechless.

"Should I call the police?" Amanda asked.

"Do you even know who he is? They wouldn't even arrest him for taking my phone." Polara said as she bit her nail, thinking what to do. She eventually left.

...

After the girls had left. Another person came out and went in the direction Noah went.

Just when she passed Noah jumped out and hugged her.

"Ahhh! Noah!" Alice screamed in surprise. Her hand was on her chest.

"Did you see everything?" He had noticed Alice was watching them from the corner which was why he chose to leave in the opposite direction.

"Yeah"

"Don't you have anything to say?" Noah asked warily. Alice had told him not to intervene but he still did.

"Thanks for taking care of my problem. You'll probably have them expelled in a week and in jail a week after, right? I guess I was really dumb for trying to kill myself for something that could be solved so easily." Alice sardonically answered with tears forming in her eyes.

"Alice, no, wait, I still wasn't going to do anything until you let me. The threat earlier was just a bluff. You can have her phone the pin is 4839 I saw her type it. Use it as you like." Noah panicked.

Alice walked away.

Noah grabbed her hand not wanting her to go.

"Noah, I want to be alone right now, let me go."

Seeing that Noah wasn't letting go, Alice spoke solemnly, "We're through if you don't let go."

He didn't want to let go but he had to. He stood aimlessly watching Alice leave.

...

Alice walked out of the school front gate and turned right. She was going down a familiar path again.

Her thoughts spinning in her head thinking about when she first transferred here. She had chosen to defend her classmate and become the target for bullying. She thought she made a friend again but was backstabbed.

After all of that, she had endured being bullied slowly collecting evidence. She would go as far as to plant recorders and hidden cameras just to capture evidence. She went to teachers asking them to take action. Later, spent all day looking for news networks that would cover her story, only to be rejected. Trying again with multiple accounts, begging them to post it.

When that didn't work, she spend months of emailing and information gathering until she was finally able to get in contact with the person who was competing for the position of Mayor with Polara's dad. He finally got it on the front page of the newspapers.

With all that effort and she had finally gotten them punished, it was a lacklustre two weeks suspension.

Alice walked down the familiar bridge and stopped at the same spot where she had jumped off. Her hair had the wind flow through it as orange streaks of the sipping sun and tall buildings on both sides of the bridge made her background.

The day she had jumped off the bridge wasn't the first time she had come here. The spot she was standing on was where she would come whenever she felt down.

Behind her, a child holding a bubble gun pressed on it releasing bubbles as he skipped along the bridge. One of the bubbles moved away from the others being pushed along the wind and came floating in front of her. Its clear soapy surface diffracting light forming a spectrum of colours on it.

Looking into the colours, Alice was reminded of something she had forgotten after meeting Noah. The time she had first come to this bridge.

...

Thursday. 30th October 2047, 4:01 PM

Alice stood in front of a teacher after class in the staff room. Only the two of them were still in the room. The female teacher sat with her legs crossed looking at a sheet of paper.

"So what do you want to speak to me about?" The teacher asked not bothering to look towards Alice.

It was obvious to Alice that she wasn't welcomed. She still stood strong, a month ago she was forced by the school to get counselling. The teacher in front of her was the one teacher who had spoken out for her when she was getting bullied last year. When no one else was wanted to listen to her, Miss Anna sat down with her and had a long talk with her.

When they finally went to the media to get things done, they naturally not only ruined the school's reputation but also angered one of the school's biggest donors. Miss Anna being involved also suffered consequences of her decision. In the end, she stopped talking to Alice had started acting coldly towards Alice.

"I want to talk about the counselling lessons. Mr Philander's sessions are uncomfortable. The types of questions he asks are disturbing and unrelated, he sits close to me putting his hand on my lap..."

"Wait. Are you saying he's sexually harassing you?" Miss Anna put the paper down and looked towards Alice.

"Yes," Alice confirmed resolutely.

Miss Anna took off her glasses and pressed on her nose bridge. "Alice, I believed you once and helped you, but that does not mean you can use me to get out of counselling or get revenge on Polara."

"What? I'm telling you the truth!"

"Last you told me that you were pushed out the second-floor window by Polara, but a few students confirmed she was in the school ground. So tell me how did she push you out?"

"The students are lying-"

"Enough! Alice, you need to get help. Jumping out of a window and blaming Polara and her friends, Now you're trying to ruin a good man's reputation just so you don't have to go to counselling sessions anymore, Alice you need help."

"Bu-"

"Last week Samantha, made a whole box of cookies and gave it to Mr Philander saying how much he helped her get over her anxiety. Even without her, there are so many examples of students he has helped. I know him personally as well, yet you want me to believe he is sexually harassing you?"

Alice stood speechless. She didn't think she would shut out. Wasn't her circumstance different? Just because he seemed like a good person on the outside he was one on the inside.

"I don't know why I still listen to your lies, you can leave now." Miss Anna wore her glasses and went back to marking homework.

Standing for a minute, then turning back Alice walked out of the school building and gate. She looked towards the direction of her home then turned the opposite way. Lifelessly walking not knowing where she was going. Her feet taking her away from where ever she was.

Walking out of the enclosure of buildings onto the bridge. The sky was now all around and the ocean winds reached her. Stopping near the middle she looked at the sun touching the ocean slowing drowning. She leaned forward standing on the bottom of the rail to have a good view of high the bridge was.

'Should I just end it now?' Miss Anna was the last person that had supported her. She was also the only person she had been able to talk and open up to. Again she was alone.

She closed her eyes and put her head feeling the strong winds, hoping to have them take her away. With her eyes closed, she felt something were pop on her face. Opening her eyes she saw a stream of bubbles passing by. Someone was driving around with a bubble-making machine, leaving a trail of bubbles behind the car.

Each bubble diffracting light as its water body floated. Alice's was enchanted by the visual as her sight sank into beauty.

...

Her vision changed as she saw in the first-person point of view, someone holding a metallic stick and smashing a VR headset with it. Then going further to destroy the TV. The background was a messy apartment with multiple bags of trash. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned for months.

The person then ran into a room started tearing off Photos of Noah on the wall. By Now Alice could tell this was her, she was seeing the future. Finally, she pulled out an album, one of her most precious pensions and tore off all the pages. She finally reached towards her chest and held took off the locket she wore.

Looking at it she got up and ran to the door. Without changing her shoes, she left in her slippers without closing the door behind her.

Outside the building, the girl ran towards her school, she looked at it feeling it was unfamiliar since she hadn't been going there for months. She passed by it then ran on towards the bridge.

A line of barriers blocked the path to the bridge. It didn't stop her she jumped over it and came to a stop in the same spot she was currently standing in.

The girl in the vision looked at her phone. It had a news article opened.

'Noah Sinfero's true love, finally revealed?'

It was a scandal about Noah. This wasn't his first scandal article but all of them were quickly cleared up and denied, this one wasn't. This one not only had a large amount of evidence, but the company representative also didn't deny that Noah was in a relationship. She dug out all the information she could about the scandal and was sure it was true. If anyone could recognise Noah in a photo it was her.

Seeing him move on, broke her. She had locked herself at home for the last five months after the police failed to convict Philander Dogul. Not caring about anything anymore she withdrew out of school and used the money from Noah's parent's charity foundation on food as she spent all day playing games in VR,

So when she saw this article it sent her into a frenzy. With nothing more to live for she threw her phone out. She then threw her other hand just about to let the locket go but pulled it back. Falling to her knees and crying as she hugged the locket.

Still not being able to give him up, hurt so much. Completely heartbroken she cried until the tears stop coming. Finally, she stood up shakily and looking towards the setting sun. Its beauty captivating her and helping her calm down. With a sniffling nose, she tied the locket around the railing and grabbed the railing with both hands.

She pushed herself forward then turned her body so she would be able to see the sky as she fell.

"Alice!"

Too delirious to hear anything she continued her motion, her body turning as she let the rail go and was falling started falling towards the water. Her turned body saw a hand just brush past her clothes trying to grab them.

She couldn't see who that hand belonged all she saw was a silver watch on its wrist with an amethyst dial.

...

The vision ended. She was back on the bridge, almost no time had passed, the bubbles still floating around and popping one by one. Alice moved away from the railing and turned to walk back home.

...

Thursday, 4th of February, 5:33 PM

Back to Present time.

The first time she had come to this bridge she had actually seen into the future. Without going through the eye-opening ceremony it was supposed to be impossible, but she was able to. Till now she had been only able to see into the future twice both were spontaneous occurrences.

The first time happened when she had met Noah for the first time and the second time was when she came to this bridge for the first time.

The vision she had seen was supposed to happen in five months after the Philander incident. In the timeline of the vision, she hadn't come to the bridge instead had run to a police station. Withdrew from school when he was proven innocent and stayed locked at home for five months.

At the time of seeing the vision, she hadn't known why she was at the police station until recently when she finally experienced it herself. Neither did she know the person who had tried to grab her was Noah.

She had lost all motivation to fight back against the bullying after seeing the future. She knew that Noah the only person who she thought would never betray her had done just that. Her future was decided that she would kill herself. She spent her days similar to the vision she saw not going to school, spending her time in VR, except now doing it much earlier.

The Philander incident was unexpected and triggered her much earlier. She knew Noah was going to betray her and going to the police wasn't going to help so she ran to the bridge instead of the police. At the time she was ready to kill herself. She hadn't expected Noah to come and save her.

In the vision, she saw, the hand that reached out to her, the watch it wore was the same watch Noah always wore. That means she hadn't died from the fall and Noah had saved her just like he had in this timeline.

If he had come all the way to see her, that meant the scandal was likely fake as well. Since she had already met him, she knew he still loved her, she didn't think he was going to fall out of love with her in four months.

'There must be a reason they didn't deny it...' Sadly she wouldn't be able to find out now, The timeline had changed and Noah had completely left the entertainment industry.

Thinking about everything that happened in the last four years she noticed something.

All the moments she cried, were because she missed Noah. The scars on her wrist, she hadn't seen them in the vision. She had started self-harming after she found out Noah would betray her. The day she jumped off the bridge she had convinced herself it was because she couldn't handle the bullying.

What she couldn't handle was Noah not being in her future.

Right, defending that girl, she didn't regret it because she had done the right thing. Being bullied was nothing, she always fought back. She fought back during her first year and even halfway into the second year. They had torn her books and ruined her laptop but her notes were all copied onto the cloud. They blamed her whenever anything was stolen, she never took it lying down and proved it wasn't her. No friends or family, she always had Noah in her heart.

So what if the bullies were only suspended, that was just the beginning she would push until they were expelled. Things only got worse when she stopped fighting back.

Why was she wasting her time thinking so much about Polara and her crew, those people aren't even important. Vince backstabbing her, she had already been backstabbed by all her friends in her old school, even her best friend had disappeared without a word. They were all nothing.

She should be spending her time with Noah, the person who was truly important to her.

'Why have I been pushing and running away from him?'

All her worries seemed unimportant suddenly. All she wanted to do was live her life loving Noah.

She turned back and looked at the empty bench behind her. Walking towards it, she went around it and looked behind.

Noah was sitting behind wrapped like a ball trying to hide.

Alice looked at him and said, "Give it to me."

Noah confused by the order looked in his pockets on his body. He didn't know what Alice wanted. He then looked at his chest where Alice was looking, making a heart with his hands he said, "But I already gave you my heart."

Alice didn't find it funny and just looked at him waiting for it to give it to her.

Noah finally took out Polara's phone from his pocket. Alice looked at the phone impassively not taking it.

"My locket, give it to me."

Those words had a powerful effect, Noah didn't know why she was asking for it. He was still wearing both lockets like always. From the way Alice looked, it didn't look like she was going to throw it away. She finally wanted the locket back. He took out both lockets from under his shirt and took off the one that was Alice's.

Both lockets were very similar being bronze with a red diamond embed. But the pattern of lines around the red diamond was different. Made the same way the pattern was completely random, so it was different. Noah knew which one was Alice's and gave it to her.

Alice kept her hands crossed, instead craning her neck forward. Noah felt even better. He stepped closer and hung the locket around her neck, finally returning it to wear it belonged.

Alice looked at then cooly looked at Noah, "The magic words."

Everything was going unexpectedly, but Noah instinctively answered, "I'll love you forever."

"Me too." Alice smiled at that moment was the brightest Noah had seen since he returned. Her face was painted orange by the setting sun behind her. The childish innocence brought tears to Noah's eyes. It was reminiscent of the smile Alice showed when he was leaving for country A, Alice was had been trying her best not to cry and have Noah leave seeing her smiling.

It was like that as tears were coming out from her eyes as she stepped forward, laying her head on Noah's chest, listening to his heartbeat,

It had been a while since she had last heard it. Noah's heart beating was the most familiar sound to her. To her, it was what helped her calm down the most in the world.

Noah wrapped his arms around her. They were completely oblivious to the world. The cars zoomed past and people watched as they passed. But Noah and Alice were too busy enjoying each other's embrace.