Build Me Up + Blow Me Down

People are Strange

Noah paced up and down his room, absorbed in thought. He could not help but feel as though this revelation as to the location of the organization he had been trying and failing to research into vindicated his feelings of mistrust in them. Sure, they could still perhaps be nothing more than a simple art club, but the fact that his father was giving them land in Italy when they were stationed in America would make little sense if they were nothing more than what they seemed.

How to handle this situation from here on out was a question which bewildered Noah but one thing was certain to him, he had to stick around for the funeral and keep his eyes out, there could be worthwhile clues there.

Noah’s phone rung. It was his sister. He considered for a moment what she would say and how he could react before picking up.

“Yes?”

“Hey, just checking up on you. Where are you right now?”

“Just at my hotel room, I just got up. Don’t worry, I’ll be over there soon.”

“Alright. Just don’t be long.”

Noah hung up and sighed. While this quest for knowledge was driven by his own curiosity as to what his parents had been involved in before their deaths, he was not the only one affected. He needed to consider his sister in every action he took from here on out.

Noah gathered his belongings and readied himself to leave before checking out the window to see the weather.

Below Noah’s room and across the street he spotted an unlikely pair engaged in a conversation, if one could call it that. None other than Noah’s perennially absent roommate Jason and Noah’s cousin Kate were standing in front of one another; and what’s worse, they seemed to be fully absorbed in a shouting match with each other.

Jason White was having a bad day prior to his current conversation with his girlfriend. Now however, he considered himself to be having an extraordinarily bad day.

“Ok, ok. Fine. I’ll do whatever you want me to, but first, you’re going to have to make clear what you want me to do!”

“All I want you to do is be a little less inconsiderate! Is that so much to ask? My uncle just died and instead of showing a bit of sympathy, you go out of your way, as per usual, to start an argument with my brother! And now you just want to roll right pass this conversation? What kind of girl do you think I am exactly?”

It was at this moment that the couples’ conversation, if indeed it could be called that, was interrupted by a mutual friend they were not aware that they shared.

“Woah, hold on. Could you two stop shouting? I could hear you from my room over there!”

Jason, surprised to recognize the voice that had addressed him, turned to find his friend and roommate standing just a meter down the street from him.

“Noah? What are you doing here?”

Jason was now equally surprised to discover that his girlfriend, who had just spoken, knew who Noah was and he immediately took the opportunity to verbalize this surprise.

“You know him?”

“Yeah, he’s my cousin.”

“You’re related to Noah Blakely?”

“Wait, you know him?”

Noah took the liberty of inserting his presence into their conversation.

“Yes, Kate, Jason is my roommate actually. We’ve been friends for quite a while. And Jared, Kate is my first cousin. And you two know each other how?”

“Oh, yeah.” Jason started, still somewhat surprised to see such a familiar face so unexpectedly.

‘Yeah, Kate and I met online. We’ve been going out for a few months now. What a surprise that we all know each other and would meet up like this. You’re staying in that hotel there? What’s up with that?”

“Yeah, just thought it would be best to have a place of my own to think for now.”

As Noah’s mood sombered slightly, Jason’s darkened significantly in reaction. It had only just occurred to him what his friend’s blood relationship to Kate meant, in light of the circumstances.

“So. The recently departed man...he was your….uncle?” Jason asked with almost a tinge of hope on his question.

Noah shook his now downtrodden head. “No, my father.”

“Oh, Noah.” Jason spoke softly as he moved closer to his friend, patting his shoulder in comfort.

Kate had moved to the other side of Noah and the trio began to walk. She spoke.

“Listen, we were heading to Uncle Gill’s right now, anyways. You’ll come with us? Amy was fine last night but I know she would love to see you again as soon as possible. And besides,” Kate’s tone of voice lost some of the tragedy in it. “I would like to see Jason try to make up with my brother.”

Jacob grinned wide. “No promises.”

With that, Noah cracked a smile and the group’s pace increased as they headed back towards the house.

Joseph glanced down, towards the streets below, covered in thousands of dots, and licked his lips in anticipation.

The boy stepped back from his vantage point at the ledge and made his way across the rooftop and down the fire escape, the steps to which ended abruptly a meter above the ground.

Joseph’s eyes darted at the ground briefly to confirm that he had reached the end of the ladder and was not too far from the ground before he hopped off and landed on his feet. This glancing look was however, a matter of pure instinct, Joseph had no need to keep much of a track of his surroundings, he had gone through these motions hundreds of times in the last several months, to the point where most of it could be done on pure force of habit.

He started down the alley, his hands in his pockets, whistling in an attempt to appear nonchalant and inconspicuous. This of course, did not work at all, it only making him stand out all the more as someone who appeared to be hiding something. The fact, however, that he was a poor-looking young boy whose secrets were likely not worth much anyways was his salvation. After all, even if he was attracting more attention than usual, the usual amount of attention he attracted was already very little.

“Joseph.” A voice called out from the shadows.

The boy’s tune paused. He turned and stared intensely into the abyss before him.

“This is he.” came the boy’s somber reply.

A man slipped out of the shadows with ease. His movements were slick and slimy, like a slithering snake, and in the darkness, he had blended in to the shadows seamlessly. This was only in part due to his very dark outfit, but was in truth,  an effect produced by the combination of his every little mannerism. The man had been perfectly still, not making even the tiniest movement or noise. And he had crouched in, to take up as little space as possible. These, amongst other subtle body language cues, had aided him in ceasing to be anything more than a shadow. But now that he was no longer attempting that, there was plenty to make clear that he was a very tall and intimidating man. He looked downward at the associate which he had called.to him and stared directly into his eyes as his voice dripped like honey with each word he spoke.

“I have something I need you to do, Joseph. Something I think only you can handle right.”