Lies 1-50

I didn't realize it was Noah screaming until I opened my eyes. He was sitting against the bathroom wall, almost tearing his eyes out with his fingers.

"Noah!" I called, my voice harsh from throwing up all night.I was over the toilet because I had the flu very badly. "Noah!"

I reached over and pulled his hands away from his eyes. "NOAH!"

He finally woke up from his nightmare and looked at me with watering red eyes. "Charlotte! They were eating my eyes! They were eating you! I couldn't stop them! Charlotte, you're alright!"

"Noah, baby, it was just a dream. I'm right here."

His breathing slowed and he whispered, "It was just a dream."

He pulled himself close to me and hugged me tightly. I pulled him really close and kissed his forehead. He melted in my arms right there, his first show of weakness to me.

"Charlotte, I thought I lost you."

"No you didn't. I'm right here."

After my father left, Noah had started to get nightmares almost every night. I thought it was from being scared about our wedding or something.

"Charlotte...I saw a little boy too..."

"Oh?"

I just wanted him to stay quiet so I could comfort him uninterrupted.

"...Yeah...You were screaming for him..."

"Oh."

My voice fell flat against the roof of my mouth. The tightness in my tongue told me I needed the toilet again, and I pushed Noah's head away just in time. My stomach emptied itself into the porcelin white bowl.

"Yeah...um...You were calling him... uh... Alex..."

I coughed up a few balls of something and flushed them down.

"Oh."

That word was suddenly very common in my vocabulary.

"Yeah, uh..."

He scratched his head awkwardly. "I thought I should tell you...My brother's name is Alexander. He wants to meet you..."

I had nothing to say to that. I didn't even know he had a brother.

"My dad does too."

"COULD WE PLEASE FREE UP THE BATROOM!" Skinner screamed through the door.

"Yeah hold on." I replied.

I stood up with Noah, suddenly feeling far away from him. I told him everything about me, some of it my father didn't even know. But he kept a brother hidden from me? How did that happen?

"Noah, I..."

I trailed off and put my hands together like I used to when we first met and I was shy around him.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner about my brother. I feel awful."

"It's fine." I lied through my teeth, I felt really hurt.

"Don't lie to me."

"Okay... I feel kind of hurt. You know everything about me."

"I know... I'm sorry. No more secrets okay?"

"No more secrets."

I hugged hom again and waited for him to share.

"Alright... The other thing you don't know about me is... I was married once."

I gasped, "WHAT?"

"Yeah," he started to laugh, "We got drunk in vegas when I was 17. She was 21, so she provided the alcohol. Then we got married and three days later, we got divorced."

I started laughing then.

"Three days? Didn't you even try?"

"No. But aren't you glad? Now I can marry you! What if it would have worked out?"

"I don't know. I'm glad it didn't work out."

We smiled at each other.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"That's all."