A Song of Change

Chapter 37
New discoveries
"To the offices!" Nole said dramaticly while pointing his finger down the the hall we had just walked up. We had just left Sondra's lab and were now heading back toward the grumpy old man behind the desk. "Hey Nole?" I asked looking up at him. He stopped for a moment to glance down at me, "What is it Annabell dear?" "I was just wondering what I did to make that man before mad?" I asked as we neared the lab exit.
He started laughing then, his eyes crinkling at the edges and his wide smile growing bigger. "Oh sweetie you haven't done a thing. Josiah Wayland is just a bitter man. Now come along," Nole said while placing a comforting hand on my back, guiding me to the 'door'. We stopped just in front of the 'door' and Nole turned to a small box shaped device that hung on the wall.
The device had buttons with numbers on it and a small, blank screen. Nole typed in a four digit code and the screen came to life, a thin green light shining out from it. He got his identification card out of his pocket and waved it in front of the light and the same noise the opening made earlier happened again.
We walked through and the opening shut as fast as it had opened. We were now met by Joshua, who sat exactly the way we had left him and I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't moved at all. "Nice seeing you today, Joshua but we really must be going," Noke said in that same sickly sweet voice as earlier.
Joshua's face hardened even more and I swear I could feel his beady eyes burning into the back of my skull. We quickly made our way down the hallway and back into the building's lobby. "That man is just so much fun to mess with," Nole said with a skip to his step, "Now let's head to the offices."
This time we took the hallway to the right and it was then that I really understood why the labs were blocked off from the offices. There were people hurrying up and down the hall and to and from rooms. There were men and women of all sorts that made up this jumbled mess.
"This is…."I stopped, trying to come up with a word befitting of this. "Hectic," Nole supplied and I nodded my head in agreement before he continued, "It gets easier with time." He gave me an encouraging smile before grabbing ahold of my forearm, so as I wouldn't get lost in the herd of people, and he lead the way to our office.
We were halfway down the hall when someone stopped in front of Nole. It was a boy who looked to be twenty or so. He had light blonde hair that seemed to get darker at the roots and fair skin to match and eyes that off set his other features. His eyes were a dark green that made it hard to distinguish pupils from iris. He had a relaxed stance and a kind smile as he talked to Nole, something about misplaced notes.
"Oh and who is this?" the boy asked once he noticed me. "She is quite capable of introducing herself aren't you Annabell dear," Nole said glancing down at me with that wide smile of his in place. "I'm sure she is Noley," the boy said with a laugh, "Forgive me if I have offended you miss. My name is Gerad Marks and you are?" He asked, offering me his hand.
"I'm Annabell Rosenfeld," I said shaking his hand in return. "Well it was nice meeting you Annabell, I hope we get to see each other again. Oh and Nole, if you're free later Micheal says he wanted to talk with you about his latest projects," Gerad said before walking against the crowd of people and down the hall.
Nole looked very happy, ecstatic almost when I turned back to him. "Why are you smiling like a mad man Nole?" I asked just before we started back up in our direction. "Well Annabell the man Gerad was talking about just so happens to be a genius. Micheal could come up with an invention for everything, I just wonder what it is this time!" Nole said clapping his hands together in excitement.
I shook my head as I laughed at Nole, he really was a child at heart. "Annabell! This is no laughing matter," Nole said with such a serious expression. "Yes sir," I said with a smile in place. He let out an exaggerated sigh at that, "You just don't understand Annabell," I kept my laugh in that time, not wanting him to go into another fit.
"So where is our office?" I asked realising that we had been walking down this hall for quite a while. "We're here now," Nole said stopping at the door to our right. It was odd really, how fast his moods changed. It was almost like night and day.
There was a number above our door and as I looked around at what little doors I could see around the bustling people, all of them had numbers. Ours was number 221. Noke opened the door after swiping his identification card in a slot on the door.
The room was decent in size. There were two desks, each on either side of the room, one of which already had items scattered and pinned on it. There was a small, round coffee table in the center of the room with a couch before it. As I stepped further into the room I noticed two doors within the room.
The first door led into a small closet with a couple of empty hangers, no doubt for coats and jackets, and an umbrella holder. The second door held a bathroom, as sterile as any caregiver facility. "So what do you think," Nole said after I had joined him by his desk.
"Its nice," I said still looking around the room when a picture on his desk caught my eye, "Excuse me Nole, but may I?" I asked motioning towards the pictures on his desk. "Of course, of course," he said smiling at me. I picked up the picture and upon closer inspection I realised I was right. "I knew your name sounded familiar," I said excitedly.
"What?" Nole asked looking over my shoulder at the picture I held, "Do you know my son?" We were both looking at a picture of a teenage boy with unruly black hair and bright blue eyes. The first time I had met this boy he hadn't smiled and avoided almost all eye contact but looking at him now in this picture portrayed the exact opposite.
He was smiling so much that it reached his eyes, showing just how happy he had been at that moment. There wasn't a trace of that shy and timid boy I had met but a confident and cheerful one. "Ethan looks so happy," I said as I placed the picture back on Nole's' desk.
"Yeah, he used to be like that all the time, seemed like he couldn't stop smiling," Noke said with a small chuckle before his face went blank it seemed like he was in a memory, "Rhat picture was taken last year in the spring, just before his mother passed. He turned away from everyone after that. He even stopped talking to me."
"Nole I…" I started to reach out to him but something flipped in him almost like a light switch. "Its best to not live in the past Annabell dear," he said smiling down at me as if nothing had happened, "so how'd you meet Ethan?"
It took me a moment before I could speak again, too shocked at how easily he had brushed all of that pain away, "I-I meet him at school. The Society Members decided it was best if we meet our couple before we are actually coupled so both classes were together. I guess it was just a coincidence that Julian and Ethan were in the same class."
"Oh, that's right. I think I heard something about that happening. I didn't know they were going to start it this year though. So, who do you think my son got coupled with?" Nole continued.
"Oh um, I'm not really sure but there was a girl, Lucille. We were friends in the end and she and Ethan were talking for quite a while during the grouping. I'm sure they would make a great couple if they did get paired," I said, once again thinking of how excited Lucille had sounded just talking about Ethan.
"Well maybe it happened," Nole said smiling, "Well Annabell, we are done with the tour for today so you can stay here or go home, whichever you prefer. I'm going to go help Micheal,"he said walking towards the door, "Oh and if you need anything while I'm gone just go across the hall, that's Gerad and his partner, Damon's, office. I'll see you tomorrow bright and early."
And Nole was out of the door that quickly, leaving me wondering if I really did say something wrong. There is no way that I could ever believe he is over what happened, not after seeing him practically run away. I waited in the room for a little bit longer before leaving and walking across the hall, I didn't know how I was suppose to get home from here.