Noel's Story Chapter 1

We all have demons in our hearts, some more than others. It is with these demons that we learn to do the most basic of human functions-living. With the small demon I had at one point in my life, I used it to the fullest.

My name is Noel. I live on the ship Voyager1000 with my captain Morodas. There’s also Amilliano, Maurice, and Michael. We were all “recruited” at different times, and everyone’s story is different. I’ll start with mine.

I was the last one recruited for this mission when I was nine years old. I was born into a family of slaves, owned by a very rich slave trader. He had a lot of other families, too, but he went bankrupt and wanted to sell most of us. He sold the adults first, not including my mother and father. Even though our families were of different classes, I was very good friends with their daughter.

But even then he didn’t have enough money, so he sold my siblings and I off to the market, where I was bought by an old man in his seventies. The work was very easy. When the old man died, I was nine years old and ran away, where I was recruited onto the Voyager1000. I’ve been working on this ship for eight years.

My demon helped me to get into a lot of trouble. First let me tell you how I was recruited.

It was weeks after I ran away that I stumbled upon a small town. I had run out of food a few days earlier, and was desperately hungry. I walked through the town with what little money I had looking for a stand that sold food cheap enough for me to buy. But there were none. I had to resort to stealing a piece of bread. It worked for about a second, but then I was caught. I remember the baker chasing me down the street. The road ended and I was stuck in a corner. I couldn’t give up that piece of bread for some reason. It was as if my body needed it just to survive. Even as I was beat to a bloody pulp in that street corner, I would not let go of that bread. My mind kept on racing to that source of nourishment, telling my body to just hold on and take the pain. I don’t know why I didn’t just eat the bread.

Then Amilliano showed up and stopped the baker from delivering that final blow. He looked strange to me, as I had never seen a grenloch before. His skin was a pale green, his hair a dark shade of gray. He kindly paid for the bread for me, the baker leaving soon after with a bloody stick in one hand. It was then that I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I was in a small bed. The blanket was thin, and I didn’t recognize any of my surroundings. I got up out of the bed only to feel searing pain in my left leg. Looking down, I saw that there was a splint of wood holding my leg in place. It was broken, along with three ribs, my left arm and I had a fracture in my skull. The pain from my leg was enough to make me scream and drop to the floor in agony.

Amilliano and another boy I had never seen before came running into the room. Amilliano quickly knelt down to pick me up. “Are you alright?” He asked me as he set me back on the bed. “Michael, will you get me some food and water? I don’t think she’s eaten for a while.”

I could barely move my right arm, but I managed to tug on the sleeve of his shirt and utter four little words.

“My…. name…is Noel.” I managed to say before coughing up a little blood. I was really in bad shape.

The boy called Michael walked in with a bowl of tomato soup and a bottle of water, then left. Amilliano stayed with me to make sure that I could eat my food. When I managed to ask how long I had been unconscious, he told me that it had been a few days since the bread incident. I asked what happened to the bread, which was really a stupid thing to do, since I had a platter of food right in front of me.

“Oh, the bread? We saved it for when you could go back to eating solid foods. Maurice is a doctor, so he’s the one that basically took care of you for the last three days. You won’t be able to eat it for a while.” He said to me as he helped me hold up the bowl to drink the soup out of.

The food was gone in a matter of minutes. Amilliano picked up the tray that the food was on and left the room for a minute, returning with a man that looked twice his age.

“Hello, my name is Maurice. I’m your doctor. Do you mind if I take a look at your leg?” He asked me as he sat down in the chair next to my bed. I nodded, and he started to examine my leg, which was still throbbing with pain. “That stupid baker, nearly beating a child to death over a loaf of bread. You’re very lucky that Amilliano here came and stopped him; otherwise you’d be lying in the street now! Your skull was fractured a little, but I managed to fix that quickly. Your leg, arm and ribs were another story though. Just too broken to heal quick as your skull.” He talked on and on about my injuries, I all the while thinking of the boy who had just saved my life over a stupid piece of bread. It was childish to want something so much.

Amilliano leaned over and whispered into the doctor’s ear. He looked over at my face. “So your name is Noel, is it? Lovely name. I used to know a girl called Noel. Very beautiful young lady… how old are you?” I held up nine fingers. He returned to examining my injuries, still talking about his past. Maurice was one of the most talkative people I’d ever met in my life.

Amilliano returned to his seat next to me on the bed. It was obvious that he really wanted me to be all right. “Well Noel, my name is Amilliano. I’m actually two years older than you.” He continued on to telling me about himself, me listening intently.

The doctor stopped him for a minute. “Now Noel, I have to give you a shot. It’ll make you fall asleep again so that your healing process speeds up. You’ll be out for a few more days, so this shot has to be a big one and it’ll hurt.” He held up the needle for me to see. It was huge and full of a light red liquid. I shuddered at the thought of that thing in my arm.

Amilliano could tell that I was nervous, so he told me to squeeze his hand when it started to hurt. Maurice held out my arm for the enormous needle and shoved it in. I cringed the whole time, the slight burning sensation coursing throughout my body. I watched Amilliano’s hand turn from green to a bright pink as the liquid made it’s way through my bloodstream.

The second that the needle was taken out of my arm everything started to blur. My body went limp once again, drifting deeper and deeper into the long rest ahead.

Words I use to describe myself

Loud.
Loud with my voice.
Beautiful.
Beautiful inside and out.
Weird.
Weird is so cool.
Laughter.
Laughter so bad it hurts.
Energetic.
Energetic enough to do nothing.
Courageous.
Courageous to survive.
Strong.
Strong enough to live.

Okay, I did this because I was really bored.

Sreaming

The hate is burnin' up inside
Like a fire growin' in my mind
I'm just so sick and tired
Of the way
You treat me

'Cause--------

Screamin'
Is all you're good for
Decievin'
Is all you've done for me
Bleedin'
Is all I've been able to do---
For you.

Why do you believe
That I'm just gonna be
Everything that you want me to be?
Like it's gonna work out
Like it's gonna go right
Well I hate to break it to ya
But that ain't gonna happen tonight

'Cause-------

Screamin'
Is all you're good for
Decievin'
Is all you've done for me
Bleedin'
Is all I've been able to do---
For you

*Instrumental*

You're not alright
You say
But I don't care
You're lyin' anyway

Cause------
Screamin'
Is all you're good for
Decievin'
Is all you've done for me
Bleedin'
Is all I've been done---
For you.