𝐍𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐀𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬

Noel shrugged. "It happens... at least you weren't hurt. The last guy who broke into my place got thrown clear across the apartment and dislocated his shoulder... and my cabinets."

His landlord hadn't been too pleased about that either.

Noel did not, in fact, feel safe.

He eyed the strange woman with suspicion. "... Who are you?"

-- already, but he didn't really want to go into it with a complete stranger.

Noel set the cleaning supplies down and reached up to accept the mug. "Thanks," he mumbled, taking a sip of the coffee.

"I don't really know," Noel told him. "He just shows up when I feel threatened." Noel knew there was more to it than that, and Coda had deduced that Noel had created him --

--

"Oat milk and sugar," he told him. "Mugs are in the upper left cabinet."

Noel's body relaxed just a little when he smelled the coffee. It had always been a comforting smell to him. He was still very tense though, after what he'd experienced.

He was dabbing at the bloodstains with the paper towel and peroxide, as Coda had recommended, seated on the floor.

--

-- where he slept.

-- away, the disembodied voice taunting him and being unable to move, the horrors he'd been forced to relive...

With a sharp gasp, Noel bolted upright, eyes quickly taking in his unfamiliar surroundings. He scooted back automatically when he saw another person there, sitting not far from --

Horrors plaguing his dreams weren't unusual for Noel. When his eyelids parted, he was greeted by the familiar feeling of anxiety that came with them.

After a few moments though, Noel recalled the recent events that had transpired: the Hell Hounds breaking into his house and dragging him --

-- you want to make us coffee, you can." He pointed towards the kitchen, where he had a coffee maker, grinder, etc. set up on the counter. "I only have oat milk though."

"... Keeping busy helps," Noel admitted. He didn't particularly like cleaning, nor was he very good at it, but for some reason, that was what his brain told him he needed to do after traumatic situations occurred.

He did appreciate the instruction, though. He would have scrubbed.

"If --

Noel set the bottle and the scrub on the floor, then grabbed a roll of paper towels. He sat down on his knees.

"I'm fine. Probably could use a coffee, but I'm fine... I'm not going to watch a stranger clean my house while I sit on the couch. That'd feel weird."

-- anything to the floor, I think... he's going to be pissed... a rug will do for now, I think. Don't feel like you're obligated to get me one, but it's a nice thought."

Noel actually did have some hydrogen peroxide left, miraculously. He pulled the brown bottle from his cabinet, and a scrub brush.

When he walked over, he looked at the state of his old rug and sighed. He would need to replace that anyway.

"I have to ask my landlord before doing --

-- floor," he called, his head in the cabinet, "I don't know if sanding and re-staining it will be worth it."

Noel sighed. That sounded like a lot of work. "Thanks..." he stood up and went under his kitchen sink, sorting through the various cleaning chemicals to see if he still had any hydrogen peroxide sitting around. It had been some time since he'd needed it.

"Considering the scratches on the --

Noel looked at the dried blood on the floor, frowning. "It's fine, I guess. There was no door and you were looking for me... You wouldn't be the first...

How am I supposed to get this much blood off of the floor? I've never had this problem."

Noel hesitated again. After the day he'd had, he felt very wary and paranoid... but this guy didn't seem all that threatening. And he already knew what Hexxus would do if he tried anything.

"... Okay. Fine," he relented, softening just a little.

Noel paused and looked towards him once again. "Why are 𝘺𝘰𝘶 upset? he asked, confused and a little annoyed.

"I'm good," Noel said. "Like I said, you're a little late." He was back to looking tired again, and almost a little bitter.

Noel turned away, looking out his open bedroom door at the living room. He'd left the trash bag on the floor next to the remains of the door when he'd come in to check out the intruder. "Yep... that's what happened," he muttered.

Noel looked at him for a moment, then stepped back. "Hexxus, put him down."

The smoke monster let the man down slowly to the floor, withdrawing its hand, then it backed into the corner of the room, looming like a dark cloud.

"You're a little late," Noel said.

-- other man, still wary of him. "... Help what?"

Noel watched the boy for a long moment, trying to decide if he believed him. Cautiously, he stepped closer and pulled the paper from the pocket he'd motioned to, then stepped back. Unfolding it, Noel saw that it did look like a match for DNA. There was Noel's face.

He looked back at the --

-- shifted out of the way for him.

Noel walked into the room, over towards towards where the stranger was pinned. Noel looked afraid somewhere under the mask of anger he wore. "Who are you? What do you want?" He asked firmly. He didn't seem phased at all by the smoke monster. In fact, he was standing right next to it, and it --

-- large monster made of what appeared to be opaque black smoke. It had the suggestion of a humanoid form, having a chest and an arm that was holding him against the wall,
and a face with pale gray lines outlining a pair of eyes and a mouth, which grinned at him.

Noel looked up sharply, fear suddenly spawning in his eyes.

Within a split second, something grabbed Coda from behind, yanking him right off his feet and sending him flying across the bedroom into the wall, elevated off the ground. The thing that had grabbed him was now before his eyes: a --

-- that had once been his door, and putting them into the trash bag.

The man that had come in was Noel. He looked utterly exhausted, like he'd just experienced the worst day of his life. The lower half of his jeans were torn, and covered with dried blood, and he looked a little dirty.

He was kneeling on the floor, picking up the larger scraps of the wood --