Chapter 25 - NOAH’S GRADUATION
Five years after the staircase, Noah graduated from middle school.
Not university.
No huge party.
His parents refused.
Backyard barbecue.
He was thirteen.
Taller.
Still liked dinosaurs, now with scientific aggression.
We attended.
Lucas did not.
Harrison did not.
Natalie had invited neither.
Noah asked to talk to me privately.
“You okay?”
“I am.”
He looked embarrassed.
“I remember the phone.”
“I know.”
“I thought I put Uncle Lucas in prison.”
My chest tightened.
“Your mom told me.”
“I don’t think that now.”
“Good.”
“He did.”
“Yes.”
“Did I do right?”
“You told the truth about what you saw.”
“That’s right?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
Then:
“I watched the video once when I was older.”
His mother had apparently allowed it with therapist guidance.
“Why?”
“I wanted to know if I remembered wrong.”
“Did you?”
“Some.”
He looked toward the house.
“I remembered him looking angry before he pushed you. In the video he looked scared.”
Interesting.
“People can be scared and dangerous.”
He nodded.
Then:
“I’m glad I gave Evan the phone.”
“So am I.”
“But I wish I never had it.”
“So do I.”
Both true.
Noah went back to his friends.
His role ended there.
He did not become detective.
Lawyer.
Whistleblower.
He wanted to study marine biology.
Good.
Evan watched him leave.
“Think he’ll be okay?”
May you like
“I think he has adults who ask that now.”
Progress.
