Chapter Ten: Dirty Secrets from Old Folks:

Instinct told Noiz to stay right where she was. Daughter and mother’s yelling filled the hall. The cat shook her head.

Damn, she thought. They’re worse than the last time they fought together. She tried to forget about the last time Pelagie came to Tokyo-Zion Academy. In fact, all the staff tried to do so. The students tried to do so too.

Noiz shook her head hard. The shouting in the background didn’t help either. Not a smart idea to go down and yell at them to shut up either. She was lucky that her husband pulled her away just in time. They would’ve killed her otherwise. The cat shut her eyes as she remembered that little dinner party.

No!, she screamed in her head. I don’t want to go there again! No! No! Please no! No! No! NO!

Suddenly, there came a knock on the bathroom door. Noiz paused where she stood.

“Just a minute,” she said with her eyes still closed.

“You don’t have to hide in there,” she heard an old lady speak. “I know a better place.” Noiz quickly opened her eyes and turned to the door.

“Liberty?” she asked. The old woman chuckled.

“Trust me, honey,” she said.

“It won’t?”

“Oh, trust me honey. It won’t work that way.”

“Then… what should I do?”

“Come out and I’ll show you.”

Noiz looked a bit nervous at that suggestion. “Are you sure?”

“Trust me on this, dear.”

The cat pressed her lips together as she rested her hand on the door knob. “Alright…” She turned the knob inch by inch until the door creaked open. A brown eye stared dead-on at her. The old lady grinned at her.

“Let’s go, we don’t have time,” she whispered.

“Right,” Noiz said with a quick nod. The old lady to her by the hand and led her out the back door. Louise and her mom’s fight increased in volume. Noiz squinted her eyes nearly closed the whole time.

Make them stop! Make them stop! Make them stop!

Silence. Noiz opened her eyes to the outside. The kitty looked around and saw fresh, heated green. The tinkling over wind chimes floated over her head. An old time smell flooded her nose. She could feel the sun on top of her head. Noiz turned to Liberty.

“Where are we?” she asked. Liberty gave her a little smile.

“My own secret place,” she said. “When I want to get away from those two.” Noiz nodded at her.

“Ah,” she said. The wind chimes tinkled as the wind blew past them.

“So where is this place?” Noiz asked. “Where exactly?”

“It’s between this house and the neighbor’s next door,” the old lady said. “Not even my Marcus knows about this.”

“I see.” Noiz sits down on a golden bench. Liberty smiled and joined her. She took a breath out.

“Oh, my old bones,” she said. “They still hurt me so much.”

“Are you okay?” Noiz asked.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll be fine. Give me a minute.” The old lady rested for a little bit. Noiz’s attention turned to the vine-covered ceiling of the metal garage covering. The dried leaves looked air-brushed on. Reminded her of stars in the Tokyo summer sky for some reason. Noiz sighed to herself in her head.

I wonder how Mosh-kun and Ume-chan are doing now, she thought. A little chuckle interrupted her thoughts. She let her eyes stray to her right. Liberty smiled to herself.

“What is it?” Noiz asked. The old lady turned to her with a smile on her face.

“Oh, just remembering some things,” she said.

“What?” the cat asked with her ears peeked with interest.

The old lady’s smile stretched into a grin. “Oh, just a little way to help when Lou and Pela start fighting so badly around you that you can’t take it anymore.

Noiz really looked interested now. “How? Please tell me.”

“Oh… just some little family secrets.”

“Like what?”

She shook her head at her. “Sorry, I can’t.”

“But why not?”

“They are family secrets.” But then, she kind of frowned a bit when she saw Noiz pouting at her. The old lady patted her on the shoulder in sympathy.

“But if you must know…” she said. Liberty leaned into Noiz’s ear and whispered some ugly, embarrassing secrets about Pelagie and Louise as a counter-measure against her imprisonment and the fights that she could possibly be caught in for the next couple of weeks.

The moon could even see Noiz grinning as she listened as it stayed hidden in the deep sky, waiting for night to show off its bright glory again.

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