Meet: Noah Russell
Does this deafening silence mean nothing to no one but me?
Hi hello! My name is T and in this essay I will be introducing you to my home boi Noah. There will be some triggering topics below so please proceed with caution! Full name: Noah Romero Russell Nicknames: tbd. Age: 19 Sign: Scorpio City of birth: Cherry The current place for living: Cherry Siblings: Casey Russell, Ronnie Russell Pets: Rex Russell Birthday: October 31st, 1966 Major: English Job: Bartender at The Pit Likes? Writing, poetry, drinking, Newports, black coffee, yo-yo’s, Dislike? most people, loud music, tomatoes, when he steps in a puddle and his socks get wet, cold fries
BACKGROUND
Call it a curse that nothing ever came easy to the Russell Brothers. Noah being the youngest of the three never quite understood how at home all he wanted in the world was to disappear, while to the rest of the world he felt like a total ghost. It was like living in this limbo he could never get out of. The curse of being the youngest of three brothers in a small town. Noah was still small when his father abandoned them the first time. As far as Ronnie what Ronnie told them, the man had fucked off after an argument with their mother but a much younger Noah felt as though he could never be certain of the truth. The feelings clearly wavering when a string of men started coming and leaving at what sometimes felt like all hours of the night. Most of them were unobservant to her three sons still living in the home, but every so often she’d catch a real nasty one who always seemed to feel like he had something to prove. Didn’t really matter. Even those types didn’t last.
Noah could remember the first time he made it home and their dad was back sitting in the same old arm chair he had before he’d left. A small part of him was hopeful that their random string of strangers had come to an end. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. He’d always seemed to have a problem with liquor, but on the benders where he’d return home, he’d become someone Noah could barely recognize. After the first couple of times this had happened, Casey and Ronnie would make a point of waiting out his stay as far from home as they could. Oftentimes spending time with Ronnie’s friends who were getting ready to head off for college, or with some of Casey’s.
When Ronnie eventually moved out and took over The Pit, Noah wondered if he and Casey would be enough to survive their father’s gruesome returns home. He managed to distract himself most of the time with his writing. Something he’d picked up on the days where he decided to stay late in his English class to avoid having to go home if he feared his father might be there. Noah could remember being told by his English teacher to write what felt familiar. Something he knew. Something that interested him. A challenge for sure when he kept to himself as often as he did. Always wondering how he missed the social gene that seemed to envelop his older brothers. So instead he let himself become wrapped up in their lives. Namely Casey since all of his friends seemed to be a little closer in age to Noah himself.
He’d only had the idea in his head to start writing about them for a short time when his first chapter came to mind. A story about an incident he’d seen at one his brother’s band rehearsals. It really was all fun and games until someone gets hit in the face with a symbol. Something about some kid named Tommy going around telling people one of the groupies gave second rate hand jobs. A fascinating display and there was Noah writing down everything he saw, every thought he had, and every word that was said throughout the experience. Being home never really felt like an option but prior to this, Noah was certain he would have rather bathed in ketchup than have to spend his evenings being ignored by a group of people who barely knew he existed. That night was the start of what he’s referred to as his chance at greatness. The beginning of ‘The Glass Windows of Cherry High’.
After the incident, he started spending more and more time with his brother's friends but consistently struggled with concretely making any of his own. He was there the night he found out Elaine had picked Harvey over his brother. Watched the torment his brother went through and the sudden shift in him after the affair. He wrote about his back alley hangs with Freyja, the short films he wrote with Zev, and Kitty. Oh buddy he wrote about Kitty. But above all one of what was potentially one of his favorite story lines had been the one about Lux. If he hadn’t been so entranced by the chaotic energy that surrounded her, she likely would have pissed him off with all the horrible rumors he was well aware she’d spread about him. But as far as he was concerned, content was content.
At least that’s what he wanted to believe. It was all fun and games until things that seemed like they should be works of fiction started happening to them. Birthday sabotages, stabbings, the LDB? Break ups, hooks ups, rumors. A series of events that all seemed a little outside the realm of your average high school experience and yet they made it. One by one each member of their little gang made it out of Cherry High alive. Each one adding to his ever growing story of their lives. All except for the ever unfinished Lux who disappeared without a trace.