Chapter 8-Abnormal patterns

Chapter 8: 8-Abnormal patterns

Noel Hiser remained seated behind his desk, staring at his phone long after his call with Aymara ended.

Her words echoed in his mind; stock up on food, get some supplies and find high ground strong shelter.

It wasn’t the advice that bothered him. It was the way she had delivered it.

Aymara Ellington had always been proud. She could be reckless, spoiled, stubborn, and infuriating, but she had never been stupid.

Yet today, she had sold almost everything she owned and she hadn’t even tried to maximize her profits.

She was simply converting her wealth into liquid cash as quickly as possible. That wasn’t the behavior of someone making a bad business decision.

It was the behavior of someone who believed the future was running out of time.

Noel leaned back in his chair. "What the hell are you planning now, Aymara?"

He stared at the purchase documents on his desk. He had just acquired several of her companies at prices that were almost embarrassingly favorable.

Anyone else would have been celebrating but he couldn’t find the courage to do so because he knew Aymara. That move seemed desperate, too desperate to have been her acting alone.

His eyes narrowed. "Could Dylan have something to do with this?"

That possibility bothered him. He knew how far Aymara was willing to go for her boyfriend, perhaps Dylan had convinced her to liquidate her assets or maybe there was some financial crisis he didn’t know about.

There was only one way to figure out the truth. Noel abruptly stood. "I’m going to the hospital," he declared, to no one in particular as he was alone in his office.

---

Angel Heart Hospital stood several blocks away. Noel drove through the city with one hand on the steering wheel, his thoughts refusing to settle.

’Aymara, I hope for your sake that this isn’t another stunt to prove your love and loyalty to that undeserving man,’ he thought, his feelings a mix of bitterness and pity.

To ensure that Aymara wasn’t throwing her life away, he decided to consult the one person who knew her best, Nathaniel.

Nathaniel was the only person he knew who could make sense of Aymara’s behavior. If there was one thing Noel had learned over the years, it was that Nathaniel rarely acted without reason.

The man was frighteningly intelligent. Numbers, patterns, probability, market movements, and scientific reports, Nathaniel could look at a collection of seemingly unrelated information and find the thread connecting them.

It was one of the reasons Noel had become successful by listening to his advice. It was also one of the reasons Noel had made it his business to be Aymara’s business rival.

Not because he genuinely hated her, no, quite the opposite. Years ago, Noel had witnessed the way Aymara treated Nathaniel terribly because Dylan disliked him.

Noel had hated watching it so he had deliberately become Aymara’s business rival. His rivalry was nothing serious.

It was just enough to annoy her, to give him someone to focus his anger on and get Aymara to feel what Nathaniel felt. It had worked surprisingly well.

She hated him and had numerous sleepless nights because of his business moved. He didn’t mind, at least she wasn’t hurting Nathaniel and was also not at peace.

When Noel reached the hospital, he headed directly toward Nathaniel’s room.

He knocked once and a voice invited him inside.

"Come in."

Noel opened the door and walked in so naturally as he had done a million times in the past. He was familiar with the room as it was the one that Nathaniel used every time he got admitted.

He found Nathaniel sitting beside the window, as always, an iPad rested in his hands.

He wore a loose hospital gown, and his pale complexion made him look even more fragile beneath the afternoon sunlight.

Nathaniel glanced up. "Noel?"

"You’re awake... I thought you’d be resting."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "I’ve been awake for hours. What’s up?"

Noel closed the door behind himself. "I need to talk to you," he said, walking over.

Nathaniel studied him for a moment. "You look troubled."

"I am," he admitted. Noel pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat. "It’s Aymara."

Nathaniel’s fingers paused against the screen. For a moment, his expression didn’t change. He was frozen stiff like a statue, in his eyes, the image of that rainy day when she walked away from him replayed.

He looked down. His eyes seeming focused on the information spread out on his ipad but he could barely see the words written on it."What about her?"

"She sold everything she owns... everything, Nate."

Nathaniel looked up. "Everything?"

"Yes, everything," Noel pulled out his phone. " Her mansions, apartments, villas, lands, companies, shares, cars and jewelry. Whatever she could convert into money, she sold."

Nathaniel was silent. One thought raced through his mind. If she can leave him, abandon their friendship of decades for Dylan, why wouldn’t she give her everything her parents left her and everything she worked so hard to build?

Noel continued. "She even sold some of her things below market value just to get rid of them quickly."

Nathaniel’s eyebrows drew together. "That doesn’t sound like her."

"Exactly. Which is why I came to see you. I was hoping you’d figure out why she’s done all of this," he let out. Noel leaned forward. "She gave me a warning too before our call ended."

"What kind?"

Nathaniel’s fingers gripped the ipad until they turned pale. Six years, that’s how long it had been since she cut him off from her life.

She made it clear, he wasn’t to contact her or see her ever again. They went from friends who were as close as family to strangers with zero contact.

Even now, he was hearing about her from a third party. ’Aymara, have you ever once regretted breaking my heart... breaking our friendship... and... me?’ his heart ached.

"She told me to stock up on food and supplies. It’s a strange warning to give someone, is it not?"

Nathaniel’s gaze sharpened. He blinked, his eyes focusing on his ipad and the research that’s been troubling him for days.

"She also told me to find a strong shelter somewhere elevated. Can you believe that?" He sighed. "What prank do you think she’s playing now?"

Nathaniel slowly placed his iPad down. He had his suspicion and doubt about Aymara’s behavior.

Noel watched him and asked, "Do you think Dylan influenced her to do this?"

Nathaniel’s expression remained unreadable. The mention of Dylan’s name hit a nerve that made his heart squeeze in utter and sheer agony.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because something isn’t right about her actions," Noel lowered his voice. "Maybe she got herself into some financial mess because of him. Maybe he’s convinced her to do something reckless. We should intervene before he harms her. Don’t you agree?"

Nathaniel stared at him. Intervene? As who? Based on what relationship did they have the right to do that?

When those questions popped into his head, his lungs grew stuffy, almost as if he was about to have an episode.

He quickly took deep breaths and calmed himself down. Then he picked up his iPad.

"No."

Noel blinked. "No?"

"I don’t think D-Dylan is the reason behind her actions," he stammered as he called out Dylan’s name. That name never sat well with him.

Nathaniel unlocked the device and changed the subject. "Look here," he said and turned the screen toward Noel.

Noel took one glance and frowned. The screen was filled with charts, weather patterns, temperature records, ocean measurements, atmospheric pressure, satellite photographs and scientific reports. None of which he understood.

Noel stared for a long time. Hoping the longer he looked the more chances something would make sense and he wouldn’t feel stupid.

"What am I looking at?" he asked, giving up on understanding it.

"My research," Nathaniel answered casually like that was supposed to be obvious. He swiped the screen, showing him more data. "Do you remember the unusual temperatures we’ve been experiencing of late?"

"Of course. I’d have to have amnesia not to."

"Everyone has been calling it a heatwave," he spoke. Nathaniel tapped another chart. "But this isn’t behaving like an ordinary heatwave."

He swiped again and moved to the temperature data sheets. "These temperature fluctuations aren’t isolated. They’re happening across multiple regions at the same time."

Noel leaned closer. He looked at the numbers, flow of lines moving up and down and the colour of the lines but didn’t see what Nathaniel was talking about.

Had the slides been a business deal,or a breakdown of a business project, he would have understood immediately. But those numbers, they seem to mock his intelligence.

Nathaniel continued, not noticing his struggling expression. "The atmospheric pressure patterns are abnormal. The cloud formations have changed drastically and not in a good way. Ocean surface temperatures are behaving strangely, too."

Another image appeared when he continued sliding. The image of the ocean appeared. The water looked darker than normal.

"And look at this," Nathaniel zoomed in. "The waves, Noel. Look at them."

Noel stared. All he saw was dark waves that could be explained by a lack of proper lighting when the photo was taken, nothing more.

"What about them?" he inquired to know what point Nathaniel was trying to drive home.

"They’ve been becoming progressively stronger."

"Storm activity?"

"Not exactly," Nathaniel shook his head. "Some of these measurements were taken under conditions where waves shouldn’t have reached these heights."

Noel’s face became serious. "And what does that mean?"

Nathaniel didn’t answer immediately. He swiped through several pages. "I initially thought it was a collection of unrelated anomalies," he pointed toward the data. "But they keep appearing together."

Temperature spikes across the globe, unusual cloud formations, abnormal atmospheric pressure and oceanic disturbances. Not to mention the rapid changes in weather patterns.

Nathaniel had spent days analyzing them and the more he researched, the worse the picture became.

"I started running predictive models for days now."

"And?" Noel was genuinely starting to feel worried. He had a feeling he wouldn’t like where that conversation was going.

Nathaniel looked at him. His eyes were serious but still calm and with the paleness to them, they appeared almost lazy.

"My models findings suggest something catastrophic could happen."

Noel swallowed. "How catastrophic?"

Nathaniel was quiet. He had hoped many times that the data was wrong, that his calculations were incorrect but sadly, he was right.

"I’m seeing signs of a possible apocalypse on a global length, Noel."

The room became silent. Noel stared at him, his heart sinking and his soul losing it’s light. "Global w-what?"

Nathaniel repeated, "If the data is correct, we’re looking at an extreme environmental event."

"How extreme?" Noel’s voice sounded panicked and more high pitched than he intended.

Nathaniel hesitated for a moment before breaking the cruel harsh truth that was their future reality. "Flooding... on a scale the world has never ever seen before, my friend."