Disclaimer: This in an Alternative Universe Fanficton (something I've never done before). I don't own any Bates Motel characters, I'm just having fun with them. Thank you for taking an interest, I hope you enjoy.
7-year-old Norma Calhoun had finally done the unthinkable, she had run away from home. Technically it wasn't the first time she had left, just the first time she had ever made it far enough to matter.
Her mother and father had been fighting again, like usual. Normally she would just hide alone and wait for her older brother to sit with her, but today was different because Caleb was at school and Norma had stayed home. During her parent's heated argument she had managed to crawl out of the window and run into the woods. The last time she "ran away" the little girl stopped as soon as she hit the trees, but today she told herself she'd run until she couldn't run anymore.
Her heart pounded in her chest as her legs moved as fast as they could, the cold air scraping against her face like sharp shard of ice, her bare feet trampling over dirt, rocks, sticks, and anything else that may have been in the damp soil. Eventually she had to stop, she knew she did. The pain in her feet and legs were getting too much to handle but she feared if she stopped too soon she wouldn't have gone far enough. Fortunately she hit an empty, unfamiliar park and knew she should be safe. She had been to every park in the small city of Pine View and had never come across this one. At the rate she had gone little Norma told herself she had probably ran out of state.
Panic started to weigh on her chest; she had left by herself, what if they found her? Or worse, what if they never found her? Being out of the house alone seemed like a good idea at the time, but Caleb couldn't find her if she was all the way over here, wherever "out here" was. Caleb had always protected her at home, maybe she should have waited for him to get back before leaving. Then he could have gone with her.
Norma wrapped her arms around her tiny frame and walked towards the jungle gym. Upon locating a tubular slide she started to crawl up it. The first few times her feet slipped, sending her sliding down to the bottom. On her last try she finally made it to the middle of the slide and wedged herself inside using her feet and back, curling her spine with the shape of the slide, allowing her body to form an awkward C shape. Tears rolled down her now dirty face and hit the slide with a tap. Silent crying turned into a muffled sob. What had she gotten herself into? She had felt like she had been running for days, she was probably in China now.
"Hey, kid, are you okay?"
Norma looked up to the top of the slide and saw a pair of brown eyes looking back at her. "Do I look 'okay'?" She pouted, then slid down the slide. She crawled out the end and stood, looking up at the jungle gym where the boy stood. His tan skin glistened in the sun, his dark hair soaking wet. He looked like he had just ran through the sprinklers.
"My dad says girls cry for no reason." He too slid down the slide, stopping at the bottom and sitting at the mouth. He looked up at her, "Are you crying for no reason?"
She seemed offended, "It's none of your business." Frowning, she took a step back from the slide, "I don't know you."
He rolled his eye, "I'm Alex." He stuck his hand out, but she didn't take it.
"Norma Lousie Calhoun." she said with a smirk, as if she had finally accomplished learning her entire name and would tell anyone that would listen.
He couldn't help but laugh, "I'm just going to call you Norma."
She crosses her arms and started to pout again, "That's what you're supposed to call me."
"Why would you say your whole name if you don't want people to use it?" He teased her, liking poking fun at his new friend already.
"Because-," She was getting worked up, "Because that's just how you introduce yourself. You're doing it wrong!"
He was amused at how easily the girl got frustrated. Instead of continuing the pointless argument over how one should introduce themselves, he changed the subject, "Where do you live? I've never seen you here before."
Norma had completely forgotten what had happened back at home, she'd been distracted by the boys pestering. "No, my family is just here on vacation." she looked at his nose as she lied to him.
"I never knew why people came to White Pine Bay of all places. There's nothing here."
White Pine Bay? Norma had heard her dad talk about White Pine Bay. Something about them being full of weeds... She must not be too far after all! She could get home easily, she was sure of it. Maybe her dad wouldn't know she had been missing. "My dad said people come for the weeds you grow."
He paused and looked around at the park, seeing the tall weeds no one had really bothered to pull. With a shrug he spoke again, "I thought every place had weeds... We do have a lot of them, thought." His face changed almost immediately to a frown, "Wait, where are your parents?"
She frowned back, he was catching on. "Where are your parents?"
"I asked you first." He continued to frown. He was the Sheriff's son and all his friends knew it. Usually when he asked questions, he got answers.
"Ladies are first." She said in a smug tone. He looked as though he'd been beat.
"My dad was supposed to take me to work today, but he told me to play here for a while. I just live down the street..." His voice faded. It had been his mom's idea for him to got to work with is dad but his dad didn't seem to like it that much. They argued back and forth, but eventually his mother won. Or at least it had seemed like she had. This morning his dad woke him up and said instead of school, Alex was going to the station. He wasn't in the car a whole minute before his dad told him to just play at the park until his lunch break.
"I just went for a walk." Norma lied again.
"You were running." He said matter of factly. "I saw you run out of the woods... you looked scared."
"I wasn't scared! I'm... We're playing hide and seek." She said quickly, "My brother and I."
"First you were walking, then you were playing tag." He was a little upset by the lies, but at the same time it would make for a good detective game; he liked finding the truth out when no one wanted to tell it. "Are your parents fighting?" He asked after a moment of silence.
Her body went rigid, how could he have known? She wasn't allowed to talk about what happened at home with anyone that didn't live there. "No." Was all she could say.
"Oh." He said a little awkwardly, "It's okay if they do, my parents fight." He had a gut feeling her parents weren't so different than his. Maybe it was because he had already started to develop a knack for people, but more than likely it had to do with the fact that he had ran here by himself more than once in his life, every time was because his dad was fighting with his mom.
She felt a little more at ease and took a seat on the ground next to the slide, finally getting a chance to look at her feet. The bottoms were covered in scratches from everything she had stepped on, some of the scratches were even bleeding a little.
"Wanna play on the grass?" He asked when he saw what he assumed the wood chips had done.
"No, I'm fine." She stood again and pushed past him, climbing up the side. She was determined more than ever to get all the way up to the top now that someone was watching, and she did just that. He followed her and ran after her as she flew across the jungle gym, "You're it, Alex!" She ran towards the monkey bars and jumped off the edge of the platform, grabbing on to the fourth bar out.
They played like that for what only seemed like a short while, but before they knew it Sheriff Romero had pulled into the parking lot and got out of his truck.
Alex and Norma were in a tree and the time of the Sheriff's arrival and his son immediately hopped out of the tree while Norma stayed hidden.
"What are you doing?" Norma heard the man ask Alex, making note of his slight accent.
"I was just playing." Alex said sheepishly, barely able to meet the man's gaze.
"By yourself?" he didn't wait for the kid to respond. He stepped towards the tree and looked up, spotting the little girl hanging on to the branch. The sheriff grumbled under his breath, "Are you Norma Calhoun?"
Norma's eyes widened in fear. Too afraid to lie to him, she gulped and nodded, jumping down to a lower branch. The Sheriff sounded gruff and frankly, a little ticked off. "Get down here, I'm taking you to the station and calling your parents."
Alex watched Norma climb down from the tree. She looked at him as if she was expecting him to make this all go away, and for a second he thought about telling his dad she was lying, that Norma wasn't her name at all.
"Everyone in the area is looking for you, Calhoun." The Sheriff said as they all piled into the car, "Pine View, White Pine Bay, hell, maybe even Portland. You caused a lot of trouble." Norma silently sat in the back seat of the car, gripping her seat belt and keeping her eyes focused on the back of the driver's seat. She figured if she sat directly behind the muscular man she wouldn't have to see him. Alex was sitting next to her, more disappointed than anything. He had a lot of fun with Norma, she was a lot smarter than Keith Summers and a little nicer than Bob Paris. Plus she was braver than both of them combined, she hadn't been scared to jump off the swing and had even convinced him to walk on top of the monkey bars with her.
The rest of the car ride was silent. They finally pulled up to the station and walked inside, both children were instructed to sit in the Sheriff's office and wait for someone to bring them out.
"Am I getting arrested?" Norma asked Alex, frightened.
"I don't know." He said in an irritated tone, "What did you do, anyway?"
"Ran away." She mumbled. "I live in Pine View... I thought I could just find my way home before anyone noticed."
He crosses his arms and leaned back into the chair, "Why didn't you just tell me that? I could have hid you in the slide or something."
"I dunno." She shrugged it of, waiting nervously for someone to come get them. Finally the deputy opened the door and nodded for Norma to follow him. She looked at the new friend she had made with sadness in her eyes. Was she ever going to see him again? "Bye, Alex." she mumbled.
He watched her walk out with the deputy, "Bye, Norma." His heart sank a little when the door had closed behind her, wondering the same thing she was. Would they ever cross paths again? Who would have thought his first time at the police station would be the first day he lost a friend?