Emma hid in the office exactly as Dylan had ordered her to. She was scared. Not because of the scene and the screaming, that's something the Bates family did quite often and she was used to it. It was her own ignorance to the situation that really scared her. What could have happened that was so bad that Norma left her sons and Norman looked like he had completely lost his mind? She had some ideas of her own, but before she could think about them, the door opened furiously.
"Emma, where are you?" she heard Dylan's voice in the darkness and saw Norman's face, half distraught and half dazed, behind his silhouette.
"I'm here, is everything alright?" she asked, doubtfully.
"Yes and no," Dylan answered, his voice sounded hollow. "Could you come with me to calm down Norman, please? I think he's going to lose connection with reality."
She walked out hesitantly into the dark and for the first time after all this mess she could look at them properly. Norman looked really bad. Emma never experienced any of his 'blackouts' firsthand before, but she was quite sure that it had to look pretty similar to this. He was looking out somewhere into a void, in the direction where Norma drove away, almost like he could call her back. She didn't know if he was exhausted from the screaming or if he had lost reason to speak at all with Norma's departure, but he was standing there quietly and motionlessly. Dylan's face, on the other hand, she could read like a book. Almost all types of emotions run over it - rage, anxiety, sadness, but also tenderness when he looked at Norman sometimes.
"C'mon, we have to bring him back to the house," he said, in an almost absentminded voice, that Emma first thought he was speaking to himself.
"Sure, sure," was all she was able to say as she stepped up to Norman. "Okay, Norman, I know you're upset because of all of this, but come back to the house, please, and we can discuss what to do now there."
It sounded like a pretty pathetic attempt to comfort someone who was just rejected by his own mother, but Emma felt so distracted, like it was her in Norman's place, that it was the best she could devise. She thought Norman wouldn't listen to her, but, to her and Dylan's surprise, he slowly turned around and started to climb the stairs like a robot.
Dylan and Emma immediately went after him. Emma felt still nervous, it was like all the weight of grief and shock of both brothers must be feeling right now suddenly lied on her. From Norman's back, her eyes briefly fell on Dylan. He doggedly looked before himself, and just like Norman earlier, seemed to be seeing something that others couldn't. Emma sighed quietly. She felt so sorry for Dylan. Even though none of them told her, she was pretty sure that the reason for all this was Caleb. He was like this big, dark cloud that floated above all three members of the Bates family. She knew how Dylan must have felt right now. He probably felt terribly remorseful for not only sending away his own mother away, but for also separating Norman from their mother, too. It's also clear that his sorely built relationship with Norma fell down like a house of cards. And as if that wasn't enough, there was still that insistent need inside him to stick up for Caleb. Because no matter what, he is and always will be his father. And he is trying to maintain some kind of bond with him.
Suddenly she realized that she thinks much more about Dylan's feeling than about Norman's. But before she could reach an answer as to why, they were reached the house. Norman turned to them and spoke for the very first time.
"Leave me alone. I want go to bed and be alone. I don't wanna talk about it."
"Norman are you sure? I mean mom just went crazy and left us here, like she doesn't care anymore and this whole situation-"
"NO! Don't you understand, Dylan?! I just wanna be alone! And after all, it is your rapist dad or uncle or whatever who caused all this!" Norman just shook his head and started to climb stairs quickly, taking two stairs with one step.
"Norman, stop!" Emma shouted at him and she jumped at stairs at the same time as Dylan. Unfortunately, her oxygen tank had another opinion on this sudden movement and dragged poor Emma back down.
"Oh!" was the only word that escaped from her lips, when she felt her foot slip on the rug beneath her and her body headed for an unavoidable downfall. But before she could do a thing, she felt a pressure around her waist and a strange power guided her back on her feet.
"Are you okay?!" Dylan looked at her, worriedly, in a similar way to how he looked at Norman outside.
"Yes, yes. I'm alright, I just forgot that me and my pet aren't good at sprints," she answered with a sheepish smile, and, for a small moment, Dylan warmly returned it. She looked down and saw that his arm was still tightly wrapped around her waist. As if he had just followed her gaze, Dylan quickly released her, turned around and started to walk upstairs again. Emma followed next to him.
He walked slower, and at almost every stair, turned slightly towards Emma, as if he thought that she would fall again. But she was right beside him and his concern embarrassed her.
"Decody, next time mind what you're doing. Now you look like a monkey on the bike," she told herself, but in next second they stood before Norman's room.
"Norman, please open the door!" Dylan knocked intensively on the wood. No answer. He tried it again with the same result.
"May I?" Emma asked shyly.
"Of course, maybe you can convince him," answered Dylan resignedly and leaned over the railing, helpless.
"Norman it's me, Emma. Please let me in, just for a while, I want to be sure that you are okay."
Silence.
"Oh Norman don't do this, it really scares me!"
"Not now Emma. We can talk tomorrow." Norman's voice sounds strangely calm but also cold, emotionless.
She looked at Dylan, now as helpless as him. What now?
"I have and idea. What do you think about a cup of tea, coffee or something stronger?" he asked her. "I could use a bottle or two, at least."
"Well, tea would be great. Maybe a shot," she answered with a smile. "And an explanation to what really happened tonight?"