The next morning, Norman has several boxes of photos on the coffee table, showing me stacks at a time.

"Here's me when I was a baby," he hands me a photo which displays a chunky baby staring at the camera. "Aww Norman, you were so cute! Look at your fat cheeks!" I gush. He takes the picture, examining it and laughing through his nose. "I was an ugly baby, Jolene."

I frown, but he doesn't notice as he continues to thumb through the pictures. "This is my mother." He hands me a small photo. "She was very beautiful Norman. She really was. You look a lot like her."

"Yeah, she is, she-" He cuts himself off by looking at the top of the stairs. "Norman, are you ok?" I wave my hand in front of his face. He nods, obviously still distracted, and hands me the box of photos from his lap. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

He ignores me, jogging halfway up the stairs before turning and smiling. "It's ok, I'll be right back!"

*Norman's POV*

"Yes Mother?" I ask once I'm upstairs.

"Why did you bring that girl here?"

"I had to Mother, she had to have somewhere to go."

"You said she's engaged? What, did her fiancé realize that she's a whore?"

My cheeks burn in anger, and I clench my fist. "She's not a whore Mother!"

"Oh look at Norman getting bold. You make me laugh, boy. You act so mighty when you know you'll listen to anything I say!" I cover my ears as her loud cackling fills my head.

"She doesn't like you. She'll only use you for her disgusting needs and be done with you. Trust me. They're all the same. She's just gonna hurt you."

"She won't hurt me."

"You've known her for two months and she's already hurt you multiple times, and made your cry! It only gets worse. But, you can always just not listen to me. As usual."

I lean back against the wall. Is Mother right? Jolene has hurt me several times..though I don't think she's had any bad intentions.

"She didn't think twice about making you protect her from being arrested for murder. Did you think about that?" She yells.

"Mother, just shut up!" I yell, stomping my foot at the same time.

"Norman!" Jolene shouts, jogging up the stairs. I lean my elbows on the banister, clutching my ears and she grabs my shoulders from behind, turning me and pulling my arms down. "Norman, who are you talking to?" She asks firmly.

"My Mot-"

"Norman! Who are you talking to?"

I look at her for a minute, then sigh, leaning against the wall and sliding down to a sitting position. She sits next to me, wrapping her arm around my back. "My mother." I reply faintly. "But your mother is dead, right?" Yes. "Yes." "So you couldn't have been talking to her, right?" Wrong. "Right."

She watches me for a second before sighing, stroking my shoulder with her thumb. "Maybe we shouldn't stay here Norman, maybe we just need to go somewhere el-" "No!" I shout, cutting her off. She jumps, pulling her arm off of me and scooting away a little. "Im not leaving this house again. No one is gonna make me either. Especially you, okay? So don't even suggest it anymore. Got it?" I snap. She looks at me wide eyed, and I can tell she's shaking. She quickly nods, breathing heavily.

I smile, standing up. "Good. Let's go back to looking at those pictures, yeah?" I extend my hand. She looks from me to my hand a few times, still wide eyed, before taking it, standing up and slowly following me down the stairs.

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It's 11:00 PM right now but I wanted to get a chapter up since it's been a while! But, this weekend is a long weekend so I can post one (or two?) then. :)

I look forward to reviews!