9.
~ Norma woke up to a loud rapping at the front door. She'd felt like the noise had followed her into her dreams. She dreamed birds were pecking her windows and the rapping sounds were growing more and more insistent.
"No." she moaned and rolled over; trying to dive back into sleep. Sleep; where everything was safe and warm and she could live an infinite life.
The rapping noise was louder now. A harsh knocking that seemed to shake her awake and she realized someone was at the door.
Norma opened her eyes to a dusky light coming into her bedroom.
'What time is it?' she thought weakly and the knocking was louder and more abrasive than ever.
She quickly maneuvered out of bed and, almost tripping over the tangle of sheets, rushed out of her bedroom and to the front door. She hadn't even bothered to check to see who was knocking. The feeling of safety in this hidden cabin was practically smothering.
That violent knock again, enough to shake the door and its' frame made Norma quick to unlock and open it.
"Are you okay?" Alex demanded looking annoyed. His face pulled into a scowl she wasn't used to seeing. Normally, he was happy and almost playful but a darkness had settled over him with the evening's light. Almost like an annoyance about something.
Norma looked around, expecting something to have changed. She was still the same person. Still had two arms and two legs.
"I'm fine." she said groggily. "What… why were you banging on my door?"
"I've been knocking on your door for five minutes." he told her with a sharp tone. "You weren't answering. I almost broke it down. I thought you might need help again."
"Alex, I was sleeping!" Norma said feeling the need to defend herself for the simple crime of enjoying a nap. "It was only an hour."
"It's been nine."
"What?" she groaned.
"It's been nine hours. You've been asleep for nine hours. It's almost eight in the evening." he said.
Norma took a step back. In truth, she could have gone back to sleep right now and been perfectly happy.
She noticed, once she stepped away from him, that his eyes fell on her Garfield T-shirt. She hadn't thought about how she was dressed. How she'd answered the door in such skimpy clothing and how the old shirt hit past her bottom, but just barely.
Alex, to his credit, looked away.
"We're cooking dinner." he said when Norma puller her arms over her chest. Suddenly very aware of her state of undress. He nodded towards the big house. "Maybe get dressed and join us? We made plenty; and you need a good meal."
"Okay." she said wishing he would go away. It was suddenly very awkward having him on her little porch like this.
Alex turned to go and Norma immediately shut the door behind him.
'Nine hours?' she chastised herself bitterly pulling off her old shirt and walking, half naked, back to her bedroom to get dressed.
~ Less than five minutes later, she was dressed in summer shorts and top that fitted her better. She'd combed her hair, pinned it back and washed her face. She didn't bother to put on shoes. The main house and its' guest cottage seemed like they were in their own hermetically sealed bubble. It gave her a feeling of being sheltered in some way. As if they were indoors, even when she was outside.
Dylan and Alex were by the pool, a small grill was set up and Norma could something wonderful cooking.
"There she is." Alex nodded to the little boy who'd been eating a hamburger.
"Mom!" Dylan said looking tired and dirty but was smiling.
"Hi, honey!" Norma said quickly trotting to their makeshift cooking sight.
"Mom, I made $20 today." Dylan told her proudly.
"Oh?" Norma asked in surprise. Alex was ignoring them and prepping a hamburger for her to eat.
"Yeah." Dylan was saying eagerly. "I helped, Alex… um Deputy Romero with the yard so he could mow."
"Wow!" Norma said feeling a large smile coming across her face. She felt better after her nap and that food was about to be given to her.
"Yeah, we finished cleaning the pool to and we checked the chemicals and they're all good." Dylan explained.
"That's wonderful, honey." she told him when Alex handed her a plate.
"Thank you." she said sensing a coldness that had suddenly drifted between them.
Dylan had already finished his supper and Norma noticed a very impressive model sail boat floating in the grand pool.
"What's that?" she asked Alex nodding to the toy boat that was most certainly not for kids.
"One of the owners lake toys." he said. "They take them out on the bay and use a remote control to 'sail' them around."
He had his own plate of food and the two adults watched as Dylan, remote control in hand, now navigating the expensive looking toy boat around the large pool. They were both sitting at a neatly arranged patio table and could watch Dylan comfortably.
The stillness and peace of the country air was soothing, but Norma couldn't relax. Something was different. Something had changed.
"Is it okay that he's playing with that?" Norma asked worriedly. "It looks like it's not for kids."
"Its' fine." Alex told her. "Nick Ford hasn't touched it in years. I found it in the garage and we fixed it up."
"Okay. I just don't want you to get into trouble." she whispered. Alex shook his head.
The silence between them growing and something else she couldn't describe. A tension and distrust.
"I didn't mean to sleep so long." she whispered apologetically. "Leaving you to babysit."
Alex refused to look at her.
"We were fine. It was nice to have company." he said and looked away from her. "I spend so much time here alone."
"Well…" she said, not sure of what to do next. "I was thinking we could be on our way tomorrow. I hate putting your job here in jeopardy."
"You don't have to leave." he said cooly. "It's no trouble."
"You've done so much for us. Its' time we go. We'll leave in the afternoon. I'm really feeling much better now." she told him.
Something was wrong, something was very wrong.
"Do you want me to ask you stay?" he asked in that cool detached voice he'd suddenly acquired which she didn't like at all. His eyes finally roamed over to hers and she didn't like the way they looked at her now. It wasn't the kind and soft way he'd looked at her before. They had narrowed and become judgmental. As if searching for something in her and she didn't know how to defend herself. How do you defend yourself against eyes like that? That you once trusted and that used to look at you with such affection. Eyes that now seemed to rake over you, looking for imperfections and flaws to your character.
What had happened between them while she was sleeping?
"Do you want me to stay?" she challenged him. She knew, knew with certainty that he wanted her to stay with him here. That he wanted her to stay in this pristine little world. This isolated place of safety where they were untouched and unseen.
He said nothing though.
"I think it would be best… if you stayed till you're well." he said slowly. "You're still very weak."
"I'm not weak." she snapped. Her voice so abrupt that Dylan turned to look back at them.
Alex looked away from her.
"You should eat." he said.
~ Night fell over the large mansion and Alex did his midnight rounds. The house was especially creepy at night. The place being so large and empty that it echoed with strange noises.
Alex engaged the outdoor lighting and flooded the lawn with a warm and comforting light. He turned on the lights at different times each evening. He rotated the indoor lights as well to at least give the appearance that someone was home and active in the house.
Everyone in town knew Nick Ford and his family was out of the country but it was apart of Alex's job to make the ground appear that they were inhabited by a large group of people.
So, he kept lights on in different rooms during the night, turned on outside lights at night and patrolled the grounds when he couldn't sleep.
No one ever came this far out of town. The mansion was too isolated and removed for that. In the month Alex had been here, he'd never once had a visitor. Still, it was past midnight and he couldn't sleep. It wouldn't hurt to go on a walk and justify it as a security check.
He had his two house guests he had to keep safe after all.
He walked down one long drive and circled back again. His thoughts roaming over what he'd read online that day; how certain things lined up a little too perfectly.
How Norma Bates had vanished almost the same time Vicki Deeds had arrived in White Pine Bay. How both their son's had broken arms. They were both running from a man named Sam. The photo's and physical descriptions were way off, but appearances could change. Anyone could change the way they looked easily.
All you had to do was watch one of the hundreds of reality shows to see a suburban house wife be transformed with make-up, hair and new clothes. All the proof he needed was when she answered the door wearing that T-shirt.
He could have believed anything she told him if she'd answered the door in anything else. But she was wearing the same shirt Norma Bates had been wearing in the missing photo.
Why was Norma Bates hiding out here? Didn't she understand people thought she was dead? That people thought her son was dead? That Sam Bates arrest would happen any day?
Is that what she wanted?
Alex felt slightly sick at the idea he'd been so wrong about her. He could have forgiven a woman who was running away. Trying to make a new life for herself. But this… he didn't know what to make of this.
The police in Arizona didn't know where mother and son were. They had just vanished. Naturally whey would assume the worst had happened.
He would have to talk to her. With Vicki, or Norma. Whoever she was and get the truth.
He couldn't allow her to just vanish again. If she left, he was obligated to report that he had seen Norma Bates and Dylan. He would be obligated to provide a lead into their disappearance and they would be found.
Alex was almost to the main house when he head a splash out by the large outdoor pool and sounds of water turning. A soft cry belonging to a female erupted from the still night air and he quickly walked back to the end of the house.
The pool area was dark, but the lights from the house cast enough of a glow to see what was happening. It wasn't rowdy kids who were looking for a good time. It wasn't a wayward deer or anything like that.
Alex paused and quickly slunk back behind a wall; effectively concealing himself while he watched her swimming.
Norma or Vicki. Whatever she called herself. Whoever she really was, had decided to take a midnight swim and the coolness of the water had taken her by surprise.
Alex felt a pang of concern. She was still too weak to be exerting herself like this. She'd eaten dinner but looked tired after. Her color coming back but it was obvious she needed more rest and time to recover.
He felt his breathing pick up in worry that she might grow too exhausted in that large pool and drown. What if he had to run in and save her?
She didn't seem to grow tired though. She did a few simple laps on the short side of the pool. Her body elegant and Alex mused that her swimsuit must had matched her skin. He thought… no. It had to be a trick of the light.
Only, when she got out of the pool, her body soaking wet and shimmering, he saw she'd gone swimming with nothing on at all. She stood before the grand house bare skinned and without a thought to her own nudity.
Her hands were wringing out her wet hair as her body shown with magnificent beauty.
Alex clutched the wall to keep himself from almost falling over in delighted shock.
Her body was beautiful. Her breasts seeming to gleam from the cool water as she was exposed to the warm night air.
She reminded him painfully of his Andromeda upstairs. Of his regal Venus emerging from the clam shell. The picture of female power and beauty. A creature not at all concerned about the shame of her own nakedness and couldn't be bothered by a mortal man seeing her, and dreaming of possessing her.
Alex felt slightly faint and had to remind himself to breathe. He shouldn't be spying on her, but he couldn't help it. She was so unafraid there by the pool. She knew she was alone and did nothing at all to shield her breasts or body from nature and it's onlookers.
She finished wringing out her hair and lazily walked to the side of the pool where she'd first dove in. A large beach towel was waiting for her there and she dried her hair with it before wrapping her body up.
Alex was glad to see that her nipples looked painfully erect from the cold waters of the pool.
'Good.' he thought happily and then had to chastise himself for such a thought. His very own Andromeda made into flesh was right before him; barely thirty feet away. She'd broken free from her chains and beaten the sea monster. Now she climbed out of the waters victorious. Why should her nudity be a problem? And what need would she have for a hero after all that? Perseus was useless to her now.
The towel looked ugly and cumbersome once wrapped over her body. It made her body hideous and gross after the display of her elegant evening wear. Without thinking, he stepped free form the shadows and approached her. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to her, if she would be scared or upset at the idea he 'might' have seen her.
Her body was covered securely with that awful towel. A sacrilegious act of defiling art in his opinion. She hadn't seen him when he stepped closer to her. His hands trembling slightly and his body aching into just touch her.
"Norma?" he said and she tuned around in surprise at hearing her true name.
