18.
~ Rebecca had spent her Christmas happily locked away alone in her warm apartment with a few good books. Her mother had called. Very sad her only daughter wasn't going to come home to Indiana and see her. She'd mentioned she was having trouble with her health again. To Rebecca, it felt like her mother only wanted pity. The old woman's constant complaints about her health, her aches and pains were becoming routine. Only now they were folded over with complaints in general about everything you could name.
The girl at the supermarket who tok too long, the lines at the drive thru and the fact that no healthcare professional could seem to validate the old woman's maladies and condition to her satisfaction.
Eventually, Rebecca grew tired of hearing about it. Tired of the never ending bitterness that was in her mother's voice. As a child, living with this same woman, Rebecca knew better to complain about anything. If she or her brothers were sick, they didn't go to a doctor. It was laughable to even suggest such a thing.
The kids had to nurse their own sickness and wounds until they were better. Their mother didn't want to hear about it and would do nothing anyway. Once, Rebecca's younger brother had a cough brought on by a virus that was so bad, the school nurse threatened to call child services. All their mother had done was call the constant coughing 'annoying'.
As for a line at the grocery store, when did her mother start shopping for groceries? That never happened when she was growing up. If there wasn't food in the house, that was normal. When had it changed? When did her mother suddenly buy groceries like a regular person instead of whatever was available at a convenience store?
'Why the hell am I listening to this woman complain about her problems?' when her mother began a tale of how someone had parked in the handicap spot near the front of the store with no plate, only a temporary tag which was probably fake.
It made Rebecca sick to her stomach to think of ever going back home to that woman. Her mother mentioning again how much help she needed and didn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer.
"We can get a nice place together." her mother had said. "I can look after you while you work."
Rebecca had rolled her eyes.
'You'll smoke all day and watch tv. Let any house go to shit.' she thought bitterly. She knew without even knowing exactly what her mother's home looked like now. Piles of dirty dishes and clothes, the whole place rank with sourness and things left out to rot. In short, the exact opposite of Rebecca's home.
Her mother had been a beautiful woman once. Rebecca had found a shoebox full of pictures of a gorgeous young woman with wild red hair and a fit and healthy body.
But forty years of chain smoking had given her mother permanent wrinkles set deep around her mouth, as well as a voice like gravel. It was so harsh that sometimes her daughter didn't recognize it at all. Or if it was even a woman's voice.
Her mother didn't care if the house was messy or her children went without. It was always like she expected someone else to come along and take care of these things. Which Rebecca had done out of guilt until the day she left and never ventured back.
They would make horrible roommates. Worse than the odd couple. No, Rebecca hardened her heart and reminded herself of all the times she and her brothers had gone without. Remembered how there was never anything to eat and they would cry and her mother didn't care. Remembered how dirty and unheated that trailer was and her mother didn't care. Remembered how strange men were always coming to their home and their mother didn't care.
So, with this thinking, it was easy for Rebecca not to care about her mother now.
She'd been lonely that Christmas. It was true. The last Christmas holiday had been spent with Alex. The two of them not exchanging presents or sharing deep feelings and thoughts, but was still nice. Baking a frozen pizza and getting hammered together.
Now, Rebecca was alone and reading a book of love letters by famous men she'd checked out from the library before the snow came. No one ever wrote letters like these anymore. No one left tactile evidence of feelings for another human being. With Alex, she had almost no proof at all that they'd ever been together.
He was ignoring her texts now. Perhaps he'd even blocked her. She couldn't bring herself to delete his number because a part of her still believed he might come back and they could be like things were. Maybe he'd come to his senses and realize what an idiot he'd been once he'd spent a winter with that nut job Norma Bates in her creepy old house.
It had to be cold in that dreary house on the hill.
She hadn't been impressed by it the night she'd broken in. Rebecca couldn't see past the desperate need for paint on the outside. The warped basement door which gave her entrance, and the grotesque taxidermy table she'd discovered there. Sinister looking tools used to gut and skin animals. Bleeding them dry only to mount on animal shaped rubber bodies.
Who would have such a disgusting hobby? Why would they do it in their own home like this? Was is Norma's hobby? Was she the one who'd stuffed all these birds and decorated them around the house? It was creepy and unnatural and she deserved the reputation she had in town for being a little strange if she stuffed dead things in her spare time.
Inside the house itself, was different. Clean and almost like everything was frozen in another decade. The old furniture gave Rebecca pause. She didn't like antiques or old things in general. Didn't like owning something that came with a history or had belonged to someone else. All her life she'd had second hand everything and hated it. Hated it so much she always tried to buy new and from expensive stores where the furniture was only trendy for a year or so. To buy second hand furniture meant a trip to the flea market or goodwill shop and charity places. A place to buy battered tables and ugly sofas for a few bucks. Furniture where God only knew what had happened on it and Rebecca hated that.
Yet, looking over Norma Bates' house, she decided the furnishings weren't cheap at all. Sure everything was old, but they were all well made and looked well suited to the house. Like they were as much apart of the house as the kitchen sink was.
Nothing at all looked out of place and it literally made Rebecca feel like she'd stepped back in time. The house was nearly spotless, save for some laundry to be done and a few clothes scattered on the bed. As if the lady of the house had been deciding what to wear that evening to the Lights of Winter.
Rebecca had gone through Norma's closet. An old fashioned cedar wardrobe where she found brightly colored dresses that were beautiful and with a timeless cut to them. Fashionable without being trendy.
The kind of clothing she'd seen women wearing fifty years ago in movies and on TV. Women who were always so polished and who had a perfect family. Dresses that could still be stylish twenty years from now.
Seeing Norma's clothes, her beautiful house with it's tasteful antiques and knowing Alex was sleeping in that bed with her, had sent Rebecca into a rage. She wasn't looking for the key anymore. Didn't care if she was even caught here. She was looking to smash and destroy everything Norma Bates held dear. The house even smelled nice. Like wintergreen, wood polish and fall apples How was that possible?
Her first target was that oh so beautiful stained glass window that seemed to mock her when she ran back downstairs. She threw a brass umbrella stand at it, and it smashed a satisfying hole that would be impossible to miss when the love birds came home.
She'd seen them dancing and smiling together at the festival. Alex never wanting to go out and be seen with her in public, but it was all smiles with Norma Bates now. Alex telling her he'd never get married and then he oh so quickly married this woman with her elegant clothes, tasteful furniture and creepy hobby in the basement.
She'd tossed several of Norma's things onto the floor, not caring if they broke or not. Not caring about anything other than the childish need to hurt someone who'd hurt you. She didn't like Norma Bates because she was everything Rebecca could never be. She could never fit into a big fancy house like this with it's stained glass window, carved wooden banister and vintage style dresses. Never be the kind of woman Alex needed.
She could only be herself. And that wasn't good enough. It would never be good enough she realized with a seething sense of self loathing.
After she'd successfully ripped apart the living room, tipped over the trashcan in the kitchen and broke a few dishes she felt oddly better. Happy that she'd caused a little pin prick of hurt in Alex's world. Ruined Norma Bates perfect home.
Maybe it would cause them to fight. Alex would know would done this but he would lie to his new bride. He'd never want Norma to find out he'd been with her. It would be a fine joke to pay Norma Bates a visit and tell her all about her little trysts with Alex Romero.
~ It felt like the joke was on her though. Alex didn't seem to have the key she'd been looking for and that money, as well as the flash drive with the bank ledgers was stashed neatly inside the banks' vault. A flash drive with her banks routing number and her ID in trades. It could all come back to her and she could easily go to prison.
She'd been a fool to trust Bob Paris. Maybe he'd taken the flash drive with him for extra insurance. Maybe he'd taken the money to. There was no way to know. Alex would have gotten that cash by now and found the flash drive. He would have left town with that new wife of his.
Rebecca wanted to leave White Pine Bay. Wanted to leave and never come back. She'd tell everyone she was going back to Indiana to take care of her sick mother. But really, she'd leave the country. Leave and live forever on a beach somewhere far away.
Nothing had seemed to come from the insurance investigator questioning her. When she'd driven past the Bates Motel, she never saw his car anymore. It wasn't until the snow finally took a break and there was the first brightness of sunshine that Rebecca saw Alex and Norma together.
She'd been used to seeing Alex alone on the street or driving by, but the winter snow had kept his new wife away from the village.
It was odd to see them, out together after so many weeks away. Almost like it had all been a dream. Like maybe they had split up during the snow storm and things were back to normal now.
Then, like a bad omen, Rebecca spotted them from her office window. They were walking together and smiling like they were actually happy. Looking in shop windows and even going into the overpriced antique shop.
Alex was holding her hand and guiding her away from a patch of ice and they looked oddly younger than she both knew they were. Happiness did that to you though.
Pageants had taught her that lesson early.
Always smile. Everyone looks better when they smile and happy girls are always the prettiest.
She'd seen it was true with Alex. He was much better looking when he smiled. His smile not induced by drinking or pretending to be happy. He smiled brightly at his wife and matched his movements with hers as if he were a puppy. Content just to be with her and fine with following her into this shop and that shop, just to look at things.
Alex hated shopping. Rebecca knew that for a fact. If he couldn't get it at a local supermarket or hardware store in under fifteen minutes, he didn't bother.
That was when Rebecca noticed it. Saw everything with fresh eyes. Saw his movements weren't like a concerned Sheriff or even a new husband. She saw his hand move around her waist and pull her closer to him with a surprising gentleness. His other hand wanting to protectively cover her abdomen when a crowd of people walked past them too fast. His eyes grow wide with sudden worry and wanting to put himself between Norma and other people.
Norma's own hand went to her stomach as a noisy, rambunctious, little boy raced past them. The couple exchanging nervous glances and Alex smiling widely at her when the danger had passed. Norma was blushing fiercely and smiling to.
"You son of a bitch." Rebecca had hissed as she watched them stroll away.