Day (Part Two)

She didn’t react well.

Norman had expected her to call 9-1-1. Which she did. Immediately.

Norman hadn’t expected that she would scream so much. Or cry so much. Or desperately try to give him CPR.

He hadn’t expected that she would tell him that she was sorry. That she wasn’t a good mother. That she should have worked harder.

Should have found a way to pay the bills.

Should have kept the family together.

Norman felt like shit. He wanted to cry himself.

When all of this was over, he would be better to her. He promised that to himself. And really meant it.

The police came. Twenty minutes later.

After a while, Norman had enough of listening to his mom tearfully explain what had happened to the cops. He was feeling worse and worse.

Norman knew that some of his gossipy classmates had relatives in the police force. By this point, everyone at school would know that he was dead.

He flew over to the school.

People were talking about his death. But, not in the expected way. They weren’t bad-mouthing him. Many, in fact, were praising him. This absolutely infuriated him.

Norman knew that a lot of them had teased him when he wasn’t aware. Had looked at him funny. Had judged him. He’d never actually witnessed them in action. But he didn’t have to see to know.

He glided around the school for most of the day. Pretty much everyone was having similar reactions to the news of his fate. It made him hate everyone in the school even more. Why did they not show their true colors? Why?

They were making him feel as if he had been wrong about them. But that couldn’t be true. It just… couldn’t.

Norman flew home angrily.