"What did you mean by that!? Are you talking about me? Of course, you are. Don't lie. I'm your only brother, and I've forgotten everything."
Jade sits up, now wide awake at the fact that she just slipped. She reaches for her phone. She knew who to ask. Emma.
She types in the message, not waiting for a reply.
"Y-you probably heard wrong!" She tells him, in a panic, though smiling. "People hear wrong all the time!"
"I didn't. You were whispering, but I heard you fine. Was it a lie that I fell down a set of stairs?" Norman asks. "What did I do to have this happen?!"
Jade's phone vibrates. She reads the text. "Tell him, I guess." Emma replied.
"Why did you lie to me!?"
"It was to protect you!" Jade yells.
"Well, what did I fricking do, since I know that you-" He pauses and grabs his head. "I think... Who the Frick is Olive!? Why did she stab herself!? Why did I tell you that I hated Emma!? Why did I tell her she was a murderer!?"
"It's all of the damn memories you're regaining now!" Jade has always hated fighting, especially with Norman or Ace, but this time, it felt wrong to calm down. She wasn't mad at him, no; she was simply furious- at her own self. If she didn't always say her thoughts aloud, this wouldn't have happened.
Both of them eventually stare at each other, pain in both of their gazes- Jade's pain fighting with herself every day, never getting breaks, never feeling true happiness. Norman's pain being he was lied to.
"Who... who was Olive...?" Norman questions, his voice shaking with confusion. "Why did I seem so happy around her?"
Jade smiles, with a newfound pain in her expression. "She... she was your girlfriend. She committed suicide after you befriended Emma. She told me she was thinking about it... I tried to change her mind... That's why you called Emma a murderer. Because..."
"Olive wanted me to be with Emma...?"
"Yeah... She couldn't just have broken up with you... If she did merely that, she would've become a threat to Emma's safety, and maybe even to her life... She was like that... I couldn't judge her... I would kill someone getting close to Ace in any kind of way."
"What about me? Did I try to kill myself?"
"You did... Thankfully, only from a couple floors... Otherwise, you'd have died..." Jade shivers. "I... I don't want you to do what you did... Emma did nothing wrong. Don't blame her. There's no one to blame, alright? Don't be angry at anyone, don't hurt yourself... You don't even remember Olive. I... I don't want you to be like you were before. I think that it was a good thing that you lost your memory... We're all better now... Everything is going to be okay..."
Another memory comes into Norman's head like a flash. Norman was crying, and Jade was holding him, saying the same thing. "Everything is going to be okay..." She repeated.
"I won't. I won't hurt myself or try to kill. I won't blame Emma for anything again. I love Emma. But... I can only blame myself... For doing those in the past..." He smiles. "I'll tell Emma that I'm sorry!"
...
"Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry."
"What are you apologizing for, Norman? You did nothing wrong!" Emma smiles.
How could I have hated her...? She's so... sweet. "For blaming you."
Emma tilts her head, confused.
He takes a step toward her and grabs both her hands. "Uh... what are you doing?"
He pulls her close in a hug. "I'm sorry... I blamed you for Olive's death... I was an idiot..."
"I... It's fine. You weren't in the right state of mind." When she says that, he hugs her tighter.
"You're not... angry?"
"Of course not. I couldn't blame you for being sad!"
Thank you... He thinks.
...
"Uh, there's a family thing going on, you know, with my family, and I can't really just leave you two here. Jade is 17, there's a while before she'll be 18... She gets paid enough, has better self-defense than anyone I know, and is mature enough to take care of you both, but, eh... I'm over eighteen. I'm considered your legal guardian or something, I don't know or care. You can both leave when she is. I think I might be there for around a month... maybe longer. Probably the whole summer." Ace says quietly.
"What!? Do you have to go!?" Jade asks.
"I chose to, I don't have to, exactly." Ace scratches the back of his head.
"Please stay here! I love it here, and I have lots of friends, and..." She looks at Norman, who put his head down. "...He has Emma."
"I'm sorry, I think my entire family is more important than a few friends. It's only for the summer."
Jade stands up. "You can't go!" She pleads.
"It's for my damn siblings!"
"Why can't they come here!?"
An odd silence runs through the environment.
"Because I'm the only one who lives here." He grabs Jade's hand, but she pulls it away.
"I'm not going!"
They start muttering bitterly, then it changes into yelling. Norman raises his head. They never fought, for all that he could remember. He stands up. "Stop..." He whispers, his voice shaking with fear. They didn't hear him. He grabs his phone from the table and leaves the house unnoticed.
He couldn't hear the fight from outside, but he still decided to go to the park. There might be dogs there... Those are always comforting. Maybe not, no one goes out at this time.
He starts on his walk, which isn't that long.
When he gets there, he sits under a tree. The one that he apparently met Emma under. The one they fell asleep together under. I wonder if Emma will be here... probably not. He looks up at the night's sky. There were a lot of stars that night, and he could spot one of the few constellations he knew.
"Why can't I just stay here?" He pleads silently. "With Emma?"
...
"Hey, wake up!" A girl's voice says. Norman sits up. "Crazy how we're always meeting under this tree... I usually go here around this time and sit here. It's not that safe, but the sky is beautiful," Emma says.
Norman looks down at the ground.
"Are you okay?" Emma asks. "You can tell me anything. I know everyone says it, but it's true."
"I..." He begins. "There is..." He tells her the entire story. Emma looks at him with intense compassion and worry. "They never fight!"
She embraces him in a hug. "Don't cry!"
"I am crying?" He touches his face. His fingertips feel his tears on them. "I guess I was..."
They stay silent for a few moments.
"Jade is probably worried about me; I probably wouldn't have run off..." Norman says, breaking the silence.
Emma doesn't respond, she just stays there, probably zoned out.
"Emma?"
"Huh? Sorry..." She lets go of him. "What?"
"I should go... I'll come back if they're still fighting, but don't expect me to."
Emma hesitates, pondering something. "Okay, but before you go." She gives him a small kiss on the cheek.
They stare at each other, wide eyed, but with familiar warm gazes.
"Sorry!" Emma exclaims, snapping back to reality.
"Is that really..." Norman starts, grabbing her hand. "How you think about me? You like me?"
Emma looks at the ground. "Yeah... I have for a while... But you're leaving, and I don't think..."
He nods. "I get it... but before I go, I'll say I do like you back... It's not a lie." He grabs both of her hands.
"When did you say you were leaving?"
"I don't know... Ace said we might stay there the whole summer. I think we might leave by then." He replies.
"I hope that you come back soon."
"If he stays there the whole summer, Jade said she'll take me home once she turns 18, which will be in two weeks, I think."
"I hope he doesn't... Do you want me to go with you back to your house?"
"No, I'm fine. And by the way." He hugs her again. "I love you."
She returns the hug. "I love you... too," She whispers. He stands up.
"Goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow."
When he's out of sight, Emma grabs her head, tearing up. "I don't want you to leave, even if it's only for the summer..." She begins. "I'll be alright, won't I? I'll stay happy, for you. I won't cry! You'll be back before I know!"
"But..."
"I will miss you."
...
"Are you done fighting?" Norman mutters. No one's yelling. They're probably sleeping. He walks into the living room. Jade is laying on the couch, and the TV is on. She was playing Slime Rancher. (10/10 good game would recommend -Spoon64)
"Yeah, whatever. I have two weeks. I'll be 18 soon. Then I can do whatever the frick it is," Jade mutters. "What do I even want to do? I don't even have parents. There's nothing to escape from. Maybe it's living alone. Eh, I can't leave my brother. He can't live in that tiny apartment, either."
She's talking, yet not to me, or even directly. Just talking... indirectly.
"Will I even survive without Ace? I mean, all I do every day is eat Asian food and watch anime, play a video game, or read manga. I'll occasionally do something actually worth my time. Whatever, I'm a dumbass insomniac. Useless, no. Just an idiot."
I don't think she noticed me call. Her other senses are good, having lost most of her sense of smell. She'd usually expect someone coming. That's how her self-defense is better than anyone else I know.
His phone vibrates, indicating someone texted him. He checks it. It's from Emma. "Are they still fighting?"
He replies with a quick, "No."
"Good."
1580 words (yes very long *clap clap* thank you)
also Younger by Nightly is playing rn- AGH such a good song. so good, I'll give you the Spotify link-98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31TSJp2DBN
https://open.spotify.com/track/2RuIrHtUCJPeU0RMKUNd1H?si=d6c31c7da6344df0
