I Don't Want to be Alone

Chapter 4

As the day went on, Norman began to forget what had happened the night before. He hadn't been able to sleep all night; he had been tossing and turning, hearing Jack's words echo through his mind. He fought the sleep, knowing what was to come if he did let himself drift into what was supposed to be a person's escape from reality to a utopia of their own concoction. Of course he was cursed so he wasn't able to ever be in paradise. Not even in his sleep.

Every night it was the same dream. He was in a dark cave with cages. He would see a hooded figure and a man with grey skin. He would hear a voice calling out to him, the voice that he kept in his mind so he would always hear her and know it was her.

Aggie. He heard Aggie in the cave.

She sounded so scared. She would be calling out for him, and he would be calling for her. He would always see her standing next to the grey-skinned man. She was always being held captive and chained so she couldn't get free. Always the hooded man would take out a wooden staff and fire what looked like ice at the grey-skinned man, and Norman would always wake up after hearing Aggie's blood-curdling scream as the ice hit her as the grey-skinned man used her as a shield.

Every morning he would wake up and find black sand on his bed. It terrified him, and he could swear his zombie plushy and his paraphernalia looked almost as scared as he was.

Maybe he would visit the graves of the zombies he had helped break the curse for. Even though they wouldn't be coming back as zombies, he would see their spirits there. They always would sense his presence and would come out of hiding. His grandma said it was because they shared a bond after the night he broke the curse. Norman knew that was one reason, but the other was that they were friends.

Norman sat in the den and turned on the TV, sitting in his normal spot in front of the screen. He knew his grandma was sitting on the couch and knitting, watching him. He could feel the tension in the air, but he didn't want to hear his grandma's opinion on meeting Jack Frost. He knew she had a strong opinion, and he was almost positive he knew what she was going to say. She would tell him that he needed to stop being so cynical and believe in the Guardians like that one boy who always came for vacation every summer would tell him.

The boy—Jamie Bennett—Norman's friend. He could see things that people couldn't see as well. Norman and he would always share stories. His mom and Jamie's mom had been talking and he was going to come visit during Winter Break, which just so happened to have started yesterday. Jamie and his family were getting here later today. He had been texting Jamie, who was excited to tell him more stories of what he has experienced since last summer. Norman's parents were content with the fact that he was hanging out with more people than Neil. Norman was just lucky that the neighbors from next door were gone for Winter and had rented their house to the Bennett family.

But Jamie was staying at Norman's house. Jamie's parents had become Norman's parents. They were more accepting of him, and they had wanted him to come live them for a year to try to get a break from Blithe Hollow. Of course, Norman's parents had declined saying it wouldn't help Norman's 'condition'. Norman hated how his parents treated his gift like it was a disease. None of them understood. They thought just because they had seen the zombies that they knew what it was like to live seeing people who had passed away just standing there or jumping around and acting as if they were still alive, or that people other than Norman could see them.

"If you stare at the TV while zoning out you will become blind." Norman was shaken out of his thoughts by his Grandma's words, "I think you should go and clean your room. Your little friend will be here any minute."

Norman groaned and rolled his eyes before turning the TV off and stomping up to his room, slamming the door behind him. He didn't want his parents or sister to disturb him right now. They thought he was angry that Jamie wasn't here yet, but the real reason was that he was waiting to be disappointed again because there was no way Jack could get the Guardian's to come here and there was no way that they would remember him now and not have remembered his tooth.

He turned around after putting a chair under the doorknob so no one could come in and yelped out seeing five silhouettes in his room. One flew over to him quickly and got right in his face. He yelped again and pressed himself against the wall, eyes wide in fear.

"Norman Babcock, it is you! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean—we didn't—we're real! See? Wings and everything! I have your reward for your tooth." A fairy was floating in front of him and babbling a mile a minute. She held her hand out, holding a dollar out to him. He stared at it then back up at the fairy. No… she wasn't the Tooth Fairy.

"You don't exist. But you're here. I don't believe in you! I haven't in almost a year! I don't believe in you or the Easter Bunny, or Santa, and I definitely never ever would or will believe in Jack Frost!" He ran around her and grabbed his Zombie Nerf Gun, pointing it at each individual as he said their names. He paused before dropping the gun, feeling something move against his hand. He looked down and shrieked, seeing black sand slither down his hand and up his sleeve. A golden man flew over and put some golden dust on his hand, and the black sand turned golden.

Norman looked around the room, his shoulders slumping forward in defeat. "You're not—why are you all here now? You're too late. I won't believe in you. If you wouldn't mind I am expecting my friend over. His name is Jamie, and I don't want to explain to him why I'm talking to thin air. He doesn't believe in the Guardians. Jamie Bennett—"

Norman was cut off by the Tooth Fairy moving the chair away from the door and the door opened and Jamie walked in. He looked over at what Norman knew he would see as nothingness. He closed the door quickly and a beam broke out on his face.

"Jack? Tooth Fairy? Santa? The Easter Bunny? Sandy? What are you all doing here?"

Norman's eyes widened.

"Wait… you can see them? Jamie, you can see them?!"

Remember when I said I would update real soon? I meant it. Less than an hour I posted that authors note I made this and am posting it! I'm sorry again the it's taken so long to make a new chapter! I'm now a Junior, and am getting ready to study abroad. I now have a laptop which means I can update much faster!

Thank you all for the follows, likes, and comments!

Keep them coming!

3 The Story Sorceress