Aggie likes to listen to the sound of his heart beating. It makes her realize how much she took it for granted when she was alive – the constant thump, thump, thump in your chest that let you know you were still living and breathing on God's green earth. It reminded her of when she was small and unwell, when her mommy would hold her close and she could hear that same thump, thump, thump.

It also reminded her of some not so good things. When that thump, thump, thump of her own moved up to her ears when she was afraid. When the thump, thump, thump grew louder and suddenly stopped. When she thought she was never going to hear it again.

"What are you doing?" Norman suddenly asked, looking away from his strange book. It was thin, with colorful pictures and very few words. She thought about asking him about it a couple of times, if it was sinful to read it and what it was about. Maybe it was as good as the stories her mommy told and better than the bedtime story she heard for hundreds of years.

Instead she shushed him, closing her eyes to focus on the sound. His heartbeat was different from her mother's, a little slower. Possibly more of a thump, thump…thump. It was very strange, but seemed fitting to him. Most of what he did was quiet and slow, well thought out instead of rushed. She noticed it when he was at school, at home, and even when they spent time together at the tree.

Aggie liked to think no one else knew about it, because who would really? It was her little secret about him. It was something she could hold and cherish for as long as she could, until Norman stopped seeing her or she if she finally passed on. She didn't want either day to come, but if it did…

She tried to shake those thoughts out of her mind, returning to the thump, thump…thump in Norman's chest. She wanted to hum to it, see if there was some kind of song that matched with the beating. There hadn't been a lot of music when she was growing up, only really when she was playing with the ghosts – who were mostly Indians from long before they came.

It sounded really forced, nothing at all like what she imagined in her head. Norman laughed and she scowled, scrunching her nose and pulling away from his chest.

"Aw, come on. Don't do that!" He closed his strange book, putting it on the ground next to him.

"No! You're just going to laugh again."

"No I won't, promise."

She tried to keep scowling, she really did, but it was hard to when she looked right in his eyes and saw that small smile. Aggie sighed, letting her shoulders relax, "Really?"

"Cross my heart."

Aggie put her head back in place, feeling Norman's arm go around her shoulders instead of back to the strange book. She waited for the sound and felt calm when she heard it again.

Thump, thump…thump.

Just, you know...wanted to try since I just saw the movie. And then Tumblr happened so...yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but that's kind of obvious.