Bates Motel: My Experience

Annika Johnson

The next day during late morning I was in the office with Hannah talking to Emma and Norman. Dylan was at work. A sporty car with a loud engine pulled up and a girl walked in. A young woman who was dressed a bit provocatively. I saw Norman's eyes light up as she came in. Perv. Emma asked for her name. "Annika Johnson," she said.

"Ok, how long will you be staying?" Emma asked.

"A few days," Annika said.

"Room 4!" Norman literally butt right in next to Emma and wrote down the room and handed Annika the key. Annika smiled at him and left the office.

"What was that about?" Emma asked him.

"Oh, I remembered I had just cleaned it and put in fresh towels so I thought that was a good room for her," he said in his stutter-like voice.

The annoyance with him bubbled up inside me a little more.

The office phone rung and it made all of us jump. Emma answered it and wasn't on long before she hung up. "Room 4 needs a lightbulb changed," she drawled.

Naturally, Norman was more than happy to do it.

I still couldn't bring myself to tell Emma or Hannah. And it was like that for another day until I finally worked up the courage to talk to Norman.

It was the evening of the third day we were there and I was inside the Bates' house at the bottom of the stairs, blocking them from Norman as he came down. He seemed in a rush but I didn't care. "Norman. I know about you and Hannah." He just looked at me. "Why are you talking to her while you're dating Emma?"

With a snobby, blank tone he answered. "Emma and I are only trying to see if we can be more than friends. Hannah texted me so it was nice to have a friend who wasn't around all the time. Honestly, it's not really working out for Emma and I. We aren't compatible as more than friends."

"What? Have you told her that?!"

He looked me dead in the eye. "Not yet. But if you'll excuse me, Annika has asked me to direct her to a restaurant and I told her I would." With that, he pushed past me and darted out the door.