CURRENT.ly - Mystery Kids AU

9 - Convenience Store Curiosity

By monday morning, the ambience surrounding the Babcocks had not settled into anything any more comfortable than it had been when they first arrived.

That explained why Norman was out by the shops with his mom, looking for medicine, instead of exploring the lake side of the town or the depressing looking park that he just knew would welcome his skateboard.

Just after two mere days, their surroundings caught up to them faster than they thought, and Perry came down with a cold.

When Norman had arrived at home the day before, the mid afternoon sun still clinging to the sky, he did nos find his parents inside those walls.
He texted them, making sure they were still alive and had not been eaten off by predators yet.

When he got a satisfactory reply under the promise that they would be home soon, he settled himself into doing whatever, like wondering around the home searching for secrets and hidden bugs, finally peeking into the bag that Coraline had given him (turns out it was a murky looking rock with a hole on it) and mostly wonder about what had happened that day, as the answer could be simply answered with 'a lot'.

Nothing about the day had been natural. And nothing had been usual.
He gave up on his futile searches, and sat on the living room couch, texting Neil for Coraline's number so that he could thank her for the rock and ask numerous confused questions about it's purpose.

He really wanted to talk to Neil, but words escaped him. How would he even start? That he almost got ran over the day before? That his trip had started with questionable voices in the woods, that the ghosts were different there, or that he knew where to find the person he went there for?

He pondered on that last one.
Did he really?

After the diner experience with Dipper, the two sorta wondered off.

They had walked around town awhile, first to shake off the smells from the diner, then later on simply because both had nothing better to do, although they did not speak this out loud.

There was some talking involved, but it fell under the condition that there was no prying into secrets.
Norman felt more open to Q&A's out in the wild, where he didn't have to feel the town's eyes on him, or vice versa.

"You got any pets?" Dipper had asked, hands in his pockets, his winter jacket bulky around his shoulders with space he couldn't fill.

"No." Norman had answered. Animals didn't seem to like him very much. He had a suspicion why.

"Got any siblings then?"

Norman had looked at him, raised an inquisitive eyebrow about what the connection in them was.

"My sister has a pet pig." Dipper clarified.

Norman looked away.

The icy streets seemed devoid of ghosts. So far Norman had spotted them in alleyways and under unusual nooks in the city, like ancient crates stuffed in corners and big, boxy water counters fixated on outside walls, hiding away.
They looked old in appearance, so they must have lived a long life, and died of mostly natural causes. And yet, somehow, they felt too...dead.
As if they lived a life of nothing, and a death even more empty.

Unassuming eyes searched the outdoors, spotting the dead residents, but it was mere triviality. No spring in their step, some carried ragged clothing and bruises on their skin, a few big blood stains here, some exposed wounds over there. In a particular ghost, Norman could have sworn he saw unusual teeth marks. What could have done those, and was it the reason they were hiding?

"I have a sister, Courtney. She's in college."

"Do you two get along?"

"It's complicated." Norman replied.