A Human Among Navi

Chapter 4

max walked in front of me Into the lab while I tried to quietly walk behind, hoping to sneak past and head to my room to avoid a long lecture from norm. But upon crawling low to the floor behind a tank two big blue hands hooked under my armpits and lifted me out from my hiding spot and over to a small area with some soft chairs and a mattress where I was tossed onto a beanbag with a small yelp. looking up I saw norm. A very *angry* norm. His arms crossed, his brows furrowed and his nose scrunched and he bit his bottom lip while staring at me with a mix of anger, annoyance, concern and disappointment.

"Norm I-"

"Are you out of your god damn mind?! Me and max gave you specific instructions not to go further than the village and you didn't listen anyway! You could've been killed!"

I stared at the ground and fidgeted with my fingers, a common thing I did when I was anxious or guilty of something which I most definitely was.

"Look at me when I talk to you!"

I looked up at him after a minute, my eyes swelling with tears as I sunk into my chair.

"You're grounded. For two weeks. You will stay in the lab and you can either read or draw. Maybe that'll give you time to think about your actions."

"But!-"

"Want four weeks?"

I stared up at him, a mixture of disbelief and anger on my face before I got up and went to my room, making sure not to slam my door much to my anger. I stood in the middle of my room in silence for a while before I went over to my bed and screamed into a pillow. Grabbing a thin sketchbook off the floor and angrily writing my frustrations before I just threw the book into a wall and layed on my bed, curling up into a ball sobbing and occasionally screaming into my pillow till I eventually fell asleep.

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In the morning I woke up and just layed in bed, staring at the old paintings on my walls done by some Navi friends. My hair was messy and my mask was off sitting on the desk. I just sighed and turned over to face the wall before max knocked and poked his head inside

"Kid?..."

"Go away..."

"Kiddo c'mon you gotta eat breakfast we talked about this.."

"Not hungry.."

"I will force feed you right now."

"What's the point."

I whined as I rolled over on my stomach and buried my face in the pillow while max rubbed my back.

"You know he loves you and means well right?..."

"Don't."

"Angel you broke an important rule. Of course you're gonna get in trouble. While yelling isn't okay...you were still very much in trouble."

"Still..."

max sighed and continued rubbing my back, the rolling chair coming up beside my bed as he tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear

"Me and him talked...and we agreed that this time we'll let it slide. Only because you've never done this before. You're still grounded but only for today. And There's gonna be new rules set for you okay?..."

I turned my head to look at him and sniffled as he wiped my tears with his thumb before I nodded and he smiled.

"C'mon let's go eat. I made some fruit pie."

I smiled a little and slipped out of bed before walking with max to go eat at the mini table in the lab kitchen.

"Don't eat too much. Your dad's gonna want some."

"Damn...that sucks...for him at least- cuz imma eat this shit up."

Max cackled as he cut up two slices for us both, putting them on paper plates before getting us some plastic silverware. Immediately I started to dig in and cherished every bite till I heard one of the doors open and heavy footsteps, my smile faltering and my brows furrowing as I looked down at my plate and kept eating, now eating slower and just picking at my plate till I heard a sigh and a large hand being placed on my back.

"Hey..."

I kept my gaze averted and continued eating till I gave in and hesitantly looked up at norm who was smiling down at me more sympathetically.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you...I shouldn't have raised my voice after you experienced something like that...but I have rules in place for a reason...I just want you to be safe okay?...think you can forgive me?.."

I stared up at him before sighing.

"I can forgive..but i won't forget."

norm chuckled as he shook his head before kissing my forehead and cheek.

"Of course."

A small giggle escaped my lips as he ruffled my hair before sitting next to me and taking a plate of fruit pie, all of us just sitting at the table talking about everything that happened in the past few days.