Beneath The Surface ✔

Chapter 1

Cold. Loneliness. Heartbreak. These were Norman's best friends. Well, there was Leonard occasionally. But when they had one of their fall outs which was at least once a week, that was all he was left with.

His eyes flickered open as he looked around his room. He checked the time and it was barely 3:00 am. It was not surprising that his lights were all turned on at this time. He was terribly scared of the dark.

Norman sat up on his bed with his head in his hands. How on earth could he get rid of these nightmares that wouldn't ever let him sleep? He was long years away from all that, he was a grown man, he had a great company, he had everything. Everything in this godforsaken cold, lonely house.

Humans were shitty people, that was pretty much why he had none around him. Also, he and all animals he could think of shared a mutual hatred. He had a goldfish anyway hanging somewhere in his sitting room. "Damn," He said, he'd forgotten to feed it in at least 2 weeks. Just one more dead fish to the long list. Norman was convinced all their ghosts were haunting him and bringing back memories he didn't want in the form of nightmares.

His mind wandered back to what had unexpectedly happened last week. He knew well that he wasn't supposed to think of it or go back there but that was what being up at 3 am did to you. Made you think about things and people you weren't supposed to.

Throwing that memory to the back of his mind was all he could afford right now. Her sad eyes, her struggles, he saw it all.

"Fuck! I hate you!" He yelled pulling his pillow to his face and holding it there for as long as it'll take him not to care.

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"Leo," Norman said walking into the lavishly furnished office his friend owned. It took a second to look into the mirror as he passed by it. He didn't like what he saw. He never did, wondering for the umpteenth time why a full-grown man would need a mirror in his office.

Countless people had told him that the only thing fairly appreciable about him was his eyes. Obviously the countless people living in his head because no one outrightly just called someone ugly.

Norman knew he was ugly and felt like that was the reason almost no one wanted to associate with him, not even his brother but he wasn't going to think about Mac right now.

"Mr Patterson, what do you want?" Leonard had a stern look on his face and his eyes never wavered from his phone, his hands busy hitting on his keypad.

"I didn't know you were back from your honeymoon already," Norman said with a wry smile as he took the seat opposite him whether he was invited or not. "What does it feel like to be... Married?" The word was almost scary to say.

Leonard rolled his eyes.

It wasn't surprising that this wasn't exactly a topic he was anxious to talk about. So far so good, married life had been hell. That was probably the reason he was already back to work after their barely three days long honeymoon.

"You wanted me gone long enough so you can take over the company?" Leonard asked dropping his phone almost as if he was angry.

Leonard did know that wasn't the case and would never be. Norman was like the brother he never had and they were as close as can be even though they had mostly different opinions on things. But he was just upset.

He got married to Sara much against his wish three days ago simply because she was knocked up due to one drunk careless night, the biggest mistake of his life and all of it was Norman's fault.

If only Norman had not tried to pick him up from his heartbroken state or hook him up with some girl that was obsessed with him or force him to do the right thing which is marry her, his life would've been okay. He would have been single and waiting for the love of his life the one that had left him heartbroken countless times.