"Norman... Is gonna get shipped out?"
The kids all stared at Isabella. (Y/n) then glanced down at Emma who was laying on the ground, her leg wrapped in a white bandage with a stick under it.
"Mama... What happened to Emma's leg?" Ray asked, seeming to notice it as well.
Isabella smiled. It wasn't a kind one, it was a wicked one.
"It's completely broken. In fact, I was the one who broke it." She replied calmly.
Ray glared angrily at Isabella, as did Maiko while Gilda and Don appeared shocked at her words. (Y/n) stared at Emma's leg, then she looked at Isabella. She kept repeating this for a while. Isabella seemed to notice the anger and concern on the faces of her children so she quickly said,
"Don't worry. I broke it cleanly, so it'll heal perfectly and completely with time. But she has to stay in bed for a while. I'd say at least a month or two." Isabella then smiled up at Ray. "I hope she'll heal before your birthday, Ray!"
"This bitch!" Ray thought.
Isabella then grabbed Emma who was incapable of moving and held her closely.
"Norman... Make sure to hand that bag over to me as well." Isabella said.
"Our ropes!" Don and Gilda thought in horror.
Isabella stood up, holding Emma in her arms.
"Now, children. Let's all head back to the house!" She said happily.
***
The children stopped playing immediately as they saw Isabella walk up to the house with Emma in her arms. Ray, Gilda, Don, Norman, (Y/n), and Maiko were following slowly behind her. The children began to surround Isabella to see what was wrong.
"Woah..." Thoma muttered as he pointed to Emma's leg.
"Emma?" Phil asked, his head tilted to the side.
***
All of the children, except for Ray, Maiko, Don and Gilda had gone inside. Emma was in the infirmary, (Y/n) had insisted to stay by Emma's side, Norman was also with the two girls. The four kids remaining outside were sitting at the well where they would get water from. The wooden cover was over it, Ray was sitting on top of the wooden cover while Don was sitting against the side of the brick well, his back pressed against it. Gilda stood off a bit to the side and Maiko sat against one of the trees that was near the well.
"She took our ropes... Norman's about to get shipped... Emma has a broken leg and can't move... The plan was for us to complete the investigation and prepare to escape soon... But what now?!" Don exclaimed.
He rested his head in his hands.
"We'll make sure Emma's leg gets better as quickly as possible. We can make new ropes, too. We'll manage to escape, and I'll make sure we do! But right now, we need to focus on Norman." Ray said.
Maiko nodded in agreement.
"But why...why Norman, of all people? It's not like they found out about our plan, right?" Gilda wondered aloud.
"Yeah, it's weird! If higher scores equate to higher quality, shouldn't Mama be concerned about saving Norman for last?" Don questioned.
"Exactly. Normally, this situation just wouldn't make sense." Ray responded.
"Not just that. This was way too unexpected. In either case, the fact still remains that the Headquarters have ordered for Norman's death. Ordered... So she already knew back then!" Ray thought.
"Damn it!" Ray muttered.
Maiko sighed. "She's already clearly eliminated Sister Krone, cut ties with Ray, and to top it all off, broke Emma's leg. All for the sake of this..." She trailed off.
"For the sake of being loyal to HQ... By shipping Norman out on time! "Shipping Norman out". "Circumstances have changed". So this is what she was talking about!" Ray thought.
***
Mama looked at the children with a gentle smile on her face as the younger ones examined the door that had been thrown off of its hinges.
***
"But... I still can't believe it...to think that even Sister Krone would get..."
"Eliminated?!"
"We literally just saw her before noon...alive and well. She was just smiling like any normal person...and doing stuff like laundry..." Don trailed off.
"But now... Her body no longer exists anywhere in this world." Maiko stated, her voice in a monotone tone.
"No way..." Gilda thought in horror, her body shaking as fear coursed throughout her body.
***
Will the same thing happen to Norman by the end of tomorrow?!
"Emma..." Norman sighed.
He was sitting next to her bed in the house's infirmary. (Y/n) was next to him and she held one of Emma's hands in her own.
I was in so much pain... But now I can't even feel anything in my leg.
An image of Norman in the exact same state as Conny was the night they found her flashed through Emma's mind. Her eyes widened in horror as she stared up at Norman. She quickly looked away and stared ahead at the wall.
"No... Norman is going to die!"
She then turned her head back to look at him. Norman placed one of his hands over both (Y/n) and Emma's.
"But he's alive right now! Right in front of us, breathing... Blood flowing through his veins and making his hands warm like this." She thought.
Norman smiled gently at her and (Y/n).
"Don't worry. The only thing she took from us is the ropes. She still has no idea about our true plans yet. Your leg will heal soon, too. Our plans will succeed." Norman assured them.
"No!! I don't care about that right now!" Emma thought desperately.
Norman stood up from his chair.
"Wait here. I'll go get you a glass of water. (Y/n) will stay with you until I get back." He said.
Norman walked out of the room and left the two girls.
"We can't... We have to think! What can we possibly do...to keep Norman alive?!" (Y/n) said, her voice was low but the desperation was clear.
As Norman left the room some of the kids ran in to go and see her.
"Emma!" Lani and Thoma exclaimed as they bolted into the room.
"Did you hurt your leg?" One of them asks.
"How pathetic of me. To think I'd cause Emma to make a face like that... How pathetic of me..." Norman thought as he entered the dining room.
He walked towards the small sink in the corner and grabbed a glad before turning the tap to fill it up.
"That I so desperately want to continue living...! I've already made up my mind. At least, that's what I thought."
Norman was so deep in thought that he didn't realize the glass was overflowing.
"I want to live! I don't want to die! With everyone... With Emma... I want to live.
I want to live.
I want to live!!"
***
The four who were talking by the well were making their way towards the front door of the house.
"So... What are we gonna do?! At this rate, Norman's gonna-"
Ray turned around and grabbed Don by his shirt collar.
"Of course... We're going to free him... NO MATTER WHAT!" He shouted.
***
"We'll make him escape!" (Y/n) thought.
"We won't let them take him!" Emma thought.
"I won't let him die! Under no circumstances!" Maiko thought.
"There's absolutely no way I'll let him die!" Ray thought.
***
"We still have a day left. We'll make sure he escapes before tomorrow night." Ray said.
He and Maiko began to climb the stairs to the second floor, leaving Don and Gilda at the bottom.
"But the problem here...is that he himself will refuse to leave!" Ray thought in anger and annoyance.
***
Norman turned the tap off and dumped the extra water out. He stared down at his reflection in the water's clear surface.
"I can't escape on my own. If I do, there's a risk that Emma, Maiko, (Y/n) or Ray, who are also "full scores", may be shipped out in place of me. Even if that doesn't happen, once somebody escapes, there's no doubt that they'll maximize security around this place. There's practically no second chance for escape. That's why Emma wants to take everyone with us in the first place."
Norman began carefully walking out of the dining room, the glass of water held tightly in his hand.
"If I don't leave before tomorrow night, I...will die. Still... 1) If I escape alone, everyone else will die. But 2) We can't try and all escape tomorrow either, considering Emma's injury. So the only course left for me to take is 3) To stay here and accept my fate. In other words, I have no choice but to resolve to die tomorrow. What a cunning woman. This is precisely why she planned to break Emma's leg from the get-go. The fact that she came prepared with bandages gives it all away. But we won't give up on the grand escape with something like this. Things are already not going her way. I have one day left... To absolutely destroy... Mama's plans. I'll make full use of this life of mine...and ensure that the escape is a success!"
Norman opened the door to the infirmary, a smile on his face.
"Emma-"
Norman froze when he saw Maiko and Ray were now in the room next to Emma's bed. (Y/n) had left Emma's side and was standing in between the two. The four were staring at him as he entered.
"We have to talk." Ray started.
"We won't let you die. Norman... Tomorrow, we're going to have you escape alone."
...CH. 27/END
A/n: HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAY! You'll always be my favorite character! My birthday was 6 days ago, guess when it was >:)