ParaNorman - Plague Of The Crazies - Chapter 7

Norman had no idea how long he had been in the institute. Minutes blended into hours and hours blended into days. He couldn't even tell if it was day or night anymore, seeing as there were absolutely no windows in the institute so he couldn't even see the outside world when they dragged him down the halls to the 'test room' in an attempt to 'cure him'. Of course, it never worked. It was just painful as heck. He couldn't even find a way to occupy himself, so often times he'd just start talking to himself or laughing. It cheered him up to a degree, but as time passed it just didn't seem to be doing it as well. It still brought him joy, but it didn't last as long as it used to. And sometimes it even brought another feeling with it. He didn't even know what it was. It just made him feel… Empty. Like he was missing something. At first he ignored it, but eventually he couldn't take it. He had to know what it was. For awhile he was set on the fact that it was probably something like 'missing his family' or something like that, though he did debate between that and him wanting revenge for awhile. He started leaning more towards missing his family after a few more trips to the test room for… Whatever they decided to do to him that day. Shock treatment was more often then not their way to go, but sometimes they'd mix it up and do something else. A few times they just tried to get him to talk to them, but that hadn't worked out very well. He had talked, alright. Just… Not about what they had intended. They also were constantly giving him needles, which wasn't fun for him at all. He'd kick and scream at them to get away, but they never listened. Since he squirmed so much, it hurt a lot more then it was intended to.
He had heard them talking about some kind of… 'Special appointment' for him today. They were constantly checking on him, but they didn't take him anywhere. They just came in, took a few notes, then left. He groaned when he heard the door creak open again, slumping down in the corner. "Someone just tell me what's going on already…" he mumbled in annoyance. A woman with long, silky black hair and light green eyes entered, closing the door behind her. She didn't have a clipboard with her though. "I would, but I don't think I'm allowed to." She stated. Norman sunk down into the corner even more, huffing.
The woman smiled a little, walking over and kneeling down in front of him. "… I'm Prim, by the way." She told him. He just stared at her, not amused at all. She sighed, her smile disappearing. "Look, if I could let you out of here, I would. But, of course, I can't. It's too dangerous for everyone. And that includes you, you know." She explained. "Please. How would I be in danger?" he smirked, laughing a little. Prim stayed silent. After a moment she pointed to the line of blood that had seeped through the straightjacket from his scars. He looked down at the bloodstains for a moment, then looked back up at her, and for the first time in awhile there was a hint of worry in his eyes. "… Alright, you have a point." He admitted quietly. "This is serious stuff, Norman. You need to understand that." Prim told him sternly. "I'd be able to understand it more if I knew what was going on!" he exclaimed, sounding more upset then annoyed. Prim stared at him for a moment, and after a moment she sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you that stuff… But in your case… Maybe I'll make an exception." She told him with a sad smile. He looked up at her in slight shock before she began. "Listen to me. We don't know how this thing came to be or how it even got to Blithe Hollow… Heck, we aren't even positive on what it is for sure… All we know is that it's a disease. It makes people go mad, and… You caught it. You caught it… Really, really bad." She explained. Norman blinked at her for a moment with wide eyes. He caught a disease…? … He caught… A disease… He gulped, biting his lip. "Y-you're… You're just messing with me…" he mumbled, refusing to believe it. He wasn't diseased... He couldn't be diseased. He just couldn't... He laughed a little, trying his best not to freak out.
He yelped in shock when Prim suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders, bringing him so close to her face that he could practically feel their noses touching. "This is serious! Everyone else has been cured already, Norman! We've tried everything with you, and we still haven't been able to fix this!" she shouted. Norman stared at her, eyes wide in shock. "W-what do you mean everyone else has been cured?! W-why hasn't it been working on me?!" he asked frantically. She let go of him, shaking her head a little. "… We don't know…" she admitted. "But… I think I have a small theory." She told him. He blinked, staring at her and suddenly freezing. He heard laughter around him. Again. He looked around, not overly surprised to see the teasing shadows around him once more… Why did they always come when- He gasped, eyes wide. Wait a second… "What is it?" he asked sternly. "You probably gave the disease too much freedom at first somehow, giving it more power and causing it to spread much more violently then others… Which means, since it has so much power now, it's still active inside of you, causing the disease to be much more brutal." Prim explained. Norman gulped, looking around nervously as the shadows got louder. "S-so… I accidentally gave it 'more freedom', which led to it getting stronger…?" he verified. She nodded. "Exactly." After a moment she looked down at her watch and groaned. "I have to be somewhere else… I'll try and get back later." She exclaimed, getting up and heading out. Norman immediately went into panic mode. "W-wait! Don't leave yet!" he yelled after her just before the door closed. He stared at it, breathing heavily. Had she just told him that he had screwed himself over…? He closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath as the shadows' voices continued to boom. He didn't even care anymore. In the end, they ended up being a half-decent lullaby.

Norman groaned as he opened his eyes, looking around. The first thing he did was examine himself, sighing in relief when he had no blood on him and he could tell that he wasn't twitching. Though he couldn't see it, his hair wasn't messy or stained anymore either. The only thing that was still there from his recent experiences were the scars across his stomach and his chest, but those were hidden under his no-longer-ripped shirt and hoodie. He lifted up his head, then gasped when he saw where he was. It looked like it was supposed to be his room, but… It didn't look right. The walls were pale and scratched up, and there were scribbles all over them as if some kid had taken a permanent black marker and had just went crazy drawing on everything. There were blood stains everywhere, which probably would've shocked him more then it really did if he hadn't just been taken away for being a psychopath. He looked behind him to see his posters were still ripped to pieces and the scratches were all still there. He got up, seeing that his figures were scattered all over the floor as well, scratched up with body parts missing, though it seemed to mainly be the heads.
He sighed and went over to the door, hoping to leave and come back to his normal room, with all his posters in one piece and his figures in one piece and non-faded, unscratched walls that hadn't been drawn on. He opened the door, raising an eyebrow when he was entering the bathroom. "This isn't right… Where's the hallway…?" he wondered aloud. He walked inside, seeing that it was just as bloody as his own room, and he didn't dare to check the shower. He turned to the mirror, noting that it was cracked, and that the top right corner was smashed. Also, there was absolutely no reflection. "Ok, now I know I'm dreaming." He mumbled, looking back at his room for a second and trying to think of how he could actually wake up from this dream.
When He looked back at the mirror, he gasped. There was a reflection now, but it wasn't him. Well, it sort of was. It was his psycho self, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed, though he was still twitching. "… Y-you… You did this, didn't you?!" Norman snapped at the reflection. "So, you're admitting what you've done?" Psycho Norman smirked. Norman recoiled a little in confusion. "W-what? No! I'm saying that you did it!" he exclaimed. Psycho Norman laughed, making Norman sink down a little nervously. "You know, that'd be a pretty good argument if you weren't talking to yourself…" "… W-what…?" Norman breathed out. Psycho Norman's laughter rang out even more. "I am you, smart guy!" He exclaimed. Norman was about to yell back in protest, but then he stopped himself. He was right. He had completely lost his mind. He took in a shaky breath, wrapping his arms around himself so he could have at least some comfort. Psycho Norman kept right on laughing, seemingly pleased as Norman's looks began to fade back to his, blood-stained, twitching state. But he wasn't laughing. In fact, his closed eyes were started to tear up as he squeezed himself tighter, taking in another shaky breath. "See? We're the same person…" Psycho Norman smiled. "… N-no…" Norman mumbled quietly. Psycho Norman raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking straight at Norman. "Excuse me?" "No…" Norman repeated. "I am not crazy." He opened his eyes and stared at the mirror angrily, his fists clenching as they dropped back down to his sides. "I'm completely sane. You're crazy for thinking I'm anything like you." He snapped. "At least this part of you can actually admit it!" Psycho Norman shot back. "You are not a part of me" Norman growled. "Are you serious right now?!" Psycho Norman laughed. "No matter how much you deny it, it's-" "Not true!" Norman interrupted angrily.
Psycho Norman just laughed even more, then suddenly froze. The blood on Norman started fading away once more, his hair become neat again and both his shirt and sweater were stitching themselves back together. His twitch disappeared, the dark lines under his eyes fading away as well. Psycho Norman's eyes widened in shock as the mirror cracked a little more. "I'm Norman Babcock. I talk to ghosts, and I wouldn't hurt a fly. You? You're a disease that's poisoning my mind, and it needs to stop. You're leaving. NOW!!!" Norman shouted at the top of his lungs and Psycho Norman jumped back in slight panic as the mirror cracked even more. He regained himself, scoffing. "Think what you want. Even if you deny it, I'm a part of you. Even if you ignore me, I'm staying right here, and one day you'll give in…" he started laughing again, smiling psychotically. "You will give in!" he yelled it out even louder. Norman avoided the thought of this being true. Instead he just stared the psychopath in the eye, determined to prove that he was wrong.
Suddenly the whole place shook, making them both jump in shock. "What was that?!" Norman yelled in panic. They both cringed as a sudden pain shot through their arm, travelling through the rest of their body like fire. They looked at each other in panic and shock, trying to figure out what could possibly be going on. Norman saw that he looked like Psycho Norman once again, but at the moment he only cared about the pain that coursed through his veins. It hurt like hell. Psycho Norman put his hands against the glass, looking around with wide, terrified eyes. "Not good, not good, not good!" he breathed. Norman tried to say something back, but nothing came out. He shut his eyes tightly as the bathroom started to crumble. The tiles were falling off the wall and the ones on the floor were snapping to bits. Psycho Norman started to panic, urgently trying to get his sane half's attention. "You have to get out of here, now!" he screamed out. Norman groaned, starting to claw at his skull in agony. That was about when Psycho Norman realized that Norman couldn't move. He gasped, immediately banging on the mirror to get out. After a few tries he backed up, then charged forward and hit it as hard as he could, causing it to smash. He tumbled out onto the floor, but he looked a lot like a spirit, his form constantly faltering. It reminded him of Aggie. He shook his head and focused on the problem, going forward and starting to push Norman over to the door and into his room. "Come… On…!" he groaned. He yelped when he felt both and Norman tumble into his room, just before the bathroom had completely caved in on itself. Psycho Norman quickly helped Norman to his feet, trying to snap him out of the state he was in. "Snap out of it! What is wrong with you?!" he yelled.
Suddenly everything shook once more, making him panic again. Everything started to melt around them, and he quickly started shaking Norman. "C'mon! Your controlling our mind right now! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!" Psycho Norman's form started to falter even more, and before he could even scream he was pulled into Norman. The room started melting away even faster, and Norman froze up as he fell to the ground, letting all the sound around him fade away as he fainted.

Norman had barely even opened his eyes when he started to freak out. He started to scream, making everyone around him jump in shock. He started trying to back away from them, but all he did was run himself into the corner. One of the women came up to him and he flailed around even more, shutting his eyes tight. Suddenly a shooting pain came to his arm – similar to his dream - and his eyes snapped open again, dilating. His breathing went to an even pace and everything went back into focus just in time for him to see the woman take the needle out of him. He took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes for a moment. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he gasped, eyes snapping open as he looked up. Prim smiled sweetly at him, kneeling in front of him with her hand on his shoulder. "Feeling any better…?" she asked. He took a moment to answer, just staring at her. He finally nodded slightly. "A-a little…" he murmured. She seemed to sigh in relief. "Good… We gave you a different needle to get you ready for it, but when you got it you started freaking out in your sleep… When we came in, you were mumbling something… You seemed pretty upset… Were you having a nightmare…?" she asked in worry. He looked down, thinking back to his dream. "… I guess you could call it that…" he answered quietly. To be honest, he wasn't even sure what it had been. Maybe it had been a nightmare, he really had no clue. But no, it had seemed far too real to be a nightmare… Maybe an omen, like at the school play? He was getting to the point that he no longer cared, he just wanted this madness to end.
He gasped, head shooting back up when he heard someone talking to him. He knew for a fact that it wasn't anyone in the room, considering the fact that he had been hearing this voice for awhile now, and he knew exactly what it meant. "Where'd the laugh go, Norman?" the voice asked, seemingly amused. "O-oh no…" Norman breathed, eyes widening in panic as they got glassy and he looked around the room nervously. The shadows were back, laughing hysterically. Norman felt his breath quicken and he looked back at Prim. "Norman? What's wrong?" she asked in worry. "I-it's happening again…" he answered hastily, backing himself further into the corner. One of the men in the room came up next to Prim and said something that Norman couldn't understand at all. The voices were all jumbling together, the laughter rising above it all. Norman clamped his eyes shut, tightening up into a ball as he started to shake. "Get out of my head… Get out… GET OUT!!!" he shrieked. His eyes snapped open again and he gasped. No one was there anymore. Had he been imagining it? He heard someone next to him and raised an eyebrow, looking over to see Psycho Norman. "Well, that was weird…" the psychopath smirked, seeming relaxed as his arms crossed behind his head and he leaned back, looking over at Norman, who started growling in anger. "I told you to get out of my head! You're screwing everything up! You're ruining my life!!!" Norman snapped furiously. Psycho Norman immediately went out of his relaxed position, blinking at Norman. "Woah, woah, woah! I'm not the one who nearly made our mind collapse!" he argued. "Yes, you are!" Norman shot back. "And it's not 'our' mind, it's my mind!" he corrected. Psycho Norman rolled his eyes, groaning. "I don't have time to argue right now, so I'll just go with 'whatever'. But either way, I had nothing to do with-" "YOU DISEASED ME!!!" Norman interrupted loudly. Psycho recoiled a little before crossing his arms and scoffing. "Touchy…" he mumbled under his breath. "Touchy? TOUCHY?!" Norman repeated. "You boy, here we go…" Psycho Norman rolled his eyes again, but he couldn't help but smirk just a little. "You think that me being forced to turn into a… A psychotic murderer is me being TOUCHY?!?!?!" Norman shouted furiously. "Yes!" Psycho Norman sang teasingly. That definitely set Norman off. "YOU LITTLE-" "NORMAN BABCOCK!!!" Both sides of Norman immediately shut up, their eyes wide. They looked at each other for a moment before turning their heads to look up at the glowing figure, and even Psycho Norman shut his mouth obediently. Norman's mouth gaped open, tears forming in his eyes. "G… G-Grandma…?"