dead and gone

The dead were walking around, everybody knew that. This wasn’t just any dead person, this was Norah Resnik. Darren had known her. Given he never came across one of the dead before this moment, he didn’t even know how he felt. His opinion had been in the middle. It wasn’t natural and people had a right to be afraid, but he understood people not wanting their loved ones to slip through their fingers once again. He was torn mentally what to do at the moment. The risen were supposed to be turned in. 

“You- you were…” Darren didn’t finish the sentence. They both knew what the last word would have been. Dead. Naomi didn’t say anything to him, did she know about her sister being back. There were a million questions in his mind. Frustrated, his hand ran through his hair. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Norah had half been anticipating and half dreading the inevitable run in she would have with Darren now that she was back. Returned, as it were. She still found it all so difficult to wrap her thoughts around and Norah was pretty frightened. Of the town, the people in it, of herself. She never knew what sort of reaction or outcome to expect. Norah tried to figure out what he was thinking or feeling. The seconds seemed to stretch and the air felt thick. You were-- “Dead.” Norah filled in the blank, her voice so quiet she wasn’t sure if anything came out. “I know.” She said, looking back at him. God this was so awkward and her sister kept flashing her mind, and then the trip, her last few days of life before.... she couldn’t remember. “I should get home...”

In the mornings he took a walk to clear his head when he was over thinking. Usually it worked and he’d feel more at ease by the end of the walk, but today was different. His Mind was reeling and wouldn’t leave him be. Off in the distance he caught a glimpse of someone he thought he knew. Darren stiffened as he hadn’t seen that face in sometime, but written it off as a mistake. Naomi wouldn’t keep a secret like her sister was back from the dead from him. The way she darted around the corner was suspicious. 

“Hey - Na-Norah?” The name was quickly corrected into Norah before he fully got Naomi out. Darren’s heart started beating faster as he didn’t exactly know what to do in this sort of situation. This was the first time he came across a dead person and knew about it. “Wha-” Darren took a step back, not sure what to say.

The last person Norah had expected to run into was Darren. Of all people, on this day, to see... ugh. She had hoped that her ducking behind the corner would keep her hidden. Clearly she wasn’t very good at this. Norah needed to keep a low profile and she was pretty scared lately, not sure what she was or why she was here, dealing with the fact she had been murdered of all things...

When she heard him say her name Norah winced. Shit. She pressed her back against the wall and hoped he would just think it was his imagination but then there he was. “H-Hi.” Great. Just great.

The effect split of Norah’s and Naomi’s parents had become apparent to Peyton, If she was being honest she had no idea what she could say to help, as she had never known what it was like to have two parents.  Peyton's mother had walked out on her and her father when she was young, truth be told Peyton had no memories of her - it had always been her and her father. 

“At least Christmas is over, the madness can finally disappear.”

Norah felt a bit odd being around Peyton but she managed to keep it reigned in. She felt odd being around anyone these days, though she spent most of the time laying low so it’s not like she had too much practice lately. She needed to keep her head down in case she wound up dragged off and experimented on or something. “Yeah.” She agreed, feeling like she should excuse herself or something now. She didn’t know what else to say. “It’ll come around again quicker than you’ll expect though.” It always did.

Naomi nodded her head and began to focus a little more on her food, “Do you want to start the movie now? We could eat while watching it?” She wasn’t sure why but Naomi found herself asking her a lot of what she wanted to do, it wasn’t like she’d ever done that before. Naomi was simply so weirded out and borderline uncomfortable with this scenario she didn’t know how to act normal.

None of this felt real still. How could she have been murdered and then suddenly... be here. Feeling like no time had passed at all. “Yeah, okay.” The noise of the movie might be easier to focus on than the thoughts in her head.

“What?” Naomi began to shake her head, “N-no, it’s not.” She lied “No, they weren’t happy.” She lied again, though she knew that they only started to fight when they lost hope that their daughter would come home safe and sound. “Lara? Sometimes, she left Killbourne for university so I haven’t really seen much of her..” She looked at her, she wasn’t sure if she should bring up Darren. She had a feeling Norah had to be thinking about him, Naomi knew Norah had feelings for him, the thought of Naomi and Darren always made her feel extra guilty thinking back to the weekend getaway she’d had with Darren behind Norah’s back. 

Norah didn’t quite believe her sister but she didn’t push it because she was fairly sure that it would only make her feel worse. She looked down at her plate again as she ate, listening to Naomi answer her questions. “Oh, right...” She wondered if she would ever get to see anyone again or if she’d be holed up in here like a prisoner. Would she keep ageing? That would be so weird. Norah had so many questions. “I don’t really know what else to ask...”

“Yeah” was all she could say. “Is there anyone you want to know about? Anyone of your friends? I mean I may not know exactly but I have an idea..?” Naomi just wanted her to feel comfortable and she was starting to think that this wasn’t helping, although overall it wasn’t her fault that nothing very pleasant has happened since she died. 

“Was it because of me?” She finally asked out loud. She briefly wondered if she showed them she was back, if it would get better. “Um...” Norah wasn’t sure what to ask. “I mean... do you see Lara much?” She decided not to bother asking about Darren. Maybe she should ask about Cody too. Ugh, everyone would be older.

Peyton shrugged she wasn’t really sure on what to say next. Nothing felt the same to her anymore and as much as she could understand why Norah felt the same she found it hard to sympathise. In fact, she found it hard to sympathise is anyone ‘dead’. 

“I think everyone did. It’s just been ruined over the years. I don’t think it’s for me anymore. I used to go mad with decorations and lights, but not this year.”

Norah could sense some kind of tension and thought that maybe she should just make an excuse and leave. She felt uncomfortable in general lately, not understand how or what she was or had become. “Yeah. My house hasn’t really been the same this year...” In the sense of decorations... also with her parents split up.

Naomi looked at her sister quickly before looking down at the good on her plate, “Uh,” she started after a moment she continued, “They started to fight… all the time, they just, they weren’t happy anymore.” she didn’t want to say anything about the fact that the fighting had started when she’d disappeared.

Norah felt sad as she listened to her sister. She wished she could have come back to everything being normal... her parents together and happy at least. Naomi didn’t say so but Norah couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of her. “Oh.” Was all she said as she took another bite of her food, keeping her gaze down.

Naomi nodded as her sister agreed to hear everything, “Okay,” She furrowed her browns how she was supposed to approach this. “Well, I guess the first thing you should know is mom and dad, they’re not exactly together anymore.” She spoke softly.

Norah kept her gaze down, picking at her food. “Why not?” She asked after a moment, though maybe it was because of her? “What happened?”

“Alright,” she smiled gently, before moving away from the kitchen and setting up their movie. As she walked back and helped herself to a plate of food she sighed, “Um, do you.. do you want to know what’s going on..? Like I mean, what you’ve missed or is that too weird for you?” 

Norah watched Naomi as she went about setting up the movie and stuff. She got stuck into the food in the meantime. God, she was starving. Why was she so hungry? Surely her appetite should have been lost completely. “Oh, uh.” She thought about it, chewing, and then she gave a little nod. “No, it’s fine. Sure.” She’d have to eventually... right?