"You're so bright, I swear you swallowed the Sun. And I am so in awe, just basking in your light. But I am just the one who swallowed the moon. The only light that I have's just a reflection of you. And the only thing I know is I wanna know what it'...
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"Norman... You need to escape by yourself tomorrow at noon." Ray stared at Norman with a fixed stare. This was something that he, none of them, were going to back down on. Norman was their best friend. Why would they just willingly let him go to his death? They should definitely make an effort to help him. Who wouldn't? Alex had to make sure that Ray's plan went smoothly. She couldn't let Norman die and she wasn't going to let him.
There was silence on Norman's side. He then smiled softly at the three in front of him, "I'm sorry, but I c-"
"No." The other three cut him off. Did he really think that they were going to let him walk straight to his demise? That was a funny suggestion, but it wasn't going to happen. They were going to fight as hard as they could to keep him here. Giving up was definitely not an option for them to take.
Surprise was clear on Norman's face. He didn't seem to expect the response he got. Alex shot him a look that clearly said that she wasn't going to back down, "Well, what did you think we were going to do? Let you go off to your death? No way!"
Ray picked up a stool from nearby, "Listen here. To be more specific, we want you to pretend to escape tomorrow." He took the cup of water from Norman, handing it to Alex. Alex drank it with a thankful expression. She was becoming a little parched.
The stool was handed off to Norman who was still really confused about what was going on, "Huh?" He inquired. Ray probably should have elaborated a little more at the start. It would have saved them from having to explain so much.
"We'll disable your tracker, and you can pretend that you've left us," Ray started to explain, "However, in reality, we'll have you hiding within house grounds until Alex's leg heals."
"And on the day we can all finally escape together, we'll have you come with us!" Emma exclaimed.
"Just like we had originally planned it," Alex stated with a smile. The plan was kind of risky, but it was something they could deal with it. They had to. It was the one situation they could come up with where Norman was safe and alive.
Ray sat down on Alex's bed, "Until then, you'll be 'gone' from the house, so you're free to leave and investigate whenever you'd like. Since you don't 'exist,' we won't have any issues meeting back up with you either."
"Mom won't be that suspicious seeing as we usually go into the woods to talk about our plans," Alex quickly chimed in. She was trying to convince him to at least think about the idea before shooting it down. "She'll just think that we're talking with each other and not you."
"But..," Norman trailed off, "Even if it's all a lie, if they think I've successfully made my escape, the security around here will..." He didn't continue with his sentence. Alex was at a loss too. How bad would they up the security if he disappeared? That would make it easier to figure out what to do.
