PROMISE ☾ ray

chapter 10

act 1
chapter 10 | death's open-arms

what sets a brave person and a foolish person apart?
a foolish person won't recognise when they're walking to their death, but a brave person will continue into death's open arms, despite full knowledge of what's to come.

soon enough, the sun dipped down and hovered just barely above the horizon, casting a warm yellow over the grassy fields of grace field.

evening was approaching, but norman was nowhere to be seen.

ray studied mom from afar - she kept checking her transmitter, wearing just the smallest of frowns. a sly grin grew on ray's face.

it's no use. his tracker's signal would be long gone by now. it's time to realise what true panic feels like, mom!

[name] stared off into the woods, her mind abuzz. everything was going well. too well, almost.

they turned to look at mom again. they noticed her gaze on the transmitter, and she was smiling. a relieved and triumphant sort of a smile.

smiling? thought [name], heart dropping. why was she -

it didn't take long for them to realise. someone was coming from the forest, the wind blowing through his white hair.

ray stood up with a start, eyes wide. 'no...'

the children whooped and ran into his arms, calling his name. mom grinned, pleased. emma felt her heart thumping loudly in her ears.

she'd never been so sad to see norman before.

'why...?'

don and gilda echoed emma's words, their mouths hanging agape. ray's head fell into his hands, utterly and completely defeated.

[name]'s eyes bore into norman's back.

he was smiling peacefully at mom and the children, calm as ever.

as if he didn't just willingly submit himself to death.

night fell quickly, and norman was already in his departure clothes. the four met up one final time in the infirmary, where ray was unleashing his frustration.

'you asshole!' he yelled, grabbing norman by the collar. 'what were you thinking?! you'll die if you stay here any longer! get out right now and hide!'

'there's still time' [name] insisted. 'we can distract mom, and you can run without anybody noticing!'

with a soft smile, norman answered cooly. 'i refuse. i have no intention of doing so.'

'what?!'

'more importantly, listen to me. we have little time,' he got out a pen and paper. 'i'm going to give you a brief report of my investigation.'

reluctantly, they piped down.

he swiftly sketched out what [name] had drawn out before, but this time, it was a complete heptagon. he labelled one of them three.

'just like [name]'s report, it was a cliff. i was able to run around the wall and visualise this,' he shaded the sector opposite of the one labelled three. 'this section here is probably where HQ is located.

'i say this because although each edge is surrounded by an incredibly steep cliff, i spotted a bridge connecting to the other side on just this segment.'

he tapped on his roughly drawn bridge.

'if you plan to escape, the only way is through here.'

two knocks on the door interjected their discussion, and little phil poked his head in. 'norman! mom's calling!'