3. Change (In the House of Flies) (1/1)

i took you home and set you on the glass. i pulled off your wings and i laughed…

it's hard to keep his hands steady, no matter how many times he's done this before. he waits for the sirens to sound on the street, but they never come. that slimy deputy lin won't ever discover what he's done, that he killed that sheriff for taking what was his. murder-suicide. yeah, right. he'd killed her, too. his own mother, the only woman he could've truly loved. he blamed the sheriff for all of it. alex. norman takes his hands from the work in front of him and drops them to his lap. the blood on his fingers seeps into his grey slacks.

he stares straight ahead, right at her, cut open on his taxidermy bench. "why did you do this to me? huh?" he slams his fist down and feels the entire table shake. maybe it's the whole world shaking, right underneath his feet. a laugh trembles through him. it's not humor; it's incredulity. how dare she. how dare they. "i loved you." he says and his voice shatters, his throat closes up. "i would've loved you forever. more than any of them ever could."

he looks down into her lifeless eyes. those beautiful eyes. alive, they'd sparkled blue, like rippling water, like a clear sky. in death, they're dark and cold, blacker than the night outside. norman reaches out and closes them because he can't bear to see. a smear of blood runs down to her cheekbone.

"damn it." he mutters under his

eath. "damn it." he drops his forehead to hers, ignores how cold she is to the touch. "i'm sorry. i'm so sorry." the sobs

eak him open. it's something like freedom and everything like prison.

i watched a change in you. it's like you never had wings…