Norm Deserves An Oscar - Blog Posts

THIS 👏 IS 👏 SO 👏 DAMN 👏 GOOD

None of this made any sense…

It was supposed to be just a quick harmless connection.

How could something like this happen…?

How?

Dozens of doctors had crowded around Diane, who violently contorted on the hospital bed and foamed at the mouth. She was also emitting small chokes and gurgles and her eyes had rolled into the back of her head as well. It was clear that she had gone into cardiac arrest. The doctors were frantically hooking her up to multiple medical equipment, as well as sticking a breathing tube down her throat. Norm screamed in absolute horror and ran to the aid of his surrogate daughter. Norm held Diane in his arms, cradling her head and putting his free hand on her torso to try and stop her contortions. He was shaking so bad and felt so cold that his teeth were chattering. He could hear someone talking to him but it felt like his ears were stuffed with cotton and his head was full of water. “Nor——do——ches——compre——” Was all he heard. His eyes darted to Diane’s chest and quickly set her back down, his hands balled up into fists and he started the compressions. He didn’t even notice that he was crying from despair. After about five minutes of chest compressions and Norm’s stifled cries, Diane’s body went limp, her eyes slipped closed and the heart monitor let out a loud continuous beep. The head doctor, who was quite used to the sound of flatlines, somberly removed the tube from Diane’s mouth and scribbled down the time of death, while a nurse left to retrieve a body bag. To Norm, his poor little girl’s heart giving out was the most horrible sound he’d ever heard in his life.

For eight long months, he had been lucky enough to be placed as the personal instructor and mentor of that charming, shy, amusing, courageous and sweet-tempered young lady. They had grown so close that he had often caught her holding his hand, grinning up at him and mirroring his expressions and gestures to appear as intelligent as he was. And he knew, just from how she acted around him that she wanted to be the best version of him that she could be… that she wanted to make him proud. She trusted him with her life. And he had failed her. Failed to protect her, failed to comfort her in her final moments and worst of all… he’d failed to save her life. He could’ve stopped her from connecting to an Avatar but did he? No. Norm wasn’t a hero. Norm was just a simple coward who hid behind a “cool dad” persona to make Diane feel comfortable around him. God, she was so young. Only nineteen, a year away from being an actual adult and the youngest in the Avatar Program. The youngest in the Program… Then it hit him, a young and beautiful life had been cut violently short because of his poor actions and teachings. Because of him. Quite suddenly, Norm dropped to his knees and released a shrill wail of anguish and sorrow. He locked Diane’s body into an iron grip and rocked her back and forth while sobbing into her shoulder, screaming apologies and cursing the heavens for taking away his little sunshine.

“NONONONONO, NO!!! DIANE, BABY, WAKE UP, PLEASE!!! DON’T DO THIS HONEY, I’M SORRY, I’M SO SO SORRY!!! I’M SO DAMN STUPID!!! I SHOULD NEVER HAVE LET YOU DO THIS, I’M SO SORRY!!! I’M PROUD OF YOU DIANE, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!!! GODDAMN IT, GIVE HER BACK!! GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!!!!”

He prayed to every god he knew, from Loki and Thor to Eywa. He wanted his girl back. He needed her back. He had no idea what to do, all he could hear was the noise of that goddamn machine showing that Diane’s heart had stopped.

After a while, the doctors tried to get Norm out of the room so they could take Diane’s body to the morgue. Norm wasn’t having any of that and put up a pretty good fight; scratching, growling and hissing at anyone who tried to touch his innocent little baby.

Dr. Grace Augustine and her assistant Dr. Sean McLaying, who had connected to their Avatars first, dashed into the room and pinned the distraught scientist against the wall. Norm struggled and jerked around, trying to free himself.

“LET ME GO, PLEASE, I NEED TO GET TO MY STUDENT!! SHE NEEDS ME-” “Norm you have to listen to me right now. Diane is gone. We need to let the doctors take care of her.” Grace spoke as clearly and as calmly as she could. Norm stopped struggling, slowly slid down the wall and sat down. His face was pale and his eyes were unfocused and misty, but he seemed to be hearing her words. Sean kept his hand on Norm’s shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Norm.”

Sean’s voice was all it took for Norm to start loudly crying again. His misery filled the medical room like the screaming of an angry Banshee. Grace helped him to his feet and Norm buried his face into her shoulder, to which she responded by wrapping a comforting arm around him. They began walking towards the door to give the head doctors some space, as they had to take care of everything as professionally as possible.

Suddenly, a small noise caused all activity in the room to halt.

It was a hiccup.

And it was coming from the direction where Diane lay.

Diane’s eyes fluttered open. She slowly sat up and, noticing she was drooling, began wiping at her mouth with the collar of her hospital gown, completely unharmed. When she’d finished cleaning herself, she held her hands up and admired her shiny blue skin.

Wait… blue?

“Oh my God.” She had done it. She had entered her Avatar. All by herself too! Still, a scary question ebbed at the back of her mind: why had it hurt so much?

She didn’t remember Dr. Augustine saying anything about the pain she’d go through. She couldn’t just write it off and assume that the scientists forgot to mention it to her! She’d been sort of unconscious, but it had felt like there were strings hooked to every single nerve on her body and some kind of devilish puppet master was pulling her up and down, torturing her for his own sick pleasure. And her heart… God her heart. It was like it had been replaced with a rotten tomato that someone was squeezing painfully slow in their hand, as its skin burst at the seams and the juice poured out, gush after gush of pulpy life fluids.

Diane winced and looked around, confused. All the doctors (she assumed they were doctors from their clothes) were just standing in one place or another, gaping at her as if they’d seen a ghost. Weren’t they supposed to be helping her with her motor skills? Her eyes fell on three Avatars in the room. One looked a lot like Dr. Augustine, another had a face she couldn’t quite recognize, and the last one had fallen to his knees, a look of disbelief on his face. It was Norm! But he looked horrible… His hair was matted and tangled, his hospital gown was drenched in sweat, dry tears stained his cheeks, his eyes were red and shining, and was he… shivering…? Diane felt scared, what happened? Why was her dad crying? Did something happen? Was it… her fault that he was so upset…?

“Dr. Spellman…? Are you okay?”

Diane was surprised at how hoarse her voice sounded. Before she could think about it, Norm ran full speed ahead and crashed into her, wrapping his arms around her body and desperately clinging to her small frame. He let out more wailing and sobbing, but not from sadness, anger or even stress. It was from relief, happiness and pure joy. Norm pulled away just for a few seconds to pepper Diane’s face with kisses and looked into her eyes. Those bright, icy, beautiful eyes. They were open, she was breathing, she felt warm… she was alive. His sweet child was alive. Laughter escaped Norm’s dry lips and he hugged Diane again. “Oh, my sweet girl…. Thank God you’re okay, thank God… I thought I’d lost you forever… you’re alright, Sunshine… you’re alright… Oh God, I love you so much honey…” Norm continued to hug his daughter as he whispered sweet nothings to her, telling her that she was safe and everything was going to be okay.

Diane was taken aback by her instructor’s reaction. She’d never seen him like this before. His behavior further confirmed that something awful had happened to her. After a while, Norm broke the embrace and held his daughter’s hands in his, just basking in her presence and thinking of an appropriate present to give Eywa for mercifully returning his sweet girl. He then realized that Diane had asked him a question a little while ago. He blinked away the tears and quickly composed himself, wiping his eyes and clearing his throat. “Sorry Diane, wh-what did you want to ask me again..?” What she said next made his heart drop with sadness.

“Did-did I do something wrong? What happened? Was it because I… uh, got too excited..?”

Diane offered a sheepish smile and slightly shrugged her shoulders. Norm brought his hands up to Diane’s face and caressed her cheeks. “Oh no no no no, honey. None of this was your fault, okay? It was just a little accident, but that’s okay, it happens. I promise I’ll never let something like this happen to you again.” Norm hugged his daughter again and she hugged him back, feeling a bit better. But something told her that it wasn’t just a “little accident”. Based on Norm’s reaction, it was a big accident. She’d have to ask him the details later, but not now. Right now her dad needed her. All she could do now was to simply alive and let him know that everything was okay. And she was pretty good at doing that anyway.

(Based off a Discord rp Sean belongs to Loki/Levy my Discord friend)