Chapter Text
The rotary phone felt cold against Norma’s ear as she pressed it tightly, her fingers trembling just enough to make dialing difficult. The low hum of static buzzed on the other end before the line clicked. A woman’s voice—calm, gentle, answered.
“Hello?”
Norma cleared her throat, shifting her weight against the motel’s front desk. The neon VACANCY sign flickered outside the window, casting uneven light against her pale cardigan. She glanced toward the house, her house, standing tall and dark on the hill.
“Hi, uh—my name is Norma Bates. I, um… I got your number from a friend. You’re the Warrens, right? The…paranormal people?”
A small pause. Then, “Yes, I’m Lorraine Warren, and I’m with my husband, Ed. How can we help you, Ms. Bates?”
Norma exhaled shakily, gripping the phone cord. “It’s my son. Norman. He—he’s always been a sweet boy. But something’s happening to him. It’s been worse since we’ve moved in. He’s—” She hesitated, her mind racing for the right words, the words that wouldn’t make her sound crazy. She wouldn’t say violent. Wouldn’t say unstable. She could barely admit those thoughts to herself. Instead, she forced a broken laugh, as if that might make it all seem less serious. “I think…he might be possessed.”
The words hung in the air. Her heart pounded as she awaited a response.
From out the office window and across the parking lot, Alex Romero leaned against his cruiser, arms crossed, watching her. His expression unreadable.
“Possessed?” Ed’s voice this time. Steady. Cautious.
Norma nodded, though they couldn’t see her. “Yes. It’s not like him. The things he says, the way he looks at me sometimes, it’s like someone else is there, and it's not my son. And I know, I know what people would say, but I can feel it. I’m his mother.” Her voice cracked slightly. “I just—I don’t know what else to do.”
A pause. Then Lorraine’s voice again, softer this time. “We understand. If you’d like, we can come by and take a look.”
Norma’s grip tightened on the phone. “Yes. Please.”
“We’ll be there by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. As she hung up, she exhaled slowly, pressing her palm flat against the desk to steady herself. The motel lobby felt stiflingly quiet. Outside, the VACANCY sign buzzed and flickered.
A sudden prickle ran up her spine. She turned her head slowly toward the house. There, in the upstairs window, stood Norman.
His dark blue eyes peered down at her, his face almost eerily still, framed by the soft glow of his bedroom lamp. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t waving, wasn’t acknowledging her, just… watching. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if it was really him looking at her. Or her anxious brain playing tricks again...Or something else. The thought made her stomach churn. She quickly turned her head as the screen door creaked open, and heavy footsteps approached.
“Jesus, Norma,” Romero muttered, rubbing his temple. “Tell me you did not just do what I think you did.”
Her chin lifted, arms crossing tightly over her stomach. “What choice do I have?”
Romero sighed, looking up towards the house. His jaw tightened.
“…You really think some ghost hunters from across the country are gonna fix this?”
Norma swallowed. “They have to, Alex.”
-
The next afternoon, the plane droned steadily over a wash of cloud, its engines murmuring like a lullaby beneath the steady tap of rain on the window. Lorraine sat tucked close to Ed, her hands folded neatly over the airline brochure she’d been idly flipping through since takeoff. The glossy pages glinted faintly in the dim cabin, picturing a smiling family standing beside a fishing boat with the words Welcome to White Pine Bay, Oregon printed in cheerful script above them.
She traced a fingertip over the coastline there, the Pacific Ocean a painted expanse of impossible blue. Sharp, jagged cliffs surrounded the beach, with forest piled around and atop their plateaus. “Would you look at that,” she murmured, her voice soft but carrying that familiar note of wonder. “It’s beautiful. Guess you’re finally taking me to the Pacific after all.”
Ed glanced down at her, the corners of his mouth tugging upward. “Is that what this counts as, huh?”
She grinned and gave his arm a gentle nudge with her elbow. “Mhm. Took you long enough.”
That earned a low chuckle from him, rough and warm. “Well, at least this time I meant to get us here.”
She tilted her head knowingly, that teasing light dancing in her eyes. “You’re still not going to live that down, you know. ‘Keep driving that way, Ed,’ I said. ‘If you’re not careful, we’ll end up in the Pacific.’”
He shook his head, laughing under his breath, the sound soft enough not to wake the passenger across the aisle. “And here we are. Maybe you knew all along.”
“I usually do,” she said with a wink. But then her smile gentled, her gaze wandering back to the photograph of the bay. “Still… it really is lovely, isn’t it? Hard to believe something that looks this peaceful could be tied to what we do.”
Ed followed her eyes, his own expression turning thoughtful. “Places like that usually are,” he said finally. “Looks calm on the surface, but who knows what’s under the water.”
She hummed in quiet agreement, closing the brochure and setting it on her lap. The small overhead light cast a pale glow on her wedding ring, the familiar bronze double band dulled by years but no less constant. “This’ll be the farthest we’ve gone since Enfield,” she said softly, almost to herself. “Feels like a lifetime ago.”
“Yeah,” Ed said. He reached out and brushed his thumb along her knuckles, grounding her the way he always did. “It does.” For a moment, their eyes met, hers tired but steady, his carrying that quiet, familiar devotion that didn’t need to be spoken aloud.
Then, with that same fondness, he leaned closer. “You should try to get some sleep, hon. You’re gonna need it for whatever we find there. Worldly or otherworldly.”
She smiled, the kind that said she’d argue if she had the energy. “You’re probably right,” she murmured, already settling back in her seat.
The plane seats were narrow and stiff, and her head kept slipping against the window until Ed gently pulled her toward him. She let herself sink into his shoulder, her hand resting lightly over his chest. His arm came around her instinctively, steady and protective, his thumb tracing slow circles against her sleeve.
Outside, the clouds began to break apart, revealing streaks of amber sunlight glinting off the edge of the wing. Lorraine’s breathing evened, her lashes lowering as the thrumming rhythm of the plane lulled her toward sleep. Ed stayed awake a little longer, watching the light shift across her face, the woman who’d seen more darkness than most souls ever should, and yet somehow found beauty in everything.
When she finally drifted off, he rested his cheek against her hair and closed his eyes too, the hum of the engines carrying them west, toward whatever was waiting in the shadows of White Pine Bay.