Hidden Clips

Love Above All Else

I hate you! I hate you!

They're both breathing the same air—their mouths barely touching. Alex wants to kiss her; tell her that he never meant to disappoint her nor hurt her feelings. He wants to tell her that he'd protect them the way he always has. He wants to show her how much he cares—but Norma is as obstinate as ever and won't budge.

"Don't touch me," she demands, turning away from his sparse kiss on her cheek. "Don't you touch me."

She slips away from his hold, marching towards the door that, if he had superpowers, he would lock infinitely and keep her in until they turn old and grey.

"Norma," he mutters with no power, still feeling frivolous from their proximity. She makes him feeble. "Norma!"

But Norma continues her way to her car, car that she had to lurk in the dark to limit Alex from seeing it when he arrived home.

"Please, stay," Alex implores as he tries to catch up to her. "Let's talk."

"We have nothing to talk about," Norma says coldly. Her back towards him. "I have nothing to say to you."

Alex steps in front of her, making her stop abruptly, her body imperceptibly collapsing with his. "You're mad. I'm mad. People say and do stuff they don't mean when they're angry."

Norma lets out a quick but unreal chuckle, stepping aside and continuing her way to her car. She needs to get out of there as soon as possible.

Alex stands there, gradually giving up on trying to make her come to her senses. "Do you really hate me?"

The question seemed to get a reaction from her. Her feet stop moving, and her breath stirs. She turns around very leisurely as if he had just insulted her by asking her the obvious.

"Of course I do!" she declares. "You ruin everything! You make me believe that I can trust you, and then you stab me in the back with no regret. Like it's nothing to you."

"Norma, that's not true—"

"You are just like the rest," Norma ejects. "You're just a ticking bomb waiting to explode. You make everyone trust you just to take advantage of them. God, you're such an asshole, Alex!"

She rolls around and starts to walk away, but his feet are fastened on the floor. He can't move. Harsh words can hurt a person more than physical pain. The tongue has no bones, but it is strong enough to break a heart.

"You know that's not true," he speaks in a hushed voice, gazing at the dirt. "I've never taken advantage of you, and you know that. This is different and needed to be wielded differently. But that doesn't mean that I'm done protecting you."

Norma whirls around. "Protecting me? You're protecting yourself. You're just doing your job. You couldn't care less about the people in this town. You clearly don't care about the consequences of your actions."

Alex breathes. "Norma..."

"I'm-I'm so stupid for ever trusting you," she got closer. The rage on her face was imminent. Alex couldn't help but love the way she furrows her eyebrows when she's annoyed. "I should've known that you couldn't be trusted. You're a damn cop. Cops are nothing but lying pigs."

"Insult my profession for as long as you want. It doesn't bother me, Norma. It's not the first time I hear this," he tells her guardedly, stepping closer to where she was standing. "You're just upset because I did something behind your back. I turned the damn flash drive in because it needed to be turned in. There are a lot of important people affected, and quite frankly, I'm not—"

"I don't care!" Norma stops him. "I don't care about anyone in this town but my son! I had Bob Paris by the hairs. He was doing everything I was telling him to do. He was so threatened by me that he had to find other ways to manipulate me. To hurt me."