You Can See Them Too? (Paranorman Fanfiction)

Chapter 11: Possesion

I opened my eyes slowly, my whole body was sore, though I could still move my fingers and toes.
'Nothing broken, great.' I thought before sitting up.
I saw Norman a few feet away from me holding the book, which had a huge smouldering hole through it.
I looked around, noticing the room was different, the floorboards were different and the lighting was dark, unlike the town hall.

'Where are we?'
"Izzy?" Norman groaned as he sat up, massaging his head.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Where are we?" He asked.
"I'm not sure." I replied, standing up, before someone spoke.

"Agatha Prenderghast of his Majesty's Province of Massachusetts..." An important sounding tone said.
"Huh?" I asked, turning around as Norman stood up.
I saw a man, who looked a lot like the zombie judge...just human, glaring down at me with six other people by him.
"...on this day you have been arraigned for the horrible crime of witchcraft..." He continued.

"What?"
"...witnessed by those whose testimonies have been heard."
"Uh huh?"
"You have, by this court, been found guilty..."
"No!" Norman and I shouted, though no one seemed to notice.
"...and it is passed on you, according to your grievous crimes..."
"No, no, no! This isn't right!" I cried.
"...execution." He finished, him and the six others pointing at me and Norman.
"No!" Another voice rang out.
I heard some sobbing and turned around curiously to see a girl, around my age, sobbing.

I exchanged glances with Norman in confusion, this was the witch?
Her long, brown hair was unkempt and dirty, and her face was streaked with tears. Chains that looked to have been made specifically for her were on her wrists, weighing her down.
'This must be Agatha.' I thought.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" The judge asked.
"I was only playing." Agatha sniffed out.
"Aye, with fire! You were speaking with the dead!" The judge bellowed.

I heard gasps and murmuring from an unseen crowd, Norman was looking fearfully at the judge.
"I'll not risk damnation on these good people." The judge continued. "You are to be taken to the place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until you be dead..."
"Wait! No! You can't do this!" Norman cried, but no one seemed to have heard this.
'So we're just watching what happened to the witch?' I thought.
A grim-faced sherif moved towards Agatha, who backed away in fear.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" She cried before panic took over her features. "Stop! Leave me alone or I'll make you sorry! I'll make all of you sorry!" She shrieked, her eyes glowing a yellow colour before screaming.

The room started spinning and becoming darker, though it felt like I was going to black out, I was taking a while for that to happen.
I swayed unsteadily on my feet, the room stopping, but still in the dark. I felt jumbled, like I wanted to sleep but an unseen presence was keeping me awake.
"You'll be perfect." I heard Agatha's voice say, though I couldn't see anything.
Suddenly a small light grew in my vision, though it looked as if it was growing bigger and bigger and more threatening, advancing towards me.
I screamed but it felt as if someone forced my mouth to keep open and was pouring water into it.
The urge to collapse became unbearable and I buckled forwards, feeling weird and tired, before closing my eyes.

———

'Ugh.' I thought as I opened my eyes before seeing seven green zombie faces peering down at me.
I jolted up and shuffled away until my back hit a shelf, in which Norman was already sitting there, eyes wide.
"How could you?! She was just a little kid! She was no different than us!" Norman whispered loudly.
The judge took a step forward towards us.
"Keep away from us!" I shouted, sounding panicked, which wasn't intended, before clamping a hand over my mouth.
That wasn't intended.

"You... must... stop... the...curse." The judge said in a gravelly voice.
"What! You don't want to kill us?" Norman asked.
The judge shook his head before pointing to the book that was at Norman's feet.
"You can speak to the dead. To us. To her. We need you to read from the book to send us all back to the grave." The zombie explained.
"But it didn't work! It's a fairy tale! Just a bedtime...story..." Norman said before his eyes narrowed. "That's it, isn't it? A bedtime story to keep a little girl asleep for another year. And now you need our help because we're the only ones who can read it to her!" He shouted.

I watched as he picked up the book, eyes flashing angrily, before hurling it at the judge.
"Here's your book! Try reading it yourself!" He cried.
It fell silent before I spoke up.
"Why did you do it?"
"We were scared." The judge replied.
"Of what?"
"Of her." He said before gesturing to himself and the other six zombies. "I believed we were doing what was right. I was wrong. Now this is our punishment."

"Hm." I hummed.
"We thought we knew our way in life but in death we are lost." He said sadly, hanging his head.
I believed him, he was telling the truth, though part of me thought he was lying.
'What's this? Why am I feeling...weird?' I thought before brushing the thought away.
"Please help us." The judge said.

I looked at the book, it was destroyed, beyond repair of the blackened hole that went through it.
"Every year someone reads the story at her grave. Before me it was Mr Prenderghast, and before him there were others, but the curse doesn't ever go away. Nothing gets better. It's not enough." Norman said.
I looked over to him, it seemed as if he had an idea.
"What will you do?" The judge asked.
"Something nobody ever did before. I've gotta go talk to her." He said.
'Ha! Yeah, that's not going to happen!" I thought before clutching my head, I didn't even think that.

Norman stood up, me following, and walked out of the hall of records, the zombies staggering behind.
We walked out to the front, where the building was burning.
"Norman?" I heard Courtney's voice ask.
"Izzy?" I heard Issac say.
"This way!" I said, making sure they all followed behind the zombies for some reason.

I trailed behind, once we were out, facing the angry mob outside, I felt myself slowly inch away from the activity.
'Wait, I want to help Norman.' I thought, my feet were moving on their own.
'Like that's going to happen.' I heard another voice think.
I blinked, the voice sounded a lot like Agatha's from that vision think.
'Where are we going?' I thought as we neared a forest.
'Stop asking questions.' The voice said back.
I went to reply, but it felt as if I couldn't think or speak, like in a daze.

What's happening to me?

Norman's (P.O.V)
I looked around, I couldn't see Isabelle anywhere, did she wonder off or what?
"Isabelle!" I heard Issac yell.
"Isabelle!" I heard two other voices yell.
I looked around again to see a bob of sliver and black hair disappear around a corner. Where's she going?
I shook my head, maybe she's not feeling well, before looking up at dad.
"Dad, can I borrow the car?" I asked.
"Excuse me?" Dad asked.

~~~~Time Skip to after the car ride~~~~

We pulled up to a secluded dirt road that went through the forest.
"Someone's been here." The judge growled, pointing to some footprints.
"What did he say?" Courtney asked.
"Someone's been through here not so long ago." I said, looking around, though it was hard as a storm was going on overhead.
The zombie pointed ahead and I saw a flash of silver and black go through the dense trees.
"Izzy!" I cried, running towards her, my family following behind.
"What?" Mum called, though I kept on moving.

We kept on moving forward, not noticing the trees closing in around us, by the time that we noticed, it was too late.
"Norman, watch out!" Mum called, and I jumped though two trees just as they crashed together, barricading off me from my family.
"Norman!" Mum screamed frantically.
"I'm okay Mum! Wait for me here! Don't worry!" I called back.
"Be careful!" She replied.

I steeled myself, seeing a weird faint glow up ahead, and headed towards it.

Soon I made it to where the source of the storm was, but was shocked to see who was in the middle of it.

"Izzy?"