"There have been allegations against your claim, a testimony. They said you've been speaking, influencing each other lately?" The man consults the documents, meticulous in his actions.
Norman resolves to answer truthfully.
"No, miss asked if she could help put together the mural, and considering it's her joint, what could I do. Apart from occasional small talk, there wasn't anything else between us."
Looking at the old man whose eyes bore no ease of heart. He was monotone, almost, coded in the way he spoke. They mirrored each other like one to two.
"What do you have to say to this here?" Pushing a screen to Norman's line of sight, it played a video of the event caught on camera. Live.
Solemnly observing what was shown… he'd softly explain what had happened beforehand "I was concerned when the boy carried the lady out, and… considering what i saw, I went out back to go check up on them." adding, "The moment I got there I saw the lad trying to force himself up on top of her."
"Before heading out, what were you referring to?"
"I saw him dope up her drink."
"Dope?" The use of slang somehow struck a nerve in the gray-haired man.
"Doped? As in, drugged?"
"Yes."
The guy set aside the slight stack of papers he held.
"Testimony clarified this young man's identity to be a long-time friend of Miss Margie's."
Norman deliberately nods, "Ain't any drunk guy a mess."
"So you were drunk?"
Okay wait. "No."
The man grimaces, "Can you prove this?" gesturing quotation marks at the word prove. Hunting dismissively, in his tone and expression.
"The belt?" Norman, at a loss, simply listed what liable details he knew… which weren't much of weight.
Sharp responses tallied his brief words, "Slip of hand."
"His face is red."
"Oh okay, you were choking the man for shit's sake."
"Choking? I held him by the head."
"Hmm… let me see—"
"Oh, sorry! There's nothing solid considering YOUR fucking disaster."
"The fact is, everything points to you~ being guilty!"
"Even this not-so-solid recording… and let's be honest with ourselves, like really, face it, you did it."
A realization, this old guy... There lingered malice in his words, and so Norman stayed silent.
"Fact is, there is not a single thing backing you because you blew it to BITS."
"You blew it, you screwed yourself over! along with the rest of our lives!"
"So why even try to deny it?!"
It was as if a robot condemned him for his actions.
"The audio?"
Sniffles could be heard through what sounded like a phone call?
•"Excuse me?, t-this is, we're at the back alley of R-rose Dinner, K-kane street, downtown district of maples— H-he, there's this man, he's, a tall, dark-haired, u-um guy t-that raped, or groped or… all i know is that he touched her! and now he's choking my friend jake! Please- please! Send help! "•
"Oh, and this video, of course!"
Screams and shouts could be heard within the riot. A guy ran.
Before a blood-curdling holler was heard.
•"KNOW PAIN BASTARDS. BURN. IN. HELL."•
…Pausing right at the moment of combustion.
It's a feeling one couldn't quite explain, but it was painful, "I wasn't thinking straight."
"Right! Because you were drunk!"
"No." He was steadfast.
"So you're suggesting… that, this?"
He plays the audio to Norman's ear, "This!?"
•"BURN.IN.HELL"•
"This was unintentional?"
…
He'd stare him dead in the eye
"Manslaughter, or murder."
"This isn't about the rape anymore, Norman, I couldn't care less about your predicament… and wether or not you did fuck the dead kid… yes? Unleashing your wrath where it didn't belong, that was wow!"
"Heck, I hope it was murder!"
"I couldn't be considerate enough!"
"Because, like."
"You. You weren't considerate enough!"
"Ha!" The man began again, mocking, twisting Norman's voice, to what sounded like a disillusioned kid. "Like I knew that was gonna happen!" Words he never said.
…
"Say it."
"SAY IT"
"Say you didn't know!"
"Say you didn't know that going-" He would gesture a grand outburst, enacting horrid cries, whispering it all directly into the bandaged man's ear. "You ruined them! SO. MANY. LIVES."
The old man was deep into a spiral, "My sister… she loved charity." He was crude, in contrast to his earlier state. "She was there… The exact night, I told her… wasn't sleeping in the shelter too much, but she wanted to stay, because I-, and I quote, "The children here are quite lonely…"
This man, who once carried himself with elegance, is now broken in rage and in grief.
"Speak!"
"Tell me what you told that- Carter!" He had Norman in a desperate choke hold, though it wasn't much…
…
"The explosion was me."
The gray man gritted his teeth, tears plunging from his eyes, "You! You should be the one burning in h-!" Anger was amok when... abruptly.
Something profound rang off the walls. "Director, please stop."