The photo was of an old abandoned motel in Hidden Springs. Long ago her family had owned it until some unfortunate events happened and they were forced to sell and leave town. Norma grew up on glamorous stories hearing about the guests that had visited the motel and about the family that lived in the big mansion behind. In the 50's the motel had been bustling with celebrities, rock stars and other amazing people that came to Hidden Springs as a getaway from the big city life. Her family was well known in town and from California to New York the motel itself was a conversation piece. Then one day a well known celebrity overdosed in his room while staying at the motel. Things changed from then on. The motel started to get a reputation of being the "drug motel" somewhere celebrities and well known people could go to get their high and not be bothered by the paparazzi. Business suffered due to this and more riff raff started to use the motel as their hangout and less well to do's came. The motel and the family started to loose money and the place started to look rundown. They talked about selling but Martin Bates wouldn't have any of it! He knew if they just stuck with it it would pick up again. Years went by and less and less people came to Hidden Springs and even less renting at the motel.
The Bates decide that this was a good time to start a family and not long after that, Robert and Sarah were born. Noelle loved both her children but there were many day she wished they had just had Sarah. See Robert wasn't right in the head. The family knew this from a young age when Robert was only about two. He would dress up in his sisters clothing and then would cut her dolls heads off. He would blame it on Sarah saying she had done it but Noelle herself had seen her son do the mean things. She didn't understand how he never remembered after that he himself had pretended to be Sarah and had done the horrible stuff. As Robert got older the blackouts and scary things he didn't just got worse. One night Noelle was sitting in the sitting room reading her book when Robert, dressed as Sarah came in with a dead dog in his arms, blood dripping everywhere.
"Look Mama, I fixed it," he had said in his fake Sarah voice.
Noelle scared looked at her son with disbelief. "What have you done Robert?!" she asked as calmly as she could.
"SARAH! I AM SARAH!" Robert started screaming, shaking the dead dog at his mother.
"Oh I am sorry honey! I meant Sarah," she said as she took her sons little hand, "Let me see what you fixed on that doggy."
"It was barking so loudly Mama, I told it to shut up but it wouldn't. I helped it!" he said, beaming a huge smile up at his mother for approval.
"You did?! Good for you Sarah!" Noelle said as her voice shook from her fear.
Her son was only eight years old but he could scare her more than anything else. Martin wasn't home from work yet and the real Sarah was spending the night at her friends. Noelle and Robert were alone.
This hadn't been the first time Robert had killed something, and Noelle knew it wouldn't be the last. What could she do, turn her son in? Send him to a mental hospital? No, none of those were options and Martin still denied there was anything wrong with their son. Noelle, scared, alone and at a loss of what to do wasn't thinking when she did the next thing. As they walked down the stairs to the basement, so Robert could get a box to bury the dog in, Noelle let go of his hand and pushed him as hard as she could. She could hear the screams and the bones breaking, she could see the blood gushing out of his head, but what she didn't expect was what happened next.
"Why Mother!" Robert screamed, this time in his Robert voice. "What did I ever do to you! I loved you!"
Noelle knew her son had returned to his rightful state and all he could remember was his mother trying to kill him.
"Oh dear," she gasped as she ran down the stairs trying to help her son.
"I am so sorry my boy, I must have slipped!" she said as she grabbed an old dirty towel to stop the bleeding from his head. He didn't die, what was she to tell her husband? He would always believe Robert over her!
"I don't believe you Mother." Robert said in a monotone voice, a voice Noelle hadn't heard before. "You tried to kill me Mother."
Panicking Noelle tried to deny what her son said, tried to get the bleeding to stop and tried to figure out who this new "Robert" was.
"You need to be punished Mother." Robert said as he reached behind him grabbing a hammer. "Bad girls all need to be punished." He said as he looked at his mom with blank eyes.
"Robert stop, please!" Noelle, fearing for her life, started to back into the basement further. Robert blocked the stairs so Noelle had no where else to go.
"ROBERT!" she screamed as the hammer hit her on the arm. "STOP! PLEASE!"
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"Robert? Noelle? Where are you guys?" Martin yelled as he walked into his house that seemed way too quiet.
He checked the kitchen, then checked the upstairs, no one. Where were they? He thought as he headed back into the kitchen to see what Noelle had made for dinner. Usually it was sitting on the table nice and hot waiting for him, this time there wasn't even anything in the fridge.
"What the hell is going on?" he said, starting to get angry that his dinner was not waiting for him.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the basement door cracked. What in the world were they doing down there, they knew it was forbidden to go into his basement! Opening the door he could see the shadows of them in the corner.
"Hey! Where is my dinner?" Martin yelled from the top of the stairs.
Nothing. Noelle didn't answer him and neither did Robert. Getting angrier by the minute Martin started to head down the stairs. Noelle was really going to get it this time! This was unacceptable!
He got to the bottom of the stairs and was just about to yell some more when he really saw the scene in front of him. His wife lay on the concrete floor blood all around her. Her skull was caved in in places and she hardly looked recognizable. Robert sat next to her with a bloodied hammer in his hands rocking back and forth muttering something incoherent.
"I love you Mother. I love you Mother. I love you Mother." Robert repeated over and over again.
Martin stepped over to his son and slowly took the hammer away from him.
"It is okay son, lets get you cleaned up, the bad man is gone now." he said as he picked up his son and cradled him in his arms.
He looked back down at his wife a tear streaming down his face. There was nothing he could do for her now, his son though, he could protect and he would. At any cost he would. He walked back up the stairs repeating to his son that all was going to be okay, the bad man was gone and couldn't hurt him anymore. He knew the story he would tell the police, and knew they would believe him. Why wouldn't they? His son was only a baby himself, no one would suspect him of killing his own mother.
