Chapter I: The Writing On The Wall
Redrum. Chelsey's eyebrows furrowed together as she read the word written on the chalkboard in her new room. The house was already creepy enough, but a random word written on a chalkboard definitely added to the creep factor.
"Chelsey!" She heard her mom's voice echo throughout the house.
The brunette rolled her big ocean blue eyes as she sighed. "Yes?"
"Can you please come down here for a minute?" Carol yelled.
With another sigh, the young girl slowly made her way out of her room and down the stairs into the kitchen where her mother was. She stopped just before entering and leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed.
"You called?" Chelsey questioned.
Carol sat down the dish she was holding on the counter before turning around with a big smile on her face. "Can you please go help your sister carry in her things?"
"She didn't help me carry in mine."
Carol gave her youngest daughter a look of disapproval. "Don't be that way. We all had to drop everything back home to move here because of what happened with you so the least you could do is help your sister situate her stuff."
"Fine." Chelsey sighed, pushing herself off of the doorway. "I'll help her bring all of her shit in, but I'm not helping her situate it."
"Thank you, dear." Carol said, turning back around to continue putting dishes away as her daughter turned to walk off. "Oh and Chelsey...what did I tell you about that kind of language?"
Chelsey rolled her eyes as a smirk formed on her face. She didn't say a word as she made her way through the house and out the front door.
"Ugh! This house has to be the ugliest thing I have ever seen." Her sister, Callie, stated as her heels clicked up the entrance way.
"Heaven forbid that something doesn't live up to Queen Callie's standards." Chelsey said as she passed her sister.
Callie immediately stopped, turning on her heel to look at her sister who was dragging suitcases out from the back of the moving van. "Excuse me, but I wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for you!"
"Whatever." Chelsey said as she dragged more suitcases passed her sister and through the door.
As soon as she got into the foyer of the house, she dropped all of her sister's stuff and stomped up the stairs to her room. She slammed the door loudly before opening up her red suitcase. She then started pulling out various items of clothing and putting them away in dresser drawers and in her closet. After about two and a half hours, she had fully finished putting every article of clothing and all of her items away and with a sigh of relief she plopped down on her bed, closing her eyes. She reached over and hit the little remote to her iPod dock causing 'Brand New' to fill up the room.
"Cool shoes." Came a voice from the doorway.
Chelsey's eyes shot open so fast, she was surprised that they didn't pop out of her head. She sat up quickly looking to the door where a young boy around her age stood. He held a closed smile, showing a little bit of his dimples off. Her bright blue eyes were immediately drawn into his dark brown ones as she quickly turned the music off. "How did you get in here?"
"Oh...I'm sorry. I actually have an appointment with Dr. Sanders today and I just got sidetracked when I heard this song playing and I had to see where it was coming from." The handsome blonde said.
He's cute. "It's called 'Jesus Christ' by Brand New. Do you like them?" Chelsey asked.
"Never heard of them." He replied.
Chelsey raised her eyebrows in surprise. "That's surprising."
"Got any Kurt Cobain on there?" He asked with a smile.
Chelsey let out a short laugh. "Yes actually. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is one of my favorite songs."
"Awesome, mine too." He stated and then there was a long pause. "Nice sense of style. I think we have the same shoes." He laughed as he stuck out his right foot, showing off his black converse shoes.
"Looks like it." Chelsey smiled, looking down to her own feet clad in black converse.
"Well, I guess I better go before I'm late for my appointment." He said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I'm Tate by the way."
"Chelsey." She replied.
"Pretty name. Hopefully I'll see you around again." Tate said.
"Definitely."
With one last smile, he turned and walked out of the doorway. "Oh! Before I go, where am I suppose to go?" He asked with a chuckle.
Chelsey let out a small laugh. "My dad usually treats his patients in the Study so you'll need to go downstairs and it's the the last door on the left."
"Thanks." Tate said and then he was gone.
Chelsey just stared after him for a few minutes before deciding on a nap. She turned her iPod dock back on and put it on shuffle before curling up on her bed and drifting off to sleep. She didn't know how much time had passed before she was abruptly woken up by her iPod which had been turned seemingly on full blast. She shot up in bed as the chorus to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' started up. She quickly hit the power button on the small remote, turning off her iPod completely as she took in a deep breath. She knew that there was no way she had turned up her music that loud in her sleep. She shook her head a little before something on the chalkboard in her room caught her attention. Regret. Chelsey froze. She never had erased the first word on the chalkboard and now, the word was gone and replaced with a completely different one. Her eyes darted to each side of her room before she slowly got up and peaked down each side of the hallway. She saw nothing so she quietly backed into her room and shut her door with a soft click. She closed her eyes as her forehead met the backside of her door and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding but as soon as she turned around, her breath hitched in her throat. Recognition. Her eyes went wide and then everything went black.
"Chels? Chelsey? Come on, wake up..."
The voice sounded so far away, but as more words came out the closer it seemed to be until finally her eyelids lifted slowly and her bright blue eyes were visible. She blinked a few times before the figures above her came into view. First, it was her dad above her then her mom then her sister. Her eyes darted around the room before she tried to sit up.
"Give yourself a minute or else you're gonna get really dizzy again." Her dad, Alan, stated.
"What happened?" Chelsey asked quietly.
"You passed out. My patient had just left when I heard a loud thud and then when I came up here and opened your door, you were just laying here not moving a bit." He explained.
Then she remembered why she had apparently passed out and she quickly raised her upper body off the floor causing the room to spin. She put her hand to the side of her head to get the spinning to stop and when it did she looked to the chalkboard, but it was bare. Almost like nothing had ever been written on it.
"Are you ok, sweetie?" Carol asked as she put her hand on Chelsey's shoulder.
"Yeah...I'm fine."
"Come on, let's go downstairs and I'll fix you some green tea." Carol said as they helped their daughter off the floor.
"Will you be ok?" Alan asked, recieving a nod from his daughter. "I have a patient so I need to get back downstairs to the office." He said, giving Chelsey a kiss to the forehead then his wife a small peck on the lips.
"Come on." Carol said, motioning her head towards the door. "Callie, can you come help get dinner started?"
"Absolutely." Callie said with a big smile as she followed her mom and sister downstairs and into the kitchen.
Carol helped sit Chelsey down at one of the chairs at the island before she started getting her green tea ready. "Honey, do you remember what happened before you passed out?"
"I just got up from a nap and was gonna come downstairs, but I guess I just...got up too fast and got dizzy." She lied, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand.
"Try to be more careful dear. What if you had made it to the stairs then passed out, you could've fallen down them and broken your neck or anything." Carol stated with that concerned motherly voice.
"I know, mom. I'll be more careful...promise." Chelsey said as she watched her sister start chopping up some carrots.
"Here you go, honey." Carol said with a smile as she sat a cup in front of her youngest daughter and poured some tea into it.
Chelsey smiled in thanks then took a small sip of the hot, green tea. After a few minutes of taking small sips of her tea and watching her mother and sister cook, the sounds of an old song reached her ears. She turned her head slightly towards the kitchen doorway and tried to look to see where it could possibly be coming from, but saw nothing. It was strange to hear such an old song coming from somewhere inside the house. It sounded like something out of the fourties or fifties. Chelsey turned back around to see if her sister or mother had heard anything, but they were still chopping up vegetables and talking so they obviously hadn't heard the music.
"I'll be right back." Chelsey said, hopping off of the stool.
"Where are you going?" Carol asked, focusing her attention on her daughter now instead of the vegetables in front of her.
"Uh...to the bathroom. All that tea is just going straight through me." Chelsey smiled with an unnoticeable roll of her eyes.
"I'll go with you and make sure you make it alright." Carol said, wiping her hands off on the small apron tied around her waist.
"No, mom, really. I'll be fine." Chelsey said, backing out of the doorway.
Carol paused for a minute, looking at her daughter like she was about to argue her point but then she sighed. "Alright, but if you're not back before too long...I'm coming after you."
Chelsey smiled. "Ok."
She waited until her mom turned around and continued her previous task before she started out into the downstairs hallway following the waves of music. Chelsey opened a few doors quietly as to not disturb her father's session before she stopped at the door around the corner of the stairs. She stuck her ear to the door before she started tugging at the knob. She pulled on it a few times before it finally creaked open and the music got louder. She looked down the dark stairs that so obviously led to the basement. Oh great. I fucking hate basements. Just as her right foot landed on the first step, the music stopped only to be replaced by another song from that period of time. She slowly walked down each step, letting her hand slide down the railing until she reached the bottom and stopped. She took a look around the basement and all of the various rooms it seemed to hold before she continued on her previous adventure towards the sound of the music. Her converse shoes lightly tapped against the concrete floor as she made her way through the basement until she finally came to a stop in front of a small table where an old radio sat atop it producing the sounds of the music she had been hearing. Chelsey reached out, gently turning the knob on the radio to turn off the music that had been playing. She ran her fingers over the many designs on the radio before picking it up off of the table and noticing that it was plugged into the wall, she placed it back in its previous spot then bent down to reach behind the table and unplug it. After a few unsuccessful tries, she finally got it unplugged and stood up, grabbing the radio to take upstairs with her.
"Excuse me, ma'am but I was listening to that." A sweet voice said causing Chelsey to spin around so fast, she was sure she got whiplash.
"Who are you? How did you get in my house?" Chelsey asked breathlessly.
"I'm Elizabeth Short." She said with a smile. "I came to see the doctor."
"Um...he see's patients upstairs...in the Study." Chelsey said, never taking her eyes off of the lady in front of her.
"Oh, well thank you dear." She smiled and turned to walk away.
"What were you doing down here?" Chelsey asked, making the woman's movements stop.
"Listening to music." Elizabeth said, turning her head to smile before disappearing around the corner.
"I really don't think it's a good idea to be seeing your patients in the house." Chelsey said, during dinner later that night.
"And why do you think that?" Alan asked.
"Because...you deal with psycho's and it's probably not the safest idea to have them knowing where we live."
"I figured you'd be the last person to have a problem with that...don't all psycho's get along?" Callie questioned with a raise of her eyebrows.
Chelsey decided to completely ignore her sister instead of starting yet another fight at the dinner table. "I ran into one of your patients roaming around in the basement today." She stated, leaving out her encounter with Tate.
"What?" Carol questioned, dropping her fork onto her plate.
"Yeah. Look, maybe I shouldn't be scared of these people but I can't help but get an eerie feeling knowing they could be creeping around the house."
"I have to agree, Alan. Can you not just rent out a space somewhere to see your patients?" Carol asked.
"Don't you think I've looked into that. It wasn't my first choice to see my patients here, but there are no places to rent out...if you want me to keep providing for this family then I have to work and the only choice I have right now is to see my patients here." Alan explained.
Carol sighed. "Well, we just need to take extra pre-caution then. Maybe just make sure they come straight to your office and then leave right after."
"Hey! What about that lady that said she was the maid for the house or whatever? She could greet them at the door and lead them to the office and then when their hour is up, she could escort them out the door...problem solved." Callie stated as she put a small piece of chicken in her mouth.
"The house comes with a maid?" Chelsey questioned with her eyebrows furrowed.
"Oh yes, I met her today. Her name is Moira O'Hara and she has been the maid here for years. I think that's a fantastic idea, Callie." Carol smiled.
"Ok, great. Problem solved so now there won't be any more running into patients." Alan stated.
A knock on the door sounded just as Chelsey reached the last step on the staircase. Moira was nowhere to be seen as the young brunette craned her neck to see around the corner towards the kitchen. She sighed as her bare feet padded across the wood floors to the door where she grabbed ahold of the knob and pulled it open.
"Tate...hey!" Chelsey smiled.
"Chels...hi." He smiled as he stepped into the house. "Cute pajamas." He said as Chelsey closed the door behind him, trying to hide the blush threatening to creep onto her face.
"Oh yeah, uh...I was actually just coming down for breakfast." She said, looking down at her long sleeved striped shirt and black shorts.
"Lucky for me." Tate said, showing off those adorable dimples again.
Chelsey smiled, tucking a piece of her long hair behind her ear. "I know this is probably gonna sound strange, but...do you wanna hang out today? It's been pretty boring around here and I haven't made any friends yet so..." Maybe my first friend here shouldn't be a psycho...
"Yeah." Tate answered. "How about after my session?"
"Ok, sounds great!" Chelsey smiled. "Where do you wanna meet up at?"
"How about your room?" Tate questioned, noticing the furrow of her brows almost immediately. "I didn't mean it like that...it's just my mom doesn't really let me have girls over and if I go anywhere she's gonna ask a lot of questions so if she thinks I'm still at my session, we can actually have time to hang out."
"I understand. Our maid will most likely come get you after your session to lead you out so just go around the house to the basement door and I'll meet you down there." Chelsey said.
"Alright. See you in an hour." He smiled, making his way passed her and towards the Study.
Chelsey watched him go with a smile on her face before she started towards the kitchen again, running into Moira on her way there. "Was someone at the door?" The redhead asked.
"Yes, but it's ok...I let them in." Chelsey replied.
"I'm sorry dear...it's quite difficult to hear the knocking in this big house." Moira stated.
"I understand...don't worry about it." Chelsey smiled at the sweet old lady before continuing on her way to the kitchen.
As soon as she rounded the corner into the kitchen, the smell of pancakes enveloped her completely. She stopped, closing her eyes and inhaled the scent deeply as a smile formed on her face. "Smells fantastic." She stated, walking over to sit on the unoccupied bar stool next to her sister.
Carol smiled, setting down two plates, one in front of each of her daughters. "They are your favorite...have been ever since you were a little girl."
Chelsey smiled, glancing over at the magazine her sister was flipping through. "How much longer?"
"Just a few more minutes." Carol said as she flipped the pancakes over.
"Well, something smells awfully lovely." Came a voice from the doorway causing everyone to turn their attention towards the source.
"Oh, hello Constance. How are you?" Carol smiled as she took the pancakes over to her daughters, giving them each two.
"Fantastic darling. These two lovely young ladies, I assume, are your daughters?" She questioned.
"Oh yes. Constance, this is Chelsey and Callie. Girls, this is our neighbor, Constance. I met her yesterday." Carol introduced.
"Hi." Chelsey said.
"Nice to meet you!" Callie said, enthusiastically.
"They are just the loveliest girls I have ever seen." Constance said in her southern accent.
"Thank you. Would you like to join us for breakfast?" Carol asked.
"That would be lovely." Constance said, taking a seat next to Chelsey.
Carol smiled, placing two pancakes onto Constance's plate before doing the same to her own then taking a seat next to her other daughter. "So, Constance...do you have any children?"
"Yes...four actually." She stated.
"My mother's probably worried about me, right?" Tate questioned.
"I'm sure she is." Alan stated.
"She's a cocksucker. I mean, literally...a cocksucker. She used to suck the guy off next door all the time. My dad found out...and he left. He left me alone with a cocksucker. Can you imagine? How sick is that?" Tate finished with a small laugh.
"I've heard alot worse."
"Cool. Can you tell me some? I like stories." Tate said, leaning forward a bit.
"No, I can't."
"The world is a filthy place. It's a filthy goddamn horror show. There's so much pain, you know? There's so much..." Tate trailed off.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Believe me, this story is most likely gonna get really strange. I haven't been this inspired to write a story and actually complete it in a VERY long time, I'm excited! Please leave me reviews, but try not to completely crush my feelings lol. Oh and the breaks in the chapters signify a new day, just thought I'd put that in here now so it would be clear in future chapters as well.
-CM