Disclaimer:I do not own American Horror Story. I do claim ownership to my characters and story lines.
This story is rated M for Mature Viewers. It contains crude language, violence and sexual situations. Reader Discretion is advised.
Austin, Texas
Angie walked into the living room of her small modern apartment wielding a cigarette and lighter in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. She knew this was the only way to rouse her niece without it being a hellish experience and they had important matters to discuss. A part of her knew that she should feel guilty about supplying a sixteen year old with nicotine but she didn't; the life the girl was forced to live before she took her in made the occasional cigarette seem harmless.
Angie looked over at her niece with an amused grin. She lay sprawled out with her head hanging off the couch, her left foot pressed against the wall at the top of the couch. Her chainsaw-esque snores filled the room, as drool rolled down her face and into her silvery smoke colored curls. Angie noticed the auburn roots peaking out under the dye and knew they would be going to the salon relatively soon.
It was refreshing to see her in a deep restful sleep and not screaming and writhing about, racked with night terrors. It had been almost five days since her last night terror. Angie's smile faltered slightly at the realization that stress of the upcoming move would no doubt send the girls night terrors into overdrive, until she grew accustomed to her new surroundings. Regardless, it was a necessary change for both of them. After setting the coffee down on the black and white circular end table, she bent down and lightly shook her sleeping niece.
"Rowan, it's time to get up..." Rowan's sculpted brows furrowed in frustration as she smacked her aunt's hand away. Angie was undeterred.
"Come on Ro! We've got a lot to discuss." Her voice was laced with excitement. Hearing the adamant tone in Angie's voice, she knew that resistance was futile. So, with an aggravated sigh, she rolled off the couch and pushed herself off of the ground.
Once up, she breathed in the scent of coffee, it was almost intoxicating. Rowan gladly accepted the coffee and quickly snatched the lighter and cigarette out of Angie's hand before stumbling over to the sliding glass door and retreating outside to the balcony.
Angie took this as an opportunity to retrieve her tablet and open up the realty webpage where she found the house. An old Victorian mansion, renovated with modern conveniences on the inside; admittedly it did have a certain creep factor to it. The photos made it look immaculate. Not to mention that the asking price was outrageously low, and continuing to decline from being on the market for so long. It was so perfect, she could scarcely believe their luck.
She and Rowan had been looking at houses for weeks. She really wanted Rowan to help pick it out so she could finally have a place that felt like home. Naturally, Rowan would find the creepiest looking houses possible, excitedly hoping for paranormal activity. Angie wanted all the modern convenience bells and whistles. So when she found this, it was a perfect marriage of their preferences.
Moments later, she heard the familiar slide of the door. She looked up to see Rowan walking in, awake enough now that she no longer resembled a zombie. Coffee in hand, Rowan made her way over to her aunt, her mint green eyes burning with curiosity.
Gazing at her, Angie was always surprised to see their striking resemblance. Sometimes it was as if she were gazing at a living photo of herself. Both had high apple cheek bones, full rosebud lips and ivory skin. The differences were minor. Both had natural auburn hair that they covered with dye; while Rowan chose a silvery smoke hue, Angie went with a platinum tint. Rowan had mint green eyes much lighter than her aunts jade green irises. Height was the most obvious difference as Angie was a good four inches shorter than her niece who stood at five foot seven inches.
"So...What did you want to discuss Ang?" Rowan asked apprehensively, fearing that perhaps Angie had rethought taking her in. If that were the case, she would remain stoic, not showing her devastation.
Angie was ready to burst with excitement as she thrust the tablet into Rowan's hands. "Look at it, Ro! Isn't it just perfect for us?" She asked grinning like a maniac.
Relief washed over her and she felt her body relax. She looked down at the tablet, and scrolled through the photos. She couldn't stop the smile that crept up on her face. It was creepy AND modern, appeasing both tastes. She scrolled further down and read the address. Los Angeles, California.
"Holy shit Angie! That house is fucking awesome!" Rowan shouted in excitement. Her mint green eyes sparkled with a happiness that had rarely reached her eyes before. She thought about the address again and wondered if Angie even noticed it. She cared dearly for her aunt but sometimes she was oblivious to even the most obvious things.
"LA is a hell of a long ways away though."
Angie's smile faltered as she began chewing on her bottom lip nervously. "I know..That isn't a deal breaker is it? I already put in for a transfer at work and they called and accepted right before I woke you up."
"No, it definitely not a deal breaker! I mean hey, I'm totally cool with it, I hate this shithole. I was just making sure that you noticed where the house actually is, you tend to be a bit dense at times." Rowan teased in her usual snarky tone. She loved to patronize Angie.
Angie playfully smacked her arm but laughed nonetheless, knowing the truth her statement held. "Gee thanks, Ro. I love you too."
Rowan tensed up as Angie sarcastically said she loved her. It wasn't a phrase she was used to hearing in any context so it made her extremely uncomfortable. Her self-preservation instincts would raise red flags whenever she tried to bond with anyone, so instead she would project an aloof, sardonic persona. She quickly masked her discomfort with a small chuckle.
"So are you going to call the realtor or just stare at me all day until someone else buys the house?" Rowan finished her question with a smirk and an arched brow. Angie was in a frenzy looking for her phone to call the realtor.
Over the next couple weeks, they had finally managed to get everything packed into boxes. After hiring a moving company, they hopped into Angie's black BMW and set off towards California. It was just under a twenty hour drive. They stopped at a hotel after twelve hours of driving. They both in desperate need of food, sleep and a shower.
Early the next morning, armed with copious amounts of caffeine, they set out again to complete their journey. Along the way, Rowan's eyes were glued to her phone screen, researching things to do in that particular area of LA. Scrolling through page after page of mildly interesting places and activities, until she stumbled upon one in particular that made her beam with excitement.
"Holy shit, Angie! You gotta listen to this."
"Well seeing that we are in the car, I don't really have another option other than listening to you babble." Angie finished giggling at her own joke. Rowan narrowed her eyes at her aunt's attempt at humor.
"Yeah, whatever. Just listen. There is a guided tour company called 'Eternal Darkness Tours'. They take you to various locations where people met a grim demise! Isn't that fascinating?" Rowan's eyes were filled with an unnerving excitement. She had always enjoyed the macabre and other oddities.
Angie crinkled her nose and frowned, that certainly wasn't her cup of tea. She was very much an optimist, her glass always half full these days. However, when she thought back to her teenage years, Rowan was nearly a carbon copy of her. All the morbid curiosities and the excitement that came from venturing on the darker side of life, they were drawn in like moths to a flame. Knowing that there would be no arguing with her niece, she only had a couple of questions.
"How the hell did you even find that? I'm assuming we're going to go, so are there any tours before our 2 o'clock appointment with the realtor?"
"Oh thank you, Ang! You are truly a gentleman and a scholar. They have a few spots open for their noon tour, it says to be there 15 minutes early though. Can I book it? As for finding it, I simply searched for macabre curiosities and oddities in the area." Rowan gave her best at attempt at puppy doggy eyes and pouty lips.
Angie heaved an exaggerated sigh before smirking. "Of course you did. Alright Ro, go ahead and book it. Then go ahead and plug the address into the GPS. I'm a gentleman, huh? Well you sir, are an asshole."
Rowan barked out a laugh. "Jeez Ang, I don't know why you have to be so hostile with me. I was merely paying you a compliment. Anyway, I got us booked and I put the address into the GPS, we're good to go."
"Oh I can't wait!" Angie screamed with a sarcastic excitement.
Rowan was completely deadpan as she muttered, "Ass face" under her breath so her aunt wouldn't hear.
They drove for a couple more hours before the GPS instructed them to turn into a parking lot of an old warehouse building. It almost looked abandoned save for the black open-topped buses that read "Eternal Darkness Tours" lined up in front of the building.
Once parked, they both got out and stretched. Angie looked over just in time to see Rowan sniff her armpits, frown and then shrug.
"Classy." Angie grumbled while glaring at her niece. Rowan just stuck her tongue out and continued walking toward the building.
They walked inside the business and up to the ticket booth. The man at the booth looked ridiculously happy to be there.
"Good morning ladies! Will Call, I presume?" It would be putting it lightly to say that his greeting was overly enthusiastic.
Rowan rolled her eyes at the pleasantries as Angie flashed him a winning smile. "Well good morning to you too, sir! You assume correctly. Our tickets should be listed under 'Grimsley'."
"Aha! There you are! Well if you want to, you can climb up onto the bus to the left there. We should be leaving in about five minutes! You'll have to tell me how you like the tour Ms. Grimsley" His voice held a flirtatious note to it as he winked at Angie.
"Oh well thank you! I think we'll go find our seats. I definitely will!" Angie purred, smiling and batting her eyelashes shamelessly. She gave him a flirtatious little wave as they exited the building.
Once outside, Rowan let out an annoyed sigh. "God, I hope he's not the tour guide. I might punch him off of the bus, I'm not even kidding. No one should be that happy and upbeat."
"Christ on a cracker, Rowan! He wasn't that bad!" Angie hissed.
"I beg to differ. And of course, you'd feel differently. I saw you giving him your "come fuck me" look." Rowan said monotonously. She couldn't fight back the smirk when Angie's cheeks ignited scarlet as she smacked Rowan's arm.
They ended up sitting on the right hand side in the very back. Angie made Rowan take the back corner next to her. Soon other people, most dressed in an obvious 'tourist' fashion loaded up on the bus. The bus roared to life as the tour guide walked up, Rowan was pleased to see that it wasn't ticket booth dude. This guy was slightly heavy set with thick framed glasses.
"Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Eternal Darkness Tour!" The guide droned into a microphone, attempting to sound dramatic. There was an out of sync chorus of 'good afternoon'.
"My name is Stan and I will be your tour guide. Now let's get started on the tour of the departed."
The tour took them all over Los Angeles. They saw the site of Sal Mineo's murder, the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murder site and where River Phoenix OD-ed. They even saw the Helter Skelter murder site.
Rowan looked like she was on cloud nine. She listened so attentively and soaked in all of the information, occasionally taking pictures with her phone. At one point Angie leaned in and said, "Isn't this sort of creepy and depressing?"
Rowan looked as though she were sucking on a lemon when she turned toward her aunt. "Of course it's creepy, that's why it's awesome! I guess it's depressing. I find it more interesting than sad."
They turned their attention back toward the tour. Soon they were driving through the old "Billionaire Block" when they stopped at a very familiar Victorian mansion. Angie and Rowan stared at the home with entirely different expressions. Angie looked crestfallen and ill, her mouth agape; Rowan eyes brightened with excitement, wearing the smuggest smirk imaginable as Stan began to speak.
"And here is our most popular destination on the tour, 'The Murder House'!"
Angie frantically began to ask Rowan, "Oh Jesus, is tha-"
"Oh yeah" Rowan answered happily, cutting her off. They listened to the decades worth of unfortunate events and untimely demises of all the previous owners.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Angie snapped in a shrill whisper. Angie wasn't one to believe in the supernatural but she also wasn't thrilled with the fact that the house that she was planning to purchase was a destination on a guided tour of death and despair. She remained optimistic though. If the house had a decent kitchen and a claw foot tub, she would happily wave at the tourists daily. She also knew that it would be damn near impossible to dissuade Rowan at this point.
Rowan's grin grew ever wider as she said "Fantastic." This was everything she ever could have asked for in a house. All of the tragedies and gory details of the house just gave it an even more distinguished character in her opinion.
The tour concluded with the murder locations of The Hillside Strangler, Marvin Gaye's murder and finally the Menendez family. Soon, they found themselves pulling back into the warehouse parking lot. Stan concluded the tour with a generic 'thank you' before climbing off the bus rushing back into the building. Everyone slowly made their way off to the bus and towards their cars. Well everyone but Rowan and Angie.
Much to her annoyance, she found herself being pulled into the building by her aunt. She wore a scowl as she saw the overly cheerful ticket booth dude beaming at her and Angie.
"It's lovely to see you again, Ms. Grimsley. How did you like the tour?" The man spoke in a husky tone that made Angie blush lightly. Rowan stood there awkwardly, getting increasingly uncomfortable as she watched her aunt try to score.
Angie leaned forward against the ticket booth counter making her cleavage more prominent. "Oh we loved it! Please, you can call me Angie. And you are?"
"Hey there Angie, I'm Wayne." He wore a cocky grin as he eyed Angie up and down. He puffed out his chest slightly to appear more muscular.
Rowan couldn't help but snort and roll her eyes at their exchange. This caught their attention, as they both shot her irritated glares.
"Can I get the key, so I can go wait in the car?" Rowan questioned monotonously. Angie frantically snatched the keys out of her purse and tossed them to Rowan before turning her attention back to Wayne. Rowan couldn't resist the opportunity to embarrass Angie further.
"Alright, I'm going to the car so I can quit cock blocking this dude. Party on Wayne!" She walked away with a victorious smile as she saw Angie flush, with her eyes shut in humiliation.
Once out in the car, she only had to wait about ten minutes before Angie came strutting out. She got into the car and lightly smacked the back of her niece's head. "Thanks for almost ruining that for me!"
"Well the key word is almost, so you really have no right to be mad" Rowan argued. She arched her brow as she asked, "So when are you guys going out then?"
Angie scoffed before blushing as she mumbled, "Tomorrow night."
Rowan's face flashed with the rage that she was desperately trying to fight back. If they got the house, which was the intention, that would mean that she would be doing the vast majority of the unpacking by herself. She decided to just ignore that for now, instead focusing on the appointment with the realtor. She forced a smile and a nod as they pulled out onto the road. The whole way to the house, Angie gushed about Wayne. Rowan sat there quietly, pretending to pay attention but knowing that this wasn't a conversation that she really needed to participate in other than the occasional 'yeah'.
When they pulled up to the Victorian mansion, there was a gold Prius parked right in front. They got out and walked to the door, taking in every detail of the landscape and exterior of the house. Angie knocked three times on the massive front door. They heard scurrying inside before the door was opened by a middleaged woman clad in a sea-green power suit. The frosted highlights in her hair made it obvious that she was clinging to the last shreds of youth.
"Welcome! You must be Evangeline Grimsley, I am Marcy, the agent you spoke with a couple weeks ago." Her came across as very rehearsed as she mustered up her best "customer service" smile.
No one had mastered that smile or tone better than Angie. "Nice to meet you, Marcy. Please call me Angie! And this is my n-"
She was cut off by Marcy. "I just want to say I think it's great that you're raising your daughter without needing the assistance of a man, a deadbeat, I'm sure. It's why we burned our bras in the '60s you know."
Angie stood there for a moment in complete shock as Rowan grumbled, "Oh, Jesus Christ."
This was enough to call Angie back to reality. She tried to keep her tone friendly but there was definitely an undertone of irritation as she said, "Well actually, this is my niece, Rowan but I am glad you sacrificed so many of your underwires so that you could make such assumptions."
Rowan started to laugh but quickly masked it with a cough as Angie shot her a death glare.
Marcy was completely oblivious and undeterred. "How nice of you to take in wayward teenagers. Let's start the tour, shall we?"
She motioned for them to follow her through the house. Rowan was still trying to fight back her laughter because Angie looked as though she were just slapped in the face.
"As you can see, it's a classic L.A. Victorian. It was built around 1920 by thedoctor to the stars at the time. Isn't it just fabulous?" She recited what was obviously a memorized rundown of the house. She gesticulated here and there. "These are genuine Tiffany fixtures."
Angie would 'ooh' and 'aah' in a bored tone when appropriate but it was easy to see that the further they ventured into the house, the more she loved it. Rowan knew that they were a claw foot tub away from moving in within the hour. As they rounded the corner, they entered the eat-in kitchen. Angie's eyes lit up with delight.
"And here is the kitchen, isn't it simply wonderful? Marble counter tops, stainless steel appliances, even a pasta arm!" Marcy as she motioned around the room.
Rowan took this opportunity to slink out of sight. She wanted to explore the house on her own without listen to Marcy blather on, sticking her foot in her mouth continuously. She giggled to herself as she thought of Angie's reactions.
She was in awe of the architecture and amazing craftsmanship of the home. It did have a strange vibe to it but she found it comforting.
As Rowan made her way up the staircase, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she went on high alert. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched; she could feel the eyes shooting her a piercing gaze. She would occasionally stop and look for the source that was causing the feeling, never finding anything. Her heart raced with adrenaline and excitement. She slowly ambled down the hall peeking into each room. She noted that the bathroom did indeed have a claw foot tub.
The scopaesthesia intensified the further she explored the second story. She walked into one bedroom, that contained nothing but a small chalkboard. She quirked a brow at such a random object being left behind but shrugged it off. When she turned to leave, she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye, watching her every move. She stopped dead in her tracks as she tried to make out details with her peripheral vision. It seemed to be male, a few inches taller than her, with light shaggy hair. The figure took a step towards her. She spun on her heel to face the person head on but as she did so, he seemed to disappear. She furrowed her brow in confusion as she chewed on her bottom lip.
"What the fuck? Jesus, Rowan get a grip. Your mind's just playing tricks on you." She muttered quietly to herself. She flipped around and hurried out of the room. Her feet were carrying her as fast as she could go at a walking pace to avoid unnecessary worry from her aunt. She savored the feeling of fear, finding it an exhilarating experience. She rushed down the stairs, skipping a couple here and there until she was in the foyer.
She was about to go find Angie and Marcy when a series of popping noises surrounded her. She jumped and spun around trying to find the source. There wasn't anything. It sounded like pop-its that kids play with around the fourth of July. Still on edge, she tried to shrug it off as she continued on her way. She found Angie and Marcy in the backyard sitting at the gazebo, talking. She walked over as Angie was making an offer.
"Honestly, this house is just perfect for us. I don't even need to see the second story, which I'm sure that is where my niece has disappeared to. I am willing to pay full listing price, I am just curious as to why you haven't once mentioned anything about the sordid history of the property." Angie eyes burned with curiosity as Marcy visibly paled.
"How did you kn-"
"We went on that tour before we came here." Angie answered before Marcy could finish her question.
She puffed a heavy sigh before she meekly answered. "Well the law only states that I have to disclose that particular information if it's happened within the last three years...And well it's not like that's a great selling point is it? Making that sort of information known on a listing is only going to attract weirdos."
Rowan chose this moment to chime in. "We are the weirdos, lady."
"Oh there you are Ro!" Angie exclaimed, amusement thickening her voice as she noted the aghast look on Marcy's worn features.
"So are we getting it then?" Rowan asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Yes, Ro. We're headed to the realty office to sign paperwork now." Angie squealed with excitement.
Rowan just smiled and looked up at the house.
"I'll go wait in the car then" was all she said before disappearing from view.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I would like to once again thank CohanLove0106 for all of her help and support.