5

Chapter One

"And if there's something wrong, who would have guessed it?"

- Three Days Grace "Never Too Late"

My name is Tate, Tate Langdon. I was shot and killed in 1994 after I set my mother's current boyfriend on fire and killed fifteen students at my high-school. Because I was killed in that house, I have to stay here forever.

It's not so bad, really. I have all I need. Primarily, there's Violet, the love of my life. Yes, we came into a problem in our relationship, and yes it was my own damn fault, but I have all eternity to wait for her to forgive me. I also have my family. The sacred bond that ties people together can only be found in what runs through everyone's veins; blood. If you share blood with someone, there's no way you can betray them.

My dad lives in the house, the person who calls herself my mother killed him after she caught him in the act, doing it with the maid. She killed the maid, too. She told us he left. I actually believed that the man had left us with her. I hated him for years, I really should have been hating her.

I had three siblings. Only one resides with me. Beauregard prefers to stay in the attic, that's where he spent most of his life anyway. My sister Addie was hit by a car right out front. My whore of a mother tried to drag her in here, but she died just before she entered. She's not here anymore.

We're the only three my mom counts as her children. In her eyes, I'm the oldest, followed by Beau and then Addie. But there was one more. I was not her first child. I do, in fact, have an older brother. His name was Daniel. My mom hated him more than all of us put together, she thought he was a disgrace.

He did do horrible things, I'm not going to deny it. Still, I looked up to him. Everything he did, everything was done excellently. I wished I could have been like him. I wish he could have lived with me and everyone else. I wish Addie could have come too, but if I had to choose one or the other, I'd definitely choose Daniel. I'd love to talk to him again.

He ended up committing suicide in 1991, when I was thirteen. He jumped off a cliff and fell to his death. It must have been painful.

But anyway, it's an interesting story. Very interesting indeed.

. ^ . ^ .

June of 1990

He knocked on the door, and heard the rushing of the people inside, waiting to greet him. The door opened, and there stood his twelve year old kid-brother, Tate. Tate looked up at him with a smile. The man chuckled and took off his helmet, tossing it back to the vicinity of his motorcycle. He ran a hand through his white hair.

"Dan!" Tate said happily.

"Hey, little man," Daniel said.

Tate opened the door a bit more. "I didn't think you'd be coming back."

The man entered the house and kicked off his boots. "Of course I'll come back," he said. "This is my home." He looked around, making sure his eyes landed on everything, as if looking for a happy memory which was nowhere to be found.

"What are you doing here?!" came a woman's voice. Daniel spun around. As expected, there she stood. She looked the same, if not slightly older. She held a cigarette in her hand and anger in her eyes.

He moved towards her with a charming smile on his face. "Hi, Ma. How have you been?"

She sighed. "Tate, go upstairs." Tate stayed, and was about to object before his mother yelled "Go!" which he obeyed. When she was sure that Tate was out of earshot, she asked "Do you expect me to just forgive you?"

"No," he said. "But I do expect you to give me another chance. It was one mistake, Ma. I fucked up but I promise I won't do it again. You're my mother; you're supposed to love me."

They stood across from each other in silence. Constance analyzed her son. There he stood, taller than before, yet still carrying around that detectable pride. She was glad that of any possible things he could have learned from her, it was that. He had his pride, but in his eyes she could see fear.

She sighed. "If you're going to be staying here, drop that language." He smiled. "Don't make me regret this," she said.

"I won't, you'll get no problems out of me," he promised.

"You remember where your room is?" she asked. "I haven't touched it."

He bounded up the stairs, seeming just like a child again. Constance nearly forgot that he was twenty years old, time had been playing tricks on her. Plus, he still had that childlike demeanor, he always would in her eyes.

When he opened the door to his room, he found Tate sitting on his bed. "Are you staying?" the boy asked.

"Of course, bro!" Daniel said with a smile.

"I was afraid she'd scare you away," the younger said, only half joking.

Daniel messed up Tate's hair. "If anyone is going to scare me away, it'll be you little man. Now I've got some serious competition. Do me a favor and try not to steal all the ladies, hm?"

Tate laughed. "So where did you go?!" he asked. "It's been since December."

"Has it really been that long?" Daniel wondered silently. "What happened to me? Why did I fuck myself up so much?" Instead of voicing these thoughts aloud, he put a smile on his face and said "East coast, baby! I stayed mainly in New Jersey."

"What was it like?"

"Oh, man. It was beautiful. I got myself this little cabin on the beach, really cheap. When I left, I rented it out to some friends. But anyway, it's beautiful. I wish we had grown up there."

"I wish I could see it," Tate said.

"One day, I'll take you there," Daniel promised.

"Really?"

"I swear it. Oh! I brought gifts!" he said with a huge smile. He stood up and went up to the attic. Tate followed behind, silently. "Beau! I'm back!" Daniel called.

Beauregard slowly emerged from the shadows. Daniel hated that his mother kept him locked up in there, but he couldn't point it out the first day he got back. "Can I get a hug?" Daniel asked with a smile. He walked up to his younger brother and wrapped his arms around him. "I brought you a present."

"Play?" Beau asked.

"Ready?" Daniel removed a small item out of his jacket pocket. It was in a large white box. He handed it to his brother, who opened it quickly. Inside was a red ball.

"Play!"

Daniel laughed. He took the ball, moved backwards, and rolled it to Beauregard, who rolled it back in return. They continued this exchange for a while until Daniel said, "Well, sorry Beau. I have to go, I have to visit Addie. But I promise I'll come visit you later, alright?" He rolled the ball one last time, and Beau held on to it.

Daniel smiled at him and went back down, this time to Addie. Tate was still following him, but by this time he had forgotten all about Tate, he didn't even know he was there.

He knocked on the door to Addie's room before opening it. A little girl was sitting on her bed, all alone. When she saw him, her entire face lit up. "Danny!" she said happily. She ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"Whoa, who are you?!" he asked. "I'm looking for a little girl, not this beautiful young woman."

She smiled, "You know it's me, silly."

He knelt down to her height. "I brought you a gift," he said.

She gasped with excitement. "Really?!"

"Yep. Close your eyes." She did so as he put something on her head. It was a pink headband, with a bow on the right edge. "Open them and look in the mirror," he said. His sister did so with a smile. "You look like a princess."

"Thank you, Daniel." The smile on Addie's face didn't vanish.

He walked back to his room, with Tate following behind him. "Don't think I forgot you, little man." Tate tried to hide his excitement. "Come here." Daniel said.

He took a necklace off of his neck and put it onto Tate. On it was what is called a Horn of Odin. "What is it?" asked Tate.

"It's a symbol of Asatru," Daniel said. "It's a Nordic religion. Listen, Tate. I don't know if you're into any of this stuff, but this belief says that there are nine virtues which, if you practice them, you'll get into heaven. I want you to live by those virtues."

"What are they?"

Daniel recited a list out of memory. "Last thing I have to say, Dad gave this to me." Tate tensed up at the mention of their father. "He gave it to me when I was thirteen, he figured I had become a man. I want to give it to you, in the hopes that you'll be even better a man than I am."

"Thank you," the younger said.

"You don't have to thank me," he said. "But let's get some food, I'm starving!"

. ^ . ^ .

Daniel was glad that he had gotten the gift of a happy homecoming. He did love them, despite whatever it was his mother thought. He wondered what she had told them. He hoped she had just ignored the subject, and considering everyone's reactions to his return, it seemed like it had been so.

That night, he couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about everything. His siblings, his parents, all the changes that were just occurring so rapidly. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't do anything. Tate was getting older, nothing else would be the same.

He sat up and reached into his bag. He hated to resort to this again. He had tried so hard to get better. But he couldn't. He needed to do this. Without it, Daniel wouldn't be Daniel, his world would cease to spin. There was only one thing he could do to get himself to sleep, and so he did it.

AN: Thank you for reading. I just would like to point out a few things in this story. Primarily, I know that Addie is supposed to be older than Tate, but for the better of this story, I made him older. It will piece itself together by the end, and it is a fanfiction, so I can do that. I always sort of pictured Addie as the youngest child anyway. Constance's last ray of sunshine, I guess. Anyway, hope that's not too drastic a change. I know that this chapter probably wasn't the greatest, but it's only the beginning. Hopefully you enjoyed it, but hopefully you'll like the later chapters even more. Please take a few minutes to review. Again, thank you, have a wonderful day.