AUTHOR'S NOTE: Kind of fast-paced so keep up, will ya? :)
Two years. Two long years since Ben Harmon had buried his wife and son, fleeing the house and all it's inhabitants. Yes, the ghost of his daughter, Violet, still occupied her bedroom but Ben couldn't find it in him to forgive his daughter for taking her life. She kept saying "it was an accident" and that she "didn't mean to kill herself," but how could he believe her when she deliberately swallowed all those pills?
Immediately after the burial of Vivian with the newborn baby in the same coffin, he made sure that their souls weren't trapped in the house with all it's darkness, and left. He packed up his only living son, even though he knew he wasn't the biological father, and headed for any other state that would grant him a fresh start on life.
After the departure of her father, Violet was often found in the same bathtub where she died, her body wracking with sobs because she was so lonely. If she had known that the afterlife consisted of this much sadness and darkness, she would've never swallowed those pills. Her only comfort came in the form of Moira. The elderly house-maid was constantly pulling Violet from the bathtub and tucking her into her own bed since Ben had left all the furniture in the house. Moira was the only ghost that Violet let herself see. Any other ghost, she either didn't pay attention to them or like Tate, she sent them away. Even after all this time she never forgave Tate for what he did. She could have forgiven him for the murders he had done before he met her but when he pulled her Mother into the mess, that was crossing the line.
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It was now two years and three months that the house stood empty, the 'For Sale' sign hanging in it's rightful place for everyone to see.
Violet Harmon laid on her back, legs hanging over the side of the bed as she stared up at the ceiling kicking her feet back and forth. The darkness of the house seemed to pulse all around her in excitement as if it knew something that no-one else knew. She fought off the chills that it still gave her and sat up as she heard the iron gates creak open from in front of the house.
Walking over to the window, Violet peered down through the glass and watched as a moving van came to a stop in front. After the engine seemed to have cut off, both doors opened up and out stepped an older man who appeared to be in his late 50's. Out from the other door was a boy who appeared to be around Violet's age. She was watching the boy as he walked through the already opened gates of the house and climbed up, taking down the 'For Sale' sign when realization settled in.
The house was welcoming it's new owners.
A few seconds later, a black jeep rolled to a stop behind the moving van, revealing an older lady. The mother stepped out and walked over to where her husband and son stood. The father wrapped one arm around his wife, the other around his son, and all three of them smiled up at their new home.
"What a perfectly happy family." Violet mumbled to herself. "Too bad this house will ruin them."
The family moved to the back of the van and prepared themselves to start unpacking. Violet sighed, resting her forehead on the window pane and watched as the boy moved about. She smiled to herself as she took in his black and white converse shoes up to his black skinny jeans. His white v-neck shirt fit snug against his frame, the black and white plaid over shirt openly flowing behind him as the wind blew. She found herself silently giggling as the family below laughed at some joke one of them told and smiled even wider when she found the boy smiling. His straight black hair hung just below his ears and a mess of bangs swooped across his forehead.
Violet suddenly pushed herself away from the window and groaned to herself. She found the boy attractive.
After a few seconds of composing herself and coming to the conclusion that she wouldn't show herself to him like Tate showed himself to her, she peered back down through the window. Being as she was too caught up in her thoughts of the new family, she never noticed Constance had walked across the street to greet the new family. She figured that Constance was welcoming them seeing as they were all smiling and nodding their heads to whatever she was saying.
When Constance was saying her goodbye, she just happened to look up and lock eyes with Violet. She winked at her and quickly turned around, going back to her own house.
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Tate paced back and forth in the darkened basement, fists clenched. A new family was moving in. A new family with a son. A son that, by the looks of it, Violet found attractive. Yes, it was common knowledge among the ghosts of the house that Violet sent Tate away, but that didn't mean he couldn't drop in on her whenever he wanted. She was keeping herself from seeing him and communicating with him, but that didn't mean that he cut himself off from her. It was some sick way the house worked. He was allowed to see, but not touch or speak.
It was hell for him.
He got nearer and nearer to the small table that Larry's little girls used for tea time and kicked it, sending it flying across the basement.
A low, dark chuckle escaped from the corner of the basement and Chad emerged from the shadows. "Afraid of a little competition, are we?"
"Shut. The fuck. Up." Tate seethed, glaring in Chad's direction. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course I do, you silly boy." Chad drawled. "It's all that everyone can talk about in the other room. There seems to be a happy aura coming off our little Violet now and what a coincidence that it happened as soon as the saw the new owner's son. Such a handsome young man. No wonder Violet is attracted to him."
Without missing a beat from his pacing, Tate picked up on of the tiny chairs from the tea table and chucked it at Chad, only to have him side-step it. "Get the fuck outta here, you homo."
"Touchy, touchy." He smirked. "If you really are worried about losing your love to a living being, there's only one thing to do." He nodded his head in the direction of the box that Tate hid the rubber suit in.
Tate's eyes followed his gaze and he quickly shook his head. "No. No, I stopped doing that." He returned his angered gaze back to Chad. "And besides, even if I did go through with it, his soul would be stuck here. How is that helpful for me?"
Chad smirked as he walked closer to Tate. He had him right where he wanted him. "You have a Mother who adores Violet and who can freely walk from place to place without being stuck like us. All you have to do is get him on the brink of death and have your Mother drive him some place and dump him. Let him die in a ditch and Ta-Da! Competition eliminated."
Tate mulled over the idea in his head and tried to determine if it was worth it or not. The image of Violet's naked form appeared in his head from their first time together and he evilly smirked.
Definitely worth it.
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Two weeks. Barely two weeks in and the damn house was already working its dark magic on the happy family. Violet and Nora were constantly working around the clock trying to keep the other ghosts in line. Violet thought that Moira would've been on their side, but one look at the husband and she knew what he was seeing. He was seeing the same thing her dad saw before he figured out the house. Instead of seeing the elderly house-maid that she always knew, he and his son saw the slutty younger version of her. The father was always extra chipper around the maid, but the son seemed to have not taken a liking to her. Most of the ghosts thought he was gay, but Violet knew better. Seeing as he chose Violet's old bedroom to sleep in, she was constantly around when he pulled up porn on his laptop and relieved himself in her old bed. Violet was never one who enjoyed that type of thing so she always gave him his privacy, but she knew for a fact that he was not gay. He just didn't like the maid.
Over the time that Violet spent watching the family, she found out that the boy's name was Elliot.
Five weeks in and he still hadn't made any friends. He was a loner just like she was when she was alive. He spent most of his time locked up in his room seeing as that's the only place that he felt safe in. Any other place in the house and he felt like he was being watched by something or someone.
It was today that Violet caved in to her loneliness and decided to show herself to Elliot. Only this time, she wouldn't make him fall in love with her like Take made her fall in love with him. All she wanted now was a friend. It was just a bonus that this chosen friend was very attractive.
Gathering up all her courage, Violet found herself standing before the front door and ringing the doorbell. She made sure that the day she showed herself, Elliot would be alone. She didn't enjoy her parents very much so why would she want to put up with his?
A minute later, Violet rang the doorbell again and waited. It only took a few seconds before she heard footsteps running down the stairs and stopping right behind the door.
Elliot opened the door, panting. His eyes seemed to have slowly moved up along Violet's body before stopping on her face. "Hey." He greeted. "Can I help you with something?"
"Actually.." Violet hesitated. Her mind raced for an excuse to try and feed the boy to get him to invite her in. "I, um, well I was just driving through town and decided I'd stop by my old house." She smoothly lied. "This place holds a lot of memories and I just wanted to see how it was holding up." She continued. "I didn't know a new family bought it though so I'm sorry to have bothered you."
She slowly started to back away from the door when his voice stopped her. "Wait!" Violet internally cheered and spun back around. "What were you going to do if I hadn't answered the door?" He smirked, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning against the door frame. "Would you have broken in?"
"Well now that you mention it.." She spoke. "Yeah, I would have. When I used to live here, the little girl that lived across the street was constantly breaking in. I'm sure I could've found my way in sooner or later."
The smirk left Elliot's lip as he peered over across the street. "She doesn't still live there, does she? That'd be kind of creepy to find her lurking around."
Violet suddenly found her shoes very interesting as her mood turned sad yet again. "Addy died a couple of years ago. Terrible hit and run accident on Halloween." She awkwardly added.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Elliot cleared his throat. "Would you like a tour of the house?"
Violet lifted her head up and smiled at Elliot. "Sure."
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Tate was pissed yet again. Not only had Violet showed herself to Elliot, but now Elliot seemed to have taken a liking to her as well. No-one could miss the bright smile the young man wore as he gave Violet a tour of her old house and especially when he found out he was settled in her old bedroom.
Tate had been too angry with Violet to be following her around like he usually did. Instead, he found himself in the study where Violet's dad used to hold his therapy sessions. Instead of sulking in the dark basement of the house, Tate sat in silence as he stared out the window and plotted his move against Elliot.
The shuffling of feet against the hardwood floor brought Tate out of his trance and he peered over his shoulder to see who had disturbed him. Elliot walked in with his sketchbook in hand and made himself comfortable on the couch that was in the room. Tate glanced around the room to see if Violet had followed him, but no-one else was there.
It was just Tate and Elliot. In the same room alone. No Violet.
It was the perfect time to put his plan into motion. Elliot would be out of the picture very soon.
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Tate Langdon waited, what seemed to him as an eternity, for Elliot to fall asleep. It seemed that luck was on his side when Elliot fell asleep in the study instead of his own bedroom.
This would be easier than he thought.
He paced the study room in his rubber man suit and thought about how he'd go about his plan without the noise of a struggle taking place. After all, he didn't want to alert Violet to his masterful plan of taking out her boy-toy.
Elliot shifted on the couch and one of the couch pillows fell to the floor. Tate stared at the plump pillow laying on the floor and smirked to himself behind his mask. Too easy. Walking over to the couch pillow and picking it up, Tate glanced back and forth between the sleeping boy and the pillow. He'd smother him in his sleep and right before he passes out, he'd beat him until the brink of death and then get Constance to take him somewhere to die. It looked like he'd get out some of his anger on the boy after all.
Just as Tate was leaning down to place to pillow over Elliot's face, a female's voice made him freeze. "She'll never forgive you, you know?" Tate straightened up and searched around the room for the source of the voice. "She still blames you for killing her Mom. Can you imagine how much longer it will take for her to forgive you for taking away her only source of happiness at the moment?"
Tate zeroed in on the location of the voice and letting the pillow fall back to the floor, he reached up and tore off his mask. "Why do you care? Last time I checked you didn't like the Harmons all that much."
Hayden sheepishly grinned as she stepped out from the shadows. "I guess being alone put some things in perspective for me." She shrugged. "And plus, I'm a sucker for epic love stories."
Tate shifted his weight from foot to foot as Hayden walked towards him and stood next to Elliot's sleeping form. "This boy is nothing but a phase, Tate. If I've heard correctly from the other ghosts in the house, Violet gave herself to you. You were the girl's first, am I correct?"
Tate was staring at Hayden's profile before shifting his gaze down the rubber mask he still held within his grasp. "Yes."
Hayden smiled knowingly. "That type of love doesn't go away. She may hate you right now or whatever, but give the girl some time-"
"It's been over two years!" Tate cut her off. "How much longer can she hold it against me?"
"You raped her mother!" Hayden suddenly turned her attention to Tate, facing him. "That demon spawn you impregnated her with killed her. What did you expect? For everything to be sunshine and rainbows?"
"No." Tate sighed, tears forming in his eyes. "I just want her to at least talk to me. Tell me that there is a chance she will forgive me sooner or later." He pleaded.
"She will. Like I said, you were her first love. You hold a special place in her heart even thought she won't admit it." Hayden's smile came back out.
The two ghosts turned silent and stared back down at Elliot.
"Next time you're pissed off about something," Hayden broke the silence. "Don't listen to Chad. He'll do anything to ruin your time here with Violet. He is, after all, the person who sold you out to Violet in the first place."
Tate's head jerked towards Hayden's figure as she started to creep back into the shadows. "How did you know Chad talked to me?"
"I was in the basement when he talked to you." She admitted. "I was sitting behind one of the pillars when I overheard your conversation. When he mentioned that you try to off the competition, I knew that would have been a bad idea. The girl is against all violent nature. She would have taken even longer to forgive you if you set your plan into motion."
Tate looked down at his own body in the rubber suit and suddenly felt sick with himself. Hayden was right. "Thank you." He mumbled. When he got no sign of a reply, he looked up only to find that Hayden was already gone.
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One month had passed. One month since Hayden had talked Tate out of killing the owner's son in his sleep. Everyone around the house seemed less violent and the only ones working against the owners were the darkness that lurked in the basement, the slutty version of Moira, Chad, and Patrick. Everyone else didn't seem to be bothered by the owners and chose to ignore them. Including Violet. She only showed herself that once and disappeared from town.
Tate was lounging on one of the wooden crates in the basement when Hayden waltzed up to him. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a bright smile was lighting up her face. She placed a black card on his lap and started to back away, the smile never leaving her face. "You can thank me later." She said as she disappeared behind a pillar.
Confused, Tate picked up the card that was addressed to him, opened it up and began to read.
Tate, just thought that you should know that you passed the first test. I'm writing this to let you know that Elliot was never a problem for you. Sure the boy is attractive, but there's one thing that Elliot is not.
He's not you.
I gave you my heart, my trust, my everything, and you fucked it all up. As I mentioned before, you passed the test. As cruel as it sounds, Elliot was nothing more than a pawn in my scheme. When I heard that you were upset because I found him attractive, I knew I had to figure out a way to draw out your darkness and make you want to use it.
Luckily for you, I heard that a so-called angel stopped you from doing what you truly wanted to do and for that, I'm grateful. If you had killed Elliot, I don't know how much longer I would have held a grudge against you.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still very upset about your part in my Mother's death but this proves that there is something in you that's worth saving.
You are one step closer to earning my forgiveness.
Always, Violet.
Well, how was this? I know that Hayden is a crazy bitch, but sometimes I just felt bad for her so I decided to let her be good in this fic. This is only a ONE-SHOT, so don't expect any continuation from this. Sorry.
Leave a review and tell me your thoughts! :)