a/n — I watched American Horror Story: Murder House (as I said I seriously had this based off of The Simpsons). That shit is awesome.
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Her bed creaks as she pounces on it. She has had an emotionally and physically (that school may look small but once you're lost you are lost) exhausting day and could really do with a massage right about now.
She lets out a long sigh and pulls a pillow over her head. She misses her cold, detached mother.
"Caroline." A soft voice echoes near her ear.
"Hmm?"
"Look out." She furrows her eyebrows and sits up.
"Wha—" She screams as an arrow lodges itself into the pillow she just had over her head.
...What the fuck?
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"—and it just came out of freaking nowhere! A motherfucking arrow, dad! Made of actual wood! And it is beyond unsafe to have a child on their own in this side of the house— you said you didn't even hear me scream! And I was loud, trust—"
"Caroline."
"What?" She watches him shake his head and crinkle his forehead clearly worried.
"There's no arrow here."
She gapes at the pillow in perfect condition. "But it—it was right there!"
He sighs and rubs a hand along his face. "Caroline, you're under a lot of stress—"
"I didn't imagine it, dad!" Her eyes start to water and her heart is still racing. She saw it. It was there.
"Maybe it was a ghost arrow." Caroline's eyes narrow as she turns around to see Scarlet in the doorway. Then her eyes widen and she lets a gasp.
"Oh my god! The ghosts in our house are trying to kill me!" She slaps her hands over her cheeks and starts hyperventilating.
"Oh for good— Scarlet, she's crazy enough leave her alone. Go read, I can only deal with one of you right now." Scarlet shrugs and leaves. "Carebear," he pulls her hands away from her face. "Breathe." She starts taking deep breaths. "There are no ghosts in this house, especially not the ghost of Robin Hood." Caroline laughs softly and shakes the idea out of her head. "Now, do you want a sandwich?"
"Cheese, please."
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"Obviously they tried to kill you." Katherine rolls her eyes. Caroline blinks at her and closes her locker.
"Obviously?"
Katherine gives her a look. "Well, duh. They're angry victims who were murdered. They're going to want revenge!"
Caroline tilts her head and hums in agreement. "Oh." They start to walk down the packed hallway, Katherine's heals click-clacking. "Do they think I killed them?"
Katherine makes a noise as if considering it. "I don't know, maybe."
A few more clicks later Caroline speaks again. "How do I tell them that I didn't?" Katherine shrugs. "Helpful." Caroline teases, eyeing a spot on the grass for them to sit. It's an oddly sunny day— considering the weather reported storms approaching.
"Oh! We should have a seance!"
Caroline doesn't think it's a terrible idea— then.
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"Do we have to turn out the lights?" Caroline picks at her nail polish nervously. Katherine smirks at her before flicking the switch.
"We have candles, you'll be able to see." Katherine sits down across from Caroline. A circle of candles lay in the middle.
"Yeah, it's just creepy. I mean, I was almost murdered here yesterday."
"Oh, yeah." Katherine frowns and then shrugs, holding out her hands for Caroline to take. Caroline sighs and joins hands with her. "How did you sleep then?"
"Not very well." Caroline flushes. "And in a different bed with a dad at each hip." Katherine sniggers at her and Caroline smiles sheepishly.
"Alright, here we go." Caroline nods and Katherine raises her eyebrows and shakes her head expectantly.
"What?" Caroline furrows her eyebrows.
Katherine sighs dramatically. "Amateur."
Caroline tilts her head and give her a mocking look. "Because you're such an expert at seances."
Katherine grins. "Well, I know more than you do." Katherine then takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Caroline shuts her eyes quickly. "Spirits in Caroline's room, we call upon you!" Katherine groans as Caroline bursts into laughter. "Shut up!" Caroline grins at her then they both close their eyes again. "Spirits of the Mikaelson family, you have suffered a great loss and we wish to help you!"
"Did you steal this from Charmed or something?"
"Don't pay attention to the annoying interrupting blonde, spirits! We are here to help you pass on to the after life." Silence befalls the room. Caroline opens one eye then sighs and relaxes her shoulders in defeat.
"I think they know we don't have a golden ticket." Katherine opens her eyes to glare at Caroline but instead her face pales and she screams. Caroline jumps in shock.
"Katherine! Katherine! What's wrong?" Caroline tries to soothe her but she keeps screaming. "Katherine!"
"BEHIND YOU!" Caroline whips around but is faced only with the blackness of the room. She runs over to the light switch and flicks it on. She turns back to a shaking Katherine.
"Katherine?" Caroline whispers softly, edging closer to the brunette.
"It was a—it was a monster!" She whispers, pulling herself to her feet using the end bedpost. "It looked like it was about to—" She snaps her head up to Caroline. "I have to get out of here."
"Yeah, yeah." Caroline opens the door and wraps an arm around Katherine's shoulders. "Of course." She glances back once more at the room before closing the door.
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Katherine doesn't come to school the next day.
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"Dad?" Bill puts his newspaper down and looks at his daughter. "Um, I was wondering if you knew the legend behind this house?"
He sighs. "Carebear, there's no ghosts out to kill you."
She shakes her head rapidly. "Yeah, no, I— I have a report for school on it. They thought the subject was close to home." She laughs quietly at her pun.
He studies her for a few seconds before nodding. "All right. Ah, well there was a family—"
"I know the basics but I was wondering about particular details or facts. Like, what the, ah, what the spell did to them— the Mikaelsons, was it? Like, how it affected their physical appearance for example."
"Well, in the story the neighbours report the bodies grey in colour with their veins oddly noticeable. Ah, although the fire burnt most of the body the neighbours made sure that they were dead by staking them to the ground—"
"What? Like staking a vampire?"
"Yeah, some of the neighbours had gone missing days previous and a high positioned woman in the village had a theory that the dead had risen and was sucking the lives out of the villagers because they wanted revenge. So she had them stake the bodies into the ground."
"But why weren't the bodies buried?"
"Because of the father of the family being the previous leader of this village they made their graves inside their own cottage out of respect, him having built the cottage using his own hands."
"So they staked them to the floorboards?"
Bill laughs. "They didn't have floorboards back then, Carebear."
"But, technically, they staked them here. They staked them to our floorboards."
"I suppose you could think of it like that." He smiles softly at her. "But it's only folklore, Caroline." She nods quickly. "Is there anything else?"
"Oh, no, that's— that was helpful, thank you." She gets off of the couch and walks back toward the staircase. After climbing all the steps she heads toward their library to look for a book on how to banish a spirit— heck, she'll take transporting it to the future for someone else to deal with. But, the thing that's bothering her the most is that it's not just a spirit. It's an entire pissed off family, and they've already tried to kill her.
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