Vivian worried when she noticed Violet would come from school and go directly up to her room, Ben said it was only natural for her to want to find comfort in a place she could call her own.
Vivian didn't seem convinced, and so the next day she picked up Violet from school and decided to take her out.
"We can go to the park, or maybe watch a movie?" Vivian suggested with an eager smile.
"But the movie I wanted to watch isn't out until next week," Violet complained. It was still too early in the year for the good scary movies to come out, but she was still interested in the gore infested movie that she'd seen in the commercials a couple of days ago. Tate had told her it looked like a movie worth watching, and she was learning to trust his judgment.
Vivian was going to tell her about the age requirements for that movie, but decided not to. "Well how about we go to the mall and I'll buy you ice cream?"
Violet liked that idea, but she hoped they wouldn't take so long, she had a story she heard at school that she wanted to share with Tate.
Tate wandered around the house, tossing one of Violets plastic toys up and catching it repeatedly.
Moira walked up from behind him, snatching the toy from his hands and giving him a slight glare. "They should be here soon."
"They should be here by now," Tate replied, trying to sound casual. He sneaked a glance at the clock behind Moira and clenched his jaw slightly. Violet came out of school at two, it took her roughly ten minutes to come home when she took the school bus, but today, Vivian had gone out. Violet should have been home already.
"Go wait for Violet upstairs then, and take the toys with you," she scolded. "We don't need any more mess in this house, it's bad enough the woman scrubbed my wooden floors with that-"
Tate walked off before she could finish, taking the plastic toy with him. Violet had gave it to him the night before, "I got it in a happy meal once," she had said. "It's suppose to be a monster but it isn't scary- or bad. Almost like you," she grinned.
Tate hadn't let the toy out of his sight since, not even when the twins decided to taunt him for it.
He walked up the stairs, hoping that any minute now, Violet would come running through the door screaming, "Tate, Tate, Tate! Guess what happened at school today?"
He told himself he was eager for her to come because nobody in the damn house ever said anything new or interesting. Violet was always interesting.
He waited for Violet in her room- their room, because odd enough, she had chosen the same room he had all those years ago, before he was killed.
He looked around the room, almost seeing the blood splattered all over the walls. He could still hear the gun shots when he was alone and thoughtful.
Somehow, when Violet was here, all the blood and screaming disappeared. He couldn't see the men dressed in black, pointing the guns at him, or even his mother standing near the doorway, shrieking and pulling at her own hair in desperation.
Tate only saw the little girl in the small, worn out dresses. He saw her big smiles and the way her hair stood up in places they shouldn't be. All Tate heard was her giggles and her monster impressions.
It was nearly five when Tate finally heard the front door open. He heard the tiny footsteps running up the stairs before he heard her shouting. "Today was awesome," she said, throwing the door open.
In her hands, Violet held something small and square.
Tate didn't mention how lonely the house seemed without her shouting, and instead asked, "What's that?" He reached out to take the object from her hand, thinking it was going to be something that only excited an eight year old.
"My mom didn't want me to get it," she said, nearly jumping up and down.
It was a CD, he noted, and when he saw the cover, Tate laughed.
His laugh wasn't forced or even mean, it was a happy laugh, Violet knew, and so she asked, "Like it? Mom said she'll get me a stereo soon, but I could borrow dads CD player for now. Wanna listen to it?"
"God, Violet, you're the fu- " he stopped before he could say something he didn't want Violet to repeat. She had been doing that a lot lately, repeating phrases he'd said before, or copying the things he did. Tate wasn't going to lie, he loved it when she did. "You're the coolest eight year old ever."
He then reached down and pulled her into his arms. "I can't believe you got a Nirvana album, how did you even know I liked this?"
Violet looked even more pleased with herself, "You talk about Kurt," she paused and concentrated, "Co- Bane. I asked the man at the music store and he showed me this. He thought I was a cool eight year old too."
Tate hugged her and laughed again, "Kurt Cobain. I mentioned him like once Violet. How did you even remember that?"
Violet shrugged, "I remember almost everything you say."
Tate blinked, but then shook his head and put her back on her feet before messing with the top of her hair. "You're a cool kid Violet."