CHAPTER 2
Without sleep, school, and eating, days drug on forever. Nights were long, dark expanses of sitting around in the dark, all thoughts of sleep and rest eluding her. She wandered the halls, lost in memories of her life before. Life before death- life in Boston, a life of not-quite-fitting in with her peers, books and tests, parental discord. She got lost in memories of life in the House- avoiding her parents and learning more about the place's dark past. Worse still were the memories of Tate; the time they spent exploring, talking, laughing and whiling away the hours. Violet shifted in between extreme boredom and a life of monotony to a life of suppression and losing herself in the day to day in a vain effort to distract herself from her past.
Viven watched her daughter as she rocked tiny baby Jonah. She felt happy. She'd been lucky enough to get her entire family back in one piece, and she wasn't about to discount how much they'd suffered and been through to get to this point. This hadn't eased her worries about Violet, though. The teenager seemed so happy at first, but grew to be more sullen and withdrawn, just as she had been before her death years ago. Vivien had a lot of theories as to why this was, but the one that seemed to keep bouncing around in her mind was Tate. Tate, the sick and possibly sociopath killer and her own rapist, indirectly responsible for Viven's own death. It gave her a shiver to think about her daughter entwined with someone who was so dark for eternity.
Vivien tried to snap out of this negative downward spiral. Although, she did rationalize, her own partner for eternity wasn't a paragon of virtue by any means. She'd been able to forgive his many trespasses, hadn't she? Gently placing Jonah down in his bassinet, Viven decided she must be the catalyst in Violet's life. The young teen had spent so much time alone and without much guidance, the least she could do was try to understand where Violet had been before she chose to end her own life.
Viven slowly descended the stairs into the basement. Even dead, she couldn't shake the feeling of doubt and foreboding the basement gave her. The lights flickered, as though to reinforce her doubt. "Tate?" she asked quietly, knowing he must be here.
Only quiet called back to her. "Tate, I need to talk to you." a pause. "It's about Violet."
The young man rounded the corner. He didn't meet her eyes. "Is she okay?"
Vivien felt nervous; torn between righteous indignation and heartfelt sympathy for this boy who was so obviously alone. "I think that depends on how you would define okay, Tate. She was broken. By you." Viven glared at him pointedly.
Tate's face crumpled, and his eyes glazed with tears. "I know that. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I hurt her." His dark eyes finally met her own. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you and your family. I used to think that the people who moved here, moved into my house were expendable, but Violet made me realize that the people here were just like her." He seemed to consider this for a moment.
"Or at least, people worthy of consideration. I kept removing myself from society, but after I met her and started to think about people as more like Violet, more like myself-" Tate's voice caught in his throat like a sob.
"Stop. Please." Vivien said forcefully, unwilling to hear a darkened soul's confession. "I can't be your confessional. I came here for one reason, and that was to tell you exactly what I think of you so that my daughter can feel free to make her own choices." Tate's brows knit together.
He looked like any other teenager about to succumb to his girlfriend's mother- worried, nervous, and anxious to please. "I don't know when your life went wrong. I can't think of one event, no matter how terrible that excuses what you did to the people in your life, in this house, to me. It is utterly unforgivable." She was interrupted by a choked sob.
"I can't live like that. Or, not live-" she looked thoughtful. "I am not really used to this being dead thing, after all this time. What I want you to know is that I'm letting that all go, right now, today. I am not ready to be friendly with you, or even to see you hanging around Violet, but I am not going to be one of those negative things I imagine must be weighing on you every day for the rest of- I don't know, time, I guess. I'm going to try to forgive you, Tate, and more than that, I want to forget." Viven stared at the boy, who had a very startled look in his tear-filled eyes.
"I can't promise you anything. Violet is her own person and she's remarkably mature about some things, but after how much betrayal she's had to deal with, I just can't say what she'll do. Don't you dare mess this up- I won't advise her or put in a good word for you. Don't push her, don't expect too much too soon. Good luck, Tate." Viven turned to go back up the stairs, but looked back over her shoulder after a moment of hesitation.
"You deserve some kind of peace, too. I hope you know that." Tate just stared at her, but as she reached the top of the stairs, she heard him sag to the floor, crying.
