Evelyn lazily turned the pages of the book she had checked out of the school library as she laid on Violet's bed. The two girls had been inseparable since the 'incident' and neither wanted to be too far apart from each other for they feared that something might happen again. Violet was curled up on the bed, a few inches away from Evelyn's foot, fast asleep. Flipping the page, Evelyn glanced at the bird on the page before she turned the page. She didn't care that much about the book if she were being honest. Instead, she found the pictures to be soothing. They reminded her of a book her Mom once got her and Violet when they were younger that she would read to them. It was a story about a beautiful bird that lost its way when her family was migrating. She was scared and alone, but in the end, she found her family.

"I like birds, too." Tate's voice rang through the silent room and Evelyn checked on Violet before looking up at him. She kept her facial expression neutral and tilted her head to the side, looking at him blankly.

"Why?"

Tate shuffled nervously at the foot of the bed, his eyes flickering to the side and Evelyn noticed how red and swollen they were. It was like someone had poured a handful of salt into each eye and forced him to blink, and Evelyn wondered if she looked like that too. Her heart raced as quickly as it stopped and she looked back down at the book, turning the page.

"Cause they can fly away when things get too crazy, I guess." Tate shrugged, and Evelyn eyed him with pursed lips before turning the page, "Are you gonna tell your parents? About," He referenced to Violet, "The pills?"

"It's not my place to tell them," Evelyn said as she looked up at him, "Just like it's not my place to tell my Dad what you really did. It's called 'patient-confidentially' in some cases but is otherwise known as 'I'm-minding-my-own-business'."

"How are you?" Tate asked, and looked blankly at him.

"I'm sad."

"Me too," Tate nodded. The two of them said nothing for a moment as Tate awkwardly shuffled his feet and Evelyn's attention turned back to the book in front of her. In her mind, there was nothing else to be said and nothing else she wanted to hear. She didn't know what she felt towards Tate, but at the current moment, she wanted him to leave.

"Evelyn…" Tate drawled slowly, and she looked up at him and noticed the tears that had gathered in his eyes, "Something has changed in you. Toward me. You're distant, cold." Evelyn noted that his voice broke on the last word, "I don't know what I've done, but I'll leave you alone from now on. If that's what you want. Is that what you want?"

Evelyn didn't respond but just kept looking at him, her lower lip starting wobble. She didn't know what she wanted. Couldn't he see that? So much had happened in such a small amount of time that her body barely knew how to react. She hadn't had a proper meal since she found out about the shooting, she rarely spoke to her mom or Violet because she was holed in her room as her mind tried to wrap around what had happened, and now she and her sister almost die?

Evelyn didn't want to think about a relationship, she wanted a friend. Addy was her first friend here and she's gone now. Violet's not mentally stable, and Lord help her if she tried to turn to either of her parents for help in this situation.

"You know why I'd leave you alone?" Tate continued when Evelyn didn't respond, "Because I care about your feelings more than mine. I love you."

Evelyn didn't bother to stop the tear from rolling down her cheek at his words. Tate loved her? Why would he do that? Why would he say that to her after everything that had happened? He still loved her after she had ignored his existence for the past few days and basically shunned him from her life? Did Tate even know what love really was?

"There, I said it. Not just on some whiteboard. I would never let anybody or anything hurt you. I've never felt that way about anyone." Tate finished, his eyes flaring with determination and openness.

Biting her lip, Evelyn weighed her options before scooching back. No words were spoken as she patted the bed next to her and Tate cautiously climbed in, careful of Violet's sleeping form, before curling up in front of her. Evelyn gently wrapped her arm around him and he snuggled closer to her.

"I'm tired," He whispered and Evelyn nodded.

"Me too."

~8~

Evelyn spent the next day with Tate, trying to figure out what she wanted from him and from herself. Laying on the couch, with her head resting in his lap, she idly flipped through the book in her hands before closing it and resting it on her stomach.

"Do you have siblings? Besides Addy, that is." Evelyn asked, and Tate looked down at her from the book he was reading.

"I had a brother who was older," Tate responded and Evelyn nodded, reaching up to grasp his hand and intertwine their fingers.

"I had a younger sibling," Evelyn lazily said, "But my mom had a miscarriage and now she might be having twins. Which is so great. I mean, what teen doesn't want to have two squalling babies interrupt their sleep cycle."

Tate barked a laugh, smiling down at Evelyn and causing her shudder when she saw the loving glow in his eyes. She was still getting used to this 'I love you' shit and it was going to take time, but she was slowly getting better at accepting the fact that Tate loved her.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Tate randomly asked and Evelyn nodded, looking up at him with furrowed brows.

"Yeah, why?" Evelyn asked, the question 'aren't you one' was on the tip of her tongue but she bit back the question.

"I don't know," Tate's shoulders dropped as he thought about the question, "It can't all be shit, right? There's gotta be someplace better, somewhere. For people like you, at least."

Evelyn's face flushed at the compliment before she tilted her head, "Not you. If you could fix what happened, would you go to the better place?"

"Ever since you got here, this is the better place," Tate remarked, turning his attention back to his book and Evelyn gave a soft squeeze.

~8~

Evelyn brushed the sliced carrots to the side of her plate, her face twisted in disgust. She knew this dinner was going to be awkward, she just didn't know that it was going to be this bad. Her parents had yet to say anything and you could basically feel Violet's sulking suffocate the room.

"You're not eating anything," Vivian commented to Violet as Evelyn stuffed a spoonful of peas into her mouth.

"I'm not hungry. Pretty stuffed on this bullshit." Evelyn barked out a laugh at Violet's comment before turning it into a cough when both her parents turned to glare at her.

"Your mother and I know that you're upset." Ben said and the two girls shared an eye roll, "Maybe there are some things you want to talk about."

"Like who Eve and I are gonna live with after you get a divorce? Or if you'll make us split up and one go with each parent?" Violet questioned and Evelyn watched Ben's eyes darken, "Is there a third option? Because both of you kind of make me want to kill myself."

Violet ignored Evelyn's sharp glare at those words and mentally promised to make it up to Evelyn later. She didn't want to kill herself, she just wanted her parents to see how their actions were affecting her and Evelyn. She knew that some part of Evelyn felt as though she had to hold the family together and that pissed her off. Her younger sister should be worrying about school work, not if her parents were gonna have a breakdown.

"Is that what you guys are afraid of?" Violet teased, but her tone was anything but playful, "Why else would you want to actually deal with the problem?"

"You never leave your room." Ben softly said, looking at the both of them so that Evelyn knew that she was included in this, "You barely eat. These are textbook signs of depression. We're very concerned, Vi and Eve."

Evelyn scoffed at her father's words while Violet left the table and leaned against the doorframe. He was trying to act like her dad, but where had he been these past few weeks?

"Look," Violet said as she turned to face her family, "You guys drag Eve and me all the way out here to save our family. Then you decide to break up. You buy a house that I actually like and that Eve can't complain about. Then you're telling us you're selling it, without even asking us what we want. So, fine, I'm depressed. But I'm not going to off myself. So you can go back to your policy of benign neglect."

Not daring to look her parents in the eyes, Evelyn quickly followed after Violet and up the stairs.

~8~

The incessant sound of something rolling across the floor was what finally caused the last nerve in Evelyn to snap. Slamming her laptop shut, she exited her room and tried to follow the sound of the rolling, stopping underneath the drop-down stairway to the attic. She stood still under the stairway, hoping to hear the sound again. A triumphant smile crossed her face when the same gentle scuffle of a ball came again and she quickly pulled on the latch before climbing up the staircase.

"Hello?" Evelyn called, turning on one of the swinging light bulbs that were hanging from the ceiling. As if in response to her question, a red ball rolled out from the corner of the room and Evelyn's heart dropped.

"I swear if this is some ghost shit," She whispered to herself before cracking up at the joke she made.

Evelyn crouched down and grasped the red ball in her hand, examining it when a sudden cry of 'play!' caused her to fall back and scurry backward as quickly as she could. She only stopped when she felt her back hit something hard and she looked up to see Tate's slightly angered figure standing above her. Scrambling to her feet, she latched herself onto him and buried her face into his shoulder, finding security and comfort in him as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against him.

"You're scaring her." Tate stated before raising his voice into a yell, "Go away."

"I'm so confused." Evelyn finally admitted to Tate, feeling very vulnerable and small all of a sudden, pressing herself even closer to him, "I feel like I don't know anything anymore."

"They're from the past," Tate soothed, pressing a kiss to the side of her head before pulling her away so that she was looking him in the eyes, "The ghosts of people who've died here. They're appearing to you now because you're evolving. Don't be scared," Tate whispered, pressing another kiss to her forehead and feeling a wave of possessiveness course through him, "All you have to do is tell them to go away, and they will."

"Maybe you should lead the open house tours," Evelyn joked, not noticing the flash of anger and darkness in Tate's eyes.

"Maybe I should," Tate smiled, and Evelyn noticed that it didn't quite reach the corners of his eyes. "Hey, you wanna check out this stuff I found."

"Sure," Evelyn hummed, allowing Tate to take her hand and pull her towards the back wall of the attic and pulling open a piece of the wall. One by one, Tate handed her each article that he had stuffed into the wall; sometimes, taking a moment to watch the awe and amazement light up her face.

Peering over Tate's shoulder, Evelyn reached a handout and dragged her finger down the black box that rested in his hands, admiring the detail and craftsmanship that went into it.

"What's in it?" She whispered into Tate's ear, ignoring the shiver that passed through his body.

"I don't know. Why don't you open it?" Tate handed it to her and she carefully flipped the latch and opened the lid, a gasp escaping her lips as she stared at an old-fashioned picture of a baby

before picking up the next picture, which happened to be of her current house in the past.

~8~

Sitting on Violet's bed, Evelyn ran her finger down the photo of a young family, wincing when it cut her finger. Evelyn placed her finger in her mouth and continued to stare at it until she heard a sudden inhale and looked up to see Violet staring at the wall behind her, horrified. Craning her neck, Evelyn felt her heart begin to race and her palms begin to sweat as she stared at the ghost of a young woman in front of her.

"Look at what he did to me." The spirit said, staring blankly ahead and Evelyn got off the bed and made her way to stand in front of Violet.

Taking a shaky breath, she let out the command, "Go away."

And just like that, she was gone. Evelyn turned to face her sister and pulled her into a hug, asking if she was okay.

"How did you do that?" Violet questioned her, gently pushing herself out of her sister's protective arms.

"Tate taught me." Evelyn explained, "He said that if you ever see one of them, just say 'go away' and they'll leave you alone."

Violet nodded and walked towards the end of her bed before sitting down and staring at her fingers.

"How long have you been able to see them?" She asked, her voice soft.

"Ever since the, um, the incident." Evelyn admitted as she collapsed onto the bed, "You?"

"Same."

Evelyn swallowed and looked at the ceiling above her, something wasn't making sense and she was sure as hell going to figure it out. You don't just randomly start to see ghosts, something has to happen… something big. Drumming her fingers against her stomach, Evelyn looked over at Violet.

"Are... uh... are you okay?" She asked, and Violet stared at her sister, her dark eyes crashing against her light brown ones. She heaved a sigh before falling back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"I'm as okay as I can be with our shit-show parents."