{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone. This chapter will sort of elaborate on the intermission, it's me adding a bit more horror and history to Murder House.}

Mommy Dearest

She rubbed her eyes as the door to her bedroom opened and called out in the dark, "Who's there?" thinking that maybe she'd just heard the wind or something blowing her bedroom door open since she was sleeping with the window in her room wide open and it was a windier than usual night tonight.

She got no answer so she sat up, rubbing her eyes again, trying to get them to focus. The air had this odd and heavy bitter scent to it, and she got a really, really bad feeling. Her bathroom light was on and she knew for a fact that she'd shut it off earlier, after she'd gotten done with her long and intense bubble bath. "Mom?" she called out, her voice wavering just a little as she felt around for the kitchen knife she'd taken to keeping in her bedroom, because yes, this house screwed with her mind that much, and gasped quietly when she found it gone.

Her mother said in a quiet voice, "Looking for this?" as the moon's natural light caught on the gleam of silver in her hands. Tess shook her head, a scream frozen on her lips and...

She fell off the bed, hitting the hardwood floor beneath her. She sat up swearing and soaked in a cold sweat as she woke up from the recurring nightmare she'd had for almost 2 weeks now, on and off. Her mother's weird behavior was getting much weirder now and sometimes she cried herself to sleep because she really thought that for all intents and purposes, she was losing her mother, who was apparently losing her own sanity.

Her mom was all she had.

The laugh she heard sitting in the white wicker chair at her vanity chilled her bones as she strained to see in the dark, tried to covertly slide her hand beneath the pink satin pillow and grab the kitchen knife she kept under it. The knife, like in her dream, was gone.

"Are you alright Tess?" a voice asked from the darkness as she reached for her cell phone, casting a dim light in that area of her room. She raised a brow and asked her mother, "What in the hell, Mom?"

"I wanted to make sure you don't have any disgusting little boys up here, Tess.. You're not up here being a whore like I was, are you?" her mother asked, voice stumbling, it was obvious her mother was more than halfway drunk right now. Tess sighed and said quietly, "No, mom.. But I can see you've been drinking again.. I wish you'd.."

"Don't tell me what to do, Tess.. You know Mommy doesn't like to be bossed around. I'm the adult, you are the child, remember?"

"But, I... I worry, Mom." Tess said aloud as she mentally added 'Especially since we moved here.. You've really started to go downhill, Mom.'

"If I catch a boy in here, Tess.. You won't like what happens." her mother said calmly as she walked out of the room after throwing her head back, laughing that evil and cold laugh.

Tess rubbed her arms and standing, she ran to the door and locked it behind her mother, fell back into bed. It felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest right now and her mother's grim words kept repeating over and over in her head. She'd never been that scared of her mother, or anyone, for that matter, in her life.

Catching her breath, she rolled over onto her stomach, reached for her phone. She was just about to text Tate and tell him what just happened, but she heard the pebbles being launched at the bedroom window, and she held her breath for a few moments, then, satisfied that her mother wasn't anywhere on the same floor or part of the house, or if she were, she'd went back to sleep, she hurried to the window, slid it open and let him in.

"You okay?" he asked as he looked at her. He could just tell she'd had something happen to her, he knew which of the ghosts was responsible for this one, and he was furious right now. He'd deal with the bitch later. Right now, he needed to make sure Tess was alright.

For once he wasn't thinking entirely of himself anymore which shocked and scared him.

"I'm fine.. Just, my mom.. She came in here just now, was talking out of her head.. I.." she stopped in mid sentence and strained to hear then let out a deep breath when she realized that it was just paranoia, before continuing, "I think my mom knows you're sneaking in.. She made a threat and... It scared me.. I mean she's never done that before, just threatened me like that.. With the kitchen knife I've been keeping in here since that weird guy watching me from the tree incident." Tess rambled as Tate put his arms around her and then tilted her chin up as he said firmly, "Look at me, Tess."

She nodded and he continued, "What'd she say?"

"Just that if I was up here being a damn whore like her, and I had a boy in here.. I wasn't going to like the outcome. Then the way she laughed, Tate.. She sounded crazy. And the nightmare I had before I fell off the bed and found her in here didn't help either." Tess said as Tate stared at her, nodding and then said quietly, "If she ever does that again.. Run. Go down to the basement and hide. I'll find you there somehow. Do you hear me?"

She nodded and then said quietly, "So you don't think I'm losing it? Because I told her how she's been acting, and she told me that it's stress and nightmares. She honestly thinks I'm making it up to make her move us back to Riggins." as Tate nodded and then said "You're not crazy. She might be drunk and asleep, not realize what she's doing.. My mom.."

Tess looked at him and nodded, he didn't have to say anything else, she knew what he meant when he stopped his sentence. She knew by now how his mother treated him (or at least she 'thought' she did, going by what he told her.. And his mother had treated him like shit before he got himself killed after losing it completely.), and she wasn't going to push it or make him talk.

"Are you okay now?" he asked as she nodded and rested her head against his chest then said quietly, "Just a little scared and confused. I'll be okay."

"Good.. You're mine, damn it, and nothing is going to happen to change that." Tate grumbled as he hugged her again and then made himself leave. He had a ghost to take care of downstairs. He was not happy about this, not at all.