Disclaimer: I do not own AHS

A/N: Thanks for the love, everyone! I remembered that I had finished this chapter days ago but forgot to update it. Sorry!

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CH 29- The Fall of 1973

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NOVEMBER 1973

Ellie and the little boy, John, became quite good friends over the course of the next few weeks. He introduced her to the other children in the neighborhood and Ellie was out playing on the street almost every single day. Lana had met John's family, the DaFeo's. They were a pretty content family and were awfully kind about having Ellie around all the time. Lana was a bit weary about the oldest brother but he mostly kept to himself and wasn't home often—or so it appeared.

Lana kept herself busy as well. She continued to decorate the house to keep herself busy and sane. Especially now that Ellie spent the majority of her time out with the neighborhood kids.

Lana wanted to start working again. Ellie was going to school and she was almost done making the house into a home. She was bound to run out of things to do. Lana missed her job as a reporter and wanted nothing more to return to the field where she could continue to write and inform but she wanted to lay low. She needed to find something else, something similar but smaller.

Once they were fully settled, she would look for a job.

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Ellie came inside that evening with dirty knees and red cheeks. She had been running around with John and the other kids when Lana called her in. She didn't like Ellie to be out after the streetlights came on.

"Wash your hands and sit down, dinner's ready." Lana ordered.

"Okay," Ellie went and did as she was told.

Lana returned to the kitchen where she began to set the table. Out of no where, she got the feeling of being watched and looked to the patio door. She saw Oliver Thredson's reflection and gave out a startled scream. When Lana looked again, he was gone.

"Mommy, what's the matter?" Ellie asked as she hurried into the kitchen with big concerned eyes.

Lana caught her breath. "Nothing baby, I just—I just saw a spider is all."

Ellie frowned; her mother wasn't usually scared of spiders.

Lana saw that the girl wasn't convinced and flashed a tiny, sheepish smile, "It was a huge one."

"Oh, no." Ellie said, concerned. A bigger spider was a different story, "Did you kill it?"

"Yes."

Ellie was relieved and went to the table to sit down.

During dinner, Ellie told Lana everything that she and her new friends had done. She talked so animatedly that Lana felt terrible for letting her mind wander but she was too distracted to think straight.

The thought that Oliver was still alive was driving her insane but she tried to remind herself that they were far from Boston and were safe. Oliver wouldn't find them.

"Mommy?"

"Hmm?" Lana looked to her daughter, snapping herself out of her thoughts.

"Can I go ride bikes with John and his brother tomorrow?"

"Around the neighborhood?" Lana asked.

Ellie shook her head, "To town."

"Oh, I don't know, little girl."

"I'll be safe, I promise."

Lana sighed. "I thought you and I could do something tomorrow for a change. "

Ellie perked up at this, "Like what?"

"Anything you want." Lana pinched her cheek. She really wanted her and Ellie to bond in their new hometown. They deserved to start over.

Ellie wandered into the kitchen as a muffled old 1930s song sang from the record player. The birthday cake was left abandoned on the table in the dining room. When her bare feet hit the floor, she felt something cold at her feet. Ellie looked down to see herself standing in a pool of blood but didn't react to it. She lifted her foot and stepped out of the puddle.

"Daddy?" She called out.

Ellie slowly glanced up and froze when she saw her father dead on the floor. His eyes were upon hers, lifeless.

Standing on top of him was her mother with a bloody razor in her hand. She looked up to see Ellie standing there, a crazed look in her eyes.

"Noelle?" Her father's lifeless body spoke suddenly, "Noelle!"

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Ellie woke with a jolt and a startle. She sat up and looked around the dark room; it was past three in the morning. The lingering fear was alive within her and Ellie trembled as she hugged the blanket to her chest. The nightmares had not stopped. Everything was different: the town, the house, the room, but the nightmares were still the same.

Ellie threw the blanket off her and ran out of the room.

Lana was fast asleep when Ellie snuck into her room. She had managed to finally get some rest. She hadn't been able to sleep for the previous nights.

Ellie climbed on the bed and buried herself under the blanket, next to her mother. She then attached herself to Lana like Velcro and refused to let go. Lana woke to find Ellie latched onto her.

"Hey, hey, what's the matter?"

Ellie buried her face in Lana's arm, refusing to look.

Lana sighed, "Another nightmare?"

Ellie nodded.

"Come here." Lana let Ellie burrow herself into her arms instead. "What was it about this time?"

Ellie seemed to always have the same reoccurring nightmares. They varied on their content but she could barely remember what they were about, just knew that she had dreamt them before.

"I don't know." She snuffled, "There was cake and weird music and then there was icky stuff on the floor."

"What else?" Lana ran her hand through Ellie's hair in means to comfort and calm her. She knew that dream very well. Ellie had it before. She just couldn't recall at the details.

"And there was the same man on the floor."

Lana worried she had dreamt of Oliver and her that night on her birthday where she stabbed Oliver with his shaving razor in the kitchen. So many things from that dream reminded Lana of that night.

"What man? Do you remember what he looked like?"

Ellie shook her head from side to side. "N-mh."

Lana sighed in relief. "What else did you see?"

"I don't remember."

"There, there, it's over now." Lana caressed her hair.

Even Lana wanted to believe her words. "It was all over now" but it wouldn't be over until Oliver stopped breathing.

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The following day, Lana was out in the backyard raking the fallen leaves while Ellie played with a kite. She ran back and forth in their big yard trying to lift the thing into the air without success.

Lana had spoken to her lawyer early that morning. He had word from Oliver's status in the hospital he resided in upstate Massachusetts. Lana wanted to hear nothing of the man but it did give her peace knowing that he was detained and far from Amityville.

Lana once again pressed if there was any way to get him to fry on the chair but her lawyer informed her that with his insanity, there was no way to convince the judge to reopen the case and send him to prison instead of a comfy bed in some hospital. She hated the thought of him enjoying the lavish greenery of upstate Massachusetts instead of some gray wall in his prison cell.

Lana wanted to bury him and she held hope that she would do so one day.

"Mommy, I can't get it to fly!" Ellie called from across the yard.

Lana stood straight and leaned slightly on the rake, "Just keep trying, Honey."

Ellie frowned and tugged the kite on the floor, "It's not windy 'nough!"

Lana returned to raking the leaves. She never imagined herself doing such a thing. Lana always lavished the city life, not the suburbs and she imagined herself lounging in a luxurious New York apartment not raking leaves in the backyard of her suburban home. It was hard work but it kept her busy; still, Lana was amazed at how much her life and her goals had changed.

"Mommy!" Ellie whined.

"Run faster, baby." Lana said, distracted by the leaves, "It'll get up there."

Ellie stomped her foot and groaned in frustration. She grabbed the kite and tried to run again.

"Rake the leaves," Lana muttered to herself the chores she had planned for the rest of the day, "Put the clothes to dry, pick up dinner…"

"Mommy!"

"Yes, Ellie?" Lana called out.

"I hate kites." Ellie went up to her with a pout. "I wanted to go ride bikes with John."

Lana sighed and continued to rake, "You'll go riding bikes another day, little girl."

Ellie let her eyes fall to the spot on the grass that was clean of any leaves. The day was cold out and her cheeks were rosy red from running around the yard and breathing in the cold air. The sky was overcast and Lana had a feeling it would rain later and she wanted to finish the grocery shopping before they got caught in the rain.

"Okay." Ellie said with a slump.

"Hey," Lana brushed her short hair, "No pouting." She pinched her cheek and Ellie giggled.

"Kay."

Ellie glanced down the yard to the lake. "Mommy, can we go see the water?"

Lana looked from Ellie to the lake. She didn't see why not, besides, she needed a break from the mundane task of yard work.

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"Don't get too close to the edges." Lana warned Ellie as she ran ahead of her on the dock.

Ellie stopped at the end of the dock and leaned down to look at the water, placing her hands on her knees. "Wow, look how dark it looks."

Lana stood next to her. Ellie being so close to the edge made her nervous. "Yes, it's very dark…"

"When it gets hot, can we go swimming?"

Lana placed her hand on Ellie's shoulder and brought her closer, "Of course we can."

"Can you swim, Mommy?"

Lana bit her bottom lip, "I used to when I was little."

"Not no more?"

Lana shook her head, "Probably not. But I can try."

Ellie hugged Lana around the waist. "I love you, Mommy."

Lana smiled. "I love you too, little girl."

She hadn't heard Ellie tell her that in a very long time.

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Lana went through the grocery store isles pushing the cart with Ellie sitting in the little seat. She soon wouldn't fit in it anymore.

Lana surveyed the shelves of pasta wondering what to make for dinner. "What do you want to eat, little girl? And don't say milkshakes."

Ellie looked at the shelves with disinterest, "Chicken fingers!"

"Chicken fingers?"

"And Mac n' Cheese!"

Lana chuckled, "Anything else, your majesty?"

"Mmm." Ellie made that pensive face that made her look like Oliver. "Tater tots!"

Lana laughed a little louder this time as she pushed the cart through the pasta isle, "Tater tots? Why tater tots?"

"We had them at school."

"You did? When?"

"Yesterday. We had tater tots and Chelsea said you can't eat them with mustard and I said yeah."

"Oh?" Lana grabbed a wrapped loaf of bread from the shelf and placed it in the cart, "And then what happened?"

"I ate it with mustard."

"You did?" Lana sounded surprised but she was quite amused at her daughter's bold character, "And was it good?"

Lana always imagined being able to have these simple conversations with her daughter about small matters such as school and her conversations with friends without Oliver looming over them. In the basement, Lana slowly began to realize that she was the one who wanted to take Ellie to school and pick her up. She wanted to be the one that Ellie told everything first.

And now she was.

Lana was glad for those small moments.

Ellie pressed her lips together for a moment and frowned lightly. After a moment of thinking she said, "I like mustard."

"I like it too."

"But it's not good on ice cream."

"No, it's not."

Lana grabbed the things she needed including chicken fingers and tater tots. She wanted to please Ellie and make her feel better. Lana wanted to please her every single whim and make her feel at home.

"Mommy."

"Yes?" Lana was distracted by the variety of apples. When Lana first set out to make a living after finally escaping Oliver's prison, she hadn't realized how many varieties of apples there were. Of course she had known when she was a free woman but it wasn't something she really thought about. Besides, Wendy did most of the shopping. Lana just ate the apples.

There were so many varieties of apples: Granny Smith apples, Fuji apples, Gala apples and each of them had different prices. Lana weighed her options based on the ripeness of the apples and the cents per pound.

Ellie kicked her feet up and down looking around at the people that passed them. She then gasped, "Mommy!"

"What is it?"

"We forgot the mac n' cheese!"

"Okay, we'll get it in a bit."

"Oh, can I go get it? Please?"

Lana thought it over. She didn't like the girl to wander off by herself but they were only a few isles over, "Okay." She helped Ellie out of the cart and set her down on her feet, "But hurry—and don't talk to any strangers, okay?"

"Okay!" Ellie dashed off.

She went along the isles, looking up at the shelves in search of the blue and yellow box. She dodged people in the isles, excusing herself shyly when she bumped into one or two. Finally, she reached the pasta isle where she found the Mac N' Cheese. Ellie grabbed as many as she could and scurried back to Lana's side.

Lana still had not made up her mind about the apples when Ellie returned and dumped all the boxes into the cart.

Lana didn't take notice of all the boxes, "Gala or pink ladies?"

"Grannies." Ellie answered.

"Hmm. Grannies it is. Did you get—" Lana looked to Ellie who stood by the cart filled with Mac N Cheese boxes. Lana gave a soft sigh, "I guess you did. Didn't you?"

At home Ellie helped Lana put the groceries away. Life had returned to normal for them asides from Lana's anxiety and Ellie's nightmares. But doing simple things like grocery shopping together and coming home to a quaint home made Lana feel like they could truly lead normal lives.

Ellie stood on her tiptoes in the pantry, carefully placing all the boxes of Mac N' Cheese on the highest shelf she could reach. Lana was by the counter, bringing out the canned vegetables from the bags. She paused when she saw her daughter hard at work and couldn't help to wonder if Ellie recognized who the man in her dreams was.

Lana just prayed she never remembered the man's face upon waking up.

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DANVERS STATE HOSPITAL

DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS

The grand rec room was alive with the sound of laughter, mumbling, crying and hectic excitement. Patients sat in small tables doing mundane tasks while those less connected to reality huddled in corners and on the floor, mumbling and rocking back and forth. A woman sat in a recliner against a wall, cradling a bundled dirty blanket as if it were a baby. She whispered to it attentively. Across from her lay a man on the floor, his milky eyes on the ceiling, his mouth parted showing rotting, broken teeth. A man walked up and down the rec room, back and forth and back and forth, speaking quickly to himself.

Nurses watched over the mentally insane with close eyes and helped them if need be. Others simply gossiped with each other while a patient lay on the floor in his own feces.

He sat in a rocking chair at the very end of the long gallery, his back to the wall, the chair rocking back and forth softly with a creak and his deep brown eyes set upon the room before him as if he was watching behind a two-way mirror; apart from cold reality. His finger tapped on the wooden armchair like a tick he couldn't control. His feet were pressed on the floor in front of his; pushing the chair back and then letting it come forth with much ease. His eyes landed on two patients that had begun to fight over a puppet.

Oliver Thredson watched those poor souls wondering why he had been thrown amongst them. Surely his insanity was a much more different one. True, he wasn't right in the head but he could adapt, he could socialize and camouflage in a crowd of sane people. He could live out in society without the need to throw his excrements against a wall and smear them with his fingers.

No, Oliver was capable of leading a well functioning life. However, he had been for the past few years. He had been keeping up his practice, working with patients, he had been running a house hold and raising a daughter practically all on his own—all whilst holding a woman hostage in his basement of course. Nonetheless, Oliver knew he at least deserved more than some dirty rec room filled with lunatics.

The creaking of the rocking chair stopped when a male nurse stopped in front of him. Oliver wasn't allowed to socialize with the female nurses and a close eye was kept on him at all times. Oliver didn't think it was too bad of a place. It was much better than Briarcliff in some ways and besides, it was better than frying in a chair.

"You ready?" The man asked.

Oliver stood to his feet without speaking a word and let the man lead him out of the gallery and down the hall towards the dormitories. Oliver had been assigned his own dark little room where the male attendant escorted him and shut the door with lock behind him.

Oliver went to his bed and reached under the mattress, pulling a wrinkled photograph out.

He sat upon the bed and looked down at the photo his crooked lawyer had been able to snatch from Oliver's personal belongings. It was a photo of him and his sweet Noelle when she was but only four years old. They had taken it at the pumpkin patch in autumn of that year. It was one of the last pictures they took together.

Oliver traced his finger along Noelle's face in the photograph and he wondered how much she had changed since then. It had been so long. About three years or so. Oliver sighed "My sweet Noelle." He continued to caress the photo, wondering where she was and how she was.

He lifted the photo and lifted his gaze out to the window that overlooked Danvers's great estate.

"One day, one day I'll see you again."