Don't Own AHS

A/N: Holy crap I haven't touched this in forever.

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CH 34- 112 Ocean Avenue

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There was a strange silence in the house when Lana woke that morning around six. She stretched her hand and found the side of the bed to be empty. Ellie must have fallen asleep in her bed. Lana sighed, relieved that for once her daughter had fallen asleep in her room without any problems. Still, the thought of Ellie going one single night without waking up seemed too good to be true.

Lana sat up and decided to check on her.

"Ellie?" Her voice flowed through the upstairs hall towards Ellie's room. "Sweetheart?" She pushed open the door to her room and stepped inside. "Ellie, how did you—"

Lana's voice was cut short when she saw that the bed was empty. "Ellie?" She grew frantic and quickly looked around the room and under the bed. "Ellie! Where are you? This isn't funny come on out."

Lana noticed the window was cracked open and her heart jumped out of her mouth. Before she could react, she heard the wailing of police sirens followed by an ambulance. Lana's heart stopped and the worst occurred to her.

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Ellie stood barefoot in front of the house; little feet upon the cold concrete of the street right before the driveway of the DeFeo home. Her eyes upon the house in a sleepy haze, face pale from lack of sleep. Fingers still. Waiting.

She had not slept since he left her room. He had not harmed her, just rambled fevered thoughts that left the girl in silent tears, afraid for what was to come. But Ellie remained still, even when Butch DeFeo told her to come say goodbye.

Then he was gone. Ellie lifted her head from the pillow and sat and waited. She sat and waited until she heard the first faint gun shot.

Now she stood in front of the house waiting for someone. For anyone. Out of the silence came the sirens, fast approaching but the loud wails blurred in her hearing. All she could hear was the sound of her faint breathing. The sirens stopped and a hand fell upon her shoulder.

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When Lana ran out into the street she saw a crowd gathered in front of the DeFeo house. "Oh, shit." Lana raced down the street in search of Ellie.

All of their neighbors were there, murmuring to one another. Lana couldn't even begin to make sense of what anyone was saying. All she could do was ask them about the girl.

"Martha, Martha have you seen Ellie?" Lana approached their neighbor from across the street.

The older woman was in tears and nodded, "She's over there." She pointed in the direction of the ambulance.

Lana breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She gave Martha's hand a soft squeeze and made her way through the bodies and finally to Ellie.

"Ellie!" Lana fell to her knees in front of the girl whose eyes were set still on the house. "Ellie baby, where did you go?"

"Ma'am?" Came one of the officer's voice.

Lana stood to her feet to face him.

"Is this your child?" he asked. His face looked rather grave.

"Yes," Lana pulled Ellie close to her, "Yes. I woke up and she was gone."

"We found her outside of the house when we arrived." The officer explained.

"What happened?" Lana demanded.

But before the officer could give her an answer, the front door of the house opened and two paramedics with a black body bag exited the house.

"J-John?" Ellie spoke out, her little voice cracked as if she hadn't spoken for days. She left Lana's side, taking a step forward in attempts to go with her friend.

Lana grabbed her and pulled her back. When she saw the body bag, everything clicked. Something terrible had happened to John and his family.

"Baby, don't look." Lana covered Ellie's eyes when the body bags approached the ambulance. She picked Ellie up in her arms and let the little girl bury her face in her shoulder to silently cry. Lana rubbed her back, "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry…"

Lana stepped away from the ambulance, her eyes still on the house as they brought out body bag after body bag. The last one to leave the house was Butch. John's eldest brother. He was thin, his eyes dark and gaunt, a crazed look about him. A shiver ran down Lana's spine. She had never trusted that boy.

Never.

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Days past, one after the other since the morning of the murders. It turned out someone had snuck into the DeFeo home and shot every single one of them except Butch. As of yet, he was the only one on trail for the murder of his family.

The deaths of the DeFeo's had hit Amityville like a bucket of freezing, cold water. No one had seen it coming and no one could believe it. Lana believed it. She knew that kind of evil existed. When Ellie wasn't around she kept up with the news. Hell, she knew how big of a story that would have been for her back then. Now all she cared about was her child's well being.

After the morning of the murders, Ellie had seemed numb. She had begun to come out of her haze little by little as the days passed. That afternoon Lana caught her by the front door putting her shoes on.

"Where are you going?" Lana asked her.

"To play with John." She answered.

Lana's heart broke.

"John's gone. Remember?"

Ellie looked at her rather confused. "Where did he go?"

Lana felt short. She didn't know what to say to her. "Ellie…" All she did was hug the little girl close.

"When's he coming back?" Ellie asked the question Lana wished she didn't have to answer. She didn't know how to tell the girl, "Never." And that truth hurt. Her little friend was never coming back. Ellie would be nine soon. She had to understand that by then.

"Ellie, John passed away. He's not coming back."

Ellie didn't answer right away. She let Lana's answer sink in for a moment. "So he's dead. Like Daddy."

Lana froze at her words. Ellie hadn't brought up Oliver in very a long time.

"Yes." Lana's voice was faint.

Ellie dropped her shoes by the door and walked past Lana without saying a word.

"Wait a minute." Lana grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She knelt down to be at eye level with her. "Don't you want to talk about it?"

"I'm sorry." She mumbled and sleepily rubbed her eye, "I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"That Butch killed 'em."

Lana froze for a moment. "How—how do you know that? Why would you say that?"

"He said it. He said he would."

"Did he tell you this?" Lana grabbed her by the arms, "Tell me the truth, Ellie. This isn't a game."

"It's not a lie, Mommy." Ellie insisted. "It's not."

"Oh, Ellie." Lana hugged her tight.

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Like a hurricane with no remorse, Lana burst into the sheriff's department where she knew they were detaining Butch until his trail. She went straight to the front clerk where an officer was standing looking through some reports.

"Where is he?" She demanded, voice laced with rage, "Where is that sick son of a bitch?"

The officer was taken by surprise, "Ma'am, Ma'am please. Settle down. Who are you looking for?"

"The DeFeo boy. I know you have him here. I demand to see that sick fuck right now!" She slammed her fist on the counter.

"Ma'am!"

"What is going on here?" Came the sheriff from his office. "Dale, what is this?"

"I don't know, Sir. She wants to see the DeFeo boy."

The sheriff frowned at this, "What ever for?"

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Lana sat in the sheriff's office across from his desk. He sat in his chair letting what she had just told him sink in. His expression was extremely serious.

"My girl hasn't slept well in months. She's constantly afraid and doesn't like to be left alone. This maniac has been fueling nonsense into her head." It was as far as Lana knew. The girl hadn't told her that he was the monster in her room.

"And she told you he said this to her?"

"Yes."

"When did he?"

"I don't know. She played a lot with their youngest son. Maybe when she went to his house. I don't know."

"And you believe her?"

Lana glared at him, "Of course I do."

"Did he harm her?"

Lana shook her head. "No. He did not."

"What did he do then?"

Lana hesitated for a moment. She knew it would sound crazy. "She said he told her what he was going to do…to his family."

"Miss Winters, this is a serious accusation and highly unlikely. Your little girl is probably still in shock for what happened to her little friends and their family." He stood from his desk and Lana followed, "Mr. DeFeo is still under investigation. If we discover more on the matter we shall let you know."

Before Lana left the room she stopped and locked eyes with the sheriff. "I've been face to face with a murderer. I know what they're like. Don't fool yourself." She opened the door and left.

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Lana drove back to Ocean Ave. with not much help from the police department. She knew what she had to say sounded insane and was a wild accusation. Perhaps Ellie was imagining things. Maybe it was all from the lack of sleep.

Lana passed the DeFeo home which had been separated from the rest of the neighborhood by bright yellow crime scene tape. She glanced up to see the house through the rearview mirror. The sign that read "High Hopes" swung lightly due to the breeze. Lana turned her attention back to the road and parked the car in the driveway.

She had left Ellie with their neighbors across the street. She must have been waiting impatiently for Lana to return. Lana closed the car door and glanced once more at the house where it all happened. Her stomach churned and she felt at a loss. Not even she knew what the future would bring them.