Chapter Six
Written by AngelsInstead
Tate looked down at the floor as he nodded. Violet had promised to protect Adelaide, his younger sister. He started to shake. "Violet, there is something I haven't told you yet. Something awful."
"Just take a deep breath, Tate. There's nothing you can't tell me," Violet said as she took his hand.
He could feel the warmth of her flesh - her life - against his cold flesh. Her presence was like the brightest sunshine that warmed all the dark spaces inside his troubled soul. How he needed her!
"I had another sister," Tate said, his voice barely audible.
"You had...?"
"Yes. Her name was Rose. Her hair was the color of golden honey - so curly... and her eyes - her eyes..." Tate's voice broke. "Her eyes were soooo beautiful."
"What happened to Rose?" Violet asked gently.
"Everyone said she looked a lot like me. She was - was just ten year old," Tate stated, struggling to get the words out. "All she wanted was a tea party. Violet."
Tate was inconsolable at that point. Violet couldn't understand his painful words, but she knew he was reliving something traumatic. Awful things had happened to him and the ones he loved. Unspeakable events. "Tate, it's okay. You don't have to tell me. You don't have to go through this all over again."
"I have to tell you, Violet!" he insisted.
"Did someone hurt Rose?"
"All of the rest of us had brown eyes... but her eyes were blue," Tate managed to say. "Rose had eyes like the sky."
"You must have loved her endlessly."
"I did. But she wasn't what Constance wanted. She wasn't...perfect and my mother wanted a perfect child. My mother only wanted me, because she thought I was the perfect one, but she was wrong. VERY wrong. I wasn't perfect. I had something wrong inside... in here," said Tate as he pressed his index finger against the side of his head.
"Tate, anyone would have lost their sanity after all you went through - the abuse... the violence. You needed help. Your siblings needed help, but there was no one. Please, tell me what happened to Rose."
Tate finally let it out - the terrible truth. He had kept it inside for far too long and Violet needed to know. "Rose's eyes were sky-blue and beautiful, but completely sightless. Rose was born blind," Tate explained. "My mother was so disappointed. Rose was perfect in EVERY way, but she could not see. So she said that Rose was a freak and a burden, just like Beau, Michael, and Adelaide. She wanted Rose to suffer, so she..."
"All Rose wanted was a tea party... That's all she ever wanted, but Constance had something far more sinister in mind, involving a fireplace poker and my baby sister's bright blue eyes. I will never forget the screams. They echoed through the parlor and bounced off the walls. Then Rose went entirely silent. She never screamed again. Rose was dead."
"Ohhh my God, Tate. Constance is a psychopath. How could she do that to little Rose?"
"She's not a mother; she's a monster. She said her womb is cursed...and I am proof of it. Saddest of all, she claimed to love us. She said she loved ALL her children. But she didn't. Only one of her children still lives - Adelaide... and you have to save her, Violet. You have to find a way. PLEASE."
"I will do everything I can, Tate," Violet said as she gently squeezed his fingers.
He looked down at their joined hands. "I would go over there myself, but I can't leave the property. None of us can, unless it's Halloween - the night that all spirits are allowed to wander."
"Tate, if I can help your sister, will you finally be at peace?" Violet asked. "How can I help you and the other spirits in this house finally find peace?"
"I don't think there will ever be any peace," Tate said sadly. "We are trapped here. This is a BAD place, Violet. Something evil lurks here and it always has. We can't escape it and most of all, I DON'T want to become it."
"Something evil? As in... the devil?" Violet asked with wide eyes.
Tate nodded. "Yes, the evil thing has caused many who have dwelled within these walls to commit murder and other violent and unspeakable acts. Anyone who dies here is held unwillingly upon the property forever. I don't know how we can be freed."
"That isn't fair," Violet said. "You and your siblings didn't deserve any of this. I want to help."
"Thank you, Violet... but I don't want you to be hurt and most of all, I don't want to lose you," Tate stated. "You said you would never leave me."
"I won't, Tate. I can't... because I am starting to fall for you."
