CHAPTER TEN

Tate followed me with concern until he had to hide when mom came upstairs. Not long after, Luke – the cop who said he would come whenever the security was tripped – arrived at our door. Another cop was looking around the yard.

"No one's here!"

My heart sank. They didn't find anyone. This was the second time that these cops couldn't find the people were a threat to our lives.

Shortly after, Ben had also rushed over and I was actually happy to know that he cared enough to be here at this hour.

"It was them!" mom told Luke. "They were in the car with us – in the back seat with – Oh, my God! Madi. My daughter was sitting beside the people who nearly killed us!"

Luke wrote down what she said. "Did she not see them when she got into the car?"

"No!" mom sobbed hysterically. "S-she's blind. My Madi… I could've lost her…"

"Please, calm down, Vivien." Luke rubbed her shoulder. "She's safe and we can't find them around here. They must've already ran for it."

I didn't correct them that I was actually able to see the people in our car. To be honest, it probably wouldn't have helped since I wasn't able to see them when they first invaded our house. Everything was just a jumble of confusion.

When Ben asked Violet if they were really the people who were at our house, I frowned to hear her deny it. Who was right? I tried to recall what they sounded like, but all I remembered was the fear and being extremely disoriented and… the rubber man who seemed to have vanished.

I gave a statement of what I knew to Luke, but it was obvious that my words held no weight. They seemed to be convinced that Violet was right and that the people were not the same ones who nearly murdered us.

I wished that I could've helped mom in some way, but as I spoke to the two men, they didn't sound too interested with speaking to me.

Once the ordeal was over, Ben offered to stay the night, but mom brushed him off. We checked every lock on every door and window several times over. Before I left, I heard Violet talking to mom about how we couldn't call them intruders. Instead we were "survivors."

Her reasoning didn't make sense to me, but I didn't want to think about it anymore.

I returned to my room and felt safer seeing Tate standing by the window. After shutting the door and locking it, I went up behind Tate and wrapped my arms around him. He was safe. He was always safe.

He turned around and returned the embrace. "What happened, Madi?"

Tears welled up in my eyes as an emotional breakdown quickly consumed me. "I-I don't know. We were in the c-car and these people were inside w-with us… They weren't there when I went in! But then suddenly, they just… They were just there." I hiccoughed and Tate began to rub comforting circles on my back. "M-mom s-said that they were the ones who c-came into our house, but Vi… Vi…" I stopped as the sobs grew more violent.

He directed me to the bed, sat me down, pulled my socks and coat off before tucking the both of us under the cover. "Don't worry, Madi. They'll never hurt you. I swear. No one will ever take you away from me."

Something about his words brought cold chills down my spine.

...

The next day, Ben had returned to the house, claiming that he was back because of work. Mom was lenient enough to comply. Somehow, things had fallen back into its old routine with him in the house or so it seemed.

Unfortunately, Violet had pulled me over and everything fell apart, once more. She had come home from school as frightened as the day that she came back from the basement.

She had led me into the newly made gazebo with my laptop in her hands. "Here. Listen to this."

It was the article that I had found before regarding the history of the house. I caught the ending of the nurse murders, again. I was surprised the next one was about the Langdons. What misfortune had befall them?

"By 1994, the Murder House had produced another tragedy. A male resident and student of Westfield High had entered the school armed with three guns. He shot down numerous students and teachers, injuring dozens and killing fifteen.

The perpetrator, Tate Langdon – age seventeen – was found in the Murder House by the SWAT Team. He was shot down in his room and died instantly. The reasons behind the shooting remains unknown. It has been speculated tha – "

I stood up abruptly. "No!" I shouted. "I don't want to listen to it anymore. There's no way that Tate… that Tate…" Of course not. Tate wasn't dead and he wasn't a murderer. He was a teenager who was misunderstood and he was my boyfriend whom I love very, very much and who loves me back.

"Madi!" Violet hissed and pulled me back down. "Shut up or he'll hear you."

"I don't see him anywhere," I told her.

Violet let out a growl of frustration. "He's a ghost! Just because you can't see him doesn't mean shit!" She closed the laptop. "This must mean that the thing that attacked Leah was also a ghost."

My wind wandered over to the rubber man. Then it would also explain how he was getting in and out of the house completely undetected.

No. No. No. If that was true then… "No!"

As I was about to run back into the house, Violet grabbed my wrist. "Come on!"

She dragged me into the streets and down the road in the direction of her school. "Wait, I don't have my cane!" Why was she doing this? I told her that I didn't want to hear it anymore.

"Doesn't matter." We walked in and passed by a janitor mopping the floor.

We entered what seemed to be the library. "Touch it! These are the victims of the shooting," she said, pointing to a stand with names engraved on a plaque. "He killed fifteen people, Madi. He's a fuckin' psychopath!"

"Maybe… Maybe it was a different Tate…" I said, weakly. "I can feel him, Violet. He's not dead. He's not!"

"He killed us," a familiar male voice said from behind us.

I turned and saw the teens who approached Tate and I on Hallowe'en. Their outfits were unchanged from that night and I was starting to suspect that that may not be fake blood, after all.

"Look at Amir!" He pulled the nerd forward. "Look at what that asshole did to him!"

The other male teen opened his mouth and blood splattered and poured down his chin. Outside the Hallowe'en setting, it no longer looked like a tacky costume. It was more of a nightmare.

"Do you know what he asked me before he killed me?" the blonde goth girl asked. "He asked if I believed in God."

Tears poured down my cheeks. It couldn't be. Tate wasn't that kind of person. He wasn't. My hands were shaking and it felt as if a blast of arctic air had hit me.

"Madi?"

I was hyperventilating… I couldn't even open my mouth to speak. My vision flickered. It felt as if I was going to pass out.

"I'm sorry, Madi…" Violet took me back home after I had calmed down enough.

During the entire journey back home, I felt numb. Times like these, I actually welcomed the darkness. I could feel detached from the world. At least until I got to my room where I knew he would be waiting.

When we arrived, Violet volunteered to stay with me for the rest of the day, but I brushed her off. This was something that I had to do on my own.

As I opened the door, I had never felt as much dread as I had now.

He was sitting on my bed as he usually did when I was here or away. He turned and gave me that irresistible smile. It was the face of an angel – beautiful, innocent, pure, but it was all a lie. Underneath the angelic façade was a murderer – the devil in sheep skin.

I closed the door behind me. Mom was sleeping soundly on the couch and I didn't want to alarm her. "Why, Tate?" I whispered when I turned back to him.

He had a confused look on his face. "Why what?"

"Why did you kill all those people? Why didn't you tell me that you were… you were…" Tears prickled my eyes and I cursed my inability to finish the statement – my weakness.

...

Tate stared at the girl he had fallen head over heels with. This could not be happening. How did she find out? She was never supposed to know! "What have you been told, Madi? I swear I didn't do it… I… I don't remember any of it!"

Madi's face crumbled into one of utter sorrow. He made to gather her in his arms, but she pushed him away. "Don't touch me!" she screamed.

She refused to look at him and it hurt. It hurt so much. "Please… Madi, look at me…"

Finally, her beautiful hazel orbs – glistening with tears – turned to him and it only made his heart break. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." His own tears were blurring his vision. "I… I was high," he quietly confessed. "My mom had used the bastard to kill my brother, Beau. He wanted to be our father and mom wanted to get back into this house after we moved out… The fucker broke up with his wife who ended up killing herself and their two daughters. We were back here in this house and…"

He gripped his hair tightly in frustration. "She wanted me to be her perfect child. The cock-sucking whore only did what would make herself happy. She lived in her own fucking fantasy." He crawled over to Madi. His body absorbing the heat into his cold, dead form. "So I fell into using coke. It made everyday feel better. My life suddenly didn't feel so fucked up, anymore." He fell on to his back and stared at the ceiling.

"I don't know anymore, Madi. I know I'm dead, but I don't remember how. They told me that I killed people, but I don't know who." He turned to look at her frightened expression. "I just want someone to accept me for me. Please." He got back on his knees and crawled back to her and laid his head on her knees. "Please, don't hate me. I promise… I promise I'll never do it, again. I'll listen to you. Don't leave me, Madi. Don't push me away."

He lips trembled. His sweet, beautiful Madi. She would never leave him. Never. Never. Never. His Madi. His.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I can't do this. I'm scared. Leave me alone." His heart dropped. "Please, just leave me alone…"

His entire form shook. She was rejecting him. His Madi… She promised that she would never leave him. She promised!

He let out a scream of agony and disappeared into the basement. He'd show her. She was his and he was never going to let her go.

Slipping on the skin tight suit, he slowly made his way back up. Everyone had already gone to bed and even if they weren't, he knew that they would be none the wiser.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Things are really starting to fall apart now for Tate and Madi. Hopefully Tate won't do anything too impulsive… But knowing him…

Don't hate me!

Sorry for the sparse updates lately and this chapter was a bit short. I just got a new job. Yay! And I'm applying to go back to school… Been busy. I hope everyone's had a happy Valentine's Day or Single's Awareness Day (for me, at least).

Thank you meangirl8 for reviewing!

Thank you as well to everyone who has favourited and followed this story.