CHAPTER TWELVE

The next morning, I woke up feeling sluggish and nauseated. It felt as if no part of me was actually alive. Did I die?

"Miss?"

I jolted and stared at the maid with wide eyes. "Moira… What are you doing in my room? You're not supposed to e working, today."

She gave me a sad smile. "Haven't you figured it out, yet? I came with the house."

Frankly, much of what happened yesterday felt like a blur. What was real and what wasn't? I rubbed my eyes and looked at the maid. Her image flickered briefly from the young woman whom I had always seem and the old woman whom I could match the voice that I had initially heard. "Are… Are you…?"

She shot me a dry look. "What do you think?"

I groaned and covered my face with my blanket. "Who else is a ghost here?"

She smiled wanly at me. "Get up. Someone unwanted is lurking in the house."

"Is it Addy? I don't mind – "

"It's someone none of us like."

I tilted my head in confusion, but complied nonetheless. With mom heavily pregnant by now and Violet going to school more regularly, I was the one taking care of things around the house.

Once I was presentable, I made my way downstairs.

"Who are you?" I demanded to the figure who was loitering in the hall way.

The woman turned towards me. "Oh, it's you."

A sneer immediately made its way to my face. I didn't like her tone. "You're trespassing. Didn't I warn you that I'd call the police?" My cell phone was clenched tightly in my hand. "I'm very serious about this, Constance. Mom might be lenient with your misdemeanor, but I can assure you that one call and you're going to have a restraining order in your hands."

"You can't keep me away from this house," she scoffed. "Have you seen Tate? I think he – "

"Hello? This is Madison Harmon," I spoke into the phone. "I have a woman here who has broken into your house repeatedly and is refusing to leave. I live on – "

"Alright. Alright," she growled. "I'll leave, but if you see my son arou – "

"GET OUT!" I shouted.

She scampered off, leaving the door wide open.

I sighed and put down my hand. The phone's screen was dark. If she had been more observant, she would've known that there wasn't anyone on the other side. Suddenly, I felt someone walk up behind me.

"Moira, is tha – " When I turned around, I saw a different woman. She was beautiful – blonde and pale with seductive eyes. "Who are you?"

"How are you, child?" she asked, ignoring my question.

I huffed. The irritation from encountering Constance was still roaring inside me. "How do you think I am? I have random living people entering our house as if they were invited and I just learned that ghosts are lurking about here, as well!" I threw my hands into the air. "I can't do this!"

Nora smiled complacently at me. "The others here are quite nice. Why don't I introduce you?"

I glared at her. "No. I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm not going anywhere with anyone." I turned around and made to stomp away, but as I did, something hit the back of my head and I dropped to the floor in a dead faint.

"Madi… Madi, I love you so much. Didn't you sat that you'd never leave me?"

"You promised me forever…"

"YOU PROMISED ME FOREVER!"

Tate's face was distorted, quickly becoming unrecognisable. His once beautiful blonde curls were painted black. His face was sheet white and the chocolate brown eyes were burning black coals.

Cold, bony hands gripped tightly around my throat. I scratched at his arms, hands, face – anywhere I could reach, but it was useless. My vision blurred.

I didn't want to die. I didn't want to die!

Sharp nails dug into my skin. He was going to rip my head off!

My eyes snapped open and I immediately began to panic when I felt something around my neck. I tried to reach it, but realised that I was completely restrained on to a chair.

"Help!" I screamed, but a man appeared and pressed his hand over my mouth. I looked at him with wide eyes.

He looked passively at me, an index finger pressed against his lips. "No need to worry. I'm just going to – "

"Let her go, Charles," Nora fussed. An annoyed look marred her perfect face.

The man clad in a lab coat with a doctor's mask sighed and began to loosen the restraints.

"What is going on? Who are you?" I demanded.

The blonde woman answered for him instead. "He's my good for nothing husband."

I looked at the man again in a new light. He seemed genuinely hurt by her statement.

Faintly, I could hear him mutter, "I only ever wanted to make you happy."

I slowly got off the chair and looked around me. This must be the basement, but I had never been to this part before. It was on the other side, slightly tucked in a corner.

"Come, burn with me," a soft raspy female voice breathed into my ears.

I scrambled back and saw the mother of the two girls. Her face was just as I remembered it. The skin was charred black with blisters still bubbling underneath her skin. Her eyes were dull – dead and empty. By myself, she didn't look as harmless as she did the other night.

"Hey, blind girl," a familiar voice cackled from the side.

The tree people from the car! Their crazed eyes and smiles scared me. As they approached me, I tried to back away, but realised that I was already pressed against the wall.

"Didn't get to kill ya before, bitch," the male said. "Gonna have fun with ya, now."

My heart was pounding in my ear. I wasn't sure what he had even said. There was only fear. Eyes darting left to right, I bolted off into a random direction. Fortunately, I saw the faint outline of the door atop the stairs. I climbed the steps two at a time, relief and excitement blooming from within me.

As I was about to reach the top, two small identical forms popped out in front of my only path to freedom.

"Please… Please, let me through," I begged the twins. "I'm not going to tell anyone about this. It'll be as if nothing happened. Just let me through."

They sneered at me. "No one's going to believe you, anyway. They'll all think you're crazy!"

I took a step back. "Why are you doing this? Why – "

"BOO!" A brunette was suddenly in front of me with a crazed look on her face.

Gasping in shock, I swiftly turned around, but the old, wooden steps was more narrow than I was used to. My feet slipped off the edge and I tumbled down. Pain exploded around me as I hit every step of the stairs. Darkness clouded my vision when I finally stopped.

Through the agony, I knew that I couldn't stay here. It'd only get worse.

I slowly go to my knees. I could feel warm liquid dribbling into my mouth. Was me nose broken? My next swallow was thick and overwhelmingly dominated by the taste of copper.

I clumsily stumbled to my feet and tried to run, once more. It didn't matter where I was going. I crashed into support beams and wooden furniture, but nothing was going to stop me.

Turning a corner, I tripped and fell into water. The edges of the tub was slick. I flailed around, trying to hold my breath, but I was winded from the fall and shock.

Eventually, I managed to break through the surface. Sitting in the tub, I wondered why it had felt so much deeper before.

"He killed me in that tub," a middle-aged woman said. Her form loomed over mine. "All we wanted to do was help him and he killed us."

The younger woman beside her nodded solemnly. Blood trickled from her pale face. "He tied me up and stabbed me – fifty-three times." She leaned down, looking at me with her wide, dead eyes. "Why?"

I pushed her away and managed to tumble out of the tub – soaking wet. Without looking back, I made my way back to the door, hoping that the twins had gotten bored and left.

Stumbling over several small objects on the way, I still managed to safely navigate to the foot of the stairs. It was so close. Only a short distance left to my freedom. Only the trek up these steps. As soon as I had the door open, I'd be safe.

A hand shot from underneath a table and grasped tightly on to my ankle. I let out a shriek as my battered body crashed on to the cold, concrete.

Futilely, I kicked my leg, trying to ward away the attacker. I looked behind me and saw a pale deformed face with sharp teeth and a manic smile. Two black coals stared back at me as it continued to claw at my pyjama pants.

I kicked it with my other feet, but it only made it angry. The smile had quickly turned into a snarl. It sunk its claws into my skin and began to pull me under the table.

I screamed in horror, trying to grasp anything that could possibly keep me in place. All I could reach were old, discarded toys and a chair that promptly fell over and slid with me.

"Go away, Thaddeus," an irritated voice said from above me. "Go away!"

The thing let out a whimper, let go of me, and retreated back into the darkness under the table.

I looked at my saviour in disbelief. The blonde woman was glaring at where Thaddeus had disappeared to, but as she turned towards me, her face softened. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around me in a maternal gesture.

I trembled in terror. This was the woman who had brought me down here in the first place. Why was she behaving this way, now? Why was everything so confusing? When had my life become a never-ending horror movie?

As I drowned in my own tears of self-pity, the woman cradled me like a small infant. Her soothing words did nothing to calm my nerves, but it managed to lull me into a fitful sleep.

...

He sat inside the gazebo, looking at the night sky. There had been a time when he'd sneak out on to the rooftop with her. It was dangerous because of her poor sight, but she'd do it anyway. She was a romantic.

A smile made its way to his face. She was always so warm and trusting. She was everything that he had ever wanted and he had betrayed her. Why did he kill them? Why did it mean so much back then?

What the fuck was he doing?

He kicked the white wooden frame and roared in anger. Why did he have to be trapped here? Why couldn't be move on? There had to be something better than this.

"Nora's taken Miss Madison into the basement," he heard the sultry voice tell him.

He sighed and slumped on to the floor. "She doesn't want to see me. I can't… I can't…" Tears welled up in his eyes. There was nothing that he could do about it. His Madi didn't want to see him. She wasn't his anymore.

Moira's young, youthful face sneered at him. "All men are the same. Take what they want and when it doesn't go their way, they lay over and fucking die. Fucking useless lump of flesh."

She pressed herself against him. Her chest edging out of her tight uniform. She raked a hand through his hair and then, he snapped.

"Get away from me!" His red-rimmed eyes were wide. Only his Madi was allowed to do that!

Moira raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him before disappearing.

He was breathing heavily. That nostalgic feeling… Nothing was going to keep him away from her. Anyone who got in his way was going to wish that they hadn't.

As he thought of the ways that he'd make them suffer, he arrived in the basement. All the ghostly residents were riled up about something and he had sinking feeling that Madi was in the centre of it.

"Madi?" he shouted into the darkness. Concern was evident in his voice.

He heard snickering from a corner beside him, but he ignored it. His goal was solely to find Madi.

"Come on, lover boy, why are you going after a little prepubescent girl when you can have me?" the newest addition to the house purred. She approached him with eyes dark with desire. "This house… It makes me so horny all the time." She ran a hand down her body and moaned. "Your dad is a pretty poor fuck. No wonder your mom shot him dead."

Tate gritted his teeth and clenched his hands. This wasn't the time to deal with pests like her. He had something more important to do.

"You know… She puts up a brave front, but she's really only a scared little girl who can't even take care of herself. And she's a liar. She's not blind. Probably looking for attention, isn't she? That stupid bitch."

The anger that he was trying so hard to suppress was quickly spewing over the edges. He turned towards the home-wrecking bitch who was grinning cockily at him. He'd show her that there were still rules in this house.

"There are only two things that I hate and one is cheating cocksuckers who don't know their place." With that, he whipped out a knife and sliced open her neck like it was butter.

"Fu – " she gurgled. Her eyes were wide with bewilderment. It was always shocking dying a second time, or however many times this was now.

He gave her limp body a kick for good measure before resuming his search. It didn't take long. He found Nora kneeling on the floor with a small form in her embrace.

"She's so young and fragile…" the woman said, stroking the girl's hair.

Madi's eyes were closed. Her cheeks were still strained with half-dried tears.

Gently, he gathered her into his own arms. She stirred, but remained asleep. He smiled as she sighed and snuggled into him. He missed this – her body warm against his cold, dead one.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Poor Madi… Things really aren't looking good for her, right now. No matter what Tate's intentions were or how much he loves her, it's going to take some drastic for her to forgive him.

Thank you ludivine77, NameWithNoMeaning, and guests (AFAN and Laurel) for reviewing!

AFAN: I hope so, too‼ It's so difficult not writing them together!

Laurel: Yeah, it's going to take quite a bit of time and only under circumstances that I think it's realistic for her to really forgive him… If she ever does. In terms of him raping her mother, I'm still contemplating an alternative. I want to say that out of his love for Madi that he would never do anything remotely close to cheating on her.

Ludivine77: Thank you for reviewing!

NameWithNoMeaning: I am doing much better. Thank you! It seems that the other ghostly residents have their own plans as well. Tate will have to do a bit of damage control, while still staying out of Madi's sight.

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

As promised, for all your reviews, I updated as soon as I could!

I will continue to promise you this: More reviews = faster updates.