Warning: This chapter contains talk of a past rape, but there are no graphic details. DO NOT read if something like that is triggering for you.

CHAPTER SIX

A few days later I finally had time to do the research. I typed in my address and a bunch of articles came up, and a lot of them called my house 'The Murder House', I also read countless articles on murders and suicides that have taken place here.

The most recent one was a young man named Travis, who was killed in the house but found in pieces in a different part of the city. A man named Larry was convicted for the murder. Also Constance's name came up a lot. She and Travis were together at the time of his death and she was interviewed multiple time and almost convicted for it.

I read about countless other murders, they were pretty gruesome. Then I saw a title, 'Boy Kills Several of His Classmates, Police Kill Him.' I was about to click the link when my father called me to come downstairs. So I exited out and shut off my laptop.

My father was standing there with Jennifer right next to him and they were holding hands, I cringed at the sight.

"Jennifer and I were called last minute to a business trip in Florida. We will be back in about 3-4 weeks." This news didn't surprise me at all.

"Okay?" He didn't need to tell me this stuff anymore. I didn't care where the bastard went.

"Constance has agreed to stop in every once in a while to check on you." Jennifer said as if I was a young child.

"I'm 18, I can look after myself!" I defended.

"Lily I'm just being precautious. Your mother wouldn't want me to leave you alone." My father said not really caring about what my mother would want.

"Oh how do you know what mom would want? You never talked to her when she was alive." I retorted only to receive a nasty glare from him. Without another word he led Jennifer out of the house, I just glared at them as they left.

"You know if you keep glaring at them, something might happen to them." I turned and found a very amused Hayden.

"What do you want?" I really wasn't too thrilled to see her.

"Oh Lily, be nice. I just want to talk to you." She said with an evil smirk upon her face. "You've been replaced by that whore your father's with." She added.

"She replaced me a long time ago. Why are you telling me this? It's not like you care, you did the same thing to the Harmon family." It was quiet because she knows that I'm right.

"Well some people regret things." Who is she kidding? She doesn't regret it.

"Do you regret it?" I already knew her answer though.

"Okay you caught me, but you and I are kind of alike. Well not really, but I like your attitude towards that bitch."

I was done talking to her but so I started to walk away.

"Wait, I really do need to talk to you."

"Does it have to do with the countless people who have died here and are still in the house?"

"Damn you're good." She said wearing a smirk.

I started to walk away again, "One more thing. Be careful of the other ghosts and your father."

"Okay, thank you." Then I finally walked away from her.

On my way up the stairs I caught a glimpse of a person in a black rubber suit standing in the doorway, but when I looked back I didn't see anybody. I got the chills thinking about that figure, but I wasn't actually scared. I felt whoever was behind the mask was here to protect me. There was this odd lonely feeling setting in. I really wanted to see Tate now because he always made me feel safe whenever I was with him. Immediately after that thought there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" I yelled to Moira backtracking down the stairs.

When I opened the door I found Tate standing there with a smile.

"Hey Tate!" I was excited to see him.

"My mother told me to come check on you. She's going out of town for the weekend." He told me.

"You didn't need to." I said this even though I was really happy to see him.

"But I wanted to, I like hanging with you." He said making me blush but I turned around before he could see it. He came in and shut the door.

I brought him up to my room and he sat on my bed.

"Has it gotten any better with your father?" He asked almost as if he already knew the answer to that.

"No, in fact a while I ago I heard him and Jennifer talking and she was complaining about how she doesn't like me. My father told her not to worry and that in a few weeks they would have the house to themselves." I explained and Tate pulled me to sit next to him.

"Look Lily you don't need to worry. I won't let them take you away from here, from me." He whispered that last part while hugging me. I knew that Tate would help me, also I knew my father was planning much more than sending me away from here.

"Oh Tate, I'm doing some research on the house and your mother said she said she lived in the house. Did you live here as well?" He looked really hesitant when I said that.

"Oh yeah, but I was too young to remember it at all." From that statement I knew that he was lying to me, but I decided to let it go.

"Oh okay, did your mother ever talk about any ghosts in the house?"

Now he was giving me an odd look, "No, she never talks about it." This was when I first suspected that Tate was hiding something from me. Could he be a ghost as well?

"I should probably head home." Tate said getting up, but I grabbed his arm.

I didn't want to be alone again, "Please don't go. Can you stay with me tonight?" I was desperate at this point.

He debated it and sat back down beside me, "If you want me to." I sighed in relief.

I laid back on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, Tate laid back as well.

He broke the comfortable silence, "Remember when you said you would tell me what was bothering you when we were talking in your backyard, some other time?"

I nodded, "Yes I remember." I was still staring straight at the ceiling.

"Are you ready to tell me what it was?" I should have known he wouldn't let that go.

"Do you really want to know?" He nodded making me sigh.

This was going to be really hard, "Okay, I should start by saying I had a younger sister, Kimmy. Only she died when I was 13 and she was 9. We were coming home from the park and she walked too far into the street, getting hit by a car and she died instantly. Then two years later, when I was 15, I met a boy named Wes. He was really nice and I really though he was different from those other boys. I really thought he liked me for who I was, but I was wrong." I was struggling to go on, and Tate could see this so he grabbed my hand.

"What did he do?" I could see the flash of anger in his eyes already.

"A month after we started dating, he invited me over and said we were going to hang out and watch a movie. He started kissing me, and he clearly wanted more but I told him to stop. He didn't listen to me. Long story short, he raped me." That was the hardest thing to say and I could feel the tears running down my face.

I took a breath noticing that Tate looked really worried and angry.

"I tried to tell someone but he threatened to kill me. When I told my friend, she confronted him and he denied saying I was liar. Then he sent his friends to beat me up. I finally told my mother a year later and we tried to convict him but the court let him go." I finished.

Tate pulled me into a much needed hug, "Lily I'm so sorry. If I ever saw that kid I would kill him." He said sounding very dark.

"I would too, but he's dead."

Tate looked at me, "What happened to him?"

"Last year, he got drunk with a bunch of his friends, the ones who beat me up. They got into the car and ran it into a tree. Everyone in that car died." Now it was my turn to sound dark. To be honest that was the best news that I had gotten last year.

"Karma is a bitch, I would know." I nodded and decided not to ask what he meant by that. I had a feeling he would tell me eventually.

"It's getting late. We should get some sleep." Tate said to me.

I nodded and he pulled me with him under the covers. It didn't take us that long to get to sleep.