AN:

Zeldazonkk: Ugh I know, I feel exactly the same about Tate. I still can't help loving his character even though I hate the things he did. I think he was right to kill the woman too aha, I just don't know if Dakota agrees with us or not ;) Thanks again for reviewing and reading every chapter, it means so much!

Cloudcity'sBookworm: I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter, this next one is much longer :) Yep, I'd probably react worse than Dakota, she seems to handle most things that happen to her better than a lot of us would!

Imagine Daydreams: Thankyou so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

"We found one body a block away, we believe she was one of your patients?"

Dakota listened from behind a wall, peering out every so often. The cops didn't seem to know about what had really happened. Good.

She wondered what Tate had done to the other two, but then again, did she really want to know?

"Yes, her name was Bianca," her dad nodded, concern evident on his features. "I never suspected anything, I mean, all of my patients have some issues; but nothing like this."

Dakota almost laughed, it was ironic, really. He hadn't the slightest idea about what Tate was capable of. Then she frowned, knowing he was only tying to protect her. But there was this... This darkness in his eyes. On his face. It was like she was looking at a stranger, not the thoughtful boy she knew- someone who terrified her.

"And your wife tells us you were in Boston, at the time of the home invasion?"

"Yes, I had to visit a patient. Ginny Blevins."

"And you used to live there?"

"No, we lived in New York. The patient used to live in New York but recently moved, her family requested that I come out; it was urgent."

The cops both nodded in unison, content with his alibi.

"You said they were reenacting a murder?" Her mom asked. She still looked shaken.

"Yes, they seemed to have a little club going..." One of the cops nodded. "They dedicated their time to planning this. They both fled."

"Wait a minute, they fled?" Her dad asked, his eyebrows knitting together. "That's the best you can do? How do we know they're not going to come back?"

The cops exchanged a glance. "We don't, for sure. However, it's extremely unlikely. The double homicide that they were reenacting took place in on yesterday's exact date in 1968. They won't return to your house because they have no purpose here, they practically sliced Bianca in half. They aren't as organised as they thought they were, and the chances of them coming back here are as slim as any other killer appearing at your door tonight. We're confident that you're all safe, but we have a reliable security company's card and we'd be happy to leave it with you for your piece of mind."

Dakota noticed her mom shudder. "They were going to drown me, and I just remember water running... But I passed out. I was so scared, for my daughter more than myself, of course. God knows what they planned to do to her. And you're telling me they're still out there?"

Dakota looked down, even though they couldn't see her. She felt so guilty for even going down to that door, knowing it would have happened the same way regardless. She hated the idea of her mom feeling like she was going to lose Dakota and there was nothing she could do about it. Which brought her back to Tate. He had saved her life. Although seeing him the way she had sent chills down her spine, she couldn't help but wonder if he deserved another chance to be that gentle, caring boy she thought she knew again...

"Thankyou for your help, officers, we'll take that card please," Her dad said quickly, before tensions rose.

They left as Dakota walked in, and she beamed at her dad, brushing past them.

He embraced her in an tight hug.

"Dad, you're home!"

"He's not," her mom remarked dejectedly, and her dad broke off the hug.

"Vivien..." He began gently. "We can't just leave this place, we could be happy here! You know we could, we were getting somewhere, Viv! This house was getting us there."

"Before Hayden, we were happy, Ben," Her mom snapped.

And there it was. The source of all their disputes, of all the deep-rooted tension hanging over the three of them like thick, heavy, polluting smoke.

Dakota knew her mom wanted to refer to Hayden using something other than her name, but since Dakota was present, she resisted the urge to do so.

"We weren't happy, Viv!" Her dad exclaimed in frustration. "You really wanna talk about that? How you cried yourself to sleep every night after our miscarriage-"

"Our miscarriage?" Her mom cut him off.

Her dad nodded, his anger building. "Yes, Vivien. Our miscarriage!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Ben, did you have to carry a baby inside of you for months and then deliver it? Dead?!"

"I lost my baby too!" Dakota looked up at her dad when he screamed those words, and realised she was getting sick and tired of hearing them argue about the same thing over and over like it was some competition on who was the least fortunate, who was hurting the most.

Before her mom could scream something back at him, Dakota stepped in between them.

"Have either of you stopped to consider how I feel? About this? About everything?" She asked, irritated. "No, you haven't. I lost my unborn brother, too, I lost my best friend, I lost myself. And I was just getting her back. But now we're uprooting everything again? Because something happened to us that shouldn't have, right?" She laughed at the irony of it. Most things that had ever happened to her and her family shouldn't have. "Because it was frightening? It was. You're right mom," she turned to her mom. "But who's to say something else frightening won't happen to us in our new home? Something we don't deserve... Like I didn't deserve to be shot and you didn't deserve to be cheated on."

Her mom stifled a sob and Dakota had a feeling that the last sentence had triggered it. She felt guilty immediately, and fought the urge to apologise and hug her mom. But she couldn't apologise for stating a fact and simply being honest with her feelings like they were, and she had to remain firm.

"Dakota, your father and I both love you very much, but it was a mistake to ever come back here. To force you to face all the horrible memories of what happened to you in that school, all of it... I can't stay here, and neither can you. We can't move on from what people did to us in this house if we stay here, either. I'm sorry, Kota, for everything, but we need to sell this house as soon as possible."

Dakota stared at her mom with dampened eyes and watched her leave the room. She went upstairs, probably to cry.

"I have to meet Sasha at the mall," Dakota said coldly, walking past her dad. She stared at the ground.

"Dakota, your mom said she saw Tate in our house when she was being taken upstairs," her dad said, frowning. "Why was he here last night?"

Dakota turned to face him. "Tate saved my life, dad, he distracted that woman before she could hurt me," she lied easily, which surprised her since she wasn't able to lie to her dad often. "I don't know why he was here, but I'm glad he was. You weren't. And I have a feeling that you weren't seeing a patient. Not that it matters, anyway, because you and mom won't stay together after this move. I know you won't."

With that, she left. As she walked out of the door, she realised that she didn't even think the lie through. She didn't have to. It was for Tate.

She also realised that despite her dad's alibi seeming convincing, there was something off about it... There was plenty of shrinks in Boston, so why would her dad go to extreme lengths to travel up there when his marriage was just beginning to seem stable...?

Dakota pushed all of the questions out of her mind, deciding to revisit them later. Right now, she wanted to relax and get away from it all. She smiled slightly, shopping and pretending to care about Sasha's latest gossip seemed like a good way to do that.

"So, there's a new guy in school," Sasha smirked as they browsed in a boutique store. "Perfect timing, don't you think?"

Dakota held out a white lace camisole and debwhets buying it. "I don't need a boyfriend right now... But you should flirt with him tomorrow, you'd be this year's cutest couple."

She internally frowned at her own words, she was sounding fake again. But she was with Sasha and she couldn't afford not to be right now. She had to keep this friendship going, or she'd be lonely again and she couldn't handle that on top everything else.

Sasha giggled. "I heard he wants you, though. You didn't even notice him on Thursday at lunch, he was staring at you the whole time. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to say something dumb at the time."

Dakota frowned at her. "I wouldn't have said something dumb, Sasha. I probably looked pretty damn stupid at the time, though. You should have just told me," then she paused and sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just- I have a lot going on right now."

Sasha nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, Sophia'll stop her shit, soon, though. She's just a loser with no real friends who thinks she can gain some by making people hate you. But it's not happening."

Dakota smiled weakly and nodded, though she hated to hear her 'friend' speak about anyone that way, especially Sophia. Sure, she'd been a bitch to Dakota, and had no excuses for torturing her the way she had and would probably continue to; but her sister was dead. It just didn't feel right, nodding along to what Sasha was saying. Yet she did it anyway.

"That's so cute, you should totally get it," Sasha commented, referring to the camisole.

Dakota nodded with a blank look on her face, feeling like she was somewhere else, all alone, despite being surrounded by people in a crowded place. But she faked a smile and bought $200 worth of clothes that she didn't even want.

When she got home, she noticed that her dad's office door was open a crack. And she heard a voice that she knew all too well coming from inside.

"Tate, I appreciate you putting yourself at risk to save my family, and I could never repay you for that... But I need you to tell me why you were in my house at the time of the break-in, when I wasn't at home."

"I know I'm overstepping boundaries by saying this, Ben, but you want me to be honest, right?"

She assumed her dad nodded, and she walked slowly and quietly towards the door, holding her breathe.

"I think about your daughter a lot."

She could tell her dad was beginning to get annoyed. "In what way, Tate?"

"In a lot of ways," he smirked. She didn't even have to see him to know. "I was outside her room, throwing pebbles at her window, you know? But she blew me off. Or at least I thought she did. So I was about to go home when I heard screaming come from inside, and then I knew I had to do something about it."

Dakota wondered if at that moment, he had known he'd be killing someone tonight. He couldn't have. Right?

"So I did. I distracted the woman who was going to hurt Dakota, and then the younger one ran away, for whatever reason. The other two followed her with an axe, and then I went home. I made sure Dakota was okay first, but I left as soon as I knew they were safe."

She heard her dad exhale a sigh. "I understand that you care about my daughter, Tate, but I can't treat you anymore. It's the best thing for everyone involved. Dakota is a complicated girl, and regardless, I wouldn't permit you speaking to her in my house or anywhere else. I'm sorry, Tate, but I can't see you anymore."

"No, you're helping me, Ben, our sessions are helping me a lot!" Tate quickly became upset, his voice shaking. "They really are, I mean it! Please, no more weird shit, I promise!"

There was silence for a moment.

"I can meet you for coffee at some point, Tate, but not in this house, alright?" Her dad eventually agreed, somewhat reluctantly. She could tell it was out of pity and nothing else.

Dakota knew that the session would end soon, and that she'd have to get out of sight before it did, and quietly.

She made her way into the kitchen, carrying her shopping bags. They rustled a little, but she couldn't be seen from where she was and that was the most important thing.

Tate made his way to the door, seemingly grateful, and Dakota's dad headed upstairs.

Hearing that door close made Dakota aware of something. She felt a sudden sense of panic, because maybe she really wouldn't see Tate again after today. On an impulse, she dropped her bags and darted for the door. Her heart sunk when he was nowhere to be seen, already gone; and her own words started to haunt her.

"I never want to see you again!"

She went back inside after thoroughly checking the whole block for Tate, but he had left without a trace, like he always did. Except this time, maybe he wasn't coming back...

Dakota felt tears rolling down her cheeks, and carelessly wiped them away with her sleeve before walking back into the kitchen. She was thankful that her dad wasn't aware of her being home yet, it would give her time to calm down... Or attempt to, at least.

She gasped when she saw a woman standing in the kitchen, raiding through her shopping bags.

"I wanna be a pretty girl like you," the woman who appeared to be suffering with Down Syndrome glanced up at her. "Can you teach me how?"

Dakota smiled. The girl seemed childlike and playful. She was harmless and gentle, she wasn't going to become violent.

"I think you already are, but I can show you where I bought my clothes sometime if you like them?"

"Adelaide?" a southern voice called from Dakota's backyard. It sounded like an older woman.

She walked in and instantly beamed at Dakota. "Oh my, you must be Dakota!"

Dakota smiled, trying to seem friendly and conceal her confusion. "Yes, that's me. Do I... Know you?"

"I'm Constance, your neighbour," the woman replied. "You don't have to take my Addie out shopping, dear, you'd be fortunate to stumble across anything half decent that fits her."

Dakota frowned and stared at Constance in disbelief.

"The pleasure would be mine," she replied dryly.

"Addie, time to go home, I left the cartoon channel on for you," Constance said, ignoring Dakota's offer. "And drop that. It's not for you."

Dakota couldn't help but feel like there was a deeper meaning to that last sentence. She didn't just mean that the dress didn't belong to Addie, she meant it wasn't for her.

For a second, Addie looked like she was about to protest, until Constance shot her a stern, warning glance. She dropped the dress and ran out of the house like a child, probably because Constance treated her like one.

"How do you know my name?" Dakota demanded, folding her arms.

"Addie has caught your mother by surprise a good few times already," Constance replied, studying the floral pattern on the dress Addie had been holding. "She told me she has a daughter called Dakota, I assumed it was you."

Constance lifted the dress and held it at arms length. "My, what a lovely sense of style you have."

"Thankyou," Dakota replied shortly, her patience beginning to wear thin with the woman. "Can I... Help you with something?"

Constance folded the dress neatly and placed it back into the shopping bag. Ignoring Dakota's question, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"Do you smoke?" She asked curiously.

"I have... In the past," Dakota replied sheepishly, looking down at her feet.

Constance chuckled. "Oh, it's nothing to be ashamed of, Missy."

She held out the pack to her and Dakota reached her hand out to take one then shook her head. "My mom is an eco-freak," she laughed slightly. "She can detect tobacco and nicotine from a mile away, so you'd be best to take it outside if you want to light one up."

"Say no more, I'm gone," Constance smiled with a wave of her hand, stuffing the pack back into her bag.

"I almost forgot," she carefully pulled a small box with a delicate looking red ribbon tied around it out of her bag, leaving it on the counter. "I hope it settles you down after all of last night's... Commotion."

Dakota stared after her, and wasn't sure what to think of the woman. She also found something unsettling about the way she had said the last sentence, it was almost cryptic... God, this woman was weird. But when Dakota untied the ribbon, she found a red velvet cupcake, her favourite kind... "Huh."

She tied the ribbon neatly around the closed box again and stared at it for a moment. There was something she liked about the way that ribbon held the box together, protecting the contents inside... And it was beautiful, too. Then she realised why... Tate was her ribbon. He held her together, and she was already falling apart without him after just one day...

The next day at school, the new boy, Cameron, was laying it on thick with Dakota. She flirted back casually, but only to keep Sasha off her back about "turning him down." Sure, he was cute, but he was no Tate.

Yeah, because he doesn't give you advice on trying to kill myself and stab people in front of you, Dakota. God, what a major turn off.

She smirked at her sarcasm, realising how a joke only shared with yourself could still be pretty damn funny. But it shouldn't be. It really wasn't.

In the cafeteria at lunch, Sophia stopped beside Dakota and Sasha. A few other popular girls sat with them, just to listen and collect their gossip, mostly. Or Sasha's gossip that Dakota pretended to care about and listen to.

"I couldn't help but overhear all about your little shopping trip from yesterday in history," she smirked at Dakota. "Was it to get some new clothes with daddy's money because your favourite outfit was a little... Stained?"

Dakota rolled her eyes and held out the cupcake she was about to eat to Sophia, shocking everyone. "Here, have a cupcake, Sophia, you talk more shit than usual when you're hungry."

Her remark earned her a few unwanted giggles from the other girls at the table, who Dakota shot a glare at. She wasn't trying to be mean to Sophia, she was trying to the opposite, and they sure as hell weren't helping.

To her surprise, Sophia accepted the cupcake. "If this is some kind of peace offering-"

"It's. Just. A. Fucking. Cupcake," Dakota sighed, exasperated. "That's all it is. You don't have to take it as something else. It's only a cupcake."

Sophia smiled at her warmly. "I was going to say thank you."

Dakota returned the smile. "You're welcome."

Things went downhill from there. Sophia tried to accuse Dakota of poisoning her because the cupcake had made her sick. Her parents continued arguing. Tate made no appearances... And that's when they started, the nightmares. The memories came in fragments, but they were so vivid; so real. It was always the same.

He walked in, whistling this eery tune, though the room seemed enveloped in silence. She held her breathe, and each time another shot was fired and another body fell lifeless, another heart stopped beating; Cara squeezed Dakota's hand tighter. Until he pulled their table up...

Dakota would jolt awake everytime, in a cold sweat, screaming. Her parents would run in, and she would make something up, she would be convincing about it. She just didn't want them to worry, because the medicine wasn't working anymore...

She went straight to the bathroom on Friday, she couldn't fight it anymore. She pulled out a blade, a new one, and she used the pain to block out the memories. They rarely left her head, always hanging over her like an ominous grey cloud until night, when they could really rain over her.

She saw him standing at the doorway, staring at her with that same numb look of darkness on his face that she'd witnessed the last time she'd saw him and whipped around. He was gone, but the door was left a crack open... She had locked it when she went inside.

That night, it all changed...

It happened the way it always did. The footsteps, the whistling, the screaming, the gunshots... Then he lifted their table. She waited for him to disappear like he always did before she could see his face. But not this time... She saw a face she recognised. But it was tainted. It had dark lines of the human skeleton painted over it's beauty. That face... It was Tate's.

AN: Yay for a longer chapter that deleted like half of itself when I was almost done haha. Obviously I re-typed it because you guys deserve daily updates okay? Not much Tate interaction in this chapter, but there will be way way more next chapter, I promise! I know you're probably thinking that Tate didn't really look like that when he carried out the shooting and that it's way too early for her to remember what he did; but everything's gonna make sense in the next chapter. Her nightmares aren't necessarily all memories, and who knows? Maybe she'll figure that out. Please review and tysm for reading!