If Tate were here, he would actually be trying to help. The thought struck her that morning as she listened to her parents arguing over what should be done with her. It had only been a week since she started seeing the psychiatrist, and already they were fed up with having to pay for extra things because of their daughter. Alice still hadn't spoken a word to anyone besides the woman she had seen twice, and even then she hadn't said much. There was little that could be done to help her, she knew that. Even the pills that the psychiatrist had prescribed didn't do very much to help. The orange bottle was now located in the bag hanging from Alice's shoulder as she stared at the house in front of her. The more she thought about her life and the choice she was about to make, the more certain she was that it was the right thing to do. No matter what anyone said, the only one who had actually cared about her wellbeing had been Tate. Without him, everyone just seemed to have given up on her. As terrified as she was of her friend, she would rather face him than to go through another day in the Hell that had become her life.

She stepped inside the house before shutting the door behind her, surprised that it had been that easy to get in. The front door had been locked, as Alice had expected, but the kitchen door was unlocked. Being in the empty house, she was haunted with memories, things that would never happen again. She remember the days where she helped Constance cook supper because Tate hadn't come home by the time she got there, or the nights Tate somehow convinced her to watch horror films with him. She bit her bottom lip as she made her way through the kitchen and up the stairs, blinking away the tears in her eyes. By the time she reached the door to Tate's old room, her hands were shaking as she fumbled with the doorknob, feeling like it was necessary to at least visit this room one last time. She sat on the floor, her back against the wall as she looked around the room that she used to be so familiar with but now seemed so foreign.

"I'm so sorry," Alice whispered to the room, pulling her legs to her chest. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend; that I wasn't there for you when you so obviously needed someone." Her voice caught in her throat as she tried to say his name, wondering if he was even there to listen. She knew there were some ghosts in the house, but it was a guess as it if Tate would be one of them. Half of her hoped that he wasn't, just so that he wouldn't see her like this. "I don't blame you for what happened… I just – I miss you so badly, Tate. You were… You were the only thing in this world that I had and I can't do this alone. I can't wake up every morning and know that I'm alone." She let out a choked sob, resting her forehead on her knees. "I can't do this without you, Tate. I-I've tried and I can't."

It was hours before she left Tate's room. She realized, as she sat, that it didn't matter how scared she was of him. Tate Langdon was her best friend and she loved him no matter what. She just wanted him back, somehow. She didn't want to exist in the world if she didn't have her best friend, and she was determined, now more than ever, that she wasn't going to. Here, there could be two outcomes, that were both better than how she was going day to day. She would either simply die and fade away in the world, or she would die and become another member of the house, like she had been told would happen by Nora. She felt a pang of guilt, wondering what the woman must have thought of everything going on. She stood from her spot on the floor, shaking slightly. As she lifted her bag, she could hear the pills rattle in their bottle at the bottom of the bag and bit her lower lip. As confident as she may have thought she was, the thought of death was still horrifying to her.

Alice made her way to the stairs, pausing before she took a step down. She had decided that taking the pills in the living seemed the best place, but it was daunting to walk down the stairs in front of her. She shivered, feeling suddenly uneasy in the house she used to love being in and wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug. As she took the first step down, she felt strong hands on her shoulders, shoving her forward with terrifying strength. It only took moments before her neck made contact with the wooden stairs, not enough time for her to realize what was going to happen. Everything went black as soon as her neck snapped.

Standing at the top of the stairs, Alice shivered, pulling her cardigan around her tighter as she stared over the railing at the crumpled body on the floor. It seemed like one of those things that you couldn't deny because the truth was staring you in the face. She took a shaky breath and turned away from the sight that could only be her body. She couldn't remember what had actually happened, just the firm hands on her shoulders as she took the first step down the stairs. It was easy to guess what had happened next, but why? She couldn't figure out why someone would want her dead. Brushing strands of hair out of her face, she sank to the floor as a woman walked toward her.

"What are you doing here?" Alice knew the woman immediately, recognizing her not only from pictures she had seen, but from meeting her once or twice throughout her time in the house. Nora seemed frightened at the sight of her, which ended up making Alice feel even more afraid of what happened next. "You really shouldn't be here…" On a second look at the tiny girl sitting on the ground, realization struck her and the blonde woman's expression softened. "You can't leave, can you, darling?"
Alice shook her head weakly, looking at the floor by her feet, nervous about the woman's reaction. To her surprise, Nora sat down beside her, smoothing her skirt as she did so and looked at Alice with concern. "What happened?"
"I think… I got pushed, I think, down the stairs." She mumbled quietly, chewing on her lower lip. She had decided that no one needed to know she was planning on killing herself, especially not Nora. The woman would probably be devastated to know she had been thinking such terrible thoughts.
"I'm sorry, dear." Nora responded quietly, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind the teenager's ear. Alice resisted asking the woman about Tate, not wanting to bring up what he did quite yet. She continued biting her lip as she looked up at the woman, noticing the sad expression across her features. "You were so young, with so much life left in you. You don't deserve to be in such a place full of sadness and sorrow." Alice noticed the woman look down with a subtle pause, "Neither you, nor Tate, deserve to be here…"