Narcissistic Cannibal

“Well, it's a good thing our friends downstairs had a first aid kit. Even if you are dead,” Patrick spoke, taking Sophia's hand in his own and bringing it up to the gauze on her head, indicating her to hold it in place. She wasn't able to remember how she was brought into Violet's room, she barely remembered Patrick doing anything to help her, coming to while he was patching up whatever he could from her smashed skull.

“Thank you,” Sophia spoke quietly, leaning her back against Violet's metal bed frame.

“I think I'm gonna have to leave you with the Harmon's though,” he stood up from the chair he had pulled up next to Violet's bed, packing up the first aid kit as he did. He didn't sound particularly happy about that fact however. Sophia had learned from Tate that the last two families to own the house never really got along in the first place. He didn't explain to her why though.

“I'll be fine,” she smiled at him, although her head was pounding and hurt like hell. She leaned her head into her hand that held the gauze.

“Are you sure you fell?” he asked, slowly backing out of the room.

“Yes, I'm sure I fell,” Sophia stressed. So many people had asked her since Tate had left her in the hallway that she was sick of the question. None of them knew that she was with him however, or even what they had been doing.

Patrick didn't push any further, only raising his hands in his defense, quickly exiting Violet's room and leaving Sophia alone. She knew that the Harmons were outside the room in the hallway, she could hear them talking, arguing. Sophia knew that Vivien and Ben went at it more than a few times a week, though she was never around to witness it. And she was never around for them to lecture Violet either. Judging by their tones, that's exactly what was happening.

Even with her slight handicap of not being able to walk a straight line, Sophia slowly got up from Violet's bed, curiosity pulling her toward the door. She stood to the side, directly on the other side of the wall where The Harmon's were arguing. She contemplated for a second just hiding in her natural ghostly way and walking into the hall, but it seemed to be too much effort for her.

“Why can't we just tell her about – ?” Violet asked, the first clear words Sophia heard before her father cut her off.

“We can't tell her directly. It would be devastating and we don't know what state of mind she's in Vi,” Ben spoke wisely. Sophia heard his daughter scoff loudly at him.

“We just need to keep talking to her about it,” Vivien spoke up in her husband's defense.

“Both of you talked to her and it got worse,” Violet pointed out to them and Sophia had no idea what they meant at first. “She needs to know everything.”

“She doesn't need to know everything,” Ben declined his daughters statement.

“I was never told everything, and I wish I had been told. I wish I listened to you in the first place dad,” Violet spoke through a tight jaw.

Sophia didn't want to be curios any longer, she wished he had never got up from the bed. She began to feel sick and she didn't know if it was her head or her nerves.

“Sophia just needs time, she'll understand eventually-” Ben tried to reason with his angry teenage daughter.

“No she won't!”

“Look, Vi,” Vivien spoke up at her daughter's outbreak. “Talk to her then. Don't tell her everything. Do not tell her everything. But talk to her about him like we did. She's closer to you than us. Maybe she'll finally take heed.”

“I can't believe you guys,” Violet spoke.

“Violet!” Ben called after her as she moved into her room, slamming the door behind her, before her light brown eyes locked with Sophia's.

She kept her hand on the door, breathing in deeply to calm herself as she stared at Sophia. “You need to sit down,” she spoke, nodding back to the bed.

“I feel fine,” Sophia lied.

“No, I need to talk with you,” Violet spoke, moving her hand from the door to Sophia's free hand, leading her back to the bed.

“About Tate?” Sophia asked, moving back to her previous position on Violet's bed with her back against the metal headboard, while Violet sat cross-legged in front of her.

“Yes,” she said shortly, watching Sophia's nerves begin to show through her demeanor. “I don't care what my parents say, or if you hate me after but I wish somebody had told me everything before I fell in love with him.”

“Wh-what?” Sophia stumbled over her question. Neither Violet nor Tate had mentioned such a thing to her before, this was a total shock.

“We got together back when my family moved here in 2011. He was one of my dad's patients. My dad kept warning me to stay away from him and I didn't understand why...” Violet stared straight into Sophia's green eyes, as if searching her very soul itself for how much she could handle at the moment. “I don't want you to lose a friend, but Tate isn't what you think. I don't believe that he was ever really your friend at all.”

“That's bullshit, Violet,” Sophia spoke, feeling walls suddenly forming around her.

“Tate is bullshit,” Violet countered quickly, using the same tone.

“Look, if this is some sort of crazy jealousy thing about him being your ex, we're just friends,” Sophia spoke, not quite sure of she was lying or not. It was a valid and truthful statement as of yesterday at least.

“If this were any other circumstance I'd tell you he's all yours. I'm not jealous of you or him. I hate him after what he did. But this isn't a normal circumstance. My parents seem to think you'll just snap out of whatever is between you and him but I know better, and I can't say this any nicer...”

“What did Tate do to you?” Sophia asked quietly, much less hostile toward her friend now.

“God,” Violet sighed, furiously wiping her eyes as they began to tear up. “Have you ever... Loved and hated someone at the same time? Family doesn't count, that shit happens all the time,” Violet asked, sniffing as she gave up, allowing her eyes to water and spill tears down her cheeks. Sophia had never seen her this emotionally upset before. She had no idea how to reply so she just shook her head. “Yeah... Tate did that to me. But there's so much more than that,” Violet spoke, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Tell me everything,” Sophia insisted, believing herself to sit with Violet and hear an angry sob story about how Tate broke her heart before Sophia could leave and ask Tate about it.

“Tate... in 1994 he went to school with a handgun and a shotgun and killed fifteen students. You have to have seen the memorial plaque from it. Apparently before he got to school he also set fire to his mother's current boyfriend. He told me that it was because the boyfriend killed his brother in his sleep. He told me he killed fifteen people in retaliation to his mother wanting a fucking perfect son. Did he tell you how he died?”

“What?” Sophia asked, unable to process Violet's question after the major bomb she had dropped on her. “He... Tate committed-”

“He was gunned down in this room by a SWAT team after the shooting. They shot him seventeen times, and he never had a chance to tell them why. The day I found out was the same day he told me he loved me and the same day I tried to kill myself. I did kill myself...” Violet spoke, looking away from the blatant shock on Sophia's face.

“He killed more people after he died too. Chad and Patrick first. You've met Nora right?” Violet scoffed, shaking her head as she stared down at her lap. “He killed them because they decided not to adopt a baby, and she wanted one. I don't know for sure, but it's my gut feeling that Tate killed Fiona and Dallas when they tried to murder my mom and I the same way that Franklin dude killed Gladys and Maria. He probably killed a chick named Bianca too but she got out of this house before dying, lucky bitch.”

Sophia hadn't heard of the ghosts before, she had never seen them. The fact in Violet's voice, even with her doubt, only added to the disturbing realization Sophia was having about Tate.

“Um...” Violet continued on, glancing up from her lap to make sure Sophia was still listening to her. “There was a girl from my school – our school – Leah. When I had first met Tate, I told him about this bitch I used to hate in school and he offered to scare her off for me. I don't know what he did,” she spoke, pushing her thumb into her forehead before sitting straight and speaking to Sophia again, instead of into her lap. “He attacked her but I don't know what I saw. She thinks it was the devil and she might be right. I got the pills I killed myself with from her.

“After I did, he hid my body in the crawlspace of the house so I wouldn't get scared I guess. He killed an exterminator my dad called down there to keep it a secret. He attacked my dad also when he was trying to get me to commit suicide again, thinking I'd be more calm and accepting or some bull. I dunno,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I dunno, doing it for me just doesn't make it any better,” Violet spoke, standing up from her bed and slowly pacing at the foot. Sophia only continued to stare blankly at where she had been sat before. The body count for Tate was astounding, at least twenty two (unless Violet kept going) with two more people being attacked.

When Sophia finally looked up to Violet, the image was slightly blurry from the tears welling in her eyes. Still, she saw her friend staring back with eyes filled with tears if her own, leaning over the bed with her hands on the footrest. “There's more?” Sophia uttered, realizing that Violet was holding more back about Tate. Something that was making her tremble.

Violet was chewing her bottom lip raw as she contemplated her next statement, feeling it come up from her lungs like vomit; blunt and disgusting. “Tate raped my mom.” Sophia felt her throat close, suddenly unable to swallow from the shock of the statement. Sophia caught Violet's contagious trembling as she brought her hands up to her mouth, forgetting about the gauze she was holding to her head. “Twice.”
A shudder ran through Sophia as her knees drew closer to her chest, a strangled cry escaping from her tight throat. “This can’t be real,” she nearly pleaded with her friend, a glimmer of hope left in her that Tate was not the monster that Violet had just unveiled.

“He finally gave Nora her kid...” Violet trailed off, feeling shocked after what she had revealed, even though she had lived through it. “My little brother. Mom found him and got him back somehow.” She watched Sophia sit in shock on her bed as moments slowly passed them in silence. Violet finally got back onto her bed and grabbed a hold of Shopia’s hand. “I’m sorry...”

“Your parent’s didn’t want me to know,” Sophia said emptily, staring ahead of her still with shocked eyes.

“They didn’t want to do what I just did. I... Really wish Tate wasn’t a terrible person,” Violet mumbled, still holding onto Sophia’s hand. She felt the other girl’s palm slide out of hers and watched as she stood from the bed without a word. “Where are you going?”

“To my room,” Sophia said, stopping after taking a few steps forward, finding her balance again.

“You believe me right?” Violet called out as Sophia opened the bedroom door. She paused for another moment before leaving without a response, the door closing behind her with a click.