In the *** House

Gazing up at the large mansion style home before her; Victoria Harmon found it suddenly increasingly difficult to retain her optimistic outlook on the move. Los Angeles was already much hotter than she'd anticipated, meaning most of her clothes would have to be thrown out. And now they were going to be staying in a house that looked as though it had been stolen from the set of an Alfred Hitchcock film. Still, as she tied her long dark hair back in a quick bun, she tried to remember that this was for her parents, and if it was a change of scenery that would keep them together then she silently vowed to bite her tongue and take each disappointment as it came.

"Great. So we're the Addams family now." Stopping just in front of the porch, Violet Harmon crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. Like Victoria, Violet had been less than thrilled to move across the country. Though unlike Victoria, Violet wasn't keeping her opinions much to herself.

Violet and Victoria Harmon might have been twins, though looking at them one would never guess it. Where Violet had favored their mother Vivien's side of the family with her light hair and dark eyes, Victoria was the opposite inheriting their father, Ben's, dark hair and blue eyes. In many ways they were the same; the twins had similar interests and hobbies. They often times carried the same opinions, only their manners of execution slightly differed. Fashion wise, Violet had always been very conservative, dressing in long, thick layers where Victoria wasn't afraid to sport a tank top and shorts.

Giving her a nudge, Victoria failed to hide her smile at Violet's comment. Vivien and Ben were desperately trying to make this move work and to look on the bright side of everything the girls saw wrong in the move; Violet really wasn't trying to make it easy on them.

"Come on," Victoria snaked her arm around her sister's, pulling her towards the front porch, "maybe it's not that bad inside." Violet rolled her eyes, but reluctantly allowed Victoria to pull her towards the house. She very much doubted she'd love it, however there was little she could do about it now.

"It's a classic L.A. Victorian. Built around 1920..."

"No shit." Violet leaned over to whisper into Victoria's ear as the two trailed behind the tour. Their real estate agent, Marcy, was a small, overly cheerful woman who seemed just as excited about the house as their father was. Victoria didn't really know what she had expected the inside of the home to look like, though it was classy she could admit that.

Noticing the girls lagging behind, Ben slowed down to join them wrapping an arm around each enthusiastically as his eyes wandered around the halls, sneaking peeks into the adjacent rooms.

Ever since the incident, Ben had been trying a little too hard to bond with his daughters, try to seem less of the bad guy that he actually was. Violet, try as she might, had the most difficult time looking past what their father had done. Normally she could grin and bear it to his and Vivien's face, yet Victoria knew Violet's true thoughts on the subject matter. It was easiest for Victoria to simply not think about it. Ben was still their father, regardless how badly he fucked up, and she felt that if her mother could try to forgive him than so could she. Ben Harmon may have been a shitty husband, but he was a pretty good father.

"These are real Tiffany fixtures." Marcy explained to Vivien, pointing up at a few of the lights dangling from the ceiling.

"Tiffany. Wow." Ben playfully mocked, trying to elicit a laugh from the girls to lighten their sour faces. Pitying his attempt at bonding, Victoria gave a small chuckle, shaking her head at his cheesiness. Violet managed a small smile at least before shrugging out of her father's reach to catch up to Vivien and Marcy.

"Do you cook?" Looking past Violet's actions, Ben took this opportunity to rejoin the little tour group.

"Vivien's a great cook..."

Pushing her loose, red plaid sleeves up to her elbows, Victoria took note of the large staircase to her right. It seemed as though most of the living area was downstairs which would have left the bedrooms on the second floor.

Ever since they'd been little, Violet and Victoria had always fought over the room with the least windows. The girls favored the darkness over the cheerful, finding it more comforting, and it was always first dibs. She wasn't even entirely certain yet that they would buy the house, however she didn't care to risk it. Glancing once more at her family as they'd entered the kitchen, Victoria seized the moment and hurried up the grand staircase before her sister could grasp any hint of her intentions.

The upstairs had a completely different feel from the downstairs and Victoria noticed it immediately. It was more modernized, less antique looking though it mostly just consisted of one long hallway with rooms on either side. It still, nonetheless, leaned towards the creepy side of the spectrum fitting unusually well with the much antiquated downstairs.

She chose a room closer towards the staircase, far enough away from the room she suspected her parents to choose to avoid having to listen to their argument, though one she felt might have the least windows. Victoria hadn't considered that it was the room that over looked the front porch, so there was a weird outcropping that allowed two more windows she hadn't anticipated. She also hadn't anticipated someone sitting underneath one of those windows, scratching something into the wooded frame.

"Hey," the boy stopped, turning around to face Victoria as her voice had broken the silence. He was more attractive than she would have thought with a curly mop of blond hair hanging wildly over his dark eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

"I hang out here sometimes." He gave a sort of shrug, glancing around the room before climbing to his feet. His features were soft and he was dressed rather grungy with ripped jeans and faded red Chucks, giving off a very Kurt Cobain feel. "What are you doing here?" He seemed to mockingly ask her in return, taking a step towards her.

Standing her ground, Victoria casually responded, "my parents are looking to buy this place." There was very little that scared Victoria Harmon, an attractive stranger not being one of them. Back in Boston, Victoria had been in more than her fair share of fights over her sister and though not all of them had been quite victorious, she was content that she could handle herself fairly well.

"No shit?" His eyebrows raised as though he was impressed by the fact. "You know this place is haunted right?" His grin widened, deepening his dimples in a mischievous yet almost adorable manner and Victoria couldn't help but to find it oddly alluring.

"I don't believe in ghosts." The response was automatic, rolling right off her tongue before she herself even realized it. It was the truth, if you couldn't see it or feel it than it wasn't real and Victoria was much too old to believe in scary stories. It was one of the things she and Violet had always had in common.

The boy took a step closer towards Victoria and it was only then that she realized he was a good head taller than she was, though it was difficult to make out his build beneath his baggy sweater.

"Maybe you should." His tone had matched her own, sending a shiver down her spine as she searched for some sort of smart response to throw back.

"Victoria? You up there?" Her head snapped in the direction of Ben's voice as it sounded from somewhere down the hall, most likely coming from the staircase. She hadn't been aware of how long she'd been gone, yet it was apparently long enough to have been noticed.

"Yeah, I just..., " she didn't want to give away the boy so she quickly racked her brain for a response, "be down in a minute!" Turning around, Victoria was surprised to find the boy was halfway out of the bedroom window.

"See you around, Victoria." A sudden panic rushed over her as he disappeared out of the window. They were on the second floor, which was pretty high up so there was no possible way the boy could have landed that jump and she doubted there was a ladder conveniently dangling from the side of the house. Hurrying over to the window, half expecting to find the idiot with a broken leg sprawled out on the lawn, Victoria popped her head outside. There was nothing, no trace the boy had been there at all except the one word he'd been scratching into the window pane before Victoria had shown up, 'TAINT'.

"Speaking of the last owners, full disclosure requires that I tell you about what happened to them." Trying to act as though nothing had happened upstairs, Victoria skipped the last few steps with a small leap, receiving a look from her father as the tour had now ended in the room that was likely to become his office.

"What? They die in here or something?" Victoria commented with a sarcastic smile, crossing her arms across her chest as she went to her mother's side. Vivien let out a chuckle, nudging her daughter as though the thought was such a cliche' it sounded ridiculous. Both smiles faltered however when they looked back at Marcy who was turning a little pale.

"Yes actually, both of them. Murder-suicide."

As Marcy went on, Victoria's mind wandered back to the blond stranger. Was that what he'd been talking about? The previous owners? She was certain everyone in the neighborhood must have heard about it and it was exactly the thing a house like this needed to provoke ghost rumors.

"Where did it happen?" Her eyes followed the sound of her sister's voice, whom she hadn't even realized had joined them with their mother's dog, Hallie, in her arms.

"The basement." Marcy responded quickly as if hoping the location would make the matter less of a problem than it was. People were already afraid of basements so what was an added murder-suicide compared to cobwebs and rats?

"We'll take it." Violet's response was short, definite; she had been sold. Without an opinion of her own, Victoria let her eyes wander once more. There was something off about this house, from the strange boy she'd met to the peeling wallpaper. She found the whole place unsettling, as if the very house was cloaked in some shadow, hiding its own secrets.

Things were, however, beginning to look up for the Harmons; her parents were at least pleased about the house and the move. Even Violet seemed to like the house now thanks to her morbid curiosity. Victoria didn't care how she herself felt about the house or the move or any of it, maybe this was what her family needed to stay whole and she promised herself to do anything in her power to keep it that way.