In the *** House

"Why do you even have these?" Tate asked, grabbing hold of Victoria's overalls to give them a tug. Victoria smiled, swatting Tate's hand away with her sketchbook before pulling the cigarette from her lips.

"Because they're sexy." She winked, stretching out her legs along the brick wall she was currently sat upon.

After the home invasion she'd thought maybe it would have somehow brought her, her mom, and Violet closer. Things seemed better for Victoria now that she and Tate were talking again, yet at the same time she was growing more distant from the rest of her family. The tension between her parents had only escalated since the event and though Violet was speaking to her again, she still spent most of her time with Leah. To make matters worse, her mother was now dead set on moving again. She hadn't told Tate yet, then again she'd been trying not to think about it at all; Victoria didn't want to move.

"Okay, what do you think?" Holding her cigarette gently between her teeth, Victoria flipped her sketchbook around to show Tate. It was a man, strapped to a hospital bed and struggling to get free as a beam of light fell upon him from somewhere above. She wasn't sure what had sparked the inspiration for the drawing, but she loved it.

Taking the sketchbook from her hands, Tate raised an eyebrow curiously as he looked from the drawing to Victoria.

"Is this guy being abducted?" Victoria shrugged, a puff of smoke trailing from between her lips. "You know Aliens don't exist."

"Of course they do!" Victoria scoffed, snatching her sketchbook back as Tate laughed. "They just don't waste their time on a hopeless humanity like ours."

"Deep." Tate teased before the sound of a door closing sent him hiding behind the opposite side of the wall. Victoria turned around quickly before pulling her cigarette from her lips to extinguish it on one of the bricks. She was smoking as much as Violet now and her parents didn't exactly know that Victoria smoked at all, let alone that her habit was growing worse.

Her father's figure appeared and Victoria couldn't help the sigh that escaped her. They hadn't spoken since that night in her room and she still wasn't ready to discuss what had happened. She didn't know what to say, because she didn't feel bad about what she'd said before though it had clearly gotten to him. It wasn't fair the way he treated Tate, as though he was perfect and Tate was nothing but trouble simply because his mom was forcing him to see a shrink.

Coming to a stop beside her, Victoria fidgeted with the corners of her sketchbook refusing to make eye contact in hopes that he would take the hint and keep walking. She knew there was only two ways the conversation could possibly go; he would either ground her for smoking as some sort of payback for what she'd said or he would let her get away with it in hopes of making amends.

"Relax." Ben sighed, "I'm not here to bust you." Victoria glanced up at him in suspicion.

"Why not?"

"I'm sorry about... what I said." He was taking the 'make amends' route. "What you girls went through last week..."

"It's cool, I'm fine." She really didn't want to talk about what had happened last week, especially with him.

"Vic, you saw a woman... attacked, you were covered in blood..."

"Dad," Victoria interrupted, "seriously? I'm fine. It'll... make a good college essay some day." Turning away, Victoria focused back on her sketchbook. She'd made a point not to talk about what had happened to the woman and Tate never brought it up which made it all the easier to not think about. It made sense her dad would come to her thinking the situation somehow traumatized her. If only he knew the truth...

"Okay, but if you ever want to talk to somebody..." He was trying and though his persistence was starting to annoy her, Victoria couldn't find it in herself to be upset with him.

"Dad..."

"I mean, not me." He shrugged, "you know, I'm way too expensive." He was trying to be funny in his cheesy dad way and even Victoria couldn't help but smile at his poor attempt.

"Okay," she gave in, running a hand through her dark waves. "I'll think about it." She didn't meant it, not really. There was no way she was going to start seeing a shrink, though her father seemed pleased enough with her answer as he pulled his lips back into an awkward, tight, smile.

"I love you kiddo." Victoria gave him a faint smile before looking back down at her sketchbook as her father's hand gently patted her on the knee.

"You too." Though her response was quiet, it was genuine. Victoria did love her father, she just wished he made better decisions.

No sooner had her father's footsteps died out, Tate popped his head out from behind the wall to give Victoria a grin before hopping onto the wall in front of her. She returned his smile, but her mind was still on her father. He didn't make it easy for Victoria to stay mad at him, even after all he'd done to deserve it. Tate must have noticed Victoria's discomfort as she doodled random lines in the corner of her sketchbook because he'd grown quite as he watched her.

"He's a great dad." Victoria looked up as Tate had finally spoke. "He really cares. You're lucky like that." There was that sadness in Tate's eyes again and Victoria found herself looking away as she pulled another cigarette from the carton in her pocket.

Tate gave her a reassuring smile before reaching into his own pocket to pull out a lighter for her. Victoria knew he was right. Ben Harmon was a good father, or at least he tried to be. Tate's dad skipped out on him when he was a kid, at least her dad was still around trying to make things right.

Taking a long drag from her cigarette, Victoria flipped her sketchbook open to a fresh page.

"Alright," she smiled, letting out a breath of smoke as she readied her pencil, "you're next."


"So, as I mentioned on the phone, the carpet will be steam cleaned before move-in." Victoria cringed as she and Violet followed behind their mother into the tiny apartment. It was much too small for their family of four and with the baby coming it would only make matters worse. Not to mention it too bright, having both white walls and white carpet.

The landlord was a tan woman with long dark hair; probably in her early to mid thirties. She was dressed in a more than revealing top and chomping loudly on a piece of gum, Victoria was hoping she would choke on already.

"Well I'll tell you what I do like," her mother began, motioning back towards the door, "I like that security guy at the door." Victoria came to a stop beside her sister, glancing down at the busy street right beneath one of the windows. There wasn't anything that she liked about the place. She already didn't want to move, let alone into such a generic complex such as this one.

"Excuse me," Violet interrupted, adjusting her satchel strap on her shoulder, "can we have a moment? Alone."

"Sure." The woman seemed annoyed, setting down her folder with all of the paperwork on the table as she made her way back towards the door. "I'll be in the rental office. I've got someone else coming in twenty minutes." Victoria rolled her eyes at the woman's attitude as she disappeared out of the door.

"Glad we moved all the way to California since we could be totally anywhere." Violet stated, looking back at their mother. Victoria frowned, pulling the curtain closed a bit before crossing her arms to face her mother. She was hoping she wasn't really being serious about this place.

Vivien shrugged, giving the place a quick look over.

"I think it has a certain..."

"You and dad, both of you--you don't deal with anything." Violet snapped. "The affair, the miscarriage..."

"Vi," Victoria spoke up, attempting to stop her sister. Violet was taking it too far. She understood how her sister felt, betrayed, left out on yet another family decision, but that didn't give her the right to throw the past back into their mother's face.

"No," Violet shrugged her sister off, turning back on their mother. "For most people that's just life and they deal. But you guys had to uproot everything--drag everyone across the country to start all over..."

"Honey, I don't think you've quite processed what happened to us in that house." Their mother finally stated, cutting Violet off. "That was devastating. That was a nightmare."

"Mom," Victoria shook her head, "you can't be serious." She didn't want to attack her mother as Violet was, but she couldn't agree with her. Victoria loved their house, it had... soul, it was special, unlike this place they were currently standing in.

Her mother stared at her for a moment in disbelief. It made sense that she would look at what had happened as a nightmare, but it was anything but. "That house is where we survived, we kicked those guys asses." Victoria explained, Violet nodding beside her in agreement. At least her sister understood.

"This place is the nightmare." Violet added, "we weren't victims of something bad there. Victoria's right, it's where we kicked ass."

"I love that you two see it that way." Vivien gave her girls a smile before placing a hand over her stomach and shaking her head. "I'm pregnant. I can't stay there." With just those words, something changed in Victoria. Her mother was weak. She couldn't face the fact that her husband was an unfaithful, compulsive liar, she couldn't accept that she had a miscarriage and she couldn't even accept that what had happened at there house only showed their strength. It angered Victoria, it was no wonder everyone said she took after their father. "This is the decision that your father and I have made for our family together."

"Yeah, whatever." Violet rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest as she headed towards the door.

"Right." Victoria snapped. "Just like your decision to move us across the country, only to change your minds yet again just as soon as Vi and I actually start to like it." Her mother's eyes widened at her tone. It wasn't like Victoria to snap at her parents and she seemed to be doing it quite a bit lately.

"Victoria..."

"I'm telling you now, if you go ahead with this I'm gone." She could feel the anger beginning to bubble over the surface. She was tired of being overlooked, as if she and Violet had no say in what happened in their own lives. Their parents didn't care, they only cared about themselves as if she and Vi were completely irrelevant to anything that went on in their family. "And trust me when I say you will never find me." Without waiting for a response Victoria marched straight for the door, letting it slam violently behind her.