Dying Light ~ Tate Langdon

13 | Addy's Makeover

A scream sounded down the hallway from Violet's room, causing Hazel to run to her, opening the door quickly. She looks around and sees Addy in Violet's room.

"I want to be a pretty girl for Halloween" Addy tells her as she climbs out from under the bed.

"You want what?" Violet asks in pure confusion.

"Make me a pretty girl. Like you guys" Addy says, directing her gaze to Hazel. "You can help too"

Violet gets her makeup out. "I'll do her hair" Hazel says, grabbing Violet's hairbrush off of her dresser.

"So Hazel, are you hanging out with Tate tomorrow?" Violet asks her sister as she applies eye shadow to Addy's eyelids.

Hazel shrugs. "Probably. He's coming over tonight"

"Are you dating Tate?" Addy asks Hazel.

"Yeah. Do you know him?" Hazel asks the girl as she gently brushes through her hair.

"Mhm" She nods. "He says a lot of good things about you"

"He does?" Hazel smiles, butterflies swirling her stomach. Hazel found it so sweet that he talked about her.

"All the time" Addy nods.

Hazel finishes up her hair and gently runs her fingers through it. "There we go. You look beautiful Addy"

"Thank you" Addy says with a smile. A text message pops up on Hazel's phone.

Tate;   I'm in the basement

"Hate to leave you guys but Tate's waiting" Hazel says, standing up off the bed. "Bye"

She wanders her way downstairs, not caring to wonder how Tate even got in.

She made her way down to the final step before calling out her boyfriend's name. "Tate!"

A force grabbed her and held her against the stairwell railing. A man in a rubber suit. Hazel shrieked, before the man started laughing.

"Tate, you jackass!" Hazel laughed. "Scared me half to death"

"Hey, you gave me extra time down here" Tate says, leaning in closer. "I had to think of something to do"

"I'm sorry. That girl from next door, Addy, me and Violet did her makeup and hair. She kept talking about being a pretty girl" Hazel explains.

"Addy?" Tate asks with a small smile. "She's a sweetheart"

"She was talking about you. About the things you say about me" Hazel smiled and kissed him gently.

"Yeah?" Tate asks.

Something rattled from a room in the basement, making a noise that echoed throughout the entire area.

"What was that?" Hazel asks, looking up at Tate.

"It was a ghost" Tate smiles.

"Sure it was" Hazel rolls her eyes.

"Do you know the history of this house, Hazel?" Tate asks, a playful smirk tugging at his lips.

"Besides the billions of murders, no" Hazel responds.

Tate walked them into an area of the basement that was completely dark.

"Tate, where are we going?" Hazel asks the boy. She gets no response.

A match clicking fills the silence between them, and finally a light illuminates Tate's face. He brings it down and lights a candle.

"A ouijia board, Tate, seriously?" Hazel asks almost in disbelief.

"You have to believe, Hazel. At this house, you have to believe" Tate repeats.

"Okay, whatever, who are we talking to?" Hazel asks, mostly playing along for Tate's sake.

"Charles" Tate states. "He was the original owner of the house"

"Why are we talking to him?" Hazel questions.

"What I'm about to tell you might scare you" Tate tells her, a grin slowly forming. "To death" He whispered dramatically.

"You're going to bore me to death if you don't keep the story going, Tate" Hazel responds.

"Dr. Charles Montgomery built this house. And here, in this basement, is where he worked. Charles was a doctor to the stars. But he was also a drug addict. His wife, Nora, wasn't gonna let that get in the way of her lifestyle. So she set up a little secret side business. He would take care of girls who didn't want to be in trouble anymore. This went on and on until, one day, one girl couldn't keep the secret to herself. She told her boyfriend what happened. The boyfriend wanted revenge, so he kidnapped Charles and Nora's baby. Terrified, the doctor and his wife waited for the ransom demands" Tate explains.

"So they were giving girls abortions, so they took his baby as replacement for his aborted baby?" Hazel questions.

"Not quite" Tate continues. "The police showed up one day with a box of jars. Jars full of the baby's body parts. Driven insane by grief the doctor used all his experience and surgical skills to try and cheat death. But what he created was ungodly and monstrous. And even after their tragic end, that thing remained down here, to this day"

"So you're saying that I have a demonic baby running around my basement?" Hazel asks, a smile trying to force it's way out. 

"Yes" Tate says, completely serious.

"Well, I think that we need to leave this house. Because only hanging out here is clearly driving you insane" Hazel responds. "Tomorrow. We're going to that abandoned library in town"

"Okay" Tate nods and smiles. "We can go"