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     “What do you mean, ‘I’m dead’?” Christian asked in disbelief.

    “Just what I said! You’re dead and Sean and I are dead! And when you die in this house you can’t leave! We’re dead and trapped in a nightmare!” Julia almost cried. She’d only had hours to adjust to her new undead status and the ramifications of it.

    “What the hell was that thing that attacked me?” Christian asked, his voice hollow. He had now stooped down and was looking over his own body.

    “I don’t know! But we’ll have plenty of time to find out now, won’t we?”

    Christian raised himself up to his full height and grabbed Julia’s shoulders!

    “I came here looking for Michelle! Where is she?”

    Julia’s eyes grew huge!

    “Who CARES???”

    Suddenly, loud screams could be heard! Christian looked towards the stairs.

    “That sounds like Michelle!”

    “Before I came down here, it looked like she was in labor!” Julia said dismissively.

    “Labor?! She’s only five months pregnant!”

    Julia grabbed Christian’s face!

    “Christian, those babies are not yours! That’s why they’re coming after Michelle found out she was pregnant like days ago! And that is why, if you go upstairs into that living room, you will find Dr. Ben Harmon, who IS a ghost, hovering over her like he’s her husband!” Julia snapped.

    “Julia, I can’t think right now! Everything is happening so fast! I mean how did you die?”

    “After you left me here to go to that doctor’s appointment, I found Sean’s dead body in one room, while his ghost was fucking the Black Dahlia in another!”

    “Holy shit! The Black Dahlia is in this house?” Christian asked, his eyes glittering.

    Julia looked him up and down.

    “Could you sound more excited?”

    “Where is Sean?” Christian asked instead.

    “Probably helping with your wife. Christian, that crazy looking neighbor of yours came into the house with some very badly burned guy, and took my body and Sean’s away.”

    “Constance? And some burned guy?”

    “Yes, Christian! And Matt is dead too.”

    Christian backed away from her.

    “What?” he whispered.

    “We weren’t crazy. He died when we saw him die. There was never any FBI Protection thing! He died in this house and his ghost is trapped here, just like ours. And right now Michelle is the only living person in this house at the moment. Sean and I have a daughter and a granddaughter that is never going to see us again!” Julia began to cry, her voice shaking with emotion. Christian pulled her into his arms.

    “It will be alright. I promise. Once Michele gives birth, we’ll figure something out.” he whispered. Julia pulled away.

    “You know what’s fair, don’t you?”

    “Fair?”

    “We let Michelle get word to our loved ones, then we make sure that she doesn’t leave this house either. It’s only right.” Julia sniffed.

    “Julia, Michelle didn’t kill you! And she didn’t kill Sean.”

    “Hayden killed me. She killed Matt and probably Sean as well. The only reason she’s acting this crazy is because she’s jealous of Michelle’s relationship with Ben. If she hadn’t been fucking a ghost, then a ghost wouldn’t have killed my family! Christian, Michelle knew what this house was and what it could do to people--living people, and she never warned any of us! This house is the reason she didn’t want Wilbur here. She didn’t have to worry about herself because ‘boyfriend Ben’ would protect her. But she didn’t give a damn about you. Look, you’re dead!”

    “I have to give my wife a chance to explain.” was all Christian said to Julia’s speech. He ran up the stairs, towards the sounds of Michelle’s labor pained cries. Julia folded her arms and walked towards the washer and dryer.

    “Hello.”

    If Julia had been still alive, maybe she would’ve been more startled. But in her ghostly state, she was only mildly surprised. The male voice that that ‘hello’ came from, was a rather nice looking man, maybe in his early forties, with light colored hair. He walked up to Julia and took her hand in his.

    “I’m Hugo. Hugo Langdon.”

    Julia smiled wanly.

    “I’m Julia.”

    “Julia...Julia...listen, ‘Julia’, do you want to do math?”

    Julia blinked.

    “Pardon me?”

    “Math,” he cooed, running his fingers up her arm, “let’s add a bed, subtract your clothes, divide your legs and multiply! What do you say?”

    Julia closed her eyes and muttered ‘go away’. When she opened them, cheesy pick- up- line artist, Hugo Langdon, was gone. And she herself wanted to be gone, either to heaven or hell!

                                                                           ****

    Michelle felt as if she were in a nightmare herself.

    Some doctor from God knows where, suddenly appeared with white scrubs on! And at that point, she didn’t much care if he were a ghost or not, as long as he knew what he was doing!

    She was squeezing Ben’s hand hard, while Vivien sat by the doctor along with two nurses that appeared as well, encouraging her. But the doctor, was none other than the original owner of this ‘murder house’--Dr. Charles Montgomery.

    “There is something wrong. It’s like something is attached to one of the babies.” Charles said.

    Ben looked at him briefly, while allowing Michelle to squeeze the hell out of his hand.

    “She said her doctor said that one baby is choking the other. What does that mean?” Be asked him.

    “It means I’m going to have to unwrap the one child’s fist from around the other’s throat.” Dr. Montgomery answered somberly.

    “OH GOD!” Michelle screamed, not only from pain, but just that sentence! Attempting to do something like that just SOUNDED like it was going to hurt even worse!

    Meanwhile, Vivien was peering really hard into the birth canal, as if she were trying to see if that statement were true! Michelle glared at her.

    “WHY DON’T YOU JUST GET A FLASHLIGHT!

    Vivien held up her hands in surrender.

    “I’m sorry, Michelle! It just that a head is coming out here and I’m trying to see if I can see a fist around it’s throat. Or maybe it’s this baby that’s doing the choking.”

    Dr. Montgomery glanced at Ben.

    “You have produced some rather violent children.”

    Sean looked at Michelle and Ben, but said nothing else. He touched Vivien on the shoulder and they moved away from the scene.

    “Who are those two over there?” he asked. Vivien spied Tate and Nora.

    “Nora is the doctor’s wife. Tate is Constance’s son.”

    “Constance?”

    “The eccentric woman that was here the night Matt was killed.” Vivien replied.

    “Oh.” Sean said, realizing that that was the same woman that had come and taken his and Julia’s bodies away, with the help of a burned guy. He was about to say something else, when Christian hurried in!

    Meanwhile, Ben whispered to Michelle.

    “Vivien and I just took off our clothes and waited for you. I wanted you to think we were back together for the sake of our babies! I...I don’t want you to leave! I love you, raise our children here, please! Please!”

    Michelle barely nodded as she was hit with another wave of pain! Good God, half of the damned doctor’s arm was inside of her! Meanwhile, Sean was talking to Christian.

    “Christian, the doctor is doing all he can!” Sean said, trying to keep him calm. Christian dragged his eyes from Michelle, who’s legs were now splayed wide open. Dr. Montgomery damned near had his fist in her!

    “Wh...who...Sean, we’re dead. Can you believe that? We’re dead.”

    Sean clapped his hand on Christian’s shoulder.

    “Julia and my bodies have been moved. Someone will find us and our loved ones will know that we’re dead. But Christian, decisions have to be made here. Those babies can’t live in a house full of dead people! None of us can leave the property.”

    Christian said nothing and moved slowly, so that he was sitting next to Ben. He took Michelle’s hand from Ben. Michelle blinked weakly.

    “Christian...I’m sorry...I never meant for any of this to happen...”

    “It’s the house, Michelle. It wasn’t you. Just relax and let the doctor...”

    Suddenly, Dr. Montgomery literally dragged one baby out of Michelle, who’’s fist was wound around the other twin’s throat! The more violent baby, a boy, almost hissed, when Dr. Montgomery, Christian, Ben AND Sean, had to work to unclamp it’s hand from around the other’s, a girl’s, throat! The girl gave a faint cry.

    The crazy boy baby never cried, but continued to hiss and growl. Michelle began moving her head from side to side!

    “Hell no! No! That baby is growling! Get it away from here!”

    Tate and Nora hurried into the room! Nora took the hissing baby and she and Tate hurried off. Ben began to walk after them, then turned to look at Michelle in disbelief!

    “How could you give our baby to those two! How? He won’t survive...”

    “Please!” Michelle snapped. “I get the feeling THAT baby will survive just fine! Give me the other one.”

    But Ben snatched the girl up in his arms and skulked off! Michelle began screaming and Christian pulled her close.

    “It’s fine! Everything will be fine! I’ll get the twins back then you leave here!”

    Michelle began sobbing so hard, that she suddenly felt exhausted. Sleep overtook her quickly.

                                                                                 ****

    “Foolish woman! What have you done?”

    Michelle slowly awoke to find herself in her and Christian’s bed, the covers tucked in around her. She knew she needed to go to a hospital after what happened.

    “Constance, I need to go to the hospital.” she said weakly.

    “What you need to do is stop this war that’s erupted in this house! One faction of ghosts has one of your babies, the other has the really cute one.”

    “Wh....wh...they aren’t both cute?

    “No.” Constance said pointedly. “They sure in the hell are not. And it’s the one that looks completely Black that’s the cuter one. The girl.”

    Michelle found some inner strength to pull herself up in bed and find out just what in the hell was going on!

    “The completely Black one? Ben is White. Why would the baby look completely Black? I guess my genes can be kind of overpowering...”

    “Dr. Harmon is a ghost! He can give you a baby but not many of his traits would be in it. The baby would look more like you...though she does have Dr. Harmon’s eyes.”

    “Oh. Well what about the snarling one?”

    “Hmmm. Yes. The boy. That one looks like Christian and I don’’t know why he wouldn’t be better looking because of that. But he isn’t.” Constance sniffed.

    “What the fuck???”

    Constance stood up.

    “That’s what I said too, dear. Anyway, my son and Mrs. Montgomery have grown quite attached to him. You know who else has? That crazy fucker in the basement that killed your husband!”

    Michelle began to pull the covers back.

    “I don’t have time to go to the hospital. I have to get my babies.”

    Suddenly, Chad and Patrick hurried in, shooed Constance out of the room and helped Michelle back into bed.

    “Now, now. Where are you going after having two babies and a fist inside of you.” Chad tsked. Patrick grinned at her. Michelle eyed them. They clearly were a couple.

    “You two are?” she asked weakly.

    “The couple that had the house before the Harmons. I’m Chad and he’s Patrick. And we want you in tip top shape if you’re going to be living here.”

    Michelle stared at both men. It had not occurred to her where she was going to live, now that Christian was gone. She then sat up. Wilbur!

    “My son! Oh my God...”

    “Yes, well the births were days ago and Constance and Burned Larry picked up Wilbur.” Chad said in a snide tone.

    “Burned Larry? Who the hell is that?” Michelle asked. Patrick answered.

    “A poor slob that’s in love with Constance for God knows what reason.”

    “And he’s burned?”

    Chad snorted.

    “The fucker that killed us, burned him as well. He’s Constance’s son, Tate.”

    “Yes,” Michelle said slowly, “i’ve heard about him but have yet to meet him.”

    “Be glad.” Patrick said sarcastically.

    “Okay, well where is Wilbur? I don’t want him seeing Christian and getting all the more confused. I need to see Christian and I need to...”

    Chad slowly sat down on the end of her bed.

    “Wilbur is with Constance. That alone should be reason enough for you to climb out of this bed. But Patrick and I have pressing business with you.”

    Michelle looked at them for a long moment, before sighing resignedly.

    “Okay. What is it?”

    Patrick sat down.

    “You’ve got skills when it comes to bringing nice looking men into this house.” he grinned. “You don’t know what hell it has been, being here and having nothing to look at.”

    Chad gave him a filthy, dirty look! Michelle swallowed.

    “Uh, Patrick, you do have Chad here.”

    “Oh yeah, I didn’t mean that.” Patrick faltered. But Chad slowly stood up. He continued to glower at Patrick but address Michelle.

    “Yes he did, Michelle. But that’s alright. And it’s more than alright because the quality of men is this house has improved--through you. I think Patrick would agree that Matt is pretty nice. Nice ass.”

    Patrick looked away from Chad’s intense stare. Michelle shook her head slightly.

    “Okay, but from the little I’ve seen of your ‘ghost world’, Matt and Vivien are close, aren’t they?”

    Patrick now sat down on the edge of the bed.

    “Not anymore. And that’s due to Sean...another nice...grrr!” Patrick growled.

    “What Patrick means is,” Chad explained, “Is that Sean seems to have developed a fondness for Vivien. Once she chooses, SOMEONE will be available.”

    Michelle could not help but smile a little.

    “Sean likes Vivien as well? So what does Julia think about that?” she asked.

    Chad now grinned!

    “You mean Sean’s heifer wife? She’s not taking it well. And I’d be careful of her. She’s been trying to get a rogue group together to have you killed in the house.” he warned her.

    “So everyone knows about Sean and Julia at least?”

    “Yes,” Chad continued, “Burned Larry drove Julia’s car and Constance followed. The car was driven off a pier with their bodies in it. BUT...an autopsy was done and Sean’s slit throat and Julia’s broken neck, don’t quite fit with drowning. The lesbian nurse of your husband’s is looking for the both of you.”

    “Liz! Okay, well Constance is going to take me to the hospital so...” Michelle said and painfully tried to get out of bed.

    But Chad and Patrick cleared their throats in unison! Michelle glanced at them.

    “What?” she asked.

    “Your husband, Dr. Troy is quite hot as well.” Patrick noted. “We’re offering our services. Once everything clears up, DON’T sell the house.”

    Michelle shook her head slightly.

    “Why?”

    Chad snorted!

    “You’ll want to date again--a lot! Surely you’ll be bringing some of these guys back here...”

    “So you can kill them?!”

    “Fuck them was more along the lines of what we were thinking.” Patrick admitted. Michelle limped over to her closet and opened the doors.

    “Don’t you think the men you’ve already mentioned will be enough?” Michelle asked.

    Chad raised a brow.

    “You have no objections?”

    “What can I do about it? But I can’t stay here. Wilbur and the twins would be in danger.”

    “That’s what we’re saying, Michelle,” Patrick reminded her, “we would keep anything from happening to all of you.”

    “As long as I lured men back here for the two of you.” Michelle said, mindful of the fact that these two ghosts could do anything to herself, Wilbur or the twins. And that was why she said--

    “We’ll see.”

    Chad and Patrick disappeared and Michelle fought back a sudden bout with nausea. She had to find out just which ghosts were with which babies.

                                                                             ****

    HOURS LATER

    No ghost appeared to her, as she left the house with Constance. Neither did the babies, which was distressing. But when Michelle began bleeding again, Constance hurriedly got her into her car and took her to the nearest hospital. Once there, a doctor looked her over,  then checked Michelle into the hospital after they found evidence of what had to be a violent birth. Dr. Henry Salvo had privileges at the hospital Michelle was at, and hurried over after hearing Michelle’s story about what happened. And that story was the following:

    After Michelle left Dr. Salvo’s office days ago, Christian caught up with her in the parking lot. They had driven together, planning to go back to their home, where Michelle was going to pack a bag for hospital, so she could get the suggested C-section.

    But Christian and herself never made it home. Michelle told Dr. Salvo that she and Christian were forced out of their car and robbed at gunpoint in an alley! The robbers killed Christian and Michelle tried to run, but the stress of the event caused her to give birth prematurely in an old warehouse, where in which she fell unconscious while the babies somehow survived.

    “I found her,” Constance interrupted, “the poor dear had tried to call me for help but passed out. I followed the GPS signal but I’m not good at that sort of thing so it took a couple of days.”

    Dr. Salvo just stared at the two women, who’s bullshit story reeked to high hell and back! And he was further distressed to discover that the babies had not been brought in, along with Michelle, for a check-up!

    Dr. Salvo, promptly called the police.

                                                                        ****

    Detective Granger, was hardly surprised to see that Constance Langdon involved with this shit! They had found the body of Dr. Christian Troy, in an alley covered with trash. They had found evidence of a birth in a nearby warehouse and yet...

    It seemed funny that this happened, apparently only a few hours AFTER Dr. Troy’s partner, Dr. Sean McNamera and his wife, Julia, were killed when their car went off of a pier.

    Well, correction, when their car was DRIVEN  off of a pier. The McNamera’s, as it turns out, were already dead before their car went off of that structure.

    He had looked into Michelle Troy, formerly, Michelle Landau’s, background. Former call girl who married the very rich and much, much older, Burt Landau. He conveniently died and left Michelle his millions.

    Now this. And Detective Granger might have made more allowances for Mrs. Troy’s story, if Mrs. Landgon and her nauseating perfume, weren’t involved in murder again!

    And it bothered Detective Granger that once again, someone that had lived in the house next door to Mrs. Langdon, had perished.

    “Mrs. Troy, I’d like to speak to you alone.” he said in a no-nonsense tone.

    “Now don’t be silly, Detective Grangy, Mrs. Troy and I go way back.”

    Michelle eyed Constance. Detective Granger gave her a cool look.

    “It’s ‘Granger’. As you well know. You see, Mrs. Troy, Mrs. Langdon and I are very familiar with one another. Everytime someone that’s lived in your home, has died or disappeared, Mrs. Langdon is brought in for questioning. I believe one of my colleagues, a Detective Stanton, has dealt with Mrs. Langdon recently as well.” he said, then turned his focus on Michelle.

    “Tell her to leave.” he ordered her. Michelle realized the man knew plenty about Constance and was surly about not being able to prove it. She cleared her throat.

    “I’m fine, Constance, really.”

    Constance’s return look, indicated otherwise, but she wisely stood up, smiling her mad clown smile at Detective Granger, before leaving the hospital room. Michelle sat up in bed while Detective Granger helped himself to a chair and opened up a small note pad.

    “Mrs. Troy, I’m really here because this crime took a little too damned long for you to report.”

    “Hmmm. You skip the pleasantries, don’t you?”

    Detective Granger glanced towards the door before looking at Michelle again.

    “I know Constance Langdon is one of the shadiest bitches around. I know that we could never prove that she killed her husband and her maid. I know her teenage son was a psychopath that killed innocent students in a ‘Columbine Bloodbath’ tragedy. I know that her  other son conveniently ‘died’ when the state threatened to take him away. A son who was horribly disabled.”

    Michelle said nothing. If she had known Constance’s rep was THAT bad, then she would’ve never signed on with this story, which apparently no one believed anyway.

    “Then there is you. A former prostitute, who marries a man twice her age....hell...maybe three times, has an affair with a plastic surgeon while married...”

    Michelle’s jaw clenched.

    “How did you know about that?”

    “That you were sleeping with your now deceased husband, while you were married to Burt Landau? Believe it or not, your first late husband was seeing a therapist.”

    Michelle just stared at Detective Granger.

    “What?” she finally said. “Burt? Burt was seeing a therapist?”

    Detective Granger could tell that that news had been a bit of a surprise.

    “Yes. And this therapist said that Mr. Landau practically had a nervous breakdown over your infidelity. Then he suddenly can’t get to his medication to save himself. You were in the house that night, weren’t you? The night he died?”

    Michelle almost jumped out of bed!

    “What the living hell?! My husband was KILLED in an alley like some animal! I had to give birth alone...”

    “Yes, see, Dr. Salvo didn’t see how that was possible. He thinks someone would’ve had to pull your twins out, since one baby had it’s hand wrapped around the other’s throat.”

    “Dr. Salvo is just angry with  me, because I refused to let him publish that medical mystery in some journal. And he has no business telling you that! I delivered my babies alone and was in and out of consciousness for days. I could hear their cries.”

    “Yes and it took Mrs. Langdon ‘days’ to find you, even with a GPS system?”

    “Mrs. Langdon still uses a typewriter! She wouldn’t know how to use a GPS, which is why it took her so long to get to me. Look, I don’t like your tone.”

    “And I don’t like your story, Mrs. Troy. Dr. Salvo said that you left his office in a tizzy. A nurse saw you leave alone, not with your husband. He left like ten minutes later. Now I just need to figure out how the McNamara’s deaths fit into this.”

    Constance returned almost on cue.

    “Michelle, the doctor has your discharge papers ready. Then we’ll go home to those precious twins.”

    Detective Granger looked between the two women.

    “Yes, I think I’ll want to see those twins as well. I’m sure you’ll want them looked over be a medical professional as well, Mrs. Troy.”

    But Michelle was looking at Constance. She nodded. There was no other choice.

    “Of course, Detective Granger. Follow me to my home. You can see that my babies are alive and well.” Michelle said quietly, knowing she had agreed to help seal Detective Granger’s fate.

                                                                         ****

    Detective Granger didn’t like the looks of this shit, even as he pulled up behind Constance and Michelle in the drive. Who was taking care of the babies while Michelle had been in the hospital? And he had been informed that the Troy’s had a son named Wilbur, who had not been to school in days. Where was he? And this person that was taking care of the babies, why hadn’t they brought the twins to the hospital as well?

    By the time he got out of the car, Constance had walked into the house first, with Michelle waiting by the open door for Detective Granger to come up on the porch.

    “Mrs. Troy, I can already say you have a lot of explaining to do.” he said stoutly, before stepping inside.

    The door closed quickly and Burned Larry, who had been behind the door, brought out a piece of robe, got it around Detective Granger’s neck and began choking the life out of him! Constance watched, puffing on her cigarette while Michelle looked away. She then looked around. Where was ‘everybody’?

    She then heard a baby’s cry from upstairs. Michelle began running up the stairs, just as the now dead Detective Granger, dropped to the floor with a thud and seconds later, appeared as a ghost.

    “What the fuck?!” Granger snapped, staring at his dead body on the ground. Chad shook his head and gave Patrick a look of disbelief from the kitchen. THIS was not what they meant when they submitted their request to Michelle!

    Meanwhile, Michelle found Ben in a baby’s room that she had never seen before, sitting in a rocking chair. Michelle peered at the baby in Ben’s arms. That fucking Constance didn’t know what the hell she was talking about! The baby looked the complexion of a lot of mix-raced children. Then, keeping in mind what she had always suspected about Constance and her racial attitudes, Michelle realized that anyone darker than the shade ‘off white’ might be considered ‘black looking’ to her.

    Ben turned in the chair and stood up, holding their daughter in his arms.

    “I named her Violet.”

    “You named her?”

    “Michelle, I know I acted horribly after the birth. I was just so shocked at the way you talked about our son.”

    “I was in labor and a lot of pain! You’re going to tell me that Vivien didn’t say things during her labor that she didn’t mean!”

    “Not about Violet, no.”

    “What?” Michelle asked, confused.

    “Our daughter. The one that got out of the house. Her name is Violet.”

    Michelle pursed her lips.

    “And now you want to name this baby after your daughter?”

    Ben nodded, tearing his eyes off of Michelle and locking them onto the baby’s again.

    “Ben, the police and my doctor know that something is wrong. I need to take the babies to the hospital to get examined. So I won’t go to jail and they don’t end up in foster care. So, give her over to me?” Michelle requested patiently, holding out her arms.

    Ben dragged his eyes off of his daughter and looked at Michelle.

    “You’re not coming back, are you?”

    “Why would you think that? Ben, I told you, the police didn’t believe my story. I should’ve taken the babies with me when I went to the hospital. Now they think something is wrong. So please hand me the baby, before I get arrested or something?”

    “Her name is Violet. You don’t like the name, do you?”

    “I didn’t say that.”

    “But you won’t say it. You’re different.”

    “Ben, I just had twins. So, can I have her?”

    “You’re scared.” Ben said resignedly and placed baby ‘Violet’ in her arms. Michelle took her daughter but was a little surprised by Ben’s words. And yet, he was right. She didn’t know when things had changed. Maybe it was her brief time getting well here. Ben had not come to see her and kept this baby from her. It had given her time to think. It wouldn’t do to pine for a lost love that was a ghost. These babies were real and they needed a mother.

    Michelle did not acknowledge his statement and turned to walk out. But Ben’s voice stopped her again.

    “I can see that the boy is Christian’s. He has him. I don’t know that he’ll be as generous as I.”

    Michelle turned to look at Ben briefly, before walking out of the room. She walked down the hallway, down the stairs and handed the baby to Burned Larry, who she said hello to, before looking at Constance.

    “Have you seen Christian?”

    Moira appeared.

    “He’s in the kitchen with Sean, Julia and Christian Jr..” she replied, while dusting a Tiffany lamp. Michelle took a deep breath. So, her other baby had been named in her absence as well, hey?

    “Thank you, Moira.” Michelle said.

    “Be careful.” Constance told her. Detective Granger came out of the living room.

    “This is bullshit! I knew something wasn’t right about all of you!”

    “And doesn’t it feel good to be right, ‘Detective’?” Constance grinned madly. Michelle ignored him and walked into the kitchen, where Julia was running the baby’s bottle under hot water from the sink.

    “Julia. Sean. Christian. Christian, I need to take the baby to the hospital.”

    Christian was sitting at the table, holding the child’s little finger. Christian Jr. didn’t growl anymore. Sean sat down.

    “You know, Michelle, we really had to battle to get Christian’s son away from Tate and Mrs. Montgomery. A ‘thank you’ would suffice.” he said. Michelle raised a brow. Why had she thought that Sean’s being a ghost might make him more civil?

    “I appreciate that. But the police...”

    “Oh,” Julia interrupted, “you mean the police detective your ‘living friends’ just killed? Are we supposed to believe that he called for back-up and more are coming?”

    “No, Julia, what I’m saying is that when I showed up at the hospital without the babies, I aroused suspicion. I need to prove that the babies are alright.”

    “And then what, Michelle?” Christian asked, now standing up. “Then you come back here with my son and Ben’s daughter?”

    “Yes.” Michelle lied.

    “I just bet. Why don’t you get a doctor over here. I mean I’m sure they would agree to that, since there is so much concern about whether you’ve mistreated the babies.” Christian countered.

    “Christian, I get the feeling they don’t think they’re ALIVE! Now give my son! Now!”

    Christian stared at her for a moment, then picked Christian Jr. up and placed her in her arms.

    “I would say goodbye. But I know you’ll be back.” he said somberly. Michelle turned and walked out of the kitchen with her son. There was no point in any long, drawn out goodbyes. Burned Larry and Constance were waiting by the front door. Constance opened the door as Burned Larry and Michelle each carried a baby out of the house.

    “Let’s go over to my house and introduce Wilbur to his little brother and sister.” Constance said, smiling a genuine smile.

    Then, the damnedest, most horrible thing happened.

    As soon as they reached the gate to leave the property, each baby disappeared!

    Michelle looked stunned! Constance slapped Burned Larry-hard!

    “YOU STUPID BASTARD! I TOLD YOU TO WATCH THINGS!!!

    “Constance, I thought everything was...I mean...everything looked fine!” Burned Larry cried. But Michelle was shaking her head wildly!

    “What does this mean?! What does this mean?! Where are...”

    Michelle looked back towards the house and saw Christian and Julia with Christian Jr., waving out of a downstairs window. Ben was holding her daughter in an upstairs window. He kissed the baby and moved away from view.

    “They...they...they were killed? How could Ben...how could Christian...”

    Constance suddenly shook her!

    “You listen now! There’s nothing you can do to bring them back! You get Wilbur and go! Because when Detective Granger does not check in AND you can’t produce those babies, the police are going to be taking a hard look a you! You take that money Burt Landau left you and run! Run, you here? RUN!”

    Michelle nodded dumbly, but raised her eyes to stare at the house. Oh, she’d run, for now. But she owed these ghosts something. Some kind of payback. And she was going to make damned sure that they got it.

                                                                           ****

    THREE YEARS LATER

    Detective Stanton would’ve never thought that the unsolved murders of Dr. Christian Troy, his partner, Sean McNamera and his wife, Julia McNamera, the disappearance of his colleague, Detective Granger and the recent ‘mauling’, of a man named Frank Stevens, who used to be the Head of Security for a family called ‘The Graysons’, would all be connected. The Graysons lived in the Hamptons.

    But the whole mess of what happened to all of those people, went back to the tell tale ‘Murder House’, the weirdo neighbors Constance Langdon, who was now married to a burned guy named Larry Harvey, but for whatever reason, didn’t take his last name(she also didn’t treat him very well either. Detective Stanton was very uncomfortable with the number of times she put the poor man down, when he interviewed them).

    And Detective Stanton could not let go of the fact, that Michelle Troy and her son, Wilbur, seemed in tip top shape, and that Michelle’s current husband, Conrad Grayson, who had been an old friend of her first husband, Burt Landau, used a top legal team to get Michelle out of trouble, when the authorities accused her of killing her babies.

    Michelle had claimed that she left them with a sitter, and when she left the hospital with Detective Granger to come back home to show them to him, she found they had been kidnapped!

    Larry Harvey had been the sitter and he supposedly had been beside himself with guilt. Of course, Detective Granger’s thoughts on the matter were unknown, since he was never seen again after leaving the hospital with her and Constance.

    Detective Stanton got out of his car and a valet took his keys. Nice set up. Mrs. Troy gets out of murder charges and marries Conrad Grayson. Grayson adopts Wilbur as his own and all would seem right in the world, correct?

    But not if Grayson’s vengeful ex-wife Victoria has anything to say about it. She’s the one that asked this Stevens to look into Michelle’s past. Victoria was the one that wasn’t buying Michelle’s bullshit about her babies being kidnapped and a lot of other crap.

    Frank Stevens goes to the old house that Michelle and Christian Troy lived in for a brief time. Since then, two other families unsuccessfully tried to make a go of it there. And both families looked as if they had been eaten by some animal, when their bodies were found.

    The place was like a haunted house now.

    Anyway, Frank goes to investigate and is mauled. Stanton questions Larry and Constance and they don’t know shit about anything. Larry musters up some crocodile tears under his burns, claiming he still mourns the loss of the kidnapped Troy babies.

    Detective Stanton pulled himself into reality and walked into a party that was already in full swing at the Grayson mansion. And the hostess was the current Mrs. Grayson--formerly Michelle Troy.

    Stanton saw her standing with Conrad, his arm wrapped firmly around her upper waist, as she charmed a couple by saying something that had apparently been funny. Stanton flashed his badge at someone, requesting that he speak to Michelle Grayson alone.

    Conrad didn’t like the sound of this at all, but Michelle pacified him, telling him she was sure it was something involving Victoria ‘yet again’. She kissed him quickly, then gestured for Stanton to join her in the study.

    Once the doors closed, Michelle leaned against a desk and waited for the police detective to say whatever it is, he wanted to say.

    “Mrs. Grayson, I know you know about Frank Stevens, what he’s doing for your husband’s ex-wife and the battle you all have been embroiled in for years. I’m not here because of that. I want to know what the hell damned near ate off the man’s arm, when he went into your former place of residence.”

    Michelle raised a brow.

    “And you’re asking me? Why don’t you ask the current owners?”

    “There are no ‘current owners’ at this time, Mrs. Grayson. To be honest, that place will probably be demolished if someone doesn’t move in soon.”

    “Okay,” Michelle said slowly, “was I the only past owner?”

    “Mrs. Grayson, all of the past owners were killed by something. Half gnawed on.”

    “And? I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic, but call animal control! That’s what Frank Stevens should have done when this mauling or whatever happened! I mean it sounds like some animal is still in there or has taken up residence and Frank disturbed it.”

    “Did the other two families disturb it?”

    “I don’t know what to tell you.” Michelle said quietly.

    Detective Stanton moved closer to her.

    “I spoke to Wilbur.”

    Michelle’s eyes widened!

    “Wilbur is at boarding school.”

    “I know. And I didn’t learn much...”

    “Are you out of your mind?! You can’t talk to him without Conrad or I being present! This talk is over!” Michelle snapped.

    “Mrs. Grayson, your son had a friend who remembers being with Wilbur one year after Wilbur’s father, Christian Troy was killed. He said Wilbur and you were visiting the Harvey’s that summer and one day, Larry Harvey pulled into your former residence’s driveway with some animal trailer. This boy then said that he and Wilbur snuck over to the house, peered into a window and saw Larry Harvey shoot and kill a lion in the hallway, before hurrying out of the house. Now...”

    “Oh please!” Michelle snapped. “I’m getting my husband!”

    “The Harvey’s were paid over five million dollars after this incident.”

    “That never happened. And that money was a wedding gift to the two of them. I’ll tell you what? Feed this garbage to Victoria. I’m sure she’ll be pleased to hear it. Good night.” Michelle said frostily. Detective Stanton walked out of the study, thinking that that might not be a bad idea at all.

    Michelle sighed. None of this would be happening if Victoria could just get a life or move on. She smoothed her evening dress and rejoined the party.

                                                                ****

    Later that evening, Michelle stood out on the balcony of her bedroom. Conrad was getting undressed and talking about the night’s events.

    Michelle was busy looking down at the beach house that Victoria had purchased from her step-son, Daniel’s wife, Emily.  She knew Victoria was watching her out on this balcony, plotting how to get rid of her.

    Michelle turned away. Let her. Because in the end, in order to find out the truth, she and anyone else Victoria sent searching for the truth, would have to set foot in that house. And chances are they wouldn’t survive.

    Her mind focused on Victoria’s ‘bitch’, Frank Stevens. It just had to have been a shock, when he ran into the ‘Ghost Lion’, that Michelle had paid Larry to shoot and kill in the house, years ago. The ghosts there had to be terrified of being gnawed on, though the lion wouldn’t ‘kill them’.

    And she hoped that Christian and Ben were protecting her ghost babies. The babies that shouldn’t be ghosts. The ones that should be with her now. Was it cruel to purposely kill an animal in that haunted house, then sicc his ghost on everyone? Even innocent children?

    The babies were gone. And Michelle wondered if they had ever really belonged to her. She had no doubts that Ben and Christian were probably letting the wild animal eat on them, before letting it touch the babies.

    It was a fitting punishment, since both men had betrayed her by killing her children. Babies that had been very human and alive at one time.

    Michelle didn’t like to think about Ben Harmon, and how he had made her feel. He had fooled her into thinking everything would be alright for them. Then he stood by and either watched, or participated in the death of their baby girl. Violet.

    Then there was Christian. He was probably egged on by Julia to commit murder of an infant. Michelle prayed the damn lion ate on her every chance it got.

    Meanwhile, Victoria Grayson went into the house after watching that bitch parade around on HER balcony, before listening intently to Detective Stanton. She made a decision.

    “You know the saying, detective. If you want something done right, then you do it yourself.”

    “Meaning?” Detective Stanton asked.

    “Meaning the key to Michelle’s past is that house. That house is going to reveal that that woman killed her own babies. That house will reveal that she killed her husband, his partner and his partner’s wife. That house might even tell us that Michelle killed Burt Landau.”

    “What are you saying?” Detective Stanton asked. But God help him, he knew. Victoria Grayson smiled at him coldly.

    “Why, detective, I’m going to buy this fabled ‘murder house’ and live in it for a short time. By the time I get back here, I’ll have enough ammunition to send Michelle Troy packing.” Victoria Grayson promised, never realizing that that was one promise, she would not be able to keep.


THE END






Chapter End Notes:

As readers can see, second to 'American Horror Story', I love the show 'Revenge'. More than a few of those characters should spend some time in the 'Murder House'.





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