"You know what we haven't discussed?" Violet said as she flopped on the bed next to Tate.

"What's that?" He asked as he turned his head to look at her.

"What we're going to do next week on Halloween" She replied as she snuggled closer to her boyfriend. Despite being dead, Tate was incredibly warm and huggable. She could spend days lying next to him.

"What did you do last year?" Tate enquired as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"Me and my parents went around the city" She said "It was pretty lame"

"You know what I think we should do?"

"What's that?"

"Me and you go out for breakfast then we come back here and pack some lunch and games and take Michael to the beach. We'll spend most of the day there and after we drop him back at mom's, we go to the cinema and see a movie. On the way back here, we get some dinner and stock up on everything we need for the year"

"Sounds perfect" Violet smiled as she pressed her lips against his.

"I'm sorry" He apologized

"For what?"

"For being dead" He replied, taking her hand and playing with her slim fingers.

"It's nobody's fault" She said "I thought that if I killed myself, all the shit would stop but it just got worse"

"If you were alive, what would you be doing?" He asked curiously.

"I'd probably be in university" She shrugged "Maybe travelling - What about you?"

"I'd be thirty-nine and out of this city" He laughed "But if I wasn't dead, I would never have met you. You're the best thing that could've ever happened to me, Vi"

-

"I'm not the leader" Hayden confessed as she juggled the red ball from one hand to the other "I mean, I dislike Violet and I only just tolerate that whiny bastard Tate but I wouldn't start something like this. Ever"

She rolled the ball into the shadows. It was on the return route momentarily, traveling out of the shadows and across the floor to her lap. Hayden usually visit Beau to escape the negativity of the rest of the house but on this occasion, she couldn't help but feel like he was judging her. She didn't even know he was capable of that.

"I was pressured into it" She continued "They knew I was angry and that's how they got to me. Charles was already there when I joined and I think he knows who's in charge but the rest of us don't. All I've seen of them is a hoodie, mask and voice morpher. They're unrecognizable. I want out though since I found out their true intentions"

Beau grunted, wanting her to go on.

"I don't want to think about it" She said as tears began to stream down her face "They want to make sure Tate's miserable for the rest of his existence and that means effecting everyone around him - Violet, Constance, Michael. Metaphorically speaking, they're going to stab him and fill his wound with salt, lemon, any shit that hurts. It's despicable"

She rolled the ball back to him, wiping her eyes.

"I'm scared that if I try to get out, I'll be put on their hit list. It's kind of a 'If you're not with us, you're against us' type of thing. They terrify me but being with them means I'm protected. There are a lot of people here that hate me, Beau, and I'll never be happy here - Nobody"

-

"Mom?" Violet called as she paced the halls in search of her mother. It wasn't that she needed anything, she just liked to spend time with her. Talking and hanging out with other ghosts was one of the few things you could do when you were dead.

"Nope, it's me" Ben replied as he came out of the master bedroom to see his daughter "Can I help with anything?"

"No" The teenager responded flatly, reminding herself that the man she called her father was part of a group, or should she say 'gang', planning to disrupt the relative peace of the house.

"Do you want to do something? Watch a movie or play a game or something?" He asked, wanting to spend time with her to pass time and catch up.

"No" she repeated, dully

"Do you want to say something other than no?" He pressed rhetorically, his daughter's antisocial attitude slightly annoying him.

"No" She began to leave but was pulled back by the grip her father had on her forearm. She turned around sharply, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Violet, I'm your father" He snapped "When are you going to stop treating me like something you scrape off your shoe?"

"Let go of me" She muttered, jerking her arm away and walking quickly away from the same, leaving Ben as mad at her as ever.

She closed her bedroom door with force as soon as she got. Running her porcelain fingers through her hair as she sat down on her bed, shaken by what had just happened.

"Vi, what's wrong?" Tate asked worriedly as she knelt in front of her.

"I didn't believe it" She stuttered, trying desperately to stay composed.

"Believe what?" He was growing more and more anxious at his girlfriend's strange behavior

"He's in on it" She choked

"We know that" He said softly

"But I wasn't sure - Were you?"

He didn't reply

"Now I'm 100% sure"

"Of what?"

"He's the leader, I'm certain"

"That's a pretty serious accusation"

"I know but it's him" She nodded, holding back tears "Who else could it be?"

"It could be a lot of people, Vi" He replied, wiping a tear away with his thumb "We don't know how many people are in on it"

"Are you saying you don't believe me?" The girl croaked, hurt.

"No, no" He cleared "I think you're a bit paranoid. We should think this over, maybe investigate a little more before we make up our minds about this"

"Tate, what if he tries-"

"He won't" Tate stated "I would never let anyone hurt you, Violet"

"Promise?"

"I promise"

-