Dark Moon - Michael Langdon

Part 3 - Murder House

As advised by Billie, I dropped Michael and Queenie off at my house and came to the Murder House alone. Judging by how antsy Queenie was to get back to the coven, I'm planning on making this visit quick.

I look back up at the Murder House. Growing up in LA, I have heard my fair share of its horror stories, and I never dared to go inside. I'm blaming the dreadful feeling in my stomach on that lifetime of fear. 

I look through the house's strange windows, wondering why the hell Billie Dean Howard insisted on meeting here. It's creepy as hell; the vibes alone are telling me to turn around and run away.

With a deep breath, I transmutate past the locked gate. I cautiously approach the front porch, my senses on high alert. I knock on the door, and it creaks open on its own. Not creepy at all. I slowly enter and check out my surroundings. The interior design is exactly as it looks in all of the pictures online, just a lot dustier, clearly having been uninhabited for a while. "Billie Dean Howard?" I ask, walking into the main entryway.

"She's not here yet," a voice says.

My head whips to the side to see a middle-aged woman with strawberry-blonde hair standing in the hallway. "Are you one of the ghosts?" I ask, managing to keep all traces of fear out of my voice. My intuition tells me that she's not harmful, but I'm still slightly on edge.

"Yes, I'm Vivien Harmon. You need to get out of here. Some of the spirits here are dangerous and want to hurt whoever walks through that door," she explains quickly, ushering me back out the door.

"Look, I appreciate your concern, but I'm just here to talk to Billie," I explain. "She insisted on meeting here for some reason; she said it was important to the topic we were talking about."

"What were you planning on talking about?" she asks, stepping back and looking at me strangely.

With a sigh, I explain, "There's some prophecy about my heritage that she needs to discuss. I also just got murdered a few hours ago at the same time as this boy named Michael, and we were led to each other. I'm guessing our mystery resurrection is going to take some explaining."

Her face darkens as I say Michael's name. "Michael Langdon?" she asks.

I furrow my brow. "How did you know?"

She looks me dead in the eye as she replies, "I'm his mother."

My eyes widen. "He was raised here? He never mentioned that."

"No, no," she shakes her head. "His grandmother raised him in that house next door, but he was born here," she points. We both turn to look out the window at his grandmother's house. "I died in childbirth, causing my soul to get trapped here. I had to watch him grow up over there."

"Oh my god, that sounds terrible," I shake my head.

"Yes, but not in the way you're thinking," she says mysteriously.

"What?" I turn back to look at her but she is gone. "Vivien?"

"Were you talking to Vivien?" a woman's voice asks.

I turn to see Billie Dean Howard standing at the door. "Yes, where did she go?"

"The ghosts can disappear whenever they want," Billie explains. "It is rare to get them to show themselves unless they're trying to kill you. You're lucky you encountered Vivien and not one of the dangerous ones."

"She said she was Michael's mother and that she died in childbirth-"

"Yes, her story is very long. I'm here to give you the shortened version. I also need you to tell me what happened this morning when you were run over."