Fear: American Horror Story (CANCELLED)

Chapter One

I was in the basement. I was terrified, because I knew it was going to happen. It was going to find me, and it was going to kill me. I couldn't scream, because I knew that it would hear. I couldn't move, because there was no escaping. I was helpless. Whatever monster it was, it was going to have a field day. I couldn't struggle against it, or fight back. Just succumb to the pain it would inevitably inflict upon me.

Despite how I knew something was going to get me, I still screamed when a man roughly grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth and muffling the noise so no one would hear. I couldn't see him, but as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, I felt his hair against my cheek. "You're scared of the wrong thing." He said. His voice was surprisingly young, but it did nothing to calm my pounding heart. "Don't you know that all monsters are human?"

***

I woke up panting, and for a moment I had no idea where I was. It definitely wasn't my room. Then I remembered; this was my room. My new one.

I jumped at a creaking noise, but knew it was nothing. I was just paranoid from the dream, and the almost completely unfamiliar surroundings were just adding to the irrational fear.

I turned over and closed my eyes, trying to fall back asleep. It didn't work. Sighing, I decided to make the trek to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. As I was walking, I kept glancing around to make sure there was nobody lingering in the shadows. I knew I was only still a bit shaky from the nightmare, and I knew that there was nothing to be scared of, but I couldn't stop feeling like there was some malevolent being watching my every move.

When I got to the kitchen, the feeling got worse. It grew to be a tidal wave of fear, slamming into me and filling my every pore. It was no longer just a small fear in the back of my mind. I knew there was someone in there. I just couldn't see them. I was terrified. I grabbed a knife, and backed up against a wall so no one could surprise me from behind. I stared into the darkness, trying to see in the shadows. I knew I should have turned on the light, but it was too late for that now.

Then the feeling stopped. I felt perfectly safe again. Feeling a little silly, not to mention puzzled, I got a glass of water and headed back up the stairs to my room.

***

Sometimes, as I layed on my bed, just thinking, I would wish to die. It would be so much easier than living through all the shit we humans have to deal with every day. Death would be peaceful. Sure, a few people might cry a little at my funeral, but hey, I wouldn't. I would be jumping for joy that I no longer had to live through all the fucked-up things the world likes to throw at us every day. Like when I found my little sister in the bathtub, cuts on her wrists and an empty bottle of pills floating in the red water. That was pretty fucked.

She didn't die, luckily. I screamed, alerting my parents to her attempted suicide. We rushed her to the hospital and there they revived her. We all lived happily ever after. The End. Except it wasn't.

My parents decided the best thing to do was move away from everything we knew and settle in sunny Los Angeles, where we would start over with our lives. That was their reasoning, at least.

It didn't really help. Lynn still cut herself, but it seemed I was the only person who knew. It was obvious, but hey, who was I to confront her about it?

Sighing, I sat up. The LA weather was stiflingly hot, and it was too thick to breathe. I needed some air.

As I walked towards the back door, I noticed that the house was silent. My dad was off being a history professor, my mom a nurse. Lynn was probably in her room, listening to depressing music. Moira, the maid that approached us for a job the first day we moved in, was gone. We had no pets, either, so it was as if I was the only living being, walking through the realm of the dead.

Outside it was hot. As expected. A slight breeze wafted through the trees, giving a small bit of relief, but not enough. I sat down on our back porch, and took a deep breath of the smoggy air. It was my new home, after all, better get used to it. Pollution and all.

"Hey." Someone said to me, out of the blue. I jumped, then found the owner of the voice. I hadn't noticed her walk up, but a girl around my age, with dark blonde hair and a cigarette between her fingers, was standing only a few steps away from me.

"You scared me," I replied. "Sneaking up on people isn't a very good habit."

She laughed. "Sorry. Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Violet."

As she spoke, she sat down next to me on the step I was sitting on.

"I'm Salem. Do you live around here?" I asked.

She took a drag of her cigarette, and as she answered, smoke spilled from her lips. "You could say that."

What an odd girl. Not that I was complaining. I was done with all the "normal" people in the world. Those kinds of people were the ones who made my sister think she was worth more dead than alive.

"So," Violet started. "I heard your mom's a doctor."

"Not a doctor. Just a nurse."

Violet made a noise of acknowledgement, a small hm. "Well, I just thought it was interesting. This house has a long history of doctors, you know. And nurses."

"Hm."

"Yeah, eight years ago a shrink ran his business out of the place. Met his patients in the sitting room."

I didn't really know where she was going with that, so I just nodded.

She took another drag on her cigarette, inhaling deeply and exhaling slow.

"Those things cause cancer, you know," I said to alleviate the quiet that had settled. Admittedly, it was probably not the best thing to say, but I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to break the silence.

Violet looked at me for a second, then let out a short laugh. "It's a little late for that," she said.

Startled, I asked, "You have cancer?" Again, probably not the best thing to say.

"No." Violet stated, and I didn't ask for details.

We both just stared into the distance for a while, thinking our individual thoughts, when something came to my mind.

"What school do you go to?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm homeschooled," she replied.

"Oh." I was disappointed. Summer was coming to an end, and I had to go to some shitty public school with a history of violence. There was even a school shooting; I had read an article about it online. It would gave been nice to have a friend there.

We sat in silence for a few minutes more, until Violet stood up. "Well, see you around," she said, and walked away.

She left her still-burning cigarette on the step. I looked at it for a moment, before picking it up. Why not?

A took a drag, and breathed the smoke up into the sunburnt sky.