A Night in Murder House//discontinued

Dr. Harmon

Cassie climbed the stairs at a quick, steady pace. Once at the top, she entered Dr. Harmon's office. As she opened the door, she saw a man, facing the opposite direction, staring at the bookshelf. Cassie froze. She was filled from head to toe with fear. Her thoughts became jumbled and incomprehensible. In the end, her clumsiness gave her away.

As the book slipped through her fingers, time seemed to slow down. Cassie recognized what happened the second the book left her hand. The suspense gripped her gut. Her muscles stiffened. Then the book finally reached the ground. It landed with a soft thud.

The man turned around, seemingly surprised to see a living person standing behind him. Cassie immediately recognized him from the photos that had flashed across local news stations when he and his family had died. She was staring at Ben Harmon.

Once again, her thoughts became a jumbled mess. Things like: how is he alive, WHAT, ghosts and What the Fuck?!, raced through her head. Dr. Harmon on the other hand looked like he could be the poster child of some brand advertising relaxation pills.

"It's alright. I won't hurt you," he said in a slow, calming voice. It gave Cassie only minor relief. She bent down and picked up the book. She closed her eyes, hoping it was just a hallucination, but it wasn't. When she opened them, he was still there. She then pinched herself. Nope, not a dream, she thought.

"That's where the book went," Dr. Harmon said. "I knew it was gone, but I didn't know where it was." Cassie just stared. She was going crazy. It couldn't be real. She tried to say something, but what came out was incomprehensible. Dr. Harmon looked sad. "Yes, I'm dead. I don't know how or why I'm still here. But it's the house. Beware of the men. The house affects them negatively."

Cassie was in shock. This can't be real. I'm going insane, she thought. She dropped the book again and ran into another room, locking the door behind her. It turned out to be a bathroom. She sank down to a sitting position with her back to the door. She closed her eyes for a minute, trying to calm down. She ran her hands through her long, red hair. She hastily French braided her hair so that she had something to do with her hands. She was freaking out.

To calm herself down, she began whispering mathematical equations. She found math relaxing, even in the worst of times. As she was solving a created equation, an angry female voice said: "Will you shut the hell up!"

Cassie had had enough. She unlocked the door and walked down the hall, down the stairs, and back to the rest of the group. She couldn't tell them anything. They'd call her crazy. When she sat back down, she grabbed her camera. "Hey Darren," she said. "I'll take you up on that offer."