[American Horror] Light Addiction

?She hates the basement, the place she abandoned deep in the hippocampus.She has always avoided going into basements anywhere.

But, Aimee, it's time to give up your pointless insistence.If it was Tate, he would definitely not run away.She secretly persuaded herself.

She opened the door, reached in, groped on the wall, and luckily found the switch quickly.A small light bulb hung from the roof, and the dim light could only illuminate a small area where the light fell.The deep and shallow darkness is like a pool of thick ink, and the falling light melts into the surface and stirs up the floating and floating of the pigment, which is quickly swallowed.The small room was shrouded in darkness, exuding a dark stench, Aimee turned on the flashlight on her phone and walked in.

After walking down the steps at the door, she realized that the basement was bigger than she imagined. She held up her mobile phone, and the white light brushed against the wall and swept across a huge iron frame.There are glass jars of similar size lined up on the shelves, which reminds her of the biological museum she once visited.

She leaned closer to a bottle, and one dark eye was pressed against the glass bottle and looked at her gloomyly.

Aimee was startled, she backed away suddenly, and the flashlight hit the opposite side, only to find that the dead body of the baby was stored in the glass jar, and the lump of flesh had grown eyes, floating up and down in formalin.

Other jars preserved similar things, such as pig's heads with dried blood clotted with bloody mouths, shriveled wombs of women who had been dug out, and other large and small animal specimens.

The things with eyes were strangely facing the opposite side of the shelf. Their skin had already festered, and some had mold growing on them, but all the eyes seemed to be shining, and they stood densely on the shelf, staring at Aimee in unison.

Goosebumps appeared on her arms, and she subconsciously grabbed the corner of the wall.The touch of the hand is a bit weird, it is not smooth latex paint, but it seems to be covered with rough particles.She raised the flashlight and shone the light on it. It was a narrow rusty red iron door.

The automatic lock on the door was opened. Although the rusted door lock sucker was a bit unstable, it was still intact and not damaged.It was evident that the lock had been opened from inside, and there must have been other entrances.She locked the door, the flashlight flickering upwards.Sure enough, there is a small dark window above the iron door, which is hard to detect unless you look carefully.

There was no ladder nearby, so she looked up at the window above the door, and the iron frame standing quietly beside her broke into her peripheral vision.

in case……

She frowned, and finally climbed up to the edge of the iron frame, high enough, and she stretched out her right hand to grab the window frame of the small window.There is a small iron bolt on the bottom of the window, but there is only one screw left around the iron bolt. The bolt hangs there precariously, and it is useless. With a light push, Adi can get in according to the size of the neighbor next door.If she jumped in and then turned on the automatic lock, it would explain why Constance could come over easily.

Maybe have to buy some screws and a screwdriver.She was concentrating.

A skinny black hand protruded from the bottom of the iron frame. It stretched out like a spring arm, and the sharp finger bones rustled against each other, like the antennae on the head of a praying mantis. He touched the iron frame, layer by layer, and climbed up to Aimee's feet silently.

Aimee was about to get off the iron frame when suddenly a strong force pulled her down. She quickly climbed onto the iron frame, hoping that the densely packed objects on the frame would keep the frame on the ground.But the claws hidden in the darkness did not give up, and the huge downward force dragged her, and the shelf suddenly collapsed.

The glass jars fell from the iron frame one after another, hitting the falling girl.

She couldn't help screaming, trying to cling to something, but all she caught was the fishy air.She was ready to close her eyes for a hard landing on her spine.

At the moment when the eyes had no time to catch it, a golden figure flashed quickly.The boy swooped down and knelt down and took her into his arms, protecting her with his whole body. The iron frame and some of the bottles hit his back with a muffled sound, while others fell to the ground, scattered into pieces all over the floor.

Amid the sound of clattering, Aimee opened his eyes in surprise, and the fragments reflected countless figures.

Tate was splashed with formalin, and his blond hair was wet into strands, and there was still a soft lump of flesh lying on top of his head, which looked like a starfish, looking embarrassed and funny.

"Are you okay?" He asked before her, different from the overall ridiculous appearance, the pure black eyes were full of serious worries.

Aimee couldn't laugh suddenly, she stood up and held up the iron frame, "It's better than you."

With the weight off his back, Tate straightened up, and he twisted his dripping hair, which added to the sense of humor. Aimee was about to go out to get a towel, but was stopped by him unexpectedly.

"Why did you come to the basement?" Tate looked at her through his wet forehead.

"How did you find out that there is a basement here?" Aimee stopped and turned to ask him, "Didn't you just get here like me?"

He shrugged, "You have to trust the boy's talent for detecting the environment."

Aimee seems to accept his rhetoric, frankly: "The neighbor told me that the back door in the basement is broken."

"This kind of thing has to be left to the boy." Tate raised the corners of his lips, and tentatively opened the back door with one hand.

"I could have fixed it, but the bolt on the top was loose." Aimee pointed upwards, "There is no problem with the door lock."

"Wow, you could have done it?" He lowered his eyes and glanced at the shards of glass around him, then looked up at her, his lips curved up, the dimples on both sides deepened, and he smiled cutely and sincerely, without any hint of ridicule or doubt.

"Okay, okay, this is what the boy is good at. But it was fine, but I felt a sudden pull." Aimee frowned.

"But you're the only one in the basement." Tate categorically denied it. He suppressed his smile, and his brows and eyes, which were not smiling, became a little more dignified.

"Have you heard the story of the Montgomery couple?" He tilted his head, and the other side of his face was mostly covered by darkness.

"A strange murder case?" She replied casually.

"Of course not. It's not a very distant story. They were the first owners of the house. Dr. Montgomery built it for his new wife." He put the latch on the door. A new life came, but soon, someone kidnapped their baby, dismembered it and mailed it to the doctor."

The story took a sharp turn, and Aimee's eyes widened, waiting for the follow-up.

"In order to save the child, the doctor reassembled the pieces of meat into life, but the resurrected child is a monster who feeds on flesh and blood, and no one can kill him. The collapsed Mrs. Montgomery killed the doctor and then killed herself. 100 years passed It is said that the monster and Mrs. Montgomery, who lost her child, are still in the house built for them." Tate's voice faded away, and he leaned against the door, his figure blending perfectly with the shadows in the room.

No one spoke for a while, and the silence hovered over the heads of the two with a shadow.

"It's impossible for you to know this. Didn't you just move here? So, it's all made up by your hearsay." Aimee suddenly said, she found the explanation, and her expression became lighter, "I won't this time I was tricked by you."

Tate laughed, and he spread his hands, not going to say anything else.

"Compared to this, Adi from next door just came to look for you."

"Adi?" He stood up and quickly denied, "She didn't come to look for me."

Aimee was slightly surprised. She was about to say something when she heard Tate's words: "You must have seen Constance."

His tone was unusually strange, and Aimee looked at his expression suspiciously.

"She is my mother." He said lightly, his usual smile disappeared, and he was a little gloomy, "Don't pay attention to her, she is a lunatic."

Huh? ! 【ah? ! 】

Aimee felt that this was another untouchable deep water area just like Tate's father, she didn't know how to comfort him, she gently tugged on his sleeve, Tate looked down at her, she twitched the corner of her mouth, "You want to go out Take a walk? Morning exercise will make you feel better."

"No, no need." He vetoed without hesitation, but suggested to her with a smile on his side, "Hancock Park is a good place."

"But it's best to drink a glass of warm water first, are you still catching a cold?" He said as he pulled her up to the kitchen.

Skillfully pouring water from the water boiler, he handed her the water glass.

Surprised by Tate's familiarity with the layout of the room, Aimee raised his glass, "The boy has a talent for detecting the environment?"

"Right." Tate raised his eyebrows and watched her drink the warm water with a smile.

Aimee put the cup on the table, thanked her, and walked out of the hall while Tate was watching.

"Hi, Kitty." She bent down to say hello to the furball lying on the doorstep. The chinjila cat seemed to be still remembering the previous fright, and moved its body to face her with its furry buttocks.

Aimee couldn't help laughing, she shook her head, and ran slowly along the road in front of the door to the park ahead.

The egg-blue air and sunshine diffused, and the red maples in Hancock Park would occasionally shake off cool raindrops, and Aimee avoided the falling water droplets along the way.There are not many people doing morning exercises at this time.Gradually, Aimee vaguely sensed the faint prying eyes.She dodged and hid behind the stone sculpture at the side, looking back slightly sideways.

A man in a black hat and black clothes ran behind him, and he quickly stopped to look around.

Aimee jumped out, grabbed him by the collar, and forced him against the stone sculpture.

The man lowered his head, most of his face was covered by the hat, Aimee took off the black hat, "Why are you following me?"

The man in black was taken off his hat, revealing a scarred face, half of his face was badly burned, and the other half was wrinkled.The old man looked at Aimee sadly with cloudy single eyes, his voice hoarse: "Leave that house, it's a curse, and everyone who lives in it will end badly."

"What are you talking about?!" Aimee let go of the old man's collar.

The old man just repeated those few words, and a young man passing by in the morning shouted at Aimee: "There is no need to pay attention to that guy."

"What?" Aimee asked inexplicably.

"That guy has brain cancer, and his brain is not working well." The young man stopped and pointed to his temple.

Aimee looked back at the old man who had been nagging, and finally turned and ran away.

Regardless of whether such things as curses really exist, Aimee believes in Renee, and therefore also trusts Renee's trusted stepfather. Although Mr. Underwood doesn't like her very much, he will not give her a gift with a bad meaning.

Behind her, the old man with a sad face looked at her leaving back, showing a satisfied and ferocious smile.

Meeting strange people, Aimee decided to interrupt her morning exercise.Running all the way home and pushing open the iron gate of the fence, she couldn't help being stunned.

In the middle of the courtyard stood a red-haired old lady in old clothes. She was hugging Aimee's cat, lazily basking in the sun.

"Hello?" Aimee paused, and approached the old lady in the yard.

The old man raised his eyelids, lowered them again, and caressed the chinchilla cat in a ball, without any embarrassment of breaking into someone's house and being discovered by the owner.

"What can you do?" Aimee had to ask again.

The red-haired old man leaned down, and the chinjila cat jumped out of his arms. Out of the corner of her eye, she followed the kitten that jumped up the steps and dozed off. "A very cute cat, with a good breed."

Without waiting for Aimee's response, she straightened up and stared at Aimee with only one blue eye, "You must be Miss Bennett."

"Yeah, who are you?"

"I am the servant of this house. You can call me Moira." The red-haired old man turned and looked up at the house with red walls and white tiles. "This is my other home."

"Sorry, I haven't heard of such a thing before, and I don't plan to hire a maid." Aimee frowned. The old man looked familiar, especially the weedy red hair, but she couldn't remember where seen her.

"You don't know what this house means to me. I've been imprisoned here all my life, and I can't go anywhere except here. The outside world is no longer suitable for me, an old woman." Moira turned her head slowly-- For some reason, this action reminded Aimee of an owl in the evening—she stared at her, unhurriedly, and said with inexplicable certainty, "And you live here alone, of course you need a maid to clean such a big house."

"Alone? I'm not the only one here."

"Not alone?" The cloudy blue eyes suddenly condensed, and the old man held Aimee tightly like a one-eyed eagle.

"Yes, there is another boy about my age. His mother lives next door." Aimee explained.

Moira suddenly showed a terrified expression, and she slowed down, "Anyway, miss, I hope you can understand my feelings as an old man and allow me to come back occasionally."

At this point, Aimee was unable to refuse, so she nodded.

Moira looked at Aimee with an indescribable meaning in her eyes, then thanked him respectfully, then turned around and left quickly without looking back.The level of agility was unexpected, but the back was in a panic, as if running away from something terrifying.

The red-haired old man walked around the house and quickly disappeared from view.

Aimee didn't take this episode to heart, she raised her wrist to check the time, it was close to the time of her video consultation with Dr. Beth.She straightened her long curly hair, which was a little messy from running, and stepped into the house.