Tragedy knows no boundaries.

Neither does pain or suffering. They don't care who their victims are—money has no meaning to them and nothing can protect you from their vice of a grip. The sharp burning pain would slowly coil itself around you and pull you into a dark hole, a dark hole that Evelyn had yet to get out of. The purpose of pain and suffering, and why it had decided to strike her family, was something that Evelyn had yet to figure out.

The gentle caress of the car's AC was the only thing that was keeping Evelyn's mind off of her recent family events as she stared at the growing Los Angeles sign. She could hear the murmur of her parents talking, but she didn't care enough to remove her headphones. What could they have possibly been saying that could make her happy? Nothing. Only when Evelyn heard her name through the jumble of drums and guitar did she take off her headphones.

"You know, I'm really glad we named you two Violet and Evelyn instead of our second choices." Her dad said, causing Evelyn to raise her eyebrow. Why was Ben bringing her into this conversation? She knew that he had been upset with the fact that she hadn't been talking to him as much as before, but that was before they had to move.

That was before he had cheated.

"Which were?" Violet asked, staring in the rearview mirror, confusion crossing her face with a small amount of annoyance.

"Sunshine and Dawn." Her mom responded as she slid her sunglasses. Evelyn fake gagged and Violet let out a mocking laugh, her features dropping when Ben joined in.

"It's funny. Come on." Ben chuckled, "You gotta admit it's funny."

Evelyn watched as Ben smiled sweetly at Vivian before reaching over to grab her hand, Vivian pulling her hand away before she could encase hers and turning her head to look at the map. Evelyn was quick to look away from her parents and flinched when she felt a cold hand grasp her warm one. Looking to her left, a small smile appeared on Evelyn's face when she saw her sister giving her a soft, small one. Quickly squeezing her hand, Violet quickly let go and the continued staring out the window, no one making any move to start another conversation.

Evelyn loved having a twin. But as much as she loved it, she hated it. Her and Violet were not identical; no, they were the farthest part from identical in appearance and in personality. While Violet had long, light brown hair that looked like their mother's, Evelyn's hair was darker—almost black—that looked identical to her father's. Violet's eyes were a beautiful honey brown, where Evelyn's were a weird hazel mix that reminded her of gross moss. Their faces were different too, Violet had their father's oval face and Evelyn had their mother's rounded, square-ish face. But none the less, the two of them had a bond that wasn't easily broken. They were each other's pillars. Evelyn was there for Violet whenever Violet needed her, and Violet was there for Evelyn whenever Evelyn needed her.

"I love it." Ben said, the doorbell echoing throughout the building, "Don't you love it, hon? I mean, it looks even better than it did online."

"Yeah, it's, it's interesting." Vivian agreed, and Evelyn scoffed from where she sat next to Violet.

"Great." Violet scoffed, "So we're The Addams Family now."

Evelyn bit back a laugh, "I hope they have a butler then."

"Hey! Crabby pants!" The two girls looked to their father, "Come here."

"What are you doing?" Vivian asked, holding her puppy close to her. The dog had basically come as Vivian's comfort blanket. Not that Evelyn minded, she had always wanted a dog but her parents had refused to get her one. They always said that she and Violet were enough trouble. She guessed that had changed.

"Isn't this place amazing?" Ben asked, excitement evident in his voice as he wrapped his arms around the two of them.

"It's definitely old," Evelyn stated, her posture tense and uncomfortable, and she nearly cried with relief as the door creaked open.

"Welcome." The relator agent greeted, and Evelyn snickered at how dysfunctional her family must have looked. Slowly stepping inside her new home, Evelyn couldn't help but shiver at a sudden cool breeze.

"It's a classic LA Victorian, built around 1920 by the doctor to the stars at the time." The woman ranted as they walked down the hall, "It's just fabulous. These are real Tiffany fixtures. As you can see, the previous owners really loved this place like a child. They restored everything."

"Gay?" Vivian asked.

"What do you think?"

"Tiffany." Ben said, slowing down to bump the two of them with his shoulder, "Wow."

It wasn't hard to keep the smile off her face.

"Do you cook?" The woman asked.
"Viv is a great cook." Ben stated as he took his hat off and looked around the kitchen, "I got her cooking lessons a few years ago, and she ended up teaching the teacher a few things."

Evelyn rolled her eyes, leave it to her dad to try and win her mom back while trying to show the realtor agent that everything was fine in their family. That they were just one big, happy family.

"Cooking lessons. Romantic." The woman said and Evelyn winced. Seeing her mom put Hallie down, Evelyn was quick to follow the dog. She wanted to get out of the room- no, she needed to get out of the room. It was becoming suffocating in there. Her dad trying to act like everything was perfect, her mom being a shell of her former self, and Violet being so quiet.

Following Hallie, Evelyn came to a sudden stop as Hallie stopped in front of a door, barking as if there was a person there. Evelyn stared at the dog, confused. There was nobody at the door; hell, she didn't even think they had any neighbors.

"Violet, honey, could you go see where Hallie went?" Evelyn heard her mom ask.

"Mom, it's fine. I'm with her right now." Evelyn called down the hall before turning her attention back to Hallie, "What on earth are you barking at?"

Taking a step closer to the door, Evelyn noticed that Hallie stopped barking and rolled her eyes. Reaching her hand out, she grabbed the doorknob and gave it a sharp turn, her brows furrowing in confusion when it didn't open. Grabbing with both hands, she gave the door a good shake, trying to loosen the lock before pulling the door back and walking down the stairs. Evelyn pulled her jacket tighter around her body as she reached the bottom and looked around the room. There wasn't much to look at and she quickly turned and headed back up, not liking the feeling she was getting.

By the time she arrived at school the next day, Evelyn could already feel the drama seeping through the air. Of course, her parents had to move them in the middle of the school year.

"I'll see you at lunch?" Evelyn offered, swinging her bag around her shoulder.

"Yeah." Violet nodded.

Giving her sister a firm nod, Evelyn quickly headed down the hall and to her first class: Organic Chemistry. To say that lunch came quickly was an understatement. Evelyn was worried that by the time she finally left the classroom she had wrinkles on her face and looked like she had aged ten years. It wasn't hard to find Violet, though. The sent of cigarette smoke led her straight to her older sister, and when she saw what was going on, her blood began to boil. A girl was grasping Violet by the back of the head and was forcing a cigarette sub to her face. Evelyn couldn't see what happened next, but Violet was suddenly racing towards her and the girl was shrieking.

"What the fuck was that?" Evelyn asked as Violet grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards the door, "Where are we going?"

"Anywhere but here." Violet seethed, and Evelyn looked back to see the girl glaring at her. With a shrug, Evelyn quickly flipped her off before blowing a kiss and giving a wink.

Nobody messed with her sister.

~8~

The blade she had managed to pull from the razor felt particularly cold today. The coolness of the blade contrasted against the warmth of her wrist, and Evelyn slowly pulled the blade down, pulling back to stare at the soft, milky skin that remained unmarred.

Some days, she didn't know how she managed to do it. The temptation of the warm, red liquid to spill over her pale skin, covering its perfection. Taking the razor, Evelyn playfully traced it across her arm, a childlike look in her eyes. Oh, the times she had been so tempted to end it all. Evelyn froze, the blade resting over a large, evident vein on her wrist. She shouldn't be doing this. Dancing with her dark thoughts weren't going to help her at all; nor was it going to help her sister or her mother. Evelyn knew that Violet struggled with depression and frequently self-harmed, and it made her sick to think about what she was doing.

"You're doing it wrong." A small shriek left Evelyn's lips as she spun around, barely noticing that in the sudden surprise she had managed to knick her skin. A tall, dirty blond haired boy leaned casually against the side of the doorframe. His dark brown eyes seemed to stare blankly at her, and only when she saw them flicker to her wrist—going wide with fascination- did she finally speak.

"Who the heck are you?"

"If you're trying to kill yourself, cut vertically." The boy continued as if she hadn't said anything, "They can't stitch that up."

"What if I'm not trying to kill myself?" Evelyn questioned, holding the razor tighter as her heart raced. His eyes flickered from her wrist to her face, an unbelieving look crossing it. Nervously, she yanked down her shirt sleeve. "That was an accident."

The boy laughed, "Isn't that we always say when we get caught."

"Who are you anyway?" Evelyn said, trying to change the subject, "And haven't you heard of knocking before opening the door."

The boy gave her a lazy smile as he reached and grabbed the doorknob, "If you're trying to kill yourself, you might also try locking the door."

Even with her pounding heart and racing mind, Evelyn had enough sense to throw the razor in the toilet and flush it. The boy's dark, tantalizing eyes seemed to be engrained in her mind and, as beautiful as they were, they seemed to hold so much darkness. Evelyn quickly washed her hands and raced out of the bathroom, nearly tripping as she tried to race up the stairs.

"Vi!" Evelyn slammed her sister's door shut and rested her back against it, panting as her sister stared at her with wide eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong, Eve?" Violet leapt from her bed and rushed over to her shaking younger sister, pulling her into a hug.

Slowly, Evelyn began to calm down and he mind became clear. Breathing in deeply, she pulled herself out of her sister's grasp and opened the door, "Sorry. I thought I saw something in the basement. Must've just been the meds or something."

Violet watched with confusion as Evelyn slammed the door shut, her brows furrowed. Evelyn hadn't had a panic attack in a few years now, and she'd stopped taking her meds last October. Biting down on her lip, Violet let out a frustrated groan before digging around in her purse and grabbing a cigarette.

~8~

The sound of her bedroom door opening caught Evelyn's attention and she groaned from where she laid on her bed, staring boredly at her computer screen.

"Seriously, Vi, I'm fine." Evelyn recited as she lazily clicked at the screen, "I was just spooked."

"I'm not Vi." A deep, yet oddly comforting and soft voice spoke, "Um, I'm Tate."

Evelyn's head shot up and she stared in horror at the teenage boy in front of her, memories of yesterday flooding her mind. Suddenly, she felt like she couldn't breathe—as if a thousand hands were holding her head underwater, and no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't get to the top.

"How'd you find my room." Evelyn managed to gasp out. Tate shrugged, making his way further into the room and sitting on the floor next to her bed, staring up at her, "And I never said that you could come in."

"I saw you run into your room yesterday." Was all Tate said before he began to fiddle with the hem of his sleeve.

Evelyn pursed her lips, the feeling of being held down was slowly starting to fade away but she could still feel her heart pounding in her chest, "So, are you one of my dad's patients?"

"Yeah." Tate nodded, not bothering to look up at her. Slowly, she slunk down to the floor, sitting a foot away from him.

"What's up with you then?" She asked, nervously tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She didn't mean to pry, but she couldn't help but want to know what his story was. Tate looked at her with such an innocent look that Evelyn almost forgot he was around her age.

The darkness that suddenly flooded his eyes made Evelyn subconsciously shrink back with fear. She knew that she shouldn't have asked that. Immediately, she started to belittle herself, asking why she was so stupid and why she couldn't just keep her mouth shut. The air between them grew thick and cold for a moment before he yanked down his sleeve and pointed to thin scar lines on his wrist, lines she was all too familiar with.

"This one I did after my dad left. I was ten, I think." Tate stated like a little kid during show-and-tell week. Evelyn's mouth dropped. How could a person have such a quick personality change? Looking up to meet his eyes, Evelyn was taken aback on the look he was giving her. He was waiting for her to share one her scars; mental or physical, she didn't know. Going with the safer route, she gently pulled down her sleeve.

"This asshole scared me while I was in the bathroom and I accidentally cut myself," Evelyn explained as she pointed to a small, light red cut on her wrist that was right over a large vein. If she had only pressed a little harder… Tate's eyes darkened at the thought.

"So, why are you here?" He asked, suddenly getting up and walking towards her desk, flipping through pages of the books that laid scattered across it.

"My mom caught my dad cheating on her," Evelyn explained, smiling softly at the 'ouch' face Tate had, "And to make it worse, she had a miscarriage about six months before. The baby was about seven months and it was pretty bad because you don't normally have miscarriages past month three unless it's something that you do-" The look Tate was giving her made her voice die in the back of her throat.

"Sorry," Evelyn cleared her throat, "I was taking biology around the same time it happened."

"Nah, it's cool." Tate said, grabbing a marker and heading over towards her whiteboard, "I dig smart chicks."

Evelyn's cheeks immediately flushed and she turned away, praying that her hair was covering her tomato face. Blindly looking around her room, she grabbed at CD case at the end of her bed and looked at the artist, a smile crossing her face.

"Wanna listen to Stevie Nicks?" Evelyn held out the disk and Tate sat on the floor in front of her.

"You have any Kurt Cobain?" Tate asked and Evelyn shook her head.

"Nah, Vi does though. I can go ask-"

"What are you doing in here?" Evelyn froze as Ben's rough voice cut through the room.

"Dad," Evelyn froze, looking between the two males in the room and feeling the building tension, "I was just about to go and get some music from Violet's room."

"You have to leave, Tate." Ben said, brushing over his daughter's words, "I'm sorry. You shouldn't be in here. I think you know that. Please." Ben motioned towards the door.

Evelyn watched as Tate stood up, a frown crossing her lips, and walked towards the door. For a moment, she felt empty. It was almost as though Tate had filled this empty hole in her and now that he was leaving, it had come back and was sucking all the happiness out of her. Evelyn mentally scoffed at the thought. She was being ridiculous. She barely knew the guy. Evelyn barely had a second to react before her father was storming towards her, anger covering his features.

"Stay away from him!" He demanded, and Evelyn recoiled at the anger and disgust that was seeping through his voice.

"Dad, I…"

"You heard me!" Ben's sharp voice cut her off and she looked at up him with hurt in her eyes.

~8~

It only took Evelyn one moment to register that her sister was being held down by a bunch of girls before she went flying towards them. Evelyn's blood was boiling as she slapping one of the girls in the face and managed to kick another one off her. She didn't know what the hell these girls' problems were with her sister, but she knew that she wasn't going to let it continue any longer.

"Get the fuck off her!" Evelyn shrieked before throwing a punch and nailing one of the last two girls who was holding her sister to the ground.

"You bitch!" The girl who she managed to hit wailed, tackling Evelyn to the floor as a sharp crack echoed around the room.

"Eve," Violet gasped as she saw her little sister groaning and holding her head in her hands. Glaring at Leah, Violet reached for the cigarette before grabbing it at pressing the tip into Leah's hand before getting up and grabbing Evelyn from off the ground. Supporting most of her sister's weight, Violet pulled her into an empty classroom and locked the door, quickly turning her attention to a groaning Evelyn.

"Hey, Evie." Violet grabbed her sister's face, "Are you okay?"

"My head really hurts." Evelyn said, her eyes burning as they filled with tears, "Am I going to die?"

Violet choked down a laugh. Leave it to Evelyn to think one small thing happens to her and she's going to die.

"No, you're not going to die." Violet plainly said, dropping her hands and walking over to the door, checking to make sure no one was outside. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she motioned for Evelyn to come over, "Come on, we're leaving this shithole."

~8~

"Be quiet," Violet whispered and Evelyn nodded. The pounding in her head had eased since the fight a few hours ago. Violet had decided that she wanted to eat a good lunch for once and the two had been lazing about in the restaurant until they knew school had ended. Now the hard part was sneaking back into the house without their mom noticing. They didn't have to worry about Ben though, he rarely ever noticed anything. Violet kept her hat on and her hair forward to cover the scratch on her forehead while all Evelyn had to do was try to walk straight and not into a door.

"Hey." Vivian greeted as the two entered the house.

"Hey," Violet replied, quickly turning her head and closing the door while Evelyn gave a smile and a nod. Quickly the two made their way towards the stairs.

"Whoa." Vivian said and the two girls stopped in their tracks, "Come here. What happened to your face?"

"Fell down." Violet stated, her eyes drifting to the left.

"And you?" Vivian asked, looking towards her youngest and noting the distant gaze in her eyes.

"Bumped my head on a table." Evelyn explained and Vivian sighed.

"Come here. Sit, sit, sit." Vivian rushed over to the grab a wet cloth as Violet helped Evelyn sit at the island. Even though her headache was getting better, her sense of balance and perception was still a little off.

"Boy or girls."

"Girls." Violet admitted, "Three of them."

"Hope they look worse than you do." Vivian said, and Violet gave a soft smile as Evelyn grimaced as a wave of pain hit her, "Do you know their names?"
"I'm not narcing."

"Le-" Violet said, quickly cutting Evelyn off and shooting her a glare. To which the twin lazily shrugged.

"You know, we can easily move you to a different school." Vivian stated as she sat down in front of Violet, "There are a lot of really good private schools right in this neighborhood."

"I'm not running away. I'm not scared of them." Violet announced and Evelyn rolled her eyes. Leave it up to Violet to be all heroic, a trait she got from Ben.

"Not afraid of anything. It's like that time in kindergarten when you insisted that I bring you home from the slumber party cause all the other girls were sleeping with the light on." Vivian said as she gently dabbed under Violet's nose.

Quietly, Evelyn slipped away from the conversation and made her way upstairs. Her head was killing her. It was aching and pounding and she could feel the blood rushing. Crashing on her bed, she didn't see the shadow in the corner of the room… nor did she see the dark eyes that followed her.

I hate her! I just want to kill her.

…do it...

did you see what she did to Evelyn?

yeah…cold bitch….

leave you alone? Stop making… life… hell?

Scare her.

…how?