American Horror Story: Murder House Fan Fiction

Title: Set Me Free

Overall Plot: Alternative storyline for the first season of American Horror Story, Murder House. This story does not involve the Harmons (awww), however all other characters (and a few of my own) are present. This is my first fan fiction so please review or message me if you have any comments, questions, etc. Thanks!

(A/N- Okay so I'm finally posting the first chapter of my first fan fiction! I think Im overly excited right now. To be honest I don't even think anyone will read this, but if you do….THANK YOU! Oh yea, btw I do not own American Horror Story (Obviously))

Chapter 1:

"If you don't like it then get the hell out! Go!"

"You can't tell me to leave my own house, you're the bastard that should be leaving!"

It was Sunday evening, and of course like every other day Shay Mitchell's parents were fighting. For most kids this would probably seem a bit drastic, but not to Shay. This was just a normal evening in her home, her hell. She was numb to the screaming, numb to embarrassing looks her neighbors who had clearly heard the yelling would give her, she barely had any feelings at all actually.

"I wish I would've never met you! Do you know what you've done to me? To our family?"

She could tell by the high-pitched tone in her mom's voice that this fight wasn't going to end anytime soon. So she did what she always did, locked herself in her room, put on her headphones, and took out her phone to text Tate, her only friend.

S: Hey

T: Hey. What's up?

S: Nm, just relaxing.

T: Want me to come over?

There was a loud thud coming from her parents bedroom, followed by hysterical wailing. With a sigh, Shay got up and went over to their room, she already knew what she would see. Her mom was pushed up against the wall with her dad's hands around her neck. Once her dad saw her he immediately stopped what he was doing.

"Tell her to stop fucking with me!"

Once again she would spend her night playing referee to her parents.

—

(The Next Day)

Shay sat alone by her favorite tree in the front of the school. She put had her headphones on, but she wasn't even sure if there was music playing. All she could hear were her racing thoughts. She stared at the busy street across the school, she could easily just get up and walk in the middle of it and wait for the inevitable, but that would be too easy.

"Hey what happened last night? You never answered my text."

In her daze, she hadn't even noticed Tate's arrival. How long had been standing there?

"Oh yea, sorry my phone died. Then I fell asleep."

Of course this was a bogus excuse, but she what else could she say? She didn't want Tate to know what was going on, she didn't want anyone to know. It was bad enough that her neighbors could occasionally hear the yelling, the embarrassment from that alone nearly destroyed her. Besides, Tate has his own demons to deal with and she didn't need him to worry about her. Shay can take care of herself.

Thankfully, Tate didn't ask anymore questions and they made their way inside. They were an unusual pair, complete opposites actually. Tate with his pale, ghostly skin and disheveled blond hair always said things like "High school counts for jack shit." He was an average student, but compared to Shay he was a total underachiever. Shay was one of the top, if not the top, student in her class. In fact, she already had offers from a few colleges, college was her ticket out of here, her only escape.

—

"I'm telling you, there's no way that you can eat all that."

"And I'm telling you to sit back and watch the champ."

Shay and Tate were sitting in Tate's living room with three bags of family sized chips. They usually spent most afternoons here ,or at the diner, or the lake, basically anywhere that they could hang out together. Well anywhere, except Shay's house. She never wanted to be there herself, so why would she want Tate to come? Besides, she loved hanging out at Tate's house.

It's more of a mansion rather than a house, way bigger than Shay's. It was filled with all sorts of antique looking furniture and there was just something special about the house that Shay couldn't put her finger on. Whenever she was there she felt like she belonged, almost as if the house itself didn't want her to leave.

Shay had made it halfway through her first bag of chips when she heard the sound of the front door opening. That meant that Tate's mother Constance and his little sister Addy were home from grocery shopping. She looked over at Tate who was starting to become tense, things haven't been so good between Tate and his mom and Shay couldn't understand why. Constance was always so sweet and kind to her, she always told her how grateful she was that she and Tate were friends.

"Shay!" As soon as she saw Shay, Addy always ran up and gave her a giant hug.

"Hey there pretty girl."

Tate couldn't help but smile. He and Addy had a special bond and not a lot of people treated her as kindly as Shay did. Not a lot people treated Tate as kindly as Shay did either, she was always so kind to everyone. Tate always thought that she was too good for this world. He silently wished that there was some way to rescue her from all the pain in the world.

"Oh, hello Shay, you're looking beautiful as always." Constance glanced over at her son. "Tate get in there and help your sister put away the groceries."

With a sigh Tate and Addy went to the kitchen, Shay got up to follow but Constance blocked her path.

"Shay can we chat for a minute?"

"Um, sure Mrs. Langdon."

"Now you know I'm a widow dear, please just call me Constance."

Constance was always telling Shay to call her Constance, but she always called her Mrs. Langdon anyway. It made her feel weird to call someone's mom by their first name, but it did made Constance a lot more relatable.

"So, what did you want to talk about Mrs. Lang—Constance?"

She took a seat next to Constance on the couch. She could tell it must've been something pretty serious, judging, by the concerned look on her face.

"It's about Tate dear…has he been acting strange lately?" Constance questioned in a whispered tone.

"Um nope, he's been the same."

"I see. Well it's just that I'm worried about him, would you mind keeping an eye in him for me? He won't talk to me, but I'm sure he'd tell you."

Shay didn't get a chance to reply because Tate walked back into the room. Constance excused herself, and Addy had gone to the basement to play with her imaginary friends. Tate questioned Shay about what his mom wanted, but she just brushed him off. She really didn't want to get in the middle of whatever was happening between those two. She had enough drama in her own life.

(Later that night)

Shay sat at her desk in her bedroom, things weren't so bad tonight. Mostly because her dad didn't come home, but that was fine with her. She hoped that he would stay gone forever, but he never did. Usually he was out getting drunk in some run down bar, and he'd drag himself back to the house around 4am.

She couldn't stop thinking about her conversation with Constance. Was there something wrong with Tate? If there was, why hadn't she noticed? Was she too wrapped up in her own sorrow to notice that her best friend needed help? She decided that Constance was probably just overthinking things, mothers did that sometimes. Besides, Tate would tell her if something was going on, wouldn't he? Maybe she would keep an eye on him just in case.

(A/N- So I ended up combining chapter 1 and chapter 2, because they were way to short individually)