When he didn’t speak, Harmony nudged him a little with her elbow.
“Yeah, okay,” he said and straightened up and crossed his arms.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” she asked.
He eyed her, then shook his head. “You could have found out for yourself. You obviously know how to use the internet. Why now? Why are you looking this up now? Today? Why?”
“I don’t know!” she screeched, getting good and fed up with him. “Stop giving me the third degree and stop fucking with me!”
“I am doing neither,” he said.
“Marc, don’t fuck with me right now,” she said, becoming so angry with him. She couldn’t ever remember being so angry with him, the man she’d loved for so long, the one she trusted above everyone else. But now? Now she wasn’t so sure she even knew who he was. Who did something like this? Who talked someone into buying a house with such a bloody history? And who never divulged much of that history? She pointed her finger at him and said, “You misled me.”
“I did not,” he said. “I might have taken a few liberties, but that’s all.”
“A few liberties?!” she exclaimed.
He shrugged.
“No, Marc, you knowingly misled me,” she said. “You knew what you were doing and you talked me into buying this house! And you knew about this all along, didn’t you?”
Marc didn’t respond. He only shook his head and refused to answer.
“Oh, so that’s how you’re going to play it, is it?” she asked, fuming. “You’ve gotten us in some major shit.”
“Oh, God, Harmony! Shut up! Just shut up!” he yelled, his anger obviously mounting. “Why do you have to pull this shit now? Why? Why not let well enough alone?”
Oh, no, he wasn’t doing this to her. He was not turning this around on her! He was the one at fault and he was going to know about it. She yelled at him, shaking her fists as she did so, “You shut up and give me my life back! This is all so fucked, it’s just fucked! How could you not tell me?” She glared at him, preparing herself for what would probably be the biggest fight of their relationship.
“Are you serious right now?” he asked, glaring back at her, “Don’t play dumb, Harmony!”
“How am I playing dumb, Marc?” she seethed, almost wanting to hit him.
“Come on,” he said. “I mean, really. Come on. Weren’t you the least bit curious as to how we got this house so cheap? I would have been. I would have gotten on the internet and googled it. And I did. I know it’s bad, but I made my peace with it.”
“Your peace?” she scoffed and pointed to the laptop. “Tell that to all those people who died here! Who were murdered! Who were poisoned! Here! In our backyard! In our pool!”
“That’s a new pool,” he said, shaking his head. “They weren’t murdered in that pool. The old one was demolished.”
“Oh, my God, listen to you! Listen to you!” She shook her head in frustration and anger. “You are such an asshole! You lied to me! Or, rather, you just left some major details out.”
“Well, I got the same treatment a few years ago with your one night stand. You left some details out, too,” he quipped and then hissed, “Oh, wait a minute! You just didn’t tell me anything at all!”
“I thought we weren’t going to talk about that ever again. Your words. Is this some sort of fucked up tit for tat?”
“Maybe,” he replied and stared her dead in the eye.
“Maybe? This goes beyond that. Way beyond.”
“It’s a house, not a shrine. It’s a place where people lived and some people got killed.”
Harmony was aghast at his lack of empathy. What was wrong with him? “Some people? Try sixteen! Sixteen people were killed here, plus that one woman, Madeline. That’s seventeen people. Seventeen! And what about her husband? Henry? He committed suicide. That’s eighteen people who died being connected to this house!”
“Neither one of them died here!” he yelled.
“Fine! We’ll leave it at sixteen!” she yelled back. “Oh, no, there wasn’t just a domestic disturbance here as you said. There was a massacre. In our backyard. 1973.”
Marc didn’t respond. He just gave her a stony look, as if he’d decided to just stand his ground and defend himself.
Harmony stared at him, taking note of the way he was acting and it really pissed her off. She hissed, “Well? Say something!”
“Don’t look so shocked,” he responded. “You know, you could have looked that up before we even moved in.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Most people vet the houses they buy!” he told her. “But not you! You jumped in with both feet because you wanted it, too.”
“How dare you, you asshole!” she yelled. “You talked me into it! I knew how much you wanted this house and I thought why not give the asshole what he wants? I knew you’d never let me live it down if we didn’t get this fucker and now I live in a house where a bunch of people were murdered.”
“Stop being so dramatic,” he said and rolled his eyes at her. “That happened like over forty years ago! Before we were even born! Whatever bad vibes it might have caused should well be gone by now.”
“Oh, so that makes it okay, does it?” she asked. “It’s okay because it’s been almost a half-century since it happened.” She paused and shook her head in anger. “And nobody knows why it happened. It’s still a mystery. And you… You! You think it’s all okay.”
“I didn’t say it was okay,” he said steadily, as if he were trying like hell to get the situation under control. “I just said it happened so long ago most people have forgotten about it.”
“Oh, shut up,” she said. “Just shut the fuck up! You are such an asshole to do this to me.”
“So, it’s just always going to be this thing, is it?” he asked and eyed her.
Harmony shrugged and crossed her arms.
“You think you’re going to get a house like this for nothing? There’s going to be a price to pay. Living here and knowing what happened is the cost.”
“But still, Marc,” she said. “Come on. Don’t justify this. Don’t do me like that.”
“Are you seriously playing dumb right now? The furniture in this house alone is worth a small fortune and we didn’t pay much more than that for the whole kit and caboodle.”
“Well, we shouldn’t have paid anything!” she seethed. “It’s not worth even that! If you ask me, they got a good price from us for this house considering its history.”
Marc shook his head at her. “Listen, you don’t know the market. You don’t know what houses are really worth. That’s fine. But we got the deal of the century and I don’t regret buying the house. Yes, I do regret not telling you what happened around the pool. Okay. It was wrong and I should have but…”
“But you knew I wouldn’t buy the house if I had known, right?” Harmony asked, glaring at him.
He nodded. “Yes. But I saw the value and I have the balls to overlook the history.”
“You are such an asshole,” she told him, seething. “Such an asshole!”
Marc didn’t respond. He just sighed and looked away.
Harmony glared at him and said evenly “Maybe when something is too good to be true, it is. Maybe we should have passed on it.”
“Passed on it? Passed on it?” he exclaimed, exasperated. “Why? I can’t believe you! No one in their right mind would pass on this house.”
“No, no one in their right mind would have bought it,” she said. “Apparently, we both lost our minds when we bought it!”
He shook his head. “No, it was a good investment. No matter what you say, I am glad we didn’t pass on it.”
“Well, I’m not!” she yelled. “We should have passed on it because all those people died here! Just think of all that bad energy being absorbed into these walls, Marc! It’s horrific!”
“Are you kidding me?” he snapped. “Don’t get all metaph
ysical on me now.”
“Seriously? You don’t believe that?” she asked. “Why not? Just think about what happened to those people! It was absolutely horrendous!”
“Those people were a bunch of Hollywood sleazebags looking for easy sex and a free high. That’s what they were. Somebody didn’t like it and they killed them. End of story.”
“No, they weren’t,” she said, shaking her head. “They weren’t a bunch of sleazebags.”
“How do you know that?” he asked in a slightly high-pitched voice that sounded like he was almost astounded at her logic.
How did she? She thought about it and vaguely remembered in her dream knowing these people were not your average, run-of-the-mill partiers. They had been special in some way. In what way, she had no idea. She said quickly, “I read it on the internet.”
“Like hell you did,” he said. “I read all about it and nothing said they weren’t a bunch of sleazebags. Nothing! Sorry—I don’t mean to disrespect the dead, but when you lie with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas.”
“You sound so blasé!” she exclaimed, shaking her head at him. “What is wrong with you? What’s it going to take to convince you this was a bad buy? A bad decision? The wrong thing to do?”
“What’s it going to take to convince you that this is the way it is, Harmony? What’s it going to take for you to get over this idea of a perfect house? Any house you get comes with baggage, whether it’s a leaky roof or a bad HVAC system. This is this house’s baggage.”
Her mouth dropped at his words. She felt he was being beyond insensitive and had crossed over to outright stupidity. She hissed, “Listen to yourself! That is some major shit that went down here!”
“And this is a major fucking house for two people at our income level to own! Major! You knew there had to be a catch!”
“Yeah, you told me someone almost died here, that was the catch! That was all you told me! You didn’t tell me about the people in the backyard.”
“Just so you’ll know, people die in houses all the time, Harmony! Do you think every house in the world is clean and fresh and free of death? They’re not! People die in houses all the time because people die! That’s part of life and most people accept it! Most people don’t even ask because they don’t want to know.”
“I wish I didn’t know!” she spat, almost feeling hatred for him. She couldn’t believe the situation he’d gotten them into. She just couldn’t believe it.
“Well, you do now,” he said then shook his head and stared at her. “What prompted you to even look that up? And why were you snooping around the guesthouse?”
Harmony stared at him and wondered if she should even tell him about the dream she’d had, though it didn’t seem like a dream, it was so real. But why would she dream of it, of the massacre, something she had no previous knowledge of before? Why would it seem so real, so vivid? She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything anymore. She felt as though she’d lost part of herself as soon as they’d moved into this damned house. And where that part went missing to was anyone’s guess.
Marc was still staring at her, waiting to hear her answer to his question. “Harmony, tell me what this is about.”
Harmony groaned and said, “I had a very vivid dream.”
He nodded for her to continue.
She eyed him and decided to just come clean, “So, last night I woke up and you weren’t here and I was covered in sweat. It’s like I’d had a bad dream but couldn’t remember it at all. Then this song started playing, one you like but I can’t remember the name of it.”
Marc leaned back against the wall, taking all of this in.
She continued, “It was weird but it’s like something was pulling me to get up out of bed. In the dream, I guess. It was so real. And then I got up and went out to the pool and there was this party going on.”
“In the dream?” he asked.
“Yes, in the dream,” she said. “And now that I know about the massacre, it was like it was just before it happened. The party was full of all these beautiful people and they were having a good time and then this man, who was older than us but really good looking, started talking to me.”
“What did he say?” Marc asked, getting really intrigued.
“He just said… He said they liked to party out there. That it kept them connected or something. And he said something about it was okay to be aspirational, just some odd stuff. And then I turned and I saw Darcy there and she… She didn’t say anything but she was acting really weird and she put a finger to her lips like she was telling me to stay quiet.”
“That’s really weird,” Marc said. “She wasn’t even born when that happened.”
“I know that!” Harmony snapped. “That’s not the point.”
“I know, I know,” he said. “Calm down. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just odd stuff happens in dreams. That’s all. Dreams are weird.”
“Yes, they are,” Harmony said. “But, anyway, this man was talking to me and everyone was partying and then they started throwing up blood and they all started dying and some of them fell into the pool. And, apparently, that’s what happened here and I dreamed it.”
Marc’s face took on a look of visible shock. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she replied.
“That is fucked up,” he said. “No wonder you’re so shaken.”
“Yeah, no wonder,” she replied. “And the man said no one ever went in the guesthouse and that’s why I went in there earlier, to see if I could figure out why he said that.”
Marc stared at her and shook his head. “Holy shit, that’s fucked up. No wonder you’re so freaked out.”
Harmony nodded, feeling calmer now that she had told her story. She said, “I don’t care what you say, but there is something going on here, in this house. And it probably has to do with the massacre.” She studied him. The look on his face was unreadable. She went on, “And the thing is, it was so real, that dream. It was like it was actually happening. Like I was there.”
“Like you were sleepwalking?”
“No, it’s like I was awake. It’s like it was real. And now I find out it’s true. I’m really freaked out here, Marc.” She paused and decided to come clean about something else. She screwed up her courage and said, “And I’ve been hearing voices.”
Marc stared at her, a look of shock on his face. He shook his head and said, in a very a firm tone, “You got to be kidding me, Harmony! Don’t you see what you’re doing?”
She didn’t know why he was suddenly acting like that. It’s like he was on her side one moment and the next, he was taking someone else’s side. She said, “What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to find a way to ruin this, that’s what.”
“How dare you? I am not!”
“Yes, you are,” he said, nodding. “You feel guilt and it comes out in weird ways. You feel like we don’t deserve this house and you’re trying to find a way to screw it up for us.”
“I am not,” she said and huffed. “So, you don’t believe me?”
“I really don’t,” he said. “Sure, I’ll buy the dream and all that but the voices? Fact is, if you’re hearing voices, you’re already crazy. Harmony, come on! You have to get a grip!”
Harmony stared at him feeling very vulnerable and very insecure. What if he was right? What if she was already crazy?
“Listen,” he said evenly, as if he really wanted to give her a reasonable explanation. “I don’t think you’re hearing voices. I think you’re stressed. In addition to that, it’s an old house. Old houses make all kinds of weird noises. And I think you’re just trying to find a way to get out of this. Maybe you’re feeling uncomfortable with the mortgage. We’ve never had one of those. Even if we did get the house cheap, our mortgage is still huge. I understand why it would make you feel uncomfortable and stress you out.”
“I feel uncomfortable because there were a lot of people killed in my backyard!” She glare
d at him. She couldn’t believe he didn’t believe her. Well, she could. He must love the house more than he loved her. Well, that was fine. She could leave. She could leave him and his house alone together. She was sure they would both be very happy together.
“Let me tell you something,” he said, his voice taking on a real serious tone. “You’re looking for trouble. You’re looking for ways to ruin your good fortune. That’s all it is. And let me tell you, if we hadn’t gotten this house, there would have been a line of other people around the block dying to buy it.”
“Well, I guess there are people even more stupid than we are,” she snapped.
“People would kill to have this house,” he said.
“Apparently, that’s already happened, Marc!”
He groaned and shook his head in anger. “Shut up and listen. Even with its baggage, people would die to live here.”
“Oh, right!” she scoffed. “Well, apparently, two already did! Madeline and Henry! Where are they now? Oh, they’re dead. They’re dead, Marc! Dead!”
“You need to get a grip because you are losing it,” he told her and pointed his finger at her.
“Oh, you get a grip,” she said and wanted to slap his finger away, but he was out of reach. “We’re stuck here and you know it. We got screwed and you know it.”
“I could sell this house in a heartbeat,” he said and added, “And we’d make money if we sold it. It came with built-in equity.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked. “We’ll never be able to unload this house! We’ll never be able to sell it and get our money back. Never! We’re stuck here forever! And you’re dreaming about that equity. I bet it wasn’t even valued at what we paid, even with the furniture. How could it be? That’s absurd!”
“I don’t know!” he roared, shaking his fists. “You are turning me inside out! You have to let this go!”
Harmony knew she was making him crazy but she didn’t care. He had pulled the old bait and switch on her and now she was committed to paying for a house she didn’t really want anymore. Regardless of what he said, she knew no one in their right mind would buy this house. Who would want it? Feeling safe and comfortable was the main reason people wanted houses in the first place. She knew she’d never feel like that living here. But what choice did she have? She stared at Marc. Well, she could divorce him and just walk away. He could probably handle the mortgage on his own, but not much more. But she knew she didn’t want to leave him. She loved him, still loved him even after all this. But she didn’t like what he’d pulled to get his dream house, though. She didn’t like it one bit.
The House in the Hills Page 11