Chapter 2 – Chap 2

When men plan, God laughs is the saying I find to be most appropriate with how our situation is currently going. In the days after the repairs, we attempted solving the house’s issue by acquiring the help of some priests. They were to perform an exorcism that we thought would rid the house of its curse. As it turns out though, they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. All they did was recite a passage or two, sprinkle a little holy water on the floor, and leave.

They didn’t even go into any other rooms. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure they made things worse because as soon as they left we heard a loud noise. It seemed that by trying to rid the house of its curse we had only angered it further. The noise we heard was that of every door shutting in the house at once. Figuring the first exorcism had been a bust we got the hell out of there.

Over the course of the next week, we came up with an idea. Connor was to get someone to exorcise the house who actually knew what they were doing. The plan was supposed to bringing somebody out to perform the exorcism. Afterward, the house would be ready for touring. I went to the house early so I could let whoever would be performing the exorcism inside.

The tour was scheduled for 12:00 PM. The exorcism was to start at 10:30 AM. I arrived half an hour prior to the latter time. I waited only to have that time come around and see that they had not shown up. I didn’t start panicking right away.

“Okay, no problem,” I thought. “Maybe they are running late. It happens. I’m sure they’ll be here son.”

10:50 AM came around.

“Alright, still good. We still have plenty of time.”

11:00 AM arrived. At that point, I decided to give Connor a call.

“Hey, so they aren’t here. Mind telling me why?” I said to him when he answered.

By his tone, it seemed that he was expecting this call.

“About that…The guy I hired got sick this morning.”

“Come again?”

“Yeah, food poisoning.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” I hissed.

“I’m sorry,” he whined. “I’ve been making calls since 8:00 AM. The place I’m currently on call with has put me on hold for over an hour now so I really need to get back to them.”

“What am I supposed to do about the tour?”

“Keep them occupied. Do what you can to keep them out of the house for as long as possible.”

“Alright, I’ll do my best. Before you get off, though can you ask whoever you send out to dress a bit inconspicuous? I don’t want whoever I’m touring the house to get freaked out. It’s going to be hard enough to keep that from happening already.”

“Right, got it. Will do. Good luck, Barett.”

When the call ended I spent some time nervously pacing back and forth until the arrival of the potential tenants. When they arrived my thoughts were pretty much as follows:

“Don’t be nervous. Sure the house is haunted but they don’t know that. All you have to do is keep them safe until Connor and the exorcist gets here. Here I go.”

I put on my brightest smile as I approached the potential tenants. They turned out to be a young couple in their late 20s or early 30s.

“Hello,” I said in what I hoped was a convincing cheery tone.

“Hi, I’m Barbara. This is my husband, Cliff.”

“Nice to meet ya.”

Cliff stuck out his hand which I shook.

“Likewise,” I replied to him. “Welp, no need in dilly-dallying, let’s get started. If you have any questions I will answer them as best I can.”

I started with the front yard and tire swing, I demonstrated its sturdiness by giving it some hard pushes. During this Barbara inquired about the history of the house. To be honest, we couldn’t find much beyond what we already knew. The only other information we happen upon was that the houses had some diverse owners, at least according to the neighbor who lives closest to it.

I showed them the backyard next. They were impressed by how spacious it was. I looked back in the window as they were checking it out and saw that girl again staring at me through the window. Instantly I tensed up. I had to think fast or else they would notice her.

“This all looks nice but we’re ready to see the inside of the house now,” Barbra said and was about to turn around along with Cliff.

“Wait,” I said, going past them.

“What?” Cliff asked.

“There’s one more thing regarding the outside I haven’t shown you.”

“Really? What”

I knew what I was about to ask was a long shot but it was the only one I could think of to keep them outside at the time.

“Are either of you a fan of…Birdwatching?”

There were a couple moments of silence where beads of sweat rolled down my head. Whether that was from my nervousness or the summer heat ti was hard to say.

“I love birds,” Barbra exclaimed.

I was surprised that had actually worked. The only issue going forward was that I was not very familiar with the names of different birds. I know blue jays, robins, pigeons, owls, crows, and ravens. Although with those last two I could not explain the difference between them if you put a gun to my head. I basically ended up bullshitting my way through the next ten or so minutes.

I led them through the woods while pointing out different birds. Luckily for me, Barbra pointed out every different bird we saw which saved me the trouble. Unbeknownst to her and Cliff, I had been leading them around the house. When we were back in the front yard I asked them if there was anything else about the outside they wanted to see. They replied that they didn’t and said they were ready to go inside.

“You got it. There’s just one small thing,” I said.

“Yeah?” Cliff replied.

“Well, some work is being done on the house. We thought it was finished but it turns out the workers still have some minor things to work on. Therefore I will need to check the rooms as we go on to make sure they’re good to show.”

“Okay, I guess. When will the other rooms be finished then?”

“Shouldn’t be more than a few days. Now that I’ve said all that, let’s go in…”

I pushed the door open and stepped inside. So far it seemed clear. The furniture was right where we had seen it before.

“What’s all this stuff doing here?” Barbra asked.

“It comes with the house,” I replied.

“Really? All this stuff does?”

“Yeah, if you don’t like it, we can help you haul it off.”

“Well, looking around this room I do like the style of things and we were meaning to sell our furniture anyway.”

My phone rang. I saw it was Connor.

“My apologies, I’m getting a call from my co-worker and it may be important. Would you mind if I step into the kitchen to take it real quick?”

“Not at all,” Cliff said.

“Great. In the meantime how about you take a look at the book collection?”

I pointed to a bookshelf and went into the kitchen, making sure to close the door behind me. I answered the call.

“Please tell me you have good news.”

“Well good and bad. The good news is I was able to get someone to help us.”

“And the bad?”

“He won’t be there for another half an hour and I’m still forty minutes away.”

“Are you kidding me?” I gritted through my teeth. “I’ve already seen that girl again in the attic window since I’ve been here. Not to mention, that thing you saw is here. On top of all that, I can hear something moving towards me through the vents as we speak and I am not looking forward to finding out what it is.”

The noise sounded like skittering. It was as if some large spider was moving in the vents. I grabbed a broom which was the nearest thing I had to defend myself with. The vent cover was loose and swung open with ease when that thing pushed on it. I only saw it for a second.

Despite that short amount of time I can tell you what it looked like. While it did appear to be an arachnid of sorts, I wouldn’t say that spider is the most accurate term for it. The best way I could describe it is if a centipede mated with a scorpion. Only this thing was much larger and had multiple stingers. Five stingers surrounded its head.

My eyes widened when I saw it. Thankfully my reflexes were on point. I thrust the handle of the broom upward and poked it hard in the eye before it could use its stingers. It hissed at me and retreated back into the vents. I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly closed the vents.

“Barret, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. There’s some weird centipede scorpion thing in the vents.”

I rummaged through a drawer and found a screwdriver.

“Holy shit. Did it sting you?” Connor asked with concern.

“No, thankfully,” I replied while tightening the cover’s screws. “Great, now I’ll have to make sure the vents in all the other rooms are secure. As if this shit wasn’t stressful enough already.”

“I know. Just hang tight and try not to go into many rooms in the meantime.”

We ended the call after that.

“Everything okay in there?” Cliff asked.

“Yeah, do you guys want to come in here and take a look around?”

He and Barbra came into the kitchen. They started looking at the dishes.

“Are these antique?” Barbra asked while holding some plates.

“They may be. We’ll have to inquire with the landlord about that,” I said. “Would either of you like any snacks?”

“You have some in a house you’re touring?” Cliff asked.

“Yes, we like to make sure those we show houses are as comfortable as possible.”

“Really?” Barbra said. “How nice. We’ll have to recommend you guys to our friends.”

Sentences like that pretty much guarantee promotions. To be honest, I was stunned that everything had been going so well. As you will soon see, however, my luck eventually ran out. I handed them each a water. Then led them upstairs.

“Now as I said before, I’ll have to check each room prior to showing it to you so I’ll need you two to remain at least a couple feet behind me.”

They agreed and we came up to the first room.

“Alright, here we go,” I thought to mentally prepare myself.

I unlocked the door to the first room. I cracked the door open and stuck my head in. Nothing seemed particularly dangerous until my eyes fell on the closet which was closed. Long slender arms came from under the door. They appeared to be burnt in several places with long rotting nails.

The left hand grasped the handle and turned it. The closet opened to reveal something I can only vaguely describe as resembling a human being. Their face was so disfigured that discerning their gender was not possible. The burns on their arms were also present on the rest of their body. Their legs were broken and mangled in addition to also being burnt.

They began shambling towards me on their elbows. Had Babra and Cliff not been there I no doubt would have screamed loud enough to wake the dead. No pun intended. Being the professional I am, though I was able to keep the aforementioned scream inside my head. I quickly closed the door and locked it.

“Are you feeling alright?” Cliff asked me.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“You look a little pale.”

“That’s because of the paint fumes.”

“Are you sure? I don’t smell them. Do you, Barbra?”

She replied that she couldn’t.

“Oh you can’t outside the room but trust me they’re strong in there. Anyway, let’s keep going so I can check the next room.

We went to the next room. I glanced over their shoulders and saw the two arms go under the bedroom door. It briefly swept the floor and felt the door knob’s keyhole before retreating back into the room. I was able to repress a shudder and unlocked and cracked the door to the next room.

“This room appears to be ready, “ I informed Barbra and Cliff after peeking inside.

The room appeared to have belonged to a girl if the stuffed animals and pink sheets were any indicators. The closet was open to reveal various toys which consisted of dolls and playsets. They inspected them and started discussing which ones would be good for hand me downs since they were in good condition. I figured that there was no harm in letting them look at them for a little while. I was proven wrong when I felt something grasp my ankle.

I looked down to find a rotting hand grasping my ankle nearly as tightly as the girl had. Attached to it with parts of his face rotted away was a man. His lips had rotted away, making it look as if he had a perpetual grin. Some expletives came to mind that I no doubt would’ve said had they not been in the room with me. I had to settle for a low squeak in place of cursing.

“Barret, do the other rooms have toys as well?” Barbra asked while I was trying to pull myself free.

“I’m not sure…They might,” I replied, trying to sound calm.

The man opened his jaw much wider than what it is considered possible. Before he could bite me I brought up my other foot and slammed my heel onto his head as hard as I could, making him let me go. This resulted in a loud sound that prompted Barbara and Cliff to turn around. Luckily I was able to pull the covers on the bed down enough to cover the man before they could see him.

“What was that?” Cliff asked, concerned.

“Sorry about that. I stumbled. It’s been a bit of a long day for me,” I replied, trying to come across as casual. Anyway, are you two ready to move on?”

Cliff looked at Barbra.

“Yes, I’ve seen all I need to here,” She said.

“Great,” I smiled, feeling the man attempt to come out from under the bed again had my feet not been preventing him from doing so. “Would you two mind waiting out in the hall? I need to make sure I didn’t drop anything.”

They agreed and left the room. I quickly stood up and turned around as the man’s arm and head poked out from under the bed. I cursed at him in a low voice and gave him a hard kick to the head. I allowed my body to shudder.

“Two rooms down, many more to go,” I thought.

I left the room as well. Before we could proceed to the next room there was a knock at the door. We went back downstairs and I answered it. Standing on the porch was a man who looked to be a construction worker. He was holding a large tool bag.

“Hello, are you the guy my friend, Connor hired?” I asked him.

“I am. Would you mind telling me what room is in the most need of repairs?”

“I would have to say the basement. The workers we had here before never did anything about it and I want to be clear that you need to be careful because it’s pretty dangerous down there.”

He nodded in understanding before going down into the basement.

“Would you two like to take a short break? We have been at this for a while and my coworker is going to be here shortly. I can get some refreshments in the meantime.”

“Sure, we don’t mind,” Cliff replied.

Something caught his eye.

“Wait a sec,” he said, going over to the TV stand.

“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit,” I yelled in my mind, thinking something terrible was going to happen to him as he reached into it.

“I haven’t played this game in years,” he exclaimed.

He pulled out a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In it was a copy of F-Zero.

Relief swept through me upon seeing this.

“Do you mind if I play this for a bit?” He asks.

“Knock yourself out.”

I went into the kitchen to get some drinks.

“That should buy me a little time,” I said in my mind.

I was about to open the fridge again when I noticed something from my peripheral vision. I saw that arachnid creature I mentioned earlier coming out from another loose vent that was on the floor. I cursed myself for having missed it.

I realized it was much larger than I thought when it was fully out of the air ducts. It had at least a couple feet on me and seemed to size me up. Considering how many stingers it possessed, I had to make a split-second decision before what came next. It lunged its stingers at me. I managed to open the fridge door in the nick of time.

Its stingers got stuck inside of it. While it was trying to get itself free I grabbed an open container of what I think was some kind of dip. I grabbed a large knife and glanced back into the living room.

“Good, they’re still busy,” I thought, seeing both Barbara and Cliff playing F-Zero. “Now to see about getting this fucking monstrosity out of here.”

I went over to the back door and opened it. The creature had managed to pull itself free of the fridge. The instant it turned in my direction I threw the dip container at its face. It went to wipe it off at which point I closed the gap between us and planted the knife into one of its eyes, causing it to let out a low shriek.

“Are you alright, Barett?” I heard Barbra call.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a wasp in here I’m trying to get out. I think some workers accidentally let it in,” I called back.

I yanked my knife free which sounded really squishy and gross and went outside and onto the deck with it following me out. It lunged at me with its stingers again. This time I was able to find cover behind a portable grill. Acting purely on instinct I pushed it towards it while it was trying to get itself free from having gotten stuck again. It let out a grunt as The grill hit it and forced it back and tumbling down the stairs.

I leaped on it while it was still dazed and planted my knife into its other eye.

“Die you piece of shit,” I whisper screamed as it was weakly flailing beneath me.

I grabbed a large rock off the ground and began hammering at the knife handle to force the blade further in. A sickening crunch was heard as the knife was forced into its brain, making it fall still.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe I actually managed to do that. I hope this fucker didn’t manage to prick me.”

I looked myself over.

“Good, I’m safe.”

No sooner than I had finished thinking that, did I detect a crackling sound coming from behind me. My body tensed upon hearing it.

“Oh no. What now?”

Against my better judgment, I turned to face the source of the noise. From under the deck came what I can only describe as barely resembling a snake. It had the face and mouth of one. Those were the only similarities it had to one. Like the monstrosity, I had killed only moments ago this one also had armored scorpion-like skin and many more teeth than a snake would usually have.

I stifled a yell with my hands and staggered back, tripping over a stick and falling to the ground. Its joints crackled similarly to bubble wrap being twisted as it slithered out of the shade and towards the corpse now lying at the bottom of the steps. Its maws opened wide, climbing down onto it. The new monstrosity was inching it further down its throat as I was scrambling to my feet. I saw its legs twitch briefly from the sheer pressure of this thing biting down onto it.

Some faint squeaking could be heard from its prey. This made me realize it was still alive, albeit not for much longer. Seeing it helplessly trapped in the mouth of some larger predator actually made me feel kind of sorry for it. A brief crunching was heard as that thing’s jaws further exerted its strength on it, making it let out a more audible yet still low squeak before falling limp. The scorpion snake tilted its head back and swallowed it and much to my dismay focused its gaze on me.

“Still hungry…”

“Oh fuck no,” I whispered.

It lunged forward at me. I managed to evade it by sidestepping and jumped over it. Then ran back upstairs and back into the kitchen, closing the door behind me and locking it. It was only when I had finished catching my breath did I hear laughter coming from the living room. I walked back into it to find Connor was talking with Barbara and Cliff.

“Connor, when did you get here?”

“About ten minutes ago,” Cliff answered. “What took you so long outside, Barett?”

“That wasp gave me a bit more trouble than I thought it would. Plus I ran into another one. Anyway, what have you all been talking about?”

“We were talking with Connor about the rooms you’ve already shown us,” Barbra said.

“Yeah, we can resume showing you the house in a bit,” he said. “ Would you two mind if I got a little something to drink and talked with Barrett first?”

They agreed and he thanked them. He and I went into the kitchen. While talking we made sure to keep our voices to a low whisper.

“What did you see after you got off the phone with me?”

I explained to him about the thing in the closet and the man under the bed. I also mentioned seeing the arachnid again.

“Good god. You saw all that in the span of 40 minutes? By the way, I saw an extra car when I arrived. Whose is it

“The exorciser’s.”

“I thought so. Where is he?”

“Down in the basement. He’s been in there for about 15 ish minutes I’d say.”

“I see. We’d better get back to Barbra and Cliff then. The sooner we get through with this place the better.”

“Agreed also be careful going out the back. There’s this weird snake thing under the deck. The freaking thing ate the arachnid in front me of me and it’s still hungry.”

“What did you say was under the deck?” We heard Cliff ask.

We turned to find him and Barbra standing in the kitchen.

“Squirrels,” Connor answered. “Barret was telling me he saw a family of them under there.”

“Yeah,” I added. “They’re pretty hostile. One almost bit me so I would steer clear of them. Anyway, sorry to keep you both waiting. We can resume things now.”

“Don’t worry about it. We were wanting to get something to drink anyway,” Barbra said, opening the fridge and grabbing some bottles of water and handing one to Cliff.

“Well while we’re here are there any other questions you have for us?” Connor asked, giving his best smile.

Cliff inquired about the internet reception. We answered as best we could as he was casually leaning against the counter by the sink. During our conversation, Barbra was walking over to the window.

“Um, what are you doing?” I asked her.

“I was wanting to let a little fresh air in.”

“Are you sure about that? Another wasp may get inside.”

“I don’t see any right now and it’ll be for a minute,” Barbra said, lifting up the window. “Much better. It was getting a little stuffy in here. While we’re here I was wanting to ask you if we’re allowed to do any renovations?”

Connor answered her question as best he could. While we were talking with Barbra he and I noticed something coming over the rails. The scorpion snake stared at us with a hungry look in its eyes.

“Is something wrong?” Cliff asked us, clearly seeing the distress on our faces.

“Oh no,” Connor cried out, stumbling back some before falling to the floor, seemingly unconscious.

Barbra and Cliff rushed over to him, asking what was wrong.

“Thirsty…” He said, barely opening his eyes.

His eyes shifted to me for a moment which let me know what I was supposed to do. The scorpion snake had gone further over the rail. Without thinking I opened the fridge and grabbed the first thing I saw which was a small melon. I spun around to face the window. The scorpion snake was a lot longer than I had originally thought.

It had to be to at least ten feet when it was all stretched out. Its tail was wrapped around the railing and it was rearing back its head to strike. I threw the melon as hard as I could as it was lunging forward. It slammed into its head, exploding on impact, making it uncoil from the rail and fall back to the ground. I went over to Connor after closing the window and saw that he was back on his feet.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. All I needed was a little water.”

“Dehydration is something you need to be careful of especially at this time of year,” Barbra said. “By the way, what was that noise we heard earlier?”

“Oh, that was another wasp that was trying to get in. I had to throw an apple at it. Why don’t you and Cliff go back into the living room? We’ll be right with you in a moment.”

They agreed and left the kitchen.

“Looks like those theater classes my mom forced me to take when in middle school paid off after all,” Connor said.

“You pretending to hit your head on the floor was really convincing.”

“That wasn’t pretending.”

“Oh. Are you okay?”

“I was seeing stars for a couple seconds. Other than that I’m fine. You made that thing fall right? We could grab some Kitchen knives and take care of it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It could probably squeeze us to death and it could be dazed for all we know not knocked out. Hopefully, that guy you hired can get rid of it and the rest of the weird-ass things in this place.”

“He’s been down in the basement for over 20 minutes now hasn’t he? We should check on him in a bit.”

We joined Barbra and Cliff back in the living room.

“We were talking and were thinking that things would go faster if we split up,” Cliff told us.

“Excuse me?” I replied, feeling my heart rate increase.

“Since Connor is here we figured you guys could show us rooms separately. It’d save time.”

Luckily Connor had an excuse.

“That would be a good idea. Unfortunately, I seemed to have misplaced my key.”

Connor turned his pockets inside out to show that his key wasn’t in either of them. I guessed that he must’ve tossed it aside during his fall which I thought was good thinking on his part. Unluckily for us, Barbra had sharp vision and spotted the key near the leftmost armrest of the couch.

“Fuck,” I thought.

From how Connor looked I had the feeling he was thinking something similar. Reluctantly, I went with Cliff while Connor went with Barbra. We let them go up the stairs first. We were about to follow when we heard something. It was the sound of knocking coming from the basement door.

“It must be the repair guy,” I said.

I called out if he needed something.

“I’m finished,” he called from the other side of the door.

Immediately I realized something was off. His voice sounded really hoarse like he hadn’t drunk anything in days.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I’m just a little thirsty. Could you open the door please?”

Cliff was about to when I stopped him.

“What is it?” He asked.

“I think we should get him some water first.”

“Why can’t we let him in now?”

“Because….” I trailed off trying to rack my brain for an excuse. “It may be too much of a contrast for him. If he’s too hot all this cold air may be jarring to him.”

To my surprise, Cliff bought that excuse. I went back into the kitchen to get another water and look for a weapon.

“Let’s see here. What can I discreetly use as a weapon without killing someone?” I wondered, looking around.

Eventually, I decided to look under the sink. There I found a small hammer. Pocketing it, I made my way back to where Cliff was.

“Hey, I got the water,” I called only to get no response. “Cliff?”

Again, I didn’t hear him respond. A worrying feeling crept up in me. I called for Cliff again only more loudly than I had before. This time I was met with a deep growling.

“He opened the damn door. Didn’t he?” I murmured to myself, placing my hand on the handle of the hammer which was tucked into my back pocket.

That turned out to be the case. The door was wide open and both Cliff and the exorciser who I will be referring to as Bob since I can’t recall his name were nowhere to be found. I guess you could say my horror movie instincts kicked in because I got the idea to look up. Sure enough, I saw Cliff and Bob on the ceiling. Their skin had taken on a sickly green color and I could see a bite on the former’s shoulder and the latter’s arm.

Their eyes looked black at first glance. However, I think they were actually a dark purple color since they were glowing some. I barely had time to get out an “oh fuck” before they leaped at me. I figured that the bites they had must have been responsible for their current state, not that I wanted to find out the answer to that at that moment. I was able to thankfully leap back before either could reach me.

“Guys…Let’s try to calm down and maybe stop staring at me like hungry wolves,” I said, backing up some as they were coming closer.

Their arms had grown to the length of their legs and they were crawling on all fours. Also, their mouths were covered in what looked to be foam only it was black like tar. They started running at me while giving off loud roars. I could only think to flee back into the kitchen. My plan was to go through the dining room and circle around the living room.

Then go upstairs to where Babra and Connor were to regroup. The issue with that plan was that I thought they weren’t smart enough to realize what I was doing. Unbeknownst to me, they were. Although their behavior had become more primal they still had enough instinct to realize what I was trying to do. I went into the living room only to see Cliff there. He had cut me off and Bob was still behind me.

Thinking on my feet I chucked the water bottle at Cliff’s head. Reflexively he swatted it away which gave me enough time while running to pull out the hammer and smack him across the face with it. He was dazed but not knocked out. It did rattle him enough for me to move past him and try running upstairs. Too bad I wasn’t quite fast enough. I was barely up the stairs when I felt a hand grasp. my ankle.

I was yanked down by the exorciser and back to the first floor. Instantly he tried biting me. I was able to bring the hammer back up and into his mouth to prevent him from doing so. I knew this was a temporary solution. If that wasn’t bad enough Cliff was making his way back to me. I could barely fend off the guy I was currently dealing with let alone him.

“Welp, I’m dead,” I thought as Cliff was nearly on me as well.

In that instant, I heard an audible thudding and Connor yelling “Oh shit.”.

This was followed by Barbra and him tumbling down the stairs. They knocked Cliff and Bob back, causing them to hit their temples on the basement door frame, knocking them out. The fall must have knocked out Barbra too because she wasn’t moving either when she reached the floor.

“Ow, my everything…” Connor groaned, rubbing the back of his head. “The hell happened here?” He asked me when he opened his eyes.

“Long story,” I replied, shoving Cliffaway from me with my foot. “We can talk about this later. Right now we need to do something about all this.”

I gestured towards the three people lying unconscious on the floor. We found some ropes in the downstairs supply closet and used it to tie them up.

“Am I the only one who found it a little weird how much rope was in that closet?” Connor asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I’m pretty sure I saw a bottle of chloroform in there as well. Anyway, one problem at a time. What we need to figure is what the hell we’re going to do about this.”

I cocked a thumb towards the others who we had put in the dining room and tied to the chairs. We had also pushed the chairs against the wall and the table against them in order to restrict their movement.

Connor asked me what happened and I explained it to him. While my predicament was going on Connor was showing Barbra another one of the rooms. Apparently, there was this winged monkey imp thing hiding inside. It was only after Barbra let out a cry of pain did Connor see it already on her and biting her neck. He was able to pry it off her and kill it by slamming it against the chester drawers numerous times.

The bite unfortunately also caused her to end up like Cliff and Bob. Connor said he fled the room and was heading to the stairs when she knocked into him and sent them both down the stairs as I mentioned earlier. All that happened a couple hours ago. They’re still out cold. Connor called Aiden and told him that Barbra and Cliff wanted to spend the night in the house to test it out.

Good thing for us he believed the lie. Now I’ve typed this all up while Connor has been on the phone again trying to get in touch with some exorcisers who should hopefully do better than the previous ones. I’ve been watching Cliff and the others fairly closely. We have the bottle of chloroform handy in case they wake up and get too noisy. I’ll update again when I can.