Anathema

This is a short story set between the events in Nexus and Nexus: Polarity, both available for purchase in paperback on Amazon.com. Enjoy!

The old house sat silently on the hillside, surrounded by the large forest.

With it's rugged exterior, front porch, overhung roof, classic chimney and aged appearance, it almost looked like a cabin from a dark fairy tale centuries ago. It was a one-level house that, much like it's mysterious surroundings, had stories to tell. Stories that hadn't been written down on paper. Regardless, it's history was all around and beneath it. There were secrets buried here. Silent it had stood for many years, and silent it would remain.

It was a sunny Autumn day as thirty year old Casey Smithers drove her car slowly up the long drive way leading up from the county road below. The house appeared through the tall trees above, just as she had always remembered it since childhood. It had hardly changed at all.

She pulled up beside the house and parked, taking several moments to study it, and to collect her thoughts. The house looked a bit dilapidated and would need some work, she silently reasoned.

For a brief moment, Casey thought she saw something move out of the corner of a window, but soon dismissed it. The house hadn't been lived in for years. It had to be her imagination, she told herself.

Casey took a deep breath before getting out of the car and going inside.

She was glad to be out of the city once again. Although she had grown up there, and attended the local University on scholarship, having gone on to grad school out of state, Casey had returned a few years back. Now a legal assistant by profession, she was taking a couple weeks of vacation time before the end of the year.

Use it or loose it, she was told.

Up until several weeks ago, she had been living with her boyfriend of nearly three years. When things went sour, he moved out, and Casey decided it was time for a change.

Several months earlier, she had inherited the old house from her grandfather, who had just passed away. He had been born there, and lived in the house for most of his life, until a few years before, when he had a stroke, and was forced into a retirement home. The land that the house was built upon had been in his dad's family for generations, she knew. Various family members had encouraged her grandfather to sell the house, but he wouldn't budge, and never told anyone why.

Casey would decide what to do with the house after spending some time there.

She grabbed a few bags containing her belongings, and made her way up the path to the front porch. As she did, Casey noticed that all the plants that had once beautifully adorned the front of the house were all dead. No big deal, she would just plant new ones.

As Casey unlocked the front door and entered the house, she found it exactly as she remembered it. Other than the extra room that had been built a decade ago, it was like the place had been frozen in time. Only now, everything was covered in dust, and a collection of spider webs hung in several corners. The curtains had all been drawn closed, plunging the majority of the house into near darkness.

She turned on a light, making certain the electricity had been turned back on, as she had requested.

The house had always seemed larger to her on the inside than it appeared on the outside. Even now, the illusion remained. Casey slowly walked through each of the three bedrooms, surveying the condition of the old furniture, pictures and antiques, which had all been left intact.

She was somewhat surprised that vandals hadn't trashed the place, as it would have been easy to get away with, considering it's isolated setting.

Once she had seen all the rooms, she sat down in the living room to take it all in.

It's not much to look at, but it's mine.

Beyond it's age and location, there was something about the old house that had always given her a strange feeling. Thinking back now, Casey wasn't sure if it was the house itself, or the stories she heard growing up regarding the forest surrounding it.

When she had come to visit as a child with her parents, she had always been told not to stray too far from the house, or to go into the woods alone. Anyone who grew up around the nearby city knew the local legends of ghosts, witches, creatures, and curses that permeated the wooded region. Most didn't take them seriously, and some, like her family, never mentioned them at all.

Casey shook off thoughts of the stories as paranoid tales from bygone eras.

Superstitious nonsense.

One would never have guessed from the outside of the house that there was a cellar underneath. Her grandparents had done their best to conceal the basement, and always became very angry whenever anyone attempted to go down there. When she asked, Casey was told that it was off limits due to all her grandfather's sharp tools and appliances down there. It was no place for kids, she'd been told.

Casey remembered the musty smell of the cellar the one time she had been down there, when she was around six. The bottom two steps was as far as she had gotten.

The only time her grandfather would go down there was to turn on the furnace in the cold of winter, but then quickly locked the door back once it was done.

Now, all these years later, with her grandparents no longer there to forbid her, Casey decided to go into the basement.

She was soon able to force the door open, which had once been padlocked from the outside. With a flashlight in hand, Casey ventured down the old, wooden steps into the cellar.

Shining the light around the dark room, the musty smell was overpowering, and stronger than she remembered. Not surprising, she figured. She wondered how long it had been since anyone had been down here, even her grandfather.

Stepping down onto the ground for the first time, Casey looked around the room. She shined her light in all directions, seeing discarded pieces of furniture, appliances, tools, and of course, the old furnace. It was almost exactly as it had appeared over twenty years before.

Her light soon came to rest on a beaten up quilt that looked nearly as old as her grandfather had been. It was thrown over something large in the corner of the basement. Casey removed it, and stepped back to take in what was beneath.

The object was tall, solid, made of oak, with silver running within it. Upon closer inspection, it was some kind of door, but it didn't make sense why it was down in the cellar.

An antique door?

Casey wasn't sure. Examining it from top to bottom, she wondered what it had been used for. Perhaps it was valuable, she wondered. Unable to move it, she soon realized that it was attached to the wall itself. What was on the other side? Casey searched for a way to open it, but there was no door nob.

Finding three horizontal, metal latches on the right side that bolted it to the wall, it had been firmly placed here to keep people from opening it. Now she knew she had to find a way. Her stubbornness and curiosity were way too strong to keep her out.

After nearly half an hour of using both a hammer and a crowbar from her car, Casey forced the heavy door open. A cold wind hit her immediately as she looked behind it, into the dark. Her eyes adjusted, and she saw a closet-sized room. She had no idea what the room had been used for, if anything, and she figured it didn't matter much now.

As much as she tried to ignore it, Casey had an eerie feeling about the cellar that she couldn't shake. This feeling was further enhanced by the large door. She then returned upstairs and continued cleaning the house, and by evening, had finished the entire upstairs.

After taking a shower, and feeling exhausted, Casey read a few chapters from a book she was determined to get through, then went to bed. Sleeping in a house alone was something she'd almost done in years. She always felt a sense of comfort with being in an apartment, and knowing her neighbors were there if she needed them. Now, the nearest neighbor was over half a mile away.

Just after midnight, Casey was jarred awake by a loud noise that sound like an animal. Hearing it again, she got out of bed, and went to a nearby window and looked out. She saw only the dark forest outside the house. The noise persisted several more times before stopping.

The following night, at the same time, the sounds began again, lasting longer this time.

Later in the night, just after three, Casey was awakened again by a loud thud. Her heart began to pound as she realized the sound originated inside the house. Several seconds later, there was another thud. Followed by another, and so on.

She made sure that her bedroom door was locked, which it was, and crawled back into bed holding her baseball bat. Casey had bought it for protection, not being a fan of handguns.

Not long after, the sounds ceased, and she returned to sleep.

On the third night, she was awakened by a noise coming from the living room. She listened quietly for a bit, wondering if an animal could have gotten into the house. Gathering her nerve, she opened her door. She looked towards the living room, the moonlight filtering through the living room window.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she turned on one of the lights. The doors were all locked, and there was nothing had been disturbed or knocked over. Before returning to her room

she became aware of a large shadow on the wall. Casey's heart nearly skipped a beat when she looked directly at it.

It was the shadow of a tall man with a broad-rimmed hat, just as her grandfather had often worn. Wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her, the shape soon shifted by a few inches.

“Grandfather,” Casey asked, her voice quivering. Knowing he was dead, she now considered the fact that he might be trying to communicate with her beyond the grave. She had seen television shows dealing with the subject, and didn't reject it out of hand.

The shadow remained, barely moving. She could feel the stare from eyes she couldn't see.

“Grandfather, is that you?”

Moments later, the shadow moved again, sliding along the wall as if coming closer to her. She slowly began to back up.

The tall shape continued to approach, getting closer. Shaking with fear, Casey ran into her bedroom and locked the door behind her. She backed away from it just as something pounded on the other side. After a few seconds, it ceased.

Over the next few days, a series of unusual and disturbing events began to play out around the old house. Casey saw the shadow several more times, during the day and at night. She attempted to talk to her grandfather, but got no reply. This was soon accompanied by loud, stomping noises from around the house, and the sound of wind blowing. This made her afraid to even open the door leading into basement, even to turn on the furnace.

The most disturbing incident occurred while she was talking to a friend online using her computer's webcam. After a few minutes, her friend asked her who the man was standing behind her. When she looked at the image on the computer, Casey saw the dark male form with the hat, but upon turning around, she couldn't see him.

Casey was left rattled by these things, and was growing fearful of staying in the house. In desperation, just before she was about to walk out of the house, she decided to reach out to someone local who's website she kept returning to whenever she did an internet search. A paranormal investigator. She hoped the man would help make sense of what she was experiencing.

Investigator Josh Blair was based in the nearby city, and was assisted by University student Daniel Summers, as well as social worker Nicole Dawson. The small team had only been working together a short time, and were still getting to know one another. The scope of their work was supernatural, and aimed to help others oppressed or deceived by dark, spiritual forces.

Josh often assisted local authorities on various cases, and in addition to being an electronics expert, had transitioned to this line of work over the past year. Shortly after receiving Casey's email explaining what she had seen and heard in the old house, a series of visions filled his mind. Prophetic in nature, they played out in succession.

                  A demonically-possessed man ran from a group of men in pioneer

                  times; a man held up a Bible, making a declaration; a cave.

 

He stopped momentarily to make notes of what he'd just seen. He frequently experienced such visions. It was his spiritual gift, and the revelations helped to guide him.

Daniel soon recognized his expression. “What did you see?”

“I'm not sure yet,” Josh responded. “But we need to go there.”

Nicole and Daniel both agreed, looking at part of Casey's email.

Later that day, the team rode out to the old house in the forest. After parking next to Casey's vehicle, she came out to meet them. Once introductions were made, the team gathered up their equipment.

Right away, Josh knew that something malevolent was here. The evil presence was almost tangible. It was a sensation he was well-acquainted with, although it was less than pleasant.

“This house is over seventy years old,” Casey explained as she took the team inside the house. “There was one here before it. The land has been in my family for generations.”

“I see,” Josh responded. “We're going to look around for a bit, if that's alright.”

“Please. Feel free to every nook and cranny.”

At this point, Josh chose not to ask Casey any more questions about the house. Instead, he would lean on his spiritual impressions.

Using a series of advanced, electronic instruments and devices, Josh, Daniel and Nicole began examining the entire house from top to bottom. Energy signals heightened in several areas of the house, especially as they went as they went into the cellar.

“I found this the other night, and opened it,” Casey explained, taking them to the door in the corner. “I still don't know why it's here.”

Josh knelt down to examine it. He felt along the exterior, feeling the silver running through it. “Interesting.”

“It looks like nickel, or silver,” Daniel noted.

“It's silver,” Josh clarified before Casey showed him the small room behind it.

“I thought it might be some kind of cupboard or storage room,” she said, beginning to shiver as she stood there watching them investigate. The house had seemed colder the last few days than it had been when she initially arrived, although the temperatures outside hadn't changed.

A short time later in the living room upstairs, Nicole recorded Casey's firsthand account of what she had seen and heard. Casey felt at ease that the three people were down to earth, and around her age. As she talked of things that were difficult to explain, Nicole listened attentively.

“I know how much Grandfather loved this place, which is why he wanted to keep it in the family.”

“But you didn't expect to inherit it?” Nicole inquired.

“No. I guess I should have. I was always his favorite, my mom tells me, and we were always close. I tried to visit him at least twice a week at the retirement home.”

“And he never told you anything about the history of the land?”

“No, not that I recall. I hope you don't think I'm crazy,” Casey confessed.

“Not at all. We're going to find out what's going on. It shouldn't take long,” Nicole assured her. “Josh is good. He gets impressions about these things. Whatever is behind this, he's going to know pretty quickly.”

The laptop sitting next to her began to confirm the elevated energy signal readings from atmospheric monitors that Josh and Daniel had planted downstairs.

Daniel confirmed there was a presence that was centralized in the cellar, most likely from whatever was behind the door. Josh's looked around closely, and discovered a three foot tall crawlspace in the corner of the closet-size room. Brushing away cobwebs, he shined his light into the darkness.

“What do you see?” Daniel asked.

“It's some kind of passage. Hard to tell how far it leads, though.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Stay here,” Josh told him before crawling inside with his flashlight. Seeing rock above and around him, he recognized it as the entrance to a cave. Although Josh was wearing a winter jacket, and now gloves, he could feel the cold air all around him. He doubted anyone had been down here in a long time, and soon became aware that whatever was here now had access to the rest of the house.

Daniel wanted to follow his friend, but trusted him, and waited patiently. He turned his attention elsewhere around the cellar, wondering what kind of history the place had, making mental notes of the musty, old smell, and studied various objects around the room.

“It's a cave,” Josh said minutes later.

This caused Daniel to jump, unaware that he was back in the cellar.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”

“You didn't,” Daniel responded, not being completely truthful. “Where does it lead?”

“I don't know, but it looks deep. By the readings I'm getting, I think something got out when Casey opened it.”

“Something bad?”

“Yeah,” Josh clarified.

“If it's a spirit, there's no telling where it went,” Daniel voiced.

“I don't think it's left the house. It's probably hiding,” Josh said, taking out his handheld signal tracker, the electronic device designed he developed to record atmospheric information for further study.

Daniel, likewise, powered up his tracker.

“Ready?” Josh soon asked.

“Yeah.”

“Syncronize in five, four, three, two, one....”

Daniel adjusted his device to the same frequency. Over the next couple of hours, the team ran a variety of tests all around the house. While Nicole worked on the laptop in the kitchen, Josh and Daniel were in the cellar. They carefully studied the door.

A short time later, Josh received another series of prophetic insights like the first, only more detailed.

                          A demonically-possessed man ran from a group of men in pioneer

                          times. A man held up a Bible, making a declaration to bind the

                          evil inside the man. Inside a cave, an evil spirit departed from

                          the possessed man, now dead.

“I just had another vision,” Josh explained. “Something happened here a long time ago.”

The devices then sounded off, simultaneously. As Josh studied the signal, the screen confirmed it was close. Only feet away.

Daniel looked across the cellar, and his spiritual eyes were opened. It was his supernatural ability to see into the invisible realm, just as the visions were for Josh.

A black, formless entity glided upwards, and passed through the floor.

“An entity left the cellar, and went upstairs,” Daniel said, pointing.

“Let's go,” Josh said, taking the steps without wasting a moment.

Daniel followed.

In the main bedroom, Casey was taking a nap. She hadn't slept well the night before, and figured she would grab one while the team was investigating.

“Casey...” A man's voice said, close by.

Her eyes soon opened, and she sat up in bed. “Grandfather?”

There was silence.

“Grandfather, if you can hear me, these people are here to help you.”

She waited, but there was no response.

“Grandfather, where are you?”

Before she knew it, the tall shadow man with a broad-rimmed hat appeared on the opposite wall of the dimly lit room. This time, a pair of red, glowing eyes appeared. Casey stood up, unable to speak or move any closer towards it. The shadow shifted slowly, silently staring at her for a prolonged period of time.

She began making her way towards the door in an attempt to exit the room, but was hit by an invisible force, and pushed back. She landed solidly on the floor. Before she could get up, Casey began to feel pressure around her neck, and she was unable to speak or scream. She attempted to fight it, but wasn't strong enough. Struggling to break free, she desperately moved from side to side.

Nicole soon knocked at the door. “Casey, is everything alright?”

She couldn't get the words out, but kept trying. “Help,” she whispered.

Nicole opened the door just as the invisible entity loosened it's grip around Casey's neck.

“Casey!” Nicole said, running over to where she lay on the floor. She glanced up for a moment, seeing the tall shadow on the wall. The red eyes glared down at her before the shadow faded. Nicole looked away, choosing not to give ground to fear.

“I don't understand,” Casey said, taking deep breaths as she sat up. “My grandfather wouldn't hurt anyone, especially me.”

Josh and Daniel then entered the room. They took Casey downstairs, making sure that she wasn't injured.

“There are elevated energy signatures recorded in the house and the cave entrance in the cellar,” Josh explained. “What you encountered isn't the ghost of your grandfather, Casey. Far from. It's much more dangerous. ”

“What is it?” She asked.

“An evil spirit. This thing is mimicking your grandfather. That's what they do.”

“I don't believe that,” Casey responded, taking a drink of water.

“I didn't believe either until just a few months ago,” Nicole said.

“The shadow of a man wearing a broad-rimmed hat, that's what you saw?” Josh asked.

“I saw it, too,” Nicole added.

“My grandfather used to wear a hat.”

“This is a specific type of malevolent entity,” Josh explained. “Many people have reported seeing it.”

“What does it want with me?”

“To put it plainly ….. it wants to destroy you,” Josh said.

Casey struggled to accept the disturbing things she was being told. “Did I release it when I went into the cellar?”

“Maybe,” Josh said. “It's still close by, in the house somewhere. Hiding.”

“So this ….entity, it's a demon?”

“Yes,” Josh answered. “Technically, a disembodied spirit from ancient times.”

“I don't understand.” Casey confessed.

Nicole put a hand on her back for comfort, seeing tears welling up in her eyes as she took everything to heart.

“The outer door in the cellar was embedded with silver, which acts as a barrier to imprison certain spiritual entities,” Josh explained.

Casey took a deep breath, then drank some water.

A laptop alerted them to heightened activity in the house. Nicole checked it. “There's elevated activity originating from the cellar.”

Josh and Daniel quickly followed their tracking devices around the upstairs area to isolate the location of the entity while Nicole stayed with Casey in the living room.

Just then, there was another auditory indicator on the laptop, and Nicole studied it. “We have company.”

Another indicator appeared on the screen moments later.

“I'm getting multiple readings, here, guys!” Nicole confirmed.

“How many?”

“Three, at least.”

Josh quickly confirmed this, looking over Nicole's shoulder.

“Two up here, and at least two in the cellar,” Nicole told them.

Josh and Daniel utilized their devices to release a steady sonic stream of electrostatic noise. The computer soon confirmed that the spirits were moving away, and back down into the cellar, towards the cave entrance.

“What's happening?” Casey wondered.

“They're repelled by the stream. It weakens them,” Daniel said.

They continued using their electronics, going around the house. Shortly afterwords, Nicole told them that the entities had moved back into the cellar, and a couple had returned to the cave. Following them, Josh closed the large door behind them.

He and Daniel entered the cave through the crawlspace and began communicating with Nicole through a set of mobile devices. With Josh in the lead, Daniel followed closely as both of them used their flashlights for guidance. The temperature grew colder the further they went.

A couple of minutes later, they arrived at an expanse. The natural ceiling of the cave rose from six feet to nearly fifteen.

Looking around, Daniel spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and slowly walked towards it. “I found something.”

Josh walked over, and saw the long-dead remains of the possessed pioneer who had been sealed in the cave. He looked mummified, still clothed in what he had worn when he died, though tattered and torn. Much of his hair remained, long and dark. The most disturbing thing was the position of the body, sitting against the wall with his head leaning back and mouth wide open.

Daniel remained standing, hesitant to get any closer.

“He's the possessed man I saw in the vision,” Josh confirmed.

“How long has the body been here, you think?”

“At least a hundred and fifty years, if I had to guess,” Josh answered, then snapped a picture with his camera. “The cool temperature down here kept the body preserved.” As Josh touched part of the old clothing, his mind was filled with prophetic visions similar to the ones before it, flashes of events that occurred many years before.

                           The possessed man killed several people, was chased by men into the

                           cave, and was trapped there by them. A man of God in the group

                           bound the evil spirits there, cursing them. The entrance was block up.

                          The man later died there, and the demons came out. One of the pioneers

                          remained behind, building a house to conceal it.

Josh removed his hand from the clothing, more details flowing into his mind. He now knew the whole story.

“He was a murderer,” Josh explained, “Traveling with a large group of pioneers during the gold rush. They couldn't get all the evil spirits out, so they trapped him down here so they would never get out.”

Moments later, the sound of wind began echoing through the cave, and the men quickly shined their lights towards it. As they looked around in multiple directions, the sounds grew louder.

“They're coming,” Daniel said.

“I know. Get ready.”

The two of them put their lights down on the cavern floor, and readied their photon devices. What began as whispering sounds soon escalated to near screams as the cavern was invaded by several entities at once.

Daniel, seeing into the dimension of the spirit, saw five dark entities move quickly around the room, passing through one another.

The entities joined together, forming a large, black form that began to attack them. Josh activated a green laser beam from his device, concentrating it onto the entity. Having previous experience confronting spiritual entities, the men worked together.

“I bind you in name of God, and I break your power!” Josh declared.

The dark form moved back and forth, a shadowy serpent. The men continued to concentrate their devices onto the evil shape, Daniel praying.

After a short time, the form began to break down before them into the smaller spirits, the entities growing weak. The entities began screaming out all at once, high-pitched shrieks echoing throughout the cave. The demons attempted to move into the cave walls, but couldn't. Josh repeated his declaration with spiritual authority, and the silence returned.

“Let's go,” Josh said, starting back towards the cellar.

Daniel began following him, sprinting back. “They can't escape the cave?”

“Some spiritual entities can be confined by rock and metal, like prison cells,” Josh explained. “They can't pass through them as easily as man-made objects, like walls.”

Once back in the cellar, they blocked the cave entrance, and locked the door back, fastening the latches. The team searched the house with their devices once more, but no longer detected any kind of entity.

“The door to the cave has been locked,” Josh told Casey. “Still, you might want to have the entrance reinforced.”

“All of this has been crazy,” Casey said. “I still don't think I understand all this.”

“This should help,” Josh said, leaving two books that dealt with the subjects she was struggling with, along with contact information if she needed anything else.

Casey thanked Josh, Daniel and Nicole, giving each of them a hug. Before they left, she offered them money. “Here, it's the least I can do.”

“No, thank you,” Josh responded. “Just reach out to us if anything else happens.”

“Alright,” she said, watching them leave.

As they drove away, Daniel worked on a rough sketch of the entities from the cave. He would add it to his collection, and hoped that Casey would now be able to sleep peacefully.

“I wonder why her grandfather didn't tell her about the cave,” Nicole said.

“Maybe he hoped the past would stay buried down there,” Josh guessed. “That it was no longer a threat to anyone. I don't know.”

Back inside the old house, Casey poured herself a glass of wine. A part of her wanted to have the place leveled to the ground, and the cellar filled in so that nobody would ever find the entrance to the cave.

She now felt a responsibility. Not just to protect other from what was inside it, but to her grandfather, and his ancestors. She wondered if she could make this place her new permanent home. In the wake of her experiences, Casey needed to rethink would she believed about the spirit world and the afterlife.

She would sleep on it. After all, tomorrow was a new day.