The possessed

A Story by david jones

A demon has crawled through time and found its way into a doorway to our world, ready to lead an invasion of demons upon the earth.

PROLOGUE

Georgia; 1864

A man and his daughter stepped out of the wagon that had driven them fifty miles, from the deserted town of Winchester Valley Arkansas. The place had been a scary place for the man and his daughter. When they first arrived, they thought demons had dwelt within the abandoned mines and sewers of the town. They encountered no one though, so they moved on, toward where the man and his daughter lived in Georgia. Now the man was a farmer; he owned a huge piece of land in the western borders, which was near to where he lived, as well as a huge, many acre cattle farm in Arizona far to the west, where his sons lived and took care of it. He was a fifty year old man, but he had the same sense of adventure as his sons at sixty since he loved going places, traveling around, and he was hardly ever home. His daughter, a bright pretty

(one of the only girls to go to school in this time and actually enjoy it)

girl about the age of seventeen. She was well mannered, pretty, and enjoyed the long ventures her father usually took her on. She lived on the farm with her mother and father and helped out much with it, as well as keeping up with her studied since she wanted to be doctor in the long, mythic big city that the man hadn't even been through. Sure he had heard tales of big cities, about buildings towering over the skyline, roads laden with finely white cement instead of rough patches of dirt, but he had not seen such monstrosities and ill mannered people who lived within these large, golden cities.

The man was also a hunter. His buddies and him would go every weekend with his hunting rifle and would shoot at deer, kill one, and bring it home for dinner. His wife didn't approve, but he didn't care since his wife, sixty year old Sarah Wilward, was an old bag who didn't approve of anything this man did.

The two horses rode into the town where the man grew up, and immediately there was the sounds of cannon fire. It was in the midst of the civil war, and surprisingly this town, a town named Fort Billbard, was one of the enemy strongholds, and the enemy had captured it over night. The man grabbed his rifle, aimed at one of the northern soldiers, and fired, the ball from the musket ripping through his throat, blood splashing onto the ground. His daughter, Susie, jumped off the horse and ran away screaming,. She could stand many a site, but one of things that she couldn't stand was fighting and blood.

The man raced toward the barn as there was an explosion that ripped through the barn from enemy cannon fire, causing bits of wood to fly through the air and smoke to fill the air with a putrid stench. The man flew back, landing on the ground wincing. He lifted up his rifle and fired, killing several more of the northern troops, leaving only a few left in which the left brigade killed and the siege of this town was over. Southern soldiers milled around gathering the bodies of the dead, while the man, rubbing his back, walked into the saloon which had not been touched by cannon fire, but bullets had done a number on it. He ordered up a whiskey and just sat there until the bar tender recognized him.

"Tim Blately is it sir?" asked the bartender. "Is it really you?"

"Yes it is. Sir," replied Tim.

"What you doin' round these parts?" asked the bartender. "I thought you was over there by that big city, or explorin or whatever."

"I was. I decided to come home. See my family," Tim said.

"Nice of ya Tim," the bartender said. He slid a glass over to Tim which contained icy fog on the glass, as well as a dirty colored liquid that anyone with two brain cells would know to be Whiskey. Tim drunk it. "I heard you was round that nearby 'bandoned town. That true?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is."

"Ya know, I have heard bout demons in thems parts...jus like them demons that I once thought lived here. Ya see any of them demons Tim?"

"No, I haven't. I walked through the city and left with Susie," Tim said.

"Oh how she doin. That pretty little," said the bartender.

"Good. And that's my daughter you talkin about right there," Tim said.

"Fine sorry. But you went through the city right? Them demons is gon come after you. But I best let you go now. We closin these doors in bout a minute." Tim stood up, paid for the drink, and then left the saloon.

It was at night, the stars like glittering crystals that adorned the most fancy of rings that Tim had never even seen before, when he heard the rustling of weeds and a voice within his head. He didn't acknowledge the voice at first thinking it was fake, but then it wouldn't stop echoing in his mind when he thought about it. Tim had whirled around several times, in an attempt to look for whatever malevolent force was following, stalking him, and/or speaking in his mind.

I am your conscious. Don't do anything. I have not instructed anything. Don't even turn around. I will be here in a few minutes and all your worries will be vanquished from here. What the hell was that voice telling him? Tim continued to walk down the beaten, dirt path toward his house which was in the middle of the woods when he heard a sudden shrieking noise that was so loud, it made him cover his ears. He whipped around and saw a white flash and before he knew it, he was on the ground, trying to writhe free upon the ground. The thing was atop him. Tim had enough room to grab his pistol. He grabbed one and fired at the invisible thing, which did no good. And his gun was hit away from him. He felt a throbbing in his head. Tim placed his hand to the back of his head and saw blood lying upon the palm, trickling through the fingers...

He screamed.

The creature bit at his throat, hot blood washing the dirt, soaking into it and there was a scream and the thing became visible, a bluish red thing that looked like an imp, but in reality was a demon. Tim was dead on the ground, blood pouring from his throat that had nearly been torn out of him. The demon whipped around and raced toward the house. It entered the house, causing Sarah to drop the oil lamp. And the house was a lit. Flame exploded from the first floor. Screams echoed through the night. Splashes of blood spattered on the windows. Smoke poured from the house, smelling like death. Another scream. Susie. And the sound of a knife or fangs squelching through the flesh. No one lived in this house for one hundred years.

Present day; 2011; Georgia.

A Subaru SK 400 sped down highway 91 toward the Daves diner and rest area on 52nd street. The man in the car was named Bill, and he was a famous writer, like much of his family was. A couple of days ago he had lived in a rough part of Chicago, where most of his stories took place, until his friend was shot by a drug deal gone wrong, so Bill and his family decided to move to Georgia, where his wife, Alicia's family lived. In the back of the car was jammed packed stuff they had forgotten once they there home back in Chicago. The family had decided, since Bill hadn't written a book in a while and they had not very much money, that they would drive to Georgia instead of taking a plane. And thus began the epic, but annoying car trip that would test each others nerves until Bill just turned around and smacked his son, Ahab, telling him to shut the hell up because he was the one creating all the goddamn issues because he was adopted, which by now, Bill thought was the meanest thing to say to an adopted, middle eastern boy.

He turned the car on the off ramp and drove up it, meandering through the curves, until he reached the light, which was green, so he turned and a few minutes he approached the dirt clad road where his house was situated. The drive down the street was very uneventful, with trees that lined either side of the road, as well as the sudden occurrence of some animals, but he bared with it and eventually was at the doorstep of the large house situated by Black Bear Stone lake.The house was huge; polished stained wood was nailed to the base of the house, large black shingles shrouding the room in an everlasting darkness. The only thing that was a semi good thing was that the front path, as well as the driveway, had been cemented, but the rest of road was not which pissed him off. He carefully parked the car and stepped out, breathing in a fresh of the cleanest air he had ever inhaled. Another good thing about living in the middle of nowhere; less pollution from cars and more fresh air.

Bill opened the front door and decended into a huge room that had plenty of room for everything he needed. A couple of chairs were on either side of the massive room, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling majestically, little candle holders jutting from each side of the device. A couch was sitting on the whole back wall, as well as a huge big screen TV that hung on the front wall. Bill walked through the room and went into the kitchen, where there was a huge stove and oven that sat in front of one of the walls, this one not as decorative and pretty as the other wall...paint pealed from this wall like a snake shedding its skin. To the right was a table, whereupon it was a vase that held pretty blue tulips, the white light puncturing through much of the room.

He opened a door and put his small jacket upon one of the hooks, shut the door, turned around and went upstairs where he knew his whole family would be in one of the rooms checking it out and/or unpacking things. Bill stepped up the stairs, and opened the nearest door, where he saw his wife and children talking to each other, sitting upon the large, king size bed that was the center piece to the bedroom.

"Hey hon," Christine said, walking toward Bob and kissing him.

"Hey Chris," said Bill. " This has been a very pleasant move I think. I love the house but I hate the fact that it is basically secluded in the middle nowhere. But the lake is nice, as is the fresh air."

"Yea. It is nice. I also like the lake...I also like the wooded areas," replied Chris.

"Hi Bill," said Ahab waving. He wasn't Bills actual son because he had been adopted a couple of years ago when the family lived in California.

"Hey son," said Bill, who smiled, offering up his hand. Ahab and Bill shook hands, laughing as they did it. "How do you like this new home?"

"It is pretty good," replied Ahab with a slight middle eastern accent. "I like exploring the woods...that is fun looking through the trees, grass, and at all the animals that lived within the current of trees." Ahab was an intelligent young boy of about twelve years old, who loved exploring the outside not caring about the bugs, actually wanting them to land on him. He had a collection of bugs that he kept in a stamp book that was hidden from most anyone but himself, since he didn't want anybody stealing them. He had close cropped, dirty blond hair that flowed down his face in large, smooth bangs. Glasses rested upon the crest of his nose.

"What do you say I take you all out for ice cream?" asked Bill.

"Sure!" everyone shouted.

"But keep Chloe here, she is bed running a fever. Sleep will do her best. But the rest can go with us though. When are we going to be going?" asked Chris.

"Whenever. Right now if you want," said Bill.

"Sounds good. It's kind of cool outside, but it is never too old for ice cream!" Ahab said. Bill and his troupe went down the stairs and walked into the car, shut the doors, and drove off. The car drove down the dirt street, the amazing forests surrounding the house never ceasing to amaze both Chris and Ahab, and then they were on the main road. There wasn't many cars on the road. Bill drive the car down twenty-eighth street with ease, reaching toward the buildings that had small houses and businesses surrounding it.

"We are just about there!" shouted Bill, pumping his fist in the air, momentarily taking his hand off of the wheel.

"That is awesome. I haven't had a good bowl of ice cream since the summer," Ahab said excitedly. The car slowed upon entering the town, and then they approached the Mikes ice cream joint. They slowly slid their car in between two other cars nearest the door and then they walked inside the ice cream place. It was fairly small and packed, people going in with twenty dollars, an coming out with a huge ice cream sundaes. Bill stepped up to the cashier first and placed his order; mint chocolate chip ice cream (his favorite) with hot chocolate laden upon it; Ahab ordered vanilla ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter; Chris a Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream and that was it. They ate the ice cream in an unusual silence. And then, once they had eaten, Bill turned the ignition in the car and it was time to go back.

But something didn't seem right. Who knew why. The car drove through the street, and was just about to exit the town when two small, young boys walked down it, arms linked. A sense of prolonged fear broke through Bills senses. The children were dressed in old fashioned clothes as they continued to walk toward the car.

"What the hell is this?!" shouted Bill. He slammed on his breaks and the car skidded to a stop. The children with linked arms didn't stop, they just kept going. Bill tried to step out of the car. Chris placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't do this," she said, comfortingly.

"I need to see what the hell is going on with this," said Bill. He opened the car door and exited the car, walking toward the two children. Bill tried to speak to them.

"Who are you, may I help you?" But nothing. They just walked and walked and walked and now there features became sodden and visible and they were dirty, smeared with dirt and sweat and even a bit of blood. Bill yelped. The children were silent. Until one of them opened his mouth, a huge set of fangs being unveiled. Bill screamed. Raced back to his car. And then...

"We just wanna play," said the kids in unison. "We need to play. We have no family so we walk down this path everyday looking for someone kind enough to play with us. And now we want to play PLAY PLAY!!!" The cold voice of the children turned into a shriek. Bill jumped back into his car and drove off, not caring if he hit the demon children or not. The only question that remained was this; what the hell was this?

Chloe was lying in her bed, a thermometer jutting from her mouth, the red line shooting straight up, when she heard the noise coming from the basement. A noise that sounded like a rattling. She slowly slid out of bed. She was a pretty girl, dressed in a nightgown she had worn last night, having not changed since she was sick. She was sixteen years old. She slung a warm, woolly bathroom over her cold, smooth shoulders, a sudden hint of fear being expressed upon her sullen face. Chloe dragged her feet across the floor, nearly falling as the sharp pain in her head expanded. She heard more rattling and more rattling and

(ugh my head is killing me...my fever is hot...sweat sweat sweat and sickness...oh the sickness i feel at this very moment oh God oh God oh)

more rattling. Her hair was messy, sticking up on end, as if she had put her hand in a light socket. Her face was pale, as was the rest of her body. Her sullen eyes were a deep, entrancing blue, able to attract anybody she wanted. She approached the basement and opened the basement door, slowly walking down it, a chill running up her spine. The rattling grew louder.

(oh the pain of my head and everything else...exploding lights in my vision and a sudden blindness coming through me coming through me the pain in my head slicing through me like a large knife. And and and AND!! What is this...a rattling a)

rattling. She moved her hand down the wall and then was down the stairs, a bed rattling by itself. What the hell was happening? Could this be a dream.

(No, I wasn't dreaming)

She heard a sudden shrieking...a screaming...and her skin was plunged into a kind of coldness and she ran back up the stairs in fear back toward her bedroom, where she lie down and pretended like nothing had happened.

Chloe was a pretty girl who scared easily, which was the reason why when she picked out a movie, she ruled out all the scary ones. She had gotten the flu when she was at school, because someone else had the flu and let their child go to school with flu. That was dumb. And now she had a fever because of it. And she lived in a house which she thought was haunted. It was the events that had just happened; something was downstairs rattling the bed, it wasn't just something that happened. Another presence was in the house. She lie in bed and wondered what had just happened. Wondered why it had happened. But she couldn't think of a logical solution.

Sweat trickled down her brow as the blankets clung to her by nothing more then sweat mixed with static electricity. Chloe heard the car drive into the driveway and knew her parents and brother were home. The door creaked open and she heard footsteps from downstairs as her dad, apparently breathing heavy, her mom who was trying to comfort him, and her brother who merely pounded upstairs and locked himself in his room, not caring what was going on downstairs. Chloe slid out of bed into her blue slippers and slowly prodded down the steps, staggering drunkenly a little bit, gripping her hand on the wall to keep balance.

"Hey honey," said her mother.

"Hi mom. What is wrong with dad?" Chloe asked.

"Well on our way home we saw something. A couple of boys with hands linked walking through the street in a sort of creepy way. And he stepped out of the car and walked toward them. There was a little bit of shrieking and then we left...it was scary..." Chloe's mom explained.

"I had something strange too...a bed was rattling in the basement," Chloe said. She sat down at the kitchen table, holding her head in her hands. "I thought I should tell you about this."

"Oh. I'm glad you did," Chris said. "I wonder what all this is about."

"Yea," Chloe said. "Me too. Now mother, I am going to go back to bed for a bit and see if I can feel better."

"Alright." Chloe staggered off back to her room. Chris stood up from the chair and looked at Bill with a sad expression. He must think he's crazy, she thought. She wrapped his arm around him...

"How could this be?" he asked, looking up as if acknowledging God. "What have I done to deserve this?"

"Nothing. It is not your fault. We just ran into some misfortune. All will be OK." But no, nothing would be OK, and this unsuspecting family was about to find out just how terrifying this malevolent, evil force was.

It was night. Bill, Chris, Ahab and Chloe were enjoying a night of prosperous and ever thanking peace within the sleep, until Chloe awoke to the same rattling sound she had heard the previous day. She slowly slid out of bed, feeling much better now, throwing on her hooded sweatshirt, the thing now becoming cold were her bare legs. Goosebumps dotted her arms, even though she wore a sweatshirt. She slowly crept out of the room and made her way toward the basement door, where she opened it and slid downstairs. Chloe's hair was in tufts that were sticking up, looking like she had been electrocuted.

She heard the sound of rattling and twisted around the corner, spotting the bed, but it had stopped, there was just the remaining sounds of it in the air. Chloe stepped off of the stairs and proceeded toward the hospital like bed, which stood there, still as day. What the hell was this? She turned back around and was about to go back upstairs, when the rattling began again, causing Chloe to whirl around. The sound of was loud, the wheels under the bed clattering against the cement floor. A chill was sent spiraling down her spine. She so desperately wanted to go back upstairs, forget about this strangeness happening in the house and rule it out as visions and dreams, but she was rotted to her spot, unable to move; and plus she knew it was real. So it wouldn't work to rule it out as a dream.

She stood there, shivering in her slippers.

And then she heard breathing in her head, and she just damned near shrieked. But she didn't. The voices were cold, but yet they were gruff.

"You need to get out of this house missy. Tell that to your family. That you need to get out. This is sacred ground for us, breeding demons, and we can't have you disturbing us. So go go go go and BE GONE!!!" the voice began shouting. Chloe clutched her head and fell to the floor, curling up into a ball, into the fetal position and she began to cry and cry until she heard the door open, the rattling, a scream and then she awoke in her bed, crying and screaming and her mother rushed in to see what was wrong. Chloe lie still, her tank top clinging to her body by sweat.

"I have to go town today," Chris announced the next morning, immediately after taking care of Chloe. She was asleep in her bed again this time. Chris needed to go the store to buy some food, but she also needed to talk with someone who had lived in this place for a long while about this house and the history behind it. She said goodbye to her family and then went into the car, turned it on, and backed out of the driveway. Chris turned toward town and drove the car toward the center of the town. Once she was in town, she parked the car in the parking lot of the mini-mart and got out. She stepped into the building, a bag slung over her shoulder. Her food bag.

She picked out some food; boxed macaroni and cheese; canned chicken noodle soup as well as canned chili and many canned items; several boxes of cereal, special K to be exact since she was on a diet; some eggs, milk, and a couple of donuts, one for each of the two children. She paid for the food, went to her car, dropped the stuff into the trunk and went to the center office of the town which was like a directory. A pretty woman wearing a blue and red pinstriped suit greeted Chris at the door with a smile.

"What can I do for you?' the woman asked.

"Yea. Are you a native here who's been here for a long time?" Chris said.

"I am. I have been here for about twenty years," replied the woman. "Why's that?"

"So, my family and I live in the old Cogswell place that is supposedly really old. And we have been seeing things...hearing things...and I wanna know some of the history about this place."

"I know much about that house. It is haunted...supposedly. It was an old house from the beginning of 1864...a main fortress for the civil war and the home to a cowboy and his family. One day, the cowboy returned with his daughter, and went to a bar for a drink. The bartender spoke of demons hacing followed the cowboy. The cowboy said he didn't believe in demons. But then he left the bar a bit drunk, and staggered home, but was attacked by a creature...a demonic entity that ripped his throat out...then it went to the house, killed his family and burned down the house," explained the woman. A chill ran down Chris's spine.

"But this is all speculation?" asked Chris.

"Some say it is while others say it isn't. So, after the house was burned down," continued the woman, "it was long to be lost, a mystic hunting ground for demons. Until it was rebuilt by a priest in the early 1900s. The priest rebuilt it all himself, and a year later it was finished. The priest dwelt in the house for quite sometime, until he was burned at the stake as he slept. It was presumably one of the demons. It wasn't bought again for another 70 years. Until the 1980s. A family bought it. That family lived in it for two years, before being disturbed by both the ghosts of the children as well as the wife of the cowboy and the demons. They were nearly killed by the spirits before they moved out. People have been known to see pale figures through the windows, or dark creatures with gaping mouths filled with fangs. This is house that has a bloody and haunted history. I know for some fact that something is in there.

"But one thing I forgot to say; on Wednesday evening of every August, one of the demons uses a spirits body to create a gate to hell. And it is that day...something bad is going to happen..." said the woman.

"Thank you ma'am," Chris said. "One thing though. We saw a couple of boys, hands linked, walking through town were those..." The woman's face suddenly turned stern.

"Get out. Go home. Something is going to happen...something..." And Chris was gone.

Something bad was going to happen.

It was at around 6:00pm when the activity began. First it was that of a dark shadow creeping over the wall; the bed in the basement began to rattle. Chris and Bill both heard this first, so they crept down the stairs and saw the bed going back and forth, as if a possessed girl was on it getting an exorcism. There was screaming in the night throughout the house. Chloe was in the living room, when a dark shadow came over the wall and she screamed and screamed as the ghostly presence shrieked. She lie curled upon the floor, crying.

The bed began to rattle. And a voice entered Bill and Chris's head. It was soft, inaudible. Chris staggered toward the bed, and then once she placed her hand on it she screamed as a sudden burn formed on her hand. What the...

Bill saw a pale figure. The room got cold. The ghost smiled at him at first, but then a face grew distorted and it lunged, eventually disappearing in tufts of white smoke. There was more of a rattling from the bed. Bill looked at it grimly. He was scared....he was. He knew that something was in the house, could hear it, could feel the presence of some inhuman entity. There was a sudden shrieking. And Bill whipped around...

Chloe slowly got up from the floor, and looked at the wall whereupon the dark shadow had been spread, but there was nothing there. She got up and heard a few noises in the basement. Chloe walked into the kitchen, and once she was there, a plate suddenly flew from the cupboard. It shattered against the wall. Chloe screamed...squealed...

She couldn't see anything.

What the hell was this? Something horrible was about to happen. And a battle was about to begin.

INTERLUDE

A hole in space filled with demons

(demons that would rip your heart out and drink your blood and kill your damn a*s if you were to cross one of these things)

and ghosts flying from the portal where the demons were entering and they looked like the spawns of an ever changing hell that was located within the vast depths of the universe under rock and stone, under fire, under the earth, in every volcano in the world some type of portal that would lead to a hell that would eventually consume the earth and its inhabitants and the leader of this world of flame tempting people...tempting...and killing and causing all of the violence hate death and blood that consumed this world. But this portal wasn't located in a volcano, or in the deepest sections of the earth, the portal was a place that was in...

10.

Bill jumped back as the spirit drove him back, screaming and screeching. This couldn't be happening. Couldn't

(be happening)

The bed continued to rattle and there was a sudden screaming coming from where the bed was. Chris slowly proceeded toward the bed and then the screaming became too much and a sudden voice sliced through her head in a white hot pain as if she had cut herself. She quickly backed away from the bed, rubbing the throbbing pain that hovered over her heard. Sweat smeared her face. She spotted Bill, on the floor, screaming and batting his hands like a bear who was ridding itself of flying insects. He had blood running down his face. Why was this happening to us? thought Chris. What have we done to deserve that? Bill suddenly fell on his arms and started wriggling along the floor maddeningly, foam curdling out of his mouth...

"BILL NO!!! WE STILL NEED YOU!" screamed Chris. She lunged out, grabbed him by the arm, but his skin had grown hot, boiling hot, as hot as what was under the bed, and she new, oh did she know, that the creature, the spirit, whatever the hell it was that disrupted this family, was inside her son, possessing him. He tilted his head up and screamed, baring his teeth.

"You let this happen. It was you," he said in a monotone voice of someone possessed. He held out of finger, pointing at Chris. "You could've just left, and this would all be over, but no. You have brought this hell upon yourself. You could have burned the house, anything to rid it of spirits. But no. Just no. And now this entire family will die because of these creatures, of us, because of all this!" There was a heightening of wind within the house and something like a doorway opened. It was huge, green, and it spun, oh did it spin as it was opening. Chris saw eyes in the portal, the entrance to another dimension. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as a creature suddenly jumped from it and it seemed as if the end were

(the creatures, oh damn what the hell have I gotten myself into now oh oh!! It hurts and burns...the creature are coming, coming and the world is)

near. Which it could quite mean that the end was near. She saw a crimson red eye target her and she leaped back in fear, pressing her back against the wall. Her hair, stringy with sweat, clung to her face. Bill was on the floor, the demon inside of him controlling him. There was a sudden crackling of bones. His neck snapped back. Chris grimaced as she say what was unfolding in front of her. Bill then stood up on both feet and glared at Chris before attacking her.

He tackled her, sending her flying against the wall at full speed. She screamed as she landed upon the wall, her head bouncing off the wall, shattering plaster. Blood soaked the back of her head. She fell to the floor in a sort of convulsion. Bill laughed and then shrieked. He knew he was possessed by the demons...the creatures...and he continued to have them dwell in him, in his darkest of hearts. Chris fell to the floor, blood smearing the floor, pouring out of the wound that was open in the back of her head from the tragic fall. Bill reared around and let out a bellow, jumping again at Chris, but this time he missed her and was sent tumbling into the wall, breaking his nose. Blood exploded from the broken bone of his nose and he screamed in tremendous pain...

Chris was on the floor, crying, small beads of blood making their way down her face like tears. Strands of hair clung to her face from the sweat that poured down her face in rivulets. Her clothes were ripped; dirt and grime streaking her arms and legs. And Bill was in the kitchen, preparing for another attack, another assault. He whirled around, turned his hands to claws, and roared like an animal, like a bear bent on attack. And he lunged. Chris was on the floor and she let out yet another scream. She couldn't stop. Bill leaped on her and bit down into her dirt streaked arm. Blood poured down her arm, mixing with the dirt, and cried as more and more blood soaked the stinging wound. It was deep, like that of a knife that had been sliced through the very fabric, the skin of her arm. Bill relished the taste of the blood that smeared his face from his nose and from the bite he had inflicted upon his mother...

There was a clattering at the door, keys turning a lock, followed by a click. And the figure appeared in the doorway. It was Chloe. She was carrying a shotgun in her hand, her father Bill's shotgun that he used when he hunted. He aimed it at Bill, who was standing over Chris. Chloe fired the shotgun, sending a shell into the possessed Bill. He screamed and fell over, his arm shredded and bloody. He whipped around and jumped at Chloe, but she fired the shotgun again and he fell to the floor, blood pouring out of his shredded wounds. She could hear the demon shrieking within Bill and knew it was a good sign. The goal was to flush the demon out, not kill Bill. But he would probably have to pay the price in death anyway in order to get the damned demon from him.

Chloe had a look of determination on her face. She pulled the trigger

(I need to get the demon out of him and get it away and destroy it so our life will become back to)

again. He was on the floor, convulsing. Fighting with the demon inside himself presumably. A dark shadow was appearing from Bill's mouth. It was the demon. Chloe fired another shot. The shell slammed into Bill's neck and mouth and the dark figure...the cloudy thing was closer and closer to revealing itself to the world. It was the darkest of them all. Bill was pretty much dead. Through the dark shadow, Chris and Chloe could see the faint beat of Bill's dying heart. Chloe fired a shell. And the demon suddenly appeared, flushing itself out of Bill, who lie limp on the floor, a hot bloody form. The demon shrieked and shrieked in its new form. Chloe fired a couple more shots at the demon, emptying the gun. She threw it aside. The demon flew through the house and then spiraled toward the kitchen, where it disappeared out the window.

"It's Bill, he is safe!" shouted Chris. She had blood pouring down her head. She knelt down beside her husband, and felt for a pulse, but there was none. No. "No. He's dead." Chris wept. Tears streamed down her eyes, mixing with the blood. Her face looked like a red, dripping water painting. Chloe collapsed to the ground, devastated, in tears. The door suddenly opened and both the teary eyed family members looked toward it. Ahab entered the room.

"What happened?" he asked. And as he walked inside the room he saw Bill on the floor, dead, the blood nearly drained from his body. He fell to the floor.

That is when something else bad happens to this family with dire, dangerous luck. The window suddenly exploded inward. Shards of glass fell to the floor. One landed on Ahab and he screamed as blood poured down his neck. A dark shadow slithered into the room, the demon, and dragged Ahab away, into the dark abyss, the portal. Blood was everywhere. And Ahab was gone. There was an explosion as all the lights at once short circuited. Screaming resounded through the house. Chloe let out a bellow as she was taken away. The sounds of screams, shrieking, and the squelching of flesh has pieces of glass were plunged into the victims filled the darkness. Chris was on the floor. She saw the figure move and she rolled to the right.

"Come, come with ussss," hissed the dark figure. And then a light. The creature convulsed on the floor, shrieking and hissing as the light burned it. And that was the end.

11.

Five Years Later

Chris had become a horror writer five years after the terrifying days of the demon ripping her life apart quite literally. She used some of her life experiences in her stories, but said they were fake because no one would believe her if she said that the stories were based on reality. She was well known to many. She also remarried, to someone she loved very much, and she had two kids, one three and one child was one year old and she loved them dearly. She will never forget that night, with so much death in the family, and how she fought to save her and her family, or at least try, and she failed. That weighed heavily on her as she lie in bed, beside her husband, dreaming of that night, saying they were nightmares. But no one would believe her if she said they were real. See, even the most darkest of stories can have a happy ending, or can they?