 
### Infested

#### By Lily Taffel

#### Published by Publications Circulations LLC.

SmashWords Edition

All contents copyright (C) 2014 by Publications Circulations LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, companies and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

The following story is for entertainment purposes only. This book contains sexually graphic scenes depicting consenting adults above the age of 18 engaging in passionate sexual acts. This story is intended only for persons over the legal adult age. By downloading and opening this document, you are stating that you are of legal age to access and view this work of fiction. Mature readers only. Reader discretion is advised.

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**~ ~ ~ ~**

### 1

_FINALLY, some quiet time_ , Jim thought as he walked out the front door and stepped onto the porch. It had been a busy day with people arriving way into the last minutes of the afternoon. The housewarming lasted until five, although it was very late for a housewarming. Still, Jim appreciated the quiet time that settled in after the guests had left.

It had been exactly three weeks since they had moved to the house.

Susan and Jim had timed it such that the children, Jenna and Faith, did not have to miss school-preschool, in the case of the youngest Faith. Sitting down in one of the chairs beside the small table in their porch, Jim could still not believe how lucky they were in acquiring the property.

Jim had been a trucker for fourteen years. He and Sue met in his first year of being a trucker and immediately hit it off. Six months into the relationship, they decided to marry. The young couple settled in an apartment in Wichita although neither of them came from there or anywhere near there. Jim was from Nevada and Sue was an Illinois girl.

The decision to stay in Wichita sounded practical. It was close to Illinois and had one of the busy stops that Jim always frequented. That was where their first daughter, Jenna, was born. The apartment was adequate for their needs until their second daughter, Faith, came along. With two daughters growing up and one practically approaching puberty, Jim knew the apartment would not suffice.

The stroke of luck came just as their youngest was born. On one of his stops in Ponca City, Jim ran across an old trucker friend by the name of Elroy, a lighthearted giant born and raised in Dallas. Over a few beers, they asked about each other's families and it was there that Jim brought up the subject of getting a place of his own.

Elroy had heard about some properties but they were too expensive for a trucker with two daughters. And then Elroy mentioned a too-good-to-be-true deal. The description of the Burkburnett property sounded great. The land was surrounded by trees and was basically on the banks of Red River. To the eager ears of Jim Miller, the large tract of land practically sounded like a steal. There was a catch-there was no house, just the land.

But that was alright, considering all the other things mentioned, Jim thought to tell it to his wife that night.

Afterwards, Susan was all over Wichita, meeting consultants, even lawyers, to see about options for getting the land and setting up a house. She almost gave up, every consulting agency and every lawyer's office she went to spoke of big words and promising deals but never really connected with her. Susan's parents ran their own hardware store back in Illinois so she knew a sales pitch when she heard one. Everyone she met worked to get her into agreeing quickly. That usually spelled regrets later on.

The help came in the form of Jacob Beasley-an up-and-coming lawyer, eager to make a name for himself. He walked Susan through the different options for financing, the terms, and the long-term benefits or pitfalls for each option. What's more, he did it all _pro bono_ , with just a promise that if the Millers or any of their friends needed any advice may it be legal or financial, that they would send business down to his El Dorado office. Of course, they still paid him once they settled on a deal.

When Jim got back to their apartment in one of his downtimes, all he needed to do was sign the papers. With financing secured, Jim and Susan acquired the title to the land and once the two-year loan matured, applied for another, again with the help of the lawyer, this time to build the house and secure the necessary permits.

Looking back, Jim smiled at his good fortune. He was able to achieve the American Dream of owning a home, especially during these hard economic times.

The house was a simple two-storey building with all of the bedrooms located on the second level. The garage was built detached from the house itself, to the left. Located on naturally green land, there was not much landscaping done. They decided on having a small cottage to the back of the house, a couple of steps towards the riverbank where they had built an L-shaped wooden walkway that stretched well into the river.

To complement its surroundings, the house was built mostly of wood. They had originally planned to have a patio but upon seeing the cost, Sue, being a practical woman she was, settled for a wide porch instead. They had lights installed in every corner outside the house, including the big garage where all of their tools were kept.

With the cool breeze coming from the river and the sense of peacefulness and security given off by the trees that surrounded the property, Jim could not ask for a better place. No more bothersome neighbors, the closest being a hundred and fifty meters to the west. Most of all, traffic noise was a thing of the past with the closest road, Caffee Road, being a quarter of a kilometer away.

Finishing his beer, Jim reminded himself that he and his family were blessed. Yes, he had not yet made half of his payments for the loan he took for the house. Yes, their finances were a little tighter compared to when they were still renting an apartment. But in a time when even owning a small patch of land to build a house on was close to impossible, he knew he was lucky indeed.

Itching for another beer to finish the day, Jim took one last look at the trees in front of his house and headed inside.

### 2

"THAT'S IT, I'm done," said Sue, cozying up to Jim who was watching the evening news on the couch. "I think it's time to warm up the bed," she added with a sly smile.

"A wonderful idea that is," he answered, "If only the girls were already asleep."

"Oh, they'll be asleep soon enough. They've been running around the house all day," Sue answered back, hugging her husband's neck.

"Tell you what, why don't you go ahead and freshen up a bit? You know, maybe put on that special lingerie you keep for special occasions?"

"Hmmm, how you talk! Go on," Sue encouraged.

"I'm just gonna finish my beer here, and as soon as the giggles of the little rebels die down, I'll be comin' up and we be doin' a lil' bed-warming to cap this housewarming."

"Oooh, I like the sound of that," said Susan as she got up, planting a kiss on her husband's cheek.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Jim echoed.

"Mmm-hmmm," she replied, "Don't take long," she reminded as she walked away, doing a couple of sashays before she climbed the stairs.

Jim shook his head, amused. When Susan acted like this, a great night was always guaranteed. A quick succession of memories ran through his mind, replaying those times that his wife behaved just like she did now. He had never been disappointed. A growing lump appeared in his pants as he thought about the maneuvers Sue could do in bed. He gave his member a quick rub before getting up to get another beer.

Sue was excited. She had just been reminded that, despite the sacrifices they would have to make (the travel to the school Jenna would be enrolled in for one), they were living a good life-no, a better life. She saw it on the faces of all her female friends as she took them on a tour of the house and its surroundings. She saw envy in all of their eyes. Some of them even treated their husbands a little harshly afterwards.

Of course, the husbands were clueless. She knew that. Most of them were simple, like Jim. They needed direction or they would lose their way. Stepping into the bathroom inside their room, Sue heard Jenna and Faith arguing as they always did before bed. Though they had separate rooms, Jenna's room was toward the back of the house, the two constantly invaded each other's room to either play, gossip, or argue.

She smiled at the thought that it would soon end. Jenna was twelve now. Soon she would be a raging adolescent girl that hated the world. Her room would be barred should she have her way and Faith... Faith would feel alone. As the arguing of her daughters grew louder, she wished it would end sooner. At least for this night.

She smiled again. Naughty thoughts crossed her mind as she stepped into the tub. The temperature of the water was just right. It allowed her to be comfortable as she soaked her tired body into the foamy water. Her trucker husband would be inspired tonight, she decided. She would make sure of it.

Although raised a Catholic, Susan had always had a healthy attitude towards her sexuality, experimenting with different styles in her younger years. Her body tingled with anticipation as she rubbed the sponge across her skin. The arguing had calmed down as she finished her bath.

Susan stepped out of the bathroom humming to herself. She made a beeline towards the closet and, turning on the light inside, began to rummage inside the drawer that contained her enticing sets of lingerie. Deciding on a pair, she then went towards her make-up table and put on one of her perfumes.

She could still hear her daughters talking. Instead of putting on a robe and sending them to bed, she climbed into bed and hoped the children would retire for the night already. While waiting, her mind wandered into a selection of lustful moves that she planned to enact as soon as her husband came up.

Then she fell asleep.

LIKE HIS WIFE, Jim was excited as well. He was still thinking of the 'laying', as she loved to call it, that he would receive this night. Everything depended on the girls going to sleep, however. On a night like this and his wife like that, moaning was going to be the least of his troubles. If their lovemaking ever reached raucous levels, Faith would be at their door in no time. Jim didn't want their alone time to be marred by a curious little girl.

So he waited for the girls to be quiet. The evening news had already given way into evening programming when he heard his daughters' doors close, one after the other.

_Not long now_ , he thought to himself as he got up and took another beer from the fridge. Jim felt particularly energetic, given the prospect. One to two more beers was nothing.

Then he went back to the sofa. Then he promptly fell asleep.

### 3

SHE HAD FALLEN ASLEEP.

Sue couldn't almost believe it, after all her insinuations to Jim earlier, that she had fallen asleep. But her hands were lazy and her legs reluctantly responded when her husband came to collect. Sue did not object. Instead, she let his playful touch guide her into lustful wakefulness. He turned the lights off, then snuck under the covers and battered the inside of her thighs with light kisses and pecks while his hands massaged her at the outside of her panty's crotch. He loved to do this, build her up into a frenzy until she could take it no longer, she thought as she couldn't help but smile and moan a little at the sensations.

A hiss escaped her lips as his mouth moved higher. His other hand rubbed her right thigh, his lips alternating between the left and right leg. His right hand rubbed her through her panties, coaxing her juices out. He alternated between kisses and light nibbles, at random. She moved then, her left hand went under the covers while the other grabbed on the pillow that cushioned her head.

"Ooooh!" she moaned again in a low voice as his thumb brushed her clit through the fabric.

He moved her underwear to one side and Sue exhaled in anticipation. He did not dive in, however. Instead, he kissed around the sweet spot, sucking on the skin from time to time. He lightly brushed his lips across the layer of hair time and again, mercilessly seeming to go for her clit but missing altogether, deliberately toying with her that Susan began to raise her hips to meet his lips.

Then air was expelled from her lungs the moment his tongue struck the inner folds of her femininity. She expected him to toy with her clit as that got her going instantly. He didn't. He instead thrust his tongue into the silky flesh hidden by the folds and went on to lick her, with pressure, up and down-starting from her hole, ending just below her button, then back down again.

Sue did not expect it to feel so good. His slightly hardened tongue pushed firmly against the sensitive flesh of her mound and extracted all the wonderfully sinful feelings that now ran in all directions all over her body. She pushed her head back against the pillow, exposing her neck, as he lapped up the sticky juices that were now released in torrents. The sounds he made as his tongue brushed repeatedly on the entrance of her cave only served to heighten her yearning and she came violently, almost unable to contain her squeal. Her body writhed in waves of pleasure for a few seconds before settling down.

Once it did, she found that she wanted more.

Jim felt wonderful, like he was superhuman. He found it odd that his wife still had clothes on when he came up. She usually had disposed of these by this time. That did not stop him. climbed out of bed and pulled her open legs towards him. There she was, her legs held wide open. He pointed his hard cock in the direction of her wetness and began rubbing it against her labia. His cock became harder in no time.

Sue wanted to give him oral sex but he mounted her after rubbing the thickness of his cock along her slit until he gained enough thickness and girth. In the darkness, there was nothing else to do but feel. And feel she did. Sue brought her hands up to embrace him by the neck while she brought her legs up, locking them over the base of his spine.

Then he pushed.

She felt her throbbing flesh spread as he poked, the thick and bulbous head of his manliness slowly invading her insides. He was thicker, was very excited. His muscled member was hard as a rock and barreled its way slowly until it was buried to the hilt.

She exhaled as the tip of his dick touched the base of her cervix. It was one of the few times he had scraped the tip of his member on that spot and the sensation, a mix of pure pleasure and a little pain, drove her to the edge. Sue literally felt her juices gushing out.

When he pulled back, she wanted to moan but only managed to exhale audibly. The excitement in him was apparent in how ready his meat was-thick, tight, and hard. He did not, however, pound her with abandon. Instead, he pushed slowly inside and pulled back fast. The tease was too much for her.

In just a few moments since the penetration, she came again.

She was so absorbed she was hardly participating, just lying there, taking him all in, Jim thought. The entry was a little hard. She was tighter than usual. Although she was soaking wet, it did not provide enough coating for easy passage. But once his meat was in, he reveled in the silkiness inside, and the tighter grip was a great turn on. He was so enchanted with the tightness that he decided to feel it all, closing his eyes, though it was dark, and keeping his thrusts controlled.

He heard her breathing hard, like she was in a panic. That only served to push him to newer heights of pleasure. With each push, he was assaulted with intense sensations from all sides. He could feel his meat brushing against her clit and he knew this was making her crazier, and would surely bring another orgasm. He knew he could not last long even as he maintained his pace. He could already feel his cock throb, followed by a full feeling in the area below his navel. He could not stop it, no. All that he could do was give in to it. The more he continued his agonizing pace, the thicker his cock felt.

Susan, having been aroused so thoroughly and wonderfully, exploded a third time, the last most powerful that she continued to orgasm until his hard, powerful thrusts culminated in blasts of his hot, thick, gooey semen shooting through her, filling her up. It was so intense that Jim made a huge effort not to cry out. He settled into a rhythm of holding his breath and expelling it rapidly as each spurt coated the insides of her tight tunnel.

She lay flat on the bed still writhing in pleasure, even as he withdrew his cock, her body wracked with miniature shivers, the tips of her fingers tingling with the release. Sue watched his dark outline exit the room, and in the dark he seemed more muscular to her.

She smiled. _Mission accomplished_ , she thought. She re-positioned herself on the bed, not bothering to clean up even as she felt some of his juices ooze out of her. She was not even mindful that this used to irritate her and the usual practice was to get up and wash herself. Instead, she did what she had never done before, and clamped her legs on a pillow, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

INSIDE THE darkness of her room, little Faith poked her head out of the door and listened. She saw her father's head disappearing from view as he climbed down the stairs. After a few seconds, she shut the door behind her.

"I told you they they're still up," she said to the tall and dark outline behind her. "We can't go out yet."

Then she returned to bed and waited.

### 4

SUE CAME DOWN EARLY that morning after a quick shower feeling very refreshed. She was going to prepare breakfast. She felt slightly sore and her hips felt a little strained but a silly smile crossed her face while remembering the pounding she took the night before.

No one stirred in the house yet, although the sun was up. Susan was glad they moved into the house this time of the year. School was out and enrollment wasn't until the twenty-ninth of July which would be three weeks away. They all had time to cozy up and familiarize themselves with the house and the surroundings.

Because the house was new, the faint smell of paint and wood still hung in the air, even more so in the morning. She took a deep breath while closing her eyes. She took in the sounds of the birds nearby, no doubt perched on the trees that surrounded the house. She loved the sound. It kept the smile on her face until she spied Jim from the corner of her eye as soon as she reached the living room.

He was on the couch, asleep. Susan decided to go to her husband first and stood behind the backrest of the couch where her husband slept. He usually did this when he felt he had too much to drink the night before, and she remembered him sway a bit when he was leaving their room last night. She chuckled as she saw Jim's raised chin, the back of his head resting on the top of the backrest, and his mouth wide open.

"Mmm, good morning, love," she said as she bent forward and hugged her husband's neck, kissing it as he woke up.

"Uh, hi," he replied, still dazed. "What time is it?"

"It's still early," said Sue, pelting Jim's cheeks with kisses, "I enjoyed what you did last night _sooo_ much," she whispered.

Jim raised his eyebrows sleepily, a slow smile spreading on his face as he, too, remembered. "Well, if you enjoyed it that much and it's still early..." He let his statement hang, looking around to emphasize his point.

"That would be perfect," Susan replied, bending over further and reaching towards his pants, sneaking her hand inside it, and rubbing him from there, "But the kids are gonna be up soon."

"We can do it fast," he answered, throwing his hands over his head to embrace his wife's neck, "Hell, we can do it here!"

"Oh, stop it," she said as she removed her hand then slapping him on the chest, "We can have that later. Now go up there, take a shower, and breakfast should be ready by the time you get back down."

"Come on, Babe, we still have the house to ourselves," said Jim, reaching farther back trying to cop a feel.

"Go!" she squealed as she wriggled away from his grasp, "And don't you come back if you haven't showered yet."

Sue quickly headed for the kitchen, Jim's grumbling following her all the way. She knew how her husband was always horny. She quickly grabbed a frying pan and proceeded to get ingredients from the fridge. Checking on her husband, she saw him enthusiastically humping the armrest of the couch with a ridiculous expression painted on his face.

"James Lennox Miller!" she pretended to admonish him, "You are disgusting! Haul your butt upstairs and get clean. Now!"

Jim put on a sad expression and rubbed his closed fists against his eyes as he headed for the stairs. Susan shook her head, silently laughing at her husband's antics and proceeded to cook.

Jim headed straight for the bathroom, half awake, half asleep. It was still early indeed, seven in the morning. Normally, this would have been a reason for him to hurry up. Changes on the job however, with servicing and outfitting of new tech on the company's trucks still underway, he was left with a six-week break. It was supposed to be just two weeks but with the move, he had requested more time. The request was granted outright. It couldn't have come at a better time.

Jim stood under the shower for a while, just thinking.

The tiles, some of the few non-wood components of the house, were cold. He still felt sleepy. He held his penis and peed on tiled floor, a gesture that would have earned the wrath of Sue, had she seen it. But she wasn't there, was he?

Then he noticed something.

As his hand grabbed his limp member, he felt a light soreness on the skin. He looked down. He saw a few streaks of reddish-brown color on the sides and base of his manhood. He wondered just how intense their lovemaking was as he turned the shower on. Smiling and humming out a tune, he continued to shower as he thought that a perfect day had begun.

### 5

MORE THAN HALF AN HOUR had passed but no one had come down yet. Sue was almost finished preparing breakfast. Scrambled eggs, toasted bread, and veggie bacon were on the menu. An assortment of spreads was already on the table. Once the cooking was done, Sue went over to the coffee maker to brew fresh coffee for her and Jim.

Sue sat down on one of the chairs by the dining table facing the window while she waited. Her mind began to wander as she looked at the trees, their leaves peacefully obeying the command of the breeze that swept from the river behind their house. The early sun streaked through the window opposite her, its rays falling on the table, lending a yellowish tint to the dark brown wooden surface.

She felt someone pass behind her, the small shadow falling on the edge of the table opposite her.

"Good morning, honey. Where are you going?"

The coffee maker sounded off. Sue got up, approached it and turned it off.

"I'm just going to check on the flowers, Mom," came the reply, followed by the opening and shutting of the back door.

Since they moved in, Faith had shown interest in the ornamental plants that they kept in pots and flower boxes outside the house. That was a relief to her. At least Faith had something that would keep her busy. Jenna would prove to be challenging, she was sure of it. Cable had not yet been installed and even worse, there wasn't an Internet provider that was willing to come out to this side of town. The only internet they got was from their cellphones and the coverage was shitty at best. They were still working on getting a hard line for a phone. The provider hinted that if they wanted to, they'd have to pay for the additional length of telephone line that would lead to their house from the nearest pole. Right now, that would cause a serious dent to the remaining savings that they got so they were hoping they would find another option soon.

She turned around, bringing with her two mugs of coffee and setting them on the table. "Jim, come down now! Breakfast is waiting," she called out. The dining table was opposite the stairs and she knew that, as long as the door to their room was the least bit open, Jim would hear her.

A flock of birds outside passed, momentarily casting their shadows against the table and the floor. A sickening feeling in her stomach almost made her lurch as she remembered.

The shadow her daughter had casted before she went out was against the light!

Sue raced towards the back door. She looked at the flower boxes -- Faith was not there. She ran to the sides, one after the other and did not see her daughter. Then her eyes fell on the wooden walkway to the river.

She ran.

"Faith! Baby!" she shouted as she neared the walkway.

Once there, her panic worsened. There no sign of her daughter and the water was undisturbed. She walked in circles and paced the walkway thinking where her daughter might have gone. The woods? No? Where?

She felt she needed to keep moving. Susan raced back to the house, entered the back door, and screamed for her husband. "Jim! JIIIIMM!" She cleared the kitchen and she immediately went for the stairs, intending to storm their room to get her husband.

She froze halfway up. A volatile mix of emotions threatened to overwhelm her as she met Jim, who was carrying a sleepy looking Faith in his arms. Their puzzled expressions almost made her laugh except she was still gripped by her terror. Oh God. She couldn't believe she had thought that Her youngest child might have drowned!

"Honey, are you alright?" asked Jim, his concern and bewilderment showing in his tone.

Susan did not answer, could not answer. She was immensely relieved that Faith was safe. But she was still paralyzed as she heard Faith's little voice in her head.

"I'm just going to check on the flowers, Mom!"

Who was it then? Whose shadow passed the edge of the table and made noise in the kitchen before going out?

Had she gone crazy?

### 6

"IT'S NOTHING. It's silly, really," said Sue as she tried to calm her husband who was genuinely spooked by her panic earlier.

The couple and their little girl sat across each from other at the dining table with both pair of their eyes on Susan. She wanted to pacify her husband's curiosity but how could she explain what had happened. Most of all, she did not want to scare her daughter.

Sue thought that she might have just imagined it all, but the back door was already open when she ran out and she did not do it. Who did?

"You did lock the doors yourself last night, right?" she asked her husband.

"Yeah. I mean, you were still wiping the plates when I locked the backdoor, remember?"

"I know, Hon. Like I said, it just silly," she said, smiling at Faith.

The look on her husband's face told her he did not buy it, but he nodded. She knew he knew that she wasn't sure but was not willing to press it just yet with their daughter there.

"Alright then, let's eat!" Jim announced, focusing his attention on the food that his wife prepared for them, "Here's for you, sweetie. Scrambled eggs, toast, your favorite spreads and ugh, what's that?"

Susan's attention was effectively torn away from her worries at Jim's reaction to something. She saw what he was referring to and managed a smile.

"Faith, baby," he said to his daughter. "What is this?"

"I don't know, Daddy," replied the little girl, her focus also diverted. "Mommy? What is that?"

"Yeah, Mommy, what is that? Fried cartons?" asked Jim before she could answer.

"Oh, shut up, that's healthy food," she said, glaring at her husband. "This is good for you, honey," this time addressing the little girl.

"Ewww, is this some kind of weird alien food from Mars?" continued Jim.

The little girl was amused by her father's antics and went along with him.

"Don't listen to your father. That's what happens when you eat too much unhealthy food," Susan said, placing three crisp veggie bacons on her daughter's plate. "This is veggie bacon. It's bacon made of vegetables!"

The faked enthusiasm in her voice did not connect with the tough crowd. Daughter and father exchanged glances and laughed, the little girl throwing her head back in delight.

"But pigs are not vegetables, Mommy," said Jim, mimicking his daughter's voice.

The little girl squealed in glee. Sue did not respond. Instead, to prove her point, she took a slice of it and bit down, exaggerating her facial expressions to emphasize the crunch.

"It's not bacon, but it looks like bacon. It's as crispy as bacon. Hmm, what shall we call it?" asked Jim, pretending to muse over it, "Oh, I know, its Facon! The fake bacon!"

"Facon!" echoed the little girl, laughing.

Susan shook her head. Usually, she would be irritated at this point. She didn't tolerate silly behavior in the table; but not this day. This day, Jim came to her rescue. The concern dropped from her daughter's face and was replaced with a glowing happiness over something as simple as Facon. The trio proceeded to eat their breakfast and was happily doing so until the chilling screams from upstairs erupted.

It was Jenna.

### 7

JIM WAS FIRST to go. He sped from the dining table to the stairs and up like a piston. Susan followed close behind, leaving Faith plastered on her seat.

Something caught Jim's eyes as he passed Faith's room. He had gone a few steps forward but whatever he saw in the periphery of his vision was enough to make him turn back. Sue was just turning from the stairs when he reached Faith's door. As soon as he stepped in, the hairs on his hands and nape stood up.

He walked in measured steps, meticulously scanning the entire room for anything that could justify his actions.

There was nothing. The windows were shut and locked, the entire room was clean. _Nothing_ was amiss.

But a second before, he thought he saw the whole room in shambles, with the bed upside down, and every single thing either broken or scattered.

He felt stupid at being scared because he was imagining things. He had goose bumps all over his body. He rubbed his forearms as he exited his daughter's room. Sue gave him a quizzical look.

"What is it?" she asked.

Jim just shrugged his shoulders and hurriedly went to Jenna's room. Sue and Faith, who had also followed, were behind him.

"Jenna?" he called as he opened the door.

No answer. The room was quiet. His eyes immediately found the bed. In it was Jenna, under the covers, shaking. He hastily went towards Jenna's bed, his hand reaching out to touch her face. "Jen-"

No sooner had his hand touched his daughter's face that Jenna bolted upright and pushed her back against the wall, a look of deep fear etched in her eyes. She stared at the far side of the room, then to her father, then to another side as if she was wary of something... something that brought her such fear.

"Baby, what's wrong?" asked Jim, trying to divert her daughter's attention. "It's Dad, baby. What's wrong?"

"Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy." Jenna kept repeating, her eyes still darting from one place to another.

"Honey, it's me," Jim repeated, reaching out to hold her daughter.

"MOMMY!" Jenna screamed, eyes closed, as her father's hand touched her skin, making Jim pull back once more.

"I'm here, baby, I'm here. Mommy's here," said Sue in a reassuring manner, zeroing in on her daughter.

"MOMMY!" Jenna screamed repeatedly.

"I'm here, baby," said Sue, grabbing her daughter by the shoulders and pulling Jenna into her arms.

Jenna fought, trying to break away from her mother's embrace, still calling out to her mother. Sue kept reassuring her daughter over and over. She was already scared too much, too. What was happening now?

She choked. As soon as she stopped talking to her, Jenna raised her head and gazed at her mother's eyes.

"Mommy?" Jenna asked, her eyes squinting, as if she did not believe what she was seeing.

"Yes, it's me, dear. Mommy's here," Sue replied, touching both sides of Jenna's face.

Jenna took a look at the surroundings as if she was seeing it for the first time, then looked at Jim, gazed back to Sue, and fainted. Jim had soon noticed that the bed was wet \-- not damp, but wet. The mattress where Jenna was specially lying was soaked. Even the pillow was wet. It was as if she had perspired the entire night or someone dumped a pail of water on the bed because there was no smell of urine. Jenna hadn't wet her bed. But where did the water came from? Jenna was perspiring but it was impossible this was all sweat.

Sue also discovered that her daughter was very hot, caused by a fever that was raging. Fearing the signs of convulsion, Sue ran down to get a basin. She filled it with water, grabbed some face towels, and raced back up.

Jenna was delirious, murmuring unintelligible words in her delirium. She was shaking uncontrollably. Every time she exhaled, her body shook even stronger. Husband and wife speedily tried to give their daughter a cold sponge bath, Jim on the face and hands, Sue on the body and feet until finally, the fever went down. Then they changed the pillows and the blankets on the bed and brought the wet ones down.

If even Jenna knew what was going on around her, she gave no indication.

### 8

WITH SUSAN TENDING to the sick child, Jim was left to tend to other matters in the house and to keep an eye on Faith. He was tuned to what's happening on the upper storey of the house, though, just in case Jenna's fever went up again and they had to bring Jenna to the hospital.

Jim was worried the little child would be affected by the events that transpired in the morning. Thankfully, after assurances and diversion, Faith seemed to have shrugged it all off pretty well. The little girl was even able to finish her breakfast.

Jim prepared lunch, making do with what little cooking prowess to come up with a decent meal. Faith ate with gusto while she and her dad watched some cartoons. Sue never allowed eating while watching TV. Snacks were okay, but full meals were not. But since mommy was busy, the little girl enjoyed the small lapse in routine with her father.

He brought Sue's share up when his wife did not come down. He had already brought Jenna's soup because the older girl had no appetite for solid food. Afterwards, he sat with Faith for more silly cartoons. It was close to three in the afternoon when he went to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients for dinner while keeping his daughter within his view. Faith didn't mind. She was absorbed with television and her Barbie dolls, her voice as she made up dialogues for both dolls mingling with the sound of music and cartoon characters on the TV. Besides, her father could see her where he worked because the kitchen had a view of the living room and the dining area. Everything was in order.

Jim was able to finish prepping the meat he wanted to deep fry later. As he started preparing spices for another dish, he looked up to see what Faith was up to. The little girl had been silent for the last few minutes. Seeing his daughter still absorbed with the program, Jim continued to slice the shallots into fine squares.

Then Jim suddenly stopped.

It took him a split second to realize what made him stop and once he did, Jim looked in his daughter's direction. She was still intently watching, the sound from the TV was still droning on.

It was the images that made him look again.

It was porn. Hardcore, disgusting, porn. Jim blinked several times just to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Because it was just impossible! They had no cable, the DVD player was not hooked up, and they only got broadcast channels!

But there it was, despite the occasional white noise, gory porn was showing on Live TV! It depicted a couple fucking with abandon, like crazed demons undulating while blood poured on them in abundance!

"Faith!" he called out as he hurriedly approached. "Honey, stop watching!"

He looked at his daughter who turned to face him as he approached, a questioning look painted on her innocent face.

"Dad, I want to watch," pleaded the little girl.

"Honey, it's not appro-" Jim stopped mid-sentence. He was looking at the TV screen again.

And there was no porn.

There were no depictions of sexual acts or blood or anything remotely inappropriate. It was the same cartoons she had been watching a while back.

Jim felt stupid. It was the second time that day he had acted on something he thought he saw and found it was not what he thought it was.

"Alright, baby... but we'll go outside to take care of the flowers later, okay?"

"Yes, Daddy," agreed the little girl, grateful that she had been allowed to continue watching.

Jim dwelt on the curious events. He was a truck driver. He sometimes drove half-asleep cross-country and those few events were the scariest events of his life as he came up with horrors of what could have happened if he had fallen asleep on the road. But he wasn't even sleepy today. He could not accept that he would, on the same day, commit the mistake of seeing things that weren't there, not in that level of detail.

Unable to find an explanation but very bothered, Jim managed to finish his tasks before cartoons were replaced by a late afternoon sitcom.

Father and daughter then went outside to tend to the plants.

### 9

JIM WATERED THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS on the pots and flower boxes to the left side of the house first with the child tagging along. Faith enjoyed pulling wilted leaves off the otherwise healthy plants. Jim was amused with how his daughter made use of the said leaves, sticking the dried stems into the forehead of her favorite rag doll to make a 'golden crown'.

"So what will you call Jessica when her crown is complete?" he asked, keeping with the child's enthusiasm.

"Princess Jessica, of course!" exclaimed Faith, raising the doll in the air and spinning several times.

"Yeah? Where is her castle?"

"She lives in a tree."

"A tree? That's not a castle."

"No, no," the girl corrected. "The trees are their doors. That's how they get in."

"They?"

"Princess Jessica's people. Her servants," the girl explained.

"Oh!" Jim responded, pretending to be surprised. "What's it like, you know, inside the trees?"

"It's beautiful! They have these very wide stone roads that are paved with many gems, and the gems have different colors and they shine in the sun and it's very smooth. And then there are rivers everywhere that goes under their bridges that are also made of gems and stones and the rivers have beautiful boats with many colors that bring you anywhere you like!" Faith described with almost no pause to even breathe.

Jim laughed. "That sounds like a wonderful place! But you can't live there if they only have bridges and boats and rivers."

"They have big houses, too! Like really big. But they only have one floor, not like our house."

"Why is that?"

"Because only Princess Jessica's castle can have many floors. The people there can build houses as big as they like, but it can only be one floor."

"That sucks," Jim said. "If I go to live there, I want to have a house that's five stories!"

"Princess Jessica will not let you live there. She said it's only for good children, children that follow what she says."

"But I'm good, right?"

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? I'm your dad! I'll always be good."

"But you're not a child," the girl said in a way that she thought this was plain out obvious. And they both laughed.

Jim was amused with his daughter's story. He took pride in her ability to stitch things together and stand her ground. "Too bad," he said after a pause. "How do you know these things?"

"Princess Jessica is my friend, you know."

"Oh, I know that. What I mean is, you have not been there. She only told you. How do you know it's true?"

"Because!" exclaimed the little girl. "Princess Jessica showed me!"

### 10

SUE SAT BY HER DAUGHTER'S BED all day, tending to her every need. She read a book to pass the time, something about a billionaire and his slave. Each time Jenna stirred, each time she moaned, Sue was immediately by the bed. She was worried. Her fever ran high all day and the only way she kept it in check was by applying cold face towels on her forehead and giving her a sponge bath whenever Jenna's temperature spiked.

Her daughter had neither eaten nor drank anything since morning, not even when she asked her to take an analgesic. After noon, Jenna's fever had gone down, and Susan was finally left alone to read her book on the chair by her daughter's bed. Susan should have felt at ease by that time, but she did not.

She was reading a romance novel but from time to time, Sue felt afraid for no reason. She would pace the floor to try and calm herself down, for she was certain there was something to be afraid of even though try as she might, she could not pinpoint what it was.

It was just a feeling, a strong feeling of something terrible-a strong feeling that there was someone with them in the room. Then the feeling would go away and she'd dismiss it as just her imagination... until it came again.

Jim asked Faith to go ahead and remove the withered stems and leaves on the other side of the house while he went ahead and took care of the plants in the back. Faith was happy to do so. She continued playing pretend as she harvested the dead leaves from the flower boxes-pretending that she was with her friend, Princess Jessica. Pretending that there was a kingdom inside the trees.

Jim was bothered with what his daughter had said when he asked how she knew about those things. Something in him wanted to chalk it up to childhood imagination and make-believe friends. Jim actually even leaned towards that explanation. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to believe it.

Although he dismissed the likelihood, although he knew that it was close to impossible, a thought did plant itself in his mind. A thought that made him uncomfortable-there was more to the Princess Jessica business than he cared to believe. For his daughter to talk about fantastical things was one thing, to hear her say that someone, or something, showed her this incredible world, was another thing entirely.

An involuntary shiver passed his spine.

"There was no one there," Jim overheard Faith talking to herself, apparently still playing. He smiled. With all the things that had happened so far, he was pleased to find that his youngest daughter was not that affected by the events. Shaking his head, he continued to spray the plants.

"Yeah, you told me. But how did you know she would be sick?"

That got Jim's attention. Usually when his daughter played, she voiced both sides of the conversation. This time, she was just voicing one. Even more curious, it sounded like she was voicing her side, like she was talking to someone.

Jim decided to listen in.

It was harder than he had expected. Faith was still talking but she talked in both low and high tones, which only made him strain some more. The apparent conversation that Faith was involved in talked about a sickness, something about events in the night, and something that needs to be kept. Jim's curiosity was piqued. He decided to sneak a peek so as not to disturb his daughter's attention. But Susan suddenly appeared from the back door.

"Jim? Honey what are you doing?"

"Nothing. I... I was just removing some webs," he lied.

"You need to finish up. Jenna might wake up hungry. Prepare something light, maybe soup again?" she said.

"Sure, Babe. Be done in a minute," he said, then adding. "Babe, could you, uhh, take Faith with you?"

"I'm tending to Jenna. At least she's enjoying your company."

"Just take her with you, comb her hair or something," he insisted.

Susan stared at her husband. He had gotten her attention. "Why?"

"Because..." he said, fumbling for a believable answer that would not scare her again. "I need to smoke," he added in a low voice.

Susan sighed and pointed at her husband. "Not anywhere near the house, you get me?"

"Sure."

"Faith? Where are you? Come with Mommy. We're going to play princess!"

Jim mouthed the words 'Thank You' to his wife as Faith came and followed her mother inside the house.

Finally. Alone time. Jim was relieved. He didn't lie about the smoking. His mind wasn't having luck finding an explanation to the events of that day. He did need to smoke. He turned off the water in the hose and tossed it to the ground and he walked towards the river.

### 11

IT WAS JUST eight in the evening that night but the house was already silent. After Faith fell asleep on the couch, Jim took her to her room. He decided to retire early as well. He had offered to look after Jenna who still had a bit of her fever and was weak, but Susan insisted on staying with her for the evening. He thought that if he had taken a good rest, Sue would be persuaded to retire to their bed while he tended to Jenna.

Jenna had woken up weak and hungry at close to six earlier in the evening. She was only able to eat a quarter of a bowl of chicken noodle soup but when she was done, she seemed visibly well. Jenna fell asleep again but for the first time the entire day, she didn't have the chills anymore.

Susan was once again sitting on the chair by the bed, only this time, she was not reading anymore. The last few minutes went on without incident-no whines, no stirring, and no cries. As she stared into space, her thoughts drifted to the story they previously read.

Her imagination took over and she found herself a spectator to the lives of the characters in the book she had just put down. In that dreamy half-state, she watched avidly as if she were watching a movie as the two leads went on dates, had conversations, took vacations, and made love.

The man, this billionaire in the book, was exactly as she imagined-tall, with an air of authority, debonair, and a touch of a rebel... not to mention a face you could not say no to. The woman on the other hand looked like a more glamorous version of herself.

Everything was fine until it shifted to a scene that was not in the book. She found it alarming but curiosity won and she wanted to see where the story would take her. They were in a kitchen, the woman was at the counter, cutting away at some vegetables. The man just stood casually by, watching her prepare the ingredients. While everything seemed normal, what struck Sue as odd was the fact that they weren't talking. As each moment passed, the scene seemed to change into something else.

They weren't in the kitchen anymore, but in her daughter's bedroom.

But the woman was still chopping! Immediately Sue's eyes flew to the direction of the knife that the woman used to cut something. To her absolute terror, instead of the kitchen counter, the woman was chopping something on her daughter's bed. Instead of vegetables, she found her daughter's body underneath the knife's assault!

The woman sliced Jenna's abdomen repeatedly, blood was splattering and spurting all over the bed, the walls, and the woman with each chop. Jenna screamed but blood bubbled up her throat and blood gushed out of her mouth. Her hand was reaching out to her in a desperate plea for help.

Susan started towards her daughter's body but couldn't move! She screamed her lungs out, but no sound came out of her throat!

Her terror was instant and overwhelming. Her daughter's body rocked with every assault. The woman's face, which was really Sue's face, became darker and darker until Sue could not make out any detail anymore. She could only see her red, shining eyes. They glowed like neon lights were underneath the surface that blood-red fine veins stood out, and the faint whiteness of the woman's crooked teeth showed when _it_ smiled.

She screamed her daughter's name over and over in her head as tears race down her cheeks. She could see Jenna's eyes rolling over, slowly, the life draining out of her every minute. Her innards were now messily strewn about the bed, dark blood streamed from her mouth, soaked the sheets, flowed to the carpet on the floor. An acrid stench of something rotten filled the air. If she could have coughed she would have done so. But she couldn't! No matter how hard she tried to will herself to save her daughter's life or fight _it_ off of her, she couldn't!

When she saw Jenna's hand finally go limp, she felt a terrible despair. She was trapped within her own mind. Her anger, terror, angst, helplessness, and grief were all mixed together, torturing her within the confines of her own nightmare.

She wished she would just die.

The man who had been watching the whole dismemberment and whom she had forgotten until then slowly turned his head in Sue's direction. His face was blank. There were no eyes, nostrils or mouth. It was just a shade clothed in an expensive suit. As the shade turned, it fuzzed in and out of her vision like an old movie on broadcast television.

The entire room smelled horrible. While the shadow in the suit slowly approached her as if making her die with terrible anticipation, the woman with the dark face pulled on her daughter's entrails and began scattering fecal matter all over the room.

She picked up her daughter's head and sliced it by the neck.

Susan heard the crackling of bones and the final snap as Jenna's head came off of her body.

The intensity of it all was enough to send Sue into a state of crazed panic. She watched in horror as the two malevolent creatures made their way towards her. The shade in the suit was leaning forward, its empty face leading; while the woman leered at her as she held Jenna's bloody head. Sweat poured down Sue's forehead, mixing with her tears as it reached her cheeks and chin. The lights began to flicker violently as the two malevolent beings came closer and closer.

Susan screamed again, but only managed to open her mouth and expel air from her lungs.

Then the two beings stopped. The shadow zoomed in with its face just inches away from Sue's -- and she could see no detail whatsoever. It was just a shadow shaped like a human head. It tilted its head from side to side in an erratic manner, as if there was a broken cog in the gears that ran inside it. Then it suddenly pulled away.

If Susan could look away she would have done so because as soon as the shadow pulled its opaque head away, the maniacal woman shoved the decapitated head of her daughter in front of her face. She was horrified with the blank expression there, lips pulled down by the sides, eyes half-closed, and blood still pouring in small streaks in the corners of the mouth.

Susan's soul almost left her body when she heard the severed head screamed a haunting scream that seemed to echo endlessly...

"AVENGE ME!"

Then Susan roused from her nightmare and sprung into complete wakefulness, her heart pumping furiously, catching her breath as if she hadn't been breathing for a very long time. She ended up with coughing fits interspersed with sobs, but she was already moving towards her daughter's bed, patting her, checking her for wounds as she trembled and tried very hard not to scream her sobs. She almost laughed when she felt the heat of her daughter's skin.

Then Jenna woke up. "Mommy? I'm cold," she complained, snuggling close to her mother.

Sue closed her eyes, stifled a great sob, and just hugged her daughter as tightly as she could until Jenna went back to sleep.

### 12

THE DIGITAL CLOCK showed the time in neon pink-eleven-thirteen. It was almost midnight. Susan sat on the bed while Jenna slept, her daughter's arm draped on her thighs as her head rested on a plump pillow. Susan's back rested against the headboard and, though her body needed to sleep, she could not.

Susan still shivered when she remembered her nightmare. The macabre depiction of her daughter's slaughter was deeply etched in her mind, still in full, vivid colors. She stared blankly outside the window opposite her daughter's bed. There was a slight drizzle outside, accented by distant lightning and thunder. The temporary shadows and figures that were formed with each flash only reminded her of the horror.

So Susan decided to approach the incident from a logical perspective. She pored over the possible explanations. Like a desperate gambler, she strived to find meaning to each and every horrific detail. While she found some meanings and interpretations for a few of the things she had witnessed, she couldn't, for the life of her, try to get a meaning from the severing of the head. Besides that, every time she saw it in her head her throat would choke with tears. Stroking her daughter's hair, she accepted that there was nothing she could think of that connected her nightmare to their current situation. Yes, they just moved to another place, but she felt the nightmare too much for such a translation.

Then she realized that the room had gotten cold. She looked to her left, to where the other window was close to the bed. The slight drizzle was picking up. With each flash of lightning, she could see the drizzle moving at a fast pace, the branches of the trees straining to one side.

The lightning was becoming more frequent, the drizzle starting to become rain. With every flash she saw the trees outside, their branches straining against the might of the wind that was picking up. She also noticed a creeping blurriness in the periphery of her vision to the left.

She ignored it. When it rained, it was not uncommon for glass to fog up, especially if it had been a humid day.

A strong streak of lightning made Susan finally look out the window to her left. She thought she saw something again, but this time, it was farther out and she took a second to adjust. When she saw, she froze in absolute terror.

It was the image of her dismembered, headless daughter! Her reflexes made her look away, but now her eyes were drawn to the image of the maniacal woman on the window opposite the foot of the bed.

The nightmare was back. She couldn't believe it. Had she fallen asleep without knowing it? Then the lights inside the room started flickering until they went out for seconds at a time.

Terrified again, she looked away from the windows as she willed the horrible images away. The temporary darkness seemingly preferable to the hideous faces hanging outside the windows. The lightning did not make that easy. The shadow in a suit appeared from the darker, farther corner of the room and began to approach in the awkward way she had seen in her earlier nightmare. He looked so menacing that Susan shook with terror, but when it reached one of its hands for her daughter, she dove atop Jenna and shielded her from him.

Her body fell on emptiness except on a head-her daughter's decapitated head! It wailed a chilling wail upon contact, deafening as well as hair-raising. Unable to run away and surrounded by bone-chilling monstrosities, Susan did the next thing her reflexes made her do.

She screamed.

But again, there was no sound.

She was truly back to the nightmare and something snapped when she realized she was going through the same horror again...

### 13

JIM WAS NOT sure if he was dreaming.

He was in the bedroom. The dimness of their room increased the sensitivity of his ears. For many moments, it was silent. He lay still, listening.

Nothing.

Jim decided to go back to sleep after a while. He even turned over to one side. But when he closed his eyes again, the sound magnified around him. He began to hear a consistent panting and now that he was hearing this detail, the stronger it got until it felt like the sound was from inside the room. But he was alone. He listened some more to make sure he wasn't just imagining things. But the sound would not go away. The panting would not stop.

Jim abruptly got out of bed and faced the side where his back was to. The sound was still audible, but there was nothing-no presence there.

He listened hard and approached the direction where he thought the sound came from. Ahh, it came from outside the room. The door was open and light and shadows filtered in. Something passed by, momentarily cutting off the light that streaked through the door.

Jim paused, his senses on alert. Whatever passed was large enough to blot out the light for a second, and yet it made no sound. The panting sound was still there, though. So Jim tiptoed towards the door to go out into the corridor, looking from side to side as he did so.

He guessed where the panting was coming from once he was sure there was no one in the corridor, and he headed for Jenna's room. The sound got stronger as he approached. Jim went in, ready for whatever emergency there might be.

What he saw was puzzling to him.

Susan was on the bed, cringing, breathing heavily and audibly. He could see she was shaking, her hands were positioned as if she was shielding herself. His daughter, Jenna, was on the floor, eyes wide, looking at the far corner of the room. His eyes followed her stare.

Nothing.

"Babe, what's going on? What's wrong?" he asked in succession as he picked his daughter up from the floor.

Jenna fought him the moment he touched her, as if whatever she was looking at was coming for her. It was happening again, whatever it was that happened that morning and brought his daughter her fever. Jim whispered assurances to his daughter, cradling her and pulling her close so he wouldn't drop her. He laid her down on the bed next to Susan, then he tended his wife.

"Honey? What is it?" he asked again. He was very worried now. Susan didn't answer. She just lay there, shaking. Jim tried to pry her hands away to reveal her face but Sue resisted with all her strength, as if the light was enough to do her harm. Jim had noticed that Jenna was burning up again and knowing how protective Sue was with her daughters, Jim used that instead. "Sue, Jenna's very hot again. She needs you. Please, what is wrong?"

But Sue still would not wake up from her catatonic dazed state. Jim did not give up, he had no choice. Leaving them here like his was not an option, and after felt like half an hour of coaxing, Susan finally showed signs of listening to him. She reluctantly removed her hands from her face.

The moment she saw Jim, she looked so relieved and she hugged him over Jenna. Then Jenna moaned, and Sue immediately bent her head to kiss her daughter profusely, whispering words of love.

Whatever it was that she or Jenna was afraid of, he didn't ask just yet. Instead, he made sure both were comfortable in the bed because Sue just wouldn't let go of her daughter. He was too afraid to ask, and Sue was clearly in no state to talk. He decided to ask his wife in the morning and let her rest on the side of the bed close to the window while he tended to Jenna.

Sue fell asleep after making him promise he would not leave and slept without steering until two in the morning, when she had to get up to use the bathroom. This time, she was persuaded to sleep in their bed.

"I will look after Jenna, okay? You need a complete rest. You look exhausted, Baby. You can't get sick."

"Maybe it's just that... we've done so much the past several weeks and I just must be very tired," she mumbled. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. "I'll sleep on our own bed, in our room. Maybe I just need to sleep in our own old bed."

When he peeked in on her later, he found her soundly asleep in their bed. And he was relieved.

Jim looked after Jenna the entire night. He could not sleep. His mind was filled with the strange happenings of the day. There was no explanation for them and he did not believe his family was going crazy.

Maybe it was just the move and the new house and the environment. They just had their house blessed, for goodness sake! These would all pass. He just had to believe they would get through this.

He could not believe the house and the land was haunted.

### 14

DAWN WAS AT its end and the sky had finally started to light up after what seemed to be a very long night.

Outside, the outline of the treetops could be discerned already and the lights surrounding the house began to lose power. A thin mist covered the entire area. Being near the river, humidity was more likely to stay longer here than in the urban areas. The mistiness of the morning was just one of the beautiful things about the place that had beckoned to the couple when they first visited the place.

Jim woke up after a short nap. He was seated on the chair that Susan had vacated. The only difference was that he was now facing the side of the bed and his legs were propped up on it. After Sue woke up and headed for their room, Jim decided to pass the time. He tried to read the book that Susan was reading. He fell asleep doing that.

Looking around, he found that Jenna woke up earlier than he did. She was staring at him, big eyes aimed at him.

"Good morning, Baby," he said in an upbeat pace. "How are you feeling?"

Jenna didn't answer. She just kept staring at him.

"I bet you're hungry already, aren't you?"

Again, no answer.

"Would you like something to eat? Maybe something like the soup daddy made yesterday?" he asked, curious by the continued silence.

Jenna still did not answer, her eyes transfixed on her dad. This time however, she gestured as if she was nodding. Jim took it as a yes.

"Tell you what, why don't you give me a few minutes? I'll go down and fix up something delicious for you," he finished, standing up and winking at his daughter.

He headed out, making a beeline for the stairs. In his head, he was already thinking what tasty meal he would make that would take less time. Something that Jenna would like. He heard his wife's voice call him when he was halfway down the stairs.

"Honey, come down. Breakfast is ready."

He slowed down. At least there was something ready on the table. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he heard a door upstairs open. Then came the sound of feet hurrying towards the stairs.

And then, there was Susan's voice... from upstairs.

"Don't go there! Don't go there! I heard it, too!"

It was Susan, still clad in the same clothes she was wearing the previous night, who was going down the stairs as fast as her feet cold carry her.

The hairs on his entire body stood up.

If his wife was the one coming down the stairs, who was in the kitchen?

If his wife was in the kitchen, who was coming down the stairs?

He started to get really scared. It grew every second. Sue, or whatever it was, was now slowly descending the stairs with a terrified look in her eyes.

"Honey? Come down," the voice from the kitchen called again.

Keeping his eyes on the woman descending the stairs, he distanced himself, rounding the end of the banister and hugging the wall. Then his eyes darted from the stairs to the kitchen, to the living room, and back. There was no one in the kitchen, the dining area, or the living room.

"You heard that? Tell me you heard that," he asked his wife, sounding like he was begging. Like he wanted her to confirm he wasn't just dreaming this.

"Yes," she answered in a low voice, her demeanor very cautious, but it wasn't him her eyes were questioning. It was like she was trying to find out if she was being crazy or not. Or...

If she was inside a nightmare again.

Their eyes met. Noone spoke, too scared for both their sanities to say anything. But once she caught up with him, they carefully threaded towards the kitchen. The voice could have only come from there.

Then they stood frozen as they saw all of their knives standing end to end, one on top of the other, spinning in opposite directions on every level! They showed no signs of stopping. As they watched, Jim thought they had to keep moving. So he forced himself to step backward, Sue stepped back with him as she was behind him. At three paces, the knives suddenly collapsed \-- they all landed with the pointed end down, leaving all the knives upright on the stone counter.

It was so scary. What was more, when they finally were able to step closer enough, they discovered that the entire surface of the counter was covered in palm prints.

It was Jim who noticed the dirty-looking prints first before Susan, who gasped when she saw them, too.

The prints were of two sets. One pair was big, the other pair smaller. While the smaller prints were normal like that of a child, the larger set of prints was oversized, with palms the same size as an adult's but the fingers were very long -- almost an entire foot! At the end of each finger was a mark that looked like sharply pointed ends. Susan was shaking when she grabbed her husband's shirt from the back. But Jim just shook his head and touched the prints on the counter top. It was dirt, like mud but finer, like wet sand. It was still damp.

Susan gasped behind him so Jim looked at her right away. She was looking at the floor. His gaze followed hers. There were prints on the floor, too, but there was only one pair-that of a small child's.

They followed the footprints and it lead in a circle inches from each other, as if the owner of the prints was spinning. The trail of footprints started from the back door, focused on the kitchen, and just ended there. There were no footprints leading back to the backdoor, or to anywhere else. As if the owner of the larger hand prints in the counter who had no footprints had carried the child to wherever they were to go.

Both of them looked up as they heard soft footsteps heading down the stairs from above. Jim bent forward so he could see who was coming down. It was Faith, rubbing her eyes with one hand and holding her favorite rag doll with the other. Jim and Sue watched their daughter descend slowly. Once down, Faith looked up and, seeing them both there, spoke.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," the little girl said.

Jim did not reply. Susan was on the verge of tears.

It was because Faith's hands and feet were covered in dirt.

### 15

JIM WAS LEFT in the kitchen as Susan took Faith back upstairs to give her a bath. He found that the backdoor was not locked and was unsure whether he did so the night before or not. He wasn't sure of anything anymore, but he took pictures of the prints with his cellphone before cleaning up. Then he started to fix breakfast.

He brought the food up to Jenna's room and they had breakfast there. Jenna was still feeling disoriented. She mostly just stared at them, eating her food as if on autopilot.

The sun came up blazing and, at eight in the morning, the house had become considerably warm. And hour later, they had to open the windows and let the breeze in. It was hot. While Faith was left to play in her sister's room, Jim and Susan went down to do some chores. Sue took her husband aside.

"Jim, I'm afraid. It's creeping me out. I mean, you saw it! The knives, spinning on top of each other, the dirty handprints, the footprints, God, Jim! You even heard that voice!"

Jim saw the fear in his wife's expression. He was afraid, too, but if he let it show, he would contribute to her panic. The children, Faith at least, seemed to be unaffected.

"Listen, it's nothing. We just need to be more careful, make sure the doors are locked."

"Jesus, Jim! You're not suggesting that people were in our house, are you? That voice... that voice... it called out to you!"

He shrugged.

"What about your daughter? You saw her, she was dirty. And the small prints in the kitchen, those were her prints!"

"Honey, we don't know that," he answered, hoping he was right.

"What? Are you serious?"

"Look, all the prints lead to the kitchen. There's not a speck of dirt leading to the stairs or to her room."

"And there are none leading out of the house either. How'd you explain that?"

Susan was obviously affected by it all. Jim knew he needed to comfort her.

"I don't know, Babe, but we'll be alright," he said, holding her to his chest. "In the meantime, let's do what we can. Right now that means pulling ourselves together and finding answers." He still could not admit that the house was haunted. It could be people, or a magnetic field somewhere in the vicinity. There must be a logical explanation to everything that was happening.

Susan did not answer, but the stark terror that was mutely playing in her eyes had him wanting to crawl behind a rock and hide there.

"I'm gonna head over to the garage and see if we still have some of those locks, okay?"

"I need to tell you something," she said, raising her head up, and gazed into his eyes. "Yesterday, when you came down with Faith, remember that?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, before that, I was down here sitting, waiting for the coffee to be ready and someone, something, passed behind me. It cast a shadow, it was small so I assumed it was Faith. When I asked where she was going, she-it-answered me. In her voice. So I just assumed it was her who went outside to visit the garden. And then..."

"And?" Jim asked, hardly breathing now.

"And? And it was not Faith because when you went down, you were with her. You brought her down! And the shadow? It went against the light, not with it! And it could not have just been a shadow cast from another part of the house. It answered me!"

They stared at each other. Jim was the first to move by kissing her forehead and telling her that he was going to the garage like he had mentioned. In truth, Jim's head was flooded with many questions, none of which had answers. If all these were happening, what were they going to do? They had nowhere to go. They had no savings. Everything had gone to this house. What was going to happen to them if they leave this place?

"Talk to Faith, ask her about the dirt," he said, as he walked away.

### 16

HE WALKED OUT of the house and made his way to the garage, thinking it was going to be a short trip-it wasn't. The slight rain made the earth sticky, even with the grass. By the time he got to the garage, he had to scrape the dirt off of his soles.

He took his power drill, screws, and some chain locks that were left over from when the house was constructed. He had decided from the backdoor to the garage that he was going to fight for their house. There was no other choice. Before going back to the house, he scanned a route where the grass grew thick, where his feet would not get stuck in the mud. Having found one such route, he proceeded to head back to his house. But he stepped on something that was both hard and squishy halfway there. That was not what made him look down.

What made him look down was the sound it made when he stepped on it, like a mayonnaise or ketchup container with the contents being squeezed out fast.

But of course, it wasn't any of that. It was a squirrel, or part of it. It only had a body with the head torn off. The guts were ejected out when he stepped on it.

"Oh... shit," he exclaimed softly. It was gross. The innards were all out, the liquid contents splashing the side of his other foot. He decided to continue to the house, following the route he had picked out. And then he came across three more dead squirrels-all with their heads torn from their little bodies.

He stared, trembling a little. Not again. Not again.

Then he squared his jaw.

He would come back to take care of those later. His priority was to secure his house.

He hurried down the path to his home, thinking that he would not tell Susan about the squirrels. He had already accepted by then that she was also experiencing her own nightmares. She did not need to know more.

SUSAN PRETENDED that she needed to clean up Faith's room and called her youngest daughter to join her. She needed to ask her questions.

She taught her how to fold her clothes, make up her bed, and organize her little closet. She couldn't find a nicer way to phrase her questions, so she started with the least obvious.

"Honey, what time did you go to bed last night?"

"I don't know. It was night already."

"After supper?"

"Yeah. We watched TV. And then Daddy and I came up. He waited for me while I brushed my teeth, then he left."

"And you went to bed after that?"

"Yeah. I slept right away."

"Did you wake up in the middle of the night? To drink, or pee?"

"No. Uh uhm," the little girl answered, shaking her head.

Susan could see that her daughter was answering her straight. She badly wanted to ask her about the dirt in her hands and feet earlier. Susan had helped her take a bath as soon as she saw it but did not ask her daughter where she got it. She was scared. To say she was confused was an understatement. She finished helping her daughter clean up without saying a word about where the dirt had come from.

As she replaced the sheets that had traces of dirt on them, Sue finally found a way to ask about it without it sounding suspicious to her daughter.

"How was your sleep? You slept alright?"

"Yes!" the girl answered, "And I had a beautiful dream, too!"

"Yeah? Just one beautiful dream?" she asked, glad that her daughter wasn;t experiencing any nightmares.

"Yep, one."

"Well? Tell me about it," she coaxed.

The little girl looked around as if to recall how exactly her dream started, then she put down the clothes she was folding and sighed. "At first I thought it was not a dream. Because I was still in my bed."

Susan's ears perked up. She did not say anything for fear of ruining the child's mood.

"Then I heard someone calling me from outside my room, like a psssst, psssst. I didn't pay attention at first, but it would not stop. So I got up and saw a ball of light and I knew who was calling me," said the child, smiling.

"Who?" asked Susan.

"Princess Jessica! Well, not really Princess Jessica, because she is in her kingdom. But if she wants to talk to me, she can. Even if she is far away."

"Through the ball of light?"

"Yes. Sometimes. So I got out of bed and followed the light and Princess Jessica told me that she had sent her friends over to play with me because I was bored."

"Bored?"

"Yeah. There're no cartoons most times and Jenna's sick."

"Tell me about these friends," Sue asked, starting to get afraid but willing herself not to. These was Faith, and she was just a child. She could not conjure bad things in her dreams because she had never suffered any bad events in her small life.

"When I got down, Princess Jessica told me to open the backdoor. She told me her friends would be waiting for me outside. So I opened the backdoor. I didn't want to go out because it was raining, so I said I will not go out because I will get wet. She said I can go out and I will not get wet, so I did."

"And you... got wet," finished Susan for her daughter.

"No! I did not! It was not even cold. It was just like it was daytime and there was no rain, except that it was dark and I could only see as far as the lights."

"Were Princess Jennifer's friends there?"

"Jessica, Princess Jessica," the girl corrected. "Yeah, there was a man and a woman there. The woman was beautiful, she looked like you and the man was like a tree."

Susan gulped as she felt herself going cold even when it was warm in the room. "What do you mean... like a tree?" she whispered.

"He was tall and looked like he had branches instead of arms because they were very long."

"And what did he look like?"

"Nothing. He had no face. He was black all over."

Susan had frozen. The waking nightmares she had, two of them over the course of the entire night, came back to her. She listened, horrified, as Faith continued to outline her dream to her.

"And she didn't step on the ground -- she was floating. She let me play in the mud and I stomped my feet on the ground and gave them high fives with my muddy hands! Then we played tag in the kitchen for a while. And then Princess Jessica's friends told me it was time to go back."

"So you went back to your room and they left, right?"

"No! The woman carried me and the tall man followed upstairs. They put me to bed and left."

"That doesn't sound like a dream," said Sue as she tried to control her shiver.

"It was a dream because I woke up when Daddy went to Jenna's room. You were talking, too. Then you went to your room."

Susan didn't want to think. She couldn't go where her thoughts would get her. But there was no way to stop her head when it started because everything her daughter told her made sense as far as the events went.

She paused for a long time, reflecting on what the events meant. Unconsciously, she rubbed the skin in her arms and found that her skin was covered in goose bumps.

She realized that even the children were being visited by them who had visited her last night to try to scare her to death. What were they trying to do? Were they trying to drive the family away? What were they?

And most of all, if they would not leave, were these beings going to kill them?

### 17

SOON AFTER HE had completed installing additional locks on their doors, Jim went out to take care of the headless squirrels.

With the use of a small shovel and a black bag, he was able to put the carcasses away in minutes. He went looking for others just in case he missed some. The stench would have been more offending than the sight if there were other carcasses that he missed, aside from the fact that it would scare Susan again.

Jim covered the front and both sides of the house and found none. He headed off to the back of the house. He remembered leaving the garden hose there the day before and had forgotten about it. He wanted to put it away.

As he stooped down to retrieve the hose that was lying on the ground, Jim noticed something peculiar just below their back door. He paused, then left the hose. His eyes stayed with the objects that had caught his attention.

His stomach knotted as, slowly, Jim began to recognize the first one -- a severed squirrel head. The head had two small twigs jutting out of its eye sockets. Then there was another one, and another, perfectly lined up just below the concrete step immediately below their back door.

Jim quickly got a hold of himself before he panicked again. He looked around, into the trees, and towards the river. This was not an animal killing prey. This was intentional, and it felt hostile. He became alert as he looked around again, on the other plants, the trees, and on the ground.

The first thing Jim noticed as he wheeled around was the disturbance in the ground around him. He inspected the area. It took him a few moments to recognize what he was seeing but when he did, he let out an involuntary gasp.

He saw footprints. There was no mistaking them, and the smaller ones were the size of his daughter's feet! There was another set of prints but it didn't look like footprints or shoe prints. It seemed to have a connection with the small footprints. To his eyes, it looked like his daughter was with someone, or something.

He went for the backdoor. He had changed his mind about telling Susan and he called her several times before she answered with a call to wait for her there. While waiting, he reached for his pocket and lit a cigarette in an effort to calm his nerves.

Susan came down.

"What?" she asked as she emerged from the door.

Jim stopped her from going down the stone step. His gaze indicated why and Sue's gaze followed. She had a more audible reaction.

"What...what's that?" she asked, haltingly.

"Found just sitting there," he replied.

"My God! Who would do this?"

"I don't know. But that's not what's... curious," he said, trying to lighten the words.

He showed Susan the footprints. Just like him, it took her a while before she recognized it and once she did, she, too, was horrified. Her reaction was more intense. "Faith's dream..." she had whispered. The expression on her face, with tears rimming her eyes, was enough to have Jim immediately concerned.

"Honey, what is it?"

As if the mere act of asking brought her walls down, Susan began to cry. Jim hugged her to him. She was a driven woman with a strength that often surpassed his. When she cried, it was never for something trivial. He gave her time.

When her crying had subsided, Susan slowly related all the details of Faith's supposed dream. And then she told him about her nightmare last night in Jenna's room. She spared no detail and Jim did not interrupt her. She also added the comparison between the figure in her nightmares and Faith's description of the figures in her dream.

Jim was so shaken he barely was able to hide it. The only clues as to how bothered he was were the cigarettes that he lit after Sue had gone back inside, one after the other, like he was running a race wherein he was desperately behind.

### 18

THAT NIGHT, they ate at Jenna's room again. Dinner was almost entirely silent except for Jim's attempt at making light of the situation by joking around. Only Faith paid him attention. Susan kept to herself but for a few necessary interactions. Jenna, although still weak, ate more and managed a smile now and then.

After dinner, Jim and Faith were about to go down when Susan told him, "Let's sleep here. All of us, here."

Jim saw the expression on her face and nodded. "Okay. We're just going to a watch TV for a bit and then we'll come up," he answered, smiling.

He did the dishes and left Faith to find a station. When he was done, Jim joined his daughter on the couch opposite the TV. Faith picked a station that was showing a funny program. Although most of the jokes were not intended for children, she laughed when she understood.

Jim was thankful that Faith found a little diversion. There was no program that could hold his attention. In his mind, he still mulled over the events of the day and Sue's experiences.

He helped Faith get ready for bed and then he brought her to her sister's room. Sue had already prepared with sleeping mats and extra pillows on the floor. To make it more enjoyable for the younger girl, Jim tied the ends of a blanket to build a makeshift tent that made even Jenna perk up at the sight.

Father and daughter joked around while Sue stayed with Jenna. Jim could see that she appreciated his effort even though she still looked scared. He was stealing glances at her when she wouldn't notice. His wife's eyes darted around. She had installed new curtains on the windows. And she would turn her head quickly at the slightest sound.

The night finally won out. First it was Faith who fell asleep, and then Jim. Jenna fell asleep next and after that, at a quarter to ten, Susan finally fell asleep.

### 19

SUSAN OPENED her eyes and it was still dark but she felt rejuvenated. She wondered how long she had been asleep. But when she seek the digital alarm clock, it was only ten minutes past ten. She had only been asleep in minutes! She wanted to go back to sleep and was about to close her eyes again when she noticed something that it was cold. The windows were closed and so was the door. Yet it was cold. There was a very subtle breeze that seemed to emanate from the right side, but she remembered that the door was closed on that side.

She turned her head to see. And that was how she knew that she could not move. She lay flat on her back on the bed with Jenna, hands at her sides-and she could not move!

Terror began to well up from within. She was awake. She knew she was awake! Everything around her, everything she could see, was real. But how could she not move?

She could only move her eyes and she swept the room with them-nothing. She could not see towards the door, but the air that was a subtle draft came from that side, and it was becoming colder.

The bed creaked but Jenna did not stir. But Susan noticed that the foot of the bed slowly dropped a few inches. She did not see it, but she felt it. Someone heavy had just climbed the bed.

Someone.

Or something.

Susan felt pressure on the bed and imagined seeing indentations where the pressure was. It climbed from the foot of the bed until it came up to where her upper body was. It was heavy. When the pressure reached the left side of her shoulder, she felt her body tilt in that direction. And it was cold, very cold.

The chilling sensation washed over different parts of her body where skin was exposed-arms, neck, chest, and face. It came in random order, there was no flow to it like air had. She felt like something was touching her.

The heaviness on her left side lightened a little, only to be replaced by an indentation on her right side. Then her skin was awash with the cold sensation once more so that her body was wracked with shivers even if she couldn't move. The light in the room was being blotted out in quick segments.

She focused her eyes on the area above her. A shadow passed over that same spot, over her body, quicker than a second. The frequency of the shadow that blinked in and out of her vision increased and blotted out the light for longer periods.

As the shadow lingered more and more, she was able to make out a general outline of it. Her breathing came more rapidly as the humanoid shape loomed over her, squatting over her upper torso, its face just inches from her! And it had become clearer.

It resembled that of an old woman and her skin was dark that it almost looked burnt. The figure's eyes were pools of darkness, no whites could be seen except for the faint light that reflected from them. The entire face of the entity was covered in deep, aged lines that seemed to have been carved. But the expression on the face was what terrorized her the most.

The crooked smile, and the wide, black eyes told of malevolence -- and it was going to be inflicted on her!

Stricken with terror, she tried to scream, but like the previous night no sound came out of her. She could neither move nor scream even when she was struggling as hard as she had never before in her entire life! The figure had lowered its pelvis onto her chest until it was sitting on her. Sue found breathing became harder and harder. She was desperate. No matter how she tried, the weight made it impossible. Unable to move, she felt her body losing the struggle to keep up with its need for air.

She slowly slipped out of consciousness as the terrifying expression on the figure's face taunted her.

Just when she feared it was her end, it stopped. It just disappeared.

Susan bolted into a sitting position as she took in great gulps of air. She looked around as she did so.

And it did not surprise her anymore to find that there was nothing amiss in the room like nothing happened, like it was just a bad dream. But this time, she knew it wasn't.

### 20

JIM'S DREAMLESS SLEEP was interrupted by a vigorous shaking.

When he opened his eyes, he found that the makeshift tent was already gone and Sue was trying to wake him up. She was not looking at him but at their surroundings. She was very pale and very scared.

He followed her gaze as he sat up, taking care not to wake Faith up. Sue's gaze was transfixed on the doorway. He could see nothing there, so he looked back to his wife and held her hand while thinking of how to phrase himself so he could talk her out of whatever she was afraid of. That's when he heard it.

Heavy footsteps that sounded like something was ascending the stairs, heavy enough to make the fresh wooden steps creak!

He turned towards the doorway again. He felt his wife grip his hand tighter, her breathing becoming more audible. The creeping feeling of dread washed over him and held him still. In his head, he kept telling himself an intruder had been able to enter his house despite the additional locks he had installed that morning. But he knew he was wrong.

His heart leapt every time the steps creaked. When the steps reached the second storey, they stopped.

They held their breaths, anticipating the continuation of those strides but wishing it would just end. Then Sue gasped as the floorboards started to creak again. The steps were very slow, as if whoever was making them was taking its time to make them aware it was coming for them. Susan quaked with fear. So did Jim as they watched a shadow appear on the floor outside the open doorway, lengthening until they could make up the shape of the intruder. The head was bald with pointed ears, which appeared longer at the angle that it was cast. The head itself was bigger than what was normal. And the body... was full of sharp, pointed spikes.

Susan had begun to cry. The shadow was complete, the foot lined up perfectly with the door. The angle was correct. But there was something deeply wrong about it.

For while there was a shadow, there was nothing by the door that could have cast it!

The creepy footsteps stopped. They were replaced by breathing sounds coming from the doorway. They saw the shadow move. As it did, the couple heard a low guttural sound, like a growling dog about to attack. The shadow's hands moved. One stretched to the side towards the bed, while the other directly to where Jim, Sue, and Faith were.

The growling sound became stronger and louder that it soon filled the room. Jim and Susan felt the air in the room getting heavier. They also felt the floors faintly vibrating. Susan did not know what to do. But as she thought to ran to Jenna to get her, the children suddenly bolted up -- Faith beside Jim and Jenna in her bed. The parents watched in horror as their children began to move, while they both could not!

Faith slowly stood up while Jenna turned, climbed out of bed and stood beside her. And then they walked in the same tempo as the heavy footsteps towards the door. Their eyes were closed, heads held high, and they walked as if in a trance, step by step, towards the door.

Susan was glued to the spot. This time, she knew she was not imagining things because Jim could also see what she was seeing, and he could not move, too. She knew they wanted more than anything to reach for their children and save them from the creature with the hideous shadow, but they couldn't. While the growling built to a crescendo, the shadow retreated from the door. The image of its hands still outstretched, pointing at the couple's daughters.

Faith reached the door just as the shadow disappeared from view.

Suddenly, Jim broke out from his frozen stance and he quickly went for the door to grab Jenna. Jim brought her to Susan, who found that she could move, too, and tightly held on to Jenna because the child still strained towards the door even while still on her trance-like state. Jim went back for Faith but she had already gone out of the room. He raced outside and saw Faith teetering on the edge of the stairs, rocking back and forth on her heels. He called out to her, but he could not move closer because every step caused Faith to sway back and forth more violently.

His mind churned with indecision. If he did not move now, it would be too late. But if he did, the creature might throw Faith down the stairs! Faith was now leaning back and swaying forward at a precarious angle. But he couldn't _not_ do anything! So he jumped forward and when he landed, he leaned over the banister and reached down to catch his daughter, anticipating where Faith would fall.

She never touched him.

Her rigid body was at a sixty degree angle from the floor, her face just inches from Jim's palm-and yet she did not fall. She rested in that position while Jim watched, astounded. He tried to touch her chest to push her back, but Faith's body lifted backwards slowly, avoiding his hand. Jim could only watch and gasp.

When she was upright once more, the little girl turned around and walked slowly back towards Jenna's room.

Jim followed his daughter's progress in disbelief. His skin crawled, goose bumps forming all over and his hair felt like every strand was standing up his scalp. He started to follow his daughter back into the room, but before he could walk farther, he heard an unmistakable hiss to his left.

He wheeled around just in time to see a floating shadow fade into thin air. His gaze was glued to the spot, wanting to scream at it for putting his child in grave danger but hesitated because he did not know how to fight it. He hurried back into the room. Faith was already inside and he quickly closed the door behind him.

When Susan saw him, she let go of Jenna. They watched her sleepwalk towards her bed while Faith went back to her place on the sleeping mat. Jenna had reached her bed, climbed into it, and lay down.

"Sleepwalking, they're just sleepwalking," muttered Jim to calm the shaking Susan down. "Nothing's going to come to them."

Soon, the children were on their backs, fast asleep. But this time, Jim was on guard. He knew the night wasn't finished.

And he was right. It only took a few minutes and another event began again.

### 21

IT STARTED with the voices that came from outside the house. It sounded like a huge crowd had gathered on the grounds and decided to speak all at once.

Jim could not make out any word of it. That didn't stop him from standing up and peering out the window. Susan ran to Jenna's bed when the child started to sit up again and took her next to Faith, laying her on the mattress on the floor.

Jim was squinting hard outside but he could not see anything. But the sounds of the voices were getting louder now and the house seemed to vibrate from the force. The glass panels on the windows started to shake lightly and Jim had to take a step back. The voices grew louder, and it was ascending.

"Stop, stop, stop," Jim heard clearly. He turned back and saw Sue murmuring this to herself as she cried. She had her eyes tightly closed. Her hands had balled into fists and she repeatedly used those to pound the floor.

But the voices continued until they seemed level with the second floor. The glasses in the windows were vibrating so hard now it looked like they were going to explode. The sounds seemed to come from all around them, and above, and below. Jim did not know what to do. He looked out the window to see what was causing this. Still, he saw nothing.

And then the voices died down abruptly. So did the lights. The room was bathed in darkness. But in a few moments, the light struggled to come back on. It flickered slowly, and then built up in frequency. It felt like they were blinking their eyes rapidly though they weren't.

Then Sue screamed a horrifying scream.

Just as the bulb flickered, the room was alternately bathed in light and darkness. She was seeing in front of her the old, hideous woman with the dark eyes. Every time the light flickered on, the entity seemed to be coming for her-one step at a time, one flicker at a time.

Jim wheeled around to see what had made his wife scream. His skin was crawling with goose bumps. He was close to desperation. He could see where his wife's gaze was directed, but there was nothing there!

He ran to her side and when he reached her, the lights stayed on for good. Susan held on to her husband, crying and shaking. The children slept through it all.

For the couple, of course, sleeping was no longer possible.

### 22

JIM WENT OUT first thing in the morning.

He said that he was going to buy additional lights that he would place around the property for better illumination. He insisted there were people there during the night who wanted to creep them out, and that they were probably vandals. Though he insisted, Susan saw in his eyes that he was just as baffled as she was. Though he lied, she understood.

Susan was left with the children. She had finally managed to get Jenna out of her room. Although a little pale, Jenna was feeling considerably better already. They played a bit in the living room, mostly watching whatever came on TV. Sue left them to themselves.

She sat by herself on the far side of the living room, her eyes never leaving her daughters. She quietly watched them play and watch TV. Her mind drifted.

It went back to that morning. When the sun came up, she spoke with her husband about what happened last night. He shrugged it off, adopting a rational explanation for everything that happened. Though he confirmed witnessing his daughters sleepwalking and hearing the voices from outside, that was all he would admit to. He was still trying to deny it, but he was desperate now, too. There was no guarantee that the entities would not harm them. In fact, there was every indication that they meant to do so. And Jim couldn't deny this to himself, even if he tried.

It was close to noon when Jim came back. He brought with him eight outdoor lights, several boxes of rolls of electrical wires, and two cheap CCTV cameras. Sue didn't ask. She just let him go on with his tasks while she, with nothing better to do, prepared snacks for the afternoon and the ingredients for their meal for the evening.

Jim placed two outdoor lights opposite each other on each side of the house. The wiring took him a while. He wanted to place them farther from the house so it would illuminate anyone who was coming towards them. He wanted to prove, more than anything, that he was right; that the events were caused by people controlling whatever gadget they could to make the kids behave the way they did and produce the entities to scare the new neighbors. It was the explanation he could think of because, if he was wrong, the alternative was too horrific to accept.

The only other possibility was a possibility he was not ready for. He had to cling to the explanation that made sense to him.

The fact that the ground outside the house was not disturbed on all sides, as if nothing physical and solid had tramped there the night before, did not sway him. He just went on with his business. He estimated the distance of the lights from the house to be far enough to illuminate someone approaching from afar, yet close enough to limit the possibility of a dark area between the house and the lights. In close to three hours, he was done with the lights.

He went inside the garage to retrieve his power drill then went inside the house to get the old laptop he had which had, up to that time, remained unused. It was purchased for his wife three years ago. At this point, it was only good for browsing and playing children's games. The lack of connectivity in his place, however, meant that the laptop was basically useless at the moment. But it was more than adequate for the installation of the two cheap CCTV cameras that he had purchased.

He set out to test them first before installing them on the porch.

"Honey, did you notice that odd smell? It seemed to be coming from outside. Could you check later?" asked Sue as she passed by him.

"Did you check earlier?"

"Yes, I did while you were out. It's not anywhere near the house, but it smells. Like something's rotten," she explained.

"Okay. I'll just finish installing this," he said.

He noticed the way his wife talked. There wasn't any life in her words. It was like she just needed to tell him about it so he could get rid of it. He chalked it up to being tired. Having been unable to sleep, he knew he was. He could not imagine just how tired she was, knowing she had been at it, based on what she told him, for more nights than he had.

But he knew that he had to keep his head intact. Giving in to her horrifying stories, even if he went through some of it himself, would mean losing control. And so he continued to tinker around until he was finished installing the two cameras, each covering a certain direction with a little overlap in between. Jim had a snack after that. Once done, he headed outside to search for where the stink was coming from.

It came from the river. And the area around the walkway that stretched into the water was littered with dead fish, turning round and round due to the current, floating stomach up. He stared at the dead things for a moment, thinking that something poisonous might have been slipped into the water to scare them again. This was getting out of hand. Should he call the cops?

No. He thought, if he let whoever was doing this to spook them, then it was a losing battle. So he furiously looked for a pole, but finding nothing satisfactory, settled for the rake he found in the garage. Jim proceeded to push the dead fishes towards where the river could carry them away.

He had decided not to tell his wife what had made the smell. She would be spooked alright. And again, he thought, there was nowhere else for them to go if she ever thought of leaving. They had just been here for a few days. It was too early to do anything yet.

Those troublesome neighbors would soon tire out of this initiation.

Once he was done, he smoked two cigarettes before heading back to his house to take a quick shower.

### 23

WHILE JIM WORKED on the CCTV cameras and the dead fishes, Jenna and Faith had become bored of playing inside the house. It was close to five in the afternoon already. The TV program was indeed boring so Sue turned the radio on to have some music in the house. But the reception was bad so she ended up allowing Faith to play her favorite children's CD.

In truth, she only wanted to make sure that they didn't leave her sight. She could not bear the thought of night approaching. She absentmindedly went about her chores until she was done cooking. Jim came in shortly after that and played around with the kids.

As soon as the sun was about to die out, they ate. Supper was just as silent as the night before. Though Jim still tried to keep the table alive, he didn't do so with the same effort. Susan did not comment on it. Once everyone was done, they gathered in the living room to watch old DVDs that the children loved. They all retired upstairs after two movies.

Jim was glad that Sue agreed to have the children sleep in their own rooms. Jenna was feeling better already. The thought of being able to sleep in their bed with his wife beside him after many nights of unrest appealed to him. While Sue tucked their children in bed, he went down to the living room to check on the laptop. It was still working. He turned the lights off and made sure all the doors and windows were locked before going back upstairs.

Sue was already waiting for him when he entered their room. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. He could see that she was still worried.

"What a long day," he said, breaking the silence. "Do we have anything there to cap it off?"

Susan turned her head in Jim's direction. A hint of a smile came to her face when she saw her husband doing naughty poses to emphasize just exactly what he meant.

"Stop it, you look silly. I'm really tired, honey."

"Pffft, you're no fun," Jim answered, pouting.

"Tell you what, if I get a good sleep tonight, I'll wake you up tomorrow," she said with a wink.

"Is that so? Then let daddy make sure you get a great sleep!" As he said the words, he came to her side. "Turn around," he commanded. "Let me show you the massage that brought all the world's women to my feet."

Sue didn't respond. She turned on her stomach and let Jim take care of her. The precise pressure he placed with this thumbs, fingers, and palms on areas that felt good had Susan relaxing soon.

And soon after that, she fell asleep.?

### 24

THEY WERE ROUSED by the noise.

Jim was the first to immediately get up, looked at his wife and climbed out of bed. He had not gotten out of the room yet when he heard his wife speak.

"Jim, they're back! The voices are back!"

The panic in Susan's voice was unmistakable. He started to tell her to stay put then realized she would not listen. He decided to tell her to do something else instead.

"Go to the children's rooms, make sure they're fine," said Jim as he turned the light on their bedroom on.

The sounds were much like they were the other night-like many voices talking all at once. It slowly built in volume until it felt like the house itself was making the sounds. Jim felt the vibrations on the floorboards. He heard the glass panes shake. He cautiously stepped out of the bedroom and peered out the corridor.

What he saw made him run to the stairs. Both Jenna and Faith were there, swinging dangerously on their heels at the top! He jumped down onto the stairs, anticipating his daughters' fall but as soon as he reached up to cushion their fall, the girls fell forward.

His reach fell short. He heard Sue's terrifies scream as he himself yelled.

But just like the night before, they didn't fall all the way -- they stopped falling midway. Faith and Jenna were on their toes, their bodies leaning over at an impossible angle. They should have fallen but they didn't. They defied gravity, and that was something he would never be able to explain. Last night might be brushed off as a part of his imagination, but this was the second time around, with both girls, and with Susan watching and seeing it, too.

"Jiiiim!" Susan screamed again.

He didn't look back. He went up, placed his palms on their chests and pushed them back. Susan came to where they were and immediately grabbed her children.

"What happened?"

"They were sleepwalking," he grunted, when what he really wanted to do was to cry. But he grabbed Jenna and carried her. Susan did the same with Faith. As Faith's room was the one in the middle, Jim led the way towards it. The children were deep in their sleep. They didn't even stir while being held close to their parents' chests.

Once inside the room, Jim noticed that all the glass panels were shaking because of the vibration from all the voices. He feared that the glass panels would break, even though they were all secured with silicon sealant. They placed the children on the bed and he told his wife to stay with the kids before heading towards the window that faced east. He peered outside cautiously as he put his hand on the glass to stop it from shaking.

He froze.

There were figures standing there, three to be exact. The figures stood in between the lights he had put up that afternoon and the lights from the house -- three men standing there and looking up the house. He stared at the figures for a few seconds. They didn't move. Seeing actual figures instead of ideas in his head made him braver.

Before he went out, he made sure that the children were still asleep. Jenna was murmuring in her sleep. Faith was making some gestures with her hands which Sue tried to stop. He did not have the time to watch them. Now that he could see the vandals, he knew he could fight back.

"You stay here," he told Susan.

"What are you going to do?" Susan asked.

"I'll be back," he added reassuringly.

Jim headed for Jenna's room and looked out of the window that faced east, too. The figures were there. The only difference was that the figure that was close to where he was now had its face tilted towards where he was!

He looked out the other window, the one that faced the river, and saw the same thing --three figures standing between the lights, looking up the house. There was something curious about them but he did not have the time to figure out what. He ran out of Jenna's room and headed for the master bedroom.

Once there, he immediately peeked out the window and saw the same thing, and that the figure that was closer to him had its head tilted in his direction, too. He looked at the wraith on the far left and saw that it was no longer looking at the direction of Jenna's room but at Faith's room where his wife and children were.

Then it dawned on him.

Six people could not account for the volume of the voices! Even if it did, six people could not produce the strength needed to literally shake the house. But those were the only figures outside of the house. Unless...

He went out of the room and tiptoed towards the balcony. When he got there, he looked out of the glass door. The angle didn't give him the view he was looking for so he decided to open the door. He pushed the sliding door slowly so as not to attract attention.

He failed. When he was able to see into the front of their house, all the figures were looking up at him! There were at least ten silhouettes, standing shoulder to shoulder in between the lights!

This time, Jim had a good look at the lined up figures. He instantly realized what it was that looked curious. Most of them looked out of place. Some of them wore garbs from a different time! One of the figures even wore a top hat!

Susan's scream had him running back into Faith's bedroom. Then the lights suddenly went out. Just like the previous night, the voices died down as well. His pace was hampered by the darkness. He walked slowly, relying on his familiarity of the layout of house.

Susan screamed again. It was the same kind of scream she had let out the previous night-a scream that told of horrors come to life. The effect on him was stronger this time because he now had figures to pin the screams to.

When he got inside, he was able to make out where his wife was in the midst the flickering lights.

She was staring agape out the window. He ran to her, shouting at her to get away from there. But then the movement outside caught his eye and he turned to look.

And he froze, glued to where he stood.

The figures that stood just outside were coming closer to the house... floating up to the second storey window's level. He could not move, he could not scream. He just stood there, eyes wide, transfixed. With each blink, the figures came closer. And closer.

He was powerless as the wraiths covered the distance between them and the house, until they floated right outside his window...

And they closed in.

**~ ~ ~ ~**

Read the next book by Lily Taffel:

If you like this book, you will also like Oppressed...

DEMONS, GHOSTS, WRAITHS, ENTITIES

AND THE CHILDREN ARE NOT IMMUNE

Bad things have been happening to the Millers since they started living in their dream house. Horrifying entities have shown themselves to husband and wife Jim and Susan, and their children, Jenna and Faith, twelve and seven. There is no doubt in the couples' minds that they will fight for their house -- but this is before they find out what they are really dealing with.

In the days and nights that followed, Jim and Susan are both subjected to waking nightmares, shadows in the periphery of their visions, and watching their children repeatedly being put in danger in ways parents will never dare think their children will encounter. Jim tries to find answers by installing cheap surveillance cameras to spending hours at a time online, until he finally admits that they are suffering from the hands of supernatural entities. Talks of leaving the new house altogether suddenly become a serious consideration.

But can they? Or will the malicious and cruel entities let them leave?

Unravel more of this fascinating book, continue reading Oppressed...

~ ~ ~ ~

### Related Books

Did you enjoy this book? I recommend reading these related books, available on various retailers:

Stalker In The Dark

Ravaged

The Secret Tower

Mistaken Identity

# Bonus:

## Oppressed

# 1

IT WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Coffee did not help Jim and Susan stay awake because they did not need it. The terrifying attact had the couple, Jim and Susan, fully awake and shaking in their boots. The wraiths had stayed by the windows for a time before fading. When Jim and Sue finally had the courage to move around the second floor after they had left, they found that it was just a few minutes after two in the morning. The children did not wake up. They had gone through the entire event sound asleep.

Jim paced back and forth in Faith's bedroom. He could not leave the room. Every time he did so, Susan begged him not to go. Not that he had anywhere to go or that he wanted to go. He wanted to be near them, to assure himself more than anything that they were safe or that he was not alone. He felt a tinge of guilt knowing that he also needed comfort when he was the one responsible for his wife and children's security.

Susan was mostly silent as she sat by the bed where their daughters sleep. Every sound she heard made her look around with her eyes wide. Jim sat down on the floor beside a chair that his wife occupied, silent the entire time, too. From time to time, Susan would speak. She would talk about all the events. But by then she was as overwhelmed as he was to ask about why it was all happening. Or why it was happening to them.

He could not give her any answer. Whatever pretense he had about the entire situation having any rational explanation was gone by then. There was a very real, very sinister feel in the air. He didn't scare easily--he never had. But what happened to them just topped it. So he sat silent beside his wife, passively acknowledging her questions but not really hearing what she was saying.

As the seconds ticked away, each moments of silence lengthened. Husband and wife battled with their fears individually. They both were thinking of ways to get away from the situation. In the end, husband and wife agreed that there was another option left to them before they could consider leaving their house -- tell someone else about the happenings and ask for professional help.

One thing was sure.

There was not going to be any sleep that night, no matter how badly they wanted to. They couldn't fall asleep as long as it was still dark. They just couldn't.

IT WAS HALF PAST SIX in the morning when Jim ventured out of the room. Susan protested, but relented when Jim pointed out that the sky was already lightening up. Sunrise was usually a little after seven in that part of Texas. But Jim was still on edge, remembering the incident about the knives the morning before. He was watchful as he tiptoed his way down the stairs. He still turned the lights on even though morning had started lightening the windows, too. Jim wanted to get his hands on the footage from the cheap cameras he had installed in front of the house.

Jim checked all the doors to make sure they were all locked. Satisfied, he went to his laptop to review the footage. The cheap cameras he bought came with generic software that recorded in both regular and enhanced mode, resulting in four simultaneous feeds showing on screen. He reviewed the captures from the time they went upstairs until the most recent. The four feeds distracted him, not knowing which one to focus on first. With the time needed to review all of it, he didn't have any choice but to view it at twice the normal speed, one feed at a time.

He started with the camera he had placed on the left side of the porch. It bored him. Jim decided to just view the footage based on his estimated time. He chose between ten at night and three in the morning.

There wasn't much at first, but as the video feed approached midnight, Jim started to notice things on screen. There seemed to be things of varying sizes floating around. He opened a text application to make a note of the time. As the feed progressed, he found that the orbs of light appeared and disappeared at random. Then the orbs disappeared completely for about seven to ten minutes at close to one in the morning. The next thing that crossed the screen was smoke.

He played it at normal speed then concluded it wasn't smoke--it went in different directions, most of the time, opposite from where it originally appeared. When the feed suddenly buzzed out, he nearly jumped out of his chair. The screen had shifted from white noise to black then white noise again followed by just whiteness. It happened so suddenly, with no indication at all. He played it at twice the speed again until the feed was restored to normal. When it did, he squinted.

It showed the curious haze still there, and then multiples of it. He remembered something and the hair on his arm stood up. He was dreading the outcome but he had to do it. He paused the video and began counting.

There were only seven of those hazes. He tracked the smoky apparitions on the screen. Just like the orbs, it seemed that some of those were nearer to the camera than the others. He theorized about the apparitions. He had already abandoned the notion that there was a rational explanation for all the happenings in the house. He wanted to eliminate other possibilities as well.

More white noise came on screen, this time it lasted longer. When the images returned, he saw all of the smoky apparitions lined up. It all had that flowing appearance still. Only this time, they appeared like slivers of smoke placed beside each other. There were still seven hazy apparitions.

The lined-up haze stayed in that position for more than an hour and Jim began to wonder if they were artifacts or a defect in the camera. He remembered being told at the store that the camera's setting was always set to infinity. They were cheap cameras and as such, they didn't come with the plethora of settings that accompanied those of better quality.

The hazy objects disappeared from the video when the time stamp indicated that it was past two in the morning. There were no orbs or haze after that. He decided to switch to enhanced mode of the same feed. On first glance, it looked like a mix of increased contrast and inverted colors superimposed over the standard video. Having noted exactly when the artifacts appeared on the feed, he jumped to that same time stamp while viewing the enhanced version of the video.

And then, he gasped.

The orbs he saw did not appear on the enhanced video -- but there was something else in its place. He didn't notice it at first, but around the time that more orbs appeared, it was so obvious he might as well have been slapped.

The reason he did not notice it at first was because there was literally nothing to see!

He switched modes again, this time comparing the two versions of the same video side by side. The laptop had a fourteen inch screen and though this was considered large enough for laptops, as a result of playing the video side by side, the viewing portions were significantly reduced. That didn't alleviate the feeling of absolute dread that welled up inside him as he watched.

It was unmistakable. Jim even set the speed to normal to make sure that he wasn't imagining things. Wherever an orb appeared, there was a distinct disturbance in the enhanced video. He played and replayed the first instance. It was the same, when an orb appeared on the regular video, there was a distorted field on the same spot on the enhanced video, as if a magnifying glass was being used to comb over the same area.

Then he worked on the feed captured by the camera on the right side of the porch. He set the video to play according to the same selection of time stamps he had taken note of, at least ten minutes before and after. This time, he played both standard and enhanced videos at the same time.

It was the same. Around the same time the orbs appeared on the feed from the first camera, the same distortion was observed in the enhanced video. But he still had options in his head. The cameras could simply be defective. Since the same issue appeared on both feeds, it was easy to be comfortable with the defective camera explanation. He sighed as he closed the video, played them all together, the space for each feed becoming even smaller. More confident but still apprehensive, he got up to get coffee. Still wanting to believe that the cameras were defective, he decided to have them changed as soon as the store was open. It didn't explain their ordeal that night, but it was something to do nonetheless.

He heard the shuffling of feet upstairs as he returned to the chair where the laptop was. It seemed that his children were already awake. He knew Susan did not--could not--go back to sleep. At least his children were oblivious to the incident.

He looked at the video again. He noticed something peculiar with the screen. It seemed like the monitor was glitching. On closer inspection, he saw what exactly was happening.

It wasn't the screen, it was the video. He had not paused it when he stood up to make himself coffee. It now played the part where the original video captured the hazy artifacts.

The two original feeds were side by side while the enhanced versions were below the originals. When he first saw it, he wished he was wrong. Never in his life had he wished as hard as he did that moment.

In the enhanced versions, the distortions on the video now took on something very familiar--bodies.

He dropped the cup of coffee. It shattered on the floor to his right, spraying him with small chips of broken glass and droplets of hot coffee.

He did not even feel any pain. The scenes he saw in the video inspired the same kind of terror he had experienced just a few hours before. The distortions on the video that looked like things were being moved around to accommodate invisible masses definitely resembled human-like, figures walking around except there were no humans in the video, only haze on the original video and the distortions on the enhanced versions.

He was propping himself up with his hands on the table where the laptop sat. His knees immediately felt weak. He trembled.

The figures, their expressions, their gaping mouths!

A shiver coursed up and down his spine. It wasn't right, it didn't feel right. He lowered himself into the chair.

Jim literally jumped out of his seat when he heard a voice from behind. It was Sue.

# 2

"DID I HEAR glass break?" she asked.

Jim instantly slammed the laptop shut. It was the last thing he wanted Sue to see. "I accidentally swiped my cup off the table," he lied.

Susan eyed him. Jim's expression gave it all away. "Don't," she pleaded. "We have passed that point. What did you find?" she asked as she approached him.

"Honey, no. Not now," said Jim. "For the sake of the children, its best that you do not see this now."

She saw it in his eyes. He was afraid, more than he cared to admit. She began to doubt her desire to see the footage. She didn't have any idea what it was, but it was enough to shake him. She turned away to get some rags.

It wasn't only Susan. Jim noted the tiredness in the eyes of his wife. She was sluggish, as if she was ready to just crash at any second. The cameras were probably fine, so his priorities changed. He would let his wife get the rest that she needed. He couldn't chance anything happening while he was out.

The children were lively during breakfast. Sue and Jim pretended to be, but their eyes spoke of the same thing. Jim finished up fast and headed out to smoke. "I need to get my head around this," he whispered in his wife's ear. "Don't let them out of your sight."

He headed straight to the walkway near the river. There was a plethora of possibilities that occurred to him and his wandering mind got lost in it. He recalled stories, most of them during his childhood, some of them from fellow truckers, about supernatural or paranormal things. By the time he figured out what to do, he had already gone through half of his pack of tens.

He went back to the house. They were all done eating and from the looks of it, from taking a shower as well.

"Nice to see you up and about," he said as he leaned and hugged Jenna, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Daddy, Daddy. When can we watch cartoons?" asked Faith before her older sister could respond.

"Soon, honey. We'll get to that soon."

"The TV only shows cartoons once a day, and-- and it's the same show," said Faith.

"I know, honey. I get bored watching it, too."

"Your toys will have to do for now," said Susan.

"But for how long?" asked the little girl.

"As soon as the cable guy comes here," Jim answered, closing the conversation.

"Can I get internet?" This time it was Jenna.

"As a matter of fact, I'm going to try it out right now," he answered.

"Really? We will have internet now?"

"I'm not sure yet, dear. Hopefully it does. Can't wait to L-O-L again," he answered.

"Eeewww, Dad!" protested Jenna.

"What?"

"You're old. You're not supposed to use that!"

"My generation invented the internet. That gives us the right to use whatever you use or do with the internet."

"You're old. You only use TV and newspaper," Jenna persisted.

"Yeah?" he said in a challenging tone while looking at his wife who was smiling, "I'll show you who's old."

He grabbed Jenna and slung her over his shoulder. The girl squealed. He ran to the porch and went out of the house with his daughter still on his shoulder, threatening to tie her to a tree. Faith was on their heels shouting with glee.

Susan looked at her family, enjoying the outdoors as if nothing had been happening. She went out, too, but decided to stay in the porch. She watched them for a time and then called out. "Hey, you guys come back here now or you'll be smelly soon."

"Daddy is smelly!" replied Faith. "He had not showered yet!"

Jim put his daughter down. Only then did he realize that Jenna didn't have slippers on.

"Well, I guess you're showering again."

"Old," she answered and raced back to the porch before Jim could react.

Susan scolded Jim for his antics. He replied by kissing her, a kiss she did not shy away from.

"Yeech," commented Faith, who was shaking her head.

Jim and Susan burst out laughing. _This is a good place,_ he thought, as he headed up to take a quick shower. _If I can only sort this out, this is a great place._

The first thing he did after taking a shower was to call his cellphone provider to learn more about his plan coverage. Jim ended up upgrading his plan to unlimited data on top of the unlimited calls and text.

Jim was told that he could take it out anytime and revert to his old one if it didn't work. He agreed. Once that was set up, he tested his connection by browsing some sites on his phone and the laptop--the coverage was horrible. He had to wait up to a minute for pages to load. But that didn't stop him.

He wanted to do some research. Whatever was happening in the house, it was out of his control. He had thought about calling people, friends, and family, to talk to them about it. But he held back on that, at least for the time being. There was no telling what their reactions would be and that might just make things worse.

Jim's first thought was to research about haunted houses. He abandoned the idea as soon as he thought of it. Their house was new. There had not been a structure there when he bought the land. It was just tall grass and trees, except for the clearing that he built his house on. So Jim settled for the generic term for his family's experiences--hauntings.

His emotions varied greatly while reading the stuff that he found online. After just a few pages he was tempted to just go to an online video site like YouTube, where he would at least see the comments before the video loaded and know if it was worth watching or not. After one try, Jim reverted back to reading web pages.

He read about experiences that were similar to those that his household was exposed to, but the differences were also glaring. There were sites that offered more information and there were those that resembled the ramblings of an overly-imaginative person. He used to chuckle when he came across those. But he couldn't even summon a smile now.

In about an hour of mostly waiting for pages to load, Jim already had a vague idea of what might be happening to them.

Poltergeist activity was one that matched some of the incidents. The knives standing one on top of the other definitely qualified as that. When he read the accounts, he found himself nodding in agreement.

After reading for close to a quarter of an hour, he abandoned the poltergeist search. It did not explain many of the incidents. He turned towards apparitions and ghostly phenomena. Though he was piqued and even entertained by some of it, he found that ghostly apparitions stayed exactly like that--apparitions.

Over the next hour, Jim continued his reading. Leftover energies, psychic manifestations of burdened minds, shared delusions, entities, recurring nightmares, portents of impending disasters, and vortexes and portals from one plane to another--Jim read them all. None of them had a more disturbing effect than what he chanced upon.

Demonic possession.

He was reading something about negative energies on a website when he saw a link and a brief description at the end of the article. The description caught his attention so he opened the page. Though it was by no means complete, as far as the events were concerned, the information he found closely paralleled what they were going through. It gave him the creeps. There was other pertinent information he came across that he felt he should take note of. He saved them on a notepad application as well as on his phone.

Once he felt he had read enough, Jim pursued one more lead, something he thought of while reading about hauntings.

The history of the land his house was built on.

* * *

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