Part 1: Outside
You burst into the cold night air.
Breath fogs.
Hands shaking.
For a moment, you are not sure if you are awake.
Snow crunches under your boots.
The house looms behind you.
Windows dark.
But still somehow alive.
Consciousness floods back instantaneously.
One of your team members drops a piece of gear into the snow.
Then Evan stumbles out behind the rest.
Holding his chest.
Gasping for breath.
“I saw a glimpse of it. It was ancient. I felt like it was controlling me.”
He pauses.
“And when I looked at you… I wanted to kill you.”
Everyone else looks annoyed or upset.
That sounds bad.
But before anyone can react, you raise a hand.
“Nobody say anything. One at a time. I want to know what each of us experienced before we start filling in blanks for each other.”
Julia speaks first.
“I heard the screaming from the confessional.”
She looks toward Marcus.
“Marcus, what did you hear?”
“I watched every sensor drop at the same time. Then everything died. All the batteries completely drained. Similar to what happened in the basement earlier.”
You think back to the voice.
The thought.
Whatever it was.
“I kept hearing get out of the house. Over and over. It wasn’t through a device.”
A pause.
“At least, I don’t think it was.”
“I didn’t hear that,” Evan says. “I just felt something take over.”
“You opened yourself up.”
“What are you talking about?”
Marcus looks at him.
“You don’t remember? You put your hands out and said if anything wanted help crossing over to use your body.”
“No, I didn’t!”
He doesn’t remember.
At this point, you’re not really seeing the point of investigating anything.
Just cleansing the space.
“The fear is only going to feed this,” you tell them. “We stay grounded. We came here to help these people.”
“We can call it,” Chris says. “You know? Go home.”
“I know. At this point, I’m less concerned about getting answers and think we should focus on blessing the home.”
Evan stares at you.
“We’re going back in? I just told you I wanted to kill you.”
“We can’t leave the house like this. And you’re standing here telling me. I think you’re fine. Just splash some holy water on yourself before you go in.”
Marcus tries to hide a laugh.
“Sorry, I know this is supposed to be a serious moment, but that was kind of funny.”
“Well, I’m not staying out here by myself,” Evan says. “Just duct tape my mouth or something.”
“That might be the first sensible thing you’ve said tonight.”
***
Part 2: Deeper Questions
(You chose: Investigate further.)
You step back inside.
The team huddles behind you.
The house is quiet.
Then you notice the equipment is still off.
Recorders.
Cameras.
Atmospheric sensors streaming to your laptops.
Dead.
But the lights in the house are still on.
“House power is still on,” Marcus says. “A lot of this equipment isn’t battery operated.”
“None of ours is except for our handheld devices,” Chris adds.
“Well, those batteries are also drained,” Julia says.
Evan looks around.
“So every piece of our gear died at the same time while the lights stayed on?”
Marcus looks at him.
Annoyed.
“Where’s that tape.”
“If you’re serious, I’ll grab it from my bag,” Julia offers.
“C’mon,” you say. “Let’s just figure out what we have to do.”
And just before you can continue…
a single footstep lands above you.
Another follows.
Louder.
Faster.
Then a giant thud shakes the ceiling.
The footsteps begin again.
Running down the stairs.
Pounding through the hall.
Straight toward you.
An inhuman scream hits.
At the same instant…
every piece of gear flickers back on.
Recorders red.
Spirit box blasting at full volume.
“Who are you?”
The reply comes through.
“We are YOU.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Marcus asks.
“Nope,” Evan says. “Don’t like that.”
“Don’t pay attention to it,” Chris tells him.
Another voice cuts through.
Female.
“She holds us here.”
“Who holds you?”
The answer comes in layered voices.
“Blood. Ritual. Door.”
The word door repeats.
Fading.
Splintering.
As if several voices are whispering it at once.
Your team looks to you.
The same question in every face.
***
Part 3: The Door
(You chose: Search for the door.)
The word will not stop echoing.
Door.
Door.
Door.
“Basement,” Chris says.
A pause.
“The circle!”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.”
Julia sighs.
Rolls her eyes.
“Of course it’s the basement.”
You remember the symbol under the stairs.
Circular.
Burned into the floor.
Dark wax pooled in rings.
As if candles had been placed there repeatedly.
You cannot shake the feeling that the owners left this out.
Covered it with boxes.
Hoping you would never look closer.
You grab the cleansing case from the clergy.
Move quickly with your team down to the basement.
You lead the way.
Burnt wax.
Damp wood.
The tools still sit on the bench.
But the nook is open now.
The boxes have been moved.
The circle is larger than you remember it.
Clearer.
Symbols scorched into the floor.
Candles melted into thick pools of wax.
“Boxes were moved,” Julia says.
Your real-time communication device clicks on by itself.
You nearly drop it in surprise.
A layered voice pushes through.
“The door is open.”
The ground hums beneath your feet.
This must be ground zero.
The spot that needs to be cleansed.
Chris grabs your shoulder.
Points up.
Visibly shaken.
“Who is that?”
You glance toward the basement window.
A pale face stares back.
Evelyn.
Her eyes widen when she realizes you see her.
“Evelyn!”
She bolts.
Vanishing into the darkness.
The spirits are not the only ones hiding secrets.
You could go after her.
Demand answers.
Or stay with the circle.
Whatever is coming through it…
is here now.
You have no choice but to see this through.
***
Part 4: The Anchor
(You chose: Stay with the circle.)
The layered voices return.
“Door… door… door…”
“We’re standing on the opening,” Marcus says. “This is it.”
The symbols start to flicker faintly on the concrete floor.
This can’t be happening.
The female voice comes through again.
“She feeds it.”
“She feeds it,” Marcus repeats. “Meaning, Evelyn?”
“That’s what it sounds like.”
Julia looks toward you.
“So what are we cleansing? The circle or her?”
“Right now? The thing under our feet.”
That is the mistake…
you just don’t know it yet.
“Chris. Hand me the Clergy papers.”
Chris opens the case.
Holy water to one side.
A few papers on the other.
“Room prayer, right?”
“Well, I doubt they gave us a prayer for whatever this is, so go with it!”
Chris hands the prayer sheet to Julia.
“You want me to read it?”
You nod in approval.
Set your communication device down in the center of the circle.
“Are we sure this is how they told us to do it?” Evan asks.
“No. I’m just sure we need to do something.”
“Comforting,” Marcus says.
***
Part 5: Seal the Door
(You chose: Begin the cleansing. Seal the door.)
Julia unfolds the room-cleansing prayer.
You take the holy water.
Trace the edge of the mark while she begins to read.
You can hear the hesitation in her voice.
You ignore it.
The room pushes back.
The circle seems to shimmer with heat.
Pressure builds in your skull.
Spreads through your body.
Several of your teammates clutch their heads.
They feel it, too.
“It’s fighting back!” Marcus shouts.
“Morgan, this is getting worse,” Evan says.
“Keep reading.”
“I am!”
Julia returns to the prayer.
“Lord, I declare that this room is spiritually transitioned into your secret place and now abides under your shadow…”
Her voice trails off in your mind.
You focus on the circle.
Because it is the thing you can see.
Julia reaches the final line.
Raises her voice.
“I cast you out and command you to go to where the Lord Jesus sends you.”
You splash holy water into the center.
The layered voices answer.
“YOU CANNOT END WHAT HAS BEGUN.”
A white ball of light emerges from the center.
Quickly expands throughout the room.
A blinding flash.
When your vision clears…
you are no longer in the basement.
You are standing outside the house.
Morning light.
Breath fogging.
Your team looks dazed.
Everyone standing in a line.
Like the day you first arrived.
Julia glances over to you.
“Did we just… lose time?”
A man’s voice drifts from the porch.
“Thank you for coming all this way.”
End of Story 8.
