The sounds came from the software controlling the cameras. It started giving off notifications when the family was upstairs. The notifications were coming from the camera pointed at the dining area. Jon inspected the feed, including the ones captured by the full spectrum cameras and found nothing, so he ignored it.
The cameras’ tracking was controlled by the software itself. Jon found it annoying that that the feed kept panning to one side, then the other but the display showed nothing. He brought the window forward to stop it from giving off more sounds from the notification.
When the group started descending the stairs, the cameras upstairs started behaving in the same manner. As opposed to motion sensing equipment, his cameras were controlled by the software and any changes in the scenery, anything at all the software detected was moving, caused the cameras to follow.
He got more notifications, this time from the software handling the sound recorders as the family was almost down the stairs. He played it, running the output out the headset he had on one ear. His arm hairs rose up.
The audio software played growling voices spitting threats and a steady stream of expletives all together. He clearly made out the words ‘get out’ spoken in many different voices and all kinds of curses. It was not an error, Jon realized immediately. If it were, it would not have come in many layers, and the cursing would be repeating and not random. He thanked himself for having the forethought of playing it through the headphone instead of loudly through the laptop’s speakers.
This is it, this is it.
Jon never got used to the feeling. He dreaded actual paranormal activity but at the same time, he was excited by it and looked forward to events happening.
When the Millars and Cain reached the bottom of the stairs, the cameras picked up their movement and followed their progress. Jon’s skin crawled. The screen showed hazy outlines, smoky and dark. The section of the window that showed thermal imaging sometimes showed white and black spots cycling the party’s heads. Cain had told him to alert him of any activity, but he also knew he was not supposed to break the ritual so, reluctantly, Jon kept it to himself.
As Cain reached the end of his ritual, the apparitions onscreen seemed to thin out and disappear. He felt a slight wave of relief wash over him. The heavier a manifestation was, the higher the chances it could be detected by his equipment. It also meant it had a higher chance of interacting with the physical world.
Suddenly, right after Cain uttered the last word, activity picked up upstairs. The rumbling sounds erupted and the cameras appeared to have malfunctioned as each turned one way or the other. It was brief, but the sounds were so loud that Jon thought the entire second level was being turned upside down.
When the cameras settled, he saw what happened. What was a mess before was now messier. He could not help but look up, together with Cain and the family. With no further activity, everyone eventually relaxed.
Except for Jon. His headache started to become unbearable. He squeezed his eyes shut. Had he kept it open for just a second longer, he would have seen the feed from the camera pointing at the living room showing parts of his back, and a dark figure standing behind him.
~0~
Matt and Cain headed up the stairs after they both recovered. Cain was bothered by the sight. Matt and Emmy went up during the day to try and tidy the place up. The place looked like it had been bombed, in stark contrast to the almost tidy appearance it had just minutes ago.
The set of chairs lining the other side of the corridor, and the table between them were all toppled over. The table had two broken legs. All the decorations that lined the hanging shelves were strewn all of the floor. The rooms themselves were total messes. They were even more disordered than when he had come to take a look earlier.
In the master’s bedroom, the large cabinet that was built into the wall was torn off. Pointed, splintered wood remained on the base. The of the cabinet alone took great effort from both him and Matt to move to the side.
He was deeply concerned. It was just a second. That was all it took. The house rumbled then it stopped. In his entire career, Cain had never witnessed a display as powerful as the one he was seeing.
Cain focused on the vibes he was getting and concluded that there were no presences around. As they progressed through the rooms and witnessed the destruction, Cain slowly gained confidence that the rite worked, that the entity or entities have been banished.
But he knew better than to be complacent. Even exorcisms fail. Cleansing rites failed even more. There were volumes of cases he had studied where activity ceased for days and came back even stronger. For something that displayed this much power, Cain was not sure the banishing rite had succeeded. But, no matter how hard he focused, he picked up no other intents.
What are you playing at?
~0~
Jon was eager to show what he had captured on the feeds so far. He also understood that if he acted as he felt, he would call attention to himself and whatever he needed to tell Cain so, in order not to cause a panic he waited until Cain and Matt were done. When they came down, and their eyes met he nodded to Cain and Cain pulled Matt with him.
The feeds were replayed, and he watched as Cain and Matt exchanged glances continuously. Adam muttered something about taking comfort in the fact that the density of the hazy apparitions thinned out and was gone. He also made a comment about that being a probable sign that the banishing rite had succeeded.
The trio proceeded to pore over the feeds from each camera from upstairs, seeing for themselves just how powerful that lashing out was. Jon, despite the seemingly endless escalation of his headache, could not help but notice Cain’s obvious lack of comment about something both of them knew – banished entities lashed during the rite. No entity, demon or otherwise, lashed out after unless…
“Wait, wait, wait. Back up.” Matt asked, pointing somewhere on the screen.
Jon did as was asked an overshot the replay by a few seconds so that everyone was on the same page.
“What’s that?” Matt asked.
Jon took half a second to register and by then he missed it so he replayed again.
“That, what’s that?” Matt pointed again at the paused video.
They all did a version of a stifled exclaim. Shock was written on all their faces. None was as shocked as Jon. Cain shook his head and Matt grabbed the edge of the table to keep himself up. It showed the feed pointing to the living room. The feed that partially showed Jon’s back.
“That’s… that’s the fucker from… last night.” Matt stammered.