Emmy was thankful that despite their fears, all the grown-ups seemed to understand the unspoken rule – no talking about paranormal things while the children were present.
It was already late, but the children enjoyed the snacks she had prepared anyway. Normally, the family would be upstairs already at this hour and even if they weren’t the children would be yawning on the couch as they watched the TV. Tonight, the children did not show a hint of sleepiness. The sisters chatted happily as they snacked.
Jon joined in and had coffee. Matt followed shortly and engaged Jon in a conversation about his hobby and the different kinds of equipment he used. Cain came in and joined them at the table, asking for a cup of coffee too.
Cain and Emmy talked about their previous occupations. As Cain did not have any, most of the conversation flowed towards Emmy’s previous jobs. She spoke about her plans on picking her online gig back up once internet was available in the house again.
As Matt sat with his side to Jon, and Cain was facing Emmy, only Emmy noticed it. She dismissed it at first and continued her conversation with Cain, but it was getting harder to ignore. Jon’s blinking was getting faster and faster.
“Jon?” She called out.
“Yeah?” Jon answered, interrupted midsentence.
“What’s… you alright?”
Jon did not verbally reply but only nodded. Matt and Cain turned to him to see what prompted Emmy to ask.
“Jon, buddy. Hey, hey. Are you okay?”
Cain got up to stand beside his friend and tapped him by the shoulder. Jon’s gaze followed. He lifted his face towards Cain, blinking even more rapidly.
“Matt? What’s wrong with him?” Susan asked, rounding the table to get to where her children were seated.
“Cain… Cain… I-” Jon could not finish his sentence.
Bringing his hands to his face, Jon rubbed his cheeks vigorously, then his eyes. He looked around, still blinking fast. He pressed his knuckles into his temples. It appeared to Emmy as if he was straining hard, like he was trying to bury his fists inside his head.
“Jon?” Cain asked, shaking him by the shoulder. “Is it your headache?”
Jon stopped pressing on his temples and looked around wildly. He looked each person in the eyes, terror written all over his face.
“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!” Jon screamed.
Emmy’s arms spread around her daughters, snatching them from their chairs. Matt and Cain recoiled. Matt got up and backed up.
Still screaming and horrified, Jon smashed his face on the table, the coffee cup shattering in his face.
~0~
He waited with bated breath, anticipating the worst. He agonized between taking a peek, back towards the house and making a run for it. His anchor had disappeared. It only meant one thing.
This is fucking insane!
The anchors that he had spread in a tight circle around him were now forming a guard around his back and sides, a thick wall of undulating black mass. His anchor only disappeared, he thought. He did not feel any pain. If it was the same entity, it would remember him. It would know that it could hurt him through his anchor, so why didn’t it?
With that thought, he ventured to increase and thicken the wall of anchors behind him. If there was anything at all, anything near him, Vein sight would reveal it. Satisfied that there was no entity behind him, he came out from the cover of the tree and turned around.
It stood there, among the mass of viny anchors, facing him. The same dark, wide, and muscly figure he remembered except this time it appeared to be even taller.
He was like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck. A hundred different questions flooded his mind, all wanting to be asked first. he stood gazing up at its shifting face and in the darkness of the trees, he could not make out what its face actually looked like.
How was I not able to detect it?
It stood right where his anchors were. He increased the number, filling up the whole area around the figure. He still could not sense it. It was like a dark void. It just stood there watching him.
His legs shook and threatened to give out from under him. It has been ages since he felt this kind of fear. His heart beat rapidly against his chest, threatening to burst out. Cold sweat broke in his forehead.
In an effort to salvage the situation and turn the tables around, he used his fear and saturated the entire area with it. His ring felt hot in his finger. The creature growled.
He heard it growl but it its face gave no indication that it opened its mouth. He felt like it was taunting him, waiting for him to do something. He fell to his knees as they buckled but he kept his eyes on it. His anchors massed to his side as the creature took a step forward. He heard a scream coming from inside the house.
The creature growled again, deeper and longer this time. It sent every hair in his body standing. Then, the creature turned towards the house and blinked out of his vision.
The voice sounded like it came from the depths of hell. He heard it inside his head.
Leave.
~0~
He was keeping it in for the sake of the children but was losing the battle. Light hurt his eyes but when he closed them, he felt an invisible, almost palpable presence looming around him. As the headache intensified to unbearable levels, Jon had no recourse but to keep blinking.
The stronger his headache got, the faster he blinked. The faster he blinked the more deformed the people around him looked.
No!
He knew it was not possible. The people around him were turning into dreadful abominations. He saw one of them open it’s maw, the voice that came out sounded like a garbled call of an unknown horror.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped. Jon lifted his gaze up and briefly saw his friend before he too transformed before his eyes. His headache spike that his eyes widened and stayed open for the whole duration. Jon pressed on his temples hard.
“Cain… Cain… I-” he trailed.
He squeezed his eyes shut but the faces followed. When he opened his eyes again, all the abominations were looking at him, leering at him, tasting him with his eyes. Jon knew it was not possible. He knew he was hallucinating. But it was more than just a hallucination. He felt the sickening wetness of the creature whose paws were on his shoulder. He could smell the acrid stench of the creatures in front of him. And just when he thought he could stand up to the visions, just when he thought he could defy it, shadow formed in the far end of the kitchen.
He recognized it as it emerged from the wall. It was the demon that was captured in one of his cameras just minutes ago. In an effort to claim control of his mind, Jon screamed his terror out and when it didn’t prove to be enough, he did the only thing he knew would help him – concuss himself hard enough to pass out.
He brought his hands to his face, confused and still screaming. There was a table before him. There used to be a table before him. And a coffee cup. Why did he not feel it? Why didn’t his head stop midway? Jon banged tried to bang his head on the table again. The table was no longer there. It was the only explanation for he did not feel it. His head did not bounce from the strength of the impact he was expecting.
The tall, hulking figure passed through the wall completely and raised a hand towards him. It seemed to pass through the countertops and the chairs too.
He called for Cain but only managed a grumble. His headache felt like something inside his head was going to pop out. The mounting terror caused by the approaching monstrosity was great enough that he forgot about the abominations around him.
He bolted up and backed away. The pressure on his arm called his attention towards the abomination whose face was close to his. Jon felt a sudden, magnified itching in his forehead. He brought his right hand up to scratch it and felt his fingertips dig into his skin. When he scratched, a slab of hanging skin covered his right eye. The dark creature howled, as if in laughter. Jon screamed.
He felt his skull cracking, the pain only served to fuel his screaming. He held on to the slab of skin and tore it off. The scene before him darkened as hordes and hordes of tiny little insects came crawling out of his skull and flew around him. Then, they attacked him.
Left with no other choice, Jon ran out of the house, crying in terror.