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2024-10-29 19:42:56Matt woke up feeling refreshed. He blinked several times, adjusting to the light in the bedroom that he forgot to switch off before crashing. As was his custom, he rolled over to his left to give Emmy a quick cuddle. The empty side of the bed reminded him where his wife was.
Matt stretched while on his back and yawned before rolling over to the right to check his watch which he always placed on the bedside table before going to sleep. He raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips. The time read four minutes past nine.
One of those kinds of sleep then, he thought as he got up to head to the bathroom.
While emptying his bladder, Matt realized that he was hungry. His stomach felt hollow. Thinking back to the meal he shared with Jean hours ago, he shook his head. He ate a full meal. Full enough to allow him to crash and fall asleep as soon as he hit the bed. The growl his stomach gave off put any further doubts to rest.
Matt passed by Gina’s room to
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Emmy stirred from her short evening nap. Her first thought was to get up and look around. With Gina’s arm draped on her legs however, she opted not to. Her daughter needed the rest and Emmy did not want to wake her up just yet.She bent her neck from side to side, releasing the tension. She exhaled audibly with each pop. Emmy briefly considered sliding down and just proceed to sleep. A few moments spent sitting and considering the option and Emmy abandoned the idea.How long was I out? She asked, raising her gaze towards the wall.The digital clock with its pink lights proudly answered her question. Thirteen minutes past nine. Emmy inhaled and exhaled through her mouth loudly. A shiver ran down her spine.She did not have the chance to consider what it was or what it meant. As soon as she shook herself out of that macabre dream, Gina woke up. Emmy offered to get her something to drink or eat to warm her up but when Gina declined, Emmy went
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 14
“But why? I’m strong.” Jean asked.“Sometimes, your own strength is not enough. You must know when to ask for help.” Princess Jessamine answered.“I don’t need it.” The little girl answered, “I have you. This is your kingdom.”“That is true,” the princess answered, gliding in the air, her beautiful multicolored robes flowing with the breeze, “this is my kingdom and everyone obeys my will. But you are only safe here if you’re with me.”“I’ll always be with you when I’m here, so I won’t need help.”“I can’t always be with you. I’m a princess, I have princess-y things to do. Besides, don’t you want to go on adventures on your own? This kingdom is really big, you know.”“Maybe.” Jean started, considering the princess’ words. “Don’t you have soldiers or knights?”<
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 15
The lights around the outside of the house conceded to the slowly brightening sky that marked the end of dawn. Jim woke himself up when his head swayed too far to the left. He fell asleep on the seat that Emmy occupied the night before.Contrary to her declaration, Jean was able to fall asleep quickly as soon as she lay done on a stack of blankets that Matt prepared for her, to the left of the chair. Matt got up and looked out the window. There was a thin mist hovering a few inches above ground. The rain had stopped.Sue woke up some time during the night and excused herself saying she needed a change of clothes. When she failed to return, Matt followed her to their room where he found her sleeping on her side on the edge of the bed. She did not wake up when Matt repositioned her and placed a blanket over. He left her to have a proper rest but kept the lights on and the door open.The room’s floor was filled with scattered clothes and medical supplies. Mat
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 16
Matt was left downstairs to cook and clean up. Emmy took Jean back upstairs to give her an early morning bath. As if on second thought, he took pictures of the tracks with his old smartphone before he started to clean. He was starting to doubt whether he locked the doors the night before or not as he wiped off the prints. He shuddered every time he tried to consider just exactly what was happening, or what it all meant.There were no tracks leading out of the house. That could have been explained easily. And if Jean was sleepwalking, locking the doors from the inside didn’t help. He took a mental note about getting additional locks. It did not calm him one bit. A thought kept coming gnawing at his mind, forcing him to confront it.Who… what was it?The terrifying issue of the voice that spoke to him, the voice that both he and Emmy heard took a backseat. Matt remembered Jean coming into Gina’s room. She was sleeping there when he exit
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 17
She tried to make excuses for it. She tried to adopt his husband’s attitude as she bathed her daughter. She failed. So, Emmy tried to find a way to ask her questions without sounding off an alarm or triggering any sort of panic, or an onslaught of questions, from Jean. After bathing her, Emmy pretended that she needed help cleaning up Gina’s room. Jean liked it. The little girl listened and observed patiently as her mom taught her how to fold clothes. When it was Jean’s turn, Emmy started asking the question. “Honey, do you remember how late or early it was when you went to bed?” “I don’t know,” the girl shrugged, “but it was night already.” “After dinner?” “Yeah. Daddy and I, we watched TV. I think I fell asleep.” “You remember anything else?” “Uh uhm.” The girl shook her head. “Do you remember maybe waking up and going to for a drink or needing to pee?” The little girl shook her head again. Emmy could see that
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 18
The door chain locks did not take long to install. Matt placed them at above eye level to make sure Jean would at least need something to stand up on before she could open them. He turned it over and over his head while he installed the locks although the explanation was apparent.If not Jean, then who? Or What?He did not like it. The encroaching feeling of helplessness, brought about the lack of answers to any of his questions. Unwilling to dwell and wallow on it, Matt immediately moved to the next task.He went to back to the garage to return the drill and picked up a small shovel and a plastic garbage bag. They only had big sizes stored outside. He decided it was fine. If any, double wrapping it on itself would make for a better seal and prevent any disgusting smells. He managed to put the severed carcasses away in under five minutes.Not satisfied, and by force of habit, Matt surveyed the area again, this time including both sides of the hou
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 19
They had supper at Gina’s room that night. It was almost entirely silent except for Matt trying to make light of things. His jokes and quips mostly fell flat. Emmy just beamed him a weak smile now and then. Gina did the same as well. Only Jean seemed to be into it, giggling at the silly bits. Emmy called him downstairs once supper was over.“We should sleep together, in Gina’s room.” She said.Matt saw the seriousness in her expression and offered no objections.“Sure hon. I’ll just watch something with Jean until she’s tired. Then, we’ll go up.”Emmy nodded to him, placing a hand on his chest and went up. Matt put the TV on and called Jean down. He washed the dishes and cleaned the counter then joined her. It was a funny show. Although it was not for kids, the laugh tracks helped. She giggled and laughed along as the program progressed. Whether she understood the jokes or not, Matt had no idea.
The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel Chapter 20
Matt’s dreamless slumber was interrupted. He groaned as he felt someone shaking him vigorously by the shoulder. He sleepily opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the tent he put up was already gone. Matt turned on his back to find Emmy kneeling beside him, urging him to wake up.Has she been crying?The expression written on Emmy’s face was enough. Matt got up, propping himself by his elbows and took a look around. He did not speak for fear of waking up Jean who slept beside him. Noting nothing of import, he turned his eyes back to Emmy. She was not looking at him. Her eyes were transfixed on the door.It was open. He squinted to adapt his eyes but saw nothing. Matt realized he might need to talk his wife out of it but before that, he needed to satisfy her. He felt her hand shake while she looked. He decided to pretend he was paying attention as he got up to a sitting position.The next few seconds yielded nothing. It was qu
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Chapter 85
He was getting impatient. It was the last leg and he had nothing better else to do. The onboard entertainment’s picks did not hold anything interesting. Then again, most things called entertainment nowadays didn’t hold his interest. He found them almost always superficial and a little on the pandering side.But this was the last leg and he was going to land soon. Unlike most countries, he visited this one regularly. He did not have a choice, he had to come back every time. This time however, he was early. There were so many things he needed to know. So many things he needed to ask. This time, he hoped he would get answers.There was not a need to ask before. If he was being honest, there wasn’t even such a question before. There was just him, his abilities, and the man who trained him. The man he called Tata, or uncle. The man who helped him get revenge all those decades ago. The man who, at times, almost seemed like his personal warden. The only one he knew who was more powerful than
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Chapter 84
“Here’s why I think that’s what happened. If, there was only one demon, or even a group of them with one purpose, just like we usually see, the chances are it would only possess one. Meaning, it-”“It would only harass one, and all the rest will be collateral.” The bishop finished.Father Anton nodded and paused to give the bishop time to connect things.“That means, there were at least two groups of demons there. My gut tells me the other one was a lone demon, and the on the other side, the one that possessed the children, were the other group.That explains why the parents needed to die, and Cain had to die. And his friend would have also died had he not run away, though, God bless his soul, I think it would have been better if he just died.”“I get most of it but not about the part where everyone, well, almost everyone needed to die.” The bishop admitted.“Let’s take the testimonies of those who knew them. Nobody will say that the father was capable of such abuse. But there was abu
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Chapter 83
It was not the waiting that he hated. Bob was the bishop after all. He had many things to attend to. It was the things going through his head as he sat outside the bishop’s office that he did not like. It was all too sudden and the person directly responsible for Cain, the situation wasn’t looking good.“Tony?” He heard the bishop call, peeking out his door.Father Anton Ramirez got up and walked towards the door of the bishop’s office. Finding that the bishop had already taken his place behind his desk, he closed the door behind him and locked it.“It’s a mess Tony, I was not expecting this.”“I’m sorry Your Excellency. I was… this is a first.”“Drop the formalities. I know it’s not your fault. Well, maybe a little bit. A little bit our faults. Why don’t you start from the beginning?”Father Anton sat first then opened the satchel he had with him and began taking out folders and placing them on the bishop’s desk.“Let’s deal with those later. Just tell me what you saw and what you th
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Chapter 82
Her exertions soon reached its peak and Emmy stopped and plopped onto her dead husband’s carcass. Her knuckles were covered in blood, his and hers. She laughed as she felt the last of his blood spurt out of his neck, grazing hers. Her screaming had made her voice hoarse but that did not matter anymore.She pushed herself up and regarded her handiwork. She burst out laughing hysterically. Her madness had taken over completely that she did not even dare question what that shadow was, that shadow that was tall and thick and wide that stood before her. A shadow that went against the light.“The children are ours! OURS!” The demons hissed.The shadow reached out a massive arm for her to grab on. She took it, still laughing. As she stood up, the shadow started to come into view. She was intrigued at how majestic and powerful it looked with its thick arms and legs that were muscled and huge as tree trunks. She laughed and laughed. A laughing that was interrupted by the demons declaring owner
- The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel
Chapter 81
Emmy felt a burst of anger fill her, a fury of such strength it made her forget pain. Her eyes smoldered with hate. Just moments ago, she felt like dirt but that didn’t matter now. She would have ignored what the demons were saying. It might have been true for her, or not. But, the expression on her husband’s face said it all.“Tell me I’m wrong Matt. TELL ME!” She demanded as she crawled on the debris, hands feeling, looking for something.Matt did not reply. He did not even look at her. She could see it in his eyes. How he struggled, how he could not hide it, how ashamed he was. It didn’t matter that his cheeks glistened with the torrent of tears streaming down his face. He was guilty. Her hands found something pointy. She got up as he screamed.“You… YOU FUCKED YOUR DAUGHTER?”She could tell. The demon’s words were not just insinuations. This was more unforgivable than coupling with an entity she could not even put a face to. Her mind raced, trying to give him the benefit of the do
- The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel
Chapter 80
His skin was a literal field of goosebumps. The creatures seemed to have already delivered and still wasn’t done yet. While he heard the otherworldly voices above everyone else’s, it wasn’t the demonic voices that drew his attention but the emotions that flooded the whole house.Confusion was the overwhelming feeling that he got but that was just the surface. Underneath was denial, disgust, and fear. It flared off in varying degrees on all the humans present. And he was harvesting it all.Despite the large number of anchors he had, the ring which glowed in many different colors, now felt cooler in his finger. He chuckled to himself, forgetting the real threat that the hulking creature, or the ones who sought his help, posed.True to their agreement, he let go of the young child. There was not much to her anyway. She was afraid, and disoriented, but not in levels that the adults were giving off.The one he labeled as a priest of some kind had been trying to get up but could only manage
- The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel
Chapter 79
It was not the voice, or how they came to him. It was not even how they knew to do something only one has been able to do until days ago. It was the request.“What… what do you mean?” He asked.It’s too strong. For me. For us. He’s too strong.He paced back and forth, not taking his eyes of the figures that stood before him, touching his anchors. The large creature did not need to touch his anchors to tell him to leave, then again, it was just standing there, like a ghost, among all the anchors.How the fuck do these things know about things I didn’t even know I had?“I don’t understand,” he finally spoke, “but what I understand is, that motherfucker is too strong. I don’t-” He paused, he sensed amusement when he said the last phrase. “You find that funny? At a time like this?”Yes. But still, help.“Like I was saying, that one is strong. And you’re obviously many and stronger than I am. If you can’t stop it, what the hell do you think I can do against it?”We know what you want. You
- The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel
Chapter 78
Matt was getting frustrated with everything. Every bone in his body ached, every uncovered part of his skin was either bruised or scratched, or both. While the words came out automatically in prayer, he found himself drifting. They were not getting anywhere. Cain was not getting anywhere. When the demons answered his wife, he was quite relieved.A start! An opening!Intending to hear more, Matt focused on the exchange not noticing that he had already dropped his prayers in exchange for the tidbits he was hearing.“I did not fail my Gina!” Emmy answered, defending against the insinuation.“OH! SHE DIDN’T, SHE SAYS.”Cain, being the closest to the possessed child, had to cover his ears in fear of rupturing his eardrums.“But you did. You allowed your child to be defiled! IN YOUR OWN HOME!”It could not have been clearer that the demons wanted to emphasize the last phrase. The many voices sounded like they were about to go berserk. More debris rose from the ground, this time mainly from
- The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel
Chapter 77
“Holy fucking shit!” He remarked aloud as his anchors completely swarmed the entire first floor of the house.With Vein Sight, he clearly saw the full picture. There were other unseen figures moving about in the space. He counted a little over two dozen, the bulk of them standing by the child that everybody seemed to be facing.That unnerved him. One entity was powerful enough to have made him run away. Over two dozen was a disaster.This doesn’t make any fucking sense!The other demons who were mostly clustered around the child, whom he thought was the one who was possessed, were of a different build. While the one that had confronted him twice was tall, muscular, and impossibly wide, the other creatures were tall and wiry. Based on the power and hostility he was getting, he assumed that the creature who confronted him twice now, was the reason everything was as it was in that house.I’m out of my fucking depth here, he admitted to himself.He could not hear everything, but based on
