It was already more than halfway through the summer and the guys felt like it was the first time they had a chance to relax. They were in the middle of a road-trip. A chance to let their guard down. A lot had happened since January. And they all were deeply affected; affected by a tragedy involving their closest friend. Todd Springfield needed to get away, he volunteered to drive his busted old Honda and got this idea for a lake-trip rolling. Allen Waters was sitting shotgun enjoying the scenery of the mountains. And Steve was sitting in the back seat, with a camouflage hunting vest, putting on his utility belt with a giant buck-knife strapped to it, and then polishing his rifle with a towel. He looked up and waited until he got all of the front-seat's attention and commanded in a bellowing voice, "This weekend you will only address me as Stockholm."
His last name was Thompson.
"Whatever you say, Bungalow Bill" Allen had a laugh at Todd's response.
Steven- I mean Stockholm... was unaffected, after he gave the command he went right back to polishing the rifle, and hasn't looked back up since. Their drive was about four hours and they were more than halfway there. All three of them were from Yonkers, New York. They were a group of four friends who became very close in high school, but since then they all have gone to different colleges. They held onto to their brotherhood as best they could. But it was now the summer between junior and senior year, and the last eight months had rattled them all to the edge. A much needed vacation was due. After a little while, Allen pulled a CD out of a case, put it in the car stereo, and raised the volume. They listened to a sorted collection of Grateful Dead Live Concert albums for the last two hours of the trip.
"Yo...um...Stockton....which lake is it again?" asked Todd as they got off the highway.
"Lake Algonquin," answered Stockholm. Who then leans forward in his seat, cocks the rifle, points the edge of the barrel right at Todd's cheek, and says, "...And it's Stockholm."
"Don't fuck around like that," yells Allen while he pushes the barrel away from Todd.
"Relax, it's not even loaded," dismisses Stockholm. It was silent for a while after that, with only the sounds of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir jamming, and the mountain winds shouting outside the windows to fill the empty space.
It was now almost six o'clock, p.m. And they were arriving at their destination. It was a quaint cabin on the lake. Lake Algonquin was in northern New York, close to the border of New Hampshire. The closest town was more than five miles away.
"Where did you get this place from?" inquired Allen as they all got out of the car and inspected their home for the weekend.
"I threw a dart at a map of New York," No one was sure if Stockholm was kidding or not. The cabin was old and covered. It looked like the surrounding forest was trying to hide it. There was no electricity inside. It was a spacious cabin, a study in back, and a room next to it which looked like it had recently been turned into a bathroom.
"Looks like the real estate guy was here earlier," implied Todd after looking at the make-shift bathroom. There were also stairs to the right which led to a lofted floor looking over the common room. After checking out the entire cabin they set up all there stuff, and then went outside. Stockholm started gathering wood, and Todd and Allen began to make a fire-pit. By nightfall they had the fire roaring, and were casually sitting by it. No one was talking much. Allen could guess what was going on, the one thing they were all thinking about.
"We might as well just talk about it, and get it out of the way at this point," he declared.
"What's to talk about?" denounced Todd.
"It's over. We move on now." reasoned Stockholm.
"I'd hardly call this moving on..." commented Allen.
"He was your brother. You should be taking it the worse." countered Stockholm.
"There was nothing any of us could have done," summarized Todd, "Our only mistake was splitting up..."
"That's what it is."
"You pinpointed it man," confirmed Stockholm, "that's all I can think about."
"We all had our own lives to live," argued Allen, "but if that's how you guys feel. I understand." Todd got up and grabbed three beers, passed them out, and sat back down. They all popped the caps and cheered the bottles, "For Louis," they said in unison and poured some of the beers on the fire. The tension had been lifted. Stockholm was whittling with his buck-knife, Todd was poking the fire with a stick while he gulped his beer, and Allen was sitting back, enjoying the occasion. He then stood up and said, "I''m gonna go down by the lake." They nodded at him and he walked down to the dock, by himself, that was next to the cabin. He sat on the edge of the dock, and dangled his legs off, dipping his feet into the water. It was real cold at first. But his feet got used to it in no time. Allen's mind drifted into the reflection of the moon and stars in the lake. He was no longer obsessing over his brother's death. An obsession that has consumed his entire identity. But for right now he was free.
The moon was bright and danced with the ripple of the lake in great definition. The reflection grew dark and was almost put out by the shadow of something behind Allen. 'It's some kind of animal, too quiet to be Todd or Stockholm' he thought to himself. He was frozen. As the beast got closer, Allen got a better look at it from the lake. What he saw was a contorted wolf with wide, owl-like eyes, a hooked nose, and, strangest of all, two scaly dragon-wings on its back. Allen took short quick breaths and tried to think. He tried to harness his fear and turned his head to confront this monster. But when he looked back there was nothing there. He was immediately relieved. It was just his imagination. He turned back to check out the reflection again. Instead of the moon and stars there was nothing but black. Thick tar sludge had replaced the water in the lake, and it was starting to crawl up Allen's legs.
He twitched and squirmed and screamed for help. Allen quickly gave up on screaming, gripped the boards of wood that made up the deck, and tried to pull his legs out of the lake. But it was not working. Thankfully, Todd and Stockholm had just arrived and were grabbing his arms and pulling him out. To Allen, the lake felt like it had released him, and when he looked back after standing up, the water was back to normal.
"What happened?" asked Todd as he looked around at the empty beach. All he could see was a stump with a dirty old axe lodged in it. Stockholm took the rifle off his shoulder and pointed it all around them. "I don't know. I felt like I was being sucked in," staggered Allen. They brought him back to the fire where he calmed down. It was getting late and the fire was dying down. Allen and Todd went inside to go to sleep. "I'm gonna stay by the fire," said Stockholm. The other two walked in and quickly fell asleep.
Stockholm fell asleep in his chair and was woken up by the sunrise the next morning. All that was left of the fire were red-hot embers. It was still so early in the morning that he could see the dew accumulating on the grass. Stockholm quickly grabbed his rifle and bowie knife, and ran into the forest. After a full sprint of about two hundred yards, he came to a halt and had a thought, 'Should've brought a breakfast beer." For a while, he crouched down behind a bush, waiting to cross paths with any kind of prey. After what seemed like an hour, but was really about fifteen minutes, Stockholm was about to call it quits when he heard a quack from above. He looked up and saw a "V" of ducks flying overhead. He unloaded on the flock. Three ducks plummeted lifelessly to the ground.
Before Stockholm started to walk over to his kills, he saw a rustle in the bushes. Whatever it was, it was heading for the dead ducks. Stockholm reloaded his rifle and chased after it. "Ain't no stinkin' 'coon gonna rob my trophies!" he mumbled to himself as he ran. When Stockholm got closer he also got a better look at what he was chasing. It was a dog (the size of a bear) with black wings that resembled an angel's wings, be it without the color difference. Stockholm froze. The beast was eating one of the ducks. Stockholm slowly approached the dog and tried to grab the other duck. The winged-dog stopped eating and turned to look at Stockholm. He gripped his rifle tight and picked the dead duck up by the legs. The beast walked over to Stockholm and spat blood directly into his face. Stockholm fired his rifle instinctively, but after the flash of the shot, the beast was gone. Stockholm would wonder if it all was a hallucination if he didn't still have its blood covering his face. He wiped it off as best he could and returned to the cabin.
"Where were you?" asked Todd once again poking the fire, and Allen yawning and stretching right in front of the cabin door.
"Getting us breakfast," responded Stockholm while he lifted up the duck. He had decided not to tell them about the winged-dog. Todd and Allen watched as Stockholm prepared the duck. When it was ready to be served, Todd and Allen both had found that they lost their appetites. "Your loss," said Stockholm as he tore into the duck's side like a wild animal.
It was approaching noon and everyone was getting restless. Allen and Stockholm decided to take a dip in the lake. Todd passed up the lake to look around inside the cabin. Once inside, he immediately headed for the study. Inside the study was a wall full of bookshelves, filled with very old books. Todd skimmed the rows briefly before one, in-particular, caught his eye. He pulled it out of the shelf and blew the accumulated dust off of it. The title read, The Journal of Zachariah Weston. This was not a published book, it must be the remnants of the last people to inhabit this house. Todd was immediately interested. He got comfortable in a cushy chair and opened the journal. The first entry was dated January 1st, 1702. But Todd was more interested in why the journal was only filled halfway. He flipped towards the last few entries and was deeply immersed in a terrifying world...
August 6th
It has been two weeks since we buried Mother, and I miss her dearly. I still do not know why he killed her, but I dare not go against Father and Joseph. They seem to be under the impression that we will be coming into tremendous fortune. Someone, or something...has been telling them lies. I am so terrified, I have never felt so alone. I have always been afraid of Father, but never my younger brother before now. I must go for I hear someone coming. If they ever find this journal or me writing in it, it will surely be the end of me.
August 11th
Last night something came to me in my room. His name was Agares and he said he was an angel. But he did not look like an angel. He looked like an old man riding a crocodile. He told me my family was going to kill me, and then he gave me an expression I cannot stop thinking about, "Over love, truth, or family, give me life." It is the most precious thing in the world to me right now and I will do whatever it takes to preserve it. Even if it means running away...
Aug 14th
I tried to leave last night, but when I got outside Father was waiting for me in the forest with his axe. He said that Joseph had told him I would try to leave. Joseph sent him outside to stop me. They think I was going to turn them in. Now I fear that they are going to kill me.
Aug 15th
My suspicions were right. They are plotting to kill me tomorrow, that is why I must leave tonight. Agares told me to leave them and run away, to fend for myself. If this is the lord's way, then hopefully this will be the last time this journal hears from me.
Aug 16th
If you are wondering why the ink is red, it is because last night I killed my brother, Zachariah. And I am now writing with his blood in my new journal. But of course, you know this already according to the last couple of entries. I told father that he was planning to turn us in and he caught him running away, caught him right in the head with his axe. The only problem now is what to do about father. He has become paranoid, sometimes he even acts like he thinks he is invisible. I'm going to have to kill him. Astaroth said I could use him, but eventually have to kill him. All I have to do is trick him into putting down that axe. Perhaps, I will catch him while he's chopping wood down by the beach.
Todd now knew why they got the cabin so cheap. It was the home of a mad family massacre. Clearly, they were being haunted by something. Who knows if those ghosts and spirits were still here. And then it hit him. He ran out of the cabin and down to the beach with the journal still in his hand. But it was too late. The axe was down at the beach. Unfortunately, it had found its way into the hands of Stockholm, and he had already plunged it into Allen's stomach. Todd was horrified and rushed back to the cabin. He grabbed the rifle and locked the door behind him. Stockholm left for the woods. Allen was wounded but he was not dead. He got to his feet and slowly made his way to the cabin. Inside the cabin, Todd was barricading furniture in front of the doors and windows when a light caught his eye. It was the ghost of a kid. 'It must be Zachariah.' He asked it what had happened here and this is what the spirit told him, "The people before us who built this cabin were devil worshipers, they performed satanic rituals down at the beach. They called upon a duke, a prince, and a president of hell. These three demons spawned through a portal from hell through the lake and traded positions with the worshipers. When my family moved in they tricked and seduced us into killing each other with delusions of treasures. Their names are Agares, Astaroth, and Caacrinolas. And they are still here."
"How can I trust you?" skepticized Todd. And the phantom kid turned into Todd's friend and Allen's deceased brother, Louis. Without another doubt, Todd believed the ghost's story. But before he could speak to Louis his face dissolved into his brother's face being pushed against the window. Todd broke the window and pulled Allen inside. "I thought you were dead," he said to Allen. In through the hole from the window, after Allen, crawled a crocodile. It jumped over Allen and went right for Todd. He screamed and ran into the other room, but slipped on the floor. The crocodile caught him right in front of the staircase and began biting and scratching him furiously. Allen watched as Todd writhed in pain alone on the floor, blood being spilt by scratches all around him. Allen could not see the crocodile.
Meanwhile, in the woods Stockholm was looking at all of the bruises covering his body. He tore his shirt off and found that many of the lesions were bursting and cutting his skin open. The lesions and sores were blistering and oozing. Stockholm was going mad with pain, and peeled some of his flesh off to ease his suffering. Out from underneath the peeling flesh crawled thousands of tiny bugs. Little larva growing in his rot. No longer in pain, he charged back to the cabin and began chopping down a piece of the wall with the axe. Allen was trying to calm Todd down. Allen then thought of something. He tied Todd to the railing-posts on the staircase, and opened the door for Stockholm. He called over to him, "I know you are looking for the treasure. If you kill him before me, I will help you find it." Stockholm stopped chopping the wall and said, "How do you know where it is?"
"A wolf told me. He said your hound will understand..." Stockholm looked shocked that Allen knew about the dog that gave him this new strength. "...Here," said Allen as he handed him his rifle. Stockholm switched the axe for the rifle and walked over to Todd. "Don't do this man," said Todd as he squirmed. "Sorry, pal" replied Stockholm as he cocked the rifle and fired it. Except no bullet shot out.
Allen had taken out all of the ammo. He then swung the axe into Stockholm's back and brought him to the ground. "Oh my god!" screamed out Todd, "I thought you lost it for a second."
"I did too," confessed Allen, gripping the handle of the axe tighter. On an impulse Allen swung the axe for Todd's head, but Todd moved out of the way and the axe chopped his binds off. Todd fell to the ground and scurried away from Allen. "Wait!" he yelled, "Stop!"
"Why should I?" asked Allen, "This is only going to end one way."
"How did it even get like this? You can drop the axe. You don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do. It's my fault."
"Your brother's suicide was not your fault."
"That's where you're wrong. If I do this, I can fix it all. I find the treasure."
"What treasure Allen?"
"MY TREASURE!" screams Stockholm as he tackles Allen to the floor and the axe slides towards Todd's feet. Allen and Stockholm wrestle on the floor, jabbing their fingers into each other's wounds and twisting. Todd looks at the axe. He is sure that it is the cause of all this. He picks it up and rushes down to the lake. He is prepared to throw it into the lake. Todd's running down the path and looking behind him for Allen and Stockholm. When he turns back around he is thrown backwards off his feet by a frightful monster. A body with three heads, (a wolf's head, a dog's head, and a crocodile's head) two different kinds of wings (demon's wings and angel's wings), and six arms and six legs. It jumps at Todd and crawls into his mouth, burrowing its way inside of him.
Allen and Stockholm still on top of each other, realize that Todd is trying to get rid of the axe, and both get up to run after him. "Allen, where are the bullets?"
"If I tell you will you only kill Todd with them?"
"Of course, I shall save you for the axe." Allen laughed sinisterly and retrieved the ammo for the rifle. Stockholm reloaded the rifle, and they both headed for the beach. But meeting them on the path was Todd, standing there wielding the axe, with jet-black eyes. Todd gave a battle cry and ran at them. Before Stockholm could fire the rifle, Todd chopped the barrel clean off. He was moving unnaturally fast. The next axe-swing was for his head. Stockholm dropped the rifle and ducked back. Allen jumped forward, picked up the sawed-off rifle, and shot Todd point-blank in the chest. Allen screamed as the rifle blew apart in his hands. Todd shook his head, cocked the axe back, and swung it low, chopping Allen's head off right through the mouth. Allen's body fell lifelessly to the floor, and neither Todd nor Stockholm cared. Todd took another swing, this one intended for Stockholm, but as they both ran at each other, Todd was stopped by Stockholm catching the handle of the axe, mid-air.
Now they were both battling for the axe. Todd pulled back the bottom part of the handle and then jolted it forward, hitting Stockholm in between the legs. Stockholm screamed in outrage, and shoved his head into Todd's neck, biting furiously, and pulling his flesh off with his teeth. Todd let go of the axe, kicked Stockholm back, and ran over behind a tree. Stockholm caught up and took a swing at him. The axe missed and got caught in the tree. Todd grabbed Stockholm by the hair and smashed his head against the tree. The hair from his head fell loose from Todd's hand. To Stockholm, Todd began to scratch and tear his skin off. Underneath his skin was the triple-headed monster. Todd pulled the axe out of the tree and slowly approached Stockholm. Stockholm was cowering underneath Todd as he raised the axe. But then he remembered the buck-knife that was strapped to his side. In one fluent motion, he took out the knife and stabbed Todd in the heart, before the axe-stroke fell. Todd stopped dead in his tracks. The axe suspended in the air. Stockholm exhaled, and laughed in victory. But his laughter was cut short when the axe cut his brain in half. Todd was not dead and had split Stockholm's head down the middle.
Stockholm was dead, but just to be sure Todd went buck-wild with the axe, carving his carcass out like a pumpkin. Todd could finally get away. He ran back towards the cabin, but he did not go for his busted old Honda. He went for the lake. Once he got to the lake, still carrying the axe, he pulled out the giant knife that was lodged in his chest, threw it, and stuck it into the stump where Stockholm had first found the axe. After the throw Todd's heart fell out of his chest cavity and he couldn't move anymore. With his last motion, Todd smiled and fell into the lake, still holding the axe.
But did he really get away
.....The Hallows Presents.....
The Last Intervention
All-knowing and all-seeing are only reserved for One. He stands outside of life so there is an outside. He is the border, He is the exception, He is it all. Even a part of each and everything in and out of existence. Our lives and our freedoms come from His withdrawal. For millennia He has had to watch His creation and play a delicate game of fate and chaos. He played for Good, where all things come from.
There were many sacrifices He had and would still endure. For God was only bound by man. Their free will and curiosity, their essential difference between the rest of the animal kingdom, their advanced level of self-awareness constricted His influence on them directly.
There was no stopping Him though. And finally, even His own judgment over took Him. God would have to watch today as a poor orphaned infant be run down by an unsuspecting bus. He knew it was coming. He could not let this happen. For once he was not okay with denying a soul the joy of living a human lifetime. This baby deserved to grow up, watch Nickelodeon, play little league, fall in love, make mistakes, and eventually create his own life. So God did the unthinkable. He used his awesome power and took the form of a human on earth.
The Grey Beggar reached for the baby in the basket on the street. Right as the bus turned the corner the Beggar saved the child from the crushed basket under the rolling bus tire. The Grey Beggar took the baby to the nearest orphanage. He had to be quick. Taking on this form was completely irrational and irresponsible for the Master of the Universe. He must obey the laws of man as a human being. If he is hurt here he is hurt as Alpha and Omega. If put into a coma he would be trapped in this form forever. If killed...The entire universe and anything from here to infinity would unravel and become nonexistent.
The Grey Beggar brought the baby to the doorsteps and did a classic orphan drop. When he turned the corner down the street he was walking in front of someone. The Grey Beggar turned down the alley as he prepared to ascend back into Eternity. The man who followed him down there was covered in darkness and holding a dagger.
God wrestled with this man holding the petty knife. He knew He could snap him in half. He knew this poor schmuck had a family with three little girls who relied on him for food. He crushed his hand and the man dropped the dagger. God turned around in disappointment. He would never return again to this place.
The dagger is swept up across the floor. He knows this, and does nothing about it. It plunges into His back and punctures the back wall of his heart. Blood runs crooked into His body, draining His arteries and veins. His organs fail and the Grey Beggar bleeds out. By now the Beggar is on the floor with several stab wounds in His back.
God dies as man and Eternity is destroyed. The fabric of time and space held on to Eternity and Infinity. Without them it was falling apart at the seams. It started on earth as tornado storms, earthquakes, and hurricanes. But then time-cracks would propel and shuffle people into different ages. Some were killed, and some were lost in between eras. God was not able to hold it all together anymore.
Soon the stretches and the fractures would tear the world apart. But in death there was only nothing. No floating out in white abyss. There was just crushed minds and killed hearts. The soul was extinguished. Without God life came to an end.
But if God is everything...isn't he also the absence of himself?
Nothing ever ends.
...The Hallows Presents...
Gruesome Killer in the Promised Land
The road was short once he got off the highway. He was at the top of the Pocono Mountains heading to the Promised Land Lodge and Resort. This rural route road took him through the slums of the mountains, the boondocks, hillbilly heaven, before the forest swallowed it up as it peaked at the top of the mountain. Calvin crossed over a tiny bridge dividing the lake, up the hill and he could finally see the Lodge.
Calvin got to his room and went to the Meet and Greet Dinner for the convention. He did not want to be here. He had never come to one of these alone before. Usually Lisa was here with him. How many nights he wished she was his wife instead of Natalie. Over ten years now, Calvin blamed Natalie for this empty bed in his room. He blamed himself for everything else. And worked hard to overcome the guilt that comes from his kids' eyes.
Perhaps this was good for him. Something kept him from inviting anyone else to come, and Calvin had a very big family. Why wouldn't he? He was rich and his last name was Carnegie. Calvin could have invited any of his cousins, nephews, or nieces. But instead he went alone, even when one of his oldest nephews lived not 20 miles away...in the mountains...
A conscious choice, Instead he went alone. And took this as a chance at a retreat from his entire life. Calvin went to the prestigious Kendrix Ballroom for a drink after dinner. Many of his colleagues were at the bar as well. None were there that he actually knew. It was to no surprise, he was the only agent who got enough awards to be invited in all the Connecticut branch. He sat down next to a beautiful woman in her forty's and ordered his drink. They talked the night away, but before falling to temptation she revealed to be married. As she walked out Calvin muttered, "Had to be a brunette."
Calvin was now the last one sitting at the bar in the ballroom. The bartender topped him off after that and they got to talking. Gibbons told him all about the history of this place as he held his bottle of whiskey.
It was a casino and ski resort in the fifty's; a luxurious mountain getaway for the rich and powerful. There was a big fire that destroyed the casino, after that Edgar Wallace Kendrix built this ballroom in its place. In the eighties the ski mountain shut down. Now all that is left is the hotel and scenic beauty. When Calvin asked him why the ski mountain shut down, Gibbons tried to not answer. It was not until late in the night, when they were both drunk and Calvin brought it up again.
"Turns out," Gibbons whispered, "Some of the locals are nut-job recluses. And at least once a year there was an incident the ski mountain had to cover up."
"Incident?" Calvin squinted.
"Kidnappings, assault, rape,...murder..."
"My lord."
"Some people..." Gibbons looked around, "...like myself...Believe the casino fire was just another incident."
"Did anything ever happen? Families informed? Did the Authorities find them?"
"They-"
"Time to close up Gibbons!" ordered the Ballroom Manager.
The manager escorted Calvin out and apologized for Gibbon's ghost stories. Calvin returned to his room and thought about his drive up here and what Gibbon's had said about the natives.
Maybe he should leave?
* * *
Calvin slept through the night and after finishing his morning meetings went to the pool for the afternoon. The indoor pool was beautiful. If there wasn't a hot tub, the over-chlorinated water would have been a problem. After another lonely dinner, Calvin joined his fellow agents in the ballroom for another night.
Gibbons was not there, but the brunette was back. This time in a very tight and very short red dress. He watched her get drunk and flirt with other agents all night. That is until he crossed paths with her outside the bathrooms.
"I see you found your wedding ring," Calvin commented resentfully.
"Yes.." she smiled, "...but I seem to have lost my panties."
Calvin put down his empty whiskey glass on a shelf and pressed her up against the wall. He slid his hand up her thigh and under that tight red dress. Calvin kissed her neck and pulled her skirt up. He turned her around and unbeknownst to them a stranger crossed the bridge into the Lodge. He dragged a sparking ax grinding against the road.
The valet saw him coming up the field when he finished parking a car. He approached him in the dark of the night and did not expect what was next. The ax was lifted and swung into the chest of the valet. He never got a look at his face. The only fortunate one.
The Gruesome Killer walked around the back of the hotel. He entered unnoticed by anyone, lurking in the hotel hallways like a shadow. He entered the kitchen and walked through. It was almost 3 in the morning. Most of the staff was off. The dishwasher put his jacket on and opened the door to the ax dragging killer. Before the dishwasher was carved out like a pumpkin he looked straight into the eyes of the Gruesome Killer.
Calvin finished with her in the bathroom of the ballroom. He did not have the guts to bring her back to his room or go back to hers. The Killer walked amongst them. She returned to her room and he returned to the bar. Who knows where the murderous fiend was. Just as he walked in the door, Gibbons was starting his shift. Calvin smiled and called out. Gibbons finished putting his smock on and waved. Calvin's smile twisted and was turned upside down. The ax of the killer swung out from behind the bar in the back of Gibbons while he was waving.
Calvin could see the tip of it peeking out his chest. The few others who were left in the ballroom screamed and ran out. Calvin tripped over a table as he ran. He tried to get out but he had to see this murderer's face. The Gruesome Killer turned around before Gibbon's corpse. Calvin could see everything.
He was draped in dark flannel and a down jacket almost torn to shreds. It was all covered in dried mud and blood, along with his steel-toe boots and black jeans. He dragged his ax and looked at Calvin. The last one still in the ballroom.
Calvin could now see his face.
The Gruesome Killer had a beard with a scar through it and his left eye, which looked fake. He also had a snub nose, like that of a pig's. Half of his face was mostly normal, except for the scarring. The other half looked like it was burnt or deformed somehow. It emerged from his weird pig-nose all across his cheek to his forehead and chin.
Calvin didn't think it was human. Why did it not speak?
He got to his feet as the Killer threw tables over to get to him. Calvin ran out of the ballroom and tried locking the glass doors. He ran up the stairs to call the cops as the glass doors were blown in. The stairs led directly to the lobby.
Calvin got to the front desk. "Call the police!" he yelled.
"We're trying, he must have cut the lines."
"What about cell phones?"
"You can try, but there is no service tower up here. That is why we do not offer wi-fi in the rooms."
"THERE IS A MURDERER ON HIS WAY UP HERE!"
"What are we suppose to do?" argued the graveyard shift front desk managers.
"We have to warn everyone!" demanded Calvin. "Pull the fire alarm!"
"Everyone is sleeping, sir."
"That would drench everything."
"This is crazy!" Calvin screamed as the ax came around the corner for his head. Calvin ducked out of the way just in time and crawled to safety. The two managers jumped out from behind the the front desk and escaped out of the lobby to their cars. Now it was just the Gruesome Killer and Calvin.
Calvin ran through the lobby. He had to choose where to go. Back downstairs, outside to the courtyard, or up to the rooms. He ran up the stairs, but not to the rooms. The Killer followed him and him alone. Calvin was beginning to take it personally.
The Gruesome Killer walked up the stairs. Calvin watched him from the fourth floor. The brunette female agent rushes out of her room with her luggage. She was no longer wearing the red dress.
"I'm getting the fuck out of here!"
"Wait! Don't!" The girl panics and shoves Calvin off of her, down the stairs. The fleeing female takes the old fashion elevator down. The Killer leaves the stairwell to stop the elevator. He opens the door and the girl is pinned in a box of death.
The Gruesome Killer hacks her to pieces with his ax.
Calvin wakes up to the gargling screams of the dying girl. He gets to his feet. His ankle is throbbing, he must have twisted it falling down the stairs. There was no time for that now. He had to rely on adrenaline to cover the pain of running on his ankle.
He got up the stairs, back to the top. He stood next to the spa. The clanking of the ax on every step brought him back to Calvin. But finally he had an idea to escape this madness and get back to his family.
Calvin brought the Gruesome Killer to the top observation deck of the Promised Land Lodge. When the killer got through the door to the outside, Calvin tried to slip by and lock the door. The psychopath dropped his ax and caught the door with both of his enormous hands. His arms and shoulders were over-towering the rest of his 6-foot-tall body as he squeezed the steel and pulled it open.
Calvin put all his weight into closing the door but it was useless. The killer was too strong. So he let go and pushed forward. The momentum shifted and threw the Gruesome Killer off balance. Calvin ran out and the freak giant got to his feet and chased him. The door closed behind them. Calvin closed his eyes as he heard the door lock itself upon closing.
He was now stuck out on the observation deck with the Gruesome Killer. He grabbed the railing and peered over. 
If only there was a way to get him over the ledge. Calvin ran back around to the door. There he was on the other side. In between them lay the ax. They both made a move for it. Calvin put his feet on it and then jumped on his shoulders as the Gruesome Killer bent down to pick it up. Calvin scraped at his neck and face to hold on. His fingers slipped as his deformed skin fell off.
It was make-up. Calvin fell back to the floor and the murderer turned around, standing over him. The moonlight caught his face. It was changed. The Gruesome Killer in the Promised Lands was a lie. He picked his ax back up. Calvin could not believe it. All this time, Calvin thought it was a monster. The Killer lifted the ax over his head. When really it was the only thing worse.
The ax came down like a sentencing gavel. Calvin took the blow to his chest. His heart was slit in two, his chest plate cracked in half. The Killer left the ax in his Uncle Calvin. He climbed over the edge of the observation deck and jumped off. The sun had risen. The bloodshed was finally over. Police lights pulled in under the morning dew.
The law was retrieved by the night managers...the only two who got away... They would later find out it was a massacre. The Gruesome Killings in the Promised Land did not just happen in the kitchen, ballroom, and observation deck. In each and every room, the guests were brutally ax murdered. The police looked everywhere for survivors but never found any. If they had showed up only 5 minutes earlier, Calvin would have been one.
.....The Hallows Presents.....
Full Moon Fever
Daniel walked out of his beautiful country house as dusk approached. He looked around, it was already getting dark, autumn was truly here. The summer was over; a summer he would never forget. Dan scratched his beard and wondered where his wife was. They had been up here the entire weekend and not once were they apart.
"Judy!" he called out.
But there was no answer. The woods were quiet; more importantly, they surrounded the entire house. Daniel was beginning to grow worried. This was unlike his wife. He walked over to the retired outhouse. Boy, this house was old. Although their beautiful country house was completely renovated, the nostalgia of the outhouse kept its irrelevant existence alive. He opened the unhinged door. A fool's hope. Where was she?
Daniel walked past the outside and across the grassy yard into the trees. He thought he heard something. The sun scratched the horizon gradually. A twig snaps out of sight. Daniel is now in a full sprint, convinced his Judy was in trouble. He vowed to her so many years ago, that he would never let anything bad happen to her. Daniel had kept this promise for ten years. He would never make it to eleven. There in the brush stood a wolf. It was not acting right. It faced Daniel like it knew him. Blood dripped from its mouth.
A car pulled into the driveway of the country house. It parked and Judy got out and closed the door. Daniel stared at the wolf. Judy walked by and greeted him. Daniel looked up through the trees above the wolf. It was nighttime. That was quick. Even for the fall.
"Hey Honey" Judy reiterated.
Daniel stood still, unmoved like the wolf that was staring him down.
"DAN!" A hip-check shook him free. He was still standing in the backyard. The wolf was gone, and the sun was still setting.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing..." Daniel stammered, "Let's go inside."
"I got everything for dinner."
"Perfect."
"Our guests should be arriving in a couple hours..."
* * *
"It doesn't matter what kind of state the economy is in if we don't have a president that can do anything about it!"
"Henry!" his wife nudged the stoutly man.
Daniel laughed along with Judy and together they shared in an intimate look unseen by the rest of their guests as they sat at both ends of the dinner table.
"That's so wrong. You have no idea what you're talking about, you jackass" contested the other side of the table.
"Now, Reg" Daniel tried to moderate, "Everybody has their own opinion."
"Which is what makes this country so great."
"My point exactly, Sue" Daniel continued, "Henry you're lucky you have such a patient wife with that mouth of yours."
Susan blushed for both of them.
Judy desperately searched for a new topic to discuss as they reached the end of their meal. Talking about politics always got their friends out of sorts. She needed something light enough for everyone to agree on. In fact, she needed something that involved no taking of sides, some sort of anecdote. And in that instant she thought of it...
"This is the last night of the full moon."
"Whoop-di-doo, Judy" scoffed Henry.
"It's interesting because this year and this month, in-particularly... the moon is the closer to the earth than it has ever been."
"Why is that?"
"Scientists believe-"
"Oh who cares, we should go look at it!" interrupted Rita, Reggie's girlfriend.
The dinner party grabbed their cups of wine and rushed outside into the twilight.
"Wow, that's amazing! It's so bright."
"I can see everything."
Reggie started coughing.
"Look at the moon shadow."
"This is unbelievable," whispered Judy to Daniel who was holding her.
"I hope our kids are seeing this." Sue walked away and pulled her cellphone out to call them.
Reggie fell to his knees and grabbed his chest. Rita rushed to his side. Henry laughed. He could not control himself. Reggie looked up, unable to talk as he still coughed. Some friend. Judy and Daniel ran to Reggie and asked if they should call an ambulance.
Just then, simultaneously, Sue came running back screaming bloody insanity and an unknown pick-up truck came barreling down the driveway. As Sue got closer Judy approached her. She could not hear what she was saying. Poor Sue still had the phone to her ear. Then, finally they could all hear her as she kept repeating the same two words, "They're dead."
The truck crashed into their cars parked in the drive and the driver fell out. "You must run!" He screamed. "They are coming!"
"Who!?" yelled Daniel.
"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" panicked Sue. Judy grabbed her and tried to pull her phone away from her ear. Sue was screaming and writhing around like something was crawling into her brain. They both fell over and Judy got the phone away from her. There was blood all over her ear.
Honking and high-beams came out of the trees as cars plowed through the forest. The driver of the pick-up pulled a hand gun out and shot Henry five times in the chest, before emptying the clip into his own head.
A howl in the distance.
Daniel got Reggie and Rita into the house. Judy tried her hardest to get Sue up. But she was crying like an infant on the ground, clutching her ear. Judy looked again and the blood was gone. The lights from the crashing cars revealed the truth. Just then Judy was grabbed. She screamed and batted her arms before she realized it was her husband, Daniel. He rushed her into the house as the cars that escaped the forest ran over Henry and Sue, and crashed into the side of their house.
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING OUT THERE!" yelled Judy.
Rita was sitting with her husband who was lying on the couch. He had stopped coughing but was still breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Judy looked around, trying to make sense of all this. Daniel was busy looking out the window. "I think that's all of them," he tried to reassure.
"Why are they coming after us?"
"I don't think they are," Daniel worried, "I think they're just from the highway."
Reggie fell over and began to cough again. This time blood shot out of his mouth onto the carpet. Judy was too distracted to care. She looked deeply into her husbands eyes as he still talked. She could not hear what he was saying. All she could do was watch his pupils swell and implode.
"What is wrong with your eyes?" Judy gasped as she held her husbands face tightly.
Daniel tried to get to Reggie and Rita on the floor. Reggie was screaming through his coughs. He turned to cough away from Rita and then ran back outside. Daniel broke free from Judy and followed him through the kitchen into the backyard. Reggie's blood-soaked shirt lay torn up on the floor. When Daniel got outside he found Reggie crouched in the moonlight. He was deformed, drenched in blood.
"Reggie don't do it!" ordered Daniel.
Reggie tore Henry's chest with his teeth and dug into his intestines. Daniel could not bare to watch. He ran back inside and locked the doors. When he returned to Judy she was standing over Rita with a pair of scissors. They dripped red on the already stained carpet. Daniel slowly approached the other side of the couch. Rita's body lay still on the floor, her eyes completely carved out.
Judy sank to the floor. Daniel grabbed the scissors and threw them away. He picked a blanket to cover her with and consoled her on the ground. She cried and cried. She rocked back and forth, grasping at her knees. And She repeated over and over, "Her eyes."
Daniel made a fire in the fireplace and lit it. He brought Judy over to it to warm her. The light from the fire did more good for both of them that Daniel would ever know. It cleared their heads of the fog. Judy fell asleep in Daniel's arms. He wanted to stay there forever. But he knew that he couldn't. Reggie was still outside, and still his friend, no matter what madness had taken him.
When Daniel tried to get up, he awoke Judy. "What happened?" she asked before she saw Rita dead on the floor. Judy ran to her best friend since college. She cried over her and yelled, "WHO DID THIS!"
Daniel left his wife to make a torch. He wrapped blankets soaked into lighter-fluid around a baseball bat and dipped it into the fire. The torch caught on fire in a mighty blaze. Daniel kicked open the back door and looked for Reggie.
The moon was right upon him. It pulsed and his pupils ran. Daniel opened his mouth and felt consumed. He looked around in new sight. That is when he saw the blue flame from his torch. And beyond it the outhouse. . .
Daniel walked through the ruined forest of crying fools and broken rear view mirrors. He searched for Reggie. His friend had been chosen by the madness of the moon to become one of his primal champions. Reggie crawled on all fours like a dog. His snout was broken and enlarged. His teeth were crooked and bloodstained. His hair was unkempt and everywhere. His eyes were small and beady. Daniel saw the wolf.
He held the torch up. It was attracted to the moon and almost lifted out of Daniel's fingers. He lost grip of the torch and it went out, disappearing from his hands. Daniel fell over and the wolf was gone. Reggie ran past Daniel and scratched at his arms. Daniel quickly got to his feet. All he could see was darkness. He could not get back to the house. Reggie then tackled Daniel and bit into his shoulder. Daniel screamed and kicked Reggie off.
He got back to his feet and stumbled for the treeline. Daniel got back to the outhouse and rushed towards the house. There standing at the doorway was Judy. Turning back to the trees revealed Reggie to be gone. Daniel wanted to grab his wife, get in the car, and drive to safety. Judy said something Daniel could not hear from the yard. He tried to run, but he could barely drag himself any further. When Daniel got up to the base of the door he saw something behind Judy.
That is when he finally heard what she was saying...
"I killed her."
The wolf stood up behind Judy, in her shadow.
"You." Daniel spoke.
The wolf went to devour Judy. Daniel summoned the rest of his strength and pushed his wife out of the way. The wolf came down with the strength of a man on Daniel's neck. Its teeth tore open his skin. Daniel told Judy to run but she stood there watching. Daniel kept the claws away from him as best he could, but he was already torn up bad. He wrestled this wolf to the death trying to save his wife. Daniel kept looking up at her who was in a trance, not moving as blood splashed his face.
Out from the forest came Reggie, his entire body was still transforming, now mutated into what could only be called a werewolf. With the full moon behind him, Reggie attacked Judy. Daniel let go of the wolf he was fighting to help Judy. And once he did it immediately burrowed into the wound on his neck. The pain was excruciating, he could struggled to get to his feet. Daniel had no choice but to watch his wife get turned into a pile of flesh and broken bone.
When he came-to he was the Moonwolf and holding his dead wife in his arms. Daniel could not get his head clear. What did he do? What now?
Twelve bells chimed from the grandfather clock in the living room of their beautiful country house. It chimed twelve times for no one to hear.
...The Hallows Presents...
Hollow Barn
The time was still. There was no movement. Just a picture painted into a frame of real life. Starting from the corners it was cumbersome darkness. Storm clouds both exposing and reinforcing the black night sky. And yet, there is one break in the night and it is the thin crescent moon. The lunar squint presses the moment in so it cannot go on.
The ridge was the property of a family farm. The gate was busted. The crops were dead. And there, in the center, right under the slightest moonlight, was the old barn. The roof was broken in long ago. The wood it was built with was rotted out. The doors unhinged but still serving a purpose.
Before the barn, after the darkest hour of the night, knelt two young children. The girl held her little brother in her arms. They were both so young and so unsure. After a night of things too horrible to believe, they now were placed outside this wretched barn with that god forsaken atrocity inside.
The poor girl wanted to go inside. She wanted to say good-bye to her. But it was just too upsetting to even imagine, let alone see for yourself. Now Oscar was all she had. Their parents were dead.
Their father had fought gallantly against the intruders. But they were too many and too powerful; and Cynthia had to watch her father get killed in her mother's arms. How she regrets to envy that moment.
She knew she had to go in the barn. They did not show the poor children what they did to the mother, but they did light her on fire before sending her back out to them. Cynthia's mother ran to the barn.
How could she go in there? When really she knew exactly what she was going to see. There were so many reasons not to go in. But what if she was still alive? Somebody had to look for themselves, until then it was still not real. Their father was dead. This was the time in between her parents dying, and Cynthia wanted to make it last forever.
The barn door swung ever slightly in the moonlight. Oscar clung to Cynthia's side, it did not matter to her for she would never let go of him. Her little brother was just coming into awareness. He had learned to speak a couple years ago and was learning to read now, but right now she could have been cradling him like a baby in her arms.
The barn door opened.
Footsteps brought it outside. Cynthia's face went pale and Oscar ran from her arms.
Cynthia knew she had to be dead. The cold touch of his mother proved that notion to be true for young Oscar.
Cynthia now had to choose. . .
Alive and alone..
or
...The Hallows presents its Main Attraction...
Ritual Possessions II: By the Devil's Hand
2011
"...and now for more channel 5 news..." the TV broadcasted.
"...local county prison riot leaves one prisoner missing and unaccounted for..."
"...the worst of the worst, Roscoe McCallister serial killer and death sentenced has possibly escaped prison grounds..."
"...full description and picture coming up after the break..."
"...stay tuned..."
"...channel 5 news..."
Maria threw the remote at the TV. She could not believe that they went to commercial. What if this guy knocked on her door during the commercial break?
"Thanks Channel 5, because of you I could very well be part of the body count now!" Maria yelled at the TV.
Her son Leeds came into the room with their dinner. He had helped her move in during the weekend while he wasn't teaching. He lived in Connecticut. The only place he could find a decent teaching job. Leeds was doing his mother a big favor, but the weekend was drawing to a close, and he would have to leave after dinner.
"I'm sorry he left you, Mom. Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"
"I'm sure. You go, you have your own life and responsibilities. I will be okay, Leeds."
Maria kissed her only son goodbye and went back into her lake house. It was dark and lonely, just as she expected. Maria was so fed up with residual anger from the fight earlier that she could not just sit back down in front of the television. She walked around her new house. A lot of the furniture was already here.
In the study sat a journal that was once carried out of this very study by a college kid and never brought back. Yet here it was on the desk, like it had just been leafed through. It was open to the only page that needed to be seen. Maria walked over and read it,
Aug 16th
If you are wondering why the ink is red, it is because last night I killed my brother, Zachariah. And I am now writing with his blood in my new journal. But of course, you know this already according to the last couple of entries. I told father that he was planning to turn us in and he caught him running away, caught him right in the head with his axe. The only problem now is what to do about father. He has become paranoid, sometimes he even acts like he thinks he is invisible. I'm going to have to kill him. Astaroth said I could use him, but eventually have to kill him. All I have to do is trick him into putting down that axe. Perhaps, I will catch him while he's chopping wood down by the beach.
"I love ghost stories," she proclaimed to herself and kept looking through the study's bookshelves for more.
She left the journal on the desk, and the thought never passed through her mind...that the journal entry was actually written in red...
The next book she took out was another journal, but not nearly as old as Zachariah's. The realtor told her about the murders here. He just didn't tell her about all of them. Her name was Agatha, and her diary was full, beginning to end, life to death... Maria sat down in the study and started Agatha's memoir's. It took Maria away from her abandoned existence, just what she needed.
1942
Agatha sat in her father's study. He was away at war. He had been for more than a year now. World War II had spread all across the world after Pearl Harbor. Agatha could take care of herself thought. It was her father she was worried about. Agatha lost her mother to breast cancer when she was just twelve years old. After that it was just her and her father.
Agatha once had a boyfriend. She spent over ten years being with him, but she could never marry him because of the guilt she had over her father. She didn't want to make him feel completely alone. Well after the boyfriend had enough he dumped her, leaving one day and never saying goodbye. Agatha never got any closure. After that her relationship with her father became even stronger for she thought every other man in existence was a creep. It was not long before WWII started and eventually took her father.
Now she had to fend for herself. She had a lot of time on her hands. That is how this diary first started. She began to write down every aspect of every day. It was maddening. She grew and cooked her own food and she was not good at it. Agatha eventually became malnourished and a closet case. Her diary entries turned into rambles.
Eventually, the diary turned into strictly dialogue, as if she was talking to something through the paper book. Agatha clearly had lost her mind. The diary seemed to talk back to her, from the entries and her remarks. Agatha was being conditioned, brainwashed. Whatever it was... convinced her that her father was the reason for her lover leaving. It was the demon in the book who got Agatha to stab her father in the heart when he returned from defeating the Nazis in WWII.
She went out to the lake where her father used to chop wood. She cut open the veins on her arms and walked into the water. The lake turned red and she died in that watery tomb, never to be found.
* * *
2011
Maria put the diary down. One question she could not shake from her thoughts. How did the diary get finished if she was dead in the lake. What she's trying to say is...
"Who wrote she's dead in the lake if she's dead in the lake!" Maria yelled to Leeds on the phone after explaining the diary to him.
"I don't know, Mom. Why don't you go down to the lake and have a look for yourself?"
"Because it's Halloween, Leeds. Don't be an idiot. The water's freezing."
"Here I thought it was April 1st."
"If it was real the realtor, by law had to tell me about it."
"Didn't he tell you about a murder-"
"It was two years ago, these 3 college kids went mad after their other friend committed suicide."
"Mom, I think you bought a murder-house."
"Ohhh, I don't want to be here anymore."
"Want me to come back and get you?"
"No...I'll be okay, Leedsy, you're sweet, but I'll let you go," Maria hung up the phone.
Leeds put his cell phone away and kept driving. He was worried about his mom. She was never this dramatic, or this clingy for that matter. All of this was unlike her. Leeds got off the highway and turned around.
Maria actually went down to the lake. She walked over to the chopping block. It all seemed renovated. She looked at the lake. The reflection of the lake's surface revealed the renovation's lies. It showed her the knife in the stump with blood on it and the still-beating heart on the ground.
Maria stumbled back and tripped over what she thought was the heart. But everything was back to normal and she got to her feet. Suddenly, a giant white blur burst forth from the lake. It hovered in the air. It was Agatha's dead body. Only she was alive and all white, except for her hands, which were covered in dripping blood.
The blood dripped down and onto Maria's forehead. She wiped it with her hand and spread it over the right side of her face. Agatha screamed above her. Maria could feel her pain. She was not afraid. She screamed with the tortured spirit. And in their communion it took Maria.
Maria woke up with her own hands soaked in blood. She looked around. Her hands were holding an axe. It was now on the floor, completely red. Maria looked next to the axe and there lay her ex-boyfriend's dead body. The door opened.
Maria looked up. She had to have been dreaming. It was Leeds. "My god," he exclaimed, "Mom what have you done."
He covers the body with sheets and drags it out back. He pulls the body down the path towards the lake.
"How did this happen?"
"I...I....I don't ...know...."
Leeds goes back and gets a shovel. "We have to bury him under the lake!"
"What?"
Leeds took Maria under the red lake where Agatha's tomb was. She lay on her back, in a pure white dress waving in the water, and her veins kept the lake red. Maria went over to her as Leeds fell into the background. Maria looked over the body. She looked at her face....right in her closed eyes...
Agatha stirred awake and opened her eyes, catching contact with Maria. Maria screamed and she was back beside the lake. The lake was not red. Leeds was gone. Maria ran back inside to the study. She rifled through the different diaries. Each time she opened one it had the same ending as the others. Her son was right.
This was a murder-house.
She had to get out before it over took her. The door blew open and a dark wind shut all the lights off with a scream. Maria covered her ears. "AGATHA!" she screamed.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"NOT...AGATHA..." the demon whispered greatly.
Maria cried out and ran for the back door. The lights came back on and the back door in the kitchen slammed shut and locked itself. The knives came out of the butcher block and flew up stabbing the ceiling.
"Be gone, wretched thing!" Leeds yelled out as he entered through the front.
"Oh, Leeds!" Maria ran to her boy. She hugged him and he felt odd. Leeds laughed. The demon scurried out of the house scared. Maria let go of Leeds.
"What's wrong, mom?" he asked.
"We have to get out of here."
"No." Leeds unexpectedly denied.
"I cannot allow that."
Maria tried to run away, but every time she ran into a different room, Leeds was standing there waiting for her. Finally, she collapsed.
"What is all this?" she confessed in tears.
"Kill me and find out." answered Leeds.
He got down next to her and handed her the axe. She lifted it up. Leeds looked at her. His eyes were red. There were horns poking out of his forehead while he laughed. Maria screamed and plunged the axe into his side.
She awoke under the water in a pure white dress. Opening her mouth to scream choked her with lake water. Maria coughed up the red water next to the body. She was now in the kitchen and the axe was still stuck in the body. Maria pulled it out and flipped it over. It was not Leeds. Thank God. It was just Maria's ex-boyfriend. Is this real?
"Yes it is."
"You're the devil."
"Now that's record time. Congratulations, Maria, no more games, except for the big one."
"Game?"
"For your soul."
"Why me?"
"Your in my house."
"Please let me go."
"If you kill your son when he returns. I will leave you alone."
"Never."
"If you do not kill your son, I will let Agatha possess you."
"This can't be happening."
"And If you let my Lilith possess you...I will let your son go unharmed."
"Who is Lilith?"
Suddenly a snake wrapped around Maria ankle.
"She is my Queen..."
"...and those are your three." Leeds opened the door and caught himself disappearing before his very eyes. Maria fainted.
When she woke up she was in her bed. Leeds was looking over her. "Is this real, Leeds?" She put her hand on his face. He had been crying. "This is real, mom. This is real," he insisted.
The bed swallowed her up and Maria fell into the bowels of the house's unfinished basement. It was swollen with red flares, as if fires were down each and every hallway. Maria looked around for him, but Leeds was gone. A voice came from below. "Have you made your choice?" it bellowed out. Maria screamed and tried not to answer.
It shook her in the room and she cried out for Leeds. But he was not there. In reality, he was still looking over her lying on the bed as she slipped back into unconsciousness.
"I will not kill my boy!" she yelled. Agatha rose from the dead lake and climbed after her as the snake came from the other side.
The devil stood before her and offered his hand.
Maria grabbed it and was saved from ghosts and demons. She was taken to hell, as she unknowingly accepted the fourth and final choice. Her soul for her son's freedom. She sat down next to King Lucifer and begged for eternity to return to her place by her son's side. The devil told Maria there was a way to get back, save Agatha's soul, and have all her questions about the house answered.
"What must I do?"
* * *
Maria woke up. She had been in a coma for 3 years. Her boy was long gone. She was being taken care of by privately hired hospice. Maria walked into the study and looked at the diary on the table. The one she had left there. When she picked it up. It was not Agatha's name that was on it but her own. Maria looked at the date.
2011
She was back in time before the devil had taken her. Leeds was staring over her. Maria opened her eyes. "Tell me what I do, Mom" Leeds asks simply.
Maria got up and left the house. Leeds followed her out. "We should go!" he begged, over at his car as she walked for the lake. When Leeds got over there he found his mother pulling an axe from the lake. He approached her and she lifted the axe to swing it. Leeds screamed as the axe came down on him. How could his own mother do this?
The axe is caught by the handle and Agatha is shot in the gut. The man who saved Leeds from his mother takes the axe. He puts his gun away as Leeds crawls next to his mother bleeding on the floor. He does not say thank you, he does not blame him for shooting her.
Roscoe McCallister holds the forsaken axe in his hand and Maria finishes her mission, only to be tricked again. The serial killer breaks Leeds in half as he drives the sharp edge of the axe down the kid's spine. The tool of evil has been placed in the machines hand. . . The Devil's plan all along. And now, for that... Agatha, Maria, and Leeds join together as their souls ascend to Paradise.
But for those who conspire with the Devil there is only Purgatory, and all three of their spirits were forced to return to the house on the lake. And the devil laughed, as he collected 3 more souls to do his bidding.
"You said all my questions about this house, you would answer..."
I will next Halloween.
