Laura wrapped her arm around her daughter, who then nestled into her embrace. Feeling her mother’s warmth, Caroline calmed down after reliving her dream for the second time. She closed her eyes and relaxed in her mother’s arms.
Everyone was still seated at the table. The priests were discussing with Caroline’s father how the investigation should proceed, how to deliver evidence to the Vatican, and where to set up cameras.
Laura listened to the men but focused her attention on Caroline. She worried about how such an experience would affect her daughter and if it would cause her problems in the future. She looked at her daughter with eyes full of compassion and love. Caroline, as if on cue, returned the gaze.
She snuggled closer to her mother, completely giving in to the warmth of her arms. Meanwhile, the men were finishing deciding where to set up the cameras.
“There need to be at least two in the bedroom and the attic. That’s where the most activity happened,” said William, placing one hand on the back of a chair.
He tried to get closer to his girls that way. Laura rewarded him with a smile.
At that moment, the parish priest said, “That’s right, but we also need to place cameras in the basement.” He said this in an urgent tone.
He tried to hide his anger at the police for not allowing them to conduct the investigation on their own. Henry looked at his friend and calmly reminded him that nothing would happen if they set up the cameras in the basement the next morning.
“George, we can’t break the law,” Henry added.
The parish priest rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest and replied dryly, “I know.”
William sensed the growing tension in the priest. Wanting to defuse the atmosphere, he suggested they have a movie night that evening. Henry gladly agreed to the suggestion, while George merely nodded. Laura and Caroline were also very pleased.
“I heard there’s a great new series about a serial killer, maybe we can watch it?” Laura clapped her hands with joy at the thought of a family evening with popcorn and cookies.
The priests, hearing the movie suggestion, looked at each other completely surprised that such a small and delicate woman liked series about killers.
“Indeed, you can’t judge a book by its cover,” thought Henry, looking at George with a surprised look.
William, accustomed to his wife and daughter being fond of crime series and movies, did not react with astonishment to his wife’s suggestion. Instead, he proposed, standing up from the table, “How about we let the priests choose a movie?”
Hearing the chair scrape, Caroline looked towards her father. She was tired, but she liked the idea of everyone sitting together that evening and night. Since their house had been haunted by some entity, she was afraid to be alone in the dark. She moved away from her mother and also stood up from the table.
“How about I lay out some mattresses on the floor? We can all lie down comfortably and watch movies,” she suggested to everyone, smiling broadly.
“Oh no, your dad will definitely fall asleep before the movie even starts,” Laura joked.
William repaid his wife for the joke by tickling her back. Laura responded with a squeal and began to push her husband away. The priests smiled, seeing that their presence and help were indeed making the family feel much safer. Nevertheless, Henry knew this bliss would soon end, relying on his experience as a demonologist. He had often experienced such situations where, after the initial phase of hauntings, a moment of bliss follows. When the family or haunted person feels relief during the presence of spiritual individuals.
Finishing his tea, he stared into the inside of the cup from which he drank. He looked at the sediment from the green tea leaves. He sat staring and his thoughts returned to his last haunting. It involved a little boy. In his mind’s eye, he saw the smiling child hugging him, thanking him for coming. After a few days of blissful peace, the horror returned to the boy.
“Henry!” George called out, slapping Henry’s back with an open hand, “Let’s go get the cameras.”
The parish priest waved his hand at Henry, suggesting that he should get up. Feeling the hit on his back, Henry immediately looked at his friend. Still lost in his memories, Henry didn’t understand what the priest wanted from him. Wanting to ask George to repeat what he had said, the demonologist clumsily set the cup back on the table. Unfortunately, the cup tipped over, spilling the remaining contents on the tablecloth.
“It’s okay, Father. I’ll clean it up right away,” Laura called out, instantly springing up from the table. She ran to get a cloth to wipe up the spilled tea.
She ran to the kitchen and was already at the counter where the cloths were neatly folded, reaching for one, when suddenly one of the cabinet doors slightly opened. Laura didn’t pay attention to it, but then the door swung wide open. Since the doors could open so wide that they could touch the adjacent cabinet, Laura heard a loud bang. The sound startled her so much that she jumped, and her heart started pounding harder.
Laura stood in the middle of the kitchen, clutching the cloth to her chest. She stared at the door that had just opened on its own. The light of the setting sun was slowly fading, adding an eerie darkness to the scene. Laura’s breathing became rapid, and her heartbeat was so strong that she could feel her temples throbbing. Her hands began to sweat; she could feel it even while holding the cloth.
She looked with terror at the cabinet door that had no reason to open like that, not with such force.
“Mom! Mom, can you make some popcorn?” Caroline’s voice reached Laura.
The terror that had gripped Laura prevented her from moving or speaking.
“Mom!” Caroline called out again, trying to get a response from her mother.
Laura still stood motionless, breathing heavily and staring fearfully at the cabinet door that had just moved. Caroline, unable to wait any longer for her mother’s response, went to the kitchen. On her way, she had to pass the dining table.
Laura’s daughter was holding a pile of blankets that she wanted to lay out on the floor so everyone could lie down and watch some movies. She dropped them on the ground and headed towards the kitchen. But before she reached the table, one of the chairs was suddenly thrown at her.
In one second, the chair, which had been neatly pushed under the table, slid out, lifted into the air, and flew towards Caroline at great speed. Fortunately, the girl managed to dodge it by ducking low and covering her head with her hands. She screamed in terror.
The desperate scream for help made Laura forget her own fear and rush to her daughter. She found her crouching on the floor in the living room, right next to the pile of blankets. She noticed that one of the chairs was broken on the other side of the room.
“What happened, sweetheart?” Laura called out, running to her daughter.
She knelt next to her and embraced her with her arms. The worried look on Laura’s face showed the pain of a mother concerned for her child.
Caroline slowly lifted her head and looked around the room. She wanted to make sure it was safe so she could run upstairs. She looked around the room, which was slowly drowning in the darkness of the night; the only light came from the TV. Caroline had turned it on a moment before going to get the blankets. She wanted to see if there was anything interesting on. Besides, she felt better when something made noise behind her ear. It gave her a false sense of security.
While Laura crouched with Caroline on the floor, the priests and William rushed down from upstairs.
“What happened!?” William was already shouting from the top of the stairs.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and when he saw the frightened girls hiding on the floor, he went into a frenzy. He wanted to simultaneously hug the two most important women in his life while trying to find the source of the danger.
“What’s happening, tell me!” William shouted, looking around the room.
He didn’t miss the broken chair lying against the wall. The legs and back were snapped.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t here,” Laura answered, her voice breaking as she hugged Caroline tighter, as if trying to protect her from an invisible threat. She took her daughter’s face in her hands and asked, “What happened?” She tried to sound as gentle as she could.
Caroline didn’t look her mother in the eyes, even though she tried to make her do so. Instead, she looked around the room intently. She was making sure nothing else would happen to anyone. Her heart was pounding wildly, and her hands were trembling.
After a brief moment and making sure everyone was safe, Caroline tried to explain, although at first, her voice got stuck in her throat.
“That chair,” she slowly pointed with a trembling finger at the broken piece of furniture, “It flew at me.” Laura could feel her daughter’s heart pounding and heard her uneven breathing.
While Laura and William were trying to extract from their daughter what had frightened her so much, the priests carefully surveyed the room. They also observed the family’s reactions to the strange occurrences.
Henry, in particular, closely watched the events unfolding in Caroline’s home. He had previously dealt with several false calls to supposedly haunted places. Sometimes, families genuinely believed they had a haunted house, but upon closer inspection, it turned out that the old houses they lived in simply played tricks on them—such as the creaking of old support beams in the attic or strange noises coming from rusty sewer pipes.
Rarely, but still occasionally, he encountered situations where someone claimed their house was haunted simply to seek sensationalism and publicity. Henry found these cases the most frustrating because they stemmed from a mere desire for fame. He did not mind families who could not distinguish an old house from a haunting, as he knew it was not their fault. He also believed it was sometimes better to err on the side of caution. It was also an opportunity to meet new people and visit new places. However, people who made jokes out of the belief in hauntings irritated him greatly.
Thus, he kept a watchful eye on Caroline’s family. Deep down, he trusted them and believed this was a genuine haunting, but his sense of reason urged him to stay alert for any inconsistencies in the events.
When Caroline finally managed to explain briefly, Henry immediately approached the chair. The first thing he felt was a strange smell of sulfur, which made him feel nauseous.
“Father, that’s not all that happened,” Henry heard Laura’s quiet, frightened voice.
He turned towards her and looked at the completely terrified face of the older woman.
“Something strange also happened in the kitchen,” Laura continued, still holding the huddled Caroline in her arms. She looked at the priest with a pleading gaze for help. She swallowed loudly and tried to explain the incident with the self-opening cabinet.
Upon hearing this, Henry sighed loudly. He looked down at the ground and, snapping his left hand’s knuckles, tried to find the right words.
“Such things will still happen,” he began to explain slowly. “It would be best if we set up cameras in all the rooms as soon as possible. We need to have these incidents documented on tape,” he added.
He tried to make his voice sound as gentle and warm as possible to create an atmosphere of calm and safety. Approaching the women, he knelt beside them and smiled compassionately at Laura.
However, Laura did not return the smile. She looked anxiously at her husband, who was still in shock from what he had heard. After a moment, she turned her gaze to her daughter, who was trying to calm down. Caroline had her eyes closed and was breathing steadily, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. She was now sitting with her legs drawn up, holding her knees with her hands, and her chin resting on her knees.
The parish priest also tried to help the family during these difficult times, but he didn’t know what to say in this situation. George noticed out of the corner of his eye that William was approaching him. William walked calmly, and when he was close to the priest, he grabbed him by the arm, looked into his eyes, and asked in a quiet, calm voice:
“Father… can we read the Scriptures together today?” George saw the expression of concern in William’s eyes. He also noticed that the wrinkles on his face had deepened.
The priest nodded in agreement to William. He also tried to give him a slight smile to offer some comfort during these tough times. Seeing that the priest agreed with his idea, William went to his girls and embraced them. He held them tightly, wanting them to feel that he was there with them and would do everything to protect them.
Unfortunately, for Caroline, this had the opposite effect. When she felt the warmth and scent of her father and sensed her mother’s closeness, tears welled up in her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to put her loved ones in such danger.
“Please, don’t let any harm come to them,” she prayed silently, asking God for help.
When she felt her father holding her more tightly, she couldn’t hold it in any longer and began to cry. It was an uncontrollable outburst of tears. Her father held her in his arms and hugged her with all his strength. He let her cry on his shoulder, gently stroking her head.
Caroline sobbed harder and harder, while William patiently and lovingly spoke to her quietly, assuring her that there was nothing to worry about. He promised her that everything would be alright.
“This nightmare will end soon, you’ll see,” William said in a soothing tone.
Meanwhile, Henry had gotten up from the family and approached his friend.
“We need to set up the cameras as soon as possible,” he said to George. “Will you help me?”
As he spoke, he sounded very serious, quite unlike his usual self, which did not go unnoticed by the priest. Henry did not wait for a response but headed towards Caroline’s bedroom, where he and William began setting up the equipment to document the haunting.
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