Henry headed towards the stairs, with George following closely behind. The priests wanted to finish setting up the cameras, especially since the strange occurrences in the house were intensifying. Henry also wanted to speak with the family. The first place he wanted to set up camera was Caroline’s bedroom. He felt that the climax was approaching and wanted to warn the family about the upcoming events.
Henry entered Caroline’s bedroom, which at this hour was completely shrouded in darkness. He fumbled in search of the light switch, but it wasn’t easy. When George reached him, he smiled and placed his hand on the switch, pressing the right button.
Henry smiled in thanks to his friend and looked around the room. Everything seemed normal. All the items were in their places, and the bed was made just as Caroline had left it. Henry walked over to the tripod that William had intended to set up, but the events downstairs had forced him to drop the tripod on the floor and rush to help his wife and daughter. The demonologist grabbed the tripod and skillfully began attaching the camera to it.
“But what if something happens on the other side of the room?” George asked. He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, carefully watching his friend set up the equipment.
“Fortunately, technology has a solution for that,” Henry responded with a mysterious smile. He gestured for George to come closer to the camera.
“This model is designed so that its lens follows movement detected by the camera,” Henry began to explain. He pointed to specific elements on the camera to demonstrate that it could move on its own.
George was intimidated by the technological innovations. At the same time, he felt embarrassed in front of his friend for being so uneducated. The pastor nodded, pretending to understand what his friend was saying.
“Mhm. Mhm. And this button?” he pointed to a small red button on the camera, “What does it do?”
Looking George in the eye and smiling to himself, Henry replied, “That’s the power button.”
The pastor continued to pretend that he was knowledgeable.
“Oh, of course. That’s exactly what I suspected,” a slight blush appeared on his face.
Seeing this, Henry laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t know what any of this was at first either,” his tone of voice eased George’s embarrassment.
After a moment, the priests finished setting up the cameras. They then moved to Caroline’s office and did exactly the same thing there. As they were preparing to head to the attic, William joined them.
“Need some help, Fathers?” he asked shyly.
He felt ashamed that the priests had to do all the work while he sat downstairs. George, burdened with tripods, immediately handed half of the equipment to William. When he felt he could move more freely, he sighed with relief.
Henry invited William to the attic and asked him to go first since he knew the layout of the room better than they did. Especially since the light switch was at the very top, and they still had to walk through the dark up the stairs. Gripping the tripods tightly, William started toward the stairs leading to the attic. He felt a twinge of fear as he slowly ascended the steps. With recent events weighing on his mind, he quietly prayed, asking God to protect him and his family.
When he reached the top, he quickly turned on the light and called down to the priests, telling them they could safely come up. He didn’t take his eyes off the priests; he didn’t want to look at the horrible inscription carved into the attic wall. The priests quickly finished their work in this room as well. William felt relieved that they could now leave the place.
The men headed downstairs since they also needed to set up cameras there. In the living room, they were greeted by the sight of blankets arranged on the floor, right in front of the TV. Pillows had been placed on the blankets, serving as headrests for watching movies. The sofa had been pushed aside and placed in the corner of the room, leaving enough space for everyone to lie on the floor and watch movies. A bowl of popcorn was placed at each spot.
“Well, well, the girls really want a movie night,” Henry praised, putting his hand on his hip and smiling widely.
William laughed and replied:
“Only one couldn’t hold out and went to sleep,” he said, pointing to a tuft of black hair sticking out from under the blanket.
Caroline, exhausted from waiting, had fallen asleep and covered herself with the blanket up to her ears. Encouraged by the sight of cozy blankets, warm popcorn, and a multitude of pillows, George hurried his companions to finish setting up the cameras so they could lie down.
“Listen, strange things are happening in practically every room. We need to place at least two cameras in each one,” George instructed and quickly headed to the kitchen with the tripods.
Henry reminded his friend to handle his equipment carefully.
“These tripods aren’t cheap!”
William, curious, looked at the demonologist and asked,
“How much does a tripod like that cost?”
Henry, watching in distress as his friend banged the tripods against the walls, replied dryly,
“Enough that I don’t want to watch how George is handling them.”
William had to stifle a laugh, so he pressed his lips together and nodded. When they entered the kitchen, they saw that George had already set up two tripods and was preparing to place them in the living room.
“Alright, I’ll set up the last tripods, and you can calmly position the cameras,” he said hurriedly, brushing past William on his way to the living room.
William barely managed to step aside to avoid blocking the priest’s path and looked at Henry in surprise. He guessed that the priest also wanted to rest after a long day. Henry chuckled to himself as he positioned the camera, aiming it at the kitchen cabinets.
“All the strange events and phenomena will finally be recorded,” Henry said, feeling relieved that the task of setting up the equipment was almost complete.
William thought for a moment, looking at the floor, and then gathered the courage to ask,
“Father… what about the bathroom?” There was a hint of embarrassment and shame in his voice.
Hearing the embarrassment in William’s voice, Henry tried to choose his words and manners carefully to reassure the man and avoid making him feel even more uncomfortable.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to place a camera in there. I’m thinking of just setting one up outside the bathroom door. In case of an emergency, someone can quickly open the door,” Henry tried to speak calmly and gently, focusing his gaze on the camera he was positioning.
William breathed a sigh of relief and headed to the living room to place the remaining tripods near the door leading to the basement. George was just setting up the last tripod and happily took his place on the blanket. As he sat down, he looked around the room and asked William where Laura was. Scratching his head, William said,
“I don’t know… but she mentioned wanting to take a bath.”
George nodded and started looking for the remote control to change channels and find an interesting movie. At that moment, Henry entered the living room with a smile on his face and continued his work. When he finished, he sat down on a chair by the dining table and exhaled with satisfaction, glad that his work for the day was done. In his mind, he thanked God for His support and help.
William joined Henry, and they both watched with amusement as George, with the TV volume turned down low, grew frustrated over not being able to find an interesting program. The room fell silent. Everyone tried to remain as quiet as possible out of respect for the sleeping Caroline. William, who was sitting closest to the stairs, heard a faint scratching sound in the wall.
“Mice? But I set out traps when Caroline moved in,” he thought.
He looked towards the stairs and listened closely. The scratching noise repeated. Wanting to make sure there were mice in the house and not just that he was hearing things, he climbed the stairs and pressed his ear to the wall.
As soon as he did, there was an immediate sound like a punch against the wall. It sounded as if someone had hit the wall in frustration. William nearly fell down the stairs in fear but caught the railing just in time. He looked fearfully at the priests, who were watching the whole incident. Henry got up from the table and approached William. They both stared at the empty wall.
Suddenly, a thudding sound began to come from the front door, as if someone was trying to force their way into the house. William’s first thought was that a neighbor needed help, and he moved towards the door, but Henry quickly stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Is this being recorded?” George asked in a tense voice.
Henry nodded. His expression was serious as he attentively watched the unfolding events. He still had his hand on William’s shoulder, now trying to reassure him amidst the situation. Henry suddenly caught the stench of rot, as if a wild animal had died nearby and was decomposing at an alarming rate. Henry recognized the smell well. He was now certain that the entity they were dealing with was evil.
“Ugh,” William made a sound of disgust, “Do you smell that?” he asked, covering his nose with his hand.
He grimaced and moved away from Henry, looking for a spot where the smell wasn’t present.
“No, what smell are you talking about?” George asked, confused.
He pulled the blanket off his legs and slowly stood up, positioning himself right behind Caroline, who was still sound asleep. Henry, still watching the room, walked over to the light switch and flipped it on. The room lit up with a yellow glow.
George suddenly covered his nose and said that he, too, could smell the foul odor. Henry turned his gaze toward them. Suddenly, something yanked Caroline’s hair with tremendous force. In an instant, the girl was ripped from her sleep and dragged across the floor towards the kitchen. The men instinctively lunged after her. William grabbed her by the legs, and George by the arms. They held her with all their strength, but the entity pulling Caroline’s hair was stronger.
Caroline screamed with all her might. She didn’t know what was happening, only that everyone was terrified, and that something or someone was pulling her hair with inhuman force. She saw Henry rush toward her to help hold her down, but the moment he touched her, the entity let go and left her alone. Caroline’s head hit the floor with a thud.
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