Short Story: House of the Waxing Moon Part II

Previously...

8:  Convergence 

    On the following day, Dr. Jennifer O’Rye came back with much information of the house.  She said, “I couldn’t find any architectural designs or government documents.  All they had on this house were the documents the realtors had, and they were too unreliable for me.  So I looked through some old maps and newspaper articles.  I do believe that there is something more supernatural here than simple benign ghosts.  First off, I guess I should tell you about the ley lines.”
    “Ley lines? What are those?” Sean asked.
    “Well, all over the Earth, there are lines of cosmic energy, which are amplified by manmade structures or landmarks.  This is usually seen with a line of churches, or a line of monuments.  Well, I’ve found that this town has an old church, perhaps a hundred years old, that lies in a perfect line with this house and several other great monuments of the world.  In fact, this house lies on five different lines; we may be standing on a supernatural convergence.”
    “So what do these lines have to do with the hauntings?”
    “The lines supposedly amplify the internal energies of the Earth, and ghosts are said to be a byproduct of these amplifications.  But there is something else worth noting:  that this house happens to lie in a perfect accordance to the moon.  I hypothesize that every time the moon rises, the house gains more energy than usual, and the ghosts become more powerful in their appearances.  That may explain the violence of the visions we all encountered.  That stream in the basement must be an infrared effect of the excessive energy, and the whispering could be an electromagnetic effect on our ears.”
    “But what of the newspaper with the morphing ink? And what about the opening of the basement wall and the lava that flowed from it?”
    “As hard as it may be to believe, I can only conclude that all the energy in this house causes these occurrences to surface as hallucinations.  The electromagnetic disturbances affect the mind in all branches of sensory, rather than just the sight or sound.”
    “I’ll be damned if it was all imaginary,” Sean muttered.
    “I’m sorry,” Jennifer said, “But it’s the most scientifically sound explanation I can give.”
    “I don’t care about science anymore! How do we get rid of it all?”
    Jennifer continued, “What I find odd is that this house, and this land, doesn’t have any special history.  This house is hardly a monument worthy of bringing out the energies of the Earth.  Mostly, it’s the churches, large structures, landmarks, and graveyards that hold that particular power of extraction.  I therefore think that there’s something about this house that was never documented, perhaps a burial ground, or a prehistoric relic, that this house can tap into.”
    “I thought you said it was all just hallucinations,” Patrick pointed out.
    “Well, I’m not sure I believe that myself,” Jennifer admitted, “But the hallucination theory is the only theory I have that’s scientifically sound.  Regardless, I do believe that there are real spirits here, and that they are not illusionary.  The ley lines must make them agitated or something.  They probably just want you to leave so they can wander around and bathe in the ley line’s energy in peace.
    “Listen, even though I couldn’t find much official documentation, I learned that this house has had a few residents in the past.  None of them have bought this house before.”
    “What?” Sean asked, “How’s that?”
    “I called the realtors, and they said that the residents thirty years ago never bought the house.  I can only assume that they built the house themselves.”
    “But what about insurance? Or what about getting an official house number, or something? Surely they must have registered this house with the state or the government or something.  How can there be no other documentation?”
    “They might not have been able to register,” Jennifer speculated, “After only a week since they moved in, they mysteriously disappeared.  The only body the authorities ever found was of the wife, who fell off the cliff in the back yard, and she landed hard on her back on a pile of rocks.  People speculate that the family had a quarrel and the wife committed suicide, and the other family members drove off, perhaps to another state, or maybe another country.  Have any of you met the neighbor, Ron McCellan?”
    “I have,” Anya confessed.
    “Has he told you about the street kids who broke in and resided here for a night or two?”
    “Yeah,” Anya answered. “He said that they left in quite a hurry.”
    “Yes, he told me that too.  These kids might have encountered the same hauntings we are experiencing right now.  They saw the power of this house and they fled.  But the singularly fantastic thing was that they left nothing behind.  There was no garbage, no drugs, or graffiti.  It was left the house the way they entered it.  That’s unusual for kids like that.”
    “The ghosts can clean up after us,” Sean mused, “that would be of some use.”   
    “But to what cost?” Jennifer asked. “It would take something really horrifying to scare off a bunch of stoned kids.  Otherwise, they’d mistake the hauntings for their own hallucinations.  I talked with some of the other residents in the area, and one old lady, who was too tired to call the police, said that she saw eight kids break into the house, and only five left.”
    “Do you think that the other three died here in the house?” Anya questioned.
    “I don’t doubt it, but no bodies were found.”
    Sean, Anya, and Patrick all shuddered.  Would they soon disappear just like the previous residents?  Would there be a bloody death in the fangs of the darkness that haunted this house, and then their traces removed forever?
    “Now,” Jennifer continued, “I think that it’s possible to somehow remove or at least find out what’s causing the trouble here.  We just need to find whatever’s projecting the ley lines here.  It’s undoubtedly in the basement, since it’s the coldest area of the house, and the infrared cameras pick up more entities down there than anywhere else.”

9:  The Fanged Creature

    The Ried family, combined with the four paranormal investigators, marched down to the basement with flashlights and the infrared camcorder.  Sean could almost smell the rotten stench of sulfur, making him quiver in disgust.  Searching the basement from top to bottom, the team investigated the whole area; they found nothing.  They couldn’t even find any imperfections in the walls or floor, much less any sign of a doorway.
    In dismay, the seven people ascended the stairs to the kitchen.  There, Jennifer suggested, “Maybe the entity or the ley line projector can only be visible at night, or when it wants to scare us off.  After all, the house gains more power when the moon rises.  I suggest we wait until later tonight.”
    Afterwards, all seven people departed to their separate destinations.  Frank and Henry went to a local bar to drink, Pat retreated to his room to read a book, Sean went to the living room to look at the classified ads in the paper, Anya went to a gardening store to pick up some colorful flowers, and Jennifer went to the laptop to watch the entities as they wandered invisibly through the house.  Hence, Mandy was left alone with nothing to do.  So she left the house and she strolled around the neighborhood.
    Eventually, she found a gate leading out to the beach.  She went through it, down a long dirt road, and she started to walk along the sandy beach.  The cliff face ran parallel to the beach, with several houses looming at the cliff’s edge.  In the midst of those houses was the Ried’s house, which seemed ominous compared to the others.  Across from the cliff wall down the beach was the Pacific Ocean, which splashed wave after wave of cold water along the sandy beech. 
     There was a flock of seagulls standing around where the water came in, and there were speaking their little seagull language, which was projected well in the crisp, windy air of the sea.  They were ‘Conversing,’ as Mandy’s father would have said.
     Oh, good God, don’t you even think about that now!
     But she did.  She thought of her father, the drunken lowlife that dominated her life.  Long ago, her mother died of an illness, but Mandy had the strong feeling that it was her father that killed her mother in some discrete fashion.  She could recall how, months after the death of her mother, the father would just sit there in the couch in front of the TV, watching late night football, drinking beer after beer, eating pretzels, chips, and peanuts.  This man made constant demands, for more food, more drinks, more chores to be done; if these demands were not met, he would beat her and threaten her.  From that time on, she was his slave.  She was held responsible for everything, including the laundry, washing the dishes, cleaning the messy apartment, doing the grocery shopping, feeding her father, and even working for money.  If he was even more demanding, he would have asked for a sponge bath, or worse.  Thank God that never happened, otherwise she would have lost her mind.
     It wasn’t until a year ago when she finally decided to ditch her father and run away.  While she was taking the trash out, she dumped the trash into the can and she took flight down the road.  She kept running and running even after her breath expired and her abdomen ached from cramps.  Continuing across the country, she hitchhiked and journeyed all the way to Oregon.  An orphanage not far from Glowhill accepted her.  After a few weeks, she ran away from the orphanage and joined the team of paranormal investigators.  They were at first doubtful of her abilities, but she eventually proved her worth and intelligence.  Mandy read many books on the subject and she tested herself constantly, and thus she grew an intimate knowledge of paranormal phenomenon.
    Although it’s been a year since her imprisonment by her own father, she was glad to have left him.  She still had scars from her father’s beatings.  In her nightmares, she could still hear his deep intimidating voice calling for her.
    Tears rolled down Mandy’s cheeks as she recalled these painful memories on the beach.  She looked up and took a silent vow to think no more of her malicious father.
    That’s when she heard his voice again, and this time it was all too real.
    “Get ov’r here, you lazy bum!” a deep voice hollered at Mandy.  She whirled around towards the direction of the voice.  She saw her father.  He was fat and dirty just like he was a year ago, only now he was deadly pale with bloodshot eyes.  He looked more dead than alive.
    Fear rose up from deep in her breast, passing through her throat and up to her mouth.  She refrained from screaming.  Instead, she stood still and stated back at her father.
    “Com ‘ere,” the father said, “I need to speak to ya!”
    Her first impulse was to run, but she was frozen in place.  It was as if something was holding her down and freezing her with fear.
    “You were never a good child!” the father screamed, “You were just a piece of crap! You could never face your problems yourself, and that’s why you kept runnin from ‘em all!”
Listening to this fat man speaking, she realized that he was right.  She was a coward to run off, both from the father and from the orphanage.
     “And now, since ya’ve been gone, I’ve died in that house! I tried to make myself dinner, but I tripped and fell on the burning stovetop.  Because of ya’r cowardice, you will now pay!”
     Inexplicably, the father’s mouth opened to a gigantic maw, with huge sharp teeth like the fangs of a saber-toothed tiger.  Mandy finally screamed as her father lunged at her.  Darkness consumed her.

*

     Two hours passed.  Everyone in the house was wondering what happened to Mandy, since they did not see her since she left the house to walk on the beach.  They sent Patrick out to find her.
When he left the house, the sun began to sink past the horizon of the Pacific.  It gave a pink and red glow to the sky and the clouds, as it faded to dark navy blue.  The tides of the ocean were rising, creeping closer to the rocky cliff wall.
     Traveling to the beach, he started to patrol the area.  He walked up and down the length of the beach beside the water a few times, almost imagining himself as a cop looking for a fugitive.  During his searches, he found that the water was creeping much closer to the cliff wall, leaving only about ten feet between the cliff and the water.  At this time, he decided to go back home with a negative report.
     That was when he heard the whispers again.  He looked up at the sky, which was now dark purple as the sun sank into the Pacific Ocean.  He saw a crescent moon rising slowly over the cliff wall, and he knew that what evil that resided in the house was regenerating its powers.
     Finally, he saw Mandy swimming along the surf of the water.  Pat was about to call her name, but she hollered first, “Hey, Pat! Come here, the water’s great!”
     Walking to the water’s edge, he stuck his finger in the water.  It was chilly.  He looked back up and found that Mandy was walking toward him.  She was soaked in cold salt water, and her clothes were clinging to her body, showing outlines of her slim body and her breasts.  He found it quite striking.
     He stammered, “I think we should go back to the house.  Everyone’s worried about you.  Where have you been?”
     “I’ve been swimming,” she said with a smile, “Want to join me? The water’s great.”
     “That water’s cold.  You could freeze to death in there.”
     “So?” she asked.  He felt there was something unnatural and cold about her voice.
     “I think you should come home and take a shower or something before you catch hypothermia or something.”
     “No.  I want to stay here.  You want to join me?”
     “No, I really think you should come back to the house.”
     “Yeah? Well I think you just need to get wet!”
     “What’s with you? You’ve been swimming for two hours and you’re not cold?”
     “No, I’m not cold at all.  In fact, I feel exalted! Come swim with me.”
     “I’m sorry, but I need to get you out of here and back home before everyone thinks you’re missing or something.”
     “We can go home after we swim.”
     “Then we’ll be all wet and cold and they’ll think we’re crazy.”
     She threw her hands up from the water and splashed him with frigid water droplets.  She was laughing, but he gasped as the coldness truck him.
     “Jesus!” Pat exclaimed, “That was cold!”
     “Need some warming up?” Mandy asked.
     Before he could react, Mandy walked away from the water’s oncoming surf and she approached him.  Wrapping her hands around his neck, she kissed him.  He was surprised by the spontaneity of it.  Taking no heed, and he closed his eyes and he kissed her back.  It was an intensely stimulating moment for him.  He could feel Mandy’s body pressed up against his, with her legs rubbing against him and her breasts poking at his chest.  Her whole body was cold and wet with particles of salt, but he didn’t care.  He didn’t even mind that her lips were icy cold.  He even allowed his tongue to enter her mouth, but he withdrew it when he felt the unmistakable presence of fangs.  He opened his eyes, and he found that Mandy’s eyes were open as well.
     They were open and glowing red.
     Blood red.
     Suddenly, he pushed her away.  She gave a short cry as she fell on the sand.  While his heart was pounding in terror, he exclaimed, “Mandy, what the Hell are you?”
     “Hell is right!” Mandy replied in a raspy, unnatural voice.
     Mandy transformed.  Her mouth opened wide to reveal the large saber-toothed fangs, and the maw jumped out of her gums.  Patrick realized with certainty that this was the same demon that he encountered that one night he went to use the restroom.  It was the same fanged creature that tried to devour him! He screamed as the fangs lunged out and came down upon him.  Clamping down on him, he was stabbed with frigid spikes of coldness again.  The apparition disappeared in a brilliant streak of crimson light, but he was still screaming.  Mandy’s body was limp on the sandy beach. 
     That was the one final incident that convinced him more than ever that this strange supernatural force must be destroyed.

*

     After overcoming the shock on the beach, Patrick returned to the house.  Upon entering the house, he was confronted by his mother; she demanded to know why he was dripping wet and cold, and whether or not he found Mandy.  When he told her his story, she was most distraught.  She passed the account to Sean and Jennifer; Sean was upset to hear of the incident, but Jennifer was solemn to hear of Mandy’s untimely passing.
     “So this being can possess living bodies,” she deduced.
     “Actually, she was already dead,” Patrick clarified.  He then made the connection between her premature death and her apparent lack of body heat.
     “Clearly, whatever is in this house wants us to leave.  It’s trying to scare us out."
     Sean muttered, “I’m just about ready to leave this joint.  It’s a sad thing, really, because this was the best house deal in the whole neighborhood, and I was going to apply for that job at the local plant.”
     “No.  If we can locate the source of these haunting, we can stop it.  Hopefully, this place will be free of supernatural phenomenon for a long time.”
     “Do you think you can succeed?”
     “I want to take the time now to investigate the basement further.  From all the readings I’ve received, we have definitely picked up some excessive supernatural activity down there.  Now that the moon’s coming out, we might be able to see something.” 

10:  The Rune Stone 

    Jennifer, Frank, Henry, Anya, Patrick, and Sean passed through the kitchen and proceeded to the basement door.  They brought along a camcorder with an infrared filter, hoping to catch video documentation of the anomalies.  Just as the six of them were about to descent into the basement, there was a faint smell of sulfur and molten rock.  Opening the basement door, they found themselves staring down at a rushing river of magma.  Spewing from a fissure in the wall, it illuminated the chamber in a crimson and orange tinge.
    “I can’t tell if that’s real or fake,” Sean remarked, “Just like that knife that flew into my head.”
    Jennifer speculated, “It sure seems real.  The entity residing here must have the ability to alter all of our senses so we can perceive this.  I’ll bet that if we walk through the lava, we may feel the immense pain, but we won’t be physically hurt.”
    “Yeah, I’ve always wondered how it felt like to get your legs melted off,” Frank mused.  Henry chuckled at that comment.
    “Perhaps we should douse it all with water,” Sean suggested. “It’ll all just cool off and turn to plain rock, right?”
    “Not it it’s unreal.  I’m going to test it.”
    She started down the steps.  Frank asked, “Is this a good idea?”
    “I’m confident that nothing will happen to me,” Jennifer replied, trying to mask the uncertainty in her voice.
    At the end of the stairs, she crouched at the last step and regarded the lava.  The heat was rising up at her face, bringing the volcanic smells into her lungs.  Ignoring the fright that filled up her body, she reached out with her index finger and reluctantly touched the surface of the magma. 
The scalding liquid engulfed her finger, and all at once, the pain shot through her hand.  Screeching in torment, she withdrew her hand.  With the sharp pain she felt, she refused to even look at it.  She imagined it was reduced to a bloody stump.
    Sean came up behind her to see what the problem was.  Jennifer cried, “My finger! It’s been burned off!”
    Sean remarked, “It looks fine to me.”
    Finally looking down at her hand, Jennifer saw that it was indeed intact.  She muttered, “So, it was just an illusion.  We must keep this in mind.  Anything we see emanating from this place could be nothing more than a harmless projection.”
    “Right, mind over matter,” Sean said, “like walking on hot coals.”
    Behind Sean and Jennifer, Frank came down the steps and blurted, “What’s the matter? You screamed like a banshee!”
    “I was utterly surprised,” Jennifer said, “There’s nothing to fear here, the lava’s fake.”
    Afterwards, she turned back to face the lava river, and started towards it.  Without hesitating, she hopped to the basement floor, forcing herself to ignore the illusionary magma.  With her focus and discipline, she felt nothing.  The fluid splashed against her legs and smoke was billowing from it, but there was no pain.
    Seeing this, the other six people came down the stairs and reluctantly stepped on the floor.  Already seeing Jennifer crossing the floor, they knew that the lava was not real, so they were unaffected by it.
    At the other end of the room, Jennifer inspected the fissure in the concrete wall, from which the magma was pouring out of.  It was a few feet wide, and it appeared to lead underground.  As everybody gathered around the opening, the magma faded into wisps of red and orange light, which dissipated in the air.  Within the cleft in the wall, purple light dimly shone through the underground hallway, showing a passage lined with columns and arches.
    Jennifer motioned for the other six to follow.  Together, they all treaded down the macabre stone hallway.  It was completely dark ahead.
    They traveled for quite a distance westwards.  The hallway felt real and provided solid footing, but Jennifer realized that the cliff wall was somewhere ahead.  There was neither a dead end nor an opening.  The hall just kept extending forward, even though it appeared to extend beyond the cliff wall and over the beach.
    After another ten yards, the hall ended with a gothic archway, and there was a large nexus ahead.  The large chamber was illuminated by a hidden crimson glow.  There was a large circular stone platform floating over a massive pit of darkness.  On the stone platform was an engraved star with its points stretching to the edges of the circular dais.  In the center of the star was a large rock, with glowing red rubies embedded on its surface.
    As the seven people entered the chamber, Sean asked aloud, “My God, what is this place?”
    “I don’t know,” Jennifer admitted. “I’m willing to bet that this is where the ley lines intersect.”
    Frank pointed to the star on the platform, “See this star? A star inside a circle; a pentagram.  It’s a symbol of Satan.”
    “I don’t like the looks of that,” Anya muttered.
    Sean mumbled, “Demons and devils, here in our house, of all the places on Earth.  Damn.”
    Anya was already whispering a prayer.
    “Hand me that camcorder,” Jennifer ordered, “I want to get footage of this place.”
    Henry passed the camera to Jennifer, and she promptly took it.  Pointing it all around the chamber, she recorded the scene on tape.  Looking through the viewing window, the infrared filters picked up a spectrum rising from the stone in the center of the chamber.  It was a vortex, rendered orange and blood red from the infrared filters.  Inside the eddy of light were apparitions and faces.  They were swirling around the chamber from the central stone and beyond the walls of the chamber.  It looked as though all these apparitions were spawning from the invisible whirlpool.
    Watching the scene, Jennifer was quite fascinated at first.  Then, a larger entity took shape in the middle of the vortex.  It appeared as a set of fangs, like a saber-toothed tiger, camouflaged in the crimson currents.  The set of sharp teeth seemed to stare down at her, bearing evil into her soul and arousing thoughts of death and destruction.  Despite all the rationality she could muster, she felt frozen in place, with fear taking over her body.
    Suddenly, the fangs lashed out, engulfing the entire camcorder screen with the blood red color.  Startled, Jennifer recoiled.  She looked at the stone in the middle of the chamber with her own eyes, but saw nothing.
    “What is it?” Sean asked.
    “There’s a spiritual vortex here,” Jennifer said gravely. “I fear that you don’t need a paranormal investigator; you need an exorcist.”
    “I don’t believe this,” Sean muttered, as he stepped towards the dominating stone with defiance.  Then, believing that the rock would answer, Sean questioned, “What do you want? Why are you here? Why can’t you leave us alone? Talk to me you damn ghosts!”
    With his words, the vortex became visible to all.  Sean stepped back surprisingly, and the other six gasped in astonishment.  In its purest form, the anomaly appeared multicolored with all sorts of faces and specters inside.  Then the fanged creature appeared, dripping with darkness, and triangular eyes that floated above the entity’s maw.
    The seven people watched as this entity appeared.  All at once, the fear rose from their hearts and into their throats, threatening to emerge as screams.
    The entity spoke in a loud booming voice that could shatter the world, “I AM THE GUARDIAN.  FOR MANY CENTURIES I HAVE KEPT WATCH OVER THIS DOORWAY SO THAT BEINGS OF THIS WORLD MAY NOT DISTURB IT.  ASK ME WHAT YOU WILL, BUT YOU MUST LEAVE AFTERWARDS, AND NEVER RETURN.  IF YOU DO NOT, THEN YOU WILL ALL PERSIH.”
    “Guardian?” Sean asked over his fears, “Of what? What is this place?”
    “THIS IS THE DOORWAY FROM THE UNDERWORLD.  IT IS A TUNNEL DRILLED THROUGH A PRISON WALL SO THAT THESE TORMENTED SOULS MAY ESCAPE.  THIS IS A FINAL HAVEN FOR THOSE HELD AND TORMENTED IN THE REALM OF ETERNAL DARKNESS.”
    Jennifer stepped forward and asked, “The underworld? Do you speak of purgatory?”
    “IN FEEBLE MORTAL’S TERMS, I SPEAK OF HELL.”
    “Is this the source of all ghost hauntings then?”
    “FOR YOU IT IS, BUT NOT FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.  THERE ARE SEVERAL PLACES SUCH AS THIS.  ONLY A FEW HAVE DISCOVERED THEM, AND ONLY A COUPLE HAS SURVIVED, BUT THEIR STORY REMAINS UNTOLD.  ONLY A FEW HAVE SEEN THIS RUNE STONE AND ALL ITS GLORY.  I HAVE TRIED TO WARN YOU, TO REPEL YOU FROM THIS PLACE.  THE ONE YOU CALL MANDY HAS ALREADY PERISHED UNDER MY WRATH, AND MORE WILL FOLLOW.”
    As if echoing the entity’s words, the rubies in the rune stone flashed red for a brief moment.
    “If we promise to keep this place a secret,” Sean offered, “will you leave us be?”
    “NO,” the guardian boomed, “YOU HAVE SEEN THE RUNE STONE.  YOU KNOW THE SECRETS OF THIS HOUSE.  FOR THIS IS THE HOUSE OF THE WAXING MOON, AND HERE THE WORD OF A MORTAL IS NO GOOD TO ME.  YOU MUST LEAVE BY THE NEXT RISING OF THE MOON, OR YOU WILL ALL DIE.”
    Jennifer turned to the group, and she said, “At lease we know that’s causing your problems.  If we can destroy this rune stone . . .”
    The guardian gave a deafening roar that could break ear bones and make lions shiver in fear. “HOW I DESPISE YOU MORTALS! THE RUNE STONE IS NOT OF THIS REALITY, IT A PORTAL FROM A REALM UNLIKE THIS ONE!”
    Suddenly, the stone platform became transparent, and the seven people could look down at the distant beach below, now flooded with the tidal waters.  Anya was whimpering with dread, while the others starred down at the scene in astonishment and horror.  Then the platform became opaque again.
    The guardian continued, “YOU CANNOT DEFEAT THAT WHICH LIES BEYOND REALITY, FOR ALL YOU SEE HERE IS IMMORTAL.  YOU MUST LEAVE.  YOU CANNOT WIN AGAINST ME!”
    Sean stepped forward, even though Anya reached out to him to make him stop.  Approaching the guardian, he shouted boldly, “We will never leave, you oversized set of dentures! People go to Hell for a damn good reason, and you let them off like they’re all innocent! What do you think the Devil thinks of all this?”
    “HE IS OF NO THREAT TO ME,” the guardian boasted loudly.
    “Is that so?” Sean shouted, “If these souls can escape from Hell so easily, then why does Hell exist at all?”
    Anya ran to Sean, and she whispered to him, “Sean, what are you doing? It can kill us all! We should really just move out and find another home.”
    “No,” Sean snapped, “I’ve let people walk all over me too many times before; my old bosses, my old teachers, my own damn parents, and we’ve suffered because of my lack of courage! But not this time! I won’t let this demonic set of teeth tell me what to do! You hear me, guardian! I will not give in to your plans!”
    “THIS ARGUMENT IS IRRELEVANT,” the guardian growled, “I PROVIDE AN ESCAPE FOR THOSE SOULS.  THEY ACCEPT IT GRATEFULLY, SO THEY CAN WALK THE EARTH AGAIN AMONG FELLOW MORTALS, WHIS TIME WITH NO BOUNDARIES OTHER THAN THE SKY.  ONE DAY, YOU WILL DIE AND YOU WILL COME TO ME, REQUESTING ESCAPE.  ESCAPE FROM THE HORRORS OF THE UNDERWORLD!”
    “That’s the damn problem!” Sean stated, “Hell is where men have to pay for their sins, so they are burned off.  Some stay for eternity, but I think, I believe, that most get a second chance.  Yet you deny them that chance!”
    “IT’S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY TO BE ABLE TO WALK WITH FELLOW MORTALS AGAIN, AND TO ESCAPE A FATE MORE HORRID THAN DEATH.  IT’S A FATE THAT YOU MAY NEVER FLEE FROM!”
    Having has lost its patience with Sean, the guardian glided toward him.  It opened its huge saber-toothed mouth.  Realizing his peril, Sean finally succumbed to the fear.  Screaming, he turned to run, but his movements felt sluggish.  His body was paralyzed with fear. 
Then, the large fangs clamped down on him.  At first, all Sean could feel were spikes of cold cutting into his body and making him shiver uncontrollably.  While he stood in the mouth of darkness, the fangs solidified, impaling him with cold, black ivory teeth.  He screamed in excruciating pain; blood poured from his wounds and dribbled on the stone platform.
    Everybody watched in terror and disgust as the guardian consumed Sean.  To them, he appeared to hover in midair as the teeth of evil clenched him over the stone pentagram.  While he was suspended there, he looked in torment at the six people watching.  Seeing Anya among them, he reached out for her, conjuring up happy memories of their marriage and their time together.
    The guardian growled in annoyance, and it clenched its teeth harder.  Protruding from Sean’s back, the fangs broke through the flesh, and more blood came out.  His entrails hung from the body.  At last, Sean’s last drop of blood fell from his body, and he was unclasped from the guardian’s maw.  He was pale white and cold.
    Anya shrieked in grievance, and Patrick starred in horror.  Dr. Jennifer O’Rye and her team were dumbfounded and terrified by the sheer power and threat that the guardian presented. Sean’s body remained still on the blood-soaked platform, a martyr of the house of the waxing moon.
    “REMEMBER, YOU HAVE UNTIL THE RISE OF THE NEXT MOON,” the guardian boomed.  Then the giant apparition disappeared into the multicolored vortex, which eventually receded back to the rune stone.
    Losing her self-control, Anya ran toward her husband’s body, with tears running from her eyes.  Jennifer, Henry, and Frank stood there with their heads bowed in respect for the dead, and Patrick was still paralyzed with terror.  Grasping Sean’s frigid hand, Anya wept for a long time.
    Then there came a growling of the guardian, threatening to return with angry vengeance.  Everybody fled the chamber in fright.  Only Patrick remained still as everybody ran back down the passage they came from; he was still struck with disbelief and grief over his father’s death.
    He saw the guardian’s fangs materializing in the center of the chamber.  With that brief warning, Pat turned and ran.

11:  Night of the New Moon

    Running from the basement, everybody gathered in the kitchen.  While they caught their breath, they assessed the situation.
    “Tomorrow is a new moon, so we have at least tonight and tomorrow night to plan,” Jennifer said.
    “Plan what?” Anya cried, “You don’t mean to tell me that you want to try and destroy that thing! It’s immortal! It’ll destroy us before you even have a chance to lash at it!”
    “But it fluxes in and out of reality.  It came into reality only when it killed Sean.”
    “That’s my husband you scientific bitch! I’d appreciate it if you show some respect! He was brave enough to confront it! You can never have the courage he had!”
    “I’m sorry, I truly am,” Jennifer stated solemnly. “But we must focus our energy to destroy this thing and its rune stone.”
    Don’t you get it? This thing will kill you before you can even tell it to go to Hell!”
    “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Calm down, woman!”
    Unable to come up with a reply, Anya simply stood there with tears welling in her eyes.
    “I think that if we can somehow reach the other side, we can have the forces of the ‘underworld’ take care of this creature.  I’m sure that Sean was right about Hell,” Jennifer remarked.
    “You mean that one of us should go to Hell?” Frank asked.
    “Yes, one of us should go to Hell and tell Satan about our situation.”
    “That’s crazy,” Henry blurted, “Nobody can waltz there and just tattle to the Devil.  He’ll shove you in the burning lakes before you can even say a word.”
    “Yes, he who goes to Hell becomes slaves of the Devil,” Frank said.
    “Perhaps,” Jennifer pondered. “But what if we used the vortex?”
    “That vortex goes only one way; out of Hell,” Frank argued, “We would need to commit suicide in order to get there, and that’s an automatic eternity.  There must be a way to defeat the guardian without going to Hell first.  If it can flux in and out of reality, then we must lure it into a trap.”
    “What on Earth will a trap accomplish?” Anya asked, still shaking from recent events. “No cage can hold that thing!”
    “That’s why I wanted someone to travel to the underworld,” Jennifer clarified.
    “Do you all even realize what you’re saying?” Frank exclaimed. “You want one of us to commit suicide! That’s insane! We don’t know what’s on the other side; it’s a one-way trip! If we even see the Devil, he won’t even give us a chance to explain; he’d just chop off our heads for all eternity! Now that’s a damn smart idea!”
    “I still think it’s worth a shot,” Jennifer said. “The guardian has already taken several lives, and it’ll continue to do so until it can be brought to its appropriate justice.”
    “I want no part of it,” Frank stubbornly refused.
    “Henry, what do you think of all this?”
    “I don’t know,” Henry stuttered. “It’s all too heavy for me.  It’s Hell on Earth in this house, religious stuff, and it freaks me out.  I don’t know.”
    “Maybe we should just retaliate,” Anya suggested.
    “What do you mean?” Jennifer inquired.
    “The guardian is a force of evil,” Anya explained. “It is unreal, as you said, and I think that enough power of goodness will dispel it from our world.  It might work if we work together.”
    “So we’d just clasp our hands and hope it goes away?” Frank argued. “That’s more insane than going to Hell!”
    “It’s an attitude like that that will keep the guardian happy.  As long as we are not working together and arguing like this, the evil and the bad things of the guardian will get to our heads and drive us away.  That’s what’s supposed to happen.  But if we could concentrate on the happier, more righteous moments, we could probably stand a chance against it.  If we continue to think of morbid thoughts and argue, then it’ll torment and kill us all.  It know this, and that’s why it working so hard to scare us off.”
    “Our struggles may also piss it off,” Frank warned.
    “Actually,” Jennifer said, “the emotional aura of such resistance could agitate it enough to surrender, and it may even disrupt the ley line powers.”
    “I remember how the guardian growled when Sean looked at me,” Anya recalled, with tears swelling again in her eyes.
    “I’m surprised that a scientist like you believes in this emotional stuff,” Frank glowered at Jennifer.
    “I believe in ghosts,” Jennifer stated. “And now I believe that I may have a chance to prove their existence.  The recent events have led me to believe that anything’s possible.  Why are you so upset by all this?”
    “Because it’s bull, more bull than the Apollo moon missions,” Frank answered. “I will have no part in it.”
    “Good then, we’ll solve this ourselves,” Jennifer said.
    “Good luck then, I’m going to town,” Frank said, turning to leave.
    “Well, I suppose it’s settled then.”
    Upon leaving, Frank looked back and regarded the house.  It seemed so harmless; appearing like any other modern home on the waterfront.  Thinking about what he had witnessed gave a new, more morbid impression concerning the home.  He could almost see the shadows leaking out of its windows, and crimson streams of energy seeping from its foundations.  Instead of the house number 1066, he thought it read 666.  A feeling of dread settled in the core of his stomach.  Glancing at the ornate design on the front door window, he could make out the image of the guardian hidden in the pattern.  Frank blinked, and it was gone.
    Thinking about everybody else and their ludicrous ideas, he turned away from the house.
    “Hey Frank,” a voice hollered behind Frank.
    Frank whirled around and he saw Jennifer standing there.  He said, “What do you want now? I told you, I want no part in this!”
    “It’s too late for that,” Jennifer said in a rather raspy voice. “You have seen the rune stone, and you cannot be permitted to escape.”
    She grinned, revealing black fangs protruding from her jaws.  Frank tried to react, but his feet seemed stuck in place.  With fear penetrating his body, he was frozen stiff.  He tried to scream, but his own vocal chords choked and failed him. 
     The guardian pounced on him, eating him with its long black fangs.

*

    Hours later, Henry went out of the house on a walk through the town of Glowhill.  It was a small town, and it only took him minutes to walk down its main street.  He ended up stopping at a small establishment, known as JJ’s Rib Shack.  Entering the restaurant, the smell of roasting ribs and alcohol invited him.  He sat at the bar and he ordered a drink and a small order of boneless ribs.  When the order came, he devoured the food wolfishly.  As he completed the meal, he was surprised to see Frank seated at a table near the only window in the restaurant.  Henry got up with the rest of his beer, and he sat down beside Frank.
    “Whadup?” Henry blurted gruffly.
    “Hey, Henry, old friend,” Frank said softly. “What are the odds of meeting you here in JJ’s Rib Shack?”
    “It’s a very small town, you know.  So what’s eating you?”
    “It’s no longer eating me now, but it sure as Hell ate me hours ago.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    Frank regarded Henry now with fierce eyes that glowed red.  Gasping in fright, Henry realized that he was really talking to the guardian.  He shivered as he felt his soul being penetrated by the glowing red stare.
    With an unnatural voice, Frank said, “Let it be know, mortal scum, that I will tolerate no resistance.  You must leave by the next moon-rise.  Else, you will be banished to the underworld for an eternity in the deepest and darkest pit, where even my rune stone cannot save you.”
    The glowing embers in Frank’s eyes faded, and he fell limp over the table.  His body was now pale and cold.  Fleeing the restaurant, Henry ran all the way back to the house.
    On the way, he vomited once on the street, feeling disgust and fear lingering in him.  When he got back to the house, he was wheezing and breathless.  There, he told the remaining three people of his encounter with Frank. 
Everybody could feel the gravity of their task.  There were only four of them left to deal with the guardian.  They could all die a gruesome death, and the rune stone would continue to bring unholy ghosts into the world.  This was proof that there was a thin line between a suicide mission and a mission of glory.

12:  Fall of the House of the Waxing Moon

    That night, everybody retired to their beds, and they dreamed of a thousand fierce and violent deaths.  They awakened from their nightmares, very late in the day.  It was ten o’clock, and they were weary and terrified.
    Silently awakening from their dreadful sleep, everybody gathered in the kitchen to eat a meager breakfast.  They all knew that the moon would rise again the next night, and the guardian would deliver its promise of death.  They spent their day judging whether it was wiser to spend their lives running and living through life to its fullest extent, or if they should risk a charge against the guardian and end the nightmares that have been plaguing this house for countless of years.  They had already made an agreement to spend tomorrow trying to defeat the guardian, but second thoughts floated around their heads menacingly, bringing thoughts of gory deaths under the awesome supernatural powers of the guardian.
    Throughout the house, the whispers of the escaping ghosts were floating about.  In the dark corners of the house, the dark shape of the guardian was looming, and grim shadows distended through unoccupied rooms of the house like ink.
    “You know, we might not be able to kill it or anything,” Henry stated. “How do we know if this psychokinetic stuff will work?”
    “We might not have enough emotional power to defeat the guardian,” Jennifer agreed.
    Anya explained, “It can’t be too hard to stand against the guardian.  We just need to cherish all the good moments of life, fighting the darker thoughts away.  We must also understand that the guardian and its rune stone are not real, and it therefore cannot harm us.”
    “Just like the magma in the basement.”
    “We can practice it now,” Anya suggested.
    “So we just sit here and recall the positive experiences, and we push away the bad thoughts?”
    “Basically.”
    “I hope this works.”
    Sitting still in the room, Anya focused hard on the various highlights of her life.  She thought of her marriage with Sean, the birth of Patrick, and all the times of fun and happiness that she experienced with them both.  Any thoughts of death and terror receded into a deep secluded corner of her mind.  Almost instantaneously, all her doubts faded.  The background whispering of the fleeing ghosts vanished, and the shadows that flooded into the house receded into the corners of the rooms.
    “Well, I’ll be,” Jennifer said, “I have no fear now.”
    “The whispering is gone,” Henry noted. “It is effective after all.”
    “I told you it would work,” Anya said with pride. “We have another day before us, and if we are to sacrifice ourselves to destroy the guardian, we should spend the day living life and having fun.”
    “This will give us a load of mental resistance that we can use against the guardian,” Jennifer said, “That’s a great idea.”
    For the next ten hours, the four of them spent the day sightseeing and touring.  They walked through the town of Glowhill, window-shopping and watching a movie at the local cinema.  Walking along the beach, they settled and picnicked on the sands.  Travelling to Tillamook, which was only ten miles away, they toured the cheese factory and wineries, before venturing through even more beaches.  It was a happy, adventurous outing that filled the four people with warm-hearted memories. 
     The dreaded anvil of death and destruction hung heavily over their heads, willing to crush them once and for all in the house.  Despite this threat, the four people enjoyed what was perhaps the last of their lives in happiness and laughter.  It later proved to be their most valuable weapon against evil.

*

    Later that day, everybody returned to the house, feeling content and happy.  Jennifer was in the living room, relaxing.  There was a Bible on the coffee table; she picked it up and started to read it out of curiosity.
    When Anya entered the room, Jennifer looked up and said, “It’s been a long time since I last read this book.  Science can really bring you away from this.”
    “I haven’t been reading it much either,” Anya confessed. “Given the new situations, it might be a good idea to say a prayer or read a passage.”
    Jennifer nodded as she read through the Bible.  She thumbed through the ending pages of the book, searching for a passage in Revelations.
    “There was a passage I once read about when I was a teenager.  It was in my mind since, where is it?” she muttered.  Finding the passage at last, she dictated, “The beast also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or his forehead so that no one can buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number on his name.  Revelations, 13 16.”
    “That’s rather grim,” Anya remarked.
    Jennifer walked across the room to the laptop computer.  There, she opened an image file of an infrared picture taken previously.  There was a streak of light from the basement wall to the other end of the picture.  Faces ordained the light.
    Jennifer ran a filter through the image, isolating a face.  On its forehead was a marking of the guardian:  a pair of long prongs, clearly resembling the guardian’s fangs.
    “Oh my God,” Anya gasped.
    “The mark of the beast,” Jennifer identified gravely. “The beast from the abyss, just before Judgment Day.”
    Anya remained shock, even after Jennifer closed the image file.  At last, she said, “I think we should have a prayer.”
    Henry and Patrick were summoned to the living room, where they all joined hands and bowed their heads in a prayer.

*

    Then it was ten o’clock at night, and the sun had vanished behind a thick veil of clouds.  Then the moon followed, chasing the sun through the skies, rising into the twilight illuminating everything in silvery light.
    Jennifer, Anya, Patrick, and Henry went to the basement, where the crack formed ethereally in the wall and magma was pouring out at a tremendous rate.  This time, there were black obsidian stepping-stones across the river of fire, leading to the arched halls.  Everybody crossed the flowing burning river and walked down the unreal stone passage.
    In the nexus, the four people stepped onto the hovering stone platform reluctantly.  Even though they trembled with fear, they approached the rune stone.  They could feel the dark power vibrating from it and its supernatural coldness passing in waves.  Once again, there was the compressed whispering of a thousand tormented souls, fleeing from the dreaded underworld via the rune stone. 
    From the rubies on the rune stone, the guardian materialized.  It seeped from the stone and appeared in its fullest, most solid form.  It hovered silently in the middle of the chamber.  Watching the black fangs take shape, the four people trembled fearfully.
    The guardian spoke, “HAVE YOU MADE YOUR DECISION? WILL YOU LEAVE ME BE, AND KEEP THE EXISTANCE OF THIS PLACE A SECRET?”
    “We will do no such thing!” Anya shrieked at the guardian, taking the example of Sean’s bravery as a motivation to break her fears and retaliate. “We will remain here, and you’re going to like it!”
    The guardian gave a sinister, booming laugh, “YOU ARE UNWISE, MORTAL SCUM! I WILL HAVE TO DESTROY YOU ALL, STARTING WITH YOU, ANYA RIED! YOU SHALL BE FOREVER DAMNED, AS YOU ARE BANISHED TO THE BURNING LAKES OF SULPHUR!”
    The guardian flew toward Anya with its large black teeth enclosing around her.  Keeping her mental defense strong, she held on to the cherished moments of her life, thinking constantly of the day they spent touring.  She thought again and again of Sean and Patrick, and their joyous moments together.  She thought only of the good and the righteous, repelling the bad and the unholy thoughts.  Her brain became a giant amusement park of bright and blissful thoughts. 
It was enough to halt the guardian in its attack.  It hung in the air above Anya like the jaws of death, but unable to devour her completely.
    The guardian was growling, and it echoed throughout the chamber.  Anya, Patrick, Jennifer, and Henry fought back with thoughts of righteousness.  The combined attack worked, and the guardian moved back to the rune stone.  With her mind still streaming positive reflections, Anya gave a sigh of relief as it backed away.
    “YOU ARE VERY STONG MINDED, AND I HAVE UNDERESTIMATED YOU.  BUT I WILL HAVE IT KNOWN THAT THIS RETALIATION WILL CONTINUE NO FURTHER.  BEHOLD MY ARMY!”
    With these words, the vortex became visible:  a swirling rainbow of faces and spirits.  The spirits parted from the vortex, and they came onto the four people as an army.  The spirits were transparent men and women, each bearing the marks of the guardian on their foreheads, walking slowly but dreamlike towards the four that resisted the guardian.  Gathered into a large mass, their formation resembled a large asymmetrical beast.  As they moved on them, Anya and the others back-stepped to the edge of the platform, where darkness loomed below.
     Henry, who let his mental defenses drop for an instant, screamed out loud as evil swept through his mind.  Overwhelmed, he stumbled and plummeted into the darkness below, with his scream following him until it faded to silence.
     With Henry’s untimely death, the remaining three people had to double their defenses.  Visions of righteousness flashed through their minds at a rapid rate, but the gathering of souls did not yield.  As minions of the guardian with no solid thoughts of their own, they were immune to the psychokinetic reaction.  Advancing forward, they wielded dark swords that mentally sliced into minds of Anya, Patrick, and Jennifer.  Thoughts of death, suffering, and sorrow swept through their brains like a black wave.  If they even survived this encounter, the three of them would be traumatized for the rest of their lives.
     Grinning and laughing sinisterly, the guardian gloated, “AND NOW YOUR MIND AND YOUR SOUL WILL DIE, AND THE MARK OF ME, THE GUARDIAN, SHALL BE ON YOUR HEAD FOR ALL ETERNITY!” It boomed more laughter throughout the chamber.
     The group of souls closed in on Anya, Patrick, and Jennifer.  Their advance was only interrupted by a flash of crimson light.
     When the flash cleared, the souls of the guardian were gone.  The etched pentagram on the stone floor was now ablaze, and a new demon dominated the chamber.  It was riding a chariot of fire and brimstone with horses of lava and bridles of obsidian.  In the chariot was seated a red skinned creature bearing horns and an ominous ivory crown.  In its hand was a pitchfork red hot with immense heat.  Anya and the others lamented when they identified the creature as Satan himself.  For releasing so many souls from his unholy kingdom, the Devil had come to deliver justice to the guardian.
     The guardian gave a bloodcurdling scream as it dissolved under the devil’s powers, eradicated from the ranks of Hell forever.  Laying his pitchfork on the rune stone, the Devil made it explode in a brilliant burst of flames; rock chips and shattered rubies flew out in all directions.  Then, the platform shattered into particles and shards of rock, and the chamber itself disappeared.
     As Anya, Patrick, and Jennifer were observing the events, they saw Sean seated next to Satan in the chariot of fire.  They knew what happened beyond life, that Sean had brought the devil to this place to destroy the demented guardian, and save them all.

*

     The house of 1066 exploded in a large fireball, throwing debris of wood and slate across the neighborhood.  The explosion was silent and it happened very slowly.  A giant crimson shockwave rippled through the whole town, but it didn’t damage any other buildings.  Eventually, the fire and all the debris from the house dissipated to smoke, leaving no trace of the residence’s existence anywhere.  There weren’t even any foundations left.  The house, and the rune stone it hid for years on end, was gone.

*

     Finding themselves on the beach behind the house, Anya, Patrick, and Jennifer witnessed the explosion.  Watching the surreal blast, they knew then that it was all over.
     “I was certain that we wouldn’t make it,” Jennifer remarked.  “We have Sean to thank for catching the attention of the Devil, so he can take revenge on his own rogue demon.”
     “Freaky,” Patrick muttered.
     “Let’s not think of it anymore,” Anya said with exhaustion in her voice. “It’s all over.”
     They noticed four other figures walking further down the beach.  It was Sean, Mandy, Frank, and Henry, apparently liberated from death and resurrected.  They all converged on the beach, and there was an exchange of hugs and kisses and handshakes.
     “I’ll never blame the government for cattle mutilations again,” Frank uttered profoundly.
      “My God we’re all alive now!” Sean exclaimed happily.
      “What should we do now? We’ve got no home, and you’re still unemployed,” Anya asked him.
     “You three can join our team of supernatural investigators,” Jennifer suggested. “The guardian, the beast of the abyss, is gone, but he mentioned the existence of other rune stones.  They must be found and exorcised appropriately.”
     “We can train you,” Mandy offered.
     “I just met the Devil.  I think I can handle anything,” Sean said.
     From that day onward, the seven of them embarked on a career in finding, studying, and destroying the mysterious rune stones scattered around the Earth.  After all they had witnessed in the house of the waxing moon, they understood the stones’ powers and implications.  With all they learned, they tuned their minds and hearts to combat evil in all its forms.
     In Glowhill, when the moon rose into the sky every night, whispers could still be heard.  They were whispers from the underworld, as spirits sought for the rune stone that once dominated the house of 1066.  Rushing through the underworld, they sought an escape from ultimate punishment, but only found a dead end.  Their cries of torment could still be heard amidst the twilight.

Copyright 2001, all rights reserved.