That Elm St House

“You’re being a coward!”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No, I am not!!”

I can’t believe that this is how the day is going. We’re walking home from school and already arguing like a couple of elementary students. My BFF Rebecca is over here trying to convince me to go visit that creepy-ass house up on Elm St. It seriously feels like a nightmare, I think it’s where they got the inspiration for that really old movie. Seriously, who the hell is afraid of someone with a name like Freddy? Totally goofy name, probably a nerd.

In any case, let me get you caught up some. There’s always been stories of ghosts or demons or something up in the old house. It’s been abandoned for as long as I can remember, but no one ever seems interested in selling it. Or buying it maybe.

That doesn’t stop all the kids at school from challenging each other. ‘Spend the night in the old Elm St house.’ ‘I slept through the night in the Elm St house.’ et cetera, et cetera.

Is that Latin? Is it cool that I know some Latin? Whatever, anyway.

Now it’s my turn to get picked on and Rebecca is telling me that she was in there. She won’t admit that she didn’t really go inside, but she also won’t admit that she didn’t didn’t spend the night. I would think that if you actually went inside a creepy, abandoned old house that you would grab something to prove you were there. I mean, I would do that. Just sayin’.

“Prove it then. Show me that you’re not a coward by spending the night in the Elm St house.” Come on, Rebecca, give it a rest.

“I don’t gotta prove anything to you. I don’t think you’ve even been in the house.”

She spins around and sticks her tongue out at me. Real mature there. Of course, I wasn’t any better, because I stuck my own tongue out at her. We’re good enough friends at this point that we both know that we’re just messing with each other.

We walk down the street some more, talking about school and stuff. English, Math(ick), all the cute boys, and the juicy gossip that we’ve heard/started. I guess with all the talk, I didn’t notice that we ended up walking a different route. We normally just head to the library or a cafe or something to waste a little time before heading home, but this time we just went straight home. I blame Rebecca. This is her fault, she intentionally distracted me so I wouldn’t notice that we were walking toward Elm St.

You know, I’ve never really thought about it, but Elm St isn’t really that big a street. Maybe it’s by design or something, but it’s just a short street that has like 3 houses and then……the house. You know the house. If you don’t know which one I’m talking about then you haven’t been listening to me this entire time and that’s just rude.

We just stopped at the corner and stared, the both of us. Like, we didn’t even have to talk about it, we just stopped and looked and stood there just watching the house. Like, we were daring it to do something scary, but it just stood there.

Based on what I’ve said, you’d expect that it’s some grey house that’s falling apart with bare trees and an iron fence around it that’s kind of rusting. Maybe some crows that make their kind of lonely, annoying cawing noise. Wait, do crows caw? Do they make some other noise? Whatever, not important.

The house actually doesn’t look that scary, all things considered. Well, yes, it’s kind of run down and maybe the paint is peeling in some places, but it’s clear that it was built just like the homes around it, it just needs some TLC. Cute little shutters on the window and a nice lawn that has a few weeds in it, nothing that big a deal. A couple of sparrows are even playing in the tree with a real pretty tweeting. There’s just something…..off about it. I don’t know what.

I had to break the silence. “Why are we here?”

“Oh, come on,” says Rebecca, “You can do this, Angie!”

I don’t need to do this though, and I tell her so.

“You’re no fun,” she says. And with that, we split up to finish going home. I finish my homework, help mom with dinner and setting the table, let my brother Danny do the dishes, and then jump on my comp after dinner to do all my socials. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday. Dad ends up working the night shift today, so we won’t see him until tomorrow. Mom just ends up watching some documentary on Animal Planet with Danny. It’s nice when they show the cute little fuzzy animals, but I think tonight’s show is about plants that eat things. Ick.

We all get ready for bed and I go to sleep. End of the day.

Or so I thought.

I don’t really sleep well. I get some bad dreams of me running through a house, there’s something about a really creepy book. When I think about it, I don’t know why it scared me so much, but I remember that in the dream, the book was scary, but I didn’t dare go anywhere without it, like my life depended on it. I woke up several times through the night and I end up being super tired in the morning. Not the way I wanted to start the weekend. Hopefully, school isn’t too boring.

On the way to school, I walk past Elm St again. I don’t know why I went this way, it’s not really on the way to school, but not really not on the way to school, if you know what I mean. As I pass by the street, I have to wonder what the other people living here think about that house. It’s not spooky looking exactly, but they’ve gotta wonder why it never sells, right? I catch myself staring down the street for just a little too long, shake it off, and then run to school. I figured that a little jog could help wake me up. Nice short bit of exercise early in the morning to help my figure out.

Rebecca meets me at school and we pick up where we left off. Almost exactly where we left off, in fact. Of course, she just has to go and ruin it.

“I walked past Elm St this morning. Very chilly,” she says conspiratorially. “You know, I’ve never even seen anyone from the other homes, in all the times I’ve walked by there.”

“I think I’ve seen them a time or two,” I lie, hoping that she’ll shut up about it. “Very private people, though.”

“Liar,” chimes in Sally.

Did I not mention Sally? We hang all the time, the three of us. She just goes a different way home, which is why she wasn’t part of the last conversation. She’s kind of short with super short blond hair, it really looks cute on her in a tomboy kind of way. She isn’t a tomboy though, totally lazy through gym class. She is super smart though, she helps us with our math homework all the time.

“Why would I lie about that?”

“I don’t know,” Rebecca again, “maybe you just don’t want to talk about it.”

“It’s ok, though,” says Sally right before she changes subjects on me, “I heard that Greg and Lisa are going to break up.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I think it’s because Greg isn’t really right for her. He’s too, what’s the word? Male.”

“Oh, my god Sally!” I say. I can’t believe she went there. I mean, assuming that it isn’t true, which I guess it could be.

The bell for homeroom starts ringing as we continue down the hall. We break up and head into our respective classes. Time to learn stuff, I can let the gossip sit and stew in my head for lunch period when I get to hang with my friends again. The rest of the day goes without too much incident, pretty boring in places, though. It was while we waited for Sally at the entrance/exit to school that things started getting interesting.

Rebecca and I were just waiting at the front gate, chatting as usual, when out of nowhere she asks, “What’s taking Sally so long?”

I didn’t really think about it, but looking at my watch I realized that we had been waiting for, like, 20 minutes. I hadn’t noticed, but the number of other kids leaving school had died down quite a bit. “I’ll text her, hold on,” I say. Hopefully, she’s just busy talking with her teacher or something.

After we wait a couple more minutes, Rebecca tells me that she’s going to call. She dials and holds the phone out on speaker so we can both talk to her. It rings once and then just goes to voicemail. OMG, did she just ghost us? How rude! “Call again,” I tell her.

This time, Sally answers the phone. “Where are you?” asks Rebecca, kind of snippy.

“Sssshhhhhh!” Sally responds in a harsh whisper. “Don’t talk, it’s already too scary here.”

“Wait, where are you?” I ask, I’m trying not to be snippy as well.

Sally only says 2 more words before hanging up the phone. Rebecca and I look at each other and then start running down the street. Oh, what did she say, you ask? Do you really need to ask that? If you do, then you’re not a very good reader because she said, “Elm Street.”

Ok, so yeah. We go back to Elm St. I swear, there are cars in the driveways, but I never see anyone driving on this street. Or anyone even outside their homes, what gives with that? And Mother Nature isn’t helping out here at all, it’s September after all. It’s supposed to still be kinda hot and everything, but running down the street, it just feels like Autumn.

That reminds me, I gotta talk to Autumn. I think she started some rumors about me, so I started some about her. We need to find a way to bury the hatchet and be friendly with each other. Or at the very least, not stabbing each other in the back. I don’t think it helps either of us. Her boyfriend is cute and everything, but he’s not my type. That being said, I’m not even sure if that’s the issue. Like I said, we need to talk it out.

Anyway, back to the present. There’s a wind that chills me to the bone, probably because I’m just wearing some shorts and a tank top. Also, there’s shadows everywhere so little chance that the sun is going to warm us up.

The gate outside the house is open and I think we all know why. Rebecca and I slip through and make our way to the front door. Wait, that’s odd. The front door is actually open slightly. What the hell? The way Sally sounded on the phone, you would think that she’s locked inside. This was just a way to get me here. For a bit, I feel my anger get the best of me and I yell out Sally’s name as loud as I could.

“Angela?” came the reply, part scared and part relieved. “Oh my god you guys. Quick, open the door and help me get out of here!”

What is she talking about? “Ummm…” says Rebecca, just as confused as I am, “The door is open, Sally.”

I pushed the door open as far as I can, and of course it squeaks in that eerie, scary way that we all knew it was going to. It probably is going to fall off the hinges at any moment. That would be the cliche, anyway. I can see inside the house and it mostly looks,.....let’s face it, it looks disgusting. The furniture is ripped and worn, there’s trash everywhere, I swear that there might even be a smell coming from something that I don’t want to think about. I can see into the kitchen a little bit and can see that there’s some food spilled onto the floor. The smell is probably coming from there, from something that spoiled. Off to the left I can barely see the bottom part of some stairs that lead up to the second floor.

There are so many things to see and describe, but you know what I can’t see or describe? Sally. She is nowhere to be seen. Maybe hiding behind a wall or something, maybe she’s doing it just to scare me. Like, she’s going to hop out from behind the corner and scream in my face just to hear me scream and then she’ll laugh at me for being scared. I know how this is going to work. Since I know, the last thing I want to do is actually walk inside. She won’t be fooling me today.

“Come on guys, help me out!” Sally sounds really freaked out and paranoid. “I don’t mean the front door, it’s one of the ones in here! I swear it’s stuck!!”

Rebecca and I look at each other and I just know that we’re both going to ask each other to step inside. I mean, I’m already freaked out just being at the front door, I feel like it’s just my friendship with Sally that’s keeping me here. I wanna help her, but I really don’t like being scared.

“Ok, we can do this,” Rebecca tells me, “We’ll go in together.”

“Yeah, ok,” is all I can think to say. At least I won’t be going in alone. Hand in hand, we both enter the house, moving slowly with really small steps. So much for Rebecca’s bravado yesterday. She’s just as scared as I am. It’s clear that we’re both ready to dart back outside at the slightest hint of something trying to get us.

I call out to Sally again, but I’m really scared, so my voice comes out like a hoarse whisper instead of the shout that I was planning. “Sally! Where are you? We’re coming!”

“I’m upstairs! Please hurry! I’m scared!”

She’s scared? If this is a prank just to get me here, I’m going to be so mad that I might consider not being friends with these two. Rebecca and I head up the stairs and around the corner, I guess the stairs wrap around a pillar or something. I see a door closed right at the top of the stairs, which is right where Sally must be. I don’t know how long we’ve been in the house, but it can’t have been long. I think I’m becoming desensitized though, because I’m starting to feel less scared. Like, this is something real and not some ridiculous ghost story. After all, it’s just an abandoned house, right?

I reach out with my hand and grab the knob, turning it and pushing the door inwards. Sally leaps through as soon as she’s able to and gives me a hug. “OMAIGAWD! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!” After she lets go of me, she immediately rushes over to give Rebecca a hug. What was the big deal anyway? The door wasn’t locked or anything, it wasn’t stuck, I don’t see why she didn’t just open the door herself. I’ll get to yell at her in just a moment, but I wanna see what could possibly be wrong with the door that she wasn’t able to open it herself. I look through the doorway and see a mostly empty room. I say mostly empty because there’s like a broken down chest of drawers against one wall and one of the curtains has fallen off, crumpled up on the floor. What grabs my attention though is that there’s a book in the middle of the floor.

No big deal, right? Just a random book. No, this is THE book. What do you mean, what book? The one I mentioned from my dream. I’ll wait here while you go back and take a look at the earlier part of the story.

Yeah, the nightmare book. Only, it’s just sitting there, minding its own business. Do books have minds? Nevermind, not important. I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around me, just really curious how a book from my dream could end up here. I walk inside the room and pick up the book, opening it and flipping backwards through the pages. They’re mostly blank but one of the ones at the beginning has the words ‘Knock Knock’ filling up the entire page.

“Hey, guys,” I call out, “This thing is weird. I had a nightmare last night about this boo-” is about all I get out when I hear the front door of the house slam shut. It seriously scares the crap out of me and I jump, spinning around. I expected my friends to wait for me, but I guess they got scared and ran. Shutting the book, I run downstairs and get to the door, grabbing the doorknob and pulling as hard as I can. Hey, I’ve heard the stories about this place, I want out too!

Only, it’s not working. The doorknob won’t turn and the door is stuck, or something. I don’t think it’s going to open anytime soon. “Guys? GUYS!!” I’m yelling as loud as I can, but I don’t think they can hear me. I mean, they’ll come back, right? Once they notice that I’m not there with them? Maybe it’ll work for me the same way that it worked for Sally. Thinking that, it’s when I hear my phone go off. I mean, it’s coming from upstairs again, but I recognize the ringtone. I must’ve dropped it when I came down to try the front door. I mean, why else would the phone be upstairs instead of with me, right? I sprint back upstairs and pick up the phone, “Guys! You left me behind, I’m still in the house!”

All I hear is a whisper of a voice, “Run and hide.” It’s quiet and not normally threatening, but something about it sends a chill straight down my spine. I don’t really question why I’m being asked to hide, I just run into the room that Sally was locked into and dashed into the closet. It’s the only place that I can think to hide. The closet has some old coats and dresses hanging inside and I back into them as far as I can.

Ok, so I’m in the Elm St house and there’s a creepy voice on my phone that I don’t recognize. I’m starting to calm down and thinking that when this is over, I’m going to KILL whoever set this up. This is not funny! However, I don’t get long to think about it because about then, I start hearing some noise coming from the other side of the closet door. I hear the drawers slide out and then back in to the chest that’s in the room. Someone’s looking for something. Or me? Are they looking for me?

Just as I think to open the closet to have a look, the door opens. No, I did not do anything, whatever opened the door has this raspy breathing, like they’re always winded and trying to catch their breath. There’s a creepy moldy smell and I really don’t like to think about what they might look like. Instead, I hold my breath as hard as I can and hope that whoever or whatever this is, they don’t look very hard. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest so loud that it should be audible, but I don’t dare move a muscle.

After what feels like an eternity, the closet door closes again, only not all the way closed. I can hear whatever it was shuffle away. There were steps moving away, but like dragging on the carpet. It’s also out of sync, like there’s a limp or something. I’m scared out of my mind and I know that I should be trying to find a way out of here.

OMG, the book! The book is still in my hand and it’s starting to feel warm. I slowly inch out from behind the coats and dresses and open the book to the ‘Knock Knock’ page. Nothing new there. I turn the page and there’s writing there, too! ‘Keep the book safe, it will help you.’

Why didn’t I notice that earlier? I could’ve sworn that all the pages were blank. I flip through the rest of the book, as quickly and quietly as I can. Nope, nothing but blank pages for the rest of it. This is seriously creepy though. When I go back, though, there’s already more writing. Who is writing in this book and how are they doing it? I look around the room to see if there are any cameras watching me, but it’s just an abandoned room. Oh, you want to know what else was written? It’s just a small little word in the lower right corner of the page which said ‘over’ with an arrow pointing to the right. Of course, that means I should turn the page, but I want to know what’s going on more than I want to know if there’s more writing!

I can feel myself getting really really scared now. I’m alone in this creepy ass old house that has, like, a reputation for being haunted. There’s …… something in here that’s creepy and repugnant, I don’t want to even think about what it might do to me. And on top of everything else, there’s this book that’s magic, but gives off super spooky vibes and is supposed to help me. I don’t know what it’s supposed to help me do, but it’s supposed to help.

Ok, it’s just a book, right. A book that writes words in itself and maybe can read my mind. Wait, that’s ridiculous. I open the book again and turn the page. I’m curious what’s on the next page. What I see almost makes me scream, but I cover my mouth with my hand because I don’t want that thing to come back. Oh, I’m sure that you want to know what’s written there. I’m getting to it, be patient!

‘Yes, I do know what you’re thinking.’ That’s on the left page. The writing is in this really angular, random kind of script, the letters aren’t the same size and it’s written in a way to look like whoever’s writing here is doing it as quickly as they can. I never see the words being written, they’re just there as soon as it’s time for me to see them. On the right side, it said, ‘Don’t drop the book or slam it closed,’ and in even smaller letters, ‘it’s attracted to noise’.

Ok, so let’s recap. Scary house, freaky thing inside, book that writes itself, and I’m not supposed to make any noise. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be scared out of your mind, but also determined not to scream? Little bit of torture there.

I look over at the door to this bedroom. The door is partially open and I can clearly see something slimy dripping off the knob. Does this mean that that thing left that behind when it opened the door? Ok, let’s give it a name, because calling it ‘thing’ is starting to bother me. I don’t know why, but I look down at the book. It still has the words ‘it’s attracted to noise’ written there in tiny little letters. Maybe there’s something else written? I also wonder how many pages there are. Do they all go blank if I run out?

My hands are shaking, and it takes a little bit, but I manage to grab the page and turn it over. Only the right page has anything: ‘it is called Nemaiyath and it is hungry’. Well, shit. I’m locked in a house with something that’s ‘hungry’. I wonder what it eats. Of course it eats people! The house wouldn’t have this scary reputation if it didn’t, right? I flip another page and almost drop the book. ‘When you run out, you die.’

Ok, no. Just no. I don’t want to die. I’m not reading any more of this book. I mean, I’m just going to put it down on the dresser and not read anymore of it. I mean, I’m going to die if it runs out of pages? I don’t know if I should believe that but right now I don’t want to take a chance. If I don’t read it, I’m not going to die. I put it down on the dresser and I start to walk out when I remember that I was told to keep the book safe. Does that mean that this Nemaiyath is going to destroy the book? What would that do to me? Will I die because then the book is out of pages? I’m scared of so many things at the moment but the two competing for the top are that I’m afraid of the book and I’m afraid to leave it behind. Better to have the thing with me and not read it than take a chance that something bad could happen to it.

Wait, was that a noise just now? I hold my breath and listen. There’s a low moaning coming from somewhere outside the room, but kind of far away. Is it getting closer? I can’t really tell and I don’t think it’s saying anything, but it might be, I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want to be anywhere near, …….I look down at the book and memorize the name Nemaiyath. The name doesn’t mean anything to me, but I remember what it felt like to have it so close to me.

Ok, calm down, Angela. I’m so scared that I’m starting to hyperventilate, which I can’t do since that’s what’s going to grab Nemaiyath’s attention. You know, heavy, noisy breathing. It’s already checked in here once already and left, if it came back, I don’t think it would be satisfied until it searched every inch of the room, so I’m screwed there. I need to find somewhere else to panic and then figure out how to leave here. You would think that it would be easy, break a window and crawl out that way, right? But wouldn’t that mean that Nemaiyath could do the same? Something is keeping it here, which means that same something is probably keeping me here as well. I’m going to peek out the door and hope and pray and really, really need Nemaiyath to NOT be right outside this room.

Ok, I open the door slowly, just in case it might squeak. Nothing, that’s good. With the door open, I stand there, listening for anything. I don’t hear anything, except the wind blowing outside and the trees rustling in the wind. There’s a couple of taps against the house, I guess some of the branches are close enough to hit. I hope that it thinks this too and doesn’t think that I’m here tapping anything. Sorry, Nemaiyath, I don’t want to be on the menu.

Since I’m already listening for any little sound, I can hear its rasping breaths coming from downstairs. There’s also some squishing sounds that are gross and kinda uncomfortable to listen to. The stairs leading down are right in front of me and I know they lead to the front door, but I can’t go that way since the door won’t open for me. Maybe I just need to find an open window or something. The hallway continues to my left and it looks like there’s a balcony that I’ll be walking along. There’s a rail going by that fence, but I’ll be clearly visible once I’m there. Still, it’s the only way I can go anywhere that isn’t down with Mr. Grody Breathing.

So, the best way for me to get across is to lie down and kind of crawl across. I mean, I think I can still be kind of seen, but it would be a lot harder. Good thing that the floor is carpeted so any sounds I make are muffled. As I’m going across, I’m also checking to see what this Nemaiyath looks like, so I can be prepared. Not sure how I can prepare for this, but at least I’ll know something. Not knowing at all is really starting to eat at me. I can kind of see down into the kitchen and I think I see some tattered, like swamp green cloth moving around. It doesn’t take long for it to turn its head and I realize that I’m looking at, like, a hood. Once the head is turned, I can see it’s grayish mouth as it’s chewing something. I’m kind of transfixed a little bit, so I watch long enough to watch a bony, boil covered hand bring up what is clearly a moldy orange.

Oh, that’s just gross. IT ATE IT!! All the spoiled food in the kitchen must be the sounds I was hearing, Nemaiyath is eating the spoiled, rotten, mold encrusted food. This is making me sick, so much that I want to vomit. I don’t want to watch this anymore, but it does help to explain how bad it smelled when it almost found me. I continue to crawl across until I’m safely past the balcony. I’m going to continue down the hall past the next room. Why? If that thing starts checking room by room, I don’t want to be in the VERY NEXT ONE!

Ok, let’s stop here in the master bedroom. If it can be called that, it doesn’t really seem bigger than any other, but it does have what I think is an attached bathroom. There’s a king sized bed taking up most of the space, it’s also missing a couple of legs and sits at an angle. I squeeze between the bed and an armoire and past a standing mirror. Whoever lived here must’ve been a woman. Between the standing mirror and the stained, but pale lavender paint job, the room definitely has what was once a feminine feel to it.

Alright, enough of that. I need to figure out how to get out of here, and the best bet I have is this stupid book. Only thing is, it’s telling me that I’m going to die if I run out of pages. Ok, let’s limit how many times I open the book. That’ll help. Bonus, while there is writing on a few pages, there are a lot to go, so I think I’m good for now. I just don’t want to be here for too long.

Ok, let’s go over this book, shall we? The book is important and will keep me safe. Not sure how it does that, since all it does is respond to my thoughts. Wait, did it just respond to that? I open the book and quickly go to the last page I remember, the one warning me about running out of pages. Slowly, I turn the page, mostly because I’m afraid of what’s going to be written, but there’s nothing there. *whew* That’s good to know, that it’s not going to respond to everything. Alright, what I need is some info on how to get out of here. I start thinking really hard about getting out, stressing the importance of getting out safely.

I look down at the book again to see what it says, but the page is blank. I turn to the page after that and there’s nothing. What’s going on? I thought this thing would help me. This is actually freaking me out. Let’s go back and make sure that I didn’t miss anything. I read through all the other pages and the ones that have something written haven’t changed, the ones after that are blank. Great. The book is now useless. I slam it closed and toss it onto the bed before sitting down on the floor. I feel like I want to cry.

But, crying isn’t going to get me anywhere, so instead of crying, I just sigh as I look up at the ceiling. I then look at myself in the mirror. I hope I don’t look like too much of a mess. My reflection actually doesn’t look too bad, I guess I’ve mostly just been scared and not really gotten messed up in any way. Although, my make-up could use some touching up.

Wait. Wait just a sec. I swear, it looks like I just winked, but I don’t remember winking. Am I losing it? As I lean in to get a better look at the mirror, my reflection raises its arm and points toward the bed. Not the mirror’s bed, the one on my side. I take a deep breath and then quickly cover my mouth before a very muffled scream comes out from between my fingers. Don’t want Nemaiyath to hear me, after all. My reflection just puts a finger to my lips before pointing again at the bed. I look up at the bed and then back at the mirror. My mirror self puts her hands together and then opens them sideways. Oh, the book!

I stand up and grab the book (while also keeping an eye on my reflection, but it’s back to being normal. I think), turning to the next page available. There’s more! Why wasn’t it there before? Ok, doesn’t matter, what does it say? In order to leave, you will need to complete a ritual. It will banish Nemaiyath and allow escape.

Ok, ritual. Got it. What kind of ritual? I turn the page and see instructions on some kind of chant that I’ll need to do with some specific items nearby. I look around and see if I can find any of the items here. Let’s see, candles, sage, crystals. Ok, I think it’s all here. I place the items on the available furniture and on the ground as indicated. The instructions take a few pages, but I don’t even care. I’m getting out of this house, one way or another! Alright, I flip back and forth to make sure I get everything when I spot a bit of the instructions that I can’t believe I missed. Light the candles in this order.

Light? LIGHT?!? I scramble around the room looking for something, anything to light these stupid ass candles and I can’t find anything. As I’m beginning to panic, I happen to notice that my reflection, which doesn’t reflect really all that well I might add, is acting impatient with me as it gestures toward the book again. I open it up and page through it until I get a new page which simply says, there’s a lighter in the kitchen.

The kitchen? The fucking kitchen!? That’s where Nemaiyath is eating all that…..I’m feeling sick just thinking about it. Isn’t there somewhere else I could get something? Alright, book, give me some good news, please. Please?

No such luck. It tells me that this is the only place to go. It also says that Nemaiyath should be distracted right now as it’s eating. It also tells me to hurry because Nemaiyath is running low on things to eat.

No. No, no, no, no, no, no!! That thing, creature, whatever it is, is disgusting! I don’t want to go near it! Just having it close to me when I was in that closet is more than enough for me. Not only that, but I’ve actually seen the thing. Just the thought of getting close to it makes my skin crawl.

Wait, but isn’t it running low on food? Doesn’t that mean that it’ll leave the kitchen? I start to cheer up at that thought before realizing that if it’s still hungry, it’s going to start exploring the rest of the house for something or someone to eat. Crap. I can’t risk that, I’ve gotta go get the lighter like super quick.

I’ve already searched the room and I know that there isn’t anything in here.. Ok, book, help me out a bit. Is Nemaiyath weak to or afraid of anything? I open the book and flip to the next page(is it just me, or are there not many pages left?), and it tells me that Nemaiyath doesn’t like getting wet. Ok, ok. That can help. I think. My family has a dog that doesn’t like getting wet and she does everything to try and avoid getting a bath, so maybe it’ll be like that.

I make my way over to the master en suite. It looks trashed with broken things all over the place, but nothing that looks like it would hold any useful amount of water. I mean, a few drops here and there, but otherwise nothing. Guess I’ll try the hallway bathroom. I slowly walk over there as quietly as I can, making no noise if I can help it. I’m hoping that whatever noise I do make sounds more like mice in the walls or something. Ok, this bathroom is just as bad, but at least there’s a tin cup there. Feeling relieved, I grab the cup and turn on the water.

Holy crap, are the pipes super loud. As soon as water fills the cup, there’s this awful racket that’s almost painful to hear. I’m just focused on getting the cup full so I have something to splash Nemaiyath with. It doesn’t take long before the cup is full and the water is flowing out and over my hand. Yes, since you’re reading this, I’m sure that you’ve already figured out what I had forgotten. As I exit the bathroom, I hear a moan coming from the hallway. A low moan that chills me to my spine. I forgot that Nemaiyath is attracted to noises and I just raised a lot of noise right now. I’m hoping that it’s still coming up the stairs as I zip over into another room, spilling water all over the floor. Let it explore the bathroom and hopefully, I can sneak past to get down in the kitchen. I’ll worry about how to get back to the ritual after I get the lighter.

It doesn’t take that long for Nemaiyath to shuffle down the hallway. Since I left the door partly open, this is my first chance to get a really good look at it, more than just its head, that is. It has grayish skin that can barely cover its bony body. The shuffling is coming from its right leg, which is really, really swollen and fat compared to everything else. The green cloth that I saw earlier is a heavily stained and tattered hoodie. The smell coming off of it is intense and I smelled it coming long before I saw it. It shuffles its way into the bathroom and I’m waiting for my chance to head downstairs when my mind registers a couple of things that when put together almost make me puke right there. First, it’s not wearing any pants or anything. Second, it’s actually a he. Have you ever seen a disgusting, wart and pus covered penis? I’m sorry to say that I now have and I am super grossed out.

Good thing for me that he’s obsessed with the bathroom and trying to find out the source of the noise. As quickly as I can, I tiptoe down the hall and the stairs to get into the kitchen. Holy crap, this might actually work. I put the cup down on the counter and quickly start opening drawers and cabinets to look for this lighter or whatever. I’m ignoring the feel and smell of rotten fruit all over the floor as I start on one side and work back and forth. It doesn’t take that long before I find a small disposable lighter in one of the drawers. Even though it looks like it’s low on fuel, I’m so happy to see it that I’m crying. I stuff it into my pocket and reach over for my cup. It’s then that I see him.

I don’t know if he came down to keep eating or if it was because I was making noise down here. It doesn’t matter, he’s here and standing right in front of me at the doorway into the kitchen. I get to stare right into his beady, sunken eyes, as well as get a full frontal view. He opens his mouth and screams at me before lumbering forward as fast as he can. I grab the cup of water as I’m gibbering and sobbing in fear, throwing the water into his face. He immediately screams and brings his hands up to his face. The water reacts in an odd way as there’s this cloud of orange smoke coming off of him now, it billows out and fills up the kitchen. I can help but to get several lung fulls, it’s acrid and makes my eyes water as well as burning my throat. I drop my cup and bring my hands up to my throat as I cough over and over. Nemaiyath starts lumbering towards me with one arm held towards me.

I back away from him, but I can’t escape the smoke. It’s really getting hard to breathe and see. He knows that I’m here, but is the smoke blinding him as well? It’s got to, who the hell would be able to see here? Not that it matters if he can see, though, as much as I’m coughing. I swear, it feels like this is going to do some permanent damage. Last thing I see before I have to squint my eyes shut is that he’s reaching out at me with both arms, limping his way through the kitchen. I keep backing up until I reach the back wall. Holy crap, I’m stuck here!

I’m still coughing my brains out and sobbing uncontrollably, but I can’t stay here. I have no idea what he’s going to do to me if he gets me, if he’s going to try to eat me or if he’s going to actually kill me first. Since he’s reaching straight out, I’m going to crouch and see if I can jump past his feet.

When I jump, I end up jumping right into his legs, which knocks him off balance and he lands right on top of me. Even though I feel like I’m hacking up one of my lungs, I scramble to try and get out from under him. At the same time, I can feel him trying to grab at my legs. Remember that slime on the door knob earlier? Well, his whole body seems to be covered in it, so it’s all over my back and legs. He does manage to grab one of my feet, though. I panic and start kicking as hard as I can, but he’s got a really firm grip. I can feel one of his hands on my shoe and the other is starting to move up to my ankle. I know that if he grabs that, then I’m finished. I start kicking again and again and eventually my shoe comes off. As soon as it does, I pull up my legs out of his reach and start to stand up as quickly as I can.

The smoke is starting to clear up a little bit, enough that I can see him getting up as well. He’s on his hands and knees and staring back at me, I can only describe the look on his face as anger. As he starts to stand, I kick him as hard as I can, right where I know that all guys are weak. I’m kicking with the foot that still has a shoe on, so naturally, I lose my balance and fall on my butt. I’m not that worried because I still connected, and like all guys, he crumbles back to the floor.

Ok, right now, there is a flood of different emotions all competing to be the one that I’m feeling the most. There’s fear(of Nemaiyath), disgust(I’m covered in slime), relief(he’s down and not getting up anytime soon), panic(I gotta get out of here), anger(why is this happening to me?), etc. First things first, I’m giving panic the reins. I have the damned lighter, let’s go finish that ritual and banish Nemaiyath so I can leave here! I do my best to ignore my injured butt and pride, standing up and running as fast as I can back to the stairs.

As I start up the stairs, I look over at the kitchen and he’s already standing, limping my way. The right leg doesn’t really leave the floor, it looks like he actually drags it along behind him. I take off my other shoe and throw it as hard as I can at him. He flinches as it hits him in the head, but it doesn’t slow him down at all. Good thing for me that his limping or lurching or whatever you want to call it is actually pretty slow. I can easily run up the stairs and get away from him. For a bit anyway.

I run up the stairs, not really being careful, so when I get about 6 or steps from the top, my foot slips and my whole body slams down onto the stairs. It stuns me long enough that I slip back down a few steps. I can hear Nemaiyath’s moaning coming from what seems like right behind me, I don’t even bother looking around, just stand up and climb the rest of the stairs. It’s not easy because I hit my left knee on one of the stairs and now it stings really badly, enough that I’m starting to limp now. I need to run, but I also need to keep my weight off my left leg because it hurts.

Have you ever had to limp but also tried to run at the same time? It works just like you see in the movies and on television: step, ow, step, ow, step, ow. As I run past the balcony, I put my weight on the railing a little bit, just to steady myself and try to run a little bit faster. Turns out, this was a mistake, and almost a really big one. I guess that part of the problem with this house is termites or something because the railing isn’t secured very well and ends up falling down. Well, not all of it, because now I have part of the railing in my hand where it broke off. I look back behind me to see Nemaiyath climb the last couple of steps and then pause as he looks downstairs.

Oh, right! Noise! The railing falling made a loud crash when it hit the floor. Should I head back now while he’s distracted, or just stand here and hope that he goes to investigate? I’m frozen in place and time seems to slow to a crawl, but eventually he looks back up and right at me. Guess I should have run when I had the chance. As he lumbers towards me, I grip my railing piece like a club and back away from him, sobbing the entire time.

When he gets close enough to me, I close my eyes and swing my club has hard as I can. I hear a lot of crashing and feel the club in my hand basically disintegrate. I’m only holding splinters of wood right now which are useless to me. On top of that, the force of the hit knocks me off balance and I stumble backwards before falling onto the floor. I swear, my butt hurts so much that I probably won’t be able to sit down for a week. I still have my eyes tightly shut as I’m expecting the worst, but nothing happens other than Nemaiyath screaming at me. After a few seconds, I slowly open my eyes and that’s when I see that he’s laying down on the floor.

No, not laying down. His right leg has actually gone through the floor and the rest of him went down with it, but only the leg actually went through the floor. He’s screaming and reaching out to grab me, but I’m just outside his reach. His arms are flailing as he leans as far forward as he can. I scream once when I feel his hand brush my leg, but that’s as close as I’m going to let him get. I guess I should just be glad that I never fell through the floor like that. Thank you termites or whoever made the floor just weak enough!

I double check that I still have the lighter and quickly crawl down the hallway back to the master bedroom. I can hear behind me some grunting and the sound of wood cracking. I’m not sure if that means he’s getting free or falling further through the hole, but it doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s just a matter of time before he comes after me again.

As I rush into the master bedroom, I slam the door and start grabbing things to throw against it. I even pull out some drawers from the armoire and prop them up under the door knob. I hope that keeps Nemaiyath from getting in here just long enough.

I pull the lighter out of my pocket and my hands are shaking super hard. I put my thumb on the rolly part of the light and start to light it, except that it’s barely moving. The lighter is actually stuck! I keep at it and finally get it lit. The flame is small, but at least it’s there! I light one of the candles and then the lighter goes out. What? NO! You have to keep working! I try again, but it won’t light up again. After a few tries, I look and realize that it’s out of fuel. Wait, I actually got a candle lit, let’s use that! I use my one candle to go around and light up the ten candles that I’ve got around the room and then place the original back.

Or at least, that was the plan. About then, there’s a pounding at the door, followed by a guttural scream. I look up and see the door shaking, but staying closed because of all the drawers in the way. Well, not closed all the way. It opens up enough for me to see Nemaiyath at the door, just before the door slams closed again. He’s about ten feet away from me and clearly pissed off. Worse, I left my cup downstairs, so I can’t even get water to distract him again.

Focus, Angie, Focus! Even though my hand is shaking beyond my control, I put the candle back where it belongs and pick up the book to read the chant that I need to say. It’s in some really weird language that I’ve never seen before, so I’m stumbling over the words. It doesn’t help that there’s this booming sound right next to me making it hard to concentrate. After about 3 tries, I think I get through it without mangling the words too badly. Each time I say the words, it feels easier to say.

I look up at the mirror and my reflection is smiling at me. It reaches up its hand to the mirror and gestures at me to do the same. I put my hand up to the mirror, right up against the cold glass and look at my reflection, hoping to get some idea of how I’m going to get out. I then feel fingers intertwine with mine and look over. My reflection is holding hands with me! I then get yanked forward and off balance so I fall onto the floor.

Wait. Onto the floor? Not into the mirror? For that matter, I didn’t hear or feel myself hitting the glass. I struggle to get up and look around. The room looks the same, but backwards. As I look back at the mirror, my reflection looks back at me. She picks up the book and starts paging through it. Nearing the end, it holds the book up for me to read.

Thank you for freeing me. You’re safe from Nemaiyath now. She turns the page. However, you’re stuck in the mirror world until you can get someone else to take your place. Another page turns. Whoever is stuck here when the house is destroyed is going to Hell. I don’t think you want that to be you.

With that, she drops the book and fades away from view. Just disappears!!

Nemaiyath finally breaks into the room, yelling and looking around. He spots me in the mirror and swings his arms, shattering the mirror. I watch helplessly as the shards of glass fall out of the frame on my side and disappear as they hit the floor. My only consolation at this point is that I won’t have to look at Nemaiyath anymore.