Something Wicked from Another World
She was still a mile away from home when she heard the first viscous low pitched growl. She ignored it, figuring two animals were having a fight. The second growl was louder than the first. If two animals were fighting, how come only one was growling? She froze, with her eyes carefully scanning the hill. After a few moments she took one more step down the path. The total dead silence told her that something was very wrong. Having gained some confidence, she took several more steps. Another low-pitched viscous growl made her freeze. Should she run? No. Animals love to chase prey. She should walk slowly. A few steps at a time until she was at a distance safe from this animal.
She could not see it. It was in a large bush about a hundred feet off the path. But it knew she was there. It could hear her footsteps, her heavy nervous breathing. It could smell her fear.
She pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She dialed home. “Hello, Joe.”
“Hi honey. Are you on your way home?”
“Joe. I’m in trouble. I’m about a mile away from the house. I need your help.” she whispered.
“What kind of trouble?”
“I can’t see it, but every time I move, I hear something growling.”
“Where are you”
“Beside the hill.”
“I’m on my way.”
She put her cell phone back in her purse.
The path curved partially around the hill. She would have to walk around the curve to get home. She decided to stay perfectly still until Joe arrived. She was hoping the animal would lose interest.
Their one family house was about mile down the narrow path, Joe was in the living room, laying two .22 caliber single barrel light rifles on the table. He took out two boxes of bullets. On each rifle, he pressed the button to open the rifle and placed one bullet in each chamber. Then he snapped each rifle shut and ensured that the safety pins were on. He put on his shoulder pack and placed his rifle in it. He then got two flashlights and stuffed them in his coat pockets. Joe came out of the small one family house. Mary knew animals. She would not have called him unless she was in eminent danger. A young boy appeared in the doorway. “Jimmy, stay home with grandpa. Stay inside.”
The boy closed the door. Joe started down the path. He wasn’t sure what animal Mary had encountered, but he was as well prepared as possible. It took him eight minutes to reach the curve in the path. He stopped and whistled. Mary heard his whistle and whistled back. There was no response from the animal.
He slowly walked around the curve. He heard a low pitched viscous growl. He stopped and looked in the direction the growl came from. There was no sign of movement on the hill. Usually at this time in the evening, the trees were full of the sounds of birds. Now it was totally silent. He waited. Then he slowly took a few more steps down the path. No growl. He took a few more steps. No growl. He kept walking slowly until he saw Mary.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“Yes. What kind of animal is that?”
“I don’t know. I never heard that growl before.”
“Is Jimmy home?”
“He came home from school an hour ago.” Joe gave one rifle and a box of bullets to Mary.
Mary gave him a quizzical look.
“Just to be safe. We’ll hunt that animal down tomorrow. It’s gonna be dark pretty soon.” He pulled the flashlights out of his pockets and gave her one.
“We still have about forty minutes of daylight left. And we could see a lot from the top of this hill.”
“Too risky. If that animal is still up there, we may end up finding our way down the hill in the dark.”
At home, Jimmy played with his toy truck on the living room floor. His grandfather was dozing off on the couch. Suddenly his grandfather woke up to the sound of a low viscous growl. Moments later he heard something pounding on the front wooden door. Then he heard one loud band and the sound of cracking wood.
He glanced out the window at his truck in the driveway. All tires had been slashed. He grabbed his flashlight.
“Come on, Jimmy.” He said as he picked up the toy truck. Then he picked Jimmy up and put him on his shoulders — one leg over each shoulder. He went to the ladder in the hallway and climbed the ladder. Then he pushed the trap door open and lifted little Jimmy. “Climb in. ” He followed Jimmy and closed the trap door.
They heard a loud crash as the front door was ripped off it’s hinges and thrown to the ground. Grandpa hugged Jimmy reassuring him that everything would be okay.
A half mile up the path, Mary and Joe were cautiously and slowly making their way home.
“I wonder where it went.” Said Mary, “It’s strange that it left us so suddenly.”
“I don’t have a clue.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Mary suddenly stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you remember Father Jerome’s comments at service last week?”
“Yeah. That was an awfully strange sermon.”
“It sure was. You remember what he said?”
“Something like: When you sin, you let the beast into your home.”
They took a few moments to digest the words. Their eyes met for a moment.
“Oh no! NO!” Said Mary, “Quick! We have to get home!”
They started racing down the path.
At home, Grandpa was stacking every box he could find on the trap door. He heard something climbing the ladder. He took Jimmy to the corner furthest from the trap door.
The trap door shook as something below pounded on it. The heavy boxes on top of the trap door were shaking with every pound.
Grandpa was hugging Jimmy and starring intensely at the door. He had heard the sermon too.
The trap door shook violently until all the heavy boxes were off of it. Then the door itself was ripped off it’s hinges and thrown aside.
Meanwhile, Mary and Joe came down the path and into the front yard. They saw the front door laying on the floor. They entered the living room. Everything was quiet.
“Dad, where are you?” She yelled.
They heard a viscous growl from the attic.”
They ran into the hallway to find that the ladder had been smashed. Joe ran into the kitchen and got a stool. He put the stool under the trap door opening and climbed on top of the stool. His head was just far enough above the attic floor to see a silhouette of the beast. It was shaped like half an egg. It had Grandpa and Jimmy trapped and was growling at them.
“Hand me my rifle!” Said Joe.
“No! You’ll hit dad or Jimmy.”
“I won’t fire in that direction. Hand it to me!”
She picked up the rifle and handed it to Joe.
Joe raised it above the attic floor and fired on shot deliberately missing the beast. The beast turned, growled at Joe and approached him. Joe dropped the rifle and lowered himself onto the stool. “Did Father Jerome say how to get rid of it?”
“I’ll get the crucifix.” Mary went into the bedroom.
” Wait till it is down here. I don’t want to trap it in the attic.” He jumped off the stool and went into the living room. Then he they ran into the bedroom and shut the door. They moved the bed up against the door. “What about Jimmy and Grandpa?”
“It’s after us. Not them.” Said Mary, “Don’t bother reloading your rifle. If Father Jerome is correct, we cannot kill it.”
Joe took the crucifix off the wall.
“That is not enough.” said Mary.
“But it’s blessed.”
“Yes. That helps. But –“
The beast was banging on the door. It banged a hole through the door, reached down and pushed the bed across the room Then it took the door off the hinges and threw it down. It growled at Joe and Mary.
“But what?”
“The Lord will not use the crucifix to send the beast back to hell until we repent for wife swapping!”
“What do we tell Lucy and Fred if they ask again?”
“Repent now or we’re both doomed.”
Joe held up the crucifix. The beast kept edging closer to them.
Mary prayed fervently to the Lord and asked His forgiveness.
The beast reached out for Joe and pulled him away from Mary. The crucifix fell to the floor. Joe’s feet disappeared into the beast.
“Joe! It will devour you if you don’t repent!” Mary picked up the crucifix and held it up before the beast. The beast backed away but held on to Joe. Joe’s feet and ankles were inside the beast. “Let him go!”
The beastlowered itself through the trap door. Mary followed it. They were in the hallway by the stool. Mary was holding the cross and the beast was backing away while clutching Joe. Then it suddenly took off real fast through the front door.
“No!” Mary screamed.
Mary ran out the front door screaming “Joe!” repeatedly.
Mary did not sleep well that night. It was the first night sleeping alone since she married Joe. The night passed slowly. The next morning she fed Jimmy and got him dressed. Then she left him in the Grandpa’s loving hands while she walked down the road to a department store.
An hour later she came back with a lot of blessed crucifixes. She hung them on every wall and kept one on a chain for herself. She put one on grandpa and stitched one to Jimmy’s shirt. She put double sided sticky tape on one crucifix.
An hour later she saw Joe walking down the sidewalk. She ran out to greet and hug him. He was reluctant to tell her how he freed himself from the beast. They entered the hallway and immediately she heard the growl. She pushed Joe as hard as she could into the living room and took off her coat. She took out the crucifix and hung it around her neck.
She came closer and closer to Joe while holding the crucifix in front of her. “Come out and leave us in the name of the Lord.” She repeated. She had Joe cornered.
The beast roared. Joe yelled as the beast exited and ran towards the stool in the hallway only to find two more crucifixes hanging on the hallway walls.
Mary positioned herself between the beast and Joe, keeping the beast trapped in the hallway. A crucifix was hanging from the attic trap door.
The angry beast went through the wall into the kitchen to find four more crucifixes: one on each wall. Mary entered the kitchen with Joe following behind her. The beast roared while picking up the table and throwing it at Mary. She barely got out of the way on time. Joe was not hurt.
The beast threw chairs at Mary while Joe recited the Act of Contrition over and over again. The beast was smashing walls where ever no crucifix was hung, searching for a way out. Mary picked up the crucifix with the sticky tape and got close behind the beast while it was going through a wall. She stuck the crucifix on the beast’s back where it couldn’t reach it.
The beast roared so loud they had to cover their ears. It went crazy rubbing itself against everything trying unsuccessfully to remove the cross while it shrunk down to nothing.
Mary and Joe looked around. The house was wrecked.
“See what happens when you don’t repent?” She asked Joe.
They centered the stool under the attic door.
“Grandpa, Jimmy. It’s okay to come down now.” Yelled Joe.
The trap door was opened and grandpa lowered Jimmy into Joe’s hands. The grandpa lowered himself onto the stool. They all hugged each other.
They phoned Father Jerome and told him what happened.
