Post update

 Yesterday I provided an extra post because between today and Wednesday I will be working on my entry for the jade ring and flash fiction contests. Please be patient and understanding as I prepare these entries. Thank you. 

DitD 33 underwater space western

  Everyone laughed when the State of Texas declared they were starting a state funded space program. Everyone scoffed when the State of Texas declared they were going to colonize a satellite of Jupiter. Everyone mocked the State of Texas for declaring that they would be renaming Jupiter and it’s satellite upon arrival. But we are laughing now from Planet Texas and Texas minor. Of course most of us lived on Texas minor but our private capital is on planet Texas. Astronomers were mad about the renaming and claimed that if we ever removed our presence on the planet the name would revert back. But we had no intention of leaving. The United States attempted to claim the planet as theirs but we fought back stating that they hadn’t funded the operation. Texas one that battle allowing the U.S. to claim any other satellites around Planet Texas. Other states tried to follow suit after the huge success of Texas but NASA took over for them. The only other country that claimed an entire planet was the United Kingdom. With planet Scotland and Planet England. 

The surface of Texas minor was uninhabitable and cold. So our cities are in the oceans of what use to be Europa. The water gives an insulation that allows our city to be whatever temperature we want as long as we pump heat in to the city. The temperature best for the plants we brought with us into the underwater dome was 80 degrees so of course we set the thermostat for 90. We had saloons much like our Texas ancestors. 

That’s where I come in to play. I was a bootlegger running shine to planets like the United States of Space and the United Kingdom. It wasn’t a dangerous trade unless I went to planet England or landed on dry docks on any US planets. I sat down at the bar. “One sas, bill.” I said. My girlfriend of 6 months left me last night. I was on a run and when I came home there was a not on my pillow. 

“Why the long face Doug?” Bill said as he grabbed a mug. 

“My girl left me last night.” I said. I still had the note in my hand. I hadn’t read it yet. I wasn’t prepared for that level of disappointment. 

“What is that… Three this week? And what, this was finally the one?” Bill replied. 

“The last girl was six months ago and she was just a good lay, you dick.” I said annoyed. 

“Hey you were the one who asked for sass.” Bill said setting a mug of sarsaparilla in front of me. 

“Just the drink you fucking clown.” I said taking the drink. I took the drink, it was a refreshing take on the old soft drink made with wine. Of course moonshine replaced the wine in modern drink. It did hit a little harder but we Texans can’t have a drink with booze with exception of our children. That would be crazy. I drank it down with a huge gulp. The burn of the whiskey hit almost immediately. I gave off a quick cough and the set down the mug. I wasn’t ready for the note. 

When she would leave my place to go to work she would make the bed and put my clothes in the hamper. Then she would lean in and give me a kiss. I was usually asleep when she would leave in the morning. This time she left my clothes on the floor. She still made the bed. “Can I get another drink?” I asked Bill. He poured me another whiskey. I tapped the note on the bar.

“Whatcha got there?” Bill asked. 

“It’s the note she left before she ran off.” I said. I drank the whiskey finishing it as fast as the first. 

“Ya’ ain’t read it yet? What if she were kidnapped?” Bill asked. 

“That’s worse. I ain’t got shit of value.” I said. 

DitD 32 ghost hunters

 I stack up on the door. The priest stacks up behind me and puts his left hand on my shoulder with his bible in his right hand. Steve stacks up on the rear with his gun in his right hand and his left hand on Damon’s shoulder. Steve squeezed Damon’s shoulder and he in turn squeezed mine. I grabbed the door handle and twisted it slowly opening the door. I went to lean towards the kitchen but the priest kept me from leaning with his grip.

“Loosen your grip padre,” I whispered. 

“Oops, I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know how hard to…” Damon tried to say but I interrupted him.

“I don’t need your life’s story padre, just loosen your grip.” I said. I leaned in to look in the kitchen. There was nothing in there with exception of the standard kitchen appliances. I lean back pushing Damon’s arm back into his chest. I felt Damon lean back into Steve. Shortly after I felt Steve lean back into Damon. I can only assume steve squeezed Damon’s shoulder because Damon leaned into me and then squeezed my shoulder slightly. I moved into the kitchen and up to the door that lead into the snack room. I stacked up on the door. Steve walked past the door to stack up on the other side. It was just like Iraq. The only difference was I didn’t have Pat on my shoulder with his left hand. Instead it was the hand of someone I didn’t know from Adam. Steve looked over at me. I gave a slight nod and he nodded back. I slowly opened the door and checked the room quickly. Still nothing out of the ordinary was in that room. The problem that was bugging me was less then half an hour ago the room had something chasing Pat and I with tables being thrown about the room. I moved into the snack room and I swept the room with my eyes clearing corner after corner after corner. I started clearing the corner diagonally across from me and then sweeping towards the corner in front of me. As i walked towards the hallway hugging the wall to my left. Steve did the same process but hugging the wall to my right. Steve arrived at the hallway about the same time that Damon and I did. I looked at Steve and nodded. Steve leaned out into the hallway checking it with his eyes. He looked back at us and nodded. I headed to the far wall of the hallway. Steve fell into formation behind us. We hugged the wall until we got to the fathers office. I stopped stacking up on the door. I leaned back and Steve stepped out of formation and slid to the other side of the door. He looked and nodded. I opened the door and began room clearing like before. Steve followed suit and the priest walked in his office closeing the door behind him. 

“Sancte Michael Archangele,”Damon began to say. This was a prayer of protection. “qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo. Amen” he said finishing the prayer as Steve and I finished. Steve leaned against the cassock closet door and bowed his head out of respect. I posted against the corner and bowed my head as well. Then Damon opened his bible and flipped frantically. 

“Jesus, why didn’t you have that ready before we entered padre?” Steve whispered annoyed. 

“We are in a church please refrain from the profanity. Ah. Here” Damon said putting his finger to the page. He began to read, “The lord is my shepherd” it was sad to me that I knew psalms 23 when I heard it. Moreover it was sad that I knew most of the words. Damon continued as I heard what sounded like the room creaking out of annoyance. I looked at Steve who happened to look up at me simultaneously. It was the look of ‘Oh Fuck’ but we quickly bowed our heads again. Damon finished and then repeated the prayer as the room stopped creaking. Damon looked up and said. “Amen. This room is clean.”

“Just this fucking.” Steve said. 

“Just our fucking luck.” I replied to Steve.

“Gentlemen, please.” Damon said. 

“Sorry padre.” We said simultaneously. We stacked up on the door repeating our previous formation. And I opened the closet. 

We walked down the steps as I asked in a whisper, “Hey padre, what is this room under the church for anyways?”

“It is for preparation and leads behind the alter in the nave. We also use it for storage.” Damon said. 

“Makes sense.” Steve said. 

“How the fuck would you know Steve. Your an atheist.” I said to Steve

“I used to be fucking religious you asshat.” Steve replied. 

“When the fuck were you religious?” I replied. We were starting to get a bit loud. 

“In my youth my mom…” Steve said

Damon promptly interrupted, “Gentlemen please!”

“Sorry padre.” We said again. We entered into the room at the bottom of the stairs and just did a quick search. Steve walked over to Tom’s body.

“Tom you pudgy bastard, why couldn’t you wait for John and Pat to save you?” A small tear formed on Steve’s cheek. Damon walked over to Tom’s body. Tom’s left arm and leg were hanging off the table so Steve gently moved his leg straight and crossed Tom’s arms over his chest. Damon started last rights for Tom and Steve said, “He wouldn’t care for that padre.”

“That maybe so but if we don’t do it then Nergal will use him against us.” Damon replied.

“Fine but hurry.” I said. Damon conducted the last rights as quick as he could. After completing the last rights he began to clean the room. The room creaked louder then before.

“Do you think we are going to be fighting Nergal and the nuns in the next room?” I asked after Damon had finished. 

“No. I believe the nuns may have moved into the nave.” Damon said. “Nergal’s spirit is strong in here and only gaining strength.”

It was strange but I felt like he was right. My anxiety was slowly getting worse and I assumed that was the effect of Nergal. We stacked up against the next door. And the priest took a deep breath. 

“You ok padre?” Steve asked.

“I just have an intensely bad feeling about getting into the nave.” Damon explained. 

“We still have the next room to clear before we get to the nave.” Steve said. 

“I know. Let’s just go.” Damon said. I opened the door. This was a room I hadn’t seen before. There was an alter that was made out of black marble in the center of the room. Around it were red candles on silver candle stands. The stands were chest high. Around the room in a triangle shape was three more candles on stands. These candles were decorative red candles with black figures etched on them. Even thought they were lit the candles had no wax around the base suggesting that the candles weren’t let at all. But they candle flame was a green flame that flickered like a copper wire was in the way of the flame. And the light danced around the room as the candles flickered. The floor had a brown carpet. It looked like sandstone flooring. There was no one present but on the alter was a book flipped to a page. Damon ran to the book and read it silently then he proclaimed. “Shit, no no no no no.” He looked at us. “This isn’t right. My research. It said… no. That’s not right.” Damon turned pail. 

“Speak up priest.” Steve said. 

“According to this, there are to be four sacrifices. All from a team but my research said three individuals.” Damon said still confused. 

“So what, four or three? Who cares. These witches are still going to burn.” I said. 

“Maybe you’re right.” Damon said and then began the room cleaning. This time the room didn’t creak or make any noise whatsoever. Maybe the church is clean I thought to myself. We stacked up against the door to the nave. Now my anxiety was through the roof. My heart was racing and I my skin began to tense up. My muscles began to ache as if I just worked out every body part. I leaned against the wall next to the door. 

“Ready?” Steve asked. Damon nodded and Steve looked over to me. 

“As ready as I will ever be.” I said. I put two hands on my side arm. Steve tightened his grip on his side arm. I slowly opened the door and leaned through the doorway. Behind the door was a stairwell that lead up two flights of stairs with a door at the top. I felt stupid. Of course there was stairs. Room was down two separate flights of stairs. I looked back at Steve who also looked as though he felt the same way I felt. I walked up the stairs slowly. Each step made my feet feel heavier. Putting my foot down quietly became harder and harder. I looked towards Steve at the top of the first flight.

“Why are we so out of shape?” Steve whispered but it might as well have been at a screaming volume. The hallway echoed every word and almost seemed to amplify his voice. Damon put his finger over his lips. I lifted my foot onto the next step. It almost didn’t lift off the floor. I grabbed the railing with my left hand taking it off my pistol. Each step drained me further of any energy. When we reached the door at the top of the stairs I felt as though I had nothing left. The priest huffed as he got in place behind Steve and I. Were we ready? I don’t think we were. I looked at my watch: 

0204-

 Steve grabbed the handle of the door and I gripped my gun with both hands. Steve twisted the handle and opened the door slowly. Pat was on the alter in the chancel of the nave. Blood dripped down from the alter. A brass knife plunged in the center of his chest. Are you fucking kidding me? We were too fucking late. I grabbed my pistol and aimed at the nun next to Pat. I fired two shots towards her chest and one at her head. I then aimed at the next nun and fired off two more rounds before dropping my magazine into my hand and grabbing another magazine from my pocket. I slapped it into place and pulled the slide of my pistol back firing another round towards the nun I was trained on. Then moving towards the next nun and firing three rounds. Steve was firing at nuns as well. I knew Steve’s aim was good so I assumed I wouldn’t have to shoot the nuns he shot towards. Damon began reading. The nuns didn’t appear to be hit. The rounds passed through their body’s. It was like in the movies when someone shoots at a hologram. The nuns turned their head and then I noticed the giant shadowy figure that was looming over Pat’s body.

The figure lifted a hand towards us and the priest was thrown down the stairs as if being pulled by strings down the stairs. I heard what sounded like a body falling onto concrete with a thud. I can only assume the thud was Damon. I fired at the figure but it only seemed to laugh it off. The gun grew heavy in my hand to the point that I could lift it or even hold onto it anymore. Steve and I dropped the guns to the floor by our feet. My knees grew weak and I noticed Steve fall to a kneeling position. A nun went over to Steve and lifted him up carrying him towards the alter. I reached out for him but collapsed under my own weight. I could no longer see what was happening but I could hear every terrifying thing. The nuns began to chant in some language that I didn’t understand. 

DitD 31 ghost hunters

  “What the fuck do you mean he’s here?” I asked. “I thought you said it takes three there has been one.”

“It takes three to reach full strength. But with one he steps foot into our dimensions.” Damon said as steve burst through the door. “It’s like the portal was opened with the first ritual, then with the first sacrifice he secures a foot into our world. With the second sacrifice…”

“What sacrifices? Like people sacrifice because we should call the police if people are dying.” Steve said interrupting Damon.

“Tom was murdered in the name of Nergal.” I said, “and now the nuns have Pat.”

“Fuck the police, I’m going to fucking kill them.” Steve said. I felt his passion. I was just as enraged. These idiots don’t know who their messing with but I’m not sure I know what we are messing with either. 

“Stop and wait. We can’t go in there without a plan.” It was weird hearing a former infantry soldier talk about planning. But there Damon was talking about preparing and planning. 

“He’s half right Steve. We need to know what we are up against.” I said. I was a little annoyed at myself saying it so casually. Hell, I was annoyed at not taking the nuns out when I rescued the priest. At least then I would have tried something. 

“I know it’s tough when your battle buddy is captured but trust me. If we go in to save him we will all be in great danger. If we can do this with our own supernatural protection then we stand a chance.” Damon said confident in his own religion. “The answer is to go in with the Bible as our shield and his word as our weapon.”

“Shit, I’m an atheist.” Steve said. He wasn’t but he didn’t like being told what to do. He especially hated being told what to do by people who he didn’t know. 

“Steve, he is ex-infantry.” I said. Damon puffed out his chest. “Obviously it’s been a while.”

“It paid my tuition.” Damon said. I started to question some dates. 

“wait, seminary school is four years.” I said. 

“Ok, yes. I had a calling from god to join the military as a chaplain. I was tagged into infantry.” Damon pulled out his dd214. “I knew that you guys were more impressive military members and thought that if I could pretend to be more of a powerhouse then you would take me more seriously.” Damon actually started to seem slightly beaten up about the lie. “I was going to do confession after this ordeal and thought that god would forgive me. But I was in Iraq at the same time you were there. And I did in fact see these nuns in those caves. I asked the bishop to assign them to me.”

“That’s something I wanted to mention. I knew that the younger nun looked familiar… but I couldn’t place her.” Steve said excitedly, “but while I was looking at the monitors I saw her face.”

“What like walking around?” I asked. 

“No, you know those figures blocking the monitors, well they are crystal clear now. They are the nuns in this very church. Moreover the young one appeared and she looked much older in the monitor,” Steve continued. 

“Monitors? You have cameras?” Damon asked. 

“Yeah padre, keep up.” Steve said annoyed, “She was the one in the ruins after we recovered Miller.”

“No.” I said. 

“Dead serious. It was her but older then she looks in person.” Steve pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture. That was her alright. Old and very quiet. But somehow still kind of attractive. When we saw her Steve nudged me and said, ‘if only she wasn’t of the cloth. If you catch my drift.’ Of course that was how Steve handled Millers death with humor. A lot of us used humor to cope with what we did and saw. 

“Regardless, we need to get this over with, rescue Pat and get the fuck out of here.” I said. “Here’s my plan. I will take point. I’m going in with a gun padre. These nuns might be part of your religion but while they have Pat they are fair game. Steve you take rear and pull security. No one sneaks up behind us. NO ONE!” I said. “Padre you are in the middle.”

“Standard asset protection. I love it.” Steve said. 

“Keep your bible handy padre. You keep your free hand on my collar, do not pull unless we need to stop.”

“I was mount trained and have done room clearing.” Damon said. 

“Great… don’t fuck up my formation. Steve you know what to do.” I said pointing an open handed point at the priest. 

DitD 30 ghost hunters

  I grabbed his landline and dialed Steve’s number. It was a rotary which took forever to dial the number. During each rotation I just reminded myself that these phones haven’t been used in a million years. Steve answered almost immediately. “Hello?” 

“Steve? It’s me. John.” I said. Crap, I was starting to sound like my father. 

“You have called me twice from two weird numbers. I’m still looking for an entrance that’s unlocked.” Steve said. “I have also been periodically checking back on the cameras for any commincas.”

“There is a set of stairs at the back of the church that lead to the priests house. It’s unlocked now. Hurry. I don’t have time to explain.” I said and then hung up the handset. I looked over at the priest. “What’s next?” I asked urgently. 

“I’m going to need to grant you the role of deacon and be ordained. This will be a temporary deacon ship for the simple task of fighting the demons in this church. Take this cassock. I will grab a third cassock before we head into the hidden alter below the church.” Damon said. 

“We are fighting nuns who killed my brother. The demon is your problem.” I said. 

“If Nergal enters this plane then it will be everyone’s problem. You need to believe me, this is greater then your friend.” Damon argued. 

“I still don’t fully understand. Why did Pat get taken if the ritual was already performed with Tom? And why would they need you?” I said annoyed.

“It’s the trail of bodies. Each more pure then the last. One pure in strength, which must’ve been your brother Tom.” Damon said shuffling through a mess of books and papers. “Ah… here…” he exclaimed proud of himself and flipping through the book that he now had in his hands. “Then the pure of… here… pure of spirit…” he showed me a page that had highlighted parts explaining that Nergal was a Babylonian god of the underworld. “The pure of spirit would be someone strong in the paranormal”

“That definitely is Pat.” I said. 

“I am the third and final piece. The piece that ties it all together. The pure of pure.” Damon said almost proud of being chosen. “Pure in strength and spirit.”

“That’s easy as fuck then. If I keep you and Pat safe then Nergal will fuck off.” I said. 

“Haven’t you been listening. He is here! He was here when Tom was killed.” Damon said. 

DitD 29 ghost hunters

 We walked swiftly and quietly through Father Damon’s office. The man lead me to the door then held it open. I peered out the door. 

“This way,” the man said. 

“You first.” I had a sneaking suspicion that the man was the priest and that he was leading me to a trap. 

“Very well,” the man said calmly. He searched the hallway back and forth and then stepped out. He hugged the wall as he walked searching behind me. He almost had a room clearing walk and search pattern. Like a soldier protecting an asset he would check behind me and then ensure I was on his six. We got to the snack room and he said, “that door at the other side of the room is our target.”

I walked behind him playing dumb. He hugged the walls as he moved around the room checking each corner frequently. We got to the door and he slowly opened it with extreme caution. He checked the room and then moved into it silently. It was a prep room with a small electric stove and mass coffee maker. He pointed to the door next to the fridge with an open hand. I posted up against the door frame with my back to the door frame. The priest looked at my stance and paused for a moment. He posted on the other side. He gently turned the handle and pushed the door quietly. He searched the room. It looked a living room and he walked in and sat down on a plush chair. “Please, sit my son.”

“Father Damon?” I asked. 

“That’s correct.” Damon said. “Let me tell you a story.”

“This is all you. You are the leader of this… whatever it is.” I raised my firearm and pointed it right at his head. “You killed Tom.”

“You have no idea how wrong and right you are. Please sit so I can explain.” Damon said calmly. 

“Have your people release Pat!” I yelled.

“Please sit and keep your voice down. I was a captive as well.” Damon said. “The nuns lurk throughout the building. You don’t want them knowing we are here.” I thought about it for a second. He was a captive and I didn’t want to alert the rest of them. 

“Ok padre. You have five minutes and then I’m fucking going in hard for my brother.” I said as I slowly sat down. 

“You’re siblings?” Damon asked.

“Brothers in arms. We served in Iraq together.” I responded.

“Interesting, when and where in Iraq?” The padre asked leaning forward slightly. 

“2024 to 2025.” I said. 

“Let me guess a nine month tour that turned into a fifteen month tour.” Damon said shaking his head. “The army loves to extend the tours.” I nodded my head smiling slightly. The army’s politics were pretty fucked. “I served in Iraq during that same time. I was an infantry soldier while I was taking my seminary online. The army sent us in to examine a specific set of ruins in…”

“Cuthah…” we said together. 

“That’s correct. How did you know?” Damon asked. 

“Because that’s where we lost Captain Miller.” I said as I began to be filled with equal parts anger and sorrow. 

“I’m sorry for your loss. I also lost a battle buddy in Cuthah. The thing is that it was no coincidence that your lost his life in that temple. Was it in May? Near the fifth?” Damon asked. I nodded, I couldn’t speak with my intense emotional state. “Five five two zero two five. Was it at 0202?” Damon asked.

“I didn’t check my watch padre!” I said annoyed with the question. 

“Certainly you put the time on his two tag.” Damon said. “What time did you write?”

“0207 was when I arrived at his limp corpse.” I replied. 

“Don’t you see the significance?” Damon asked not waiting for the reply. “ five five two zero two five at two zero two. This was preparation for today. Today is the bridge to the underworld. Everything has been leading to this moment. If they succeed the Nergal will emerge onto this plane and the cult of Nergalites will inherit the earth with mankind as slaves. I had been collecting blasphemous materials from parishioners children for a while. But when I found the nuns had an ancient Babylonian knife, i began to worry that the cult had infiltrated the church. I did some digging and when i was in Iraq this group of nuns were there as well. They were there on a special mission from the pope. But all documents are redacted or not available even to me as a priest.”

I pulled out the documents about Nergal. “My team printed this off.”

“Yes but that was written by someone who only read the texts and monitored by Nergalites. We need to get your friend and get out of here before another one dies. Is there anyone else in your team? We need all the help we can get.” Damon said. 

“Steve but the doors are locked.” I said. Damon stood up and walked over to a door. He twisted the handle and opened it. 

“Nergal has no effect here. I have had this room covered in the pages of our lord and savior. Then I painted over the pages. Use my phone to call your battle buddy and get him over here. I have holy water and a few extra bibles.”

DitD 28 ghost hunters

“Steve, can you look up Nergal?” I said trying the radio with still no answer. 

“Just use your phone.” Pat said. 

“I can’t. My battery is dead.” I replied. 

“Here, I just got my phone off the charger an hour ago.” Pat said handing me his phone.

I tried the power button with no success. “Your phone is dead as well.” I said almost numb. Wait! I know how to get ahold of Steve but how will he communicate with us. “Pat, we could try the cameras. If we go to the camera we can talk to Steve. They are hardwired to the RV.”

“Yeah and he could Mores code us back on the door.” Pat responded.

“You are a fucking genius. Finally communication with our team.” I said excited. When all else fails then low tech is the answer. I run over to the closest camera. “Steve look up Nergal and Mores anything you find out.” Meet us at the door and Mores our captains last name so we know it’s you in five minutes if you have a good copy.” The floor began to rumble. ‘Not now’ I thought. “Take cover Pat. I will check on the door.” I ran towards the door and Pat ran for a corner of the room. I accidentally knocked over the camera on my way to the door. I considered setting the camera back up right but decided to wait until I got back. I got to the front door and hunkered in. The rumbling got more intense as I curled up next to the door jam. I heard a few knocks on the front door so I knocked three times with one hand waited a second and knocked with two hands waited a second knocked with one hand waited then three times with one hand waited and finally once with one hand. If I remember correctly that should be ‘Steve’ in mores code. The knock came again two small a large a small then a short pause two small a large then a short pause large small large small and a final pause with a large a small and a large. Yup, that was Steve. I saw a piece of paper slide through the door. I opened it to see a handwritten portion and a printed portion. The handwritten portion said:

fuck you! I’m not moresing this entire fucking thing. Read what you need from

this printed section. Also the figures are mostly clear now. The nuns are in front

of the camera. I don’t know how or why but they are there. 

I skimmed through the printed portion until I got to a city name I recognized. Kutha, that was where the ruins were when we were in Iraq. It has to be just a ridiculous coincidence. Steve also included a print out with a knife like the one that we had. It was listed for sale for 1.25 million dollars. How the fuck did a priest get ahold of a million dollar knife? I start to think about Aurora and the kids. She would be pissed if she knew all of what was happening. The rumbling stopped. I got up and headed back to the nave. The documents in my hands. 

“Pat, Steve found some amazing stuff on the…” I stopped talking mid sentence. I didn’t see Pat anywhere. I used my flashlight to search the room. Aurora didn’t like horror movies so I only watched them by myself in the theaters. It was rare that I could sneak away for a few hours. But this is the part of the horror movie where people would scream at the screen about how we shouldn’t have split the group up. But this wasn’t a horror movie. This was reality and Pat was missing. The worry began to mount and I began to prepare myself to fight. My body started to shake. We have been here before. The feeling of adrenaline flowing throughout my body. I started down the stairs with my flashlight blazing a red path before me swinging the light periodically behind me. I didn’t want anything sneaking up behind me. I got to the base of the stairs where I assumed Pat threw the knife. It wasn’t there. I would have to keep alert to find that knife. Hopefully I would find the knife before the cult would. I got to the priests office and I peaked inside to ensure there wasn’t anything in that room. The room seemed quiet but gave off a feeling of dread inside. I walked in and went to the cassock closet. I ran my light down the stairs. They were just as they had appeared before. I went down the stairs and slowly opened the door. . 

Now there was a corpse and the man in the chair. I pulled the sheet off of the man and I pulled out my pocket knife cutting the ropes that bound him. I saw him frantically go for his gag. I put my finger to my lips. Now was not the time to make noise. I went to the corpse. It was Tom. I would know that bastard anywhere. He had cuts on his face much like the ritual cuts on the man. His eyes were open and his dog tags dangled on the table that he was careless placed upon. “I hope your fat ass gave them difficulty bud.” I whispered. “I will avenge you before anyone else gets hurt.” I pulled out my gun but I felt a strong tug. It was the man. 

“Not yet.” The man whispered. “There is more going on here then mere bullets can stop. Come with me. I know a place that I can explain everything.” The man headed towards the stairs. 

“Fuck. This better be worth it.” I whispered and headed towards the stairs. As we were headed through the cassock closet the man grabbed a few articles of clothing and a few cassocks. 

DitD 27 ghost hunters

 I pulled back the sheet slightly so that I could see who was beneath. Their breath was labored and they seemed weak. I didn’t recognize the face and with how bloody it was I couldn’t really make our whether it was male or female. It looked like someone dragged a blade across the skin. There was marks that looked like symbols all over their face in cuts. But I didn’t recognize the symbols either. Was this satanic markings? There was a picture on their face that looked familiar. I saw that picture on a wall in Iraq but is was in one of the ruins as we were searching for terrorists. There was a rusty bronze dagger on the floor next to the body.

The dagger called out to me. I felt the need to grab it so I picked it up. “What do you mean the sacrificial knife is still in the other room? The master wants it now for this sacrifice.” The abbess said from the other room. I panicked and ran out of the room closing the door behind me as quietly as i could. I heard another door in the room slam open in a great hurry. 

“Abbess? I think our other sacrifice has moved?” I heard a voice say. I heard heavy footsteps rush into the room. 

“Why is he uncovered? The face must dry before we can use him.” The abbess said. Now I know it’s a him but who? “Where is the knife?” 

“I don’t know abbess.” The other voice said. 

“We must find it. There is no back up.” The abbess said, “The master will be very perturbed if we don’t find it presently.”

“What do we do with the remaining three of the ghost hunting fools?” The voice asked. 

“Leave them for now. The master has plans.” The abbess said annoyed. I quietly walked up the stairs. I didn’t want them to find me if they searched the stairwell for the knife. I grabbed the pentagram book on my way out of the priests office. I hurried back to the naive. 

Pat was at the top of the stairs, “The fuck was that shit?! We stick together you piece of sh…” Pat became slightly distracted by what was in my hands. “The fuck is that?”

“The nuns and the priest had someone tied up in the secret room” I said.

“Why didn’t you untie them?” Pat asked. 

“I didn’t have time.” I said. “I found this knife and took it. The knife seems important to the ritual that the nuns are conducting.”

“Then why the fuck did you take it?” Pat asked freaking out. 

“So that they couldn’t conduct the ritual.” I said. 

“No, it was shiny and you wanted to touch it.” Pat said annoyed. 

“So what? And also, how the fuck do you do that. It freaks me out.” I said. 

“They will now be looking for it and I don’t want it to be in our possession when they find it.” Pat said breezing over my attempt to lighten the mood. 

“You want to take it back to them?” I asked. 

“Don’t be stupid. Leave it where they can find it away from us.” Pat said annoyed at the question. Pat reached down to grab the knife and suddenly I was in a desert. 

I couldn’t yell or talk even I was in a dark room with sand rubbing against the bottom of my feet. I had sandals made out of what looked like wood planks and tied to my feet with hempen rope. The wrapping went half way up my calf. My face was burning like a fresh cut but hard like a dried scab. In front of me was a man holding the knife. But it looked new. The man yelled something and plunged the knife into my chest. I could feel the cold bronze blade entering my flesh. I tried to yell out in pain but still no noise came out of my mouth. I glanced up as it began to turn dark and I saw a symbol that looked familiar. It was a man’s head on a winged lions body. That symbol was in the cave in Iraq. 

I was laying on the ground in the naive with Pat standing over me. He was tapping my face. “What the fuck is happening?” I yelled. 

“Relax bud, you’re ok.” Pat said. 

“The man with the knife!” I said.

“What man?” Pat asked. 

“He had the knife and he stabbed me…” I said shaken by what had happened. 

“You saw my vision?” Pat said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked “what vision?”

“At times when I touch things I get visions. I have never shared a vision which can only mean that this was a particularly strong psychic object.” Pat said. 

“What does it mean?” I asked. 

“I don’t know. Did you see the Babylonian symbol on the ceiling?” Pat asked.

“Babylonian?” I asked. 

“When we were in Iraq searching those ruins, we saw that same symbol. I asked a local about it during our friend making mission and they told me that those were a Babylonian religious thing.” Pat said kind of proud that he knew something I didn’t. “He said that those ruins were used to sacrifice to Nergal. The god of the underworld and the dead.” I heard a noise like a rumble from the basement. 

“Let’s get away from the stairs.” I said. 

“Yeah.” Pat said distracted by the noise in the basement. 

DitD 26 ghost hunters

I approached the doors and slowly leaned in towards the door. I heard what sounded like a muffled voice. I crouched down to look under the door crack. If I could see legs maybe I could figure out how many people were in there. I could see what looked like three or five bodies moving back and forth based on the shadows on the ground under the crack. Maybe it’s just the priest and the nuns. They would be upset but I could explain that I got lost. I might even be able to get them to unlock the doors. As I stood up I heard the clang of a metal chair against the floor. However, the clang wasn’t a hollow sound. It was more like there was a person attached to the chair. The muffled voice became more frequent and panicked. As if someone was tied up and just woke up. 

“Silence your incessant whining, you insignificant trash!” A voice said. That voice sounded like the abbess’s voice. “Get him up you idiots.” She said, “we must have him ready for the ritual for when master returns. And give him the sedative. I don’t want any further errors.”

The priest must be the master and the ritual must require the pentagram book upstairs. I pulled out my phone to take notes. I pulled open the note section and started a new note. I heard the clang of the chair again but this time more heavy. This time the clang had to be based on the body on the chair being set in an upright position. I wrote in the notes, ‘ritual, confirmed. Master, possibly the priest. Possible metal chair, filled with someone under sedation’. I felt a small amount of relief as if, writing these things down gave the police some clues as to my death. I listened closer to the door. All I heard was a muffled voice that seemed to be struggling. My phone went black. I clicked the side button and it just flashed a charge symbol at me. “Shit” I said under my breath. I thought about it and a wave of panic attacked me like a pack of wild children attack a pizza. If I was heard my cover was blown and I was in deep shit. I stood up as my whole body felt cold but hot at the same time. I slowly grabbed ahold of the handle. As i gently turned the knob and pushed to door away from the stairs I noticed there wasn’t anyone in the room. 

I looked at the chair in the center of the room. The chair had a person who was covered with a sheet.

DitD 25 ghost hunters

 The room was filled to the brim with books on shelves but looked as though they were placed haphazardly. Papers were strewn about the office. It looked as though the office was raided. We walked inside and looked around the desk. There was a pentagram monogrammed on a book. “Why would the priest have a pentagram book? Do you think it’s a satanic bible?” I asked. 

“That is disturbing and frankly fitting for this place.” Pat said nervously. “Did you see the plane tickets on the board?” 

“No. Plane tickets to where?” I asked. 

“Iraq” Pat said. A shiver went down my spine. Why would a California priest be going to Iraq? I kept looking around and found a severed finger. The blood seemed fresh. Pat opened the cassock closet and took a step back. I walked over and looked inside. A stairway stood before us with cheap fluorescent lights and cement walls. “Did the floor plan say anything about a stairway with cement in the cassock closet?” Pat asked knowing the answer. I said nothing but slowly walked down the stairs. Pat grabbed my collar but pulled me back not using me as a guide. “Are you insane?” Pat asked annoyed. “It’s a secret stairwell. We need to check the other rooms on this floor before we head downstairs.” I couldn’t explain it. Something was drawing me down those stairs. Something made me want to see what was behind the door at the bottom of those stairs. 

“Fine. We are a bit over our head here. Let’s go check the other room on this floor and try to contact Steve before making our next moves.” I said trying to show that I was in control. 

Pat headed back for the door, “let’s go already…” I could feel his anxiety. Something was still pulling me towards the stairs. I moved slowly and quietly towards the door and we left the office. I closed the door and then took a knee. 

“Steve, can you read me,” I said over the radio. No answer so I checked my cell, no bars. “If we head to the end of this hall maybe we can find a landline.” Pat nodded. I took point again as he grabbed my collar looking behind us. Every footstep seemed louder then the last one. We arrived at the opening which was definitely the gathering hall. I searched the room. It appeared to be empty. We checked under every table as we walked by until we saw a landline. I punched Steve’s number on the key pad. “It’s ringing.” I said. 

“Hello?” Steve answered. 

“Steve? It’s John and Pat.” I said. 

“What’s up? What’s this number.” Steve said. 

“It’s a phone we found in the church. Listen, we have been locked in and it appears that the radio is out.” I said. 

“Yeah! No kidding! I have been trying to get ahold of you. Your little experiment is going haywire and the figures are back obscuring the cameras. They are slowly becoming more opaque and I’m almost able to make out faces.” Steve said. 

“We are going to try finding Tom deeper in the church. Can you try to get a door open. Preferably the one in the front?” I asked urgently. 

“Will do. There’s something I need to tell you about the figures in the screen. The faces…” Steve said. The phone cut out. 

“Steve, bad copy. Steve?!” I said. I tried clicking the button on top to see if I could get the signal back. Pat walked over to the phone. 

“Hey, how were you connected?” Pat said. He lifted the phone up, there wasn’t a wire connected to the phone.

“Fuck! Now I don’t know if Steve knows what’s happening or if I’m losing my mind.” I said out of frustration. The room started to cool down quickly and a chill ran down my spine. I felt as though I could see Captain Miller. 

“Run and hide!” The voice of Captain Miller yelled. I saw Pat run towards the exit of the community hall. I felt the ground begin to shake. The tables separated sliding across the floor loudly as if someone was shoving them from across the hall. If it was a person they would have been approaching me. I started to run. The table shift rotated as I ran pointing in my direction. I ran out of the community hall and into the hallway but I stopped in front of the priests door. I opened the door and ran inside slamming it shut behind me. Pat had run on ahead towards the stairs back to the naive. I heard the ground creaking outside the door. It stopped just outside the door for a moment and then headed towards the stairs. 

I tried to slow my breathing and sit silently for a minute. But my heart was racing and wouldn’t let my breath calm. I closed my eyes. Maybe if I closed my eyes I could calm myself. When my breathing had slowed down a bit I stood up and headed towards that cassock closet. I was going to find out what was behind those doors. 

DitD 24 ghost hunters

 

“What do you mean locked?” I asked. “Are they on a remote timer or were you mistaken?” 

“I mean that I tried everything to open the door and it wouldn’t budge.” Pat was still freaking out. 

“Maybe it’s jammed. We will try the back door and find a nun. They should be able to help us find a way out of here.” I said

“Fuck, it sounds like you are going to split up to get out of here,” Pat said. “That’s a terrible idea. We need to stick together.”

“Ok. Let me think,” Pat was right. We needed to stick together. I was so concerned about the locked egress that I almost forgot about Tom. We really had two objectives. The egress needed to be a priority. So if I had Steve try to get the doors open Pat and I could go search the church for Tom. The nuns can fuck themselves my team comes first. “Alright, Steve,” I said on the radio. “See what you can do about the doors, Pat and I are going deeper into the church to see if we can find Tom.”

“Bad… something is wrong with… not sure… figures remain… cameras obscured…” Steve said and then the radio died. It was obvious that we were on our own. But sitting in one place wasn’t helping. I stood up and started down the stars. I pointed to Pat and then made two fingers split pointed out towards the church. Pat grabbed my collar and began to look behind us. I scanned the church in front of me and to my side. The church was dark but the red from my flashlight illuminated where I was looking. Pats light was doing a sweeping behind us. To prevent having a 360 field to watch we kept close to the wall. I could feel eyes on us. I glanced towards the crucifix. No. It was still in the original pose. We approached a door. I held up a fist and stopped. Pat took a knee and began to search the entire church while I got into a push-up position and rocked into the doorway. Peaking in as I moved. It was too dark so I stood up grabbing my flashlight and did a quick search. It seemed safe so I tapped Pat’s shoulder. He stood up and grabbed my collar again. The door way was another set of stairs. The church had a basement that they normally used for gatherings and snacks.

“Something has been bothering me since we got here.” I whispered to Pat. 

“Yeah, what’s that?” Pat asked quietly. 

“Where has the priest been? I mean the priest is the head of the church isn’t he?” I asked.

“I was wondering the same thing. Maybe the puppet master is pulling these strings the way he feels will get us running for the hills.” Pat said. At the bottom of the stairs we did a quick search of the room. There was a hallway that lead along the side of the building in the basement. We followed it when I heard Captain Millers voice.

“Stop choking on that dick and speak up son!” Captain Miller said. 

“Captain?” I called out in the darkness. 

“Keep it together John.” Pat said. “I can’t lose you now. We are in too deep!”

“You’re right… Cap is dead. He can’t call out to me.” I said trying to regain my sense of reality. 

“Keep your heads on a swivel, we ain’t in Kansas anymore.” Captain Miller said. He obviously watched too many movies. I tried to ignore him but then he said something that wasn’t an echo from my memory. “Get ready, through the door on your left is where the fun begins.” What the hell was that voice saying? We weren’t already having fun? I don’t know how much more I can take. 

“I swear if I hear Captain Miller one more fucking time I’m going to lose it.” Pat said. 

“Wait, you fucking hear him too?” I asked confused. 

“Yeah. We must be on the right trail.” Pat said. 

I examined the nameplate on the door. The name plate said, “Father Damon McDyer”. Maybe the ghost of Captain Miller was confirming our suspicions about the priest. Only one way to find out. I shined my light down the hallway the rest of the way. I looked like it opened to a room at the end of the hall. I looked a Pat who seemed nervous about both possibilities. 

“Post up, we are clearing this room first.” I said. I posted on the other side of the door and reached for the door handle. Pat put his back to the wall. He gave me a nod and held his flashlight out like a rifle. I opened the door and we did a room sweep from the hallway. 

DitD 23 fae girl

  Many folks have written tales of faeries leprechauns and woodland creatures who protect the forest. Many have even put pen to paper describing the wizards and sorcerers. Although these tales are great bedtime stories and sleepy dreams for the wee ones, none have entire truths. For ages, we brownies have watched. Some brownies have even helped to write the tales that you read. But we don’t give entire truths because there are those among us who believe that mankind is still not ready for the full truth. Be forewarned that what you have stumbled upon here is the entirety of the truth. Some creatures you will learn about may frighten you. I would rather you know the facts with a warning so that you can decide how ready humans are for such things. To understand what you are about to hear you must understand that the fae realm is not as distant as you think. It exists much like in your physics, with the concept of a fourth dimension. 

Imagine that everywhere you look contains a piece of the fae. As you turn your head your eyes almost see it. Most of you are born with only three dimensional vision with a time contingency. Occasionally an exceptionally gifted child is born. A child who can see and interact with the fae. This a story of just such a girl. She was born with the gift to unremarkable parents. Her parents were oblivious to how special she was even as she aged. When most kids would lose their “imaginary best friends” she would see more. But I’m getting ahead of myself. You see I received my assignment to be her guardian. Changelings wanted her for their human collection. They are nasty things that swap a child for one of their own. Their reason was thought to be a human raising was better then that of a fae. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was more so that the despicable creatures could use the human child as a slave in the fae. A child as special as she was would fetch a fancy price. We brownies stopped the exchange. 

We had to keep out of sight of the parents. We couldn’t risk running up their suspicions. If the parents knew then the child would be less safe then she already was under our care. Her twelfth birthday went by without a hitch but a few weeks later her life would be changed forever. The great fairy tree in Ireland would be destroyed releasing faeries. She was to save mankind and fae alike.

Oh my Clíodhna are you going to tell this whole story like an obituary? She was an amazing thing. 

This is my story, back off.

Nah it’s my turn for a bit. She had the gift aye and how. Her parents were worried that she would be blind in one eye. Her left eye was the most beautiful blue and grey with red bits. Her right eye was orange with bits of green. The black center was instead fresh white snow. The white part was black as the darkest night. 

None of this is significant information. 

It’s my turn, you had yours. As she was growing I would bring her toys from the fae. She loved playing the fae toys. We worked with her to see both realms. Her parents were concerned to see her playing with nothing and no one. 

DitD 22 lone wanderer

  We pulled off the freeway and into the gas station. I pulled into a parking spot and plugged my generator into the wall socket. The generator takes the moisture in the air and compressed the hydrogen into a useable source. If the humidity in the air was low you could add water from a bottle. I poured the remainder of my drink into the tank and then walked over to the gas driver. The electric driver plugged his truck into the wall and joined us for the chat. 

“Do you… Do you guys feel lonely in the cabs at all?” I asked as casually as I could. 

“Nah.” The gas driver said, “Jesus keeps me company. I’m not allowed to put any religious paraphernalia permanently in the cab but I got a rosary around the mirror and a Crucifix statue in a bag on the passenger seat. And the lord said ‘It’s not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Timothy three fifteen.”

The electric driver rolled his eyes. “Not me neither.” He said, “been alone since my pops left after I was twelve. Something about a man doesn’t grow up with help from adults. He wasn’t really the same since mom offed herself.”

“The lord kept you alive to follow his will.” The gas driver said. 

“Shit man. That’s rough… I’m sorry.” I said. 

“It’s alright. As least the mortgage was fully paid. I just had to get a job for food and taxes. Fucking government.” The electric driver said. “Till they fucked that up for me as well. Something about, I can’t fend for myself until I’m eighteen. So they put me in juvey because they couldn’t take me in the system and taught me to read and right good enough to pass some stupid test. Taught me how to drive and when I got out this job was all I could get. The government sold the house to pay for my school.”

“The lord works in mysterious ways. Welp. I’m full up. Any of y’all need to hit the pisser or grab some beef sticks ‘fore we hit the road?” The gas driver said. “Next stop is our o’ernight.” His accent came and went as quick as a pregnant woman’s bladder. 

“Yeah. Im going to get more water and some chips.” Maybe a Surge as well. I didn’t want to fall asleep at the wheel. I went in the shop and grabbed my supplies. When I got back to my truck the electric truck driver had unplugged us both and was waving. 

“Let’s go beef sticks and water!” The electric driver yelled. I hopped in the cab and followed the group. At least this time I was at the back of the rotation. 

“Shit on a fucking Stick. What kinda moronic answer was that? Jesus, at nauseam. But more importantly how do you think she ended her existence? Was it knife trails on her arms or gun shot to her head?” Brandon said without a moment of peace. 

“I don’t think I want to know.” I said. I was strangely getting more comfortable with his presence. He was like my crucifix and rosary. He kept me company while not effecting too much of my driving. I just wish he would stop with his grotesque discussions. 

“You know, the thing is that you don’t feel the death as painfully when you do the knife trails. It’s a warm sensation on your arms and it just slowly fades to black. So peaceful. But those who shoot themselves is a much worse out come. You can feel the pain of the bullet and you don’t get the entire brain. This causes panic and the brain to overreact. Rather then just slipping it sends out messages to all facets of the body. If you do it right the brainstem is severed causing no messages to get through. The eyes still work which means that you will watch the panic of anyone around or will just see your surroundings. Your mouth won’t make any understandable audible noises meaning that you can’t call for help. Mean while in a panic your brain is saying that everything is in extraordinary pain.” Brandon said. 

“How would you know, how many suicide attempts have you made?” I asked. 

“Oh, I’ve heard from all those reaching out in pain. It’s glorious to watch them beg to undo their pitiful fates. I revel in their misfortune. You will beg too as soon as we are done here.” Brandon said. I could almost see a torso along with arms and a smile. 

“So what do you want with me?” I asked. 

“Easy now idiot, we have a long way to go. I don’t want to spoil the ending when we are just beginning.” Brandon replied. 

DitD 21 ghost hunters

 The radio chirped with Steve on the other end, “I don’t know if this is significant, but you know the first time we had a Pat and you having issues?”

“Yeah, it was nothing.” I said back. 

“Maybe,” Steve said. “But the Time of the occurrence was at civilian time 2:02 pm. And the second occurrence was military time 2202.”

“Purely coincidental.” I replied. 

“Again, Maybe.” Steve said. “But today’s date is 6 Jun 2026 and if you remove 202 from the date you get…”

“Funny. So a few coincidence numbers is supposed to scare us?” I said confidently. “I don’t think so. There is not enough evidence to support your theory.”

“I think Steve is right.” Pat said. “Do you remember what Captain Millers official time of death was?”

“0202.” I said sadly. 

“That’s Right, 5 May 2025” Pat said. 

“So what? Who cares?” I said. I was starting to get fed up with the superstition. Don’t get me wrong. There was definitely something going on but the numbers were completely coincidental. I felt as though my limbs became limp. It felt as though I was being pulled into the air with my limbs dangling behind me. The more I tried to use my limbs the more impossible it became to move them. The room became pitch black with the red lights from our flashlights seeming to all die at the same time. I felt Pat rush by me brushing against me as he ran. Steve tried to call out on the radio but I heard nothing but static. This proves it I thought. There is no significance to the time as it was 23: something and yet everything was happening just as before. How can a random set of numbers be linked to anything. Unless, 2202 was the start and 0202 is the end of the activity. The darkness closed in on me. I could no longer feel the stairs underneath me or the wall I was leaning on. I couldn’t hear anything around me. Even my taste and smell were gone. I tried to focus on the smell that I had smelt when I came in the church. It smelled like candles, sweat fill pew covers, cheap leather and something else. It was something unusual for a church i remember. Sulfur! 

Pat ran up to me. “Where did you go? The church was doing some weird shit. The floor was creaking and it seemed like the pews were being picked up and dropped successively.”

“Calm down Pat.” I said

“Steve said that all the cameras became obscured again and when the flashlights dimmed I ran for the doors.” Pat said still panicked. “They’re locked.”