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Warning:** S ***upernatural horror, demonic possession.*

[Disclaimer: Any names portrayed in this story are completely fictional. Any resemblances with actual people or characters are completely coincidental.]

TOO CLOSE TO HOME

Valerie looked over at the candle that stood next to her on the table. The flame was flickering wildly as if someone was blowing at it. It was time. She closed her eyes, focused and forced a mental door shut between her and the book she was reading. She then carefully put in a bookmark and closed the book. Its leather cover was surprisingly cold--even her fingers felt cold and stiff. She shifted the book to her right hand and looked at the left. Her fingers were pale, as if she had held them down in the snow for a few minutes. She sat up from her half-laying position on the couch, blew out the candle and got up. She walked over to a closed shelf, opened its doors and pulled out a black box. She unlocked it and placed the book back inside it before closing it, once more putting the padlock in place and made sure it clicked and wouldn't budge before she put it back on the shelf, made a few quick movements with her fingers in the air in front of her while her lips moved in silent words before she closed the doors to the shelf. She placed her hand on them, closed her eyes and listened,waiting for a moment to see if she would feel any movement or hear any sound. It was dead silent and after a little while she let out a sigh of relief and removed her hand, going into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water forherself. She had just filled it up and wastaking the first sips to help clear her head from the fog that lingered over it when her phone rang. She made a jump at the sudden noise at first, before snorting at herself and picking it up. Unknown number. She raised an eyebrow but swiped to answer the call.

Valerie was that eccentric girl on the block. The mysterious crazy lady that everyone was curious about but also afraid of. The local kids loved to look in through her windows, but ran for their lives as soon as they saw her. She knew that meant that the parents must be talking about her, but she didn't really mind. As long as she kept to herself and made no trouble, they would leave her alone and she liked that. Of course, the large greenhouse in her garden did not help her image further. A large orange sign was plastered on the door.

"Warning! Poisonous plants! Do not touch! Do not enter!"

Inside it lingered rows of plants in silvery white, deep violet, scarlet and black. They were as beautiful as they were deadly, especially the violet one that was as tall as a man. Even touching it could be deadly and it was Valerie's personal favourite. Her Wolfsbane.

There were other clear signs as well of course. The large pentacle in her window was a dead giveaway, as was the full-sized skeleton that sat in her couch and stared out the window at all the people passing by on the road outside with its empty eye sockets. Whenever she went out herself she always wore allblack with accents of red or purple, and often a black hooded cloak. Everything about her screamed witch. And yet, despite all of this, it was not commonly known how far her knowledge stretched, nor what she used it for. But today, someone had learned of it and needed her help. Another week, another haunting. Val sighed, slipped the phone between her breasts, gulped down the water and returned to the living room to take away the candle and remove the ashes from the incense.

Valerie had from a very early age found a morbid interest in everything dead, occult and dangerous. She had learned reading and writing from ghost stories already as a small kid and the interest and her curiousness had only increased with time. In her younger years she had been somewhat limited in her research and knowledge, the local library only had so much on these topics. But in high school the internet had become a big thing worldwide, and that brought a lot of new possibilities for her. Not only was there a lot of online archives to find, but it was an excellent way to find new books that she could request the library to order. Her interest had really spiked after her years at university, where she had discovered and learned witchcraft. That had opened an entirely new world for her and with access to the university's libraries she soon had a near unlimited supply of information. Slowly but surely Val had started to collect books of her own to further her studies. Books so dark and malevolent that no library would take them in, and they would only be found through underhand book merchants. Some of them had a very eerie energy around them, and Valerie had known from the moment she had touched them that she was holding a cursed item. It had started to prove itself pretty soon. In the beginning she had not stored them in her regular book shelf, but on a small shelf inside her wardrobe. However, the wardrobe door kept mysteriously opening itself and clothes kept falling out. After a while Valerie had been unnerved enough and moved the books to a small shelf inside her storage room. But there they had started to fall off the shelf and soon enough, the door to the storage room started to open itself as well. Even more unnerved than before, this time she had wrapped the books in sheets and tied them like a package, putting a pagan blessing over them before stuffing them back on the shelf. Eventually the package would start to untie and slowly unwrap itself and forced Valerie into a monthly routine of safekeeping them. In the end, she had been forced to lock them inside a wooden chest.

Most people knew that Valerie was a pagan and a witch, but almost no one knew that she was also sensitive to spiritual matters and was in fact a paranormal investigator. A lot of people who had found her black library had asked her why she would even keep things like that at home.

"For studies." was always her reply.

"Know thy enemy, and all that."

She was right in that regard. Many of the hauntings she was investigating were rather dark and sometimes strictly dangerous. There were things that did not belong in this world and to face them head on required a special kind of person and mental preparedness. This call had not been very different from most of the others. Strange sounds, shadows, things being moved. Valerie knew that in most of the cases it was nothing supernatural at all. In fact, finding an actual haunting was rather rare and most other things could be explained. Changes in temperatures could make buildings and pipes creak or make tapping noises, shadows could be light phenomenon or justcomeout of tiredness, and things moved were often just moved by people subconsciously. But, a chance of finding an actual haunting always thrilled her. This time, the caller lived in a larger house on the countryside. They had claimed to haveseen apparitions and even books flying. They felt threatened and needed help. They had gotten her name from a friend of a friend kind of thing and she had promised to come over. Tomorrow evening after work was a good time.

Already when Valerie parked outside the house and walked through the gate to the garden and the path leading up to the house, she felt it. She stopped dead in her tracks and lifted her head. The chilly October rain drummed against the thick hood of her cloak and swept the house in a grey and dark mist. Even without the weather the house had a very ominous feel to it. In itself it was beautiful; a big colonial house, all white with large and well maintained gardens--it could be a paradise. But the atmosphere that surrounded it just made everything feel dark, colourless and heavy. She closed her eyes, cast a protection spell over herself and walked up the path. When she approached the house a cold sensation came over her and made her shudder as a shiver ran along her spine. This place was definitely haunted.

When she reached the door, she rang the doorbell but not a single sound came. That was odd for a fancy place like this. If you could afford a house of this size so close to the city, you could definitely afford a working doorbell. She reached up and knocked on the glass window of the door. The hallway lit up and soon the woman who had called her yesterday opened the door. Valerie met her eyes, and instantly knew that whatever it was, it was bad. The woman's eyes were dark and sunken deep with large dark rings under them. She looked so tired and worn that she might as well havecome straight from a war zone.

"Enter, if you dare." she said with an attempt to smile at the joke, stepping aside to let Valerie in.

The moment Val stepped inside she felt it. It was like a lead blanket being lowered over her, a pressure over her head and shoulders.

"The oppressive atmosphere, check." she thought to herself and sighed.

She folded down the hood and looked around.

"So... exactly what istheproblem?"

The pale woman looked at her in silence for a moment before she answered.

"Why don't you have a look around? I'm sure it will show itself to you. It's been very active lately."

Valerie swallowed when she heard that. The bitterness in the woman's voice spoke more than her words did. This was real, and it was bad.

Valerie started down the corridor, walking slowly and looking around.

"Is the rest of your family at home?"

"My husband is trying to catch some sleep, he's on the living room couch. The children are in their rooms upstairs. It's milder during daytime but gets worse in the evening."

Valerie nodded and continued down the corridor until she came to the living room, stepped in and looked around. The husband was indeed sleeping on the couch, but as they came into the room he woke up. Or perhaps he didn't. A normal person would always sit up, if not get up to greet the guest. But his head only turned slowly until his eyes met Valerie's, and he grinned. Valerie felt her tummy twist and it felt as if she had swallowed ice. Those eyes... were not human.

"Sweet Jesus." she thought to herself. "If this is actually possession... I need help."

She picked up her phone and made the call. She reached her friend but there was a lot of sparks and interference. She gave a quick look at the bars, but they were full. Yet she could barely hear him.

"Electromagnetic fluctuations." she thought to herself again. "Yes, this is bad. Really bad..."

"Hey, I need you over ASAP with everything. Cameras, phones, recorders... bring the arsenal."

There was two seconds of silence before she got his confirmation, and she could hear inhis voice that he was excited now too. It had been years since she had lastordered the full arsenal.

About two hours later he arrived and Valerie had undertaken a full tour of the house from basement to attic. The husband was now sitting up in the couch seemingly back to normal. While Valerie sat down with them and the kids, sipping some tea and nibbling on biscuits, her friend was sweeping around the house putting up security cameras with night-vision as well as a small station with two laptops in the kitchen that would gather all the camera feeds, as well as store everything on backup hard drives. They now had the entire house covered in different angles and each camera also had a microphone. On the table was also a lot of small audio recorders as well as digital cameras. They were as well prepared as they could be. Valerie looked around at the family and put her teacup down.

"So... when and how did all of this start?"

She watched them closely. The father looked down, the mother threw a quick glance at their son before she too looked down. But the two daughters both looked steadily at the son. He saw their gazes and looked down as well. Around 17 years old, black hair, piercings, his alternative clothing style. Before he opened his mouth, Valerie had an idea of what the issue was.

"I..."

He fell silent for a moment, then looked up, looked Valerie in the eyes and spoke rapidly.

"I took part in a satanic ritual and something camehome with me."

Valerie narrowed her eyes and looked at him intensely. He was afraid, she could see that.

"I take it, this was not LaVeyan rituals?"

She saw him turn pale, and that was in truth answer enough.

"No..." he stammered. "Crowley."

Valerie sighed and nodded. For those who were well-read on the occult world, different from LaVey, Crowley was generally known as a "Dark Lord" whodabbledin demonology, blood magic and necromancy. All 3 titles were bad enough on their own, and if they were combined...

Valerie suddenly noticed how the children had shifted to look at the mother. The father still looked down into his lap, as if bracing himself for what was about to be said next. Valerie also looked at the mother now.

"And..." she asked softly.

The mother looked up, tears brimming in her eyes.

"I... used a spirit board."

At that very moment, they all heard a noise upstairs. From the kitchen Dan shouted.

"Hey! Something's moving in the girls room! Looks like a box of toys wasknocked over."

Then they all heard running footsteps and then a door slamming so hard that they all jumped.

"I got that." was heard from Dan.

Valerie turned her attention back to the mother.

"Go on."

"Look, we did not know what it was. This... thing followed him home and started moving around the house. It started small, you know? Noises, shadows... but it quickly grew in intensity. After it started throwing books at us, and at our son especially... we figured we would try and talk to it. See what it wanted. But after we did i-"

"It only got worse." Valerie filled in.

She felt her heart sink. A possible demonic haunting to start with, but on top of that a god damn Ouija board. Why didn't people know better?

"Has there ever been... more than one haunting at the same time? As in, separate things happening in different parts of the house at the same time?"

The family looked between each other, then they all looked at Valerie and nodded. She felt how her heart sank some more--this was about as bad as it could be. She rubbed her hands and looked down at them for a while. How would she formulate herself? First, she looked back up at the son.

"This... creature that followed you home. Have you seen or felt it elsewhere?" He nodded.

"At friends, in school, even at grandmas..."

Valerie nodded, and it was as she feared. She had studied demonology for years and knew for sure now that the haunting was demonic. She looked up and around at the family.

"Guys... look. There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just put the cards on the table for you. Getting a dark or demonic spirit to follow you home was bad enough, but to then experiment with a spirit board... guys, I'm afraid you managed to open a door and let more of them in. Some of the hauntings might be anchored to the house or even the spirit board you used, but the demonic spirit has anchored with your son and will follow him wherever he goes. Quite frankly, we are in deep shit."

Just as she finished, Valerie heard a soft giggle by her shoulder and felt the strands of hair on her neck stand right out.

"Uuh, Valerie? You might want to see this..." came Dan's voice from the kitchen.

She got up and came over to him, and he pointed at the many screens from the cameras. By the armchair where Valerie had been seated was a misty shadow and an orb bouncing around.

"Jesus Christ."

Valerie took of her glasses and looked more closely.

"I have never seen such an intense activ-"

She was interrupted by a scream from the living room and ran back. Just in the doorway she stopped. The air in the room felt so thick she could barely breathe and it felt as if she had ran into a wall. She looked over to the family who all stared towards her with horror in their faces. Right then, before her very eyes, a dark shadow materialized in the air. It was massive, as if she was looking up at something monstrous. Valerie swallowed hard.

"Mother of all the divines, now if ever, grant me your protection."

Valerie mumbled and closed her eyes.

"Air, Fire, Earth and Water, flow around me. Protect me."

Slowly she looked back up at the massive shadow. She felt how her silver pendant, a pentacle necklace that she always wore, suddenly got very hot, almost burning. A few seconds later it cooled again, the shadow fadedand Valerie found herself suddenly breathing deep, as if she had been holding her breath for a long time and she heard the family do the same. She walked over to them and looked around between them. That's when the son turned around and pulled his t-shirt up. Over his back, sides, belly and arms were scars of long claw marks. Valerie shook her head and closed her eyes. This was almost ridiculous and yet it was true. She nodded to him and he dropped the t-shirt back down, then looked between all of them again.

"I suggest that all of you sleep together in the living room tonight. We will set up camp in the kitchen, watch what is going on, and... don't take this the wrong way, but we will provoke it a little. See exactly what we are dealing with here."

The mother shook her head furiously.

"No! Please, don't provoke it! It gets bad, really bad! I've tried."

"Don't worry, I will just essentially pokeit with a needle, just to see its reactions. It will try to scare me I'm sure, but it will leave you guys alone. After all, I am the needle."

The family looked nervously between each other, but soon nodded in agreement.

Later that night the kitchen and the living room was seemingly the only calm areas in the house. Just to be on the safe side, Valerie had performed protection spells in the kitchen, especially around the table where they were sitting and where their equipment was. Laptops were expensive and since there had been reports of poltergeist activity, better safe than sorry. Valerie and Dan sat in front of their screens sipping tea and watching with a mixture of horror and amazement as doors kept opening and closing, shadows and orbs moved around the rooms and corridors. There was _definitely_a portal opened in this house. Most of these hauntings were probably not even malevolent, but the few that were was more than enough. She had only seen one place like this before, and that was an abandoned asylum. To see such frantic activity in a house that was supposed to be a home was horrifying. Both were alerted by another yelp from the living room. Valerie walked over to them just to see a pitcher with lemonade slide across the table at high speed without anyone touching it - just for it to stop dead right at the edge of the table. Probably just another spirit trying to make its presence known. Valerie turned around and was just on her way back to the kitchen when the air thickened again. She felt herself gasp for air and saw the shadow materialize before her again. She felt a draining feeling at the back of her head and started to feel dizzy.

"Oh no you don't." she thought to herself and forced the feeling away from her. The shadow fadedagain, but she got a bad feeling of being watched and turned around. The father of the family was looking at her again, a menacing grin with eyes that were not his. They expressed so much malice that Valerie felt a shiver ran down her spine.

The evening proceeded into night, and the family went to sleep in the living room. The cameras and the microphones kept picking up shadows, orbs, objects being moved, whispers, noises and knockings. Around midnight was when Valerie got up and looked at Dan.

"It is time to provoke."

Dan just nodded. Valerie took up a bunch of bound branches of white sage and lit them on the candle. At the exact same moment she felt the entire atmosphere in the house change. It went from gloomy to angry. She knew Dan had felt it too, because he looked around and looked worried.

"Keep an eye through the cameras."

She turned on the spot and stepped out into the corridor. The smoke of the sage stretched out into a long white tail behind her and she looked down the dark corridor with determination.

"Let's see how powerful you are."

She heard the house creak as she went down the corridor. The family gasped as something fell over and crashed in the living room. Valerie turned a corner and headed up the stairs to the upper floor. Up here, the air went thick again and she could barely breathe. This was surely where he hung around the most. As she reached the upper landing, she looked down the corridor. Right there, a the end of the corridor against an open door, the massive shadow materialised again. She aimed the burning sage towards him.

"Back off." she uttered.

There was a sudden loud noise, like a distorted roar, and the shadow disappeared into the room and slammed the door. She slowly proceeded down the corridor towards the room at the end of it where it had disappeared. As she walked, she saw and heard doors open and close behind her. He was trying to unnerve her, just as she had predicted. She pushed up the door to the room at the end and peeked inside. This was clearly the boy's room and she was just about to step inside when the door slammed back in her face, almost making her drop the sage. She grunted and pushed the door back open and stepped inside. In the next moment she turned around and saw the shadow approach her from down the corridor, as if to close her in, but she stood her ground. When it reached the door the room was filled with a feeling of pure dread, and Valerie could feel how panic was starting to build inside her. He was demonstrating his power and she forced herself to focus. She once more aimed the sage towards him. "I said, back off!"

A book flopped out of the bookcase and landed on the floor. But the next one suddenly hurled from the bookcase and slammed into the wall next to her. This was enough. Bracing herself and mumbling out her spells she aimed the sage as if it was a spear, and walked towards the shadow.

"Back with you! Back to the ethereal plane with you!"

She swiped the sage as if she was holding a sword. The shadow flew backwards down the corridor and faded into nothingness. However, the oppressing feeling remained and she knew that he was not gone yet.She hurried down the corridor and down the stairs and came back into the kitchen to find Dan just staring at her.

"Did... did we get that on camera?"

Dan nodded and swallowed. He looked pale.

"We will definitely need help. More tea?" Valerie took the kettle from the stove and poured another cup for them.

The next morning they all sat in the kitchen. The family was enjoying breakfast while Valerie sat at their own little table, tapping her fingers against its surface. She then lifted her phone back up, and made a call. This was more than she could handle on her own and she knew she needed help. She knew who to call, and that she had to call several. The haunting was bad enough on its own, but to close the portal to the void that the spirit board had opened... the family might have to actually move away from the house, or they would sooner or later be consumed by one of the entities that kept haunting them. It was already far gone, and she feared that especially the father of the family might already be lost. Demonic spirits fed on negativity and fear, haunted people until they were broken, and in their moment of weakness, they took over. If possession continued for long enough time, the soul of the possessed person would most likely be consumed and gone forever, perhaps forced to walk the plane of the void endlessly as one of the "shadow people" that are often seen. She finished the call and turned to Dan and the family.

"Alright, we will get more help on Sunday, and we shall see what we can do to help you guys. This is a process that may take several days--we have to start with closing the portal, as good as we can at least. I recommend that we all take today off for some leisure and get a good nights sleep. We'll need it for tomorrow."

One hour later, her and Dan were in the car, heading back home. They spoke frantically about all the insane things they had seen and what they could do about it but that indeed they needed a good rest.

Valerie however could barely get any rest the entire day. Despite trying to relax with some bad movies and ice cream, her mind kept returning to the family and everything they had seen and experienced. It was so intense that she couldn't help but wonder if she had actually imagined it all, or if it was actually real. But then she looked over at one of the cameras that stood on her living room table and a shiver went through her. It was real, and she knew it. Her sleep that night did not go much better. She kept twisting and turning, her mind filled with nonsensical dreams and sometimes nightmares. As much as she felt that this "job" was her duty, it could be very very taxing on a person's mind, and sometimes she considered quitting. But yet, when it came to it in the end, she just couldn't resist. She was way too curious for her own good.

She woke early next morning by Dan calling her. She picked up immediately.

"Hey, is everything alright?" "Valerie... no. It's spreading." "What do you mean?" He requested Facetime and she accepted, and gasped. His back had long red claw marks, parts of them had even drawn blood.

"Dan... are you okay?" "I'm coming over. We need to talk."

They hung up, and Valerie bit her lip before rolling out of her bed with a sigh to get dressed. This was even bigger than she had anticipated. The entity they had encountered wasincrediblystrong, stronger than she had anticipated, and he had responded to her "poking with a needle" in a truly terrifying way. Now it was also latched on to Dan and would try to consume him next unless she could do something about that. They may just as well have to start with him today and take it from there.

The tea was boiling when Dan knocked on the door. She opened, but the moment their eyes met his eyes changed and he grinned at her. A malicious, victorious grin. Valerie knew she had to fight, and that she had to fight _now._She narrowed her eyes and with one hand closing around her pentacle she placed the other right over his chest. She looked into the eyes and found contact with them. It was like staring into an all-consuming nothingness and for a moment it almost felt as if she was falling. This was not just a demonic spirit, this was an actual pure demon. She focused her mind and spoke out her spell, feeling a wave of energy burst out of her hand and into his chest.

"Go back. Back to the shadow. Back to the void with you! Release my friend, and fade!"

Dan staggered backwards as if he had been gut-punched despite that her hand had not physically moved. She stepped out after.

"Return to the void! Fade from this world!"

She felt how another wave of energy was charging in her hand, and she started to utter her next spell. This was not the first time she had done this, and she knew that she would win. She believed in it, believed in herself. A strength that the demon could not take away from her. In the corner of her eye she saw another car pull up. Out of it stepped two other women, both cloaked and hooded, one brown and the other blue. With stern faces, they came pacing over to her and Dan quickly. Valerie let out a sigh of relief. This was the beginning of the end for this haunting.

[Disclaimer: Any names portrayed in this story are completely fictional. Any resemblances with actual people or characters are completely coincidental.]

While paranormal investigation is an incredibly interesting hobby that most of us love to follow on YouTube and TV with shows such as "Ghost Adventures", all too few talk about the dire dark side of it. What we experience certainly takes a toll on us, and sometimes, as has happened more than once, things latch on to us and follow us home as well. And suddenly, we find ourselves living in the next real ghost story. In this specific story, the family did get rid of the demon but sadly the house could not be saved from the portal and they had to move. S __o_ for the love of God, don't use spirit boards. Please._