Running into trouble

Abby was a widow with two children, Josh and Suzy. Josh was in high school and very athletic, while suzy was in middle school and insanely shy. Abby has been in a depressed phase since the divorce from her husband. She was struggling to support her children. She’s been getting better now that she has a new job and has been working on herself. She goes on runs, does yoga, and works out, which makes her feel much better. One morning before she had to wake the kids up for school she went on a run around the neighborhood. She looks down at her watch to check the time, and hit someone’s shoulder. 

She apologized to the man she hit. The man began looking around frantically; “Hello? Who did that!?”. 

“I’m standing right in front of you sir,” Abby says, in a worried voice. 

The man began to run away, when suddenly he felt hands on his shoulder. He screams in terror, “WHO’S OUT HERE?!”. 

Abby runs away from him, all the way to her house. She slams open the front door and is stopped by what seems to be a demon. It spoke to her in a scratchy voice. 

“You mean nothing to anyone. This is why you are invisible. In two hours I will possess this body and take your children’s souls.” 

Tears began to run down her face, she’s calling for help but no one can hear her. 

“Josh, Suzy... can you hear me? Please answer!” Abby says, in a voice filled with terror and sadness. 

It’s 8:30 a.m. and the kids are officially late for school. Suzy wakes up at 10:15 a.m. and cannot find her mom anywhere. She begins to panic and wakes up Josh. He is only a little worried until he goes to the front hallway. He sees blood on the floor and something seems to keep touching him. He calls his mom's cell phone and hears it ringing throughout their house. He lets it go to voicemail and hears the most strange voice on the recorded line. 

“Hello, little boy,” in an old raspy voice. “You’re mother will not return well,” he chuckles. “She will if you do me a favor.” 

Josh replies, “And what is that.” 

The demon like voice responds, “you must bring me your sister’s soul.” 

He cannot let that happen to her, but what would he do without his mother. 

He thinks, “Suzy doesn’t even care about me, when would I ever need her.” 

Suzy came to him and suddenly there was a loud THUMP at the door it echoed through the entire house. The door flung open and fell to the ground with a loud thud. At this point, Abby knew what she had to do. She had to fight. A huge bellowing monster of a man steps through the door. He isn’t anything but a shadow, a demon. Abby tries to go after him with a big kitchen knife but nothing she does will stop him. 

Josh steps in front of Suzy, “I won’t let you do it. You cannot take her!” 

The demon chuckled, “I can do anything stupid little boy, in fact I can bring your mother back.” 

His mother appeared right next to him. Josh tried to help her. After his first step, the demon appears over her and possesses her. Abby walks over to Josh and Suzy and hugs them tightly. 

Suzy steps back, “You’re not our mother.” 

Abby then says, “No, I’m not, but I have your mothers brain in my head and she wouldn’t do anything to protect you anyway.” 

In the blink of an eye, she was gone. Josh yells for Suzy to follow him. They run out to his car and he drives for hours. They end up at a hotel in Montana. Only a couple of states from their hometown in Nevada. They check in with their mom's credit card and walked down many halls to find their room. The ceilings were dripping with what looked like dirty water from the molded cracks. The lingering smell of cigarette smoke with the walls stained nicotine yellow. 

Suzy says, “Well it makes sense that the bill for the night is only fifty dollars.” They look around disgusted. 

Josh enters the room first and walks over to the nightstand in between the beds. He attempts to turn the lamp on but it only flickers. Suzy turns the lightswitch on. Josh screams in shock. The demon appears, sitting on the bed. 

“What do you want with us!!”, Josh cries. 

The demon lets out a snicker, “I just want your soul.” he smiles a sinful smile, “is that too much to ask?” 

Suzy pitches in and says, “Where is our mother?” 

Abby’s voice echoes throughout the room, “Don’t listen to him! Save yourselves.” Josh and Suzy look around baffled. 

“Mom where are you!!”, Suzy yells. 

The man working the front desk hears a bunch of commotion. He proceeds to their room and knocks, asking “Is everything okay in there?” 

Josh, only seconds from yelling back, gets thrown into the wall across the room by the demon. The man walks in and sees Josh laying on the floor. He begins to say something then gets cut off, blood drips to the floor and the man falls dead. The demon is behind him, blood on his hand, he let out a bellowing laugh. Josh realizes the demon has ripped the man’s heart out. 

“No one can ever help you. Don’t you see? Just give me what I want and you will be free.” The demon says. 

Suzy, helping Josh up then says, “And what is it you want?” 

“I want a soul, I already took your mothers and I need one more to complete…” The demon stuttered, “the process.” 

Josh hears his mother’s faint whisper, “I know what you must do to stop him. Go to the cemetery at exactly midnight. You and Suzy then must chant ‘to the demon possessing this family, I want you to show yourself, in the name of the Holy Spirit, SHOW YOURSELF!” 

In order to buy time Josh says “Fine, we will find you a soul. Give us 24 hours.” Then the Demon disappeared. 

“What was that about?” Suzy sighs “We cannot give that evil monster someones soul!” 

Josh doesn’t want to tell Suzy what he has to do to stop it because he doesn’t want to put her in danger so he says, “Don’t worry about it I will fix this.” 

Suzy keeps pressing, “I want to know what you are thinking! What are we going to do?” 

Josh acts like he is sleeping so maybe she’ll give up and actually go to sleep. She does. He gets up at 11:00 p.m. and goes out to the nearest cemetery. Little does he know, Suzy is not asleep. She has been following him quietly in the shadows. 

Once he gets to the center of the cemetery, she speaks up and says “Josh, what are you doing out here?” He gave in and told her what Abby had said. Suzy got angry asking “Why wouldn’t you tell me!” then added “We’re supposed to be in this together! This is our mother! You have to tell me this stuff, I can help!” 

“I WAS JUST TRYING TO PROTECT YOU” Josh says, with much emotion. 

Out of nowhere Abby appears, “Both of you listen! You need to get this done NOW!” 

The clock is ticking and it is now 11:59 p.m. Josh and Suzy lock hands and start with the chant, “To the demon possessing this family, I want you to show yourself, in the name of the Holy Spirit, show yourself!” 

And immediately after that first time, the demon appears. They say it again and again. The demon is getting smaller and seems to be getting scared. He nervously chuckles and says, “You stupid kids don’t know what you’re doing!” 

Josh and Suzy don’t listen to him but keep repeating the chant Abby had told them. As the demon has become inferior, they stop and Abby walks up behind them. They hug. Abby then pulls out a mason jar. She walks over to the tiny little demonic creature, and stuck him in the jar. 

Josh asks, “Can we keep him?” 

Abby giggles, “No we’re going to bury him away where no one can find him” 

They take him back home, go to their local cemetery, dig a deep hole right in the center and bury him. Abby, Suzy and Josh go back home and clean up the mess. They all go to sleep, finally. 

The next morning, Abby wakes up and is motivated for a good morning run. As she’s running she accidentally bumps into a guy, she gets nervous thinking he won’t be able to see her. He does see her, and he says “Hey” in a flirty voice then asks “would you like to run with me and maybe get some coffee afterwards?” 

She accepts saying “I’d love to.”