The House That Wants Project

Chapter 15

THTW 2023 Chapter 15
         Kristin had Mitch take her to the house. Marissa had put the children to bed. Kristin found an extra pillow and blanket in one of the closets. She got comfortable on the couch.
         "Where did you go?" asked Tim.
         "I went to the manor to see what was going on and what I could do. It wouldn't let me inside. I meditated outside for a bit."
         "you talk as if the manor is alive."
         "In some ways it is. The force inside is using the memories of the manor."
         "Then I guess it isn't a common haunting."
         "There is nothing common about any haunting. Each one is its own manifestation. The manor is trying to make us believe its only the Maitlins doing all of this. That's not the case. There's something else there."
         Kristin couldn't g get comfortable, so she went to the car and got a couple of the books she had stored there. Kristin tried to read but couldn't retain anything. Tim and Marissa had gone up to bed, so she shut off the lights and laid down.
         Kristin dreamed of the visions she had seen at the manor. She saw the man who had rebuilt the manor. He painted symbols behind the walls of the first and second floors. It looked like red paint he was using to draw symbols the walls and floor of the basement. The symbols were painted over with paint.
         Kristin woke up early and started to make pancakes for the family. She was signing to the radio. Marissa came in.
         "Morning," said Kristin, "there's coffee over there."
         "It's mostly Latin with some other languages mixed in."
         "I flipped through the pages and seen a couple of drawings I recognized. They were glowing on the walls of the basement when I got thrown across the room."
         "Could you draw what you saw? It would help me a great deal."
         "Sure. First I want coffee."
         "On the counter."
         Tim set the book on the table. They made small talk over breakfast. James and Bethany chatted about how they wanted their rooms to look.
         "I'm glad those other kids aren't here," said Bethany. "That boy wasn't very nice."
         "The girl was always wet," said James. "She said it was always cold and dark."
         Kristin took the pictures of the Maitlins out of her book. Marissa took them from her. The look on her face went cold. She showed them to the children.
         "Are these the children you saw?"
         "Uh-huh. The boy always wanted to play bad games. He wanted me to hurt Bethany," said james.
         "She liked being in my closet. She said the boys couldn't get us there."
         "Peter tried to go in Bethany's closet, and it threw him back."
         Kristin's eyes softened when James said Peter's name.
         "Do you know the girl's name?"
         "Darla."
         "Can we go play now?" asked James.
         "After you wash up and put clothes on," said Marissa.
         Kristin sat down and sipped her coffee in deep thought. She picked up her book and went in the living room. Tim came in with a small drawing pad and a pencil.
         "Try to draw where each one was in relation to the others."
         Tim nodded and erased a bit then started drawing again.
         Kristin did her best to keep her mind closed from Tim as she looked at symbols in the book and read about their meanings. She went to the car twice to retrieve more books.
         Marissa sat down by Kristin and reached for a book. It slid away from her to Kristin. Both Marissa and Tim stared.
         "They slid away from me this morning," said Tim.
         Kristin closed the book she had and took a breath.
         "It's my Aunt's familiar trying to protect the books."
         "I thought a familiar was like a cat or something."
         "A familiar can be anything. It usually is a cat or animal, but what matters is that it is an assistant to the witch."
         "It's going to take time for me to get used to your eccentricities," said Marissa.
         Kristin looked over at Tim's drawings. "Are you sure this is the right grouping?"
         "As best as I remember."
         "Is there a cross with a circular top here? And a circle with a cross through it there?"
         "Yes, I remember those now."
         "Were the crosses upside down and a circle connecting them all?"
         "I'm not sure. I took a good knock when it threw me."
         "I know most of these symbols. This looks like a summoning spell."
         "To summon what?"
         "The combined sigils will tell me once I break them down."
         Kristin's cell rang. She knew it was Mitch. He had more information about the manor. Kristin told him to come over.
         When Mitch got to the house he was trembling.
         "What happened?"
         "My car started swerving down the road. I almost crashed into a car full of kids."
         "I think I need to start doing some protection spells. I need to go to the storage facility. Everything I need should be there."
         "I'll come with you," said Mitch. "I need to get the values of the things you want to sell."
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         When they got to the facility, Mitch hurried out of the car. "I just can't get the vision of me hitting that carload of kids out of my head."
         Kristin started rubbing Mitch's temples and humming softly. When she felt him relax she stopped.
         "What did you do?"
         "Recentered your chi. I picked up some healing techniques when I was growing up. I've been using them on the manor, but I think I need to take a more aggressive approach."
         "Why is it coming after us?"
         "It can't get to me directly so it's attacking those around me."
         "The garage with your stuff is just up here."