It’s been a week since I last posted. I was going to post yesterday, but things got a bit hectic. Because of the latest events, Paul and I are using our day off to take Robby to Biloxi. We need to get away from the house for a bit, even if just a few hours.
Anyway, Robby handed me this picture he’d drawn about a half hour after I made my first post. As he’d said, this…thing was what he’d seen perched on his bed rail. He claimed it didn’t allow him to move, basically paralyzing him, in his bed. To the outside mind, it would seem he’d just suffered a terrible episode of sleep paralysis; but given what we’d all experienced in our home up to that point, Paul and I knew that wasn’t the case.
“I’m really hoping this isn’t some sort of demonic entity,” I said once Robby had left the room.
“I don’t know how it could be,” Paul said. “You had blessed the room prior. How could something evil manage to stay inside afterward?”
“A demonic being can stay if it’s strong enough,” I responded. “And it terrifies me that might be the case.”
“You said Father Jackson will be here tomorrow?” Paul said.
“He’ll be here around 4 p.m.,” I said. “I told him everything that had occurred, not just last night. He’s going to come assess the situation and bless the house. If that doesn’t work, we might need an exorcist.”
Paul grimaced while shaking his head. Like I said in my last post, he’s an agnost who has been skeptical of the paranormal. But I guess everything that’s happened since has caused his ideology to shift.
“I still can’t understand how these things could have gotten inside our house,” Paul said. “Nothing was here for the five years we lived here, but the moment we come back, we start dealing with this.”
“It had to have come in with the water,” I said. “It’s a crazy theory, but it’s my only guess. Either that, or it was brought in by one of the workers who rebuilt the house. Even then, that theory sounds even crazier.”
“But who could these people be?” Paul asked. “A family that died in the flood?”
“Maybe,” I said. “God, that’s horrible to think about.”
“I know,” Paul said before walking up to me and pulling me into a hug. “But listen, we’ll get through this. If we got through Ida, we can do the same now.”
“I hope.”
Paul then approached the doorway to leave, but after taking two steps into the hallway, he quickly turned back to me.
“Let’s keep an ear out on any conversations Robby has with Timmy and Tommy,” he said. “His ‘conversations’ could give us insight into who they are.”
“Maybe,” I said. “If I hear anything while you’re at work, I’ll write it down and send it to you.”
The next two hours were thankfully peaceful. Robby and Paul were in the living room watching TV while I was folding the latest load of laundry. After putting Robby’s clothes in his dresser, I walked into my room to repeat the same process. I was folding Paul’s t-shirts when I heard it.
The sound of a plastic bottle hitting the tiled bathroom floor.
I jumped as I turned toward the bathroom. The door was open but the light was off, making the room appear pitch black. I couldn’t see anything except for the light switch just inside the threshold.
I remained frozen in place, too scared to move or even breathe. I was about to yell out for Paul, but then two thoughts crossed my mind. First, if I screamed for Paul, Robby may also come over out of curiosity, and the last thing I wanted to do was scare my son more than he needed to be. And second, I knew that if I showed fear, this thing could feed off of it. I couldn’t let the entity, or entities, get the satisfaction of that.
With a boost of confidence, I walked over to the bathroom and flicked on the light. Laying on the floor about three feet from the door was an empty bottle of soap that I had previously placed in my trashcan. Already feeling the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end, I reached down and picked up the bottle.
“Stay calm, Lillian,” I said internally. “Don’t let this thing scare you.”
But my mantra instantly vanished when my ears picked up a new sound. I turned around, and what I saw has permanently been engraved into my mind. I am getting goosebumps now just typing it out.
Lying underneath my bed, sticking out just enough to be visible, were two young boys. They were both lying on their stomachs but used their elbows to prop their heads up to look at me. They had these huge smiles plastered on their faces, and both of their eyes were rolled back in their heads, leaving nothing but white behind their lids.
But they weren’t the only two things underneath my bed. Lying between them was an infant child. It was seated upright and was staring at me. And when it locked eyes, it made the sound I had heard: laughter. The baby was fucking laughing at me as the two children next to him just smiled and stared.
I screamed at the top of my lungs as I flung my arms forward to close the bathroom door. I lost all the feeling in my legs as I fell onto the floor and curled up into a ball. The last thought I had before I passed out was that the two older children looked exactly like the Timmy and Tommy drawings done by my son.
When I came to, I was in the front seat of Paul’s car. Paul was speeding down the highway while Robby sat in the backseat, silently crying. I slowly sat up in my seat, which is when Paul noticed.
“Oh, thank God you’re awake,” he said as he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Heading to the hospital,” Paul said. “I found you passed out but breathing. I was gonna call 911, but considering they normally take forever to get to our neighborhood, I chose to take us there myself.”
“No, no it’s fine,” I said. “I don’t need to go to the hospital. But please, we can’t go back to the house. Not until Father Jackson comes.”
“What the hell happened back there?” Paul then asked me.
I slowly began remembering what happened prior to my fainting, and then I remembered what I’d seen under the bed. I was about to tell Paul, but when I saw Robby’s pain-stricken face looking at me through the rearview mirror, I bit my tongue. It’s like I mentioned earlier: I cannot let my son get more terrified than he already is.
“I’ll tell you soon,” I said, giving him a look that he seemed to pick up.
“Okay,” Paul said. “There’s a hotel coming up. We’ll stay there tonight.”
After getting inside, we calmed Robby down. He was deeply worried that I was not okay, but after assuring him, he fell asleep. We waited a bit until Paul asked me what I had seen. I could see Paul’s face drain of color after describing it.
“Why is this happening to us?” I asked. “We never did anything. All we wanted was to be home again.”
I began crying, and Paul immediately pulled me into a hug to comfort me. The last thing I remember from that night was passing out in Paul’s arms.
Paul called in sick the next day, and we stayed at the hotel until it was time to meet with Father Jackson. We got to our home around 3:30 p.m., and about fifteen minutes later, Father Jackson’s car pulled into our driveway.
“Sorry I couldn’t come any earlier,” Father Jackson said. “How are you three holding up?”
“We’re trying to stay strong,” I said. “For Robby’s sake, at least.”
“Has anything else happened since we spoke yesterday morning?” he then asked.
I pulled him aside and explained what I saw. He, like Paul, was rather horrified by my description of the scene.
“Lily, I am so sorry you and your family have to deal with this,” Father Jackson said. “But I am going to do my best at eradicating any evil residing within your walls. Let’s head inside.”
Father Jackson followed the three of us as we walked into our entryway. We watched as Father Jackson went into our living room, where he cleansed the room, doorway and windows. He repeated this process in every room, saying a quick prayer in each as well. After cleansing Paul and I’s bedroom, Father Jackson came over to us.
“So far, I haven’t felt anything malevolent or demonic,” he said. “However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t in hiding.”
As if on cue, all four of us heard footsteps walking around in the attic above us. Rather than show fear, Father Jackson just chuckled.
“Guess we found its hiding place,” Father Jackson said before turning to Paul. “Pull the ladder down, please.”
Paul and Father Jackson went up into the attic, where Father Jackson spent nearly five minutes cleansing it and praying, commanding the spirits to leave. Once he finished, the two of them met back up with Robby and I. Father Jackson then blessed the three of us with holy water, asking God to protect us from any evil spirits that prowl about the world.
It was after that Father Jackson was finished. Before he left, Father Jackson pulled Paul and I aside.
“I didn’t outright sense anything demonic inside your home,” Father Jackson said. “Even after we heard footsteps in the attic, I felt it was more residual than evil. However, I am very concerned about Robby.”
I shuddered when he said that.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“As you mentioned, Robby seems to be having conversations with two of the ghosts here. Those child spirits, Timmy and Tommy. The concern, however, is that demons will often masquerade as others, especially children. What Robby said to have seen in his bedroom maybe its real appearance. If Robby lets it feed off of him, it can become an attachment.”
“Could this happen even though you said you didn’t feel anything evil inside?” Paul then asked.
“It’s possible,” he responded. “Some of these demonic beings can hide very well. However, these are in very extreme cases. So either it’s that, or whatever’s inside your home isn’t actually a spirit in the Catholic sense.”
“What do you mean?” Paul then asked.
“In this part of the state, we have something called a ‘cauchemar,’” he said. “It’s a spirit in Cajun folklore. The legend states that it attaches itself to disobedient children, haunting their nightmares and freezing them to their beds in terrible episodes of sleep paralysis. Considering Robby has already experienced such an episode, it is very possible this may be the case, and the other spirits you are witnessing are unrelated.”
“But Robby isn’t a disobedient kid,” I said. “At least, not anywhere enough to be where it would be an issue.”
“Maybe so,” Father Jackson. “Whatever the case may be, everything should be gone now. But if anything still lingers, please let me know as soon as possible.”
And with that, Father Jackson got in his car and left.
“So much for my idea that we should let Robby’s conversations give us insight,” Paul said.
“No kidding,” I responded.
After we got back inside, Paul decided to tell Robby that he shouldn’t speak to the kids he’d seen in the house anymore.
“But why not?” Robby asked. “They’re my friends.”
“I understand that,” Paul responded. “But they might be troublemakers, especially with how they scared your mom. We can’t trust them.”
It took some convincing, but Robby finally agreed to not communicate with them anymore. We stayed the night at our house, even though I was petrified to. However, Paul reminded me to stay strong and that we would get through this. I fell asleep rather quickly, and thankfully, nothing happened.
In fact, nothing happened for the next four days. Life seemed completely normal again, and I was starting to feel when he got past everything. But then came yesterday afternoon when things began again. We’d gone to church and got lunch at the local diner. After getting back home, Paul left to go to the grocery store, leaving Robby and I at home. I was exiting my bedroom and making my way to the kitchen to grab a snack when I heard Robby talking in his room.
I stopped and got to just right outside his door. After a few seconds, I recognized the pattern in which he was speaking, and I felt my heart sink. He was doing the same type of conversation that I’d heard when all of this began. He’d say something, then go silent for about five seconds, before responding to what he’d heard.
“Why did you scare my mom?”
“She was scared. I was scared. We were all scared.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“Scaring someone isn’t funny.”
“Your mom? She’s always angry at me. She doesn’t scare me to be funny.”
“Wait, she isn’t your mom?”
“Then who is she?”
It was after this question that I walked into his room, which caught Robby off-guard as he jumped a bit from where he was sitting.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, Robby,” I said. “But why are you talking to them?”
“They kept begging me to,” Robby said. “Besides, they wanted to apologize for scaring you.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I thought internally. “These spirits are still in my fucking house.”
“Well, what else has he said?” I asked Robby, wanting to test his knowledge.
“He said that he doesn’t know where his mom is,” Robby said. “I thought his mom was the angry lady, but he said it wasn’t his mom or Timmy’s mom. Wait, they’re brothers so of course it can’t be their mom.”
“You haven’t mentioned the Angry Lady in a while,” I then said, trying my best to stay calm.
“Well, I still see here,” Robby said.
“Where did you see her?” I then asked.
“I see her now,” he said. “She’s standing right behind you.”
I then felt my shirt get tugged, and I immediately jumped into Robby’s room. I looked at where I had felt the tug, but of course, nothing was there. I immediately pulled out my phone and called Paul.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he said. “What else do we need to do at this point? Bring in the fucking Ghostbusters?”
“I don’t know,” I responded. “Maybe a psychic.”
“That’s…actually not a bad idea,” Paul said. “If it means all of them can be gone, I’m okay with it.”
“Oh, we’re making sure all of these ghosts are out of our house one way or another,” I responded. We spoke for a few more seconds before saying goodbye. As I hung up the phone, I looked back towards Robby; and my smile fell away when I saw the stern look on his face.
“What’s wrong, Robby?” I asked.
“You shouldn’t have said that in front of them,” Robby said. “Now, all of them hate you”
He said all of this in one of the most menacing tones I’d ever heard. All the while, he stared literal daggers into me. This did not sound like my son, but rather something more sinister.
“Robby, who is here with us right now?” I asked as I fought to stand my ground.
“Timmy, Tommy, Angry Lady and the Baby,” he said. “And now, they are going to make you pay.”
The second after he said that, all of his toys that were once sitting on top of his shelves began to hit the ground. I screamed as several of them landed on my feet, with one even hitting me on my head. Without even thinking, I sprinted out of Robby’s room and into the front lawn.
I was struggling to process what I had just heard come from Robby’s mouth. And quite frankly, I was now more petrified than I’d been when I saw Timmy, Tommy and what Robby called the Baby underneath my bed. I’d truly thought our home was finally free of spirits, but that thought was only a pipe dream in retrospect.
Paul got home a few minutes later, and I told him what Robby had said to me, as well as the several toys that were practically thrown at me. This time, Paul had no patience. He immediately stormed into Robby’s room, where he was still seated on the carpet playing with his toys.
“What did we tell you about not speaking to them?” Paul asked angrily.
“What?” Robby asked, clearly frazzled by Paul’s entrance.
“Why didn’t you listen to us?” Paul then asked.
“Because…they wanted me to,” he said shakily. “They wanted to apologize.”
“Robby, you need to stop speaking with these things,” Paul responded. “They are not your friends. They are troublemakers that are trying to harm not only your mother, but both you and I as well.”
“They talk to me first,” Robby said.
“So?” Paul said. “We tell you that if a stranger tries to talk to you, you are to ignore them and run away. What makes these guys different.”
“They said if I ignore them, they will get angry,” Robby said.
“Yeah, well they can get angry then,” Paul said.
“Paul,” I said. “Do not taunt them.”
“He needs to understand,” Paul said as he pointed at Robby, “because the more they are acknowledged, the more crap will happen. My family’s safety is all that matters.”
Things began to calm down after that. Robby seemed to get the message, as he was quiet the rest of the night. Paul did apologize for his outburst, but he told Robby that he had to do it so Robby could see that what he was doing was bad.
“Heh, maybe that’s what he was disobedient about,” Paul said. “We always told him to never talk to strangers, and yet here he was breaking that rule in our own home.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I hate to say it, but I think you went too far earlier.”
“Why?”
“Because you taunted them. We don’t need them getting any more angry than they need to be.”
“I’m not worried,” he said.
Just then, we got a knock on the door. Paul looked through the peephole before chuckling.
“It’s Louis,” he said as he opened the door. “Howdy neighbor?”
“Howdy,” he said. “Just to let y’all know, a raccoon just scurried into your crawlspace.”
“Oh, really?” Paul said. “Well, thanks for letting me know. I can take care of it in a few minutes.”
“Actually, I can fish it out if y’all want,” Louis said.
Paul looked over to me, I guess hoping I would give the final answer on the matter.
“Uhh, sure, go ahead,” I said. “Just don’t hurt yourself and watch out for the support barriers.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he walked away from the door and made his way towards the side of the house.
“I’m gonna go outside with him,” I said.
“Me, too,” Paul said before I stopped him.
“Stay inside and make sure Robby isn’t talking to them,” I said. “He might try to if no one is in the house with him.”
“Good point,” Paul said as I put on my shoes and went out the front door.
Now, I should give a bit of context here. All the homes in our neighborhood were raised off the ground so that, in the event of another disastrous flood, most homes would be too high for water to rush in. We have about three feet of space underneath the house that we keep boarded with metal frames, but sometimes they will pop off, leaving the inside of it exposed.
When I got to the side of the house, I saw Louis on his stomach, poking inside the hole with the handle of a broom.
“Do you see it?” I asked.
“No, not really,” Louis said. “Let me climb in a bit further and see if it hid around a support block.”
“I really don’t think you should go under there,” I said. “Last thing you need is for that thing to attack you.”
“I ain’t worried,” Louis said. “That coon can’t do anything to me.”
“Okay, but please just don’t hit the support blocks,” I responded.
Louis dug himself deep with the crawlspace, so much so that I could no longer see his legs and feet. I kept waiting for something to happen, but about two minutes passed with nothing happening. I eventually got up on my hands and knees to see inside, but as I did, Louis began to scurry toward the open hole.
“Bastard got out,” he said. “There was another frame open and he escaped that way. Recommend you put both up pronto.”
“Duly noted,” I said. “But thank you nonetheless.”
“No problemo,” he responded. “Got any plans for the 4th?”
“Ehh, not really,” I responded. “Just sit back and watch the fireworks. What about you and Gabriela? Any big plans?”
“Well, she’s…uh…” Louis began to stammer. “Okay, I’ll just admit it: Gabriela and I are no longer together.”
“Wait, what?” I asked him. “What happened?”
“To make it short, she had several affairs with younger guys because apparently I was too old,” Louis said. “I should have known better.”
“Oh gosh, I am so sorry to hear that,” I said.
“But to get back to your question,” Louis began, “I am going to meet with my brother and sister-in-law for a nice day out on Lake Pontchartrain. Gonna catch ourselves a big one.”
“Well, that’s good,” I said as Paul called me inside from the front door. “Anyway, thank you so much again.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said as he walked back towards his home.
As soon as I got inside, Paul walked me over to the kitchen.
“I called a psychic that a buddy from work recommended,” Paul said. “She will come by on Tuesday.”
“Oh, good,” I said. “Hopefully she can help figure out what is going on here. By the way, I finally found out what happened to Gabriela.”
“What?” Paul asked.
“She apparently cheated on Louis with numerous people,” I said. “Might as well as burn all the money she would have gotten.”
“She had…numerous affairs?” Paul asked rather weirdly.
“Yeah,” I responded. “Why?”
“Oh, nothing really,” Paul said. “I’m just shocked she had more than one.”
The rest of the night was smooth, and I began to forget what had occurred with Robby earlier that afternoon. When it was finally time for bed, Paul and I hopped into our bed while Robby went to his room. I fell asleep rather quickly, but at around 1:30 a.m., I woke up feeling really thirsty. I made my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. After grabbing my drink, I walked back into our bedroom, hopped back into bed and tried to fall back asleep.
I say tried because after a couple of minutes, I heard Paul gasp.
I looked over to see Paul, who had been asleep when I had gotten back into bed, staring off toward the bathroom. His eyes were full of terror, and his mouth was hanging open. I looked over, and that’s when I saw it.
Standing in the doorway to our bathroom was the shadow of a tall female. Although we couldn’t see her face in the dark, I could feel her eyes burning a hole into my forehead just from her stare alone. After a few seconds, we both then began to hear crying. Then, out of nowhere, our lights flicked on.
That’s when we saw her figure, and what I saw made me feel nauseous. Her entire body was covered in lacerations and stab marks, her face had several claw or fingernail marks on it and one of her eyes was missing. Her face was covered in tear tracks, but she had the most angry, spiteful look plastered on her face. But that wasn’t it. She was holding in her arms a sleeping baby, completely unaware of its surroundings. Then the room became dark again.
When the lights went back off, Paul and I quietly but hastily left the room and spent the rest of the night watching TV in the living room with every light on. We didn’t scream not because it wasn’t scary, but because we were so drained by that point.
We’re leaving for Biloxi soon, and I am praying this psychic can help us pinpoint who is in here and why they have managed to get past two blessings of the house.
But I will say: Paul and I noticed this part, and we’re actually terrified about this revelation.
The angry lady was Gabriela.