The Black Door

0:00Hello, I'm Wolken's stories all the time. Glad you are here. Let's get into it. Little Tommy Hyne had gotten to Nimble for Grandma. She used to pretend to chase him around, but ever since his fourth birthday party, when he had ducked between her legs to get to the present table she was supposed to be guarding, she had stopped pretending. Tommy, now five, could up maneuver and up for on her any time he wanted. That's what happens when one body is coming into its own, while another is beginning to pay time to punitive taxes. Alice Hyne had done what she could to stay in shape over the years. Hillitz, yoga, even a short stand of CrossFit in a boxing camp. She was tough, but an external force, something entirely outside of her control, was wearing her down. Whenever Tommy's mom came to drop him off to spend the day with her, Alice tried to stretch her play which wouldn't require too much effort from her. That the five year old boy didn't want to sit still and pay to play board games. He couldn't be expected to do puzzles at the kitchen table with her anymore. He wanted to run and jump and climb and tumble.

1:01Alice found a best compromise was to play Hyne and Seek. Tommy had gotten quite good at the game, or at least the hiding part. He tended to get distracted when searching for Grandma and her convoluted 19th century home. Its two stories, plus the basement, provided ample hideaways for both grandchild and grandmother. But Alice learned she couldn't make the game too difficult for distractable Tommy. On an ordinary Thursday after lunch, Alice recommended they play Hyne and Seek for a while before Mackenzie came to pick Tommy up at her work. Tommy agreed, as long as he could hide first. He had thought of a new hiding spot that morning and wanted to try it out. One, two, three. Alice counted while she listened to Tommy's eagre, fizzed its patto out the care of stickers in the entryway. She always tried to listen to what room Tommy went into. It cut down on how long she actually had to search so she could pretend to look for him while really handling small tasks throughout the house. On that Thursday afternoon, as she reached 20 in her count, she her Tommy's fizzed its stop somewhere in a vicinity of her bedroom. She continued counting loudly to 50 while sorting through the magazines on the coffee table, removing last months issues from the stack.

2:03Difty. Ready or not, here I come, she shouted up at the ceiling. She dumped some furrow pillows against the couch and knocked a couple of chairs against the kitchen table, then headed upstairs. Alice knew which doors were creaking squeal, and she went to these, opening them slowly for dramatic effect. She went to her bedroom last and opened the door slowly. It's booked her house still and empty the room appeared. She questioned for a moment whether she had heard Tommy's footsteps correctly. With a wrinkle brow, she began to search. Tommy had hidden and grandmas closet before, many times, but never in this particular spot. He had noticed early that morning that grandma had a shelf in her closet, one certainly wide enough for a five-year-old boy to lay on. She had a few things on the shelf. Box shoes, a handful of perfume bottles, a few folded sweaters. Tommy was able to slide all of these items forward and lay behind them. After he positioned himself where it was both comfortable and totally out of sight, he found something else he hadn't seen until he lay down. An old heavy, deeply with a key. It had a looping decorative tail that he could fit his fingers through.

3:05Tam had worn away its shine, but he could tell that it had once been gold. A key was actually made of brass, but little Tommy, although good with colors, was no expert in metallurgy. Tommy slipped the gold key into his pocket to play with later. He had no idea what it might open, but he knew it would be something worth exploring. The closet door opened and Tommy watched the top of Alice's head scan the hanging clothes beneath him and stupid to each dark corner of the closet. He thought he had never seen the top of grandma's head before. She was missing a lot of hair in the back. He could see much of his galpineeth in net of grey roots. Alice backed out of the closet and Tommy realized she would never find him on her own. Before the door clicked shut, he called out to grandma, I'm up here. Her feet shuffled backwards as Alice caught herself. She clutched her chest and feigned his dress and said, Kid, you nearly gave me a heart attack. That's what everybody says. Tommy complained as he slid down between boxes of heels Alice had and so much is glanced at since her husband David had passed on. Anytime she had gone somewhere worthy of heels, David had been at her side. Well, then you might want to be careful. If everyone's telling you that, you might just give someone a real heart attack someday,

4:08Alice chided. She wouldn't admit it to herself, but her heart did feel a little weak. Can we keep playing? Tommy asked with both his words and his shining blue eyes. Okay, but no more scares for grandma, promise promise, between hiding and seeking. Tommy chose a few of his regular spots to give Alice a break and avoid any heart attacks, but he quickly grew bored of the game and asked to think he'd do something else. I'll tell you what Alice said. I'm feeling hungry and I bet you're too. That lunch wasn't as filling as I thought. How about I pop some popcorn and we watch the birds out on the back deck? Oh yeah, sure. Tommy leapt with childish joy. She loved sitting out on grandma's big deck and watching her battalion of bird feeder centers. You never knew what would fly down for a snack and the popcorn would be a delicious bonus. Alice enjoyed making popcorn her own way. She always popped playing kernels on the stove, then applied all the fixings and her own quantities and ratios. While she gave her focus to the snack, Tommy decided to explore with his new key. He had been checking around as he hid throughout the house and he didn't think the key went

5:08to anything on either of the upper floors. He didn't like to go to the basement very much, but it nagged at him. It was almost pulling at the key as a thin invisible thread had been tied to it and something downstairs was gently tugging at it. Tommy followed the drawer down the old narrow steps that led to the dank, stony seller. He didn't think his grandma like going into the basement much either. She barely kept anything down there. Even though the basement had ample room for appliances, she did all of her laundry and what might have otherwise been a mudroom. It was cramped in awkward space for the big washer and dryer. A few large tubs of decorations and memorabilia and some old coats which hung on high nose along one of the exposed pipes in the ceiling were all Alice kept in the basement now. There were two doors down there. The first was never shut because moisture had caused the frame to swell until the door could no longer close. The space beyond this ever opened door was only the size of a small closet and housed the sump pump. The other door waited beneath the stairs. Tommy had never seen this one open, something he only realised now as he explored. His grandma had never made any reference to the room downstairs of all.

6:10It was to this mystery door that Tommy went as the machine gun sound of popping canals faded above him. A mossy greenness had begun to crust around the edges of the frame. The door was covered in poorly applied black paint. Dry drips spotted its surface in suspended animation. It smelled different than paint though. It had a chemical sweetness that seemed oddly familiar to Tommy. He and his mother had been caught up in a construction zone one time where lots of people and bright orange shirts were fixing a road. The door smelled like that. Below a thick layer of the paint staff, a fat and all protruded. Tommy sold the imprinted image of a keyhole just the right size for the key hit in his pocket. His half fluttered into his throat with joys and dissipation as he perked at the paint with his finger. It felt rubbery and tore apart under pressure. Tommy slipped the old key into the wison lock. The solid thunk of the lock seemed to echo across time when the young boy turned it over. The door popped out as if bursting with some immense pressure from inside, tearing at the thick substance that had been painted over it. It only moved a few millimeters, but it was enough to send Tommy running into the corner. For the first time, he wondered if his grandma had had a good reason to keep the black

7:11door in the basement locked. When the door stayed perfectly still for over a minute, little Tommy crept back to it. He could hear his grandma humming upstairs as she finished making their popcorn. If he wanted to know what was behind the door, he needed to be quick. Something inside him, perhaps the nagging instinct which had drawn him into the basement, told him Alice would not approve of nor allow exploration of whatever it was behind the black door. Without any further thought, Tommy turned the knob. Beneath the layer of using black which sloughed off when the boy twisted, the knob was as cold. Alice was sprinkling the last pinch of salt on her fresh popcorn when she felt a light breeze around her ankles. She paused to listen for the air conditioner, but found its lulling hum totally absent. The house was entirely still, yet she had surely felt a breeze. She went to the living room to see if perhaps Tommy had opened a window. Tommy she called as she ended the living room. It was perfectly still and quiet, safe for the hollow ticking of the tall ground for the clock in the corner with a swinging brass pendulum. Tommy had entered the room behind the black door. It was much bigger than the sun pumped cause it, but smaller than a bedroom.

8:11It smelled rank like bad breath and rotting potatoes. There was a light switch just inside, but it did nothing when he flipped it. Enough lights built in through the door to eliminate an old-school desk in the center of the room. A rectangular object sat atop the desk drenched in shadows. Tommy approached this item with intrigue. As his eyes grew used to the dark, he saw two small hinges on either side of the rectangle. A thin line splitted up the middle. It was a box. Tommy had seen similar boxes upstairs in his mom's old bedroom. Those boxes displayed dolls. They opened up so you could hand the dolls close on the doors. His mom had three of them throughout her room. This box looked bigger and more worn than any of those though. And it smelled. In sharp contrast to the rank air around it, the box smelled like rich herbs and spices. It smells like church. Tommy thought thinking of the Catholic services his grandma occasionally dragged him to when his mom needed a Saturday night off. He carefully opened one of the doors, only intended to peek inside at whatever secret his grandma kept in that mysterious room. As the doors swung outward, a sound like falling sandberged the silence.

9:14Tommy paused. He noticed a ring of something white and fine encircling the box. Salt? The door had wedged a big gap in the ring of salt when he opened it. He made a note to try repairing it before he snuck upstairs again. He was more careful opening the second door, not wanting to make a big mess. Alice turned away from the living room, shrugging off the sensation of the breeze. She started humming again, using the ticking clock as a metronome. The house was quiet enough for her to still hear the ticking in the kitchen. She was well enough used to the old clock that most of the time she just tuned it out. She gathered a couple of bowls from the sink and rubbed them down with a dry towel to avoid getting any tiny droplets in the popcorn. Putting a white piece of popcorn in your mouth can spoil the entire snack. As she dried, she hummed, but she started rushing that melody getting ahead of the clock. She restarted the tune, thinking she had simply missed a beat but then she got off again. It wasn't her imagination. Her metronome was slowing, but the big ground for the clock had never gotten off before. Not once in the decades since she was a young girl living in the house with her parents.

10:15Alice stopped humming and started counting off the beats between each tick. One and two and three and four and without a doubt the clock was slowing down. She returned to the living room threshold and stared at the clock. Pengelum's movements had become unnatural behind its glass door. Its lagging swings defied gravity. With one last tick, more of a thunk really, the pengelum stopped mid-swing and there it stayed. Alice felt the breeze again. Again, she called for Tommy. The box in the mystery room also contained a doll, but one far different from the prim and proper little girls in the bedroom of stairs. This one was crude, seemingly made from some kind of plant material. Alice twisted together and tied with curly vines and was no bigger than a hamster. It had no face. Tommy had Alice call for him upstairs. He looked back through the doorway. His grandma's voice carried nervous tension and the boy detected this tone with a certain apprehension of his own. He didn't need to be told he should not have opened a black door or the musty box within. A puny crackling news feet made Tommy look back at the box then down. The little homemade doll had fallen at his feet.

11:16He hadn't touched it. This is Miles. I hate to interrupt, but this would be a great time to hit the like button and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. I promise you what regret it. Now for the rest of the story. Alice rushed from room to room, moving quickly now like a mouse trying to stay out of view from a crafty predator. Her vision darkened as she surged. Or perhaps it was not her eyes, but the very wood and plaster that were growing darker, deepening and contrast with the angelic daylight were still pulled through the windows. Despite the steady and powerful light, Alice assumed she would lose her race against the creeping blackness. She knew where Tommy was. Only her foolish, ignorant hope that the box had been opened by something else kept her from running straight down into the basement. Straight into the heart of the evil, but now she stood atop the stairs, looking down. Hard of evil or not, her grandson was down there and he had no idea what he had just unleashed. Tommy, if you can hear me, you leave that box alone and come upstairs. You come up right now. I'm sorry, grandma, a small voice came from under the stairs. I'm sorry, I didn't know.

12:17Tommy appeared at the base of the stairs, looking sick and scared. Dude, if there was ever a time to be scared, this was it. Alice tried her best to offer him a warm yet serious smile. One that said, the only trouble you're in is the trouble you've caused, child. Tommy responded by charging up the stairs towards safety. Before the boy made a half way, Alice could tell something was wrong. He was taking too many steps. His little legs moved like pistons, yet for every three of his steps, he ascended only one step. Alice continued until he finally reached the half way mark. But there he began to regress. This is what it does, Alice said aloud but to herself. Tommy, you need to run up these stairs. Give it all you got. One boy. And Tommy ran. The stairs, sheathen shadows, continued to reproduce beneath his feet, but he gained enough ground to stretch his hand up to Alice's. She grouted his rest and pulled the boy into an embrace. He clung to her out of breath and together the gazed into the basement. Duccus, well from beneath the stairs, consuming all below. With a frightened half, Alice slammed the basement door shut before the shadows could

13:20reach it. She led Tommy into the kitchen, where the light from the window of the sink put a hazy spotlight on the fridge. Everything else had gone dark and grey. How it would look if a thunderstorm were looming up of the house. Alice picked up a landline on the counter and hoped the entity from the box couldn't manipulate it. She placed a call to St. Peter's, then dialed the extension for Father Michael. Hello? Father Michael picked up on the first ring. Alice whimpered Rosemary. Lemon chives, the priest responded. He and Alice had an agreement that they would always mention these herbs during their conversation in case the entity which dwelt in her basement tried to trick one or the other. Father Michael suspected it may be able to copy forces. They usually mention the herbs more naturally, so Alice is abrupt use of the code immediately raised his hackles. Father it's happened. The box is open. He asked, are you alone? Can you get out? No, I'm with my grandson and we haven't tried yet, but I'll come right over. But Alice, remember what I told you. You need to try to leave. I know. Just please come.

14:21Tommy heard a stifled sob beneath his grandma's steady voice. I'll hurry. Father Michael hung up. St. Peter's was just up the road. Alice usually walked there for Saturday night mass. If Father Michael drove, he could easily be at the house in under five minutes. But that was still plenty of time for all sorts of horrible things to happen. Tommy listened to me, Alice said, stooping to eye level with the boy. Grandma I'm scared. I know. It's good to be scared. It makes you alert, and you need all your senses right now, okay? We need to find a way out. Can't we just go out the door? Tommy pointed at the kitchen door, which led out to the backyard. Alice gave it a longing glance. We can try, she said, but I don't think it'll work. This thing, the thing that was inside the box, it has a lot of power, Tommy. I'm awful lot of power. Why did you keep it down there? Tommy asked. Alice ignored him. She and did the sliding chain lock at the top of the door, then turned the bolt over. At close to meet Tommy. We'll have to be quick. Tommy cycled up to his grandma, and she gripped the door up.

15:23The floor rumbled beneath their feet. The house shook enough to knock the landline off its station onto the floor. The batteries popped out of the back and rolled away. The air grew noticeably darker. Alice released the door now, and the rumbling ceased. The house went still, but remained dark. Alice mumble, we've angered it. Grandma. Tommy whispered. Who did you call? A priest. A priest who's familiar with what I had in the basement. He's been coming here once a month to bless the house ever since, ever since your grounded past on. Well, if we can't open the doors, how is he going to get in? Tommy asked. Alice didn't answer. She had no answer to give. In truth, the monthly blessings had only been a customary precaution. Father Michael had been perfectly honest about how much of an effect he thought he could have on the curse box. He told Alice the thing in the box operated under a different set of rules. It wasn't governed by the Lawers of Christianity. It recognized no God above itself. He might think of it as a demon, Father Michael had said.

16:23It's similar, maybe even related, but its origins are not in hell. I call it a spirit or entity only because we have no better word in our language. This made no sense to Alice, and Father Michael made no attempt to explain further. He only told Alice that she needed to keep the box closed and contained it all times. He feared the power of the church would not be enough to contain the entity within should escape. I know that it had Alice was terrified Father Michael might be right. She kept crucifixes on the walls in every room, but not one of them had been touched. The being in her home didn't care enough about them to disrespect them. Alice and Tommy were searching for the phone batteries when Father Michael knocked on the front door. Alice grabbed Tommy by the arm and nearly dragged him into the entryway. He positioned him right where the door would swing open. If this actually opens, I want you to run straight out, understand. Straight out. Tommy nodded. He read it himself to run. Alice turned the knob and choked back a relieved sob when the latch clicked. She pulled and the door opened. Tommy shoved himself through. Father Michael caught Tommy's arm reacting instantly.

17:25He pulled the boy out, but something much stronger pulled him back inside. Father Michael unable unwilling to let go of the child was yanked inside with him. He hit his forehead on the door and just barely pulled his feet inside in time to keep them. Alice screamed, no, as the front door slammed shut with another miniature earthquake. Tommy cried hysterically into the floor, holding his shoulder. Father Michael explored the dark house with his eyes, which widened with each passing second. Before Tommy stood, the priest ushered the boy close and examined his t-shirt. Something had told the shirt at the neck, and a red mark form with the fabric had rubbed Tommy's skin raw. It's growing physical, Father Michael told Alice. We have to act now before he gets out of control. Tommy said, I open the box downstairs. I know I shouldn't have. Can we close it? Yes, and no, the priest replied. To Alice, he said, we need to contain it again. It will fill the space available to it, whether that's a box, a room, or a house. It is full dominion over your home right now. It's just gathering its strength. Being cooped up for years must have drained it.

18:27You learned all of this from the church library? Alice asked. Some other sources, Father Michael said. Like I've said, the power of the church won't hold this thing. It's an engine from a dimension outside of I was. Someone, likely someone long ago, created a portal for it. It doesn't belong here. It's like a cage tiger that just escaped into an urban city. Alice had brought Father Michael into the small room behind the black door to show him the box after her husband David's death. She didn't know anything about the box. Only that David had been obsessed with keeping it safe since bringing it home from Vietnam. She had closed off the room under the stairs and covered the door in Tallah. Alice had protested this, as the room it is that room had once been useful storage space. After David's death, she had broken the Tallah seal and gone into the room to examine the box her husband had so closely covered it. That's when the leaking started. Leakage from the room out into the house, and from Alice into the box. She had felt the box's power out close, it's an important energy. But even after she had shut the black door again, cruelly sealing the tower with the bloturch, she felt linger in tendrils and phones from whatever the box contained.

19:30Over time, she lost weight and strength. Her hair started falling out. She lost much of the energy she had once had to do the things she loved. Alice contacted Father Michael, her trusted priest, to come bless the house in the room after her first encounter with it. She hoped that maybe the blessing would cut off whatever connection the thing had made to her, but no blessing or prayer, no holy water or incense had any effect on the power of the box. Knowing the box had come from Asia's South Pacific region, Father Michael started researching ancient lore from that area. He explored regional cultural traditions, searching them for iconography and symbolism that might provide breadcrumbs to the box's origins. It was tricky work, requiring much translation with the help of Google and Redder. Father Michael could have utilized the church's resources, but he knew his research would be shut down immediately if you were caught looking into the sorts of black magic he suspected to be involved in a box's creation. Such matters tended to be escalated to higher levels of clerical authority. Father Michael suspected that only meant they were shelled to keep curious eyes and minds from exploring too deeply into the universe's infinite secrets. The stairs creaked, all of them abondons, a wreath hanging on the wall above them fell

20:33and rolled down, landing at Father Michael's feet. He ignored it, told ground for the clock, just a few feet away, chained loud enough to rattle the windows, then the pendulum dropped for the great thud. A tip forward shattering the glass and clattered to the floor. This should have been an item inside the box, the priest said, now speaking directly to Tommy. He seemed to be commanding the boy's attention on purpose. The item needs to be put back in place. It's the conduit or the key to the portal the entity is using to cross into our world. There was a little doll thingy inside, Tommy said. Where is it now? It fell in the floor after I opened the box Tommy said. I think it's still there. Father Michael looked outful. It was an effigy, likely constructed to resemble whatever person someone intended this spirit to harm. This thing is definitely strong enough to move it all by now. I doubt it will be that easy to find. But we have to check, don't we? Asked Alice. Yes, yes we do. As Alice led the way to the basement door, Father Michael pulled off his clerical collar.

21:34He removed the crucifix from his neck. Why are you taking off your church stuff? Tommy asked fearfully. Hearing this, Alice gave the priest an inquisitive over the shoulder glance. Well, child, the entity can't be commanded with the power vested in me, but it may be upset by it. It might see my position as a challenge to it. I don't want to cause it to behave any more harshly than it already is. Oh, Father, Alice said. What can the three of us do against something even God can't control? Father Michael put an arm around Alice. He gave her a brief squeeze, but answered no further. A priest, a grandma, and a child sounded like the start of a bad joke, and to them level and infestation is sailing them, they probably were no more than a joke. Still, they had no choice but to fight back or be consumed. Alice opened the basement door. There were no stairs on the shadows. The darkness had thickened enough to block the daylight from the egres' windows downstairs. Tommy gasped and Michael grimaced. The space before them looked like a black pool of opaque paper. The priest reached into his pocket and retrieved a nickel. Ushering the grandmother and child behind him, he gently tossed the nickel into the empty

22:36space where the stairs should have been. The nickel clinked off of wood, bounce, then struck wood again with a flat smack. The stairs are there, the priests announced. We just can't see them. We probably won't be able to see anything. Father Michael suspended one foot into the empty space, then stepped down. His shoe thunk solidly and evoked a groan from the old staircase beneath him. He took a second step. To Alice and Tommy, it appeared the priest was hovering in Medea, floating in the vapor. Alice took Tommy's hand and tried to make him follow her down, but the boy wouldn't budge. There's something, something bad down there, he whimpered. Alice said, I know, but I can't leave you here alone, and I can't let Father Michael fight this on his own. She scooped the child up in her arms and stepped out into the air. Father Michael vanished in front of them. The unnatural darkness wouldn't allow any of them to see more than a foot in front of their noses. Alice, I don't know my way around well enough, Father Michael sat up ahead as Alice completed the final step. You'll have to lead the way. It's just under the stairs, Alice said. She sat Tommy down and took his hand, then she fished through the air until she found

23:38Michael's arm. She took his wrist and started creeping through the basement, a blind leading the blind. There was no adjusting to the black darkness of the basement. One ray of light could reach their eyes. Alice operated entirely on muscle memory, praying that nothing had been moved to obstruct their path, praying even more that nothing was waiting for them in the impresser shadows. She couldn't tell if the way causing her to drug her feet was something physical or mental. Was it the effects of fear, or did the air really have that much weight? Suddenly, Father Michael's mouth was right beside her ear. He whispered, are we close? I think so, she whispered back. He said, hurry, I think it's behind us. He could feel the air condensing behind him. All the sinister energy in the basement was converging in a single point. The rush of energy caused an ice cold breeze that raised goose flesh on Michael's neck. Alice, we need to run, he shouted. Everything in Alice's mind shut down except for the primal, driving instinct to survive. Her muscles took over, dragging the priest and her grandson forward toward where she knew the black door should be. Her muscle memory served her well.

24:40For a second later, her blind foot kick wood and a hollow thunk reverberated through the air. The open doors swung away from her. To find it, Alice had to release either Tommy or the priest. She gave Father Michael's hand a squeeze for warning him, then let go. Who's touching me? Tommy asked breathlessly, don't worry, it's just me, Michael said. He had put the hand Alice released on Tommy's shoulder. Tommy knew this. He said, no, who's touching my hair? Tommy's shoulder cream pierced the darkness as his hand nearly slipped from Alice's. And if Father Michael's clutching arms kept Tommy from being yanked away by the head to some horrific fate. As Michael struggled to keep the boy close, he felt both of Alice's hands wrap around Tommy as well. No, Alice the door. Find the door. Michael screamed. He felt such a rush of terror and unreasonable anger that he nearly lashed out at a grandmother with a kick to send her back to her task. Oh, the power of the spirit had over them. It was growing. Michael felt that convergence again, this time swelming around Yontommy. Alice felt through the air, now completely disoriented.

25:41She spread out her arms like a bird, twisting this way, and that until it lasts her restruct the gummy edge of the tall door. It was still open. She could hear the struggling priest and terrified child behind her. She hoped they could hear her too. It's open. Follow my voice. Father Michael tried to follow her, but he couldn't get Tommy away. He could hear the boy's hair breaking and tearing. His eyes well with tears of sympathetic pain. He slid one of his arms up Tommy's back, his neck, until his own hand found Tommy's hair. He ran his fingers across the boys, head until he found something so cold it burned. Tendrils of ice were twisted into Tommy's locks. Michael forced his fingers under them, fighting the frigid pain. He waged his hand under the things grape, then used his wrist as a lever until he could finally pull Tommy free. He stumbled, still holding the boy close, in the direction of Alice's calling voice. Alice waited until she felt father Michael and Tommy brushed past her to slam the door shut and lock it. Tommy had devolved into a consumable hysterics. He wasn't even crying so much as gasping wetly for air, he didn't seem able to hold. Father Michael could feel his small test basming against his own.

26:44He feared if the boy couldn't calm down quickly, he might go into shock or even call it a caress. Tommy, Tommy, can you hear me? Where's the doll? We need to find the effigy, Michael said, hoping to redirect the child's attention. I want mom Tommy cried. Your mom will be here soon, Tommy. We have to get rid of this thing before she comes, Alice said. She had only said this for Tommy's benefit, but it was true. She wasn't sure of the time, but she did think McKenzie would likely come to the house soon. And then what? I'd just darkness spread upstairs yet. Would he pull her daughter into? Alice stay with Tommy. I look for the effigy, Michael said. I doubt there's anything stopping the thing from just materializing in here with us. It's playing with us, stirring up energy it can sap from us. As if hearing him, the fist that had grabbed Tommy's hair pounded the door. Alice took Michael's place by Tommy's side. The door boomed again. This time the wood popped in protest. Tommy where did the doll fall? Michael asked desperately. He was on all fours, feeling around but unsure of exactly what he was searching for

27:44all where. It's Tommy who was cut off by the metallic clunk of the lock sliding back. No Alice screamed. She abandoned her grandson to hold the door. She felt blindly until she found the knob, then the latch below it, and twisted a little lever back into place. Even with her hand holding the lock, the powerful thing and the other side forced it open again. Tommy felt sick when he realised he had left the key in a lock when he had first opened the door. No, Alice grunted straining against the thing's strength to close the lock again. Tommy terrified but also feeling guilty and determined, joined Father Michael in searching for the effigy. He located the old desk. The little doll should have been right where he was calling, but it wasn't. He felt them to the desk but still found nothing. The lock slid an Alice fort to turn it back. The metal grew cold beneath her fingers. It numbed them, making her realise she would soon lose her valiant battle. Before admitting defeat, she forced the lock close one last time. It's gonna get in, she panted. Alice wasn't sure if she'd spoken aloud, but Father Michael held her and doubled his already valorous efforts. The doll. They needed the doll.

28:46It was the epicenter of the entity's power. It was the conduit between the other dimension and their own portal to a godless universe. Wait, Father Michael cried, it's made at his own realisation. It's not here, he said. The thing out there is confined to the largest available space. If the effigy was in here, it couldn't exist beyond the closed door. We have to let it in. How do you know? Alice asked. I don't at least not for sure. But if everything I studied is correct. Don't let it in, grandma, Tommy begged. He tried harder than ever to find a little doll in the dark. The lock slid open. Alice let it go. She retracted her frozen fingers and backed away, reaching behind herself to find Tommy. She wanted to clutch him tightly, possibly for the last time. The door burst open, but none of them could see what came in. Father Michael had sealed himself for this moment, knowing he had to go toward that which threatened him. It was something he could never ask the grandmother or child to do. He launched toward the sound of the door slamming against the wall. He found himself in a tornado of piercing wind.

29:47It pushed him pulled at him simultaneously, stalling his momentum and freezing him in place. The entity was gaining power, pulling itself through the portal. The garnered energy from their world and sent it back to itself, preparing to come through in its full, terrible glory. Father Michael pushed one hand through the fridge of winds. His bones ached with cold. He flexed his fingers open and shut to keep them warm as long as he could. He would need them. Alice found Tommy and drew him in tightly. The boy didn't recognize her and fought initially, but her the finally sitting voice quickly found his ears and he surrendered to her embrace. Alice wondered what the horrible being would do to them. She could feel it drawing clues. Father Michael's wrist bent involuntarily against the force of the wind. It was growing stronger, but he stood fast. He couldn't see, but you could feel the center of the word extrawing near. Otherworldly sounds began filling his hair. A vacuous hell reverberated around him. This whirling cloud of energy felt more powerful than any storm he had ever experienced. With Gagantran effort, Michael took one step forward, buying inches for his frozen hand.

30:48He felt it. He finally felt it. The brittle hardness of a small figure at his fingertips. The effigy. The portal. His aching fingers closed around the tiny doll, nearly crushing it with his numb joints. Michael screamed as he tugged at the effigy, bending the power which flowed freely into it and out of it and disrupting the evil winds. His poor created a pocket of air which allowed him to breathe deeply. He pivoted on his heels and began toeing the suspended effigy into the small room. Tommy levitated and Alice's arms. She struggled to keep him from being torn away. She shifted so her wake covered her grandchild and pushed him down to the floor. Ordinary, she would have been worried about suffocating the boy, but the entities powerful vortex made her feel light as a feather. Father Michael pulled the effigy to the center of the room until he bumped into the desk. He reached his free hand out to feel for the ancient box, the woodless by some magic of history long forgotten. The tips of his fingers finally found the primeval prison and with agonizing effort he forced the effigy inside it. He closed one door, then reached cross himself for the other. With heart-stopping apprehension, he released the effigy only long enough to slam the

31:51second door shut. The box stepped over and fell flat on the desk. Father Michael threw his body over the two bulging doors, ensuring they would remain shut. Instantly, the harling winds died. All three of their heads stopped fraubing against the immense pressure the entity had forced upon them. The shadows lingered, but cleared like the smoke of a douse bomb fire. Only Father Michael could feel its strength as the evil being pressed outward against the box, but whatever magic had been used to seal the box contained its power. The priest stood, clutching the large box to his chest, keeping the doors tied against his ribs. Without a word to Alice or Tommy, he ran up the stairs, which were now perfectly visible. Alice followed him, opening the front door for him to escape. Mackenzie had been on the patio about to ring the doorbell before the encola priestrush pastor. Now she gave path to him confused and fearful. This was the most dangerous part. Once the box was outside the house, the entity, if released from the box, could go anywhere in the white world. Father Michael ran straight to his car. Alice followed him, then passed him in a sprint. She too had realized the immense risk.

32:53She opened the car door and Father Michael fell into the driver's seat. Alice ran around the front of the vehicle and slid into the passenger seat beside him. Tommy found his mother and the porch and threw his arms around her. He sobbed muttering in orderly against her shoulder, while Mackenzie watched her mother take the box from the priest and the car, parked beside her own. With me, Father Michael, Alice rode out to a remote location. She had kept that cursed thing in her basement long enough, and now needed no convincing to be rid of it. She had selflessly volunteered to keep the box after her husband's death, after we uncovered its true origins. But after the danger posed to her family, her grandchild, she could bear the burden no longer. We buried that box deep in the ground, somewhere neither of us believe anyone will find it. I still hike out to it occasionally to make sure it remains indisturbed. The trees and plants around the area have all started to die many of them fail to grow any leaves after the first wind it but rest assured. The box remains indisturbed Tommy scenes to be recovering from the traumatic ordeal he's been joining his grandmother. A church more often, I believe, praying to a higher power is helping him. He knows better the most the powers that lurk beyond him in comprehension in time.

33:55I will train him. I'll show him the place where nothing grows, the place where I, with his grandmother, planted the box that once stood behind the black door. At my body grows weak and my hair falls out, I will rely on him more and more to keep our world, our universe, our dimension, from being consumed. I pray that God saw the thing which we humans were blinded by. I pray that he started its attack, its power. I pray that he is preparing his army of angels to keep guard over the world, should it dead ground break open one day. And that is the end. Thank you for listening and I will see you in the next one.