With a surge of adrenaline and alarm, Jasper threw himself sideways just as the girl’s claw-like hands swiped at the air where his face had been a moment earlier.

The closest of close escapes.

Her unearthly shriek filled the room again, echoing like nails scraping across metal. Gritting his teeth while grimacing at the piercing sound, Jasper rolled off the bed and hit the floor hard, a groan of pain escaping his lips as his elbows slammed against the tiled floor.

“Aagh!”

That really stung. However, he couldn’t dwell on the pain for long, with this child-turned-demon in the room. He scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding like a war drum against his chest. The girl spun toward him with terrifying speed, her unnatural movements jerky yet swift.

“Stay away!” Jasper yelled in trepidation, his voice breaking, but she didn’t stop, moving quickly at him.

Without thinking, he bolted out of the room and toward the bathroom. He entered it, slamming the door shut behind him and fumbling for the lock, his trembling fingers finally twisting it into place.

He then stepped back slowly from the door, moving cautiously as if one wrong move would send the lock flying off. His breath came in short, ragged gasps, and his eyes were wide with terror, darting around the small room as if expecting the walls themselves to come alive.

“How the hell did this happen?” he whispered to himself, his voice a mix of fear and bewilderment. This was turning out to be one unforgettably horrific night. How in the world was this… this demonic being chasing after him?

He had never been much of a believer in these kinds of situations; they only happened in horror movies, in his opinion. But this was wild. Beyond wild, in fact. Never in a million years would he ever have imagined he’d be on the run from a monstrous being in his own home.

For a moment, there was silence. Jasper leaned against the sink, gasping for breath, his mind racing. He shook his head, trying hard to convince himself this crazy occurrence was a dream. “This can’t be real. It just can’t. It’s got to be a crazy dream. Just a bad—”

BANG-BANG-BANG!

 Jasper staggered back in terror as the door shook violently from the girl’s vicious hammerings on the other side. Her ferocious growl reverberated through the wood as the pounding grew louder.

Clearly, this transformation had come with superhuman strength. A frightening level of superhuman strength.

The doorknob rattled furiously, and as Jasper watched it, he realized, with a sinking feeling, that the lock wouldn’t hold on for long.

“No! No, it’s not!” he cried. “This is real! I’m not dreaming! And I gotta get outta here!”

Before she could break through, Jasper turned and yanked open the bathroom’s second door, leading into the hallway. He darted out, his bare feet skidding on the tiles as he raced toward the children’s rooms.

“Help! Somebody help me!” he shouted, his voice raw and desperate. Of course, nobody was around to help him, but what else was there to do?

He threw open the door to Abigail’s room. The room felt cold and lifeless, the bed neatly made, the toys and books perfectly arranged.

Of course it would be; she and the others were currently on a plane to Singapore. And Abigail always kept her room neat, thanks to Marjorie’s disciplinary ways.

Before he could find a place to hide, a sharp scraping sound from behind made him whirl around.

The girl was there, standing in the doorway, her head cocked at an unnatural angle, almost similar to the infamous head-twisting scene in ‘The Exorcist’. Her empty black eyes locked onto his, and a sickening snarl stretched across her face again.

“No, no, no, no!”

Jasper stumbled backward, dread written all over his face. Grabbing a lamp from Abigail’s bedside table, he hurled it at her. It shattered against the wall, but she barely flinched or batted an eyelid. Sneering at the broken remains on the floor, she then started moving toward him, her steps slow and deliberate, and her movements eerily fluid.

With a yell, Jasper bolted past her and out of the room, his panic levels rising with each passing second as he turned into the next hallway.

Time to find another possible hideaway. Maybe he could try the other bathro…

That thought was halted as he came to a stop. How did she get there? his mind screamed. She was already at the bathroom door!

He backed up and made his way down the hallway once more.

“What in God’s name is happening?” he wondered as he continued to run. “This is crazy! Just crazy!”

The terror of his situation seemingly caused the darkness to stretch endlessly ahead of him, twisting the familiar layout of his home into something alien and hostile. No matter how fast he moved, it felt like he was millions of miles away from reaching the staircase.

As he glanced over his shoulder to check the girl’s whereabouts, however, he found out how close he was.

When his foot caught on the edge of the rug at the top of the stairs.

He fell forward, the world around him tilting over as he tumbled down the steps.

“Argh! Ajei- owww! Oof!”

Each jarring impact sent pain shooting through his body until he landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom.

Groaning, Jasper tried to push himself up, his head spinning and his limbs and joints aching badly from the fall. As he struggled to straighten up while continuing to run, he badly misjudged his balance.

As a result, he slammed into the coffee table in the living room.

The glass top shattered beneath him with a deafening crash, and he collapsed again, this time in a heap of glass and wood.

Groaning out loud, he lay there, wincing in unbearable pain as the shards of glass and wood splinters found their way through his skin.

“Aaaargh! Crap! Oh crap!”

He tried to push himself up, but pain radiated from every joint, rooting him to the spot.

And it wasn’t long before he could feel the dark energy of her presence.

He turned his head weakly. The girl emerged from the shadows at the foot of the stairs, her movements deliberate and sure. She glided menacingly across the floor, her dark eyes burning with a malicious intensity.

His body went rigid as she stepped closer, her twisted snarl still plastered to her face. She looked ready to pounce once more; to cause damage to him in whatever manner possible.

Jasper could barely whisper, his voice trembling with consternation. “W-w-what do you want? What is it you want? Please… please, I beg you… just leave me alone. Please.”

The dead, malicious look in her eyes and her steady movement made it clear his plea had fallen on deaf ears. She crouched low, her fingers clawing at the floor as if preparing to pounce.

Jasper’s heart thundered in his chest, his entire body shaking as tears stung his eyes. There was no way out of this. He was too hurt to raise himself up or successfully swerve her this time. Once she pounced, she’d catch him.

He closed his eyes, beginning to weep. Oh God, how is this happening? A demon child killing me in my own house? Why? Why, why? What will Marge do? The kids…

“Wait!”

A sharp, commanding voice suddenly echoed through the living room.

Jasper’s eyes popped open.

The girl was frozen in mid-motion, her head snapping around like a marionette pulled by invisible strings. His breath was caught in his throat as he scanned the darkness, wondering whose voice that was.

“Who… who said that?” he croaked, his voice barely audible over the pounding of his heart.

Was it… was it an angel? Was a supernatural battle about to take place before him? He had always dismissed such notions, but given his current experience, it would be foolish to hold on to that mindset.

Suddenly, a figure materialized from the shadows beyond the staircase.

It was a young woman who stepped forward, her short, uneven hair framing a pale, stern face. She wore a tattered white dress streaked with blood, the stains so vivid they seemed fresh.

Jasper stared at her as she approached, his terror transforming into pure shock and amazement.

This was not an angel. Far from it, in fact.

This had to be a sick joke. It just had to be. This could not be happening…

“What the hell…” he whispered.

The woman’s eyes met his briefly, a cold and impassive glare from hers to his before they shifted to the girl. It was as if her presence carried a magnetic and commanding force, with the air seeming to shift around her as she approached.

“Come,” the woman said firmly, extending a hand toward the girl. “We must go.”

The girl’s entire demeanor changed instantly. Her demonic look melted away, and was replaced by the wide, innocent eyes she first had when appearing in the room. The predatory energy that had caused so much terror to Jasper had vanished, as though it had never existed.

She hesitated for a moment, a cute little pout on her face, before reaching for the woman’s hand.

Jasper’s mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. His mind reeled with questions as the woman and the girl turned away, walking toward the far corner of the room. The darkness seemed to part for them, swallowing their forms until they vanished entirely, leaving no trace of their presence.

The silence that followed was deafening. Jasper remained stuck in place, trying to make sense of what he had seen.

He had just been chased all over the house by a strange little girl with a very devilish side to her. And just as she was about to hurt him, this woman appeared and took her away.

A woman who he was not unfamiliar with.

A woman he could not believe was showing up at a time like this.

He shook his head slowly, his brain still struggling to process what had just happened.

This can’t be happening… this can’t be happening…

Well, I wonder who the lady is, and what her relevance is in Jasper’s life…