by Ed
But they didn't ask. Peter was very sleepy, and shuffled, droopy-eyed, to his room. Stephanie asked if it was all right if she stayed awake in her room until Laura got home. Carmen told her that would be fine. After all, it was Friday night and she didn't have to go to school the next day.
Al went to bed first and, after she'd given the kids their goodnight kisses, Carmen joined him.
"Is it just me, or do things seem better tonight?" she asked.
"Yeah. Maybe. A little. I guess." He was very reluctant to be too optimistic.
They cuddled beneath the covers, unable to sleep for a while because they were waiting for—actually expecting—something to happen. But their room remained quiet and calm and, eventually, the two of them dozed into a light sleep....
Carmen awoke to a scream late in the night. It took a moment for her to understand what the screaming voice was saying.
"Aunt Carmen! Aunt Carmen please help me, my God, dear Jesus, please, please help me!"
Running footsteps thumped through the house.
Instinctively, Carmen reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her Bible, on top of which lay her rosary.
The bedroom door burst open and Carmen sat up. Laura stood slightly silhouetted in the doorway wearing her usual long nightshirt.
"Aunt Carmen!" she cried. "Aunt Carmen!"
Carmen got out of bed, Bible and rosary tucked beneath her arm, and headed for the door, saying, "Laura, what's wrong, honey, what's the matter?"
Al did not wake up.
Laura threw her arms around Carmen's neck, much the same way she used to when she was just a small child and, while they were embracing, Carmen led her into the hall and pulled the bedroom door closed gently.
"What's wrong, honey?" she whispered.
"It's playing with me again, Aunt Carm, it's doing it again!" she hissed, pressing her face into Carmen's shoulder. "It was picking at my bra before I got undressed and then I reached for my rosary and the cross came off—just came off, like it was pulled off—and then it started pulling at my blankets and touching me and, and, a-and—"
Carmen put her arm around Laura and began to lead her down the hall, saying, "Okay, okay, just calm down, it's all right now. We'll go to your room and we'll, um...whatta you say we read the Bible together for a while?"
And that was what they did. Laura curled up beneath the covers and Carmen sat on the side of the bed. By the light of the bedside lamp, with Stephanie still sound asleep on the cot a few feet away, Carmen began to read quietly from Psalms, hoping to soothe Laura's fears.
It seemed to work for a little while. The room was quiet, the only sound being Carmen's soft, half-whispered voice as she read.
"'Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope,'" she read. "'This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me.'"
Laura's breath began to come slowly, rhythmically, her eyes were closed and her body relaxed.
Then she sat up suddenly, tossing away the covers, eyes wide, her body trembling, her lips quivering as she gasped, "Do you feel it? Feel it, Aunt Carm, it's coming, it's coming right now!"
Carmen stopped midsentence, her words stuck in her throat like chunks of glass, because she suddenly felt swollen with fear. For a long moment she couldn't breathe, as if all the oxygen were somehow being sucked out of the room by... something, and the air grew cold, and there was, without a doubt, a new presence in the room with them.
"It's here!" Laura breathed. "My God, dear Jesus, it's here!”
Carmen looked around the room and reached for her rosary, clutching it in her fist, her Bible closing between her legs as she recited rapidly, "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name"— Her voice grew louder as she began to feel more and more suffocated, as if she were being smothered by some invisible force—"thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us—" Her voice rose to a shout as the atmosphere in the room became even more oppressive and the air filled with the stench of untended garbage. "—and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen Lord, amen Jesus, please, God, take it away."
Laura heaved a sigh and tried to catch her breath as she panted, "It's gone. It's gone, Aunt Carmen. It went away."
Immediately, Carmen opened the Bible again, searching for Psalms. When she found it, she began to read in a trembling voice, " 'Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with the harp, sing unto him with—'"
"Do you feel that?" Laura interrupted, sitting up again, her voice more frantic than before. She threw herself at Carmen, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.
Suddenly, from the cot beside the bed, a small, shrill and frightened voice cried, "Mommy! Whatsamatter?"
Carmen started to respond, but her breath was suddenly taken from her and she was pushed back on the bed as something wet and slimy—but absolutely invisible—brushed past her arm. She propped herself up on one arm and watched as that invisible something slithered beneath Laura's nightshirt and then quite visibly clutched at and fondled her breasts.
The bedside lamp, which was the room's only source of light, began to flicker tenuously, threatening to black out.
"Oh God," Carmen groaned as Stephanie began to scream. Carmen immediately began to recite the Our Father again, this time very loudly. "Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be thy name!"
Laura began to scream, "Oh Jesus, oh God!" as the thing began to move back and forth beneath her nightshirt, painfully squeezing her right breast, then her left, then her right, over and over again.
"Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done!"
Stephanie left the cot and huddled beside the bed, embracing Carmen's legs and still screaming.
"On earth! As it is in heaven!"
Laura began to writhe on the bed as she screamed, slapping at the lumpy shape that continued to move beneath her nightshirt, in turn brutally squeezing her breasts and thrusting itself between her legs.
"Give us this day our d-daily br-br—" The rosary slipped from Carmen's hand and she choked on her words, slapping her hands over her mouth as she watched what was happening to her niece, helpless.
Stephanie began to sing in a ragged, tearful voice: "Jesus loves me, this I know...for the Bible tells me so...lit-tull ones to Him be-long...they are weak but He is strong—"
After setting her Bible aside, Carmen reached down with one hand and patted Stephanie's back, saying quietly, "Please calm down, honey, please, sweetheart, just calm down." With the other hand, she groped for her rosary and, when she found it, she began to recite the Hail Mary very rapidly as she slowly pulled her legs away from Stephanie and began to make her way to the door.
"Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen, Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art—"
Before she got very far the second time, Stephanie began to cry, "Don't leave, please, Mommy, don't leave!”
Carmen stopped and said quickly, "Honey, I have to go call Father Wheatley, we need him right now, we need him, so please—"
The bedroom door opened and Al stood in the doorway wearing his robe, his eyes wide, mouth open, and he asked breathlessly, "What the hell's happening?" But it took only an instant for him to see what was happening. "Oh God," he breathed, "oh God oh Jesus what's happening, dear Jesus what's happening...."
"Go get me the phone!" Carmen said urgently.
He was back in a moment with the cordless telephone and handed it to Carmen, keeping his distance from the bed, where Laura was still under attack by the invisible arm that writhed and groped and clutched beneath her nightshirt.
With a trembling finger, Carmen punched in Father Wheatley's number. She hadn't even looked at a clock but knew it was late and ass
umed he'd be asleep.
He was. His voice was thick and groggy when he answered, "H'lo?"
"Father Wheatley?"
"Mm-hm. Yeah, that's me."
"This is Carmen Snedeker, Father, and we—well, there's something happening here th-that, um—"
"What's wrong, Carmen?" he asked.
She told him. The words spilled out of her in a rush as she explained what had been happening, what was happening at that moment, and she told him they needed his help desperately.
She waited for a long moment as silence came over the line. Then, Father Wheatley cleared his voice and said sleepily, "Well, Carmen, tell you what. You sit down with Laura and do the Rosary with her. Do it over and over if you have to until she's calmed down and forgotten all this and can go to sleep."
Then he hung up.
Carmen kept the phone to her ear for a moment, her jaw slack with disbelief. Then she tossed it to the floor and leaned toward Laura, holding her rosary tightly.
"Sweetheart, it's gonna be all right," she said loudly. "It'll be all right, Laura." And then she began to do the Rosary as Father Wheatley had told her.
Until something tried to pull the rosary from her hands.
She stopped and stared at the string of beads which was taut, as if someone else was trying to pull it from her.
It won.
The rosary broke and beads scattered in every direction over the rug and over the wood floor, clicking against the wood and the walls.
Carmen stared at the mass of beads as they rolled over the floor.
"Hail Mary, full of grace," she began, her voice hoarse, "the Lord is with thee."
The thing beneath Laura's nightshirt began to retreat.
"Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
It slithered out from under the shirt and disappeared.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death."
The smell of rotten garbage was gone.
Laura stopped screaming, stopped squirming on the bed. She was still for a long while—everyone was—then she sat up slowly.
"Aunt Carmen," she rasped, "do we have to stay in here?"
"No, honey. No, we don't."
A bit later, Al and Laura were seated at the dining-room table sipping tea that Carmen had made while Stephanie had a mug of hot cocoa.
Carmen went into the living room, turned on a light, and searched for the magazine she'd gotten from Tanya. When she found it, she thumbed through the pages until she found the article about Ed and Lorraine Warren. Skimming through it, she found out where they lived—in Monroe—grabbed a pad and pencil and used the living-room telephone to call information.
Their number was listed and she wrote it down.
Then she returned to the dining room with the magazine and showed the article to Al. After he'd looked it over carefully, she said, "If our own priest isn't going to help us, we're going to have to go to somebody."
After frowning at the magazine for a while, Al asked, "How much do they charge?"
"I don't know."
"How do we know we can trust them? I mean it's a pretty weird thing to do with your lives, hunting down ghosts and demons."
"We'll just have to find out, won't we?"
A long moment passed, then he began to nod and said, "Okay, go ahead and call them."
Hands shaking nervously, Carmen hurried back into the living room and called the Warrens.
After a few rings, a very groggy woman answered. "H'lo?"
"Is this Lorraine Warren?"
"Mm-hm, it is. Who's calling, please?"
"Um, my name is Carmen Snedeker, and I read about you and your husband in a magazine, and I think my family needs your help because—" Suddenly, Carmen's words spilled out in a desperate rush as she explained to Mrs. Warren what had happened in their house that night and what had been happening for so many months. She even began to sob as she spoke, unable to hold back the tears.
"Sweetheart, sweetheart," Lorraine Warren said, sounding more awake now, "calm down and listen to me. I can't understand what you're saying, okay, hon? Just calm down a little."
Carmen tried, took a few deep breaths and went through some of it again. Lorraine listened silently, then, when Carmen was done, said, "Okay, honey, here's what you do. If this starts happening again tonight, have your husband hold up a cross or a rosary, whichever, and you say—shout it at the top of your lungs, if you want—'In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this place now and go back to the place from which you've come!' Do you understand that?"
Carmen nodded absentmindedly, then realized what she was doing and said, "Yes, yes, I understand."
"But listen, that's only for tonight, okay? You do that tonight, keep doing the Rosary, all of that. Then, around nine in the morning, you give us a call. We'll come on over, okay?"
"Okay. I'll call you."
"You try to get some sleep, okay? If you have evil spirits in your home, you need to know they thrive on weakness. Not sleeping makes you weak, and they'll use that, believe me. And I'll say a prayer for you tonight."
"Yeah, okay. Th-thank you."
"God be with you, honey. Bye-bye."
Carmen hung up the telephone slowly and stared at it for a long while afterward. Nine o'clock tomorrow morning could not possibly come quickly enough....
23
The Investigation Begins
The next morning, while everyone else tried to catch a little more sleep—except for Al, who had already awakened and called in sick for the day—Carmen paced by the telephone from eight until nine, when she promptly called the Warrens' number again.
Lorraine was much more alert this time, and Ed got on the other extension.
Carmen went back over the things she'd told Lorraine during the predawn hours, but she did so more quietly and calmly than before. When she was done, she asked, a bit too eagerly, "Do you think this could be happening because of...well, because maybe someone died here?"
Ed replied, "Well, from what you've said, it sounds very unlikely. No, doesn't sound like that kind of situation at all. But we'll have to look into it ourselves before we can know."
"Why do you ask, dear?" Lorraine wondered.
"Well...there's something about the house that, um, I didn't tell you before. It's a, um...see, it used to be a funeral home."
After a brief silence, Ed said, "Really? A funeral home, huh?" They were quiet a moment, then: "Whattaya think?"
Lorraine said, "Well, it's hard to say. We'd have to go see it first, look around."
"Yeah. Tell you what, Mrs. Snedeker, we'd like to come over to your house right away—this morning—and have a look around. Of course, if that's all right with you."
"All right? Oh, please!”
"Why don't you give us your address and tell us how to get there?" he asked.
Carmen did, trying to speak slowly so they could understand her.
"Well, it'll take us an hour or so to get there," he said when she was done, "so I want to tell you a few things before we go. First, you should all stay together—all of you—from now on. Don't split up, just in case there are more attacks before we come."
"And be sure to keep your rosary with you," Lorraine added. "Same for everyone, if you've got enough. And say the Hail Mary and the Our Father as often as you want."
"We'll get there as soon as we can, Mrs. Snedeker. If that's okay with you."
"That's fine. We're all looking forward to seeing you. We're...very scared."
"It's okay to be scared, love," Lorraine said. "Just remember you've got the power of God behind you."
They got her phone number in case they had a problem finding the house, then said goodbye.
When Carmen hung up, she felt a little better...but only a little.
The Warrens did not take very long, although it seemed like a long time to Al and Carmen. While they were waiting, they'd been talking about how they might keep everyone togeth
er once it came time to go to bed again. They decided to move mattresses out onto the livingroom floor. Everyone could be close as they slept. Yes, it would be uncomfortable, but, just as the Warrens had said, it would be safer should anything else happen in the night.
When the Warrens arrived, Al and Carmen were still the only ones in the house who were awake. They became nervous when they saw the station wagon pull into the drive. What would these people be like? What if the Warrens didn't believe their story?
Al and Carmen watched through a window as the Warrens got out of their car.
They looked exactly like their pictures in the magazine. Lorraine was tall and carried a large gray bag slung over her shoulder. Ed was tall, too, large and imposing, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest that pressed against his dark-blue shirt. They both walked with authority, heads held high as they neared the house.
Al and Carmen met them at the door, invited them in, and led them to the living room, where they seated themselves on the sofa.
Al and Carmen expected small talk at first, superficial conversation to break the ice. That was not the case.
"Before we say anything more," Ed Warren said, holding up a large hand, "we'd like you to know that, if we sound as if we doubt what you're saying, that's not the case at all. We just have to make sure, in every way we possibly can, that the things you tell us about have been brought on by supernatural forces. So you need to understand that it's nothing personal—it's just our job. It's something we have to do."
"And another thing we have to do is record our conversation," Lorraine said as she removed a cassette recorder from her bag. She looked up at Carmen and smiled. "I hope you don't mind, honey. Do you?"
Carmen was so warmed by that smile that she smiled herself and sat right down in a chair facing the sofa. Al seemed more relaxed too and settled down in his recliner after turning it toward them.
"Mrs. Warren," Carmen said, "you can do whatever you have to, as long as you listen to us...and help us."
