The Haunting of Bloodmoon House

by Jeff DeGordick

  Tyler placed his hands underneath it and tried to hoist it up and tip it over, but it was too heavy. "Help me out!" he said, straining under a red face and a bulging vein in his neck.

  Jess dropped her implements on the floor and grabbed the underside of the table near the other end. She tried to lift it, but even with the two of them, it was massive and extremely heavy. She bent her knees and got her shoulder propped underneath the table, putting most of her weight on her good leg, then she yelled under the strain as she tried to stand up, pushing the table with all the strength in her arms and legs.

  The legs of the table lifted off the floor with their combined effort, and it groaned as it teetered on the brink of balance. Then, with one final shove, the table was hoisted past the precipice and fell over, crashing onto the floor. The whole room shook from the force, and the crystal chandelier in the foyer jumped and rattled, shaking off decades of dust.

  Tyler looked over his shoulder and saw the dead begin to close in. "We don't have much time!" he cried.

  With the table out of the way, Tyler removed the scattered chairs that Roy had made a mess of, clearing a large workspace for Jess.

  Jess got on her knees and pressed the tip of the chalk to the floor. She swiveled around, trying to keep her arm steady, and she drew a large circle on the hardwood—enough to keep her, Tyler and Buddy contained in the middle of the room.

  The spirits entered the dining room from the kitchen and foyer, or through the walls in between, but they all stopped at the edge of it as if they were waiting for someone.

  Bulky footsteps came down a staircase in the foyer, and all the spirits turned and watched.

  Vernon Dover leisurely marched down the steps, stopping at the bottom and turning to face the two teens. The straight razor was still in his hand.

  His mighty chest was puffed out, and his filthy, wiry beard sprawled over it. He walked into the dining room step by step, his heavy footfalls reverberating through the house. It was clear that the ghosts didn't touch or make a sound against solid objects unless they wanted to, and now Vernon was toying with them, making his commanding presence felt before he ended their lives.

  "Do the prayer!" Tyler said, snapping Jess out of her trance as she watched the lumbering spirit approach.

  She was in the middle of the circle, facing who she still couldn't believe was her great-grandfather and all the rest of the unsightly ghosts. And at the moment of greatest importance, in front of so many leering and ravenously murderous spirits, she forgot her lines.

  "Um..."

  "Jess! The prayer!" Tyler cried.

  Jess scrunched her eyes, trying to remember. "Uh... O Lord, hear my prayer... um..."

  Tyler's eyes nervously shifted from Jess to Vernon as he stepped into the dining room.

  "Um... grant us your protection... hmm, uh, spirit something..." Jess's face screwed up, knowing that she had gotten the whole thing wrong. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at Vernon, who towered over her. The blade of his ghostly razor glinted with the blood of prior victims, and he displayed it to her, letting her take a good eyeful to know what would be coming to her in just a few short moments.

  Tyler grabbed Jess's wrist, suddenly changing his mind about their plan.

  "We have to go!" he said.

  "Hold on," she replied, distracted. She strained her brain harder, trying to work through the instructions Simon gave her. They really were simple, but she was under a tremendous amount of stress, and her fragile mind was on the brink of breaking completely.

  "Jess, it's too late! We have to go now!" Tyler shouted. He yanked on her arm but she shook him off.

  "No!" she shouted at him.

  He let go of her in surprise.

  "I can do this!" she said. "Just trust me."

  Tyler took a shocked step back, still staying in the circle, but giving her space.

  Buddy loyally sat in front of her, staring up at the approaching ghost, furiously wagging his tail. His lips were peeled back over his teeth and he snarled as Vernon looked down at the three of them.

  Jess's brain was racing a mile a minute, and she felt the strains and pressures of everything pulling her in so many different directions all at once.

  As Vernon strode closer and closer to them, she felt the vibrations running through the floor and into her body. It brought her terrible and age-old fear back into her, and as he stood in front of her, lifting the straight razor into the air, he appeared to her as her uncle through her six-year-old eyes. Terror coursed through her veins like ice water. She felt her brain start to shut down from the horrible emotional torment she was experiencing, and her body stiffened until it was like a petrified fossil.

  She tried to remember the words, she really did, but she just couldn't do it. Her mind went completely blank and a buzz filled her ears as her vision faded to black. It was like her whole body was shutting down, waiting for the end.

  Tyler stood next to her, staring between her and the approaching evil spirit. A look of horror was painted on his face. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what he could do anymore. But for some reason, he trusted her and had faith in her, terrified as he was for her well-being.

  The razor glinted in the air above her head, then Vernon took another step forward and slashed it down.

  In the last moment, a sudden jolt coursed through Jess's body, allowing her to move. She stepped back as the blade swung for her throat, and instead it simply gashed her cheek. She crashed down to the floor on her butt, spilling out of the circle. Her blood dripped off the end of the ethereal blade, and she stared up at Vernon with wide eyes.

  Vernon smiled and cast his penetrating gaze on her, ready to finish the job. But as Jess stared up at him, she only had one thought in her mind: How dare you?

  In an instant, her fear was completely washed away and that old image of her as a little girl shattered. She reaffirmed her dedication to changing, to not being a victim anymore, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let some hundred-year-old ghost push her around.

  She got up to her feet and walked forward into the circle. She raised the crucifix into the air in Vernon's face, and he took a step back, surprised by her courage.

  When he realized her motion was harmless, he stepped forward again, flicking the blood off the blade of his razor.

  A steely determination came over Jess, and the words that Simon had taught her flowed through her mind freely as she opened her mouth and shouted: "O Lord, hear my prayer! Grant us your divine protection, that no man, of the spirit or of the flesh, may pass this barrier marked by mortal hand!"

  A sour look came over Vernon's face as she said the words, and he stumbled back. He looked down at the chalk circle on the floor in front of him, then looked back at her, anger flooding into his face. He took a step forward again, hoisting his razor, but he staggered. He glanced down, realizing that it was suddenly difficult to pass over the line. But he did it slowly and defiantly as Jess continued with the next part.

  "O Son, hear my prayer. Grant us your everlasting presence, and keep this space holy, never allowing the wakeful dead to gain harbor!"

  The rest of the ghosts standing around at the edge of the dining room watched in shock as Vernon suddenly recoiled like he'd been bitten by an animal. He stood just outside the circle now, furious.

  A newfound anger came over the crowd, and all of them marched up to the circle, surrounding it from all directions.

  Buddy jumped up and spun around, barking madly at the spirits. Tyler shrunk away from them, feeling intimidated by the proximity and number. He drew his body closer to Jess's as she stood there defiantly and started flipping through the book. He didn't even remember that he was supposed to do something, still shocked by her uncharacteristic actions, until she thrust the crucifix into his hands.

  "Your turn," she said.

  Tyler came out of his trance and nodded. He stood shoulder to shoulder with her, holding up the crucifix and repeating the second part of the prayer that she spoke to k
eep the barrier charged. "O Son, hear my prayer. Grant us your everlasting presence, and keep this space holy..."

  As he repeated the prayer over and over again, Jess flipped through the book, digging through the apparent gibberish and trying to find the few phrases that Simon told her to add to the next part of the exorcism.

  The ghosts surrounding them cried and groaned, anguish on their faces from not being able to pass the barrier and get to them. Vernon just stood there, his eyes alight with fire as he stared down on them. He didn't move anymore, he didn't make a sound, he just glared.

  Jess's finger stopped on the first cipher, and she paused to remember the next set of instructions. Once again, feeling calm, the words came to her.

  "Father, have mercy on us. Egot Parson Niefor!" Jess pronounced the words carefully.

  As soon as she said it, the entire crowd of spirits surrounding them took a step back and cried out in anguish, as if they had all been simultaneously slapped.

  "Son, have mercy on us. Lednor Timron Argat Flor!" Jess cried.

  The ghosts' faces suddenly began to falter, and some of them seemed to already be hedging their bets and moved away from the circle.

  "Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Hashine Drepthor Cantal!"

  The spirits began to scream, and in the next moment, they all turned and fled, trying to get as far away from her as possible. All except Vernon who still stood there and glared.

  "Undo this séance and rid the evil from this house! Unbind the dead from this earthly pillar... vanquish them from this realm forever!"

  A wave of horrific screams and shrieks filled the house as the ghosts—some of them now floating through the external walls of the mansion and trying to escape—began to dissipate. Their energy swirled and waned, like they were shrinking to miniature sizes, then their forms warped until they were nothing but floating blue orbs.

  Vernon was the only holdout, standing there, unmoving, but undoubtedly fighting with all his might to keep his hold on the physical realm. Parts of his body began to strip away. One of his shoulders shrunk and turned into wispy light as the arm connected to it was erased. Then one hip faded away.

  Jess and Tyler watched in a mixture of horror and awe as his body was stripped away, bit by bit.

  All the blue orbs of the other spirits dissolved completely, and soon all that was left of Vernon was just the fierce and sharp features of his face. His eyes were still wide and burning with that fire of hatred for them. But then those, too, shrank and faded away until there was a final wisp of blue light that twirled around like the last trail of smoke from a cigarette, and then it fizzled out and vanished.

  A huge rush of energy swept through the house, rattling all the furniture and drapes. The central point seemed to be in the middle of the circle where they stood, and the feeling as it moved through their bodies was indescribable.

  Furniture danced across the floor toward them, and the chandelier in the foyer was pulled in their direction, like a powerful vacuum had been turned on. Then there was a brief moment of stillness as everything stopped before the energy exploded outward in all directions from their central point. Furniture was blown away and knocked over, pieces from the chandelier stripped off and shattered on the walls, and all of the windows in the house exploded outward, small shards raining down on the property outside.

  And then the energy was dissipated completely and everything was still.

  Jess, Tyler and Buddy had shielded themselves from the otherworldly blast, and when they realized they were still alive, they took inventory of themselves and discovered they were unharmed.

  Buddy jumped up and began barking at the house, but then fell silent, happily wagging his tail and panting as he looked up at Jess with his big brown eyes. He walked up to her and brushed his body against her leg.

  Jess bent down and hugged him, dragging her hand across his dirty fur and kissing him on the head. "It's okay, boy. I think it's all over."

  And as they recovered, the presence from the house had washed away completely. The spirits were vanquished.

  Aftermath

  The rain had completely stopped and any lingering clouds in the night sky had long since drifted off, leaving nothing but a clear view of the stars and the moon. The eclipse had ended, and the blood moon was no more. The moon shone its normal white glow, like nothing at all had even happened in the first place.

  The crickets chirped in the woods, and everything was peaceful, even the mansion as it stood formidably against the wild backdrop hidden up in the hills.

  Jess sat on the back of an ambulance as Tyler and Ashley stood next to her, Buddy happily wagging his tail at their heels. A short police officer in full uniform and hat stood in front of them, asking them questions about their ordeal.

  "And then you said that the ghosts attacked your uncle and killed him?" the officer asked, leveling a steady gaze at the three of them.

  They each glanced at each other, cringing at how absurd the question sounded out loud. But then they slowly nodded.

  "Yeah," Jess added.

  "And then you said that the ghosts vanished," the officer said, reiterating their statement.

  "That's right," Jess said, swallowing nervously.

  The officer looked through his notes on his notepad, poring over everything he had written.

  The three of them looked at each other, silently acknowledging their fear that they would be brought up on murder charges and their story discarded.

  But the officer glanced up at them and offered a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry," he said, seeming to sense their fear. "I've lived in this area all my life and have many first-hand accounts of this house from people I know. My father was one of the detectives that worked your uncle's case twelve years ago. We'll get this all squared away soon, and then you three will never have to look at this place again."

  They all let out a relieved breath and nodded gratefully.

  "Are we off the hook?" Ashley asked.

  The policeman nodded. "You're in the clear. Go home and get some rest. Some officers might contact you in the next few weeks to answer some more questions, but it's nothing to be worried about. In the meantime, we've contacted all of your parents, and they're aware of the situation." He looked at Jess. "Your parents are coming home from their vacation right now."

  Jess nodded, feeling bad that she ruined her parents' anniversary weekend, but she was relieved all the same, glad to be out of this nightmare and in the presence of her loved ones for support.

  The police officer gave them a nod, then he walked away. In his absence, the paramedic standing by returned to his duties, looking over Jess's injuries. They'd already treated Tyler and Ashley, and they had nothing more than a few cuts and bruises that didn't require any serious attention. But Jess would need to be taken to the hospital after the paramedic finished dressing her wounds. The young man gave her some cursory instructions as he worked on her, and Jess's attention drifted up toward the house as he talked.

  The tall abode stood against the night, and she realized that she almost had the same view now as she did when she was a little girl and her uncle first brought her to this house. But now all the fears and worries that had plagued her for the past twelve years seemed insignificant. Her conscience was clear, and her fears laid to rest, and now it just seemed like a humdrum old house, no different from any other. All she wanted to do was get away from this place, once and for all.

  The front door of the mansion opened suddenly, giving way to the dark interior. More police officers stepped out of the house, escorting the coroner. They pulled a body bag laid out on a stretcher through the threshold and carefully brought it down the steps to the driveway.

  Jess stared solemnly as the remains of her uncle were wheeled out in front of her to the coroner's van and loaded in the back. She felt nothing for him anymore other than pity. She knew that parts of his story were true: the parts of him being a young and impressionable man, and of his mind being warped by Vernon over the years until
he was something twisted and subhuman. But further than pity, she could offer no more. She let out a soft noise from her throat, something akin to only slight interest, like someone taking note of an interesting feat they saw on TV before changing the channel. The back of the coroner's van slammed shut, and then he was out of her view forever.

  "Lift your leg," the paramedic said, and Jess complied.

  "Don't worry about Buddy," Tyler told her. "We'll take him back to my mom's place for now, and then we'll drive to the hospital to see you."

  Jess looked down at her dog. "Thanks," she said, smiling as her and Tyler's gazes met.

  The porch of the house creaked again and Jess looked up to see more paramedics wheeling Simon out on a stretcher. They brought him down the steps and over to another ambulance standing by. But before they loaded him in, Jess told the paramedic treating her to hold on, and she hopped off the back of the ambulance, wincing as pain stabbed through her leg from her gunshot wound.

  "Hey, where are you going?" the paramedic asked, but Jess ignored him.

  She made her way over to Simon, stopping the other medics before they lifted him into the back of the ambulance, and she looked over the mysterious man who had saved her life... all their lives.

  Simon looked weak, but he rotated his head and stared at her.

  "Is he going to be okay?" Jess asked the medics.

  They glanced down at him. "Yeah, he's in rough shape, but his vitals are good. He should pull through just fine," one of them said.

  Simon was too weak to say anything, but he used what little strength he had to give her a little nod, and then the paramedics lifted him and loaded him into the ambulance.

  As she watched him go, she felt a strange connection to him, like he was the uncle she never had. When the doors of the ambulance slammed shut, she turned and made her way back to hers.

  They pulled a stretcher out for her, and the medic treating her said it was time to get on. She complied, and when she was lying down and strapped in, her friends waved her off as they loaded her inside.