Chapter 11: A Restless Night
This remark sounded a bit strange, like he was questioning him... "Why don't you dare go inside?"
Josh realized his slip of the tongue immediately.
So he added a warning: "Don't take a single step into my house."
Then he turned and went back inside.
Dustin stared at Josh's back and suddenly spoke up. "If I cut ties with you right now, does that mean I don't have to sleep on the street tonight?"
After all the manual labor during the day, he had actually started to doubt William a little.
But he had seen William perform an exorcism at the theater.
"Was I hallucinating back then...?" Dustin wondered.
William didn't care.
After all, this was the standard setup for American horror movies—the wife who bears everything alone, and the husband who refuses to believe anything until it's too late.
And he understood Josh's attitude.
Imagine you're a man, having conflicts with your wife recently.
You come home from work to find your wife has invited a priest over.
The priest claims your son's soul has been taken by an evil spirit and demands $1,000 to save him.
Who would believe that?!
But on the other hand...
From the first moment he saw Josh, William noticed a force coiled around the area of his brain.
If he remembered correctly, this was his memory being sealed—the handiwork of that medium.
At the same time, Josh's appearance was slightly different from William's memory of the actor.
That night.
Renai finally managed to persuade Josh to invite William and Dustin to stay the night.
But facing the hostess's invitation, William smiled faintly and pulled a simple tent out of his travel bag.
He quickly set it up on the lawn, apparently intending to sleep there tonight.
Dustin's jaw dropped as he stared blankly at William.
"Don't look at me. I don't have an extra one."
In the end, only Dustin followed Renai into the house.
...
Midnight.
The moonlight was eerie, and mist swirled around the house.
This was the hour of the dead.
From the soil, on the roof, outside the windows... dead spirits descended from everywhere.
A woman in a bridal veil adjusted her hem.
Two beautiful girls in white dresses stood side by side.
A middle-class couple supported each other.
A muscular man with long hair in a leather jacket wore a gloomy expression.
...
They tilted their heads back, greedily inhaling the scent of the living.
Then they split up to find their targets.
But in the next moment.
The spirits discovered they couldn't step foot inside the house.
Right now, the entire house was protected by a pure white light, radiating a holy power—the thing dead spirits loathed the most.
They saw the surprise in each other's eyes.
The leather jacket man looked fierce. He clenched his fists and tried to force his way in.
But his spiritual body was nearly scorched.
Seeing this, the spirits all looked toward the lawn in unison.
During the day, they had noticed the new visitor, and that he was a priest!
They had planned to give him a scare, but seeing how cowardly he acted, they decided to let him off.
But who would have thought that this damn priest would dare encroach on their territory!
This could not be forgiven!
So the spirits turned together and walked toward the tent on the lawn.
Bang... Bang...
The next second, they were all blocked by an invisible barrier.
The spirits were astonished. As spiritual bodies, they could usually ignore obstacles and pass through anything.
Their glares at the tent became even more venomous.
But in reality, the tent was empty.
Under a large tree not far away.
"Sure is lively tonight."
A telescope poked out from the bushes where William was hiding.
This was his real hiding spot.
It was right by the main road, with clear paths on both sides, allowing him to run at any moment.
Plus, with the cover of flowers and plants, William could set up his defenses freely.
Why didn't he stay in the tent?
Facing a house full of ghosts, and sleeping right on their doorstep like an idiot?
Get real!
On the other side.
No matter how much the spirits hated William, they couldn't attack the tent.
Just then, one of the ghost girls happened to turn her head and noticed that one window of the house didn't have the holy light.
Delighted, she immediately slipped inside.
The other spirits followed suit.
Once inside, they seemed ready to vent all their resentment on this family.
Under the bed, behind doors, messing with electronics...
These were their specialties.
But unlike usual, as soon as the spirits pounced, they were hit hard, forced to reveal their forms and knocking over quite a few items in the process.
The noise woke Renai.
She walked to the living room with trembling hands, just in time to witness this scene.
"Ahhh..."
Renai screamed uncontrollably.
But then she realized that these spirits seemed to be blocked by something and couldn't get close to her.
Renai had an epiphany and pulled out the glowing crucifix from her pocket.
Josh was awakened by Renai's scream. He rushed out of the bedroom and saw his living room filled with dead spirits.
He stared in disbelief, his past understanding of the world completely shattered.
Seeing they couldn't succeed, the spirits had to retreat outside again.
Before tonight, they were free.
They could wander in the treetops or scare the occasional unlucky person waking up at night.
If they were lucky, they might even find a chance for rebirth.
Although their luck had always been terrible.
But now, even this small freedom was stripped away!
If this continued, wouldn't they be trapped here forever?
Remember, The Further had no concept of time.
A long, enduring darkness could sometimes drive even dead spirits insane.
"No, we have to do something!"
At this moment, the spirits unanimously agreed that only by getting rid of that priest could they return to the way things were.
So they tried every method to get close to the tent.
The two girls in white dresses pretended to be heavily injured, wailing in pain on the ground, trying to attract the priest's attention.
The middle-class couple somehow produced a pile of cash and threw it into the air.
The bride lifted her skirt, revealing long, smooth, pale legs.
The leather jacket man only had brute strength. Seeing the bride's tactic next to him, he got an idea and tore open his shirt, barring his chest at the tent.
...
Inside the house.
The Lambert family gathered in Dalton's room, each clutching the holy artifacts William had given them.
They heard a huge commotion outside and guessed that the priest was fighting the spirits. They silently prayed for him.
Dustin was snoring on the second floor, completely oblivious to the chaos outside.
And William had long since retreated to the edge of the third Demon-Trapping Array.
"Dead spirits really understand human nature. Good thing I prepared in advance."
The ruckus continued until the latter half of the night.
Seeing no progress, the spirits finally realized a fact—
They couldn't do anything to the priest.
But if that was the case, were they really going to be trapped here forever?
Unless...
An idea began to form in their minds.
Why did the priest come here?
To save the boy.
And the boy's soul was imprisoned by the Lipstick-Face Demon. (yes that' is the demon name search it up and you can see his face.)
He was the most evil among them.
They just wanted a vessel for rebirth, but the Lipstick-Face Demon took pleasure in hurting humans.
Now, only if the boy's soul returned to his body would the priest leave.
That was the only way they could be saved.
What they would lose was nothing more than a chance at rebirth.
But if they dragged this out, they would lose that right forever!
The choice was obvious.
The spirits looked at each other and reached a consensus.
...
The next day.
Josh came to the tent early in the morning.
"Father, I was wrong."