Chapter 8: Hide and Seek 2
Drew splashed around in the waters trying to free himself from the girl's grasp. The cold hurt him everywhere it touched shocking the air out of his lungs and sapping his strength. Just a quacking as it all started, he felt that he was free. And emerged from the water.
"Drew!" Sam could be heard frantically screaming on the walkie. "Drew are you okay! Answer me Drew!"
His body shook uncontrollably due to the freezing bath he just endured, he felt that he had an object in his hand now. And looked at it. It was an old key. He finally flicked the switch on his walkie and answered Sam. "I am alive." He said, trying to calm her. "Are you seeing this?"
"Yeah, thankfully the cams are waterproof." Sam replied. "Looks like a key of some sort, maybe it goes to a door in the house? It could be where she is keeping Terry."
"Right, just need to find a locked door and see if this key works." Drew sighed, still shivering from the cold. He gripped the key tightly and placed it in his pocket. "Any luck figuring out what our little lady is Sam?"
"Not yet, though I have some theories." Sam replied.
"Let's hear them then." Drew said as he carefully made his way out of the bathroom. "I am going to look for that locked door while you tell me your theories."
"Okay." Sam said. "So with the evidence we have, the fact that it is in the form of a faceless child, the laughter, the writing, the cold, and the back story, I think we are up against a demon. According to the lore demons are incredibly hostile and have the ability to latch on to someone, so they can leave their haunted place. Since most of the deaths associated with this place happened away from it, I am thinking it must be a demon. I think the cult was successful in their ritual and opened a portal allowing that demon into our world."
"So, what do we do about a demon?" Drew asked, while making his way through the house.
"Well, that's where things get bumpy." Sam said. "IF the portal is still open, we cannot get rid of it, because it could just come back. First thing we need to do is make sure the portal is closed. After that I found an exorcism ritual that should cleanse the demon and send it back from whence it came."
"Sounds good…" A loud noise was heard, like wood cracking.
"Drew are you okay?!" Sam yelled while focusing back on his camera. His leg had fallen through the floor and he was attempting to pull himself back up.
"Yeah, just had one leg fall through so it's fine." Drew said. "I can get myself out. So how do we close the portal?"
"The cultists would have used an item of some type as a focus." Sam explained. "We need to find that item and destroy it. Only problem is I have no idea what the item could be."
"We will find it." Drew reassured Sam. "Everything is going to be alright."
"I hope so Drew, I really do." Sam said.
Drew approached one of the final doors in the house. As he turned the handle, he discovered it was locked. "Found a locked door!" He radioed Sam. "Going to try the key now." He pulled the key out of his pocket and placed it in the keyhole on the door. As he turned the key, he could hear the door click. "It looks like this was the key for this door. Going to open the door now."
"Be careful Drew." Sam said.
Drew opened the door slowly and shined his light inside. "Stairs." He said to Sam over the radio. "Looks like this leads to the basement." Drew shined his light on the stairs. "These steps don't look very promising." Drew extended his leg out to try one of the steps. The step made a loud creak but held together. "I think they will hold up. I am headed down." Drew carefully took one step at a time while holding his arms out against the walls attempting to brace himself and reduce his weight. Every step was a nightmare with Drew and Sam both holding their breath at each of the noises that were made. "I can see the floor. I made it." Drew skips the last few steps and jumps to the basement floor. This floor was made of dirt and Drew no longer had to worry about his feet falling out from under him. He scanned the room with his flashlight.
The basement walls were made of stone and tiny streams of water trickled down them. Old selves filled the room. "Looks like this was the storage room for the ranch." Drew said on the radio. "Still no sign of Terry, but I am still looking." He walked around the basement until he found a mound of freshly dug dirt in one of the corners of the room. "No!" She shouted as he ran towards the mound. Without hesitation he started digging into the dirt with his hands. After several minutes of digging he found a wooden container. He knocked on it with all his might. "Terry are you in there?!" She shouted. "Knock back if you are!"
Drew waited for a moment then he heard it. Several knocks coming from inside the box. "Don't worry buddy! I got you!" Drew doubled his efforts to unbury the box and within an hour he had it completely out of the ground. He pulled the door of the box and opened it. To his surprise Terry was not in the box, instead it was a skeleton holding yet another key. "Fuck!" Drew screamed. He took a few moments to catch his breath before he reached down and grabbed the key. As he picked it up, he could hear the laughter of the little girl behind him. He quickly turned but did not see anything.
"You think this is funny?!" Drew shouted. "Tell me where my friend is!" Drew waited for some kind of answer but received nothing in return. "Sam do you have any ideas where this key belongs?" He radioed. "I doubt it goes to that last door in the house, it looks like some sort of old padlock key."
"Well there are other buildings on the property." Sam said. "The barn or the stables would be the most likely candidates for a padlock though."
"To the barn then I guess." Drew sighed.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone