I
How could she be so reckless? After leaving the High School, Norah kept her head down and before she knew it she was back walking on her street. It looked so different in the daylight.
Her head was still buzzing as she rushed along the sidewalk with her arms wrapped around her body trying to keep herself grounded, “Just get home. You can keep it together if you just get–”
She was struck with a feeling like she’d touched her tongue to a battery as smoke licked the edges of her eyes, leaving a metallic taste in her mouth. Some kind of energy was hovering in the air outside of a scruffy looking house on the corner just before her cul-de-sac. Upon closer inspection, the side door was blocked with yellow crime scene tape.
Whatever happened in that house had left an imprint, some dark force whose essence was still clinging to it. Norah tried to peer through the window, but there were no obvious signs as to what caused the unusual disturbance. Sneaking around to the side, she opened the screen door and tried the handle. It was locked.
Norah glanced around the neighbor, but with no one around, she gripped onto the handle and tried to center her energy. Closing her eyes, she visualized the bolt inside turning, the smoke flickered but she felt a jolt as the lock clicked open. Norah surreptitiously turned the handle and slipped under the yellow tape to enter the kitchen.
The house looked like it hadn’t been cleaned properly in several months, the oven backslash was filthy, and there were dirty dishes piled up in and around the sink. A gray mop sat in a bucket of stagnant brown water near the door and there was a pile of half-done laundry dumped in a basket near the washing machine that smelled strongly of mildew.
Over this stench there was a musty, metallic smell, mixed with something rancid. It was a smell Norah hadn’t experienced before, but it awoke something primal within her. A fear that she couldn’t put her finger on. As she moved further into the house, the dark aura seemed to grow stronger, the very strands of it vibrating against her skin as she moved closer to its source.
The rancid smell was overpowering, forcing Norah to breathe through her mouth, which she covered using her sleeve, certain she’d never get the stink out of her favorite maroon sweater. When she reached the lounge, there seemed to be trash from sterile paramedic’s consumables thrown about the disgusting graying carpet surrounding a huge red stain right in the center of the room.
Norah crept towards the stain, which the air was rippling over like red hot asphalt in a heatwave. She placed her hand into the center of the disturbance, causing smoke to flood into her eyes, and she immediately yanked it away. What was this weird energy hovering over what she could only assume was a patch of dried blood. She had no doubt someone had died here recently. Curious, she knelt down, leaning forward and angling her head to get a better look at the patch on the floor.
“You sense it, don't you? The power.”
Norah glanced over her shoulder with a bland expression to see Braran had shimmered in behind her, she could still see the waves where he’d disturbed the air, “What did this?”
With his usual indifference, Braran crouched down beside Norah and studied the red stain, “Does it matter?”
Norah clenched her jaw and stood up, he was testing her patience, “Someone died here and you’re asking me does it matter?”
“So, what? You didn’t know them?”
“That isn’t the point, Braran!” snapped Norah, running her hands through her hair in an attempt to relieve some of her agitated energy, “A human is dead, I’m supposed care about it, that’s what we do–”
“But you’re not a human”, he had a serious look on his face as he approached, but Norah stepped away from him pointedly.
“Don’t start this again, I don’t want to hear it.”
Braran blocked her path as she tried to leave the room, “You never want to hear about it, but no matter where you go, these things are going to follow you. This is your world, Norah–”
“I don't want this!” she said, feeling a cold sensation as she walked directly through him and back into the kitchen.
Braran curled his lip at the insult, but continued despite his irritation, “Just accept it you're a–”
“A what?!” Norah threw her hands up in exasperation, “What am I?”, she turned to glare at him, “You can't even name it”.
“You're powerful”, Braran approached her slowly, like he was afraid to spook her, “That's all we need to know. If you would just let me teach you to control your–”
“No!” Norah yelled, reaching for the kitchen door.
“Why not!?”
Norah stood with her hand on the door handle, but she was looking at the ground, “…Because I don't want to hurt anyone else”.
Braran stood beside Norah and tried to catch her eye, “What makes you think you will?”
Norah glanced up at Braran with tears in her eyes, “Because this power, it makes me want to…” Norah shook her head, “I can't... I won’t”, she wrenched the door open and ran out.
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II
Paul felt a mixture of emotions as he was leaving Dr Rees’ lab, it was exciting to finally have a case of his own, and a head-scratcher at that, but something was still niggling at him. No matter how far away he got, he always could feel his sister’s judging eyes hovering over his shoulder. Although, he was relieved she’d given him a juicy case for once, although perhaps unintentionally.
Regardless, Paul was going to make his name with this one, prove he wasn’t the screw up they all thought he was. Ever since his father died there’d been more scrutiny on him than ever. When Harri stepped up to the reins as the family’s matriarch she’d ruled with a firm hand, one she’d kept squarely wrapped around Paul’s throat.
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“I’m only looking out for you”, was her excuse, but Paul was convinced she liked the power more than anything. A power she’d spent her whole life exerting over him, now it was on steroids. Once he solved the case maybe she’d finally have to admit that he was capable, although knowing Harri, she’d find a way to interfere just so she could claim credit.
Paul’s thoughts were rushing as he climbed onto his bike and fired up the EMF reader, which lit up brightly in the direction of the north of the town according to his map. Somewhere out in suburbs it looked like. Following the beacon he rode through the quiet, unassuming streets of Hogarth until he found himself in an estate filled with modest middleclass homes.
They weren’t your typical Stepford houses, all yellow paneling and stark white picket fences surrounding Technicolor green, perfectly square lawns, but there was a sameness to their construction that wasn’t a far stretch. Caught somewhere between Blue Velvet and Suburban Hell. Paul knew well enough that those kinds of places had a lot of secrets.
Despite the placid street and its unassuming stillness, something hidden amongst those pastel Suburbans was lighting his EMF reader up like a billboard on Time Square. Killing his engine, Paul pushed down his kickstand, his electric purple Yamaha looking supremely out of place among the modest family sedans.
He began playing a game of hotter, colder with his EMF reader. Moving along the well-manicured streets like a specter of death all clad in his thick black leathers. Luckily, it seemed like there was no one around to witness, other than the odd gardener or house cat. Suddenly, a click so aggressive he felt it through his glove.
Paul glanced up at a shoddy looking house, once yellow but had faded to a dingy beige – 1273 – that had to be the one. Noticing there was flapping police tape on the corner of the house confirmed it. Paul turned off his EMF reader and covertly made his way towards the side door, where he heard raised voices.
Just as he reached to open the kitchen door, it flew open and a pretty girl with wild curly hair came thundering out and banged straight into him. The force almost knocked Paul off his feet, while girl hit the deck. She glanced up at him in total surprise before a flick of her wrist sent Paul hurtling across the yard where he slammed into the garden fence.
When Paul came to he heard footsteps running into the distance and a man’s voice yelling “Norah! You can’t run from this forever!”
Dizzy, Paul looked for the source of the voice, as a young man with shaggy brown hair vanished into the house. Paul forced himself to sit upright, realizing he’d broken a large pot with his shoulder, which rattled under him as he moved. Although, the Fuchsia inside it looked to be long dead.
He sat up rubbing his head, that had to be the culprit returning to the scene of the crime – a demon masquerading as human. Not that that was unusual, it just made tracking it more complicated. Paul was foolish to arrive unarmed and unprepared. Harri would have had a field day if she’d seen him thrown like that. After coming to his senses, Paul sluggishly got to his feet and made a call.
“It’s me. Tell Harri her intel was right. There is demon in this town”, he rubbed the painful spot on the back of his head where he hit the fence, “Yeah, I’ll track it and take it out”, he said before hanging up.
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III
Norah let herself into the house through the back door using the spare key her mom hid in a stone heron from the yard. She’d lost her bag somewhere along the way and was therefore without her keys, phone, wallet or any other useful items.
As she slipped into the kitchen she saw the boxes had been cleared from the night before and there was a smell of bleach clinging to the spotlessly clean counters and floors. Mary had even hung the finger paintings they’d made the previous summer in pride of place above the kitchen table.
Neither of them had an ounce of artistic skill but the colors were enough to brighten up the otherwise blandly decorated kitchen. It was a stark contrast to the dadaist tile work they’d left behind in the apartment in Queens, which was inherited from the previous owners. In fact, the whole place was decked out in a maximalist style that could give a person a seizure, but for some reason they’d never considered redecorating it. It gave the place a certain charm.
Norah’s shoes were filthy from running through the wood thicket bordering the estate. As she went about trying to remove them, she closed the backdoor as gently as she could in hopes of sneaking in without alerting her mother. No such luck. As soon as the latch clicked Mary’s footsteps came scurrying from the other side of the house.
“Norah, is that you?”
Norah cringed, standing upright as if she had every right to be there. She acted casual when her mother appeared through the kitchen door, although from her face it was clear Norah was in trouble. Mary was clutching their phone in her hand so tightly it looked like she might crush it.
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling you”.
Norah tried to keep her tone calm, “Sorry, I–”
“The school called, they said you cut your classes today”, Mary raised her brow accusingly.
“It looks great in here, Mom. Did you unpack all the boxes already?”
Mary slammed the phone down onto the kitchen table and crossed her arms, “Don’t change the subject. How could you cut school on your first day? Way to make a first impression”.
Norah’s head was swimming, “I just... I was scared I’d…”
Mary paled and she grabbed Norah by the arm, “Did you hurt someone?”
Norah winced, pulling her arms from her mother’s tight grasp, she wanted to crawl out of her skin, “No! God, I just had a bad day”.
Mary rubbed her forehead. I knew you couldn't handle this.
That stung. Norah gave her mother a disgusted look, “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom”.
She went to storm away but Mary blocked her, “I’m sorry, okay, I’ve told you I can't always control what I think.”
“Do you even try?”
Mary’s face hardened, she straightened up and stared at her daughter, “I’m not doing this with you again”, Mary took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice as even as possible, “You'll have to drop out. You can study at home or take the GED or something–”
“Mom, no!”
“What choice do we have, Norah–” Mary shook her head, “–if you’d just listened to me maybe we wouldn’t have had to move away in the first place!”
Norah was getting angry, she could feel the smoke bleeding into her vision, and she clenched her fists in an attempt to suppress it, “Mom, stop it”.
Mary wasn’t listening, “You think you can control it, but these episodes are only getting worse–”
“Mom, please”, Norah tried to blink the black out of her eyes, rubbing her temples in a desperate attempt to calm herself.
“And what am I supposed to do if you have one of these outbursts in front of people. I can’t protect you forever, what do you expect me to do, move all around the country. Starting from tomorrow I want you home all day and you better not–”
“STOP TALKING!” Norah’s voice boomed throughout the house, causing the very foundations to rattle, and all of the chairs under the dining table slid outwards, one of which struck Mary in the leg and knocked her onto the ground.
Norah stood over her mother, her eyes completely black, as Mary laid on the ground cowering in fear. The entire house was rattling, causing a vase to vibrate off the table and smash onto the kitchen floor. Norah stepped closer to her mother, her hair floating off her head from the static crackling through the air.
Norah’s face contorted, and she doubled over clutching her stomach, then dropped to her knees. She clenched her eyes closed and a few moments later the rattling ceased and her hair dropped back down into her shoulders. When Norah finally forced her eyes back open they were normal again, but she was breathing hard.
“I’m sorry”, she had tears in her eyes, “I’m so sorry, mom”.
Mary stayed on the ground, too afraid to move, until Norah dropped her head into her hands and began to weep. Sharp guilt stabbed Mary’s heart like a blade, sitting up she tried to lay a sympathetic hand on Norah’s shoulder, “It’s okay–” but as soon as her hand made contact, a pulse sent her skidding backwards.
“Don’t!”
Mary stared at her daughter in surprise, she’d never seen such utter rage in her eyes.
Norah’s hard expression slowly eased and she averted her gaze, “Not when I’m like this…”
Keeping her distance, Mary got to her feet and stood on the other side of the kitchen as far from Norah as possible, “Let’s talk about this when you’re feeling better”.
Norah looked at her mother, and her heart sank. The way she was hugging herself, how she could no longer meet Norah’s eye. A frightened and abused animal anticipating another beating. Norah was disgusted with herself.
Without another word, she turned and fled out of the back door. She could hear her mother calling out to her, but Norah didn’t care. She ran off into the woods and didn’t turn back.