QUESTIONS

Gary spent some time explaining what he had recently seen. Though disordered, overlapping and impossible to build a reliable timeline from, his stories were heard intently by my father and DI Broad and accepted as truth. Whilst not always used for peaceful effect, Gary had a gift for rallying the other residents. Many came forward to corroborate fragments of his story, some simply calling 'I saw that' and others filling in overlooked details. DI Broad had been writing at pace in his notebook before his Biro pen ran out of ink. It was then that they turned their attention to Simon, who was sat cross-legged by the bottle-green door, alone.

DI Broad sat himself down next to Simon, my father remained on his feet looking down and pulled a dictaphone from his inside jacket pocket. Broad jerked forward and grabbed the back of Simon's head and pushed his thumb into the brow wound. Simon yelped, loud enough to get the attention of the room.

'Just so you know we're not fucking about. One word of a lie and we'll throw you outside to that fucking . . . . thing.' The detective barked, gritting his teeth.

'Explain the snake. What is the snake? Or worm, or whatever.' my father added. Simon had more fear in his eyes with my father bearing down on him than I had seen on his face when the creature appeared. Without any further prompting, he answered;

'It came from a book.'

'What? What fucking book?'

Simon took a short breath and explained that a small group of staff had been celebrating the charities 150th year. As the celebration began to wind down, a Latin speaking Mrs Tapscott, a trustee of the charity, began reading from a strange book they found in the reading corner. A cloud appeared in the centre of the room and began rolling around the hall before disappearing into the dormitories. It emerged a few minutes later, speaking through one of the residents.

'Why didn't you mention this when you came to see us this afternoon? You told us you thought a another resident had killed the missing girl.' Said Broad.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

'Oh come on, you would have had me sectioned. I just needed to get you here . . . . to see for yourself.'

'Okay, so what happened to the missing girl?'

Simon paused briefly, looked at the palm of his hands and said;

'We fed her to the demon.'

'Demon? You mean the snake?'

'No'

'No? . . . . so there's a demon and a snake?'

'The demon controls the creature. It eats people, the demon takes the soul.'

'How many people has it killed?'

'One a month for the last eighteen months.'

'So, what, this thing emerges and simply takes someone? Our friend Gary over there seems to think you bring it the food.' My father interceded.

'We brought it here. It demanded souls. We came up with a system. If the residents act up, they get a purple shirt. The demon selects from those wearing them at 9.23pm on the 21st of every month, the time and day we summoned it.'

'So why is it attacking us?'

'I imagine you're a threat to its supply.'

'So this demon wants souls, or what? What happens if you don't provide anyone?'

'Six of us were present that evening. Only me left now.'

'Ah, I see, so you'll get the soul sucked out of you?

'Four wouldn't participate, or put the experience down to there being too much alcohol that night. They were taken first.'

Broad, incredulous, said 'Bollocks, we'd have heard about four missing people from the same place, not to mention the residents'.

'They were all volunteers from another program run by the charity. All foreign nationals. Orderlies.' Simon corrected.

'How have you hidden the rest? Haven't relatives been asking questions?'

'Families don't bother once the problem is no longer theirs to deal with. Many of the residents have health problems and we have a crematorium on the grounds.'

I could see my father was angry at this point. He always rubbed his thumbs against his index fingers when close to explosion. 'So nobody was going to miss a bunch of spackers, right? Except Gilly's family cared very much didn't they?'

'Gilly was a mistake. The shirt was meant for someone else. Some of the residents, I can't tell apart.'

Broad seemed shocked by Simon's statement, shook his head with disgust, stood up and made a brazen suggestion that surprised even my father, who looked at him disparagingly.

'I think I'd very much like to talk to this demon. Ask it here, would you?'

'It's the 21st . . . . she's already here.'

Simon shifted his torso to look past my fathers legs. Everybody listening, including myself, followed his gaze over to the reading corner.