Somewhere in a kingdom, a state of heaven, there lived God and Satan. Once they started a conversation that has been going on for several centuries. About the human soul and who has more rights to it ...
With these words, like in a fairy tale, I want to talk about daemonophobia. Only we are not talking about the little gray wolf who was trying to catch a cow, but about more powerful people. On the one hand, there are quite a few people who do not believe in God or the Devil at all, where the latter acts as a collective mythical image for all of the world’s evil. Nevertheless, the image is very famous, it is not some kind of fairy from the land of dreams!
It is much more popular than both Kiss and AC / DC. Satan, who helped not only the church to build a profitable business, but also filmmakers, artists, writers, musicians and many others! Nobody built churches, monasteries in the name of the same fairy and there were no wars because of it. And selling photos and videos with fairies would not bring you as much money as the saints brought. The same modern Satanists, for the most part, are atheists. And they don’t need religion to figure out how to do better. Just imagine for a moment how ridiculous all holy wars would have looked then. Yes, of course, politics, trade and power were implicated in such wars. But, taking out all this, we would see small children on the carpet in the center of the room with their toys that prove that his soldier with fictional forces is stronger than the other. Then how funny all the churches and icons look (even candy wrappers from “Love is” gum could be sold instead). The most powerful PR in history.
On the other hand, this fear can already be considered genetic. And there are even more people who believe in the incredible power of not only God, but also Satan and all his legions. Maybe developing our civilization, we have forgotten the importance of the spiritual world to which our immortal soul belongs? Maybe our ancestors understood more than we did? And we are just hiding behind modern psychiatry, not noticing the manifestation of demonic activity? Can the cross really help people regardless of its size, small body or church large? And prayer is not only like meditation, but also your chance to talk to God before the Devil catches up? In this case, I am interested how an obsessed person looks in everyday life. Let’s leave the main signs of obsession. Feeling unwell and suppression of will. Not evident. And not very fast progressing, so that a person does not suspect anything. An ordinary person can hardly cope with great force, therefore he will melt and die away. And I would leave the animals. Not only minions of witches and demons, but also helping people. And also we let’s leave strange sounds, voices and a little church subject. Levitation, the smell of sulfur and spinning writers’ heads. So. Once upon a time....
I was very pleased to have come into the inheritance of a small and old, but still strong house. Across the road there is not yet crowded cemetery with neat paths and dilapidated little church with such large crosses that it seems that it’s about to pull it down completely. On the next street there is an abandoned morgue.
Since I was little little, I’ve always paid attention to signs. And the weirder they are, the better my day will pass. One of the worst signs is to see the wedding procession. So how many times I’ve seen it - so many times the day went down the drain! Therefore, having heard about the death of my uncle, whom I saw only once in my childhood, I decided to find out what house I got and whether there were any oddities in it. Cemetery, church and morgue. Not a house, but a fairy tale! In addition, two elderly women told about a strange atmosphere native to the whole house. Birds rarely sing in the trees, animals bypass. Oh, come on, I already love this house! No need to praise him even more :-). Although, this chatter about the atmosphere, I already consider ridiculous. But what a nice house after all!
The old women told about my late uncle, about whom I absolutely did not know anything. Widowed, fifty years old. He did not start new family. But it would be worth, in their opinion. Then he would not be so thin. This thinness especially conspicuous with his great growth. He dressed plainly. And in general, had closed lifestyle. He worked as a teacher, or was a scientist. Not exactly known. Yes, old women noted his mind and education, which he received abroad. But still his bachelor’s lifestyle was obviously more interesting for them. Many years ago, one of them even tried to introduce him to her daughter. But, the teacher did not show any interest and behaved quite rudely with Annushka. Despite she is a master of all trades. She was quite good at cooking, not grumpy, and beautiful. Also a widow ... I was not interested in hearing the story about the failed wedding. Far more interesting for me was the house, which bore the imprint of the old owner. One half of it look out onto the church, the other - is buried in giant trees and creat a beautiful cozy corner for solitude with cooler air. The foundation is low, the house is one-level with an attic. Walls are a tree lined with brick, plus warmed outside. In the past white with a gray slate roof. Inside there are 2 rooms, kitchen and shower. In the shady part of the house there is eternal evening. Bulky shelves are on shabby walls. On the floor there is already almost indistinguishable figure, painted with chalk. Carpet in the corner of the room. And nothing more. In the room on the sunny part of the house there are two burnt chairs and a bed from the same set. They are too big and take up two-thirds of the space, so a wooden table got in with difficulty. The drawing on the wallpaper is erased. Above the window there is a large number of stickers with crosses and faces of saints. I felt that strange things were happening here and was so enthusiastic that I decided to live here for a month. I have no obligations to anyone, besides, I am a freelancer. So I will live here and decide to sell this house or not.
On the first night, I felt like someone had to come. Therefore, I could not fall asleep for a long time and listened to how the branches of the trees scratched the window glass and the cat meowing somewhere. In the morning my back hurt between my shoulder blades. What is not surprising, because the bed is old and not very comfortable. I saw a frog on the floor and it surprised me. It was sitting motionless in front of the bed and looked straight at me.
«Hello, darling! You cheered me up. I feel like a witch. I’m sure the day will be good,» - with these words I carried the frog into the yard. The day was slow and slow. White fluffy clouds were so lazy and crawled carelessly across the clear sky. I allowed myself to do nothing, as it should be on vacation. I was walking in the yard and enjoying the silence after the usual city noise. For the next couple of days, nothing unusual happened and I already forgot about the pain in my back, but on the third night I woke up from the fact that I was short of breath. I literally did not have enough air and for a couple of minutes I tried to catch my breath. When it became a little easier for me, I decided to open the window slightly. But heightened back pain did not give me to get out of bed. I crawled from one edge of the bed to the other, slowly rolled from one to the other side, but the pain did not recede and tore apart between the ribs. I was writhing in a fit, until I felt like metal hot forceps were squeezing the ribs from the inside. From this pain I lost consciousness and woke up in the morning on the floor from the fact that a ray of the sun persistently shone in my eyes. And I noticed a locust was sitting motionless nearby. Here’s another! Locust? At some point I decided that I was still sleeping. Everything seemed a bit unreal. It’s like touching objects in a dream, but you don’t feel their density. But no, this was not a dream! And with the hope that the day would pass better than the night - I let locust fly out the window. My back ached, so I decided to warm up and go to the nearest store for groceries. The feeling of unreality of the world did not leave throughout the road. Periodically, I found myself awake in a dream, then I slowed down and walked very carefully. I left the store with a bunch of unnecessary products and went back to the side of the house. On the way, the dog followed me and its barking was a little scared and brought to life. The ordinary pooch, its two-tone face amused me. One half was white, the other was dark gray. Domino. Young and very playful. It was running after me all the way to the house, slightly nibbling on my legs and jumping in front of me. It was giving such happiness and desire to play, that you could not ignore! It was hot outside, so I gave water and fed Domino at home. I thanked for the company and lay down to rest and slept for two hours in a dead sleep. Imagine my surprise when I saw this clever and resourceful mongrel in the yard. Together more fun and I no longer sent it away. Instead, I showed it the house and the whole yard. The next few days I slept quietly under its protection. One evening, while spending time reading a book, I heard a voice, as if someone was talking outside the door. I could not make out the words. I did not give any importance to this, since Domino already felt like a hostess and barked loudly at people passing by. Therefore, I consoled myself with the thought that someone was talking on the phone not near the door, but not far from my windows and my anxiety was in vain. And until the end of my life I will reproach myself for safety, since in the morning I found a dead dog with a gnawed muzzle under the door of the house. I did not hear its barking or its suffering. Perhaps it is not very correct to bury someone right in the yard, but Domino considered this house to be its, so its grave is located near the gate. For me it was symbolic. Maybe after death its spirit will protect the house, and maybe the gate will become a symbol of its transition to another world. Anyway, I worried about events of previous night. What could happen here and what creature was capable to do this? Early in the morning I decided to leave house and therefore I went inside to collect things. It was safe in the house and I was not afraid to stay here for another night. Sadness gradually changed into rage and I screamed! Why I didn’t not save Domino? I scattered things in all directions, which only recently managed to collect, trod on them and threw at the walls. After a time, exhausted by rage, I fell asleep among things and woke up in the middle of the night from the familiar feeling of suffocation. I tried to calm down and take a deep breath, but nothing happened. I became very scared and my heart strove to break out of my chest. As if I was standing on the edge of a high cliff. The next moment, I jumped down and seawater swallowed the body. I did not breathe and heard how my heart beats less and less, and the light fades around me. But this was not the end and it was the beginning. An unknown force pulled me from the next world and I sighed deeply. I could not breathe. There was a feeling of someone’s presence inside me and tremendous power. Risen from the dead, reborn in two worlds. Clear in the darkness. Ancient legends and fears came to life before my eyes. Legion of demons with looks that are not subject to earth logic. Winged, horned, fanged, weightless and vice versa too dense and viscous. Their body parts were connected in unimaginable places. Each religion tried to describe them in its own way, and each was right. Those who are languishing between worlds and eager to get to us through souls, like portals. Keepers and witnesses of the mysteries of the universe. It was their strength that I felt in myself and was part of that power. But this same strength has become my weakness. I could neither eat nor drink. Headaches caused agony, as well as the appearance of the church outside my window. For the first time, I understood their number. Our world was as if enveloped in a church web that prevented the demons from getting to us. And this web caused some kind of pain to all the demonic. The defense itself was not so strong, but in order to break it, the demons must enter this world through souls. Perhaps mine is too small and weak, or there are too many ancients. It’s all the same as trying to get a man through the eye of a needle. But there was a loophole. If earlier they looked through me into this world as if through a window, now they have begun to act. Just a week, not keeping their power, I lost so much that my cheeks and eyes became hollow. I began to resemble a ghost in a dressing gown, increasingly tightening the belt. I spent my last days in the shady courtyard on the garden swing, where I was not afraid to lose myself. Bugs, worms and insects were constantly descending along my hands. But I was all the same. I enjoyed the treetops, the feeling of the wind on my face and the silence. In this silence and gray evening I disappeared forever when my soul died.