Chapter 6

Sunday passed without any particular occasions, and Lena could take a walk around the town peacefully, without even looking behind her every five minutes. She noticed a police officer patrolling the area not far from her home, but generally all seemed safe. Even at night no one disturbed her, and she was more than happy about it.

The next day she went to work to the grocery store, as usual, and nothing seemed out of ordinary. But around the afternoon time she decided to switch on a small TV set in her office, just to hear the news. But what she saw and heard made the blood in her veins turn cold. The TV screen showed a female reporter standing in front of a familiar house. Lena recognized it at once – it was the same house on Floyd Street that she was sent to by Bughuul some days ago. And on both sides of the woman several police cars were visible.

It has finally happened, - Lena thought to herself and turned the volume up a bit so she could hear every detail.

"Yesterday, on Sunday 23rd, a family of three people was brutally murdered in their own house on 12 Floyd Street. Brian Hayes, 45, his wife, Mary, 40, and their daughter, eleven-year old Claire, were killed with gun shots into their heads, and their son, twelve-year old Daniel, is nowhere to be found. Parents and their daughter were found on the floor in the living room, tied with ropes and with a bullet in their foreheads. Looks like the Beretta M9 .22 LR handgun was used as a murder weapon. It's said that this case eerily reminds of several family murders that happened before, which include the elimination of a whole family and the disappearance of one of their child. Police is conducting the investigation, but no more details are yet known."

Lena switched off the TV set and turned away from it. So this demonic creep claimed another victim. This time he forced a twelve-year old boy to shoot his family with a handgun before taking him away. She wondered what Bughuul was up to now. Will he make her fetch the "Home movies" box again from the crime scene at night? Or does he have any other plans for her? Lena had no idea what to think now. All she knew that at this moment she needed to talk to deputy about this case. So she pulled out the cell phone from the pocket of her jacket and dialled his number.

"Hello?" a male voice answered.

"Hello, deputy? It's Lena Firth speaking."

"Oh, Ms. Firth? Glad to hear you," deputy really seemed glad to hear her, judging by his voice. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm ok," Lena said. "But… I've just heard the news on TV… Another family has been murdered, right?"

"Yes, unfortunately," deputy sighed sadly. "It was totally unexpected, but it seems that this creep did it again. By the way, how are things going by you? Any occurrences?"

"No, from my side nothing," Lena replied. "Although it's kinda strange. He seemed to be following me at first, but then he decided to switch for someone else."

"Yeah, I noticed that. But I haven't got a single doubt that he's behind the murder again. Just like with the Stevensons, just like with the Oswalts. And now the Hayes family have suffered the same fate." Deputy coughed and continued: "And the worst thing is that if I try to explain it to my colleagues or the sheriff, they won't buy the story for sure. I will be laughed at. They would say they need just facts, and not some myths and legends."

"Understandable. No one would believe in all this otherworldly stuff unless they face it themselves. Moreover, as I see, this Bughuul attacks totally unexpectedly. I mean, you can never know who and when will fall victim to him. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are," deputy agreed. "Only Mr. Oswalt was the first one to begin complaining about some weird stuff in his house, but he moved to a crime scene on purpose, you know. He knew about the Stevensons, and he also discovered that these crimes were connected to occultism. But before him no one had any complaints about anything strange. At least, not to my knowledge."

"I see. Alright, deputy, I'm not going to distract you from your duties, and I have to get back to work too," Lena said. "When I heard about the new case, I just… I felt I had to talk to you about it. Now I feel better."

"But of course, anytime," deputy replied. "Have a nice day."

"Thanks, same to you," Lena smiled, more to herself, and hanged the phone.

On the one hand, Lena felt a bit relieved after she talked to the deputy. But on the other hand, her own conscience didn't give her full peace of mind. The demon destroyed another family and claimed another child victim, and she knew about his plans. She could have warned the deputy and thus prevent the new crime, but she couldn't do that. Bughuul held her like in some kind of iron shackles, and she did not dare to disobey. He has gained power over her, and she could do nothing about it. But Lena was sure that she was also partially responsible for this particular crime, but not at her own will, of course.

Returning home, she did the usual routine as always before going to bed, like having supper and taking a shower. Often she liked to watch some interesting film before going to bed, but this time she had no mood for that. Some inner voice whispered to her that exactly this evening something was going to happen, but what? Lena had no idea, but in the same moment when she finished washing the dishes, she heard a strange sound, like fast clicking of some sort. The young woman listened carefully and realized that it was coming from upstairs. Lena slowly went upstairs, trying to understand where exactly the sound was coming from, and the closer she approached to her bedroom, the louder the sound became. It meant that somebody of something was in her room. But how was that possible if all the windows and doors were locked from the inside? Then in suddenly dawned on her: no one else was capable of such things but one being. Bughuul.

So he decided to let her know about himself now, just as Lena expected – after another deadly ritual of his. She opened a door a bit and noticed that her room was illuminated by a faint, flickering light. Then she finally opened it wide, and there was the demon himself, standing at her desk, behind the chair that she usually sat in when working with her laptop. And the light was eradiated by a working projector on the desk, the same one from the "Home movies" box.

"There you are, Lena," the demon said in an obviously satisfied voice.

"Well, hello there," she replied. "It sounds to me you're satisfied with the result of your actions, aren't you?"

"Oh yes," Bughuul laughed.

"So, what's your pleasure this time?"

"This time… This time, I think it's time for you to get introduced to the whole matter," he said. Lena tilted her head in confusion until Bughuul pointed to the chair in front of him. "Sit down."

The woman did as she was told and sat down into the chair. Looking on her left, she noticed a few film cases near the projector, and one of them was empty, the one labelled "Pool Party '66". From that she deduced that the particular film was inside the projector. Bughuul then pressed one of the buttons on the projector, and the film began. And when that happened, Lena felt both his hands lie on her shoulders. She wondered why he was holding her like that, not like she was going anywhere, but decided to keep quiet.

The tape they were watching now was dated as the earliest of the available ones. In it, a friendly family scene was shown, after which the same family was seen, taped onto pool chairs with ropes tied to them. An unseen figure pulled then each family member into the pool until they drowned. In the end, Bughuul could be seen in the water after the whole family was underwater.

Right here the tape ended. Lena watched it with her eyes wide from horror and sat in her spot like hypnotized while the demon changed the tapes, putting the next one into the projector. This one had the name "BBQ '79", in which the family, after spending good time during barbecue, was seen chained inside their own car, which was parked in their own garage. The unseen figure set the car on fire, and Bughuul could be briefly seen in the picture, which could be spotted by the side of the car. Lena realized that this one was from Sacramento, she remembered the deputy mentioning a family burned in their own garage. And then there was this symbol on the car hood, the one from the photos that she had seen.

The next tape carried the name "Lawn Work '86" and showed another family, seen in a living room through the window from outside, followed by an episode that showed rainy weather at night, and a lawn mower being pushed by an unseen person is pushed up to a family tied up on the ground being run over by an unseen person, killing them.

At this moment, when the mower was pushed on a first person, Lena turned away abruptly, not wanting to see this bloody mess on the screen. But right then she felt Bughuul's hand on her head that turned it back to the screen.

"Did I allow you to turn away?" he asked with a hint of a snicker in his voice.

"I don't want to see that," Lena said, covering her eyes. "This is disgusting."

"Of course, you do, no need to lie to yourself," the demon continued, putting the hand back on her right shoulder. "You are much stronger than that. I know it, and you know it perfectly. Now, where were we?"

While he changed the tapes again, Lena thought things over, realizing that no matter how disgusting these scenes were, the other part of her wanted to see it all, and even was curious about the many ways a human being can be murdered. This is what Bughuul obviously liked about her, and he knew for sure what to choose and why.

The tape with a name "Sleepy Time '98" depicted the murders of a family in St. Louis. They were seen, strapped down to their beds, and the unseen person slit their throats with a knife. These were the Millers, so much Lena remembered from the deputy's story. This scene was more or less bearable, like the one with the pool or even the burning. The "Family Hanging Out '11", in turn, showed the events with the Stevenson family, the ones that were hanged in the back yard. Four members of a family were tied to a tree branch with nooses, but their feet were still on the ground. An unseen figure cut another branch that was supporting the family, which pulled them upward, killing them. And in the background of the last frame, Bughuul could be seen among the bushes in the distance, watching the scene.

As deputy had said before, this was the same house where Ellison Oswalt moved in on purpose with his family not knowing about it. His goal was to write a book about the family whose death Lena had just witnessed. But his dream did not come true, and in the result this fatal mistake had cost him dearly. And the result of this mistake was seen in the "House Painting '12" tape. In the footage Lena saw Ellison Oswalt himself with his wife and son, lying on the floor in a living room, with their hands and feet tied with a sticky tape, and their mouths taped up as well. But when the family was chopped into pieces, Lena couldn't help but close her eyes. Dismemberment was what she really disliked of all the acts of violence. The movie also included the paintings Ashley made out of her family's blood in the hallway of their home. Although this scene with the walls painted in blood indeed looked terrifying, Lena had to admit that it charmed her with its macabre beauty.

And now, the last one. This was obviously the new tape, depicting the murder that happened just yesterday, and it carried a symbolic name, "Home shooting gallery '12". This time Lena watched as a man, a woman, and a young girl were sitting on the floor in a row, supporting their backs against the wall, and all three were tied with ropes and had their mouths taped up in a similar manner the Oswalt family had. The film was silent, like the all the rest, but it was clear when each person got shot, like a target in a shooting gallery, as a bloody bullet hole appeared in the forehead of every family member: the first was father, then the mother, and the last was the daughter. And here the footage ended.

Lena rubbed her temples, trying to digest all what she had just seen. Bughuul has just showed her how each family died, and all the grisly murders were recorded. But why had the police never found these tapes?

"Is that all?" she asked in a tired voice.

"Just a little addition," Bughuul replied, taking one more tape from an old envelope labelled "Extended Cuts". Now Lena finally saw all the truth: the extra tapes revealed that the "unseen" individuals were actually the "missing" children. In these extended endings, each child came into frame after committing the murder, moved close to the camera and silently held one finger up to their mouth.

Lena already wasn't too much surprised by this, as Bughuul had explained to her before, how his "rituals" work. She just didn't expect to see it all with her own eyes, let it be just on a tape. She has just watched a series of real snuff films.

"All right, so…" she sighed finally, turning her head to face the demon standing behind. "Why did you show me all of this?"

"As I said before, I wanted to introduce you to the whole matter," he explained, not without his sinister laugh.

"What for? And what does it all mean?"

Bughuul put one hand on her left shoulder and walked to stand in front of her. He bent down to look right into Lena's face closely and whispered:

"It means that you will be the one to record the next ritual."