Statue of Agony

The black Sedan stopped in front of the huge mansion. Jake couldn't master the courage to ask Ying how she got hold of a Sedan, so he just played along.

"Get moving!" she pulled the brake.

Without hesitation, Jake got out from the car and looked at the mansion bordered by large fields and a fountain at the front. In front of the fountain was a statue, about eight feet tall, made out of cement, resembling a middle-age English Knight, with a cement cape on its back. And in front of the statue was a grandpa with a very big and milky white moustache.

"Uh, hi!" Jake waved his hand, "Mr…Raymond?  I'm Jake, an associate of Ms. Ying…the…exorcist?"

"Cut the crap!" Ying suddenly appeared beside him and said, "Mr. Raymond? We received your call."

The grandpa shook his head, "I've been waiting for you. This way…"

"Nice workmanship!" Jake looked at the statue.

"Yeah, it's been here since I bought the place," said Mr. Raymond, "But the problem lies inside the mansion, not here."

Though his guts feeling told him that the problem was everywhere, but Jake anyways, followed Ying and Mr. Raymond without looking back and if, he did, he would see that the statue's head was slightly displaced from it's initial state and a pair of burning eyes inside its visor.

The mansion was like a royal palace, though not as lavishly decorated as the one of Frank, or Mephistopheles. There was a long hallway and after every few meters there were statues, "Damn…old chap sure likes his monuments!" Jake thought.

Mr. Raymond took them to a large marble built circular staircase which was surrounded by three hallways.

"This one leads to the living room," Grandpa pointed at one, "This one to the kitchen, and this one to the storeroom and basements."

"What about the upper level?" Ying asked.

"Well, there are three bedrooms. One for me and Hannah, the other one for our grand daughter Joanna. The third one was…" he scratched his bald head, "Well, her parents who are…gone."

"Oh," Jake said, "That's sad. Anyways…"

Ying scowled at him, "We're very sorry. That's what he means."

"Wow, so she behaves with me in that way," Jake thought.

"Well, Mr. Raymond," Ying addressed him, "You didn't really tell us about your problems."

"The problems are…centering our, Joanna," A new voice appeared from the first hallway. Looking there, Jake could see a grandma, at her sixties.

"Ah, so you must be Mrs. Raymond?" Ying exclaimed.

"Call me Hannah,, yes…and YOU, must be very hungry!" she called them, "Come, we'll talk over the meals," Then she looked at the upper level and wailed, "Joanna, come down, honey!"

"This way," Mr. Raymond said.

They followed him to the kitchen, which was no less majestic than the rest of the house.

"Couldn't arrange a proper meal for you," Mrs. Raymond said, "So, if you'll excuse us."

"Oh, that's absolutely NO problem!" Jake said, "Butterbuns are my absolute favorites!"

"You called me?" A voice spoke behind him. He looked back and found a very cute fifth grader looking at Mr. and Mrs. Raymond, and for the first time in his life, he regretted not having a younger sister.

"Yes, dear," Mrs. Raymond smiled, "Have a seat. We'll talk to you about the last two weeks."

"Hold on, you've been here for two weeks only?" Jake asked, "But her parents…was it before or after you moved here?"

"Jake!" Ying looked at him with fire in her eyes, "There's a kid here!"

"Don't worry!" Joanna said, "I'm a fifth grader, I understand."

Jake was glad to see his guess was right, "Oh, I'm sorry."

"How was your oarents?" Ying asked her.

"They were SO sweet! They played with me, take me to hiking, make campfire, so many things!" she started to visualize the things she'd done with her parents.

"That's very nice," Ying commented.

"Yeah," Mr. Raymond lowered his voice, "The problem isn't there. We'll talk after the meal."

They didn't speak anymore until the meal ended, only Joanna kept speaking on her parents.

After the food was finished, Mrs. Raymond said, "Joanna, why don't you go to your room and play?"

"Alright, Grandma!" she jumped off her feet and left.

"So, what's the problem?" Jake asked.

Mr. Raymond said, "Two days after we moved here, my son and his wife was found beheaded on their bed."

"WHAT?" Jake exclaimed.

"Yes, the cut was clean," Mrs. Raymond said, "And the autopsy says that they were butchered at the same time. So, no way that one murders another and then commits suicide."

"Holy shit!" Jake exclaimed.

"And- what episodes are your grand-daughter experiencing?" Ying asked.

"Well, surely their death was hard on her," Mr. Raymond said, "But she tried to take it normally, we understood. Afterwards, she started to visit their rooms regularly. There are two small statues of a bride and groom in their room. She says that she likes to visualize their wedding. I asked her often if she wants our presence for safety. But she said that there's no need. The caped crusader will protect her."

"The CAPED CRUSADER?" Jake asked, "What? Is that a reference to Batman?"

"I don't know…" Mrs. Raymond said, "I thought she was fantasizing about the statue outside. But after a few days, she started having nightmares. She screams in her sleep, and when we wake her up, she says…the crusader will take her to the afterlife."

"Then?" Ying asked, "What did you do?"

"I thought that the knight statue was somehow behind this and so I called up some men to break it down. But as soon as one of them hit it, his shovel broke down and it deflected back on his thigh."

"Oh, crap!" Jake said.

"It only worsened the situation, you see?" Mr. Raymond said, "Now she's having nightmares in broad daylight too!"

"So, one thing we're sure off, that the statue is somehow possessed or cursed," Ying said.

"That means if we exorcise the statue, we'll cure this place, right?" Jake asked.

"I think so," Ying got up from her chair, "Jake, you stay here and keep an eye out. I'll go and perform the ritual."

"Alright."

Ying left. Jake turned towards Mr. and Mrs. Raymond, "I'm sure she'll take care of everything. In the meantime, will you show me around?"

"Of course, where first?" Mrs. Raymond asked.

"Well, for starters, let's go to her parents' room, where it all started."

They started through the hallway, then crossed the staircase and advanced on the first floor.

"This is our room," Mr. Raymond pointed at the first door, "The next room is Joanna's and the one at the end of the corridor is the ONE."

"Hmm…seems normal," Jake said, "But never judge a book by it's cover. Let's go see what's inside."

The door was locked. Mrs. Raymond took a key from her waist and opened it. The air of the room was damp and though it was cleaned very well, Jake could still smell dry blood in the air.

"The one is their bed," Mrs. Raymond pointed. The bed was huge and it was clean. They changed the bloodied wears. There was nothing for him to investigate.

He turned back and something caught his eyes. The table at the end of the room, before its legs was a scratching mark on the ground.

"Uh, excuse me, this mark…was the table moved recently?" Jake asked.

"No," Mr. Raymond came closer and had a good look, "Not since we came here."

"Then what is this mark?" Jake asked as he fingered through them, sharp yet blunt. What could cause such marks? If not a table leg?

He followed them back to the wall. He knocked and found that it was not solid.

"Hey, what's in there?" he asked Mr. Raymond.

"Oh, it's just a dumbwaiter," Mr. Raymond answered, "Leads down to the basement."

"Well, what does this BASEMENT contain?"

"Uh…" Raymond cleared his throat, "This mansion belonged to some English nobleman long ago. That statue is its signature. Also, there are eccentric machines of tortures in the basement!"

"What?" Jake couldn't believe his ears.

"Yeah, it's true," Mrs. Raymond said, "He was a collector and used to collect all sorts of antiques."

"Okay, um…" Jake thought for a second, "I need to get down there. Can this dumbwaiter hold my weight?"

"It should," Mr. Raymond opened the wall compartment and showed the machine.

"Alright, let's see if I fit," he got into the dumbwaiter and struggled to get a comfortable position, "It's tight! Anyway, I'll see you in a bit."

"Be safe!" Mrs. Raymond said.

Jake started to pull the wire and got him lower. The machine was rattling, surely it was old and not used for eons. But whatever crept out of here, came through this dumbwaiter.

Suddenly the wire got stuck. Jake pulled it, but it didn't work. He looked above and called, "Hey, Grandpa! It's stuck."

He tried to pull himself back upwards, but it didn't work either. No response came from above. Maybe they'd gone to meet Ying and see what progress she'd done.

He pulled the wire with all his strength and suddenly it snapped. For a split second, he remained mid-air, then he landed back-first on the floor. He groaned, and got out of the dumbwaiter debris.

The air was heavy, it was hard to breathe, and there was pitch bkack darkness. He searched his pockets to find a lighter, then lit a fire. Int hat tiny flame's light, he could see a bit of the abyss he was in.

It was a basement. He wouldn't find any of the torture instruments that the old couple was speaking of. He started walking and suddenly face-bumped into something. The flame went off. He had to light it again and then the first thing he saw gave him jump-scare.

A statue, its face seemed like it was being tortured. The craftsmanship was so nice, the details and everything, that it almost seemed to be alive.

He, like hypnotized, touched the statue and admired it. Instantly, one of its hands grabbed him and said, "It's your fault! YOU killed HANS!"

"No!" Jake mumbled, "I…didn't! I didn't do IT!"

He tried to step back, but stumbled on something and fell back. His leg wired up in some cable which pulled him up right into the air and kept him hanging.

"Whoa!" he tried to stable himself but he was oscillating back and forth like a pendulum. He looked up, that's actually down and made eye-contact with a skull with empty sockets which made him breathe out a long shriek.

He controlled his whimpering and tried to speed down his heart beating. But suddenly a scratching sound froze him. He looked straight at the darkness and lit the lighter. In the dim flame, he could see a dark knight.

The knight was pulling a gigantic claymore made out of cement on the floor. Though it was concrete, but still he could understand its sharpness by seeing the sparks on the floor.

He started wriggling to be free. He thought of burning the ropes that kept him hanging, but the cold touch he could undoubtedly say that they were chains. What type of torture tool WAS it?

The knight was closing in, and his thoughts started to mess up. He'd felt this before, whenever demons were nearby. He tried to pull himself up. But his upper body was feeling heavy. He again made an attempt to grab his legs. The knight grabbed its sword with both hands this time and started to get a swing.

He made one last attempt to grab his legs and succeeded this time. He gave a twist which resulted in a small swing and instantly the concrete claymore hit the chains. Instead of his hand or leg, luckily the chain itself got cut.

As soon as he fell on the floor, he rolled himself and got up on his feet. The knight had already gained his balance and brought the sword down on Jake like a Jackhammer. Jake dodged it at a perfect time and immediately the smash landed before him. Though he dodged the blow, but the shockwave made him fall on the ground.

Luckily Ying had entered the fighting ring from somewhere and threw some sands on the knight's visor. Then she chanted something and the sands started blazing.

"Sands of hell!" Jake screamed, which probably caught Ying's attention for a while and the knight hit her several feet away. Then it brought down the sword on him.

People says that at their last moment all their memories start flooding into their minds. The same started with Jake. Memories of his childhood, Hans and Bill…specially he was missing Bill at this moment, who was trapped in an amulet, currently under Ying's supervision who saw him as a bad company.

Suddenly, his hand flew in the mid-air and blocked the sword with a scythe. He was astonished once more that he'd again used the amulet without Bill's help. Ying was also amazed. But their amazement didn't last long as the knight regained its balance and stroke again. Jake parried the attack and perfectly sliced up the knight's heels piercing the armor. But cutting concrete didn't seem to have hurt it much. He again dodged another attack and sent the visor of the knight flying in the air. Inside he could see a hideous face which scowled and roared at him. Suddenly, a shotgun fired and the face was blasted into hundreds of pieces.

"Huh, got him, didn't I?" Mr. Raymond laughed in the basement's door, "I was a crack-shot once,  you know?"

"Submit yourself!" Ying wailed and punched the demon with an amulet, but the demon suddenly disappeared and the knight became…well, a STATUE.

"What? How did it…" Ying was speechless.

"Damn…how did it flee?" Jake asked, "Wait, what exactly did you do outside?"

"Nothing…" Ying answered, "I performed a ritual which should have woken the demon, but it did nothing…"

"Then, what if…" something cane to Jake's mind, "The demon isn't a statue. But…the statues are simply tools used or…possessed by the demon? I mean…what if, it can jump from statue to statue?"

"If that's it…then the whole house is just his playground," Ying started running, "Hurry up!"

"Wait!" Jake pulled the scythe free and the statue crumbled.

As they advanced towards the upper level, a long shriek came from1st floor.

"You hear that?" Ying asked.

"Joanna," Mr. Raymond said.

They followed the scream to the Master Bedroom, of Joanna's parents'. They hurried there and bumped the door open and saw Joanna on her back, she was looking at the darkness at one corner of the room.

"My dear!" Ying came running towards her and seized her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer, rather she pointed at the darkness. Both Ying and Jake looked there. A moment of silence, then the miniaturized statues of Joanna's parents flew towards them with a horrific scream and landed on Ying's arms. They started to claw her hands. Ying couldn't get free from their small grips. Jake was ready for something like this, so he grabbed his scythe and hit them like baseball, "Homerun, you little devils!"

They flew towards the hearth at one corner of the room. Jake, instinctively took his lighter and threw it there too. Immediately, there was a small blast and it started flaming. Flesh burning smell diffused from the fire and filled the doom, along with an inhuman roar.

"Hey, Ying!" Jake helped her get up, "Are you hurt?"

Ying, without saying anything, pointed at the hearth while holding her head. Jake looked at there and saw a vicious scene. A burning hand came out of the hearth, larger than an average human. Then, another hand, a leg, slowly the whole body emerged from the fire, and the body started mending the fractures and articular dislocations, probably caused by Jake's homerun.

This one was the ugliest demon Jake had ever seen. Clearly, it wss weakened, because as Ying ran towards it and touched the amulet in its chest, it didn't react other than hissing and groaning. Within seconds, it morphed into smoke inside the amulet.

"Whoa!" Jake sighed, "This one was a real pain in the…"

"Joanna!" Mr. and Mrs. Raymond came running, "Honey, you okay?"

"Yep, she'll be okay," Ying said as Joanna shook her head positively.

"Well, she won't be troubled anymore," Jake chuckled, "Unless she becomes a trouble herself."

"Thank you," Mrs. Raymond said, while holding her tightly in her embrace, "Both of you. I don't know how I can ever pay you."

"In cash, I guess," Jake said.

"Of course," Mr. Raymond put his hand in his pocket.

"Jake!" Ying scowled at him.

"It was a JOKE!" Jake laughed, "No, really! We don't need anything."

"All we can say is…" Ying warned them, "Stay out of these STATUE business. These are really NASTY stuff!"

"I promise to get these out of my house at once," Mr. Raymond said.

"Then…" Ying said, "We don't have anything else here, right?"

"Yep, time to say," Jake told them, "So long."

"Bye!" Joanna waved her hand at them.

They started leaving. "I hope she'll be okay," Jake said.

Cho didn't reply.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad to see you can use your powers at your own will now."

"Oh, I could just do it when I heard your call and morphed into air…oh!" Jake understood he'd said more than necessary, "Oops! That came out wrong."

"No, it's alright!" Ying said, "It's time I also shared some secrets with you."

"Secrets? What secrets?"

But Cho didn't answer and got into the car.

"Hey, explain yourself!" Jake grunted, "Uh, she always does that!"