04 Miller Family

Maxwell Miller should have been living in paradise. After so many years of struggle, he managed to buy his house. His wife, his children, they were all radiant.

He still remembered the joyful laughter of the children as they renovated the house. Playing in the large backyard, his wife even cried tears of joy that night.

His new house, new life, should have been filled with happy laughter and happiness. But it wasn't like that.

After Thanksgiving, things changed. Madeline, his eldest daughter, woke up in the middle of the night, screaming that someone had broken into her room.

Maxwell quickly grabbed his trusty shotgun and entered Madeline's room, but there was nothing. The door he had broken earlier was locked, the window tightly closed. There was no way anyone could have gotten in.

Maxwell turned to scold his daughter, but seeing her pale face and trembling hands, he decided to let his wife have this conversation.

The week passed without incident until the weekend arrived. Katherine, his wife, woke up in the middle of the night to get some water, and Maxwell heard her scream. Once again, he ran with his shotgun, but there was nothing in the kitchen or the house. All the doors were locked, all the windows tightly closed.

"I-I saw... a man. He was wearing a strange hat. He was next to the fridge. He laughed at me, Max, he was here!" Katherine said, sobbing.

It took a long time for Maxwell to calm Agatha, but he managed. 'She's just tired and stressed from work,' he rationalized.

He was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Two weeks passed without major issues. One night, after arriving late, the sky was already dark, and it was a moonless night, with no clouds.

As he stood in front of his house, he saw, in his youngest son's room, a shadow. There was a top hat, a hunched figure.

Maxwell ran as fast as he could, dropping whatever was in his hands, leaving the car running. His daughters and wife were in the living room, watching TV.

He didn't speak to anyone, just went straight to Maxwell Junior's room, his three-year-old son. There was no one there, but his son seemed to be talking to someone, laughing joyfully.

Maxwell didn't sleep that night.

He heard giggling in the hallway on the first floor of the house. Thinking it was his son, he went to send him back to bed.

In the dark hallway, he saw his son playing. "Junior, you know you shouldn't be here. Let's go back to bed."

Junior laughed and ran downstairs. Maxwell stopped in the middle of the stairs. That wasn't his son. It couldn't be. The thing moved, twisted. Eyes. So many eyes. All staring at him.

"Daddy, let's play..." The creature said, its voice twisted like hundreds of children speaking at once.

When the voice reached Maxwell's ears, he heard heavy footsteps behind him. His eyes were wide, his fists clenched. He turned abruptly.

"What are you doing, Dad?" Madeline asked while rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"N-nothing. Go back to bed and lock your door," Maxwell said, trying to sound as natural as possible, but judging by Madeline's expression, he didn't succeed. He briefly hugged his daughter, kissed her forehead, and escorted her to her room.

'What was that thing? What's happening?'

For the next few days, Maxwell didn't have a good night's sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that thing.

That creature kept repeating the same phrase amid distorted laughter. "Daddy, let's play!"

______

The following week, the exorcists arrived, asked questions, looked over the whole house, leaving nothing untouched.

They prayed, spread holy water around, and then asked the family to leave the house.

When they returned later that day, there were dozens of crosses in the living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and even the bathroom. Each room now had a Bible.

It worked.

No nightmares, no whispers, no figure in the house.

They celebrated Christmas as a family, and the year quickly ended with joy returning and fear becoming a thing of the past. No one wanted to remember what happened.

No one wanted to think about what those things were or why past events happened. They simply selectively forgot, refusing to even think about the past.

One year passed, and soon another began. To celebrate, Maxwell took the money he had saved up and took his entire family to the amusement park.

They had a great time, but it could have been better if it weren't for the strange looks he received for being a white man married to a black woman.

However, when they returned home that night, their joy faded.

All the crosses were turned upside down. Red liquid was dripping from every family portrait in the house. The Bibles were all piled up near the stairs upstairs, burning.

Maxwell's eyes lost their light. His despair knew no bounds. His children cried in the background while Katherine tried to hold back tears to comfort them.

Maxwell could hear his heartbeat, his blood pulsing through his veins. Everything else was muffled by a faint buzzing.

They had no money to move. No relatives to ask for shelter. They didn't even have money to rent a hotel room for a night.

'Monsters exist. And they feed on human despair.' That was Maxwell's last coherent thought before he collapsed.

_____

Alexander looked out the window of his car. It was a house built at the turn of the 20th century or the late 19th century. The house was a beautiful red country house, with large windows on the first floor. On the lower level, there was a large porch with comfortable chairs, typical for spending time with family.

There was a large garden with various flowers. Alexander felt a little bitter seeing the garden, remembering his mother who abandoned them shortly after the events in 1965.

In the car in front, Joseph and Mary, with their assistant, had already found a place to park. Alexander parked farther from the house.

"I'm not taking the risk of something being in there and ruining my car. Take my life, but leave the car. It was expensive," he murmured.

Getting out of his black Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda, he nodded with satisfaction, before adjusting the wrinkles in his suit from the long trip and grabbing his briefcase.

He arrived just in time to see the Miller family opening the door. 'They don't look well at all...' he thought.

Looking at the father of the family, Maxwell Miller, according to the documents, the man looked completely exhausted and defeated. He was pale, with deep bags under his eyes, and his gaze darted around as if looking for something.

He glanced briefly at the beautiful woman beside Maxwell. She would certainly be stunning at her best, but at that moment, she looked completely ill. 'Katherine Miller, 35 years old, born and raised in New York.' She was tall, with dry, poorly kept curly hair, clothes that were clearly dirty, and wide eyes, standing a step behind her husband.

Looking briefly inside the house, Alexander could see the couple's children. A teenager, two pre-teens, and a cute little boy who had his hand over his mouth.

"Mr. Miller? We spoke on the phone a few times this past month," Joseph said as he extended his hand, a friendly smile on his face.

Alexander saw Mr. Miller regain his composure as he handed his shotgun to his wife with a tired smile. Katherine smiled back and put the shotgun away before quickly returning to her children.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Miller, Mrs. Miller. We wish the situation were different, but we promise to do our best to help," Mary said with a sweet smile.

Soon, the introductions were made.

Joseph and Mary Black would be the lead investigators, while Henry Thompson, the young assistant of the couple, would be the one keeping an eye on the equipment that was brought in the van.

Alexander would investigate separately. He really didn't want to get involved with the curse tormenting the Black couple. He was also a qualified exorcist, which would be essential in an emergency case.

On the Miller family side, there was father Maxwell, mother Katherine, eldest daughter Madeline, middle children Jason and Megan, and the youngest, Maxwell Junior.

Alexander looked at the couple's children with a smile as they made their way to the living room. Madeline looked like her father, with brown hair, light brown eyes, and fair skin. While Jason and Megan looked like their mother, with dark skin and vibrant dark eyes, and little Junior seemed like the perfect mix of both.

Madeline and Megan were looking at Alexander strangely, as if they were in front of Elvis Presley himself. He ignored them, however, choosing to listen to the adults' conversation and respond to their questions.

"Two groups of exorcists from different churches have already been to our house, Mr. Black. So, forgive my skepticism about your methods," Katherine said in a low voice.

"Mrs. Miller, we use technology to our advantage to help in our investigation. From your statements, the main events happened on the second floor and on the stairs, correct?" Mary asked, and it was Maxwell who nodded in confirmation.

"We'll place heat and motion sensor cameras in the hallway on the second floor, but also in the stairs and at the entrance of every room in the house, excluding the bedrooms. We'll also, with your permission, investigate the house for anything that could harbor a supernatural creature," Mary continued with a determined look on her face.

"Our main priority right now is to understand what we're dealing with. Once we figure that out, it will be easier to expel the evil that corrupts the sanctity of your home," Joseph said with a reassuring smile.

"And if…" Maxwell started, his voice low and broken. "And if this investigation attracts the wrath of this 'thing'? And if this creature from hell wants to end us?"

Joseph and Mary looked at Alexander, and he knew this was his moment. He calmly removed the gloves from his hands and handed the crosses over to the couple, who had an intrigued expression on their faces.

"Mr. and Mrs. Miller, you don't need to worry about the wrath of this supernatural being. I am an exorcist, tested and approved by one of the greatest exorcists in our country. If there are any complications, rest assured that I will use my entire arsenal to deal with the creature," Alexander said with a completely expressionless face.

'I can handle any creature… except demons, greater demons, incarnated evil… did I mention demons?' Alexander's expressionless face was nothing more than a mask.

He didn't have nerves of steel. He only agreed to be trained after seeing the astronomical amount of money Jason made each year and the reduced taxes.

He wasn't working for the good of the world, for some misguided sense of justice, or anything like that. It was purely for the money. He had simply forgotten that his life would be at risk more often than he was comfortable with.

Maxwell seemed unconvinced, Katherine clung to any shred of hope for future stability, and the children were more interested in the living room and the TV.

Joseph and Mary explained how things would proceed for the day. Two investigative teams would be formed.

Joseph and Mary would start investigating from the attic to the basement, while Alexander would go from the basement to the attic simultaneously. If Alexander missed any important details, the Black couple could catch them, and vice versa.

Maxwell excused himself for the day. He seemed completely exhausted. This entire case had been an overwhelming source of stress for him, even causing him to lose his job at the bank. As small as it was, it still gave him some sense of security, and now, that too was gone, leaving him to succumb to his exhaustion.

Katherine would accompany the Black couple, while Madeline, the eldest daughter of the Miller family, would join Alexander.

_______

Madeline had spent most of her life in New York. She had seen countless people. Men and women, tall and short, white and black. People with scars, strange eyes, heavyset, skinny… an endless variety of individuals.

But she had never seen someone as beautiful as this in her entire life.

The 'Exorcist Godoy,' as he had introduced himself, was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. He was tall, much taller than her father. He dressed impeccably, with his dark hair perfectly combed, a tailored suit, and an absurdly gorgeous face. But to her, what stood out the most were his eyes. Golden eyes, like blazing flames.

"Miss Miller?" Alexander called softly.

Madeline snapped out of her daydream and realized she had been staring at him intensely for far too long. "Y-yes?"

"Shall we get started?" he asked.

"Of course! Please, follow me," she said, quickly turning her flushed face away.

While Alexander examined every detail in the basement—closed boxes, behind the washing machines, the shelves—Madeline eagerly tried to make conversation.

"Mr. Godoy, how old are you?" she asked, playing with a strand of her hair.

"I just turned 19," he replied without looking at her.

"That's cool. I'll be 18 this year..."

She persisted, tirelessly, searching for a common topic between them.

But even after a long time, she couldn't manage to hold a proper conversation.

Once everyone regrouped, Alexander went to speak with the Black couple to discuss what both teams had found.

Madeline, however, didn't care about what they were talking about. Her eyes remained fixed on Alexander.

She had completely forgotten that she was being tormented by some creature that shouldn't exist by any logic. She didn't care that her earlier attempt at flirting had failed.

She was determined to achieve her goal!