The House - The First Battle

After the stranger left, I was, again, alone in the house. Though mysterious things kept happening, I was not scared. I wasn't even questioning these things. I was simply accepting them as they came. They all seemed quite normal at the time.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by my friends again. I never did learn where they went. I never learned how they left or how they returned. They simply weren't there and then were again. There was no need for discussion. It was just accepted.

As friends often do, we decided to go out. Again, I have no idea where we went or how we got there. I do know that when we returned it was night again . . . and we had "company".

There were no boats in the water, but before we entered the house, we knew they were there. We knew they were waiting for us. We knew that a battle awaited us. We entered anyway.

There they were. The creatures had returned. This time they had dared to enter the house. I don't think they expected us to return while they were there. They seemed genuinely scared at first. They clearly had not been expecting a battle on this night. They recovered quickly though and battle ensued.

This battle was not a typical battle. There were no weapons involved. There were no injuries. There were no deaths. I don't really know how to explain it except like this:

As we walked in, the creatures were taking things of ours - pillows, jackets, blankets, etc. They were hiding them in their pockets or in their shirts. Every time they grabbed onto something that belonged to us, we lost any power. They had a hold over us. We had to wrestle the item away from them. Once we had our item back, they lost their power. It became a battle to see who could hold out the longest. One by one, they realized they were not going to win this battle, and they slowly made their way from the house.

From the description above this does not seem like a very intense battle. Truthfully, I cannot put into words just how difficult this battle truly was. It only took a matter of minutes to describe this event, but it actually lasted for hours. There are no words to describe the anguish and sweat and tears that were poured out during this battle. It was a battle unlike any I've seen or experienced before or since.

When the battle was over, when every creature had returned to the place from where it had come, I looked around me. I was alone again. My friends were all gone. I don't know if they won this battle and went "home" or if they lost and went with the creatures. All I know is that there was no one else in the house with me. For long . . .