The gravel crunched under the shoes, as they climbed the slope that led to the old spa of Oropa Bagni, a century before it was a renowned holiday destination, but now it was a gloomy abandoned place ...
The moon in a clear sky illuminated the building of light left, had already suffered three fires, little remained of the first three floors, but the fourth, apart from the roof was still accessible and was their goal that night, the stairs were entirely collapsing the only way to reach it was to climb, James, Pablo and Sarah stopped to smoke a cigarette at the foot of the building.
"Are you afraid?" Said Pablo to Sarah "Less than you!" She replied, the three burst out laughing nervously.
They entered the ground floor by lighting the torches, they had already been there by day, but now it had a strange effect in the dark, on the walls drawings and graffiti praising Satan, traces of bonfires here and there,
it was said that black masses were held there and probably not rightly ...
In what had once been the thermal baths they suddenly saw something move ...
James aimed the flashlight ... a doll without a head hanging from the window, a pentacle was engraved on the chest, Pablo picked up an object from the floor, the doll's head looked at it from its empty sockets. "Buh!" He said, turning to Sarah "the evil one is among us" he said with a laugh ...
Pablo decided to climb where once there had been stairs, while from below the others were shining, having reached the second floor with the torch lit the long corridor, which faced him in front, the wind blew through the ravines and in the ghostly silence it seemed a moan, for a moment he shivered ... as if something had passed by him ...
"James, Sarah! come on !! "He screamed to reassure himself ... no answer ..." James don't be an asshole by !!! ". Petrified he waited to hear noises that revealed their presence "James! You son of a bitch, where the fuck are you? "... Finally he heard footsteps" Here I am, here I am! We heard noises below! "
As soon as they were up, Pablo retorted them. "What the fuck comes to mind !!" "Come on Pablo, spring there, I told you why," James replied scornfully.
They continued the inspection at the end of the unsafe corridor and found a large hall with long tables, probably the reception hall, James took the penknife and engraved the initials on one of the tables, the dust was thick a finger and the brush with the palm of the hand creating a whirlwind of dust in the light of the torches, Pablo meanwhile looked around, James laughed and the voice echoed in the living room, Pablo turned to look at him wondering why he was always dragged into the mess by that madman, smiling in turn.
The third floor was very unsafe, we had to be careful ... the floor was full of chasms, Sarah tried to open a door and fell into a cascade of rubble, then they decided to go up to the last one, Pablo went up and leaned against a beam, but this gave way under his weight, fortunately he managed to grab a safer grip while remaining suspended in the air.
While the debris rolled noisily in the void James shouted "All right Pablo!?!"
With difficulty he gained the plan by swearing, he was a little sore but safe.
On the fourth floor there were bedrooms, some had upholstery that peeled off, under it some sheets of newspaper, Pablo tore off a piece ... the date indicated "July 21, 1884" made him laugh ... from the writing on walls, it could be deduced that the last visitors up there, dated back to a decade earlier, when the last fire had caused the stairs to collapse.
In a closet they found mattresses and laid out a couple of them on the floor to make them more comfortable.
James pulled out the beers from his backpack and then began to tell his favorite story to Sarah, Pablo knew it by heart ...
He talked about a group of kids who had entered a cemetery at dusk, they had gone down to the dovecotes where the ossuary was, someone in the narrow corridor had started to scream and in panic they started running, the smallest of them he had been left behind and when he was about to leave he had felt himself behind him. When the others realized that they were missing, they went back to look for him and found him entangled in the cemetery gate, dead from fright ...
Amused by the effect that history had made on Sarah, he went on to say how once unearthing the coffins they found corpses with strands of hair in their hands because they were buried in an apparent state of death and awakened in the tomb they were mad with terror of being buried alive ...
"Stop it now!" Said Sarah, standing up abruptly, but her foot gave out and sank into the rotten wooden floor, Sarah pulled her bloody ankle, watering with pain.
Pablo lit up the crack and something sparkled inside ... while James checked Sarah's foot, he extracted a medallion and a yellowed photograph from the crack, immortalized a 5-year-old girl and four faded letters on the back: "Teha" ...
The strange find made her forget the pain for a moment, as she instinctively took the golden medallion and put it around her neck.
Suddenly an icy wind blew into the room and he felt himself enveloped by a whirlwind of forces ... he seemed to hear voices too, then everything vanished by magic, he looked at the other two that seemed not to have noticed anything.
They decided to go down and as she struggled to put her foot down they had to help her on the descent.
Sarah that night began to make strange nightmares, she dreamed of the child of the photo she was trying to talk, but her dialogue was silent, then her face changed to turn into a horrible mask for she jumped in the bed waking up out of breath.
Sarah lived alone and when she came back she found everything so messy as if the thieves had been there.
One night he woke up, opened his eyes and saw her, he floated on his head, the blood was so cold in his veins ...
"You must find me Sarah!" He said "I hid! Ha ha ha, look for me! "
When Sarah went to him, Pablo told her he had done some research. Down at the library he had found something interesting, going back to the newspapers of the time he had discovered about the disappearance of the child, it had never been found and the painful mother had committed suicide by throwing herself right from the roof of the baths, by mutual agreement the three decided to contact a psychic to communicate with Teha.
The room was lit by candles, a large mirror reflected their image, sitting at the table with their hands together.
The medium invoked her spirit guide, the flame of the candles swayed slightly, the woman fell into a trance, when she raised her face she began to speak with a masculine voice: "I am Gail and I have drowned, here we are many, but there is one of us who wants to talk ... "The medium rolled her eyes and a thread of drool ran down her chin ... then with a child's voice she said:" Sarah ... come find me! Mom hid me ... I'm still there at the big house ... I'm waiting for you ... I want to play with you! ".
The spirit left the woman who fainted exhausted, the three looked at each other stunned, as soon as the medium had recovered they asked her to accompany them to the spa.
The Medium didn't feel calm, she had accepted to find the child, but as they approached the ruined building she felt the evil around her, she was crossed by negative vibrations and when she tracked down the place where he was buried the body would have wanted to prevent herself from revealing it and instead he had a marble slab removed from the fountain ...
Pablo and James, equipped with tools, began to dig and about a meter underground, James stuck into something metallic, it was a wrought iron case.
They knocked the padlock that sealed it and opened it all back out of amazement-horror, a small little body interned, chained with a cross on her chest, crumbled to dust in contact with the air.
The medium felt that the evil forces were coming from the chest and in the effort to remedy she lowered herself on the chest, but a sharp pain stopped her ...
James looked at her as she fell on herself, the voice had said "Kill her!" And now her pickaxe was stuck in the woman's back, she took the crucifix from the chest and threw it away.
Sarah witnessed the scene as if it were a bad dream, her two friends were now digging like pots in the hole where the child's body was to bury the medium.
While they were busy, he noticed a diary in the box and made it disappear under his clothes.
When they returned home he waited for the others to go away and rushed to the parish priest,
it was the middle of the night and it took a while for Don Ivano to figure out who he was at that hour ... "What's up, daughter, to wake me up in the middle of the night?" the priest asked sleepily "I need to confess!" said Sarah ...
Don Ivano reluctantly dressed and still sleepy headed for the church, followed by Sarah, the statues of saints and martyrs, staring at her in the darkness with an accusatory air, Christ from the top of his cross seemed to want to strike her with his eyes.
He sat in the confessional and began to tell the whole story, knowing that everything he told him would be covered by the confessional secret.
The stunned priest didn't know whether to believe her and when he finished confessing her, Sarah showed her the diary.
They opened it on the first page, it was very ruined and it was difficult to decipher the writing from the worn pages ... the diary was Teha's mother, a certain Jolanda, they began to read ...
7 November 1881
Teha begins to show signs of recovery, since we moved here to the spa, its asthma has benefited a lot, even the seizures of epilepsy to which it is periodically subjected seem to have subsided, that God wants a way to be found heal my baby, I pray every night for this to happen ...
... other pages ... insignificant notes ... and then ...
November 15th
I'm desperate! Teha has moved away from her guardian. This afternoon they were walking in the woods and in a moment of distraction she disappeared from her sight, we had to look for her until evening, then when we had already lost hope she returned, who knows how she managed to find her way again?
Tonight he had convulsions, probably because of the fright, I put her to bed with a high fever, he had a strange medallion around his neck, when I tried to take him off with all his strength ...
18 November
Since she has recovered from the feverish state, I no longer recognize her, there is a strange light in her eyes ... If I said it to someone they would take me for crazy, but I no longer recognize my Teha.
Today I surprised her as she tortured the newborn kittens of our cat, she was soaked with their blood and looked at me defiantly, I started screaming and I was about to slap him, but her gaze made me give up, my arm got stuck ... what's going on ???
19 November
The keeper's dogs were found killed, probably poisoned, I don't dare think she was still my baby! ... maybe I'm the one who's going crazy!
November 23rd
Yet another victim, oh my God! drowned!
They found her this morning in one of the thermal baths, she left two lines in which she declared she wanted to do it over, everyone believes this thesis except me! ... it was you, her or the creature that owns it ... I have to do something ...
25 November
Tonight while she was sleeping I smothered her with a pillow, it wasn't a murder, it was no longer my Teha, it was a devil being only capable of hurting !!! God have mercy on me! I had to do it.
If someone finds this diary, he will know of my crime, I only hope that the evil that possessed her died with her ... and now that the devils of hell are coming too and let me sink with them ... me petty, that I have done! I killed her ... she was just a child ...
Don Ivano looked up from his diary and looked at Sarah: "This would be the medallion? "He said staring at her neck," sssi ... "Sarah said ...
Touching it the priest had the impression that he was burning in his hands "we must go and look for your friends!" He said.
They headed for Pablo's apartment. The door was ajar ... they came in feeling the water running in the bathroom ... a bottle of whiskey spilled on the floor ... water in the tub, red with blood, Sarah tried to shake Pablo by calling him, but Don Ivano stopped her , there was nothing left to do, he fixed his wrists cut to the severed tendons, those eyes looked at him without life, he closed them in a pitiful act.
James lived with his family, his house was lit up at two in the morning, they entered ...
a trail of blood ran on the floor and ended up in the kitchen ... there above the stove James's mother lit, I better what remained of it ... her head sizzled charred on the fire with her eyeballs erupted, Sarah felt his stomach go up at the throat and vomited leaning against the wall, the priest moved the battered body covering it with the tablecloth, took a knife from the drawer, if James was at home they would have needed to defend themselves, helped Sarah get up and walked to the living room where the TV was buzzing, a figure slept in the armchair in front of it, slept?
As they approached they saw that it was James's father, a second mouth opened on his throat, but this much larger one started from ear to ear, the splashes of blood covering the entire wall.
They went upstairs, watching wary in the rooms, everything was still in an unreal silence,
Sarah followed the priest holding the raised knife ready to strike, no trace of James ...
Don Ivano lifted the telephone receiver to call the police, but the telephone was silent, he noticed the severed wire hanging down, the cell phones remained in the car.
As soon as he went out into the garden Don Ivano found himself in front of James, holding an ax, his eyes were nothing human, he raised an arm to block the blow and the blade entered the flesh to the bone, the excruciating pain made him lower his guard and was struck again, the ax cut off an ear by sticking it on his shoulder.
Sarah stared at the dazed scene, searching desperately for a weapon, her gaze fell on a pitchfork, tried to reach him while James finished the priest.
"Sarah! what do you want to do, I'm James, your friend remember? "He said, but the voice he heard was not that of James, a shrill chilling voice, with a jerk he put it in his stomach, while he was pouncing on her, James put his hands to the astonished wound, but then grinningly he slipped away the pitchfork and began to chase Sarah, who had meanwhile climbed into the car and tried to start the engine.
He knocked out the window and tried to stop her, but she managed to start, then threw herself in pursuit with her car, "you have to kill her !!!" the voice "kill her! Kill her!" Kept repeating.
The tires screeched on the asphalt, he was now at his ribs, Sarah was trying to do her best to escape, but James's car was much faster, he came alongside him in the curve trying to slam it off the road, he was about to succeed when from the curve a lorry emerged.
The driver could not avoid the impact and swept James's car down to a twisted pile of sheets.
Sarah ran to the wrecked car, James lay lifelessly crushed inside the car ... then he heard that voice ... he called it ... it was in the woods ... and he started running into the clearing ...
END
(Story written in 2001)
