They flowed down the walls somehow, their shapes pushing beneath the wallpaper and making it stretch before going back with no sign of what had just passed beneath it. The moving bulges slowly worked their way to where the wallpaper met the baseboard, and there they pulled themselves out into the room like decaying toothpaste being squeezed from a tube. I have trouble remembering this, I think because my mind couldn’t really understand what it was seeing, but in a matter of moments, they were standing before me even as the other man was approaching me slowly.

“Easy now. It’s better if you don’t fight. Just give up and it will be easier. Promise.” His mouth twisted into a cruel smile at the last part, and the next moment I was dashing back through the house with the goal of either finding Melanie or making it out the back door to get help. I never should have come here alone, I never…

And then I woke up to my sister drowning.

****

I think she had been dead for the last two jugs worth of their rancid eggnog concoction, my screaming and tears during the last few minutes having pushed me into a kind of exhausted stupor. I felt burned out, used up, and for the moment I didn’t care what they did. I deserved it for letting Melanie die. But when the man touched my chin gently, I jerked back in surprise, and looking up at his somber expression, I felt a new wave of anger and hatred filling me.

“You motherfucker. I’ll fucking kill you for what you did.” I looked behind him to where the two monsters were gently wiping Melanie off like they were apologetically cleaning up a spill. “Don’t you fucking touch her, you fucking freaks!”

The man tapped my chin lightly, and when I looked back up, his gaze was hard. “Don’t be rude to my parents. They meant your sister no harm. We’re only doing what we have to, and you’re the one that brought her into this.”

I gritted my teeth. “That’s a lie. I told her not to come here.”

He nodded, a small smile passing over his face. “That’s true. But while I’m not special like they are yet, they have passed along a few tricks and talents.” The last few words sounded like my voice, and my widening eyes brought the smile back. “None of us wanted to trick her or hurt her. We don’t want to hurt you either. But we need you to believe.”

I shook my head slowly. “You’re insane. Believe? Believe in what? God?”