Fighting Malevolent Spirits: A Demonologist's Darkest Encounters by Samantha E. Harris

I didn’t want him to let those memories ever ruin him. He was so strong and brave and I knew he could make it through anything. He already made it through the worst and it was going to get better. I promised him.
    Bryan pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to conceal his tears by wiping them away. We made our way back inside and joined the rest of the family in the living room again.
    Shortly after getting settled back in the chair, we heard a knock on the door. Betsy reminded us that it was prom night and the girls were coming by to meet up with Jeff before heading out to dinner. Blue and green fabric began squeezing through the front door and the two girls soon appeared in their prom dresses.
    They greeted us cheerfully. “Are you guys the ghost hunters? Anything cool happen yet? I love watching those shows!” They seemed ecstatic to talk about the paranormal but were soon close to running late for their dinner and headed back out the door with Jeff, who had briefly introduced himself as well. I giggled to myself because sometimes the paranormal enables you to have a twisted sense of humor. Demons and prom night … sounds like the next bestseller or blockbuster movie , I thought to myself. Why hadn’t anyone thought of this plot already? I pursed my lips trying to hold back my smile and began “reviewing” the notes to get back in focus.
    Betsy shut the door and returned to her seat. “While you guys were outside we remembered some other things that happened that you should know about.”
    She explained that one morning Bryan’s girlfriend Sarah was taking a shower when she saw narrow fingers glide across the thin, white shower curtain, thinking Bryan was there. Sarah asked out loud if Bryan needed his razor. She unknowingly was alone in the bathroom while Bryan sat out in the living room. Hearing her talking, he made his way into the bathroom and asked her what she had said.
    “I thought you were looking for your razor,” Sarah reasoned.
    Bryan was confused, “Why would I need my razor, I was just sitting watching TV. What do you mean you thought …” Before finishing his sentence Bryan had glanced over at the bathroom mirror and stood in horror. Condensation from the hot shower had collected on the mirror. The word “DIE” was smudged on the glass in capital letters.
    Sarah became angry and questioned why Bryan would write such a thing on the mirror. It was the third time she had seen threatening words written there and the joke was no longer funny to her. The energy of the bathroom changed.
    “Sarah, get out now!” Bryan fumbled to grab a towel for Sarah as more lettering began to appear on the mirror. “N.” Sarah nearly fell out of the shower with soap still in her hair. “O.” The invisible hand seemed to move extremely slow but with perseverance. “W.” Bryan yelled for John to come to the bathroom as he helped Sarah leave the room. Most of the family gathered and quietly read the message out loud, “DIE NOW.” Even more strange, the letters were written backwards.
    Betsy immediately became very frustrated with Collin and Bryan. She demanded that they stop with their supposed antics as it had truly gotten out of control. This time Sarah confirmed that the message was not written by anyone in the family, as previously thought, but by something they couldn’t see. Sarah finished washing her hair out in the kitchen sink and raced past the bathroom to get dressed in Bryan’s room.
    After the shower incident, everyone began sleeping together in the living room, giving up and surrendering their bedrooms and personal space to their invisible intruder. “It” was winning. Showers were only taken while another family member would supervise the bathroom, keeping the other person company in the now very-uncomfortable bathroom.
    Things continued to get weirder and more terrifying. At night, dishes would fly out of the closed cupboards and smash all over the floor. This created a ritual of cleaning