". . .the wise shall inherit the glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools." A hiss sparkled and reveled in the air as the holy water strew across the room, the last bit of prayer has been said, "Amen."

The Warren family had all been anxious. Two days had significantly passed and progress had been slow. Their senses were on high alert that even the tiniest bang of a door can make them stand rigid and nerves sky-rocket. Ed and Lorraine had been on a rendezvous with the priest, each discussion leading up to either improvement.

The three adults all headed out the room with Ed bolting the door shut. They and the room had just been blessed, a weekly occurrence in the Warren's estate. "I'll be back by then. . ."

"Thank you, Father." A curt nod was sent in the couple's way as they watch the priest depart and drive off.

The Warren's child was expected to stay at home, she was well aware of the reason after all. Apart from seeing things she has gone almost completely mute, never mind the blunt responses here and there. Soon enough the estate spiraled from the usual absence of sound into a house full of chatters, everyone began to get busy.

...

"Love?" A prolonged pause hung in the air before his response echoed from around the corner of their office corridor, ". . .yep?"

"Come 'ere for a second."

Footsteps softly padded the wooden floors before stopping to where the clairvoyant sat. Ed's palm made contact with the kitchen table, gently leaning his arm for posture and watched as his wife laid out an almost faded article.

"I did some further research on that gold pin," She paused, unfolding a forming crease from the corner of the page, "---and it had been owned by the same man we have read about."

"It was manufactured by a company that had long been shut down. They only made one of these and it wasn't exactly clear how Charles managed to posses the said item."

Ed skimmed through the page, his eyes darting to every line, processing every information, and making mental notes before directing his gaze to his wife.

He clearly missed the whole other section that decorated the pages, not bothering shifting his gaze and instead pried for solutions too early.

"Have you tried calling the company? They have their number right here," He pointed to an almost unreadable header, making sure his wife didn't miss it, "I'm sure there would be someone who could help us."

Lorraine kept silent and only stare at her husband with sympathy, "Ed. . ."

"The company burned down years ago along with every employee that ever stepped foot in that place." She watched as Ed breathed in a sigh, his brows furrowed and eyes wide.

"The place was burnt to ashes. . .with only a decent amount of files and the pin itself was retrieved."

"In order for him to attain the pin, he would've known someone working within the police and fire department. Not unless. . ."

His hands quickly rummaged through the stacks of articles, journals, files, until he spotted what he was looking for.

He rapidly scanned the paragraph until his eyes lit up and gently slammed it on the counter for Lorraine to see, "Boom."

The clairvoyant's eyebrows furrowed as he urged her to read the calculating information.

However, he raced her to it, "Charles Sanchez has primarily worked as one of the members of early firemen but quit after just about two months with multiple reasons."

"This is. . .this is aligning accordingly."

There was a minute of silence, each of them wrapping their heads around this new found information before Lorraine sighed and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Lord of the flies. . .huh," She turned to look at Ed straight in his eyes, "Ring a bell?" She watched him shake his head and decided to put that nickname on hold. She began wrapping up the papers and put them away.

Both of them pondered over on how to connect the dots, where could this possible information lead them to, and how do they handle the new dossier of evidence.

A small, gentle nudge woke Lorraine from her train of thought. Her eyes trailed down to her daughter, her fingers slightly gripping the hem of her skirt. "Can I go play outside?"

The mother simply smiled with a genial nod following after it. "Of course you can, darling." If it wasn't for Lorraine leaning in, she wouldn't have heard the faint whisper of her daughter's response.

A ghostly smile decorated her porcelain features, her aura sadly haunting and low of charisma that once filled her. Lia left her parents with whatever they were doing and pranced along to their backyard, not noticing the sad, droopy eyes her mother held.

They watched as her petite figure disappear around the corner before facing Georgianna who entered rather briskly. Her hair flared up in tangled knots while her lips curled in agitation.

"I have to go," She hastily shove a piece of something in her bag before looking up to face both Ed and Lorraine, "Poor Carmen got robbed. Her house got wrecked all over and I offered to help with the issue."

Lorraine nodded, her brows shaped in concern as she watched her mother practically ran out the door.

The clairvoyant couldn't help but sigh. Her mother never hesitated to lend a hand whenever she can, much like Lorraine. They were like two sides of the same coin.

"I'll be in my office!"

Lorraine spun to see Ed already heading out the door, too busy to look up from the crumpled newspaper he brought with him.

He muttered something along the lines of 'gotta fix the cameras' and 'checking previous tapes'. That left Lorraine all alone in the kitchen with nothing but the soft hum of air and the ticking of the grandfather clock.

...

Lia sat on the fresh neatly-cut grass, her feet gently tucked under her plaited skirt. She had her hair up in a loose ponytail, brown eyes carefully scoured through the flowers that sat between her fingertips.

Her hands skillfully maneuvered their way into looping the stems together, avoiding the tendency of plucking the petals and slowly turned theirselves into hand woven bracelets.

The creature beside her peacefully sat, its soft feathers grazing with the wind. Winston fervently enjoyed how his webbed feet crammed from under his belly or how his owner showed the finished product with hidden pride with him softly clucking a response.

Lia chuckled whenever he did, and laughed whenever he attempted to grab the woven bracelets with his dull beak but fail miserably.

Perhaps it was the uncomfortable uneven dirt she was sat on or the blades of grass that made her skin itch make her fall eerily silent. But there was no doubt that the change in atmosphere made the Warren child rigidly scramble up to her feet, eyes all wide.

Cold. She felt cold, her skin felt clammy, numb, and almost freezing to the touch. She didn't. . .no, she couldn't take her eyes off the thing. Short uneven breaths escaped her lips, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Slowly her feet began to move. Backwards, backwards, backwards until her back hit a firm wall. She visibly tensed, panic settling on her features before hearing her mother's sweet voice.

For a moment, she relaxed. She felt her mother clasp her shoulder, "Honey? What's wrong?" That sweet sweet voice her mother carried never ceased to bring her comfort, but despite how comforting it may be, she still was scared.

Her breath hitched, she sought warmth in Lorraine's hand as she held it tight. Her eyes never faltering to the figure from across.

"Do you see it mama. . ."

"Baby, what do you mean---"

Lorraine stopped. She followed her daughter's finger and she prayed she didn't. Her daughter was practically trembling beside her, eyes wide and body rigid.

"Go---go back. . .go back. Ca-call your dad."

Lorraine gently pushed her daughter aside, snapping her out of the horrifying trance. Her feet led her back, stumbling after a few steps but managed to not fall over.

It was tall even when it was sitting down. Its long sharp fingers holding the chains as it swayed back and forth on the tire swing.

The clairvoyant managed to stay calm, despite the pestering feeling that told her to scream.

She heard their back door open and within moments, Ed was beside her. "Lorraine? What is it?"

"Lia stay there."

His voice was firm yet it held nothing but concern. He made his way closer to his wife who didn't budge hearing his voice.

"Ed. . ." Her voice trembled, "There's some-someone on the swing." She whispered the last part, not bothering repeating the sentence again.

Her eyes searched his before it widened even more seeing what was behind her husband.

The figure stopped and slowly turned around, it faced them with its eerily grin and eyed them with its hollow eyes.

With great reflex, Ed managed to grab his cross necklace, pulling it out from under his shirt and let it face the dark figure. His hands shook as he muttered something under his breath.

"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . ."

It growled. Making the hairs on both the adult's arms stand, nothing could top the hauntingly deranged face of what was in front of them.

"I condemn you back to hell."

Everything went silent. The weather began to brighten slightly and the atmosphere slowly felt light.

Both demonologists sighed in relief, taking each other's hands in comfort before making their way towards their daughter who sat by their porch step, looking blankly out in the open.

Lorraine pulled her daughter in for a hug, kissing her temple before carrying her back inside with Ed trailing from behind.

All is well. It watched them from outside, clear disdain circled its dead, empty orbs. Hollow orbs.