The Conjuring (The Warren daughter)

Chapter 19 (The Rocking Chair)

Judy was terrified. With her small feet pattering on the wooden floorboards, she scrambled to her father's study and slammed the door shut. Squeaking ropes echoed as she placed her body weight against the door. Lightning lit the room, followed closely by thunder booming. Judy screamed and covered her ears to close off the noise as the door was pounded upon by the spirit.

One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three. One.

The pounding stopped. All was silent. Judy lowered her hands from her ears. The lamp beside her faded, ultimately turning off and leaving Judy in a lightless room. She turned slowly, knocking into something on the floor. It wasn't a 'something' but a 'someone'. Diana. "Dee!" Judy whispered, frightened. She looked up, hearing someone wheezing. Rhythmic squeaking suddenly sounded from the corner. The rocking chair.

Judy looked, her figure frozen at the sight. There was someone on the rocking chair, rocking back and forth, Annabelle on her lap, a grimy hand reaching up to brush the dolls red hair. Back and forth, back and forth the figure rocked, facing the window where a ray of moonlight poorly lit the area. A moment later, the squeaking from the rocking chair stopped. And so did the hand brushing the doll's hair.

Now that the rocking had stopped, the wheezing started once again. A small cracking sound emitted from the doll as it turned its head, looking directly at Judy. Now that was when Diana shot up from the floor, gasping for breath. Judy screamed, running to the door and pounding as hard as her little fists could. Diana's eyes were unfocused, her sisters screams muffled in her ears as she tried to wake from her daze. Her senses came ramming back into her body with full force, her ears hearing her sister's screams and her eyes focusing on the figure in the chair.

Bathsheba.

Diana's eyes narrowed at the sight of the demonic spirit. Her lips twitched upward in a snarl. How dare she scare her little sister. How dare she go after her. She was about to use her clairvoyance to send her away, but just as she was about to, her words died in her throat as she looked a little farther down to the doll sitting on Bathsheba's lap. She hated that doll. Despised it. But most of all, she was terrified of it. That was all that was needed for her to turn to the door and bang on it with her sister.

"Nanna! Nanna, help! Nanna, help!" Judy sobbed and she continued to scream for her grandmother. Upstairs, Georgina, their grandmother, finally woke, hearing Judy's cries. "Nanna!" Diana screamed the loudest, slamming on the door with the palm of her hand. "Help!" Diana screamed again. Judy turned to the rocking chair, only to find it empty, rocking on its own. Judy's efforts doubled as she tugged harshly on the doorknob. But the door wasn't moving, held shut by the forces of the demon.

"Judy! Diana!" Georgina called out, her shrill cries for her two granddaughters holding an air of panic in them. "Nanna!" Diana cried, allowing Georgina to locate where she was trapped, flicking the lights on. "Diana, Judy! Open the door!" she cried, slamming her hands on the door, trying to twist the doorknob. "Mom!" Judy called out. What she didn't know was that she too had inherited some clairvoyance from her mother. Her cries echoed through her mind, blasting out a faint wave of clairvoyance to reach her mother. Diana, who was now trying to kick down the door, managed to hear the message in the air. With renewed vigour, she placed all her force into the kicking down the door.

As Judy and Georgina continued to scream for each other on opposite sides of the door, Diana stopped kicking, and instead listened closely to her surroundings, drowning out Judy and her grandmother's screams. Outside, she heard her father's distinct car engine come to a stop outside their house. Diana came back to her senses, her eyes now holding a glint of hopefulness to them. "MOM! DAD!" Diana screamed in her loudest voice possible.

Opposite the door, Georgina was trying to get Judy to open the door. "Judy! Open this door!" Lorraine burst through the kitchen door, Ed following closely behind. "What's going on? What's wrong with them?" Lorraine burst out, rushing up a small step of stairs and to the door, seeing her mother pounding on it with her fists. "Dad!" Diana yelled. "Dad!"

"Move, move, move," Ed repeated, ushering both ladies as gently as he could away from the door. "Diana, get Judy back honey! Get back!" Ed called to Diana as he got himself ready to kick down the door. On the other side, Diana heard her father's commands, but she didn't comply. Judy and Diana were now calling for help louder and more frantically than ever as the rocking chair turned ever so slowly to face them. Ed began to slam his body weight into the door, yelling at Judy to get away from the door. Diana had gone silent. She wasn't yelling out anymore.

Instead, she watched as the rocking chair flew from the corner, heading for Judy. In a flash, Diana reached out, grabbing Judy and shielding her from the chair's impending landing. If anyone was to get hurt out of the two, Diana would always let herself go first. She always needed her little sister to be safe. Right at the very same moment, Ed forced the door open, grabbing both his daughters and yanking them from the chair's trajectory, letting the chair slam into the door frame instead, shattering on impact.

Judy and Diana were both yanked from Ed's grip and into their mother's arms, who looked over them for any signs of injury. Ed looked into the room and down at the now shattered chair, frowning. While Diana stared down at the floor dazed, Judy sobbed while telling their mother she had seen someone rocking in the chair with Annabelle. Ed's frown deepened as he looked to his wife, concern etched into his features. "What?" Lorraine breathed out.

"It wasn't just somebody rocking in the chair with Annabelle. It was her. From the house. The one who's been feeding on Carolyn, the one who attacked me that night in Judy's room. She wants to be left alone. It's her. It's Bathsheba," Diana stated blankly. Now while Ed speed-walked to the museum, Lorraine held Diana and Judy close, whispering sweet nothings into their ears for comfort.

Diana looked to where her father stood, unlocking the door. The door. The door that was open before. "That door was open when Judy walked past it. It was open when Judy walked past it. Why is it locked now? It was open before. It was-" Diana rambled as she sunk deeper into her mother's embrace. Ed wanted to take care of his daughter. But right now, he needed to make sure Annabelle was in that glass case. He walked into the room, flicking the switch as he went, lighting the room and walked to the glass case. And there she was. Annabelle, in all her terrifying glory, stuck inside a glass case.

"She's still in the case," Ed informed, exiting the room full of conduits. Loraine sighed in relief.

"Wait... I have one question for you sweetie. How did you end up in there?" Lorraine asked, looking down at her 19-year-old daughter. "I- I don't know..." Diana answered, frowning in concentration, trying to remember the last few hours. "I remember you putting me to bed. I remember having a dream and next thing I know-"

"She's still in the case," Ed informed, exiting the room full of conduits. Loraine sighed in relief.

"Wait... I have one question for you sweetie. How did you end up in there?" Lorraine asked, looking down at her 19-year-old daughter. "I- I don't know..." Diana answered, frowning in concentration, trying to remember the last few hours. "I remember you putting me to bed. I remember having a dream and next thing I know-"

"You had a dream?" Ed interrupted. "Yeah. Mom's pendant hanging horizontally in the Perron house in the basement," Diana explained. "After that I found myself in there, lying on the floor. My feet felt tired. Like I had been standing there for ages. I really can't recall much. After that, I heard Judy screaming from behind me. I saw them in the chair in the corner. And then after that, Nanna came in then you came in," Diana finished.

A/N: Another Update! Yipee! Also another 2 or so chapters to go. Thank you guys so much for reading this far and for the 1k+ views. Conjuring 2 is in the works so I hope you read that too when the time comes.

As usual, please comment on the story and have a great morning/day/night wherever you are.