City of Witchcraft

Home Intrusion

As Officer Reeves continued his patrol through the streets of Cantrix City, one of the last things he expected was for a woman to come running out of her house screaming as though she had just seen the devil. Reeves stopped his car as the woman ran over to where he had parked, and through her mostly unintelligible scream he caught words like "broke," "strange," and "help."

Filled with confusion and dread, Officer Reeves hopped out of his car, turning to face the woman running towards him and screaming.

"What seems to be the issue ma'am?" he asked when she got close enough that he could ask with a normal speaking volume.

"There's this strange-looking person- I think they're a girl- they broke into my home and I can't get them out!"

"Alright ma'am, if it's alright with you I can enter your home and arrest the trespasser."

"Please!" The woman exclaimed, before hurrying off the way she came. "This way!"

Despite being nearly a foot taller than the woman, Reeves had a hard time keeping up with her as they made their way down the street towards her home. It was a small, squat place that was once painted blue but had paled greatly from the sun. The roof was old and looked like it was about to collapse in on itself, and the banisters on the front porch were covered in filth with the last of the paint chipping off. Reeves assumed it had once been painted white, but it was impossible to tell anymore. The front yard was made of dead grass and the driveway looked like rubble. And, most interestingly in Reeves' eyes, all of the windows were boarded up so you couldn't look in the house.

Officer Reeves slowly made his way through the already open door, keeping his right hand hovering above his firearm as he did in case the intruder was dangerous to him. The inside of the house was dark, so he had a hard time seeing his surroundings, but he could tell that the ceiling was only just above his head, which was odd considering he was just a little over six feet tall. He saw dark shapes that he assumed were couches and tables, and in the open room to his right, he saw a tv on, although all that was on was static. To his left was what seemed to be a kitchen, messy and cluttered, with a single dim bulb on in the middle of the room. In front of him was a small staircase, with the walls tightly surrounding it, leading up to what seemed to be an attic. There were items stacked on the side of the staircase, making it even more difficult to get up.

After a moment of consideration, Reeves made his way to the left, entering the kitchen and seeing just how much of a mess the kitchen was. He assumed that the mess was at least in part due to the intruder, but he felt that whatever the intruder had contributed to it was likely rather minimal. Reeves had begun to make his way to the old, beaten door at the end of the kitchen when he heard a loud crash up in the attic.

In a rush, he made his way back through the kitchen and up the stairs to the attic, knocking things over along the way. When Reeves reached the top of the staircase, He saw there was another single dim bulb to match the one in the kitchen, and boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling. He couldn't even stand straight in the attic, with its ceiling noticeably lower than it was downstairs. His eyes wandered the busy, cluttered room in search of a source of the sound he had heard downstairs, but he saw nothing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Reeves saw the shadows move. He quickly turned to face the movement, where he saw a person running towards the window. Interestingly, he noticed that the shadows seemed to follow them as they ran. Reeves ran after them, but when the figure reached the window and climbed into the windowsill Reeves pulled out his firearm.

"Stop right there!" he yelled. "You're under arrest!"

The figure turned to face him. All that was really visible of their face was their eyes, which seemed impossibly dark. Around them was what resembled heavy eyeliner, but Reeves could tell it was something else. He stared into those eyes for several long seconds, and he could tell from the look in them that the figure wasn't scared of the weapon he held for whatever reason. Maybe they felt that he wouldn't shoot them and they were calling his bluff. And if they were, they were right.

Reeves broke the eye contact when something in the figure's hand caught the light. He saw a gemstone in their hand, rather large in size and a deep red. Looking at the gemstone, he felt a deep pit in his stomach, like what he was looking at was unnatural and wrong. He also noticed something else- while the figure wore finger coverings, their palm was completely exposed, and Reeves noticed a scar starting in the center of their palm that ran up their wrist before disappearing under their long sleeves.

Reeves' eyes darted back up to the figure before him, but as they did he realized his mistake in breaking eye contact as they lept out the window. Reeves quickly ran over to the windowsill, looking out for the figure, but they were gone. Officer Reeves felt a chill run down his spine as he made his way down the attic stairs and out the front door in a rush.

"What's going on?" the woman called after him as he ran around the side of the house to the window the figure jumped out of, but there were still no signs of them. Reeves looked around in desperation, spinning around several times in desperation. Eventually, Reeves slumped over, nearly falling to the ground in defeat. He stayed there a long moment before hearing movement from a bush and quickly turning to face it. A silver cat came out of the bush, seeming to glow under the moonlight. Interstingly, Reeves noticed the cat's eyes were both solidly colored- one black, and one white. He gave the cat a strange look, but the feeling of defeat washed over him once more.

When Officer Reeves heard the woman who owned the home come around the corner into the yard, he turned to face her with an ashamed look on his face.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I was unable to catch your trespasser."

"Lotta help you are," the woman said aggressively. "Didja see if she took anything?"

"Yeah, uh, she took a gemstone of some sort-"

"GODDAMMIT!" the woman exclaimed, making Reeves jump.

"I truly am sorry ma'am-"

"GET OFF MY PROPERTY!"

Suddenly scared for his own well-being, Reeves did as he was told, hurrying off her property and having to keep himself from running as he made his way back to his car. It was only once Reeves was back in the car, key in the ignition, door shut behind him, that he took a second to stop and think about what had just happened.

When the woman yelled at him to get off her property, her face had morphed into something... inhuman. She hadn't looked right. Reeves shook his head, trying to convince himself that it hadn't actually happened and that it was all in his head. But as he turned his key in the ignition and began to drive away, he wasn't certain that it was.