THE VISIT

Anna's small frame peers over her mother's casket and looks in to see the carcass of what used to be her beloved mum. She gently taps the hand of her mother and lifts it up. "Mummy, let's go play outside" She says as she smiles innocently and tugs on her mother's arm. When her mother doesn't stand up she gets impatient. " Mummy, wake up ", she huffs and stomps her foot. " Mum-"

Anna stops mid sentence and stops in her tracks. The whole room goes silent, as if it were almost frozen in time. "She's not waking up because she is dead". Anna turns her body round to look for the person that spoke, only to find out she was the only one there. She turns back to her mother's body but this time her mother is sitting up, with a cruel smile on her face. 

"Hello there Anna". The body's neck snaps the head of Anna's mother towards Anna."Mummy? What's wrong?" Anna takes a step back from her mother. Her mother reaches out towards Anna with a scrawny finger. "Anna help me!" The body screams out. The blood curdling scream resonates throughout the empty halls of the Church. 

The paintings of Jesus and his 12 disciples all fall to the ground with a simultaneous crash. Anna falls back and covers her ears as tears swell in her eyes. Anna's mother's body tips out of the casket causing her to lean faced down. A black liquid pours onto the floor from Anna's mother's mouth. 

Seeing the black liquid, Anna stumbles to her feet and races to the door only to be stopped by her Mother. Anna looks back at her mother's casket, she was still there. " Who are you?" Anna asks. The thing that looked like her mother laughed demonically. The face of her mother melts away and contorts into something, something that looked unordinary, Something that looked as if it didn't belong in this world. 

The arms of the creature elongated, the face became oval shaped and detailed with only pure black holes for eyes and a mouth twisted into a smile, showing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. The creature had long legs but a small body with a tiny waist. This was no person.The arm reached out towards Anna and grabbed her by her neck. 

She fought back and kicked her legs as hard as she could, she knew this was a battle of life and death. The creature laughed once more and a mark was placed on Anna's neck. A small cross was the mark but this cross had a fine detail. There was a rope carved into it, a rope that wrapped around the cross like a snake. 

The creature stepped back and smiled once more as Anna's body was left to dangle in the air." I had to wait some time to get you, Your mother was a fighter and she didn't want to die. You're young but for context I shall tell you what I am. They call me the visitor. I am attached to the families of those related to what your world calls 'witches', users of dark magic. 

They brought me into this world and to survive I must feed" The Demon laughs.Anna kicks her legs aimlessly in the air as she gasps for breath. She feels a rope tightening around her neck and immediately tries to pull it off, but her hand falls right through the rope. She struggles for air and slips in and out of consciousness for the next five minutes. 

Just as she was about to close her eyes a final time, the demon shrieks as if it was in pain.Anna looks up to see a ray of light coming from the demon and behind it was her Grandmother. "You have tormented our family for too long, I won't let you harm my grandchild." The demon turns it's head round one hundred and eighty degrees to meet the Hazel eyes of the Grandmother. 

"Elise, It's been a very long time since we've talked". Elise, Anna's grandmother glares back and says nothing. The demon laughs and rushes towards Elise. It touches her face with long slim fingers, caressing her cheek and then brushing over her eyelids. "Those precious eyes of yours, They held so much fear, so much pain. Delicious to say the least"

A tongue runs across the Grandmother's face. "This is where you end, Zalatt the visitor. You will never again harm my family, I swear to you." The grandmother holds out a candle with a bright yellow flame and plunges it into the mouth of the demon. The demon hisses and rushes over to Anna, it bites Anna's neck, directly above the mark with the cross. 

"Remember this Elise. I will be back, and I will visit your granddaughter again. I'll just have to wait until you die, It has been like this for decades and I will get what I want, mark my words"The demon erupts into a ball of flames and Anna is lowered to the ground. Her grandmother looks at her and holds her up.

 "Anna! Anna are you there?" Anna coughs up a liquid similar to tar and stares at her grandmother. "What happened?" Anna asks. Else doesn't respond and holds Anna close. "We're safe now don't worry." The church returns back to the way it used to be and all the guests were leaving. Elise holds Anna's hand and walks out the door.

"Let's go home now, it's over". Anna nods and looks towards the casket one more time. Her reflection looks back in fear and bangs on the sides of it. "Indeed it is, Elise" Anna smiles maliciously and closes the church doors behind her. Faint bangs are heard from the outside but no one pays attention to them. Anna looks back at one of the windows, her grandmother notices.

 "Is everything alright dear?" Anna smiles sweetly "Nothing I can't take care of".The window revealed Anna's body, slumped against it, in a desperate plea for help. She bangs on it once again and that's when the church catches fire, leaving no traces of the true Anna's existence."That's such a scary story Mum, What happened to the demon?"

 A small girl whispers as her mother laughs "Don't worry, Sophie, the Demon is far away, it can't hurt you. Isn't that right Anna?" The mother turns to her other daughter and she nods. "Goodnight girls", The mother leaves the room and turns off the light. The two girls are left in darkness. 

"What do you think happened to the demon Anna?". Anna shakes her head "Don't know. It could be a hundred miles away, on a different planet.....or it could be right next to you".Sophie giggles and turns away from her sister. "Stop trying to scare me, I'm not so young anymore". Anna sighs and turns off their lamp. Both girls go to sleep, without a care in the world.

 A small rustle is heard from the outside, Sophie wakes up at the sound and makes her way to the window. She pulls back her violet curtains slowly, revealing a shadow in the trees. The shadow gets closer and she jumps back a bit startled. A small squirrel stares back at her and she sighs in relief. "Oh It's just a squirrel, nothing to worry about" 

Sophie looks at her sister's bed and tugs on her sheets. "Anna, Anna wake up. I just saw the cutest squirrel". After a few seconds of silence. Sophie pulls back the sheets and gasps when no one is there. "A...Anna, wake up" a distorted voice identical to Sophie's says. She looks up to see the Demon her mother spoke about in her story.

"Your body will do nicely," The Demon says. Sophie's eyes widen and she looks around the room for help. The demon appears before her and bites her neck before disappearing. Sophie's body stands in the middle of the room, motionless and unresponsive. A small laugh is finally heard from her. This was proof, she was no longer Sophie but another puppet of zalatt's.

Finis