Two hours passed and Jayden was still sitting with the amulet in his hands. Even though nothing was visible, Jayden didn't feel like leaving it. It felt like he found his long lost friend. The amulet was plain from inside. It was golden and was very smooth. Jayden had rubbed his fingers enough times on it. He felt satisfied when he rubbed his fingers on its smooth surface.
Finally, he decided to hide the necklace and sleep. He acted according to it. He is finally in his bed, under the fluffy blanket, when he starts thinking. Everything from the previous night to just a couple of hours ago start replaying in his mind like a recording. But unfortunately, he can't remember that he was forced to take the necklace and it was a lot of pain. But he does remember the pain in graveyard. Maybe his sheild is getting weak. Maybe he is falling right into the trap of those who are willing to harm him. But he was not bothered by it. He stared across the window at the peaceful night sky. He felt comfortable. He felt safe. He knew that the amulet would protect him from evil. He was ready for a peaceful night.
The irony was the amulet was the thing that kept him away from sleeping was now the reason for his peaceful sleep.
*******
Braylan was having a rough night. The thought of his brother being possessed took his sleep away. All he thought of was helping his brother. He had a fair few books on possessions with a touch of fiction. He decided to read them. The book he was reading in his bed lamp read " Exorcism in 20th century" It was a very interesting story of a couple who just had non-identical twins, a boy and a girl. Their daughter was always happy and had an imaginary friend. ' That's normal!' Braylan thought, thinking about his own childhood. But that so called imaginary friend didn't leave her and she was a teenager. This made her parents worried. So they did what they thought was right. Whenever the girl would be talking to her friend, they would capture pictures and the camera did its job. They saw some one was with her. They contacted an exorcist and luckily it wasn't some evil spirit but someone who was lonely and wanted a friend. 'Nothing bad.' He thought.
The next one was not a good one. There was a man who lived all alone. He got a pet cat and the cat refused to enter his bedroom. Whenever he brought it near the door, it would flinch and run away. One day he found the cat was ripped apart, limb by limb and ofcourse, it was dead. He was sad. After a few days, the man was suffocated to death. The police tried to solve the case but failed. A professor of supernatural department got interested and he started investigation. He found about the cat too. Finally he found the spirits that wanted some revenge and killed him.
Another tale was about a man who tried to possess an evil spirit. Ironically, the spirit possessed him and he wasn't able to fight it off. He was possessed for his entire life and just before his death, the spirit left sensing his end. He scribbled a very long note about his life just before dying.
Braylan was reading the book and there were many stories. A story that was about a really bad possession made him shudder. It began with the typical-horror-movie introduction. But then it got creepier. The boy that was possessed became really aggressive. He would hurt anyone and everyone. It came through such a point that his parents were forced to chain him. But he would break out of chains and go back to his normal routine. Tired of the constant escapes and his behaviour, they started thinking about contacting an exorcist or a pope. When the pope and the exorcist came and started exorcism, they lost the boy. He died as the spirit inside him was for too long and it attached itself with his soul. So when it was forced to leave the host's body, it took its soul too.
Most of the possessions lead to death of the host. This made him more worried. The mere thought of Jayden dying gave him a heart burn. He couldn't even sit still.
When you dread something, your mind has a tendency to help you visualise the worst possible scenarios. Braylan's brain forced him to visualise a pale Jayden who was vomitting blood, a Jayden who was on the floor, his body lifeless and a man in black dress with cross on his chest, standing and staring the lifeless body.
He started pacing his room and in his restlessness, he walked to Jayden's room and shook him.
*******
Jayden was standing in a dark place. He was like a prisoner. He was trying to get out of the prison but his every attempt failed. The prison was not guarded and the door and windows were open. He first walked towards the door, but he couldn't walk out of it. He then tried to climb the window but he still failed to climb out. He soon realised that he was shackled to the wall. He saw that the other end of the chain was attached to a wooden pole. He went near it and started pulling it out. He used all his force but the pole would not budge. He gave up that thought and started to try untangling the chain that was wrapped around the pole, which he should have done in the first place. The more he tried to unwrap the chain, the harder it wrapped itself. Tired, he sat down on the floor so that he can think about doing something that might help him free himself and suddenly the floor started shaking.
Earthquake! he thought. But the shaking didn't stop and he heard someone calling his name. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Braylan's visage.
"Braylan, you jerk!" he said sleepily. "Why are you waking me up at this hour?" He added, checking the clock. It was 2 in the morning.
"I am scared Jay!" He said in a broken voice. His eyes were full of tears. This made Jayden wide awake.
"What happened?" He asked, sitting straight. His voice was full of concern. His brother was almost crying and looked so miserable.
"I am scared for you, Jay!" He replied, tears were leaking from his eyes and he was trying his best to sound as normal as he could.
"What happened to me?" Jayden asked in surprise.
"Noth..." He wanted to say nothing but he blurted all the things that were eating his insides. He said that Jayden was not the same and he was more secretive and he scared him and Jacob yesterday and while having dinner. He also mentioned what he heard yesterday and by the end, he felt a lot better. He skipped the mention of possession and death. But as Braylan's emotions were under control, Jayden lost them. He was crying and soon he started hiccuping. Braylan patted him on his back and after a long time, his emotions were under control.
Jayden mentioned about everything except for the necklace. He even mentioned his last dream. Braylan promised him that he will support him and help him till the end and Jayden promised that he will share each and every thing.
It was 3 in the morning when the boys were finally asleep.
While the mortals were asleep, others were awake. They were having a meeting and the woman who had been so kind to visit Jayden in the morning was the head of the meeting. Her fellow spirits, who were around 20 in number, called her Georgia. They were all surrounded by the red cloaked figures who were guarding them. These red figures were kind enough to guard them when they were alive too.
The meeting was about a mortal who had proven to be very strong despite his age. He was by far the most difficult one to get under control.
"I am worried that he will become stronger and stronger with his age. I was able to touch him a few months ago. But now I couldn't even touch him without hurting myself." Said a man who had given Jayden a scar in his arm. His words were followed by agreements and arguments.
"I agree! We have to be quick!" said the spirit who was sitting beside the man. His words were followed by another wave of babble in which everyone tried to make their point heard.
"If this is the case, we will have to give him the ring!" Georgia raised her hand for silence and others nodded in agreement she was smiling her horrible smile. All her teeth were visible and she held a golden ring. It didn't have any stone attached to it and was very similar to the amulet. Maybe they were brought togather a very long time ago or maybe they were ordered to be made this way. With that said, the meeting came to an end.