At the mention of Lily's camera photos, an immediate, heavy silence descended upon the group. Then, as if jolted by an electric current, Cindy suddenly sprang up from her chair.
'I have to see! What exactly did that camera manage to capture?' she demanded.
But Stephnie calmed her down, telling her to first finish breakfast, and then they would check what had been captured in the camera. Hearing Stephnie's words, everyone sat down and began eating.
By that time, Claire had already reached the local library.
"Could you please tell me which section contains information about this area?" Claire asked an elderly woman standing at the reception desk.
"You should go to shelf number 72 and check there. Some documents related to the past history of this area are kept there—maybe you'll find what you're looking for. By the way, you don't seem to be from around here. Have you come from somewhere else?" the elderly woman asked, giving Claire a slow up-and-down look.
"Yes, you're right. I'm actually from New York. You must have heard about the Johnson family that lives on Morrington Street—I'm their guest and staying at their house," Claire replied.
The moment she heard the name "Johnson family" and "Morrington Street," the color drained from the elderly woman's face. It seemed as though the mention of that family and that house had brought back some memory for her.
"What happened, ma'am? Do you want to say something?" Claire asked, noticing the change in her expression.
"No, nothing. Just go check shelf number 72… and listen—stay as far away from the Johnson family as you can. The rest is up to you, do whatever you wish." The elderly woman spoke to Claire in a warning tone.
Hearing her words, Claire headed toward shelf number 72 to check.
Meanwhile, at the house, everyone had finished breakfast. Lily sat on the couch with her laptop, connecting it to the camera. Once the camera was connected, she called everyone over and opened the camera folder. As soon as the pictures began to load, all the color drained from their faces.
In the images captured by the motion camera, it was clearly visible that the spirit of the man was storming down the lobby toward the basement, carrying his woodcutter with rage. The spirit looked so horrifying that for a moment, a small scream escaped Lily's lips out of fear.
"Oh my god! Out of all the ghosts we've seen so far, this is the scariest one. Stephnie, do you really want to send this spirit to the afterlife? Because looking at his face, I feel like forget heaven—even the ones in hell won't be willing to give him a place," Lily joked.
Hearing Lily's words, everyone started laughing even in that frightening atmosphere.
"Cindy, can you tell me what this spirit's name is? Has he ever mentioned his name to you?" Stephnie asked Cindy.
"No, Stephanie! That spirit talked to Mom the most; it never had any direct conversation with me. Yes, the spirit possessed my body, but I don't remember anything from that time,' Cindy replied, answering Stephanie's query.
'This means that before the evil spirit's next attack, we need to collect information about it so we can learn its name,' Stephanie said, concern etched on her face. 'Because without knowing its name, I won't be able to control it.'
'Then we should pray to Jesus that Claire finds some crucial information in the library that helps us learn about this spirit,' Lily said, crossing her fingers.
'Lily, can you talk to the neighbors here and find out if anyone is willing to testify in Olivia's favor? Someone who can tell the prosecutor that Walter attacked first, and then Olivia killed him in self-defense?' Stephanie asked, looking towards Lily.
'Yes, of course, I'll go talk to the neighbors right now,' Lily said, rising from the couch.
'It won't do any good, Stephanie. Our neighbors don't talk to us. They don't even care if someone lives or dies in our house. You'll realize this at Dad's funeral,' Cindy said, stopping both Stephanie and Lily.
Cindy's words rang true to Stephanie, as she had noticed while arriving that people weren't particularly bothered by Walter's death. Even after Walter's death, when the police were taking Olivia away, not a single neighbor came to check on the children.
'Then fine, we'll have to find another way to prove Olivia's innocence,' Stephanie whispered.
'But my dad attacked Mom because that spirit was inside him, and my mom killed my dad,' Alex suddenly said, bursting into tears.
'Alex, we know that spirit was inside your dad when he attacked you all, but you want your mom to come home soon, right? So we have to tell the police that your dad first tried to kill you and your mom,' Stephanie said, trying to reassure Alex.
However, Alex was still young and innocent, so he didn't understand any of it and started playing with his toys.
Just then, Lily got up and headed from the basement lobby towards Walter and Olivia's bedroom so she could thoroughly check the room for anything that might get Olivia released from custody. Lily searched everywhere in the bedroom for a long time but found nothing useful. Meanwhile, Stephanie was sitting with Cindy in the living room, performing a ritual to reduce the power of the evil force in the house.
At that moment, Lily returned, holding up a strange remote, and asked Cindy, 'What is this remote for, Cindy? I found it in your dad's locker.'
'That's a very strange remote. I've never seen Dad with it. Maybe Mom brought it,' Cindy replied, looking at the remote.
'It's also possible that this remote belongs to something hidden in the house that Walter wanted to keep secret,' Stephanie said, taking the remote from Cindy's hand.
Meanwhile, at the library, Claire had checked all the documents kept on shelf number 72, but she hadn't found any important information yet. Seeing Claire so frustrated, the elderly woman at the reception came over and said, 'If you tell me what you're looking for, perhaps I can help you."
"I need the old records of the Johnson family's house, and along with that, I need information about who lived there in 1994, when the house was sold, and to whom it was sold," Claire replied without lifting her eyes.
"Then perhaps you should take a look at the family tree chart of the older families here—it's displayed on the back wall of the library," the elderly woman told Claire.
"Could you please take me to that wall?" Claire requested politely.
Without saying anything, the elderly woman gestured for Claire to follow her and began walking toward the back section of the library. Claire followed her silently. The two of them reached the rear part of the library, where some old books and the family charts of the area's older families were kept.
The elderly woman pulled out an old chart from the stack and handed it to Claire. "Here is the family chart of Mr. Richard Gunway. I hope you'll find the answers to your questions now."
Saying this, and after giving the chart to Claire, the elderly woman returned to the reception desk, while Claire sat down there and began examining the family chart.
As she went through it, Claire's eyes suddenly widened in surprise. According to the chart, after Diana lost her father's property, she had married a man named "Samuel." Then Samuel and Diana had a daughter named "Garcie." But beyond that point, the family chart had never been updated.
"Aunty, I checked the chart, but Mr. Gunway's last descendant was Garcie. However, there's no information about whom Garcie married or who her children were—the chart isn't updated at all," Claire said, returning to the reception desk.
"Well, maybe that Garcie never got married in the first place," the elderly woman replied, not lifting her eyes from her register.
Claire didn't get much information, but she was still satisfied that at least she now knew who Richard's last descendant living in that house had been.
"Aunty, could you tell me who can give me information about Garcie? It's really important that I meet her, because it's possible she has the solution to the trouble my friend is facing," Claire asked.
"Look, girl, I've helped you as much as I possibly could. Now I can't do anything else for you. If you want to issue any books, tell me—otherwise I have a lot of work to do. Don't disturb me," the woman said in a firm tone.
Claire decided to issue some books from the library so she could gather more information related to the paranormal world. She already had a strong interest in paranormal topics; in her free time, she often watched movies or read books about the paranormal world, heaven, hell, and parallel worlds.
"Aunty, I want to issue these books for one week. How do I issue them?" Claire asked, placing three books on the reception desk.
"You'll have to give me one government ID, a local address, and you must deposit the real price of the books as well—that amount is refundable. When you return the books, we will deduct two dollars per day for however long you kept them, and the remaining amount will be returned to you," the elderly woman explained.
Hearing the elderly woman's instructions, Claire began giving her ID and local address, and she deposited the amount equal to the original price of all three books at the reception desk. Then the elderly woman made Claire's entry in the register and issued her a new library card. Claire thanked her and began walking out.
As she stepped outside the library, Claire thought she should call home and check on Stephnie and the others. Thinking this, she called Lily's phone, but the first call went unanswered. On the second attempt, Lily picked up after three rings.
"Hey, where are you all? First, you didn't answer the call, and even the second time you picked up only after three rings. Is everything okay there?" Claire asked anxiously.
"Yes, everything's fine here. You tell me—did you get what you went to the library for?" Lily asked.
"Yes and no. I mean, I didn't get much information, but I did find one thing that might be useful later. I just called to tell you that it's 4 p.m., and I'll reach home in about fifteen minutes," Claire said.
Saying that, Claire hung up the phone.
"Why didn't you tell Claire anything, Lily?" Stephnie asked, surprised.
"She's already on her way home and will be here in fifteen minutes. We'll tell her then. It's not good to give someone shocking news while they're out on the road," Lily explained.
"Then let's keep searching and see what this remote is for," Stephnie said, and Cindy and Lily began checking everything in the house, trying to figure out what the remote could control and why Walter had hidden it so carefully in the locker.
Suddenly, Cindy's body began to stiffen, and she cried out in pain before collapsing onto the floor. Stephnie and Lily tried to help her, but Cindy's condition wasn't improving. Then, all at once, she started vomiting blood. Seeing this, Lily panicked and stepped back, while Stephnie knelt beside Cindy, trying to help her.
Moments later, Cindy felt as though something was stuck in her throat. She signaled this to Stephnie, who told her to open her mouth so she could look inside. But the moment Cindy opened her mouth and Stephnie looked inside, it felt as if, for an instant, Stephnie's soul left her body.
The very next second, regaining her composure, Stephnie said, "It's nothing, Cindy. That food you ate probably didn't digest properly," and immediately rushed to the kitchen. She filled a glass with water, added two drops of holy water to it, and brought it back. As soon as Cindy drank it, the bleeding stopped and her condition returned to normal.
Then, when Stephnie returned to the kitchen to keep the glass back, Lily followed her in and asked, "Stephnie, what did you see in Cindy's mouth?"
"If I tell you, Lily, you'll get scared. Leave it—don't ask about it," Stephnie said, trying to avoid the topic.
"Stephie, tell me—what did you see in Cindy's mouth that moment?" Lily insisted.
Seeing Lily's stubbornness, Stephnie finally said, "When I looked inside Cindy's mouth, I saw that spirit's face… and it felt like the spirit was inside her stomach, peeking out through her mouth. Lily, seeing that scene… my soul literally froze." At this moment, Stephnie's whole face was drenched in sweat from fear.
Hearing this, Lily also froze for a moment in shock. But the next moment, the doorbell rang, and Cindy went to open the door.
"Hi, Claire!" Cindy greeted her as she opened the door.
"Hi, Cindy! What are you all doing?" Claire asked, stepping inside.
"Nothing—we're just trying to figure out what this remote controls," Cindy said, showing her the remote.
"This is such a strange remote… like a key to some kind of secret safe," Claire said, examining it closely.
But right then, Lily moved forward to take the remote from Claire, and the remote slipped from Claire's hand and fell to the floor. As it hit the ground, they heard the sound of a door unlocking somewhere. When they turned around, they saw that a small door inside the kitchen had opened—the fall must have pressed one of the buttons on the remote.
All of them moved toward the kitchen. Claire stepped ahead and peeked inside the little door—and suddenly screamed, "Oh my god, this is a secret monitor room! There's footage showing the live moments happening right now!"
Hearing this, Stephnie and Lily were shocked, but even more shocked was Cindy—because she had been living in this house all this time, yet she had no idea about this remote or the secret door it opened.
No one knew what new secrets were about to be revealed now that this new door had opened.