The living room was pitch black, filled with screams.
From Rebecca's panicked words, it was clear that her boyfriend, Brett, had been dragged away while trying to protect her.
Martin shined a flashlight everywhere, illuminating the space.
Sophie was in the kitchen, mumbling to the basement as if talking to thin air.
John rushed out and asked for the reason; it turned out that Sophie, as a mother, wanted her two children to accept Diana's existence.
She had actually turned off all the lights, hoping Diana would come out and meet them.
Brett had never seen anything so dark, darker than a black person.
He immediately took out his phone, ready to call the police, but Diana directly dragged him away.
No matter how strong Rebecca was, she was now sobbing uncontrollably.
"We have to save Brett; I caused this."
John glanced at Art and Jeepers Creepers, who immediately understood and rushed into the basement to rescue him.
The Evil Spirit was too large and too terrifying for such a confined space.
The Terrifier was suitable; people saw him as a clown.
Jeepers Creepers was completely covered, at most being seen as a strange person.
Rebecca didn't ask, but she could tell that these two strange individuals were the exorcist's helpers.
John turned the lights back on and fell into thought.
What method could he use to restrain Diana?
He had thought about using glowing objects to pin Diana down, but she would vanish upon contact with light.
John suddenly thought of something.
A UV lamp, but where could he find such a thing in the middle of the night?
Before he could think further, the basement door burst open; Jeepers Creepers carried Brett in his hands, but Art didn't come up.
He was probably suffering in the basement in Brett's place.
Rebecca looked at the battered Brett, thanking Jeepers Creepers while sobbing and calling out her boyfriend's name.
Martin hid beside John, curiously observing Jeepers Creepers, who was wearing a large coat.
He seemed very interested in this strange person; from a child's perspective, Jeepers Creepers's ability to rescue someone from a monster was extremely impressive.
John was still thinking.
Diana, mental hospital, friend…
All these pieces of information seemed to point to one place.
If it were a domestic horror movie, then Rebecca's mother would undoubtedly be experiencing hallucinations due to schizophrenia, and she herself would be the one harming her son and daughter.
But this was American horror.
John had just personally experienced that suffocating feeling.
But he felt he had to try; what if there was a connection?
"Rebecca, I won't harm your mother, but I suspect the evil spirit's appearance might be related to her, so I'm going to talk to her; tell me quickly anything else you remember."
Rebecca said, "Mom hasn't taken her medicine in a long time, it seems."
The reason she only said it now was because she thought taking medicine had absolutely no relation to the evil spirit.
John understood; he stepped forward and stopped Sophie, who was about to enter the basement, saying,
"Excuse me, Madam, is Diana your friend?"
Sophie hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"Yes, Diana is my friend, it's just that her mental state has always been poor; I hope you don't hurt her; let me talk to her properly."
John watched the mumbling old woman, a twitch appearing at the corner of his mouth.
She was already lost in delusion.
Seeing this, John wasted no more words and slapped Sophie hard; the previously mumbling old woman instantly froze, then sobered up.
She stared at John in shock, seemingly unable to understand why the young man, who had just been so polite, would suddenly hit her.
John pointed to the three people in the living room and said,
"Madam Sophie, please look carefully at how your friend Diana is harming your daughter and son; what you are doing will also harm your friend Diana."
"If you're sick, you need treatment, and if you're hit, you need to stand at attention!"
"Diana is sick, very sick, just like you, Madam; you are her friend, so if she has any illness, you should tell me so it can be treated."
John simply went along with Sophie's words; since you say Diana is mentally unwell and sick, then you should tell me about her illness and find the cause so it can be treated, right?
Sophie paused, then looked at Rebecca and Martin's crying, frightened eyes; as a mother, she finally wavered.
"You're right, child; if you're sick, you need treatment… Diana and I met in a mental hospital; she's like me, but her problems are more severe, and she also has a skin condition called photosensitivity…"
As Sophie spoke.
The room suddenly plunged into darkness; the entire block seemed to have a power outage.
John: "?"
This isn't a joke, is it?
Classic, when the truth is about to be revealed, an accident happens, right?
The commotion in the basement grew even wilder.
The next second, the door opened automatically.
A shadow instantly grabbed Sophie's foot and dragged her towards the basement; John, quick as a flash, directly pounced on the shadow and held it down firmly; the evil spirit struggled even more fiercely.
She could have escaped, but she didn't want to abandon Sophie.
John almost got thrown off, but thankfully he held on tightly… No, the sensation was wrong.
John could clearly feel the softness from his palm; he instinctively squeezed it.
Honestly, it felt pretty good.
The sudden silence came unexpectedly.
John had expected the other party to be angry, but instead, there was a demonic whisper, instantly raising goosebumps all over him and making him feel a few degrees more terrified.
This whisper was a mental horror, especially in a dark environment.
John used to not believe that horror movies could scare people to death, until one day, a demonic whisper came to his ear.
"Bang!"
A muffled sound rang out, and the evil spirit's whisper disappeared.
The Terrifier, with only one leg left, slammed Diana's head with a blood-stained hammer, seemingly knocking her out.
John quickly called Jeepers Creepers to help hold Diana down, then shook Sophie awake to make her tell the truth of the matter.
He didn't believe it could be interrupted this time.
As Sophie spoke.
The truth of that year slowly unfolded before John.
Diana was a mentally ill person who also suffered from photosensitivity, but before entering the mental hospital, she was a cultist who worshipped an evil god.
Calling it an evil god, it was actually some unknown evil being that had escaped from somewhere.
When she died, she even sacrificed her life to the evil being.
This evil being was actually an evil spirit; after Diana sacrificed her life, her body was possessed.
Sophie was Diana's friend at the time and often visited her, so she naturally became a target for the evil spirit.
First, it killed her husband, and finally, it prepared to harm her two children.
So, after the evil spirit possessed Diana's body, it was actually influenced by this body and could only appear in the shadows, which is why the evil spirit only appeared after the lights were turned off.
After listening, John felt that this body was the key to restraining the evil spirit.
"Madam, have you taken your medicine?"
"Not yet."
"Where is the medicine?"
"I hid it; if I take the medicine, Diana won't meet me anymore, but I know where it is."
"Go get the medicine quickly; take more yourself, and give Diana more too."
The old woman, confused, ran off to find the medicine.
John then instructed Art to continue smashing with the bloody hammer; he noticed the blood on the hammer now, remembering it wasn't there last time.
It could actually cause dizziness damage to Diana.
"Art, where did the blood on your hammer come from?"
Art the Clown looked up at John, bewildered.
John realized it was a purely redundant question.
"Never mind, go play."
…