Wherein the investigators encounter the inexplicable, and meet their fate in the dark…

The Bedroom

Upon reaching the top floor, the thumping became banging.  Listening to each door down the hall, they determined it was coming from the last room on the left, at the end of the hall, and St. John smashed the door down with his foot.  However, the room appeared empty aside from some furniture.  Adams, being impulsive and irritable, stormed into the room determined it was someone hiding.  Losing his temper he stomped on the floor boards in the center of the room, demanding that the lurker come out.  The thumping stopped, and from where his foot had crashed into the floor, a slow wet circle began to expand.  Looking closer, Rachel saw that it was blood, and Adams quickly backed out of the room.  The wet spot slowly receded as he left.

Although the thumping had stopped, a scratching began at the window.  St. John, inquisitive, moved to the window, but the scratching sound moved to the side of the house, just outside of view.  Unable to open on his own, as the window had been painted closed, St. John’s friends moved into the room to help him.  First Jane attempted to help, but still not strong enough, Rachel joined them in, and with a final shove all three finally were able to push the window open.  Adams stayed in the hallways, loath to return to the bloodied room.

With the window open, St. John pushed his head out the window, and saw nothing.  But as he did so, the bedframe in the room began to shake violently, and stood up on end, flying towards the investigators.  Jane and St. John were able to dive out of the way in time, but Rachel was caught full in the chest by the furniture, and smashed her way out the window, falling a full story onto the ground below knocking her unconscious.

Her friends rushed out of the house to tend to her, and as they do so, the furniture in the room settles, and the house grows quiet.  Running outside, they were able to wake Rachel, and sit with her to ponder their situation.  St. John suggested they call a doctor, in case Rachel was more terribly injured than she appeared, andhey found a phone inside the Macario house to make the call.

The doctor arrives a few hours later, and determined that Rachel has broken ribs, and a severely twisted leg, but will survive.  The doctor asked what has happened, and the investigators scrambled for an explanation.  Convinced that the police should be called, Adams began describing the events leading up to Rachel’s fall.  The doctor doesn’t believe him, so Adams takes him into the house to prove the goings on.  The bedroom is in good shape, and the window is suddenly back in its frame.  Adams, growing desperate, pounds his foot on the floor in the middle of the room.

But nothing happens.

The doctor, growing more wary and unsettled by Adams, implied he may call for the police, but the group could tell he was more concerned about them then the house.  After some side discussion, the investigators decided that calling in the police at this point was unlikely to get them anywhere, but may indeed land them in the Roxbury alongside the Macarios. St. John was able to calm the doctor, and convince him that his services were no longer needed, and implored him not to bring any authorities into the situation.  The doctor agreed, and after checking with Rachel, to make sure she was okay being left with such obviously imbalanced people, leaves the house and the investigators.

The friends decide that they should take some time and examine the books they found in the house before going back inside, and retire to St. John’s apartment in Boston.

Days 3 thru 4

Jane, Rachel, and St. John took turns over the next two days reading the books they retrieved from the Macario house.  The books were diaries of Walter Corbitt, the second owner of the Macario home, and were unnerving accounts of his gradual unraveling.  It told tales of his increasing love of  hunting, and especially the opportunity to taste freshly spilled blood.  His writing becomes more confused and sprawling, and by the time they get to his third book the friends realized that what they were reading was in fact a book that held the secrets to bridge this world with another in some way.  They also took these days to look at the book they retrieved from the Chapel of Contemplation, but were unable to make much of it, Jane resolving to speak to her old Latin tutor when they have the opportunity.

Adams in the meantime wheeled and dealed with Franklin Francis to buy more time for their group to determine the full situation of the home.  Francis wasn’t keen, but Adams with his business smooth talk was able to buy them two more days, leaving them three days remaining before Francis will be sending a new family to the house.

Day 5

Adams was convinced during the two days of contemplation that the painting hanging in the Macario house living room was key to the trouble with the house.  The group returned to the house, and Adams convinced Jane to go in with him to take the painting out so they could have an art historian examine it.  St. John and Rachel decided to stay outside, Rachel still shaken with her brush with death.  While attempting to remove it from the wall, Adams stumbled, smashing the painting through the living room furniture.  When the painting was torn, the house began its tapping again, growing in loudness.  Adams and Jane, while attempting to leave were stopped by every door in house slamming closed.

St. John and Rachel, seeing the front door suddenly whip closed did their best to break the front door down, using shotguns to blast away parts of the door, could hear the thumping reaching deafening levels, and could just barely discern the frightened shouts of Adams and Jane.  The shouts of Adams and Jane were in part due to the fact that they could not get out the side door, and while fumbling with the doorknob, the floorboards began to drop out from underneath them, falling into the basement below.  Jane, holding onto the walls of the hallway, kept her balance, while Adams couldn’t keep his footing.  Losing control, Adams slipped, falling into the darkness of the basement, with Jane watching in horror.