Introduction.

''Weeping is not the same as crying. It takes your whole body to weep, and when it's over, you feel like you don't have any bones left to hold you up.''

– Sarah Okler

Rapid City, South Dakota. (1984)

It was almost six o'clock in the afternoon when Ross Weston opened the front door of his house, with his daughter in his arms. The little girl, a blonde five year old kid, was laughing at her father's joke and Ross couldn't help but smiling at his little princess. They walked, still laughing and smiling into the house, then Ross put his daughter on the ground so he could close the door behind him. He took off his coat and hat, putting them on the coatrack while watching the little blonde head run towards the kitchen. He smiled again, happy, enjoying the moment he shared every day with his daughter. It was their routine. He had finished his job as a plumber and had taken his daughter home from the pre-school. Each day they played hide and seek in the kitchen and then they got something small to eat before watching TV together, while waiting for his wife, Lynn, to get home from work in town.

"Mac! Where're ya?" Ross asked, pretending to search for his daughter who was hiding behind the kitchen counter.

He heard her laughing, so he approached her slowly. She laughed again when she heard him going around the counter and shouted in surprise when her father caught her.

"You found me, daddy!" She giggled.

"Yeah, Makenna, I'll always find you." He smiled before kissing her cheek fondly. "You hungry, little one?"

Makenna nodded her head excitedly with a big smile. Her father smiled too and went to prepare her a snack.

Ross Weston was a happy man for his age. He had a beautiful wife, a magnificent daughter, a good job and a lovely house. He had met his wife, Lynn Carter on a road trip and since then, they had never left each other. Two years later, Makenna was there. They lived in a little house near the forest, but not too far from the city. They had a few friends, they were very happy with their simple life.

Finished preparing her snack, Ross helped his daughter sit on a chair at the table and ate with her, talking about her day at school, about her friends and the drawing she had made. Once she finished eating, she asked her father if she could watch TV. He smiled, nodded and carried her in the living room. She watched her program silently while her father went back in the kitchen, cleaning dishes from the morning and beginning to prepare for dinner.

Two hours later, Ross was pacing in the hall. His wife was late – very late – tonight and he was beginning to worry. She wasn't usually late and she always called to tell him she was going to be late, but not this time, not tonight. That's why he was so worried. He tried to calm down and decided to sit next to his daughter, watching TV with her. But ten minutes later, Makenna reminded him of his wife's absence by asking him where her mother was. He started worrying again. He answered her that she was still working but that she will be home very soon. Makenna nodded and returned her attention to her animated movie. Ross stood and began pacing in the hall again. He was wondering why his wife was late and why she hadn't called him to tell him.

After a while, he decided to call her job. He picked up the phone and dialed her desk number. He listened to the tone impatiently, and frowned. She didn't answer his call, and instead he listened to the voicemail of the bank she worked at. Ross tried to ignore the ball of anxiety lodged in his throat. He tried to think of the different reasons of why she didn't answer. Maybe she was on the road, already heading home. With this thought, he decided to wait ten more minutes.

But ten minutes later, Lynn was still not home. Ross had tried to call her again a few more times, but resulting each time as the same as before. He was thinking in the hall, until he felt something grab his leg. Looking down, he saw Makenna looking up at him. He smiled, erasing the worry on his face and leaned down and grabbed his daughter in his arms.

"Hey, Mac" he said quietly with a smile.

"Where's mommy?" she asked with a pout on her lips. "I miss her."

"She had a lot of work to do." He answered with a sigh, his heart hurting because of the sad look on his daughter's face. "But she will be here soon, I promise."

Makenna looked at him but said nothing, wishing really hard that her mom would be home soon so she could tell her what she had learned and drawn today at school. Ross didn't like seeing the sad look on his daughter's face, so he tried to entertain her.

"Are you hungry? I made your favorite meal!" He said, walking towards the kitchen where the table was already set.

"Yeah!" Makenna exclaimed with a huge smile on her face, forgetting her sadness for a moment.

The dinner was spent in silence for the most part, but Ross was trying to make his daughter smile and laugh so she would forget the absence of her mother for the time being. But the empty chair at the table was a constant reminder. After dinner, he went upstairs with Makenna in his arms and put her in bed. He leaned over to kiss her forehead but the little girl didn't look happy or ready to sleep. Instead, she sat in her little bed and looked at her father with big sad eyes.

"Where's mummy?" she asked again. "She has to kiss me goodnight."

Ross was at loss of words for a few seconds, not knowing how to answer his little girl who was missing her mother. He sighed, before he pushed her back in bed, gently forcing her to lie down.

"I'm sorry, baby girl, but mommy is still working…"

"I can't sleep without her kiss." Makenna said firmly, but with tears in her eyes.

"I know… she will kiss you as soon as she'll be home. But you need to try to sleep without her kiss for now."

Makenna was thinking, not liking the idea of going to sleep without her mother telling her goodnight first. She looked up at her father and was ready to answer him but he spoke first.

"Mac, I promise you that mom will kiss you as soon as she's home. But please, you have to be a good girl and sleep." He almost begged her.

The blonde girl wanted to protest but she heard something in her father's voice that told her not to. Instead, she looked at the ceiling and nodded reluctantly. Ross sighed in relief before kissing her on the forehead once again and leaving her in her bedroom.

When he reached the last step of the stairs, he saw light coming from the window and heard the noise of a car. With hope, he walked to the window to see who it was. Relief flooded him when he recognized his wife's car. She was finally home. He jogged towards the front door and opened it just as she stepped on the porch. Ross smiled widely, relieved that Lynn was there.

"Lynn! Honey, I was so worried!" He said, taking a step towards her.

Lynn didn't make a move to greet him or to enter the house. She was just standing there, looking right in his eyes with a small smirk.

"Sorry, dear." She spoke finally and Ross thought that her voice was cold. "I was fighting my inner demons, " she said as her grin widened and her eyes suddenly went all black.

Ross's breath hitched at first, his heart missing a beat in his chest because of the fear and the panic, but he quickly recovered from his shock and slammed the door in the face of the demon that was in his wife. He ran toward the kitchen, nearly tripping over his own feet in the search for the salt. He knew he had to act fast if he wanted to stay alive. Once he found the salt, he drew a line in front of each entrance to the kitchen. That's when the front door burst open, and Lynn, or the demon who was in her, walked in. She made slowly her ways toward the kitchen, glancing at the salt line in amusement.

On the other side of the salt line, Ross stood there, his breath getting heavier by the minute. He was internally cursing himself for getting rid of the holy water. Before marrying Lynn, he promised her that he would stop hunting, that he would quit this life and all of the stuff that went with it. Now he was seriously regretting that promise. But now he was standing in front of his possessed wife with salt and an iron bar from the curtain as his only defense. He didn't know what to do, he hadn't anything to kill the demon with, nor a Devil's trap in the house.

"Oh, that's funny." The demon inside of Lynn spoke. "The hunter is panicking. How pathetic."

Ross glared at her, hatred bright in his eyes. This demon had destroyed his life in a matter of seconds.

"When I heard that you quit the life, that you got married and that you were no longer a hunter, I laughed. I didn't believe it. But here you are." she said, pacing in front of the salt line like a predator in front of their future prey. "I have to admit that I'm surprised, and a little bit… disappointed. It will be too easy to kill you now."

"What do you want?" Ross asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Revenge, fun, sport…" She answered, shrugging her shoulders. "But you know, I've heard that you have a kid now. And rumor says that she's special."

"Wh-What?" Ross stumbled. "What are you talking about!" He shouted, afraid and angry.

"Oh! You don't know!" She exclaimed in delight. "Maybe I should tell you… But it's pointless because I'm going to kill you anyway."

Lynn smirked and Ross shivered. This was his wife with a disease inside, but he didn't know how to save her. While he was thinking of a way to kill the demon, Lynn raised her hand. The wind outside became stronger and stronger, the windows burst open and the wind rushed inside the house. In a matter of seconds, the salt lines were gone. Ross ran towards a drawer in the kitchen and grabbed a knife. He knew that it was useless on a demon, but for now, it was his only way of defending himself. Lynn walked into the kitchen and laughed at the sight of the former hunter. She raised her hand and Ross flew across the room before hitting the wall. Lynn could kill him here and now, but she wanted to have fun first. Soon, a fight had started in the house.

Upstairs, Makenna was having difficulty going to sleep. Her mother hadn't kissed her goodnight yet, and she was sad and worried. Then, she heard a big noise on the floor below. Scared, she sat up in her bed and listened. She heard voices so she jumped of her bed and ran towards her bedroom door. She listened attentively and then smiled when she heard her mother's voice. She opened the door and began to go down the stairs. But she stopped when she heard a scream of pain and another big noise. She then became afraid. When she heard her mother shouting, she ran down the last couple of stairs and into the living room.

What she saw sent shiver down her spine and brought tears to her eyes. Her father and her mother were fighting, throwing punches at each other. There was blood everywhere and the room was a mess. When she saw her mother catching her father by the throat and suffocating him, a sob escaped her.

"Mom?" She asked, her voice trembling.

The head of her parents turned toward her. Her father was fighting to breath and he was afraid for Makenna. But the eyes of her mother were the thing that frightened her the most. They were black as night. She stared, too scared to look away as Ross tried to shout at her.

"Go away! Mac, run!" He managed to say.

Lynn sent him flying away, and he collapsed against a wall. She walked slowly toward Makenna, smirking, but the little girl was too afraid, and she stepped back each time her mother took a step. Lynn raised her hand, but before she could do anything, she was pushed to the floor. Ross dragged her away from his daughter and grabbed the salt. He emptied the bag of salt on her, ignored her scream of agony and ran towards his daughter.

The little girl was crying and shivering, still panicking. Ross knelt before her and grabbed her small shoulders.

"Mac, run and hide in the car. Don't move until I'm back." He ordered, but Makenna didn't look at him. "Now!" He said louder.

Makenna came out of her daze, nodded, and ran as fast as she could. She opened the back door, ran through her garden toward the garage. She opened the door of the car and hid inside it. While watching his daughter run away, he grabbed his phone and called an old friend.

"John, it's me. I need help. A demon. I'm defenseless. Hurry." He ended the call as fast as he could, hoping that his friend could get to him in time.

Ross turned to see Lynn standing in the living room, moaning in pain and rage. He raised his knife and began chanting an exorcism. Lynn laughed a little and ran toward him. Ross pushed her off of him and she landed in front of the fireplace. The carpet beneath her accidently moved towards the heat and caught fire. Ross continued chanting the exorcism, ignoring the fire that was building up in the living room. But the demon in Lynn didn't want him to continue. She wanted him to suffer. So she smiled her little smirk again, and formed a new plan in her head.

"If I'm leaving, I'll not be the only one." She shouted over the roar of the fire before running towards Ross and impaling herself on his knife.

Ross stopped his exorcism, in shock. He looked at the knife he was holding that was shoved in his wife, then looked up to the see the smirk on the demon's face.

Lynn looked at him before opening her mouth and a black smoke flew in the air. The body of his wife went limp in his arm, and he caught her before she hit the floor.

"No!" He shouted. And then, looking at the demon still floating in the air, he was filled with a new resolve and finished the exorcism. The demon made a noise before disappearing through the floor, back in hell.

"No, please, Lynn, honey, wake up." He mumbled, rocking his wife's body in his arms.

When she slowly opened her eyes, he knew that he maybe still had a chance to save her. He took her in his arms and picked her up. But the fire had invaded the room, blocking their way out. Ross began to panic again, and he tried to find an escape but couldn't reach the door that led outside. A tear slid on his cheek, and he knew he was going to die here, with his wife. He was afraid, but he mostly was angry that he couldn't save his wife or protect his daughter. He had been a fool for thinking that he could quit that life, to stop hunting. He was going to leave his daughter behind him, orphaned. He cried, rocking his now dead wife in his arms, waiting for the fire to consume him.

Outside, Makenna watched as her house burned, crying and shouting for her father and mother to come out. She kicked the window, but her parents never managed to leave the house alive.

She curled up into a ball, weeping all night in the car. She cried until she couldn't breathe anymore and finally fell asleep.

She was now an orphan.