Chapter Three: 11 PM
Apartment 13E, 13th Floor, Monde Apartments
The Stepfather stared irritably down at his opened laptop while standing in the master bedroom. A blank page filled with nothing. He closed his eyes and sighed again for what felt like the tenth time since he started "writing". He knew he should just try and sleep but he was waiting for Ellie to return from doing laundry. Weirdly, he understood why she did laundry at night. Less people and more peace of mind. It's how he was able to write…
A single thought entered his mind.
He always kept ideas and notes hand written in an old notebook… Perhaps, he could use an old idea… He tried to think of where he placed the old notebook… It was in a dresser in his old apartment before he married and moved… He remembered placing it in a box with his other old personal items… And he placed that box…
The closet.
He left the master bedroom and stopped halfway down the hallway where the faded red colored closet stood. He grabbed the worn doorknob above the lock, turned, pulled, and opened the creaking red door. He told himself to remember to clean the hinges to stop the creaking, or better yet, just get a new door. He looked around the filled closet and paused… He thought it was strange that they could lock the closet but the apartment building was already strange… He ignored the thought and looked around.
It was a decent size walk-in closet with various boxes filled with personal items and junk on the floor, various clothes, household items, and even his toolbox. Generally unimportant, non everyday used items. He entered and knelt down, looking through the various boxes… Until his eyes focused on a corner of the closet almost hidden by boxes…
A small hole…
Hesitantly, he lowered himself further down and reached his hand inside, hoping he wouldn't encounter anything disgusting, and moved his hand around… He felt something… A small box? He held the box and pulled it out…
It was a small brown box much like their own… With what looked like old records… How would he- He paused and looked to his left to see Danny's old equipment. He could use that to listen to whatever the recordings were… But there was something else… A book… An old and worn looking book with… He felt the cover with his hand and pulled back… It felt like…
Skin…?
He grabbed the old box with the recordings and book, as well as Danny's old DJ equipment, and left the closet, closing the door behind him… But he stopped for a moment to take one last look at the odd closet before heading back to the master bedroom, shaking his head. He decided he would worry about the hole in the wall the next morning.
When he returned to the bedroom, he placed the boxes on the floor for a moment to move his laptop to his bed. He then began to set up Danny's old equipment. It took some time considering Danny only showed him once when he was trying to bond with him and failed… He shook his head again, taking one record and blowing the dust off… He saw the word "First" and a date underneath… August 1920… He placed the record down and began to play it… There was static white noise only for a moment before…
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE-!"
Quickly, he stopped the record and stared with wide eyes down at the record… That was a young girl screaming for help… All he could think was what did he just find? Hesitantly, he turned the volume down and continued…
"NO! NO! NO-!"
He then heard another voice though her panic… A calm voice… An older man…
"Elizabeth Thomas… Age 17… Born 1903… She will be my first victim…" He felt dread for the young girl…
"NO! NO! NO-!"
"You may want to hold still, Elizabeth…" A loud roar came to life followed by a buzzing noise even through the low volume…
A chainsaw…
Immediately, he stopped the record and stared with wide eyes and an open mouth… He found recordings of a killer in their closet… They moved into the apartment of a killer… Quickly, he got up and moved to his bed and sat before he opened his laptop and typed Monde Apartment… He wasn't sure what he would find but he needed to know what he was dealing with…
And he found exactly what…
The Monde Apartment, formerly the Monde Hotel, was the location of the infamous Los Angeles serial killer… The Butcher… Real name Matthew Roberts… Owner of the Monde Hotel… He operated from 1920 to 1929… Where he kidnapped and dismembered his victims… Teenage girls… His first victim was Elizabeth Thomas (17)… His last thirteenth victim was Mary Lewis (17)… Reports of screaming in the middle of the night… Police found the Butcher dismembered… and Mary alive… What followed her were strange occurrences… Nightmares… Anger… Became violent towards her family… Local church became involved… Demon… Exorcism… Were said to have been caused by a book the Butcher had in his possession… Believed to have believed in… Evil Dead… Words said by the Butcher himself according to Mary… The book was never found by the police… Committed suicide during exorcism… Last words…
I'm free…
Slowly, he closed his laptop and looked at the recordings and book… Evidence… He had missing evidence of an already caught and dead serial killer… He knew he could get in trouble keeping both and not saying anything… But only if he wrote exactly what happened… He needed inspiration… Hotel owned by a serial killer? Not original but demon…? Exorcism that followed already horrific events…
He thought for a moment…
If he gave it to the police, he likely wouldn't see any of it again… Or… he could take a few notes… There could be something even the police didn't know… Somehow the Butcher was killed and Mary survived… He could just listen to the last recording and find out how… Then give the evidence to the police the next day…
He sighed…
He knew Ellie would be pissed that they moved into a former murder place with a serial killer… And she would be even more pissed if he didn't tell her and wrote the book… She knew the inspiration for his books came from somewhere. She would press him and find out. Likely even before he could publish the book… But he had no other inspiration…
Finally, he made his choice.
He returned to the desk with the equipment, recording, and book. Slowly, he opened the book which he believed to be made of human skin… The blood stained pages confirmed that idea… No, not stains… Drawings and writings… Disturbing drawings and writings… Mutilated bodies… Twisted and deformed humans… No, demons… Evil… Dead… Evil Dead… He felt a… chill? But it was the middle of the summer… But it was cold…? Suddenly, he jumped when a flash of lightning appeared with light rain… When did it start raining…? He ignored it and turned back to the records. He searched through the others until he found the one he was looking for… Thirteenth… July 1929… He removed the first recording and placed down the last recording of his thirteenth and final victim Mary Lewis…
He played it.
"HELP! HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE! NO! NO! NO-!"
He knew that was Mary.
"Mary Lewis… Age 17… Born 1912… She will be my thirteen victim… And her first… Finally, I've found it… Naturom Demonto… The Book of the Dead…"
The voice sounded different… Older… Filled with excitement… He swallowed thickly, ignoring the guilt he felt listening to this… He jumped again from the thundering storm outside…
"WHAT?! PLEASE! LET ME GO! PLEASE!"
He heard the panic in her voice…
"We will begin reading…"
He decided to stop the recording and get his notebook… But it wouldn't stop… He tried again- He jumped from the sudden heat he felt! His fingers on his right hand burned! Quietly, he cussed… And slowly, his head turned to the book… Its pages were now moving on its own before it stopped… The left side was blank and stained with blood… But the right side showed a drawing of a woman on fire with a terrifying grin… Words written with blood underneath…
The Inferno Deadite…
But what terrified him more was the increased volume of Mary's screams and the reading from the now inhuman voice of the Butcher…
"KANDA… ESTRATA… KANDOS…"
The room felt colder…
"TURUS… INDOCTUS… SKARINDUS…"
The storm outside worsened with another flash of lightning…
"KANDA… AMANTOS… KANDA…"
And finally, the lights flickered and died…
…
Then he heard a chuckle… Followed by a giggle… Finally, full blown laughter…
…
All from Mary…
…
The record stopped and he heard nothing…
…
Then a loud bang made him jump as the master bedroom door swung open as… Kassie, wearing light blue pajamas, ran to him and hugged his legs… Gently, he asked her what was wrong, hoping that she hadn't heard the recordings…
"The storm woke me up…" Kassie answered quietly. Quietly, he let out a breath of relief… He then asked if she would like to go with him to check on her mother since the power was out. She nodded her head and he picked her up. He carried her to the door but slowed to take one last look at the recordings and…
The closed book…
Anddd he fucked up... Something I found interesting was how this film went out of its way to show Danny trying to stop the recordings unlike 2013 where Eric read the book. I always dislike the hate he got for that because we as an audience operate on meta horror movie logic. Of course, he SHOULDN'T read a very obvious demonic book but that's only obvious to us. No one really expects a book to summon demons even if that's creepily made of skin. Regardless, I always liked that he owned up to his fuck up and tried to help David to the end. As for this chapter, I decided to go both directions. Yeahhh, he probably shouldn't have touched any of it but curiosity and cats, you know? I'm not actually sure what the consequences regarding using unfounded murder evidence for a book but I can imagine some trouble coming out of that which is why I had that as an excuse for him to go through with it. For the backstory, I decided to go with a serial killer who worshiped the Deadites owning a hotel and kidnapping girls to use for rituals. Not sure why but I liked the idea. Also I intended the ending for this chapter to be the start of the crazy shit I have planned but I decided to save it for the next chapter as the first Deadite makes itself known to the family... Anyway, until then.