Four years ago:
Micah was standing next to the front window peeking out of the curtains every now and then. She saw the mail man drop off a couple of letters in their mailbox, then turned at her direction. Micah's heart jumped as she pulled her body back quickly. She slowly leaned back to see if the mail man was still staring. She saw him shrug his shoulders and walk down the street.
"Micah."
"AHH!" she yelled, turning to her husband who winded back from her emphatic cry.
"Ah! What the hell is the matter with you?" Dan asked. Micah took a deep breath and brushed her hair out of her face.
"N-nothing. You just startled me." She lied, peaking back out the window.
"You've been looking out the window all morning. Are you waiting for something?" He asked.
'Something like that...' Micah thought to herself. She has been on edge ever since she escaped her session with the society of the blind eye. They were able to take some memories away from her. It was when she saw her daughter in a memory being erased is when she snapped and fought her way out of there. Micah could barely recall what they had erased, she only briefly remembers Wendy getting close, and what seemed like befriending it.
"I have to get back to work. Are you okay to go and pick up the kids today?" Dan asked. Micah said she was fine picking them up. Dan shook his head and headed out the door. Micah used the opportunity he went outside to go check the mail. She waved bye to her husband who pulled out of the driveway. When he was a bit down the road, she rushed back inside the house. She locked all seven locks on the door and peaked out the window one more time. Micah sighed, walking over to the kitchen table, and placing the few letters down. She noticed one colorful advertisement letter. She brought it up close to her face.
"Hmm... the 'Mystery Shack'... what is this?" She asked herself, turning the advertisement over. There was more writing on the back that read 'Come by and see nature's greatest phenomena. Bask in what lies deep within the woods of the pacific northwest!' Micah lingered on the advertisement, seeing this as a small chance of hope to get any information to fight off any monsters that could live in their backyards. Micah looked at the clock, and saw she had a couple of hours before she needed to pick up her children from school. She decided to pay the Mystery Shack a visit. She put a bandana covering her hair, sunglasses, and a raincoat to cover most of her body. She peaked out the door and began to walk over to the Mystery Shack. She took peaks over her shoulder anytime she thought she saw or heard someone. If she did see anyone, she would walk to the other side of the street. It wasn't until she saw tourists gathering at the Mystery Shack where she found a tad amount of ease. Micah saw a large crowd gathered at the front door with a man in a black suit and an eye patch waving his arms.
"Step right in folks! Our next tour will start momentarily, only five dollars for admission!" Stan held his hat out for people to fill with dollar bills. Micah paid the admission and hid amongst the crowd. Stan led the tour showing cheesy attractions, clearly fake monsters Stan had stapled or super glued together, or relics that would sworn off evil that one could 'conveniently' purchase at the gift shop. Micah became annoyed with the tour, starting to feel this was a waste of time. It wasn't until one member of the crowd asked about a door everyone passed in the hallway. Stan brushed it off and said it was a supply closet. The tone in his voice didn't convince Micah that it was, so she waited for the tour group to walk a bit ahead of her before she investigated the door. Micah tried to open the doorknob, seeing it was locked. She pulled the bobby pin holding her hair up and put it into the keyhole. After a few twists and turns, she was able to unlock the door. She entered the room quietly and softly closed the door behind her. Micah took off her sunglasses in the dark room. The curtains were blocking out the sunlight that rimmed around them. There was a couch to her right side. She carefully walked forward, making the floor creak with almost every step. She found a desk at the other end of the room. She could make out the outline of a desk lamp on the table in front of her. She patted around looking for a light switch, she pressed a button at the bottom of the lamp, lighting the desk in front of her. She found a red book with a strange cover. It was a six-fingered hand with the number two written on it. Micah opened the book, and saw it was a journal containing notes about the supernatural. She flipped through the pages, skimming over it. At first looked like something the tour guide was cooking up for another gift shop item. Micah turned the page and saw a rough sketch of a manotaur, making her heart rate jump. She remembers seeing them from a distance in their backyard. She tried to convince herself what she saw was just a very odd bull but couldn't justify walking on hind legs alone. Micah started to feel the contents of the journal were legitimate. She began searching through the pages for anything she could use to her advantage against these creatures. She came across a sketch of a woman in armor levitating, radiating a holy light from her forehead. The scripture beneath the drawing was in, what Micah guessed, was Latin. There was a note written at the top of the page. 'A prayer calling for ascendant power. Spell used in ancient times to help warriors gain an upper hand in battle, or to have the insight for a very effective strategic move.' Micah stared for a moment at the woman floating. Her eyes were fully white, and seemed to be flying with wings when Micah took another closer look at the image. Micah ripped the page out of the journal and folded it in her pocket. She closed the book and turned off the desk lamp. As she turned around, Stan suddenly walked into the room. The two locked eyes briefly.
"Hey! What are you doing here? This place is off limits!" Stan yelled.
"I'm sorry, I got lost during the tour."
"Bull, lady. This door is locked any time I'm open for business. Now tell me the truth, or I'm calling the police." Stan threatened. Micah eyes darted back and forth frantically, until she succumbed to telling the truth.
"Okay, okay. I came here when I got an ad in the mail to see a tourist attraction about the abnormal. I'm sure you've seen some strange things in this town, and you wouldn't be the first. I came here thinking I could find something to help fend off these creatures in case I ever needed to. What you had out there was total nonsense, but in here, in that book, you had information about a creature I had encountered before. So, I started skimming through it to see if there they had any weaknesses." Micah stared at Stan, who's brow was still furrowed. "Please, I just want to protect my family. Surely you have family that you'd do anything to protect, right?" Micah asked. Stan's brows raised and met in the middle of his forehead, thinking about Ford, and the night he had lost his brother. Stan redirected his focus to Micah.
"Listen, whatever is in that book is a bunch of hoo-hah. If you need some protection, try buying a gun." Stan said.
"Trust me, my husband has over five guns, and those are the only ones that I and the state of Oregon know about. But what if a gun doesn't work on them? Then what?" Micah asked.
"I don't know, but breaking into people's personal property isn't going to help fight of leprechauns, or whatever. Now, get out of here before I call the cops." Stan pointed to the door. Micah walked past him and left the Mystery Shack. Micah walked back home. She hid the page in her dresser before she went to go pick up her kids. Micah waited in her pickup truck, constantly scanning for any suspicious activity that might encounter her. Her kids got into her truck, and she drove them back home. Micah cooked them a quick dinner and excused herself to her room, insisting she was tired and wanted to take a nap. She pulled the page from her dresser, staring at it, wondering what exactly she had in her possession. There was a sudden roar of cheer when Dan got home. The boys would always make a ruckus any time their father came home.
"Hey guys, be quiet, mom is trying to sleep!" Wendy yelled at them.
"You're the one yelling, brace face." Her brother teased.
"Wanna take this outside so we can be louder?" Wendy cracked her knuckles. Her brother hesitated to answer.
"Of course he does! You ain't gonna back down from a fight, are you son?" Dan encouraged him.
"No way, especially not from a girl!" Micah could hear her family's noise getting quieter as they made their way to the back yard. Micah couldn't help but smile at the rough housing the kids would get into, and their father who would enliven their behavior. Reminding Micah why she stole the paper in the first place, to do whatever she needed to do to make sure they were safe.
Later that night, when everyone was asleep, Micah got up from her side of the bed quietly with the journal page. She sneaked out of her room with one of her husband's handguns in case the society of the blind eye would break in and tiptoed to the living room. She lit the fireplace and stared at the paper again. Micah took a deep breath before reading the writing at the bottom of the page. She was doing her best to pronounce every word properly, as she continued to read, it sounded like her voice would echo throughout her home. Micah pressed on, until she heard voices that sounded like they were right up to her ear. Micah grabbed the gun next to her and stood on her feet. She continued to read, making the voices louder, speaking a language she was unfamiliar with. Micah would pause at moments pointing the gun towards the living room window, waiting for sudden movements or any sign to open fire. The voices became more aggressive and were piercing deep into her skull. Micah read the final line of the writing. All at once, the voices stopped. Micah could only hear the crackling of the wood and the whoosh of the flames in the fireplace. Micah focused on the living room window, using her right arm to aim her firearm. Micah's vision began to become blurry as it became more difficult for her to breathe. She tried to keep her focus, until an unknown force moved her limbs, putting her arms slightly raised to her side. Micah's eyes began rolling to the back of her head and began speaking in tongues while her body shakes. Her grips loosened. The hand holding the journal page was let go, slowly floating down and catching fire in front of the fireplace when it landed. While the hand holding the pistol was still in her hand. The handgun was being held by her index finger wrapped around the trigger. Micah's body was still shaking slightly, causing the gun to slip off her index finger, only for the trigger ring to get caught by her thumb. Outside of the house, a giant white orb of light was forming. A similar light was leaving her body from her forehead and piercing through the ceiling. Once all the light stopped, the white orb shot up high into the sky, landing miles away from where it had originated. Micah stopped shaking. Her body collapsed to her knees, before the rest of her fell to the floor. When her hand hit the floor, it pulled the trigger, unfortunately sending a bullet upward through her cheek and hitting her brain. Blood soon covered the upper part of Micah's body. The gunshot woke up Dan. He turned to his bedside, seeing his wife was missing.
"Micah?" Dan called out as he jumped out of bed. He grabbed his shotgun and head to the living room of the house, only to see his wife in a puddle of blood with his handgun in her grasp.