Martha's Story

My name is Martha, and I'm 18 years old. Since I was little, I never believed in supernatural stories until recently, or rather, until the moment I found a black book under the building where I lived. Maybe I would have thought that I found that book, but I could never understand that the book actually found me.

Things started to get weird as soon as I found that black book. I had a brother named Nathan; he knew much more about supernatural cases, so Martha told him about the possibility that the book might be cursed. As a mixed martial arts lover, he wasn't interested in the book or investigating it, so Martha didn't decide to look into it further.

"Damn it, it can't be any of that." Martha unconsciously gripped the silver cross in her jacket pocket tightly. Only now did Martha feel inexplicably stable, and she continued to look at the church in front of her until she could breathe more calmly.

"I never thought that old lady at the bakery would be right." Martha, who had received the cross as a gift, never imagined that same night she could sleep more peacefully. Thinking about all the changes that happened when she received the cross, Martha took a deep breath. Just because of these changes, she knew that the owner of that silver cross was a fairly young priest who was in this church.

Unlike other priests who make news by abusing their authority, such as the priest who threw a party in the temple and one of the attendees died of an overdose, this priest she had heard of was a very just one. Many say he has helped countless people; others think he is an exorcist priest, and his mission is to protect this city.

As for why Martha believes that Priest Anton is authentic, it's because of the silver cross; she knew that other crosses didn't have that power, so she came here to find out the reason for that difference.

In the days following the encounter with that strange book, Martha felt that her home was becoming more and more terrifying, with a depressing aura, to the point of imagining that her house was a time bomb that had reached its limits.

However, no one in the family seemed to feel anything. Both her parents and her younger brother couldn't feel anything, which made her feel that something was wrong.

"Oh! Damn! This is crap. Such a bad feeling... I must not be crazy; this is not in my head." Martha remembered all this and walked through the door with enough preparation. She must ask for help from Priest Anton.

But before taking the second step, she was stopped by a strong man who came beside her. Martha knew that this strong man was a priest of this church, but not the one she was looking for.

"Are you here to find Priest Anton?" Upon hearing this, Martha had a bad feeling, so she asked, "Well, um, isn't the priest here today?"

Indeed...

Thomas looked at the cautious girl, but unlike other people, she seemed to really need help.

"Well, I'm sorry, Priest Anton won't come to the church today." Martha furrowed her brow unconsciously and squeezed the cross in the pocket of her hoodie tighter with her right hand.

"Okay." After saying that, Martha ignored the priest in front of her because she had seen him partying at night on some weekends, so she didn't trust him much; therefore, she turned around and walked away.

She didn't believe that anyone could help because these kinds of things were too rare and unique. If she hadn't been helped by a priest, she would have been treated like a crazy person if she had told anyone.

This decisive attitude left Thomas stunned; he was also an exorcist priest, but it seemed that everyone trusted Anton more than what he could help with.

"Follow that girl and find out where she lives; she seems to be tormented by a dark entity." Thomas looked at the men at the door, giving them instructions.

The two men nodded and quickly took off their cleaner uniforms, then ran to where Martha had gone, now wearing more casual clothes.

After running a certain distance and then walking again, Martha took her cell phone out of her pocket and seemed a bit hesitant when she remembered the phone number the lady from the bakery had given her.

This phone number could only be used in extreme cases, like the one she was in. "What if I have mental problems instead of them being something supernatural?" Martha asked herself this question and ultimately decided to put her cell phone away.

She decided to forget it; after all, nothing worrying had happened, like receiving a direct attack from that dark entity. After walking a few more meters, she reached a neighborhood where there was a building in terrible condition.

She hated this damn place. It was full of drunk people at night, talking nonsense and spitting everywhere, but at least she had adapted; everyone knew that this place was only safe during the day.

Fortunately, they would have to move because this building was going to be demolished.

She walked towards the elevator, where she saw a girl named Bridget, who was her neighbor and, in a way, an acquaintance.

"This elevator is disgusting," Bridget said in an annoyed tone.

Martha didn't want to say anything because she was a little nervous, but she still murmured, "At least it will be demolished."

"That's for the best... By the way, have you heard those strange noises in the middle of the night?" Bridget looked at Martha and asked, wanting to know her answer.

"No..."

"Hmm, that's weird; I thought they were coming from your house."

Martha just remained silent; right now, she just wanted to throw that book away as soon as possible and wait for everything to return to normal.