The Object
Case File: 11 Oakwood Drive
I stood in the master bedroom at 11 Oakwood Drive with Claire and Paul, trying to process what had just happened.
One of our cameras had been destroyed in the basement. Nobody saw it happen.
Paul had been clawed by something we couldn’t see in the bedroom closet.
And now Lourdes had walked off down the hall into another part of the house without saying a word.
It was clear we were no longer dealing with a typical haunting.
Claire had already made that distinction. What she was sensing, she said, was not a “soul” — her preferred term for what most people would call a ghost. Instead, she believed we were dealing with something capable of influencing perception, distorting thought, and possibly causing physical harm.
I thought about Lourdes somewhere in the house, possibly affected by whatever we were dealing with.
“You think she’s...” I started.
“No,” Claire said quickly. “Not possessed. But she’s not thinking entirely as herself.”
She stopped mid-sentence and stared at something in my hand.
“Allan, I need you to put that on. Right now.”
I followed her gaze and was surprised to find that I still held the pendant that she had handed to me moments ago. I distinctly remember placing the necklace around my neck. I touched my chest with my left hand, expecting to feel it hanging around my neck but it wasn’t there. I quickly pulled it over my head, but she didn’t look at all reassured.
“We should go find her,” she said, her voice quieter now.
Paul shook his head when Claire said something to him under her breath, gesturing to his arm, still red and raised. Then reluctantly, he turned back to the room and began searching again.
“You two go ahead,” he said. “I’ll take another look in here.”
Claire nodded, and the two of us re-traced our steps back into the hallway and toward the kitchen. Everything looked exactly as we had left it. We checked the camera feeds, but there was no sign of Lourdes.
“It’s like she’s not even in the house,” Claire said, peering into the monitors. “Or she’s avoiding the cameras.”
I stepped over to the back window and pressed my face to the glass, scanning the yard for any sign of movement — light, motion, anything — but saw nothing.
Paul rushed into the kitchen, holding a small stack of photographs and what looked like a ticket stub.
“Frank and Margaret were in Guatemala,” he said, holding one of the photos up. “About three weeks ago, right? These are dated just before they got back.”
Claire moved closer to Paul, scanning the images before handing them to me.
“Around the same time Mary said strange things started happening in the house,” Paul continued.
“If that’s the case,” I said, thinking it through, “then are you suggesting that we are dealing with something attached to an object they brought back with them?”
Paul pointed at me. “Exactly!”
"To confirm, you are inferring that we're dealing with a...”
Paul lit up immediately. “Cursed object! You’ve heard of Pele’s curse, right? People take rocks from Hawaii, bring them home, and bam! Suddenly everything goes sideways. Happens more than you’d think.”
Claire gave a slight nod. “It’s not uncommon. Objects taken from certain places often carry something with them.”
“Yeah,” Paul continued, his enthusiasm growing. “Basano Vase, Dybbuk Box, Annabelle the doll...same idea. Sometimes objects come with baggage.”
I glanced between them, unable to shake my skepticism. “That’s a pretty big leap.”
Paul shrugged. “So is a camera getting ripped off a mount and tossed across a room. So is my arm.” He extended his forearm, showing the red lines that were starting to fade.
“If something was brought back,” I said, “then we’re looking for whatever doesn’t belong here.”
“Something out of place,” Paul added. “Ancient. Maybe carved.”
Claire nodded. “Not necessarily obvious. Could just be a stone.”
I looked at her. “And if we find this thing, what then?”
“I'll deal with it,” she said. “But I think it’s trying to keep us from doing that.”
Paul had already moved back to the laptop, scrubbing through the recent footage.
“Wait,” he said suddenly. “I found her!”
Claire and I stepped behind him. Lourdes appeared on the basement camera feed, moving into frame near the bar. She crouched out of view for a moment, then stood back up holding something in her hand.
Claire exhaled softly. “She found something.”
“That’s it?” Paul asked, squinting into the screen in a vain attempt to make out what, exactly, she held in her hand.
The three of us watched Lourdes look around the basement, then turn her head as if she were listening to something, and then she walked out of frame. A moment later, she appeared on another camera, heading up the stairs. Then into the kitchen.
She walked to the back door and stood there for a long moment, facing the darkness outside. Then she stepped out.
“She’s outside,” Paul said, fast-forwarding to the live feed. “She’s been out there for a while.”
Claire moved toward the window. “It's felt quieter in here over the last fifteen minutes." she said. “Almost too quiet.”
If Lourdes had the object, that would explain it. I also felt the subtle sense that the house felt...lighter. I glanced at the counter and saw both sets of car keys still sitting where we had left them. I picked them up and clipped them to my belt.
“I’m going out there,” Paul said, grabbing a flashlight.
Claire and I followed him outside into the cold night air. Paul swept his light across the yard, checking along the tree line. I moved toward the driveway briefly to confirm the vehicles were still there. They were. Then I heard Claire gasp.
I turned and followed the direction of her light. At the far edge of the yard stood a small, red shed.
“That wasn’t there earlier,” Paul said slowly. “Right?”
I said nothing. I had seen something in that same spot earlier. It was a split-second shimmer of what looked like a shed. Now it was sitting here in the yard before me plain as day.
“It’s been there all along,” Claire said quietly. "We're just now able to see it."
“Because of the amulets?” Paul asked, walking toward the shed.
“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe you've been right about Frank and Margaret all along.”
"You mean they are in the..."
We all stopped abruptly when the shed door cracked open.