Halts

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I'm 19 years old, perfectly sane and healthy, but strange things are happening to me that neither my husband nor I can explain. Or rather, they're happening to all of us.

The three of us rent an apartment, and we have a small son. That night, I was the last one to go to bed—while I was doing chores, everyone else had fallen asleep. It was about 1:00 AM. I lay down closer to the wall, and my husband lay at the edge of the bed. As soon as I lay down, I heard my son get up. He sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and then goes back to bed. I wait for him to lie down without opening his eyes. Suddenly, I hear him jump out of his crib. But that can't be happening—he's physically unable to get out! Then he walked over to the bed, picked up something, and started dragging it around the room. I could clearly hear the patter of little feet and the sound of something being dragged. A wild fear came over me, and, as they say, my hair stood on end, and I didn't open my eyes. Then he ran up to our bed and went quiet. Then I couldn't take it anymore—I turned around abruptly and opened my eyes. What I saw I still can't forget: something small stood behind my husband, resembling his son. His height, his arms, his head, even his hair... Terror gripped me so completely that I couldn't move or scream. He looked at me for two or three seconds, then ran to the crib, and then climbed into it himself. A minute later, I came to my senses a little, turned my head, and saw my son sleeping as if nothing had happened. The next morning, I told my husband, but he, naturally, didn't believe me, saying I was "halting."

Three days later, I went to bed later than everyone else again. I fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of my son putting on his husband's shoes and walking toward the bed. But my son was in his crib! I turned around—and there was that same creature standing in the middle of the room. I was terrified again. Soon, the creature disappeared. I got out of bed and saw that the computer and laptop were on, but I definitely remembered turning them off. My husband didn't believe me again. He didn't believe me until one day, when a terrible incident happened to him too.

It was late, my son and I were already asleep, and he was sitting with his headphones on, surfing the internet. Suddenly, he felt someone come up behind him and hug him. He thought it was me getting up, but when he turned around, he saw no one. He says his hair almost turned gray.

I went to church, told the priest about this mysticism, and asked for holy water. He told me that I should never attempt an exorcism on my own because I didn't know what I was dealing with, didn't really know a single prayer, and my actions could only make things worse and anger this creature. But the priest himself wouldn't take it on, no matter the price.

No one had ever died in this apartment, no one drank, and the neighbors were good. What this creature was remains a mystery to us, but my son has started getting up in the middle of the night and staring at a specific spot. He stares, stares, then smiles and goes to bed. There are constant rustling sounds, the patter of feet, things falling from the ceiling, and dishes breaking. You can often see this creature out of the corner of your eye even during the day, but when you turn around, it's gone. I repeat: I'm in my right mind, and even if these were hallucinations, my husband wouldn't notice a thing. He himself says that he sees something, but when he turns around, there is nothing there anymore...