The Possession

If you watch a scary movie in a dark, silent atmosphere as you sit on the floor with your feet sticking out underneath a long double bed, you begin to realise that despite how awful the 'horror' is portrayed in the film, especially in instances where ketchup is obviously used in substitute of blood, that you believe whatever is being shown to the extent where anything else is possible.

Midnight, a cold winter evening and I was sitting in the middle of my two male cousins. The one on my left, Jacques, is two years younger than the one on my right, Jean. We decided to watch Children of the Corn on my phone after I had won my very first poker game, reeling in every single chip. We migrated to my grandmother's bedroom, placed some cushioning made up of three fluffy quilts below where we decided to sit, and placed my phone up against a tissue box on the edge of the bed, our feet dangling below it, getting swallowed into the abyss of the Boogeyman's lair.

The volume was not a problem, nor was the really small screen. As soon as we turned all of the lights off, our vision honed in on the very screen and we were immersed in the movie immediately. Soon after, my sister decided to finally hand us the iPad and we continued watching the film on that - a bigger screen, but lower volume. Regardless, after a few more minutes we were immersed into the poorly produced film.

Halfway through a boring scene in the cornfields, I turned to Jean and explained to him an aspect of my day, or something along the lines of that - I cannot recall due to my prominent recalling of what was to happen next. He said, "look at them in the window" out of absolutely nowhere. Not taking anything into account, I stared above the iPad's glow at the window to find nothing there. "What?" I asked, this time curious. He then proceeded to deny the fact that he ever said anything, and his face showed no sign of a lie. Jacques then squealed "I heard you say it too! You said "window"!" But Jean denied it again. I held onto Jacques' arm and screamed a little, playfully punched Jean on his shoulder and told him to drop it. "I didn't say anything," he repeated, and crawled towards the mirror.

"They're here," he said, Children of the Corn still playing in the background. It was still pitch black. "Take a photo of him using flash," Jacques whispered to me. "Hurry!" And I did, wishing that I did not, for right in the corner of the photograph was a strange white orb. Jean then proceeded to walk out of the room for no apparent reason. Jacques and I looked up the meaning of a white orb, and found it to represent 'a guardian angel not from God'. We could not get out of the dark room any faster. We ran to where my sister and Jacques sister were taking leg-puppet videos and decided to tell them all about it, holding the door shut before Jean returned.

"You're over-analysing it!" said their sister, Layal. "You guys are funny."
"We're serious!" said Jacques. "He's possessed!"
The doorknob started to turn and we all squealed. I started filming. The door kept shaking, we kept squealing, and then everything went silent again.
"Oh my God, what is going on?!" Layal exclaimed, her tone changing from suspicious to fearful.
"We told you!" said Jacques. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" he yelled out the door to Jean.
We remained hidden in the room from Jean until his mother came to find out what all of the fuss was about, and Jacques explained it to her, while I filmed Jean. Jean kept turning his head to my grandmother's dark room as though he were talking to someone.

It is interesting how you believe anything if the atmosphere is right. It turned out that it was all an act as a form of revenge towards me winning the entire game of poker for the first time, wiping Jean's chips clean and taking hold of them in a conquering manner. I still think Jacques considers this entire thing to be the total opposite of a joke, to be a total act of reality, and the photograph makes me align with his view.