December 25, 2025 • 39 mins
Twenty-three days ago, a mysterious advent calendar arrived on Officer Matthew Klein's doorstep — no sender, no return address, just a heavy wooden box with twenty-four numbered doors and a carved face with hollow eyes. Since then, every trinket inside has proven to be an omen of death, each prophecy fulfilled in violence and horror. The entity behind it is Zurvan, an ancient demon from Persian Mithraism — the same demon ten-year-old Matthew accidentally summoned through a spirit board on Christmas Eve, 1995, the night his house burned and his family died while he ran. Now Zurvan has returned to finish what he started, possessing Matthew's loved ones, murdering those around him, and enforcing one rule: open each door on schedule, or suffer consequences beyond imagination. Matthew tried to destroy the calendar. It came back. He refused to open a door. Snakes attacked his son. Now it's December 24th — the final door, the culmination of Zurvan's ancient mid-winter celebration — and Matthew is engulfed in flames, his home burning, his family scattered in the chaos. The countdown ends today.
Get the print version of the novel: https://weirddarkness.com/AdventOfEvil
#WeirdDarkness #ChristmasHorror #HolidayHorror #SupernaturalThriller #HauntedCalendar #DarkChristmas #HorrorStory #DemonicEvil #CreepyTales #YuletideTerror
Get the print version of the novel: https://weirddarkness.com/AdventOfEvil
#WeirdDarkness #ChristmasHorror #HolidayHorror #SupernaturalThriller #HauntedCalendar #DarkChristmas #HorrorStory #DemonicEvil #CreepyTales #YuletideTerror
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Twenty three days ago, a mysterious advent calendar arrived on
Officer Matthew Klein's doorstep. No sender, no return address, no explanation,
just a heavy wooden box with twenty four numbered doors,
a carved bearded face with hollow, featureless eyes, and a
(00:23):
serpent shaped marking on its back. Matthew's wife, Annika, thought
it was magical. She was wrong. Since then, Marshport has
become a graveyard. The calendar's daily offerings have proven to
be omens of death. Each trinket a prophecy fulfilled in
violence and horror. A miniature house that burst into flames
(00:46):
in Matthew's hand, mirroring the fire that killed his family
thirty years ago. A crystal star whose tips turned red
with blood before city planner Brigid Car was impaled beneath
the town Christmas tree at cross dipped in crimson, before
Gwen Martin was found stabbed through the heart with an
iron cross, a photograph of Matthew's own children. Matthew tried
(01:10):
to destroy it. He drove to Gull's Rest and hurled
the calendar into the Atlantic Ocean. It came back, his
neighbor drowned at the exact spot where he'd thrown it.
He refused to open a door, Snakes poured from the wood,
and attacked his son Mason in his bed. The rules
were clear. Obey or suffered consequences beyond imagination. The entity
(01:35):
behind the calendar as a name Zervon, an ancient demon
from Persian Mythraism whose midwinter worship culminates in a horrifying celebration.
On December twenty fourth, Father Olsen, a priest and expert
in demonology, identified the beast from Matthew's nightmares, a lion
headed creature wrapped in serpents, the same demon that ten
(01:57):
year old Matthew and his seven year old brother's life
even accidentally summoned through a spirit board on Christmas Eve
nineteen ninety five, the Knight their house burned to the ground.
The Knight Matthew ran while his family died. Zervon has
waited thirty years to finish what he started. He possessed
Matthew's best friend, Simon, and forced Detective Davenport to kill him.
(02:22):
He seized Matthew's son, Logan, speaking through the boy with
a voice from the pit, he twisted Davenport's head completely
around while Matthew watched helpless. He murdered past her heart
and crucified his body upside down on the living room wall,
a blasphemous inverted cross painted in dried blood. He ripped
Annika's wedding ring from her finger and left it dripping
(02:45):
inside door twenty three. On December twenty third, Matthew awoke
in his own crawl space, covered in Maggot's his world
gone dark. He emerged to find his home transformed into
a haunted battleground. In Lowgan's bedroom, Zervon had arranged a
nightmare tableau. The boys seated at a spirit board, their
(03:06):
grandparents standing motionless behind them, candles flickering on the table,
a deliberate, meticulous recreation of the night that destroyed Matthew's
family three decades ago. The decomposing corpse of wilver Ward,
the man who built the calendar from the charred remains
of the original spirit board, descended from the ceiling. Speaking
with Zervan's voice. Father Olsen attacked it with a fire poker,
(03:30):
shattering bones and spilling black fluid across the floor. As
Anika fled with the boys, the priest began the sacred
rites of exorcism. Matthew stumbled backward, the candles fell, the
black fluid ignited. An explosion hurled him across the room,
drenching him in flames. Thirty years ago, Matthew ran from
(03:50):
a fire while his family burned. Now the fire has
found him and his family again. One door remains. Twenty
fourth has arrived, the culmination of Zervan's ancient midwinter celebration
for twenty three days. Matthew has been warned follow the
rules for twenty three days. He has learned the consequences
(04:14):
of not doing so would be dire more horrific than
not opening the doors on schedule. But what waits behind
the final door for December twenty fourth? What horror has
Zervan saved for the last day of his unholy advent?
And even if Matthew wanted to obey, even if he
(04:34):
crawled downstairs and across the floor in his living room
to open that twenty fourth door with his bare hands,
how could he? He has engulfed in flames. The fire
that took his family thirty years ago has finally caught
up with him. His home is burning. Father Olsen is
locked in battle with a demon, His wife and children
(04:55):
are somewhere in the chaos. Will Matthew survive long enough
to open the f final door? And if he doesn't,
if the rules are broken one last time, not by choice,
but by circumstance, what punishment could possibly be worse than
what Ervon has already unleashed. Will it lead to Matthew's
death or worse the death of his wife or sons?
(05:19):
What happens if you defy Servon on the most powerful
day of his midwinter celebration. The countdown ends today, one
way or another. Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler, and this
(06:09):
is Weird Darkness's Advent of Evil, a holiday horror novel
written by Scott Donnelly based on a concept from Darren Marler.
Twenty four Doors, twenty four days, twenty four secrets waiting
in the darkness, just like an advent calendar counting down
to Christmas. We'll unlock one chapter each day, but what
(06:30):
we find behind these doors may not be the gift
you're expecting. You can find all available chapters, as well
as the print version, in paperback, hardback or kindle at
Weirddarkness dot Com. Slash Advent of Evil the calendar is waiting.
Let's see what awaits us behind today's door. Wednesday, December
(06:57):
twenty fourth, The fiery blast threw me clear across the room,
slamming me into the wall. I fell to the ground,
feeling the flames ravaging my clothing. I was still in
my jacket from when I'd come home from work, so
I acted quickly to remove it and toss it aside,
where the flames quickly devoured it. I stood up, I gasped.
(07:18):
Logan's room was a raging inferno. Fire crawled up the
walls and spread over the surface of the floor like
spilling water. I saw Father Olsen still shouting at Zervan's
marred form on the floor. He was ignoring the fire
in destruction around him, solely intent on banishing the demon.
I looked to my right, where my parents stood wrapped
(07:38):
in flames. Mom, Dad, I panicked. I began to sprint
toward them, but before I could, the violent flames completely
absorbed them. Soundlessly. They fell to their knees and slumped
forward into the blaze, like they were nothing more than
wax figures, succumbing to the heat. I stopped as a
gust of flames who washed in front of me, blocking
(07:59):
my view their grisly demise. I was stunned, frozen, and sickened.
Father Olsen continued to shout, I command you to leave.
I banish you demon to the bottomless pits of hell.
Father Olsen then made eye contact with me. Although we
didn't say it, I could see the stress in his eyes.
(08:20):
He used them to direct me to his right, toward
the door, indicating he wanted me to also flee the room.
I covered my nose and mouth from the rising smoke
and rushed past the extracism in progress. As I did so,
one of Irvan's arms twisted and unnaturally bent limply, flopped
to the side, and grabbed me by the ankle. I
(08:40):
fell flat on my stomach, the breath knocking right out
of me. I looked back and saw the flames begin
to consume the deformed body. As the flames crawled up
and over to fully engulf it, I saw something in
the fire, a phantom like apparition that used the flowing
flames and swirling smoke to create its appearance. It was
the demon. It had the head of a lion, with
(09:02):
fire rolling around its neck and head to forge its mane.
As the flames rose higher, the apparition only grew in size.
I saw a powerful, muscular human body swathed in hair
that smoldered at their ends. Snakes with diamond shaped heads
enveloped its arms and legs like writhing vines, hissing and
striking aimlessly. Father Olsen's words were muted by the roaring
(09:26):
flames and snarls from the demonic, fiery beast that had
risen before me. After thirty years, I was finally face
to face with Zervon in his purest form. I briefly
recalled the fire at my childhood home. This is what
I had seen. As much as my mind tried to
protect me from remembering, it was all coming back to
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me in graphic detail. Zervon was there in the flames.
Now he was here. Zervon tried to ignore Father Olsen's
continuing attempts to dispel him and focused on me as
if we were the only two in the room. You
must follow the rules, he screeched, as his eyes ignited
into a blinding brilliance of white flames. Black smoke expelled
(10:12):
from his mouth with each word. The consequences will be dire.
Just then, a hand grabbed me and pulled me out
of the room and into the hallway. I looked up,
and to my complete surprise, I saw Lieutenant's Sears with
a gun in hand, and to look a pure shock
and horror on his face. Ooh, Lieutenant, I muttered, coughing
through the smoke that was starting to fill the house,
(10:34):
But he didn't answer. He just stood there, gawking into
Logan's room, with his jaw on the floor and his
eyes wider than they should have been physically capable of.
His mouth trembled like he wanted to say something but
couldn't find the words. Fears, I shouted as I climbed
to my feet and grabbed a hold of him. He
finally snapped out of it and looked at me, his
eyes refusing to narrow. We have to go, I pleaded
(10:58):
to him. He took one last look inside the room,
where Father Olsen was battling the fiery demon that had
emerged from the flames, and then with one more tug
of his arm, he followed me down the hall and
we bustled down the stairs. The front door was open,
sending gusts of icy wind and pelting sleet into the foyer.
Where's Anika and the boys? I questioned him. He didn't answer,
(11:20):
he was still in shock. Where are they, I repeated,
emphasizing my concern. I don't see yours, stammered, but clearly
wasn't in the right frame of mind. I couldn't blame him,
not after what he'd witnessed upstairs. Just then, in the kitchen,
there was a loud crash and an expulsion of light
and flames. I rushed into the hallway, where I saw
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the ceiling had collapsed in flaming. Wreckage was everywhere and
was quickly spreading. The curtain on the back door ignited,
as did the walls and cabinets. Nika. I screamed into
the inferno, but it was futile. The flames roared like
a monster in their own right, drowning out any potential
response I could have heard from any of them. I
raced back down the hallway into the living room. They
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weren't there either. My eyes locked onto the advent calendar.
Zervan's words repeated in my head. You must follow the rules,
the consequences will be dire. I stood there, wondering if
that was merely just another misdirection from the demon or
a warning to finish the calendar. If I chose to
(12:26):
run to leave the burning home, the final door would
remain closed, and Zervon's thirty year scheme would be unfinished.
But if I opened it this one last time, I
wasn't sure what to be prepared for. I couldn't imagine
things getting any worse than they already were, so the
thought of one more door being opened scared me almost
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more than any of the others had. This was his endgame,
after all. Matthew I hear them outside. Sears screamed from
the foyer. I was quick to join him near the
front door. We looked to the driveway, and through the
blustery conditions, I could barely see Annika, Logan and Mason
huddled up by sears personal car, screaming and hollering. I
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looked back toward the living room, still contemplating opening the
final door and wondering if that would be to just
appease Zerban's narcissistic existence or truly bring about an end
to the terror. I made up my mind, realizing that
I couldn't live out the rest of my life not
knowing what was hidden behind the twenty fourth and final door.
(13:29):
Get them in your car, I demanded of Sears. I'll
be right there. Sears was adapting to the circumstances, going
with the flow, and agreed to my clamorous request. He
gripped his gun, took one last look up the stairs,
where the fire was rolling around and teasing its imminent
descent to the first floor, and then bolted out into
the harsh wintery conditions outside. I charged back into the
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living room and pinched the handle on the final door
of the advent calendar. As I made contact with it,
there was a loud boom above me, by the entire
house violently quaking. The brick wall within the fireplace next
to me burst inward and began to crumble to the floor.
The Christmas tree behind me fell over. The furniture in
the room began to slide across the floor, some of
(14:13):
it even lifting off the ground and spinning in circles.
Zervan's rage was being felt everywhere. I wasn't sure if
it was a last ditch effort on his part to
implement his power, or if Father Olsen was nearing the
end of the extorcism. Either way, I didn't even want
to imagine what was taking place upstairs. I ripped the
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final door open and leaned forward to look inside. I
saw myself staring back at me. The interior of the
nook had been fitted with a small square mirror. In
the reflection behind me, I saw the fire had spread
to the living room. I could see the cracked wooden
board covering the broken window. Fire surged up from beneath it.
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Then suddenly the mirror cracked from top to bottom. It
webbed out on either side, and then burst outward toward me.
I felt its sharp piercing fragments slash into my face
and numerous spots. I stumbled backward and fell, screaming out
as blood started to run down my face from each
of the punctures. Just then, the furniture that was spinning
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spectrally in the air fell to the ground in a
thunderous commotion. I hefted myself up and raced for the
front door, as the living room became fully engulfed behind me.
I ran outside into the howling winter winds and stinging sleet.
I trudged quickly through the snow to Seear's car. He
burst out from the driver's side and helped me into
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the passenger seat when he slammed the door shut. I
turned around and saw Annika in the back, with Logan
and Mason crying on either side of her as she
held them close. She was in complete shock and dissociated
from the reality of what was happening. Sears climbed back
behind the wheel. Both of us looked straight ahead, watching
the house go up in flames. The glow of the
(15:59):
fire lit up my entire property and highlighted the snow
capped woods that surrounded it. Thank you. I managed to
get out, but Sears wasn't even able to form words.
He threw the car into reverse and stepped on the gas.
Within seconds, we were gone. Sears drove us just outside
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of the Marshports city limits and pulled into the nearly
empty parking lot of an all night eater he called
the Sun and Moon Diner. The glowing sign foast for
the diner featured artwork of the Sun on one side
of its name and the Moon on the other. I
couldn't help but recall the nearly identical markings on the
spirit board, but I quickly shook it off as nothing
more than a coincidence and not a dark queue of
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the awfulness that had unfolded. Sears put the car in park,
but kept it running for the heat. He looked at me,
examining the bleeding cuts and scrapes on my face. Are
you okay, he asked somberly. I silently nodded what began
to ask, but then stopped himself. I could tell he
(17:03):
was trying to comprehend everything that he saw at the house.
It wasn't going to be easy for him to understand.
He just looked at me for answers to questions that
he wasn't sure how to form. I exhaled, coughing through
the irritation of the smoke and intense heat. Your eyes
weren't deceiving you, I managed to hoarsely say to him.
(17:25):
I felt his gaze on me as I looked out
the window to my right into the falling precipitation that
had changed from a neurotic sleet storm to large, gentle
flakes of snow. Everything you saw was real, I added,
I've lived with it for the past twenty four days,
and in some ways even longer than that. I looked
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at Sears. He wore a fixed look of perplexity for
the past month, I gruffly continued, I've been burdened by
a demonic presence in my home. It's ruined my life,
it's killed innocent people, and it's controlled others into doing
things they wouldn't normally do. Sears looked into the back seat,
(18:06):
specifically a logan. When his eyes were turned to me,
they seemed to now hold a vague understanding, even if
still hampered by an overwhelming disconcertment. No one will ever
believe it, he stoically said. No one will ever ever
believe me, but you believe, I encouraged him. He nodded.
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I could only believe the things that I see, but
it doesn't I can't. You don't have to understand what
you see for it to be real, I said. Some
things are unexplainable, some things just are. Sears tried his
best to gather his composure in the light the diner's
glowing sign, and I watched his face fight back tears
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as he swallowed his doubt. I came to your house
after I decided to track Davenport's phone, he said, facing
away from me. It was bothering me that he disappeared
so suddenly. I had my doubts that what you were
telling me was the truth. Sears then faced me. Is
the devenport? He couldn't even finish his question. Yeah, I said,
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the demon killed him. Where is he? I swallowed hard,
my throat stinging. He's in the car in the woods
behind my house. They'll find him, Sears concluded. Just then
his phone rang this a Sears he answered, I couldn't
make out what was being said on the other line,
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but it sounded frantic and alarming. He nodded and closed
his eyes. I'll be there as soon as I can,
he said, and then ended the call. The fire, I asked,
It was called in by Nettie Nouen. She saw it
through the woods. Emergency services are on their way. Now.
I need to be there. I sat silently for a moment,
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wondering what Sears was going to do with us, with me.
I looked back at Anika, who now had the attentiveness
to look at me concernedly. She was worried about what
was going to happen next. Also, I could tell she
wanted to say something, but she chose not to speak.
Your house will have burned with people inside, Sears said.
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You'll be subjected to endless questioning. You'll be blamed incriminated.
But it wasn't me. You saw it for yourself. I
don't know what I saw. I leaned closer to Sears,
clearing my throat and combated the skepticism in his voice.
But you know what you saw didn't involve me committing
(20:39):
a crime. You might not be able to explain it
just yet, but you saw what you saw. You know
I am innocent, he is. Anika Weekly spoke from the
back seat, seizing Sear's attention. Trust me, Deacon, help us,
she pleaded, with a torrent of emotions on the verge
of unfettering. Looked from Anica to the boys to me.
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They'll be looking for you, he said, tracking your phones,
talking to your friends and family. He turned around and
faced Anika again. If I help you, you need to
do as I say, exactly as I say, we will,
I assured him. Sears looked at me in a way
I'd never seen before. We'd been friends for so long,
(21:26):
and I'd seen so many looks from him, everything from
joyous to grouchy, thoughtful to thankful, But this one was
one of despair and sorrow. It was the realization of
unanticipated divergence, similar to how Davenport held himself when he
came to take Logan away. You're a good man, Matthew
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a good friend. You and your family, you're all good people.
I don't know what it was that I saw back
there at the house, but it wasn't ordinary. It wasn't you.
Whatever it was, I kept my eyes locked on his,
anxiously anticipating whatever was coming. I'll drive you to the
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nearest motel, he said. It's up to you to leave
after that. If you stay, I can't help you. We'd
all be forced to deal with the inevitable. Thank you,
Anika whimpered from the back seat. Sears didn't look back
at her. He continued to hold his leer on me,
looking for the understanding he was asking for. I gave
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it to him. You'll need to destroy your phones, he said.
You can never come back to Marshport. Your family's in
too much trouble, but we'll be safe from the demon.
I broke down and cried, and that's all I care
about right now. Sears watched me cry, letting out a
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flurry of emotions that had been building for weeks. They
were finally free. I felt free. Sears didn't say much more.
He drove us a few miles south to a small
township called Rock Shore. He dropped us off in front
of a small roadside motel. I climbed out and helped
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Annika and the boys into the brightly lit, warm lobby,
before meeting Sears back out by his car. I'm serious,
he said, you need to disappear. Logan'll be wanted for
attempted murder. You'll be wanted for, Oh, God only knows
how many things. You're a true friend, I said to him,
reaching out to shake his hand, but he refused to
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acknowledge it, purposefully keeping his hands down by his sides.
Good luck to you, Matthew, he said. I hope you
and your family find whatever peace you're looking for, and
I seriously hope and pray that I don't regret this decision.
I wasn't sure what to say in response. I just
watched Sears take a deep breath, return to his car,
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and drive away. I remained outside for a moment longer,
letting the cold, quiet night wash over me and cleanse
the tension in my body. When I returned to the
motel lobby, I gave the clerk a fake name and
we checked into a room with a single bed. The
boys slept on the bed together, while Anika and I
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sat on the floor, quietly accepting where our lives had
ended up. Is it gone, Annaka whispered the demon. I nodded.
I think so, I said, although not completely sure. What
about Father Olsen, I don't know, I said, remembering he
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was still performing the extorcism when I left the bedroom.
Between the chaotically moving furniture plummeting to the ground and
the mirror inside the advent calendar cracking and shattering, I
could only assume that was the exact moment Zervon had
been cast out, But that's all it was an assumption.
Should we try to call him, Annika asked, pulling out
(24:59):
her phone. I quickly stopped her. No, we can't, I
firmly said, remembering Sears demands. Not yet, at least, I added,
hoping to alleviate any hopelessness she might have been experiencing.
Let's just let's just get some rest. I took the
phone from Anica and placed it on my other side.
She nestled her head into me and closed her eyes.
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Within minutes, she was asleep. The devastating weight of everything
had rendered her exhausted. I was too, but I refused
to fall asleep. I was still in protective mode, and
until I knew for sure that Zervan was gone, I
wouldn't rest. I sat as still as I could for
a couple of hours so as to not wake Anika,
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only occasionally checking her phone for the time. The battery
power was low, so I didn't want to use it
unless it was absolutely necessary. Eventually, however, my legs began
to cramp up, and the lingering defilement to my caf
was I carefully removed myself from Anika and lay her
gently on the floor with an extra pillow underneath her head.
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I covered her with a blanket and slipped out of
the room with her phone in my pocket. I walked
down the hallway, noticing the dingy appearance of the building.
The walls were dirty, the security cameras and the ceiling
appeared dusty, and some of them even cracked. I was
hopeful that they didn't work with us on the run.
Now we didn't need to start leaving a trail of
(26:29):
evidence in our wake. I entered the small motel lobby,
similar in design and size to the wand at the
sea glass and saw the clerk on the opposite side
of the counter, watching a small TV that was set
up behind him. The news was on and they were
covering a house fire. The clerk turned around to see me. Sorry,
he said, I hope you aren't standing there too long.
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There's a huge house fire just north of here in
my sport. I approached the counter and watched the scene
unfolding on the TV. It's our house, now standing as
just the blackened framework of its original semblance. Smoke billowed
from the remnants as firefighters and police officers hurried through
the scene. Some of them were shouting, some were carrying
(27:13):
large pieces of the debris. The news reporter that they
kept cutting back to was speaking, but I couldn't focus
on her words. Oh what happened, I asked the motel clerk,
my eyes glued to the screen. Not sure, he said,
sounds like the house belonged to a police officer from
what the report said earlier. The clerk shook his head
in pity. I tell you, marsh Port has been put
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through the ringer this month. It's not a very merry
Christmas for anyone up there. Are you from around here? Sir?
I shook my head. Deaths accidents some of which were
police officers. This one included it's like the town has
cursed or something. That's terrible. I said, did anyone die
in the fire? They interviewed the Marshport lieutenant a little
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while ago. He said, there have been some remains recovered,
but others are still unaccounted for. He said, it'll be
a complicated investigation. Sears is trying to protect us, I
thought by claiming some people were accounted for, that left
space to produce any number of scenarios. The remains that
were found, however, would point back to me. My foster
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parents perished in Logan's upstairs bedroom, and Wilbur Ward's DNA
would certainly lead them back to my childhood. Sears was right.
I would be incriminated for this. Regardless of what I
claimed happened and what Sears could back up, none of
it would hold up in court. Oh and get this,
the clerk jumped there as a priest inside. Gives us
(28:44):
whole fire some kind of creepy devil vibes. Now, ah,
I looked at the clerk. Is the friest ok? Yeah,
seemed like it. I saw a couple officers and even
that lieutenant guy talking to him. I felt relieved, knowing
father Olsen was okay and that Sears had been one
of the ones talking to him. I couldn't imagine losing
my home, the clerk said that, and my family is
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all I have. I just I couldn't go on, you know,
I nodded absolutely. I said, with a spark of an idea,
even though it was deceptive, I vowed to keep my
family safe. Actually, that's why we're here tonight, I said.
We lost our home and I needed to find a
roof to put over my children's head. The clerk faced
(29:29):
me with a look of deep compassion and on Christmas Eve,
he said, my god, sir, you have my sympathy. Thank you,
I said, before continuing, no house, no car. I'm just
trying to figure out a way to get my family
down to the in laws in Boston. I thought I
saw someone drop you off out front, the clerk said,
(29:50):
looking away and back to the TV. I joined him,
watching more firefighters trudge through the messy scene. I watched
one of them dragging our Christmas tree out through all
hole in the side of the house. All the pine
needles on its branches have been singed off, leaving the
tree to look like a bony, charred skeleton. The reporter
on screen continued to give updates as the motel clerk
(30:12):
turned back to me. You know, he said, as being
a Christmas season, and I'd like to give you and
your family something. I looked at him curiously. My boss
usually hands down one hundred dollars bonus to me each season.
I usually spend it on lottery tickets, send way too
much coffee. I know it's not much, but I'd like
to give it to you and your family. It'll be
(30:34):
more than enough for you to catch a bus down
to Boston. I stared at the man, blown away by
his kindness, but also secretly hoping for something like this.
Are you sure, I asked him. You don't have to,
I insist, he said, reaching into a drawer behind the
counter and pulling out an unmarked envelope from within it,
(30:54):
He took out a one hundred dollars bill and handed
it to me across the counter. I can't thank you enough,
I said, you really just saved us. The man smiled,
feeling a sense of pride in what he had done.
Guilt did roll around in my core, however, but at
the same time, my family needed to come first. There'd
(31:15):
be more bonuses for this man, especially if he was
always this kind and generous. Before I left the lobby,
I took one last look at the TV. The news
reporter had stepped out of the way. As she updated
the situation. She spoke about several remains being recovered, as
well as a body found behind the house. I knew
that body had to belong to Detective Davenport. I felt
(31:39):
sick my prince would be all over the car and
his body. It only encouraged me to ignore the guilt
from lying to the motel clerk and hurry to plan
my family's escape from Maine. I watched multiple officers cross
through the screen, talking to one another and on phones.
I watched several firefighters walk toward the house and stop,
(32:02):
then to the left side of the screen, where the
living room window had been shot out and subsequently replaced
by Zervon moonlighting as wilb Ward, the contractor. I saw
two other firefighters remove the plywood sheet. It appeared undamaged
unburned when they removed it. I watched as the square
sheet of wood fell to the ground, revealing a large
(32:23):
mirror behind it. The firefighters appeared confused, and as they
adjusted it in their hands, the other side, the side
that faced the interior and had already cracked down the middle,
fell to the ground as well. I squinted watching the
firefighters examine the mirror, which had been slyly hidden between
two sheets of thin plywood and disguised as it boarded
(32:46):
up window. From what I could see on the small screen,
the frame of the mirror appeared to be made of
wood as well, possibly even with some designs engraved into it.
A hand crafted mirror installed by a demon who had
handcrafted so many other items with dark intent. It couldn't
have been a coincidence. It had been there for days,
(33:10):
hidden in plain sight. It was his way out, his
way to continue on. I hurried out of the lobby
and into the hall. I pulled out Anika's phone and
used our shared contacts to call father Olsen's phone. It
rang several times before he picked up Hello. He answered,
probably not recognizing the number that was calling him. Father Olsen,
(33:31):
it's Matthew. Don't say anything if you're around other people.
Go somewhere alone, and then respond. I was quick and
direct with my words. They had come out desperate and grave,
and I was hoping Father Olsen had caught on to that.
He was quiet on the line. I heard some muffled noises,
as well as a couple of isolated siren chirps from
(33:52):
emergency vehicles. A few moments later, he responded, Matthew, where
are you? He asked, with worry. I Uh, I can't
tell you. I said, right, he said, you lieutenant told
me he was helping you. Are you safe? Yes, I said,
are you Servon? He's gone. The extorcism was successful. You
(34:14):
can rest easily. The problem was I couldn't rest easily.
I had a new concern, a new fear. I have
a question, I said. You said it could be possible
for Zervon to split into two separate people or objects, right,
like a dual possession, in order to ensure his existence
(34:35):
and doers. I said that when you're dealing with the supernatural,
nothing is off the table, So it's possible. Matthew, would
you have believed anything you'd seen this month was possible?
He was right. Whatever was perceived to be impossible wasn't
(34:55):
and that scared me to death. Now, when Zervon was
still in wilver Ward's body, he masqueraded as a contractor
to fix my window. He replaced it with what I
thought was a temporary wooden board. I just watched a
live TV report from the scene where they removed the board.
Underneath it was a mirror, handcrafted, just like the Advent calendar,
(35:15):
Just like everything else I saw in the shed back
in Bayville, Father Olsen was silent. The quiet only filled
me with more anxiety. I wanted him to tell me
I was wrong, that I was overthinking and reaching based
on a fear that had burrowed into me and was
reluctant to leave. However, that's not what he said. It
(35:36):
was built with intent, he said, realizing the severity of
the situation the more he continued to speak. Just like
everything else he built in his shed, they were all
constructed with the same goal in mind, to endure. When
you survived that night thirty years ago, he felt challenged,
a possible vulnerability in his own constitution. He needed to
(35:57):
make sure that his energy would thrive better. What I
felt flush and my stomach turned. You cast him out
of Wilbert Ward's body, I said, yes, Father Olsen confirmed,
But his offering in the calendar that alluded to legion
a unit with multiple demonic forces. It was only a
(36:18):
vague suggestion. It's not one unit with multiple demons, it's
multiple units damned by one demon. I thought back to
all of the items I saw in the shed, wooden toys, ornaments, clocks,
jewelry boxes, and a mirror that exactly matched the one
I saw on TV. Zervon had possessed all of them.
(36:41):
The phone beeped in my ear and abruptly went silent.
I pulled it away from my head and realized the
battery power had completely drained. It was dead. I hurried
back into our room and gently woke up Annica. Oh
what's wrong, she asked, coming out of sleep. We have
to leave. I said, I have money. We can use
it to catch a bus out of here. We can
never look back. What happened? She asked, sitting up and
(37:05):
reacting to the urgency in my voice. I'll explain what's
We're on the road. Can the kids at least sleep
until morning, she pleaded. I shook my head. No, it's
my job to protect you all, to ensure our family survives.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out her wedding ring.
I placed the ring in her hand and closed her
fingers around it. Nothing will ever break our bond, I said,
(37:27):
as long as we stick together, that's how we survive.
We are four souls united as one unit. I helped
her to her feet and she wrapped me at a
tight embracing hug. I could feel our profound bond healing
in real time. It enabled hope, safety, and a future together.
(37:48):
We woke the kids and slipped out the back door
of the motel. A half mile down the road was
a bus stop, and we didn't have to wait long
for one to arrive. Before we boarded, I smashed Anika's
phone against the bus stop signpost. Pieces of it dropped
to the ground and sank into the snow. Wherever the
bus took us. That's where I would discard the rest
(38:09):
of it. Once we boarded, we were on the road
and headed south away from Maine. Behind us, we eagerly
left a succession of death, misery, and the ungodly horror
that was the Advent calendar. Not so eagerly, however, were
our former lives, friends, and commitments. Before us was a
(38:31):
fresh start, a path we could carve out all on
our own. But no matter which direction our lives, our
survival would take us, it would be uncorrupted by demonic influence.
And that's something that regretfully couldn't be said for anyone else,
(38:52):
who would be the unfortunate recipients of any number of
the profane and diabolical constructions that remained in Zerbon's reliquary.
Thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, please
share it with someone you know who loves scary stories
at Christmas time. If you'd like to read the full
novel for yourself in print, it's available in paperback, hardback,
(39:16):
and kindle versions at Weird Darkness dot com slash Advent
of Evil. That's also where you can go to hear
each of the twenty four chapters as they're posted. I'm
Darren Marler. Thanks for celebrating Advent with me in the
Weird Darkness
Twenty three days ago, a mysterious advent calendar arrived on
Officer Matthew Klein's doorstep. No sender, no return address, no explanation,
just a heavy wooden box with twenty four numbered doors,
a carved bearded face with hollow, featureless eyes, and a
(00:23):
serpent shaped marking on its back. Matthew's wife, Annika, thought
it was magical. She was wrong. Since then, Marshport has
become a graveyard. The calendar's daily offerings have proven to
be omens of death. Each trinket a prophecy fulfilled in
violence and horror. A miniature house that burst into flames
(00:46):
in Matthew's hand, mirroring the fire that killed his family
thirty years ago. A crystal star whose tips turned red
with blood before city planner Brigid Car was impaled beneath
the town Christmas tree at cross dipped in crimson, before
Gwen Martin was found stabbed through the heart with an
iron cross, a photograph of Matthew's own children. Matthew tried
(01:10):
to destroy it. He drove to Gull's Rest and hurled
the calendar into the Atlantic Ocean. It came back, his
neighbor drowned at the exact spot where he'd thrown it.
He refused to open a door, Snakes poured from the wood,
and attacked his son Mason in his bed. The rules
were clear. Obey or suffered consequences beyond imagination. The entity
(01:35):
behind the calendar as a name Zervon, an ancient demon
from Persian Mythraism whose midwinter worship culminates in a horrifying celebration.
On December twenty fourth, Father Olsen, a priest and expert
in demonology, identified the beast from Matthew's nightmares, a lion
headed creature wrapped in serpents, the same demon that ten
(01:57):
year old Matthew and his seven year old brother's life
even accidentally summoned through a spirit board on Christmas Eve
nineteen ninety five, the Knight their house burned to the ground.
The Knight Matthew ran while his family died. Zervon has
waited thirty years to finish what he started. He possessed
Matthew's best friend, Simon, and forced Detective Davenport to kill him.
(02:22):
He seized Matthew's son, Logan, speaking through the boy with
a voice from the pit, he twisted Davenport's head completely
around while Matthew watched helpless. He murdered past her heart
and crucified his body upside down on the living room wall,
a blasphemous inverted cross painted in dried blood. He ripped
Annika's wedding ring from her finger and left it dripping
(02:45):
inside door twenty three. On December twenty third, Matthew awoke
in his own crawl space, covered in Maggot's his world
gone dark. He emerged to find his home transformed into
a haunted battleground. In Lowgan's bedroom, Zervon had arranged a
nightmare tableau. The boys seated at a spirit board, their
(03:06):
grandparents standing motionless behind them, candles flickering on the table,
a deliberate, meticulous recreation of the night that destroyed Matthew's
family three decades ago. The decomposing corpse of wilver Ward,
the man who built the calendar from the charred remains
of the original spirit board, descended from the ceiling. Speaking
with Zervan's voice. Father Olsen attacked it with a fire poker,
(03:30):
shattering bones and spilling black fluid across the floor. As
Anika fled with the boys, the priest began the sacred
rites of exorcism. Matthew stumbled backward, the candles fell, the
black fluid ignited. An explosion hurled him across the room,
drenching him in flames. Thirty years ago, Matthew ran from
(03:50):
a fire while his family burned. Now the fire has
found him and his family again. One door remains. Twenty
fourth has arrived, the culmination of Zervan's ancient midwinter celebration
for twenty three days. Matthew has been warned follow the
rules for twenty three days. He has learned the consequences
(04:14):
of not doing so would be dire more horrific than
not opening the doors on schedule. But what waits behind
the final door for December twenty fourth? What horror has
Zervan saved for the last day of his unholy advent?
And even if Matthew wanted to obey, even if he
(04:34):
crawled downstairs and across the floor in his living room
to open that twenty fourth door with his bare hands,
how could he? He has engulfed in flames. The fire
that took his family thirty years ago has finally caught
up with him. His home is burning. Father Olsen is
locked in battle with a demon, His wife and children
(04:55):
are somewhere in the chaos. Will Matthew survive long enough
to open the f final door? And if he doesn't,
if the rules are broken one last time, not by choice,
but by circumstance, what punishment could possibly be worse than
what Ervon has already unleashed. Will it lead to Matthew's
death or worse the death of his wife or sons?
(05:19):
What happens if you defy Servon on the most powerful
day of his midwinter celebration. The countdown ends today, one
way or another. Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler, and this
(06:09):
is Weird Darkness's Advent of Evil, a holiday horror novel
written by Scott Donnelly based on a concept from Darren Marler.
Twenty four Doors, twenty four days, twenty four secrets waiting
in the darkness, just like an advent calendar counting down
to Christmas. We'll unlock one chapter each day, but what
(06:30):
we find behind these doors may not be the gift
you're expecting. You can find all available chapters, as well
as the print version, in paperback, hardback or kindle at
Weirddarkness dot Com. Slash Advent of Evil the calendar is waiting.
Let's see what awaits us behind today's door. Wednesday, December
(06:57):
twenty fourth, The fiery blast threw me clear across the room,
slamming me into the wall. I fell to the ground,
feeling the flames ravaging my clothing. I was still in
my jacket from when I'd come home from work, so
I acted quickly to remove it and toss it aside,
where the flames quickly devoured it. I stood up, I gasped.
(07:18):
Logan's room was a raging inferno. Fire crawled up the
walls and spread over the surface of the floor like
spilling water. I saw Father Olsen still shouting at Zervan's
marred form on the floor. He was ignoring the fire
in destruction around him, solely intent on banishing the demon.
I looked to my right, where my parents stood wrapped
(07:38):
in flames. Mom, Dad, I panicked. I began to sprint
toward them, but before I could, the violent flames completely
absorbed them. Soundlessly. They fell to their knees and slumped
forward into the blaze, like they were nothing more than
wax figures, succumbing to the heat. I stopped as a
gust of flames who washed in front of me, blocking
(07:59):
my view their grisly demise. I was stunned, frozen, and sickened.
Father Olsen continued to shout, I command you to leave.
I banish you demon to the bottomless pits of hell.
Father Olsen then made eye contact with me. Although we
didn't say it, I could see the stress in his eyes.
(08:20):
He used them to direct me to his right, toward
the door, indicating he wanted me to also flee the room.
I covered my nose and mouth from the rising smoke
and rushed past the extracism in progress. As I did so,
one of Irvan's arms twisted and unnaturally bent limply, flopped
to the side, and grabbed me by the ankle. I
(08:40):
fell flat on my stomach, the breath knocking right out
of me. I looked back and saw the flames begin
to consume the deformed body. As the flames crawled up
and over to fully engulf it, I saw something in
the fire, a phantom like apparition that used the flowing
flames and swirling smoke to create its appearance. It was
the demon. It had the head of a lion, with
(09:02):
fire rolling around its neck and head to forge its mane.
As the flames rose higher, the apparition only grew in size.
I saw a powerful, muscular human body swathed in hair
that smoldered at their ends. Snakes with diamond shaped heads
enveloped its arms and legs like writhing vines, hissing and
striking aimlessly. Father Olsen's words were muted by the roaring
(09:26):
flames and snarls from the demonic, fiery beast that had
risen before me. After thirty years, I was finally face
to face with Zervon in his purest form. I briefly
recalled the fire at my childhood home. This is what
I had seen. As much as my mind tried to
protect me from remembering, it was all coming back to
(09:47):
me in graphic detail. Zervon was there in the flames.
Now he was here. Zervon tried to ignore Father Olsen's
continuing attempts to dispel him and focused on me as
if we were the only two in the room. You
must follow the rules, he screeched, as his eyes ignited
into a blinding brilliance of white flames. Black smoke expelled
(10:12):
from his mouth with each word. The consequences will be dire.
Just then, a hand grabbed me and pulled me out
of the room and into the hallway. I looked up,
and to my complete surprise, I saw Lieutenant's Sears with
a gun in hand, and to look a pure shock
and horror on his face. Ooh, Lieutenant, I muttered, coughing
through the smoke that was starting to fill the house,
(10:34):
But he didn't answer. He just stood there, gawking into
Logan's room, with his jaw on the floor and his
eyes wider than they should have been physically capable of.
His mouth trembled like he wanted to say something but
couldn't find the words. Fears, I shouted as I climbed
to my feet and grabbed a hold of him. He
finally snapped out of it and looked at me, his
eyes refusing to narrow. We have to go, I pleaded
(10:58):
to him. He took one last look inside the room,
where Father Olsen was battling the fiery demon that had
emerged from the flames, and then with one more tug
of his arm, he followed me down the hall and
we bustled down the stairs. The front door was open,
sending gusts of icy wind and pelting sleet into the foyer.
Where's Anika and the boys? I questioned him. He didn't answer,
(11:20):
he was still in shock. Where are they, I repeated,
emphasizing my concern. I don't see yours, stammered, but clearly
wasn't in the right frame of mind. I couldn't blame him,
not after what he'd witnessed upstairs. Just then, in the kitchen,
there was a loud crash and an expulsion of light
and flames. I rushed into the hallway, where I saw
(11:41):
the ceiling had collapsed in flaming. Wreckage was everywhere and
was quickly spreading. The curtain on the back door ignited,
as did the walls and cabinets. Nika. I screamed into
the inferno, but it was futile. The flames roared like
a monster in their own right, drowning out any potential
response I could have heard from any of them. I
raced back down the hallway into the living room. They
(12:04):
weren't there either. My eyes locked onto the advent calendar.
Zervan's words repeated in my head. You must follow the rules,
the consequences will be dire. I stood there, wondering if
that was merely just another misdirection from the demon or
a warning to finish the calendar. If I chose to
(12:26):
run to leave the burning home, the final door would
remain closed, and Zervon's thirty year scheme would be unfinished.
But if I opened it this one last time, I
wasn't sure what to be prepared for. I couldn't imagine
things getting any worse than they already were, so the
thought of one more door being opened scared me almost
(12:47):
more than any of the others had. This was his endgame,
after all. Matthew I hear them outside. Sears screamed from
the foyer. I was quick to join him near the
front door. We looked to the driveway, and through the
blustery conditions, I could barely see Annika, Logan and Mason
huddled up by sears personal car, screaming and hollering. I
(13:08):
looked back toward the living room, still contemplating opening the
final door and wondering if that would be to just
appease Zerban's narcissistic existence or truly bring about an end
to the terror. I made up my mind, realizing that
I couldn't live out the rest of my life not
knowing what was hidden behind the twenty fourth and final door.
(13:29):
Get them in your car, I demanded of Sears. I'll
be right there. Sears was adapting to the circumstances, going
with the flow, and agreed to my clamorous request. He
gripped his gun, took one last look up the stairs,
where the fire was rolling around and teasing its imminent
descent to the first floor, and then bolted out into
the harsh wintery conditions outside. I charged back into the
(13:51):
living room and pinched the handle on the final door
of the advent calendar. As I made contact with it,
there was a loud boom above me, by the entire
house violently quaking. The brick wall within the fireplace next
to me burst inward and began to crumble to the floor.
The Christmas tree behind me fell over. The furniture in
the room began to slide across the floor, some of
(14:13):
it even lifting off the ground and spinning in circles.
Zervan's rage was being felt everywhere. I wasn't sure if
it was a last ditch effort on his part to
implement his power, or if Father Olsen was nearing the
end of the extorcism. Either way, I didn't even want
to imagine what was taking place upstairs. I ripped the
(14:34):
final door open and leaned forward to look inside. I
saw myself staring back at me. The interior of the
nook had been fitted with a small square mirror. In
the reflection behind me, I saw the fire had spread
to the living room. I could see the cracked wooden
board covering the broken window. Fire surged up from beneath it.
(14:57):
Then suddenly the mirror cracked from top to bottom. It
webbed out on either side, and then burst outward toward me.
I felt its sharp piercing fragments slash into my face
and numerous spots. I stumbled backward and fell, screaming out
as blood started to run down my face from each
of the punctures. Just then, the furniture that was spinning
(15:17):
spectrally in the air fell to the ground in a
thunderous commotion. I hefted myself up and raced for the
front door, as the living room became fully engulfed behind me.
I ran outside into the howling winter winds and stinging sleet.
I trudged quickly through the snow to Seear's car. He
burst out from the driver's side and helped me into
(15:37):
the passenger seat when he slammed the door shut. I
turned around and saw Annika in the back, with Logan
and Mason crying on either side of her as she
held them close. She was in complete shock and dissociated
from the reality of what was happening. Sears climbed back
behind the wheel. Both of us looked straight ahead, watching
the house go up in flames. The glow of the
(15:59):
fire lit up my entire property and highlighted the snow
capped woods that surrounded it. Thank you. I managed to
get out, but Sears wasn't even able to form words.
He threw the car into reverse and stepped on the gas.
Within seconds, we were gone. Sears drove us just outside
(16:20):
of the Marshports city limits and pulled into the nearly
empty parking lot of an all night eater he called
the Sun and Moon Diner. The glowing sign foast for
the diner featured artwork of the Sun on one side
of its name and the Moon on the other. I
couldn't help but recall the nearly identical markings on the
spirit board, but I quickly shook it off as nothing
more than a coincidence and not a dark queue of
(16:42):
the awfulness that had unfolded. Sears put the car in park,
but kept it running for the heat. He looked at me,
examining the bleeding cuts and scrapes on my face. Are
you okay, he asked somberly. I silently nodded what began
to ask, but then stopped himself. I could tell he
(17:03):
was trying to comprehend everything that he saw at the house.
It wasn't going to be easy for him to understand.
He just looked at me for answers to questions that
he wasn't sure how to form. I exhaled, coughing through
the irritation of the smoke and intense heat. Your eyes
weren't deceiving you, I managed to hoarsely say to him.
(17:25):
I felt his gaze on me as I looked out
the window to my right into the falling precipitation that
had changed from a neurotic sleet storm to large, gentle
flakes of snow. Everything you saw was real, I added,
I've lived with it for the past twenty four days,
and in some ways even longer than that. I looked
(17:46):
at Sears. He wore a fixed look of perplexity for
the past month, I gruffly continued, I've been burdened by
a demonic presence in my home. It's ruined my life,
it's killed innocent people, and it's controlled others into doing
things they wouldn't normally do. Sears looked into the back seat,
(18:06):
specifically a logan. When his eyes were turned to me,
they seemed to now hold a vague understanding, even if
still hampered by an overwhelming disconcertment. No one will ever
believe it, he stoically said. No one will ever ever
believe me, but you believe, I encouraged him. He nodded.
(18:29):
I could only believe the things that I see, but
it doesn't I can't. You don't have to understand what
you see for it to be real, I said. Some
things are unexplainable, some things just are. Sears tried his
best to gather his composure in the light the diner's
glowing sign, and I watched his face fight back tears
(18:51):
as he swallowed his doubt. I came to your house
after I decided to track Davenport's phone, he said, facing
away from me. It was bothering me that he disappeared
so suddenly. I had my doubts that what you were
telling me was the truth. Sears then faced me. Is
the devenport? He couldn't even finish his question. Yeah, I said,
(19:15):
the demon killed him. Where is he? I swallowed hard,
my throat stinging. He's in the car in the woods
behind my house. They'll find him, Sears concluded. Just then
his phone rang this a Sears he answered, I couldn't
make out what was being said on the other line,
(19:36):
but it sounded frantic and alarming. He nodded and closed
his eyes. I'll be there as soon as I can,
he said, and then ended the call. The fire, I asked,
It was called in by Nettie Nouen. She saw it
through the woods. Emergency services are on their way. Now.
I need to be there. I sat silently for a moment,
(19:57):
wondering what Sears was going to do with us, with me.
I looked back at Anika, who now had the attentiveness
to look at me concernedly. She was worried about what
was going to happen next. Also, I could tell she
wanted to say something, but she chose not to speak.
Your house will have burned with people inside, Sears said.
(20:19):
You'll be subjected to endless questioning. You'll be blamed incriminated.
But it wasn't me. You saw it for yourself. I
don't know what I saw. I leaned closer to Sears,
clearing my throat and combated the skepticism in his voice.
But you know what you saw didn't involve me committing
(20:39):
a crime. You might not be able to explain it
just yet, but you saw what you saw. You know
I am innocent, he is. Anika Weekly spoke from the
back seat, seizing Sear's attention. Trust me, Deacon, help us,
she pleaded, with a torrent of emotions on the verge
of unfettering. Looked from Anica to the boys to me.
(21:03):
They'll be looking for you, he said, tracking your phones,
talking to your friends and family. He turned around and
faced Anika again. If I help you, you need to
do as I say, exactly as I say, we will,
I assured him. Sears looked at me in a way
I'd never seen before. We'd been friends for so long,
(21:26):
and I'd seen so many looks from him, everything from
joyous to grouchy, thoughtful to thankful, But this one was
one of despair and sorrow. It was the realization of
unanticipated divergence, similar to how Davenport held himself when he
came to take Logan away. You're a good man, Matthew
(21:46):
a good friend. You and your family, you're all good people.
I don't know what it was that I saw back
there at the house, but it wasn't ordinary. It wasn't you.
Whatever it was, I kept my eyes locked on his,
anxiously anticipating whatever was coming. I'll drive you to the
(22:07):
nearest motel, he said. It's up to you to leave
after that. If you stay, I can't help you. We'd
all be forced to deal with the inevitable. Thank you,
Anika whimpered from the back seat. Sears didn't look back
at her. He continued to hold his leer on me,
looking for the understanding he was asking for. I gave
(22:28):
it to him. You'll need to destroy your phones, he said.
You can never come back to Marshport. Your family's in
too much trouble, but we'll be safe from the demon.
I broke down and cried, and that's all I care
about right now. Sears watched me cry, letting out a
(22:49):
flurry of emotions that had been building for weeks. They
were finally free. I felt free. Sears didn't say much more.
He drove us a few miles south to a small
township called Rock Shore. He dropped us off in front
of a small roadside motel. I climbed out and helped
(23:09):
Annika and the boys into the brightly lit, warm lobby,
before meeting Sears back out by his car. I'm serious,
he said, you need to disappear. Logan'll be wanted for
attempted murder. You'll be wanted for, Oh, God only knows
how many things. You're a true friend, I said to him,
reaching out to shake his hand, but he refused to
(23:31):
acknowledge it, purposefully keeping his hands down by his sides.
Good luck to you, Matthew, he said. I hope you
and your family find whatever peace you're looking for, and
I seriously hope and pray that I don't regret this decision.
I wasn't sure what to say in response. I just
watched Sears take a deep breath, return to his car,
(23:55):
and drive away. I remained outside for a moment longer,
letting the cold, quiet night wash over me and cleanse
the tension in my body. When I returned to the
motel lobby, I gave the clerk a fake name and
we checked into a room with a single bed. The
boys slept on the bed together, while Anika and I
(24:15):
sat on the floor, quietly accepting where our lives had
ended up. Is it gone, Annaka whispered the demon. I nodded.
I think so, I said, although not completely sure. What
about Father Olsen, I don't know, I said, remembering he
(24:36):
was still performing the extorcism when I left the bedroom.
Between the chaotically moving furniture plummeting to the ground and
the mirror inside the advent calendar cracking and shattering, I
could only assume that was the exact moment Zervon had
been cast out, But that's all it was an assumption.
Should we try to call him, Annika asked, pulling out
(24:59):
her phone. I quickly stopped her. No, we can't, I
firmly said, remembering Sears demands. Not yet, at least, I added,
hoping to alleviate any hopelessness she might have been experiencing.
Let's just let's just get some rest. I took the
phone from Anica and placed it on my other side.
She nestled her head into me and closed her eyes.
(25:22):
Within minutes, she was asleep. The devastating weight of everything
had rendered her exhausted. I was too, but I refused
to fall asleep. I was still in protective mode, and
until I knew for sure that Zervan was gone, I
wouldn't rest. I sat as still as I could for
a couple of hours so as to not wake Anika,
(25:45):
only occasionally checking her phone for the time. The battery
power was low, so I didn't want to use it
unless it was absolutely necessary. Eventually, however, my legs began
to cramp up, and the lingering defilement to my caf
was I carefully removed myself from Anika and lay her
gently on the floor with an extra pillow underneath her head.
(26:07):
I covered her with a blanket and slipped out of
the room with her phone in my pocket. I walked
down the hallway, noticing the dingy appearance of the building.
The walls were dirty, the security cameras and the ceiling
appeared dusty, and some of them even cracked. I was
hopeful that they didn't work with us on the run.
Now we didn't need to start leaving a trail of
(26:29):
evidence in our wake. I entered the small motel lobby,
similar in design and size to the wand at the
sea glass and saw the clerk on the opposite side
of the counter, watching a small TV that was set
up behind him. The news was on and they were
covering a house fire. The clerk turned around to see me. Sorry,
he said, I hope you aren't standing there too long.
(26:51):
There's a huge house fire just north of here in
my sport. I approached the counter and watched the scene
unfolding on the TV. It's our house, now standing as
just the blackened framework of its original semblance. Smoke billowed
from the remnants as firefighters and police officers hurried through
the scene. Some of them were shouting, some were carrying
(27:13):
large pieces of the debris. The news reporter that they
kept cutting back to was speaking, but I couldn't focus
on her words. Oh what happened, I asked the motel clerk,
my eyes glued to the screen. Not sure, he said,
sounds like the house belonged to a police officer from
what the report said earlier. The clerk shook his head
in pity. I tell you, marsh Port has been put
(27:36):
through the ringer this month. It's not a very merry
Christmas for anyone up there. Are you from around here? Sir?
I shook my head. Deaths accidents some of which were
police officers. This one included it's like the town has
cursed or something. That's terrible. I said, did anyone die
in the fire? They interviewed the Marshport lieutenant a little
(27:59):
while ago. He said, there have been some remains recovered,
but others are still unaccounted for. He said, it'll be
a complicated investigation. Sears is trying to protect us, I
thought by claiming some people were accounted for, that left
space to produce any number of scenarios. The remains that
were found, however, would point back to me. My foster
(28:21):
parents perished in Logan's upstairs bedroom, and Wilbur Ward's DNA
would certainly lead them back to my childhood. Sears was right.
I would be incriminated for this. Regardless of what I
claimed happened and what Sears could back up, none of
it would hold up in court. Oh and get this,
the clerk jumped there as a priest inside. Gives us
(28:44):
whole fire some kind of creepy devil vibes. Now, ah,
I looked at the clerk. Is the friest ok? Yeah,
seemed like it. I saw a couple officers and even
that lieutenant guy talking to him. I felt relieved, knowing
father Olsen was okay and that Sears had been one
of the ones talking to him. I couldn't imagine losing
my home, the clerk said that, and my family is
(29:07):
all I have. I just I couldn't go on, you know,
I nodded absolutely. I said, with a spark of an idea,
even though it was deceptive, I vowed to keep my
family safe. Actually, that's why we're here tonight, I said.
We lost our home and I needed to find a
roof to put over my children's head. The clerk faced
(29:29):
me with a look of deep compassion and on Christmas Eve,
he said, my god, sir, you have my sympathy. Thank you,
I said, before continuing, no house, no car. I'm just
trying to figure out a way to get my family
down to the in laws in Boston. I thought I
saw someone drop you off out front, the clerk said,
(29:50):
looking away and back to the TV. I joined him,
watching more firefighters trudge through the messy scene. I watched
one of them dragging our Christmas tree out through all
hole in the side of the house. All the pine
needles on its branches have been singed off, leaving the
tree to look like a bony, charred skeleton. The reporter
on screen continued to give updates as the motel clerk
(30:12):
turned back to me. You know, he said, as being
a Christmas season, and I'd like to give you and
your family something. I looked at him curiously. My boss
usually hands down one hundred dollars bonus to me each season.
I usually spend it on lottery tickets, send way too
much coffee. I know it's not much, but I'd like
to give it to you and your family. It'll be
(30:34):
more than enough for you to catch a bus down
to Boston. I stared at the man, blown away by
his kindness, but also secretly hoping for something like this.
Are you sure, I asked him. You don't have to,
I insist, he said, reaching into a drawer behind the
counter and pulling out an unmarked envelope from within it,
(30:54):
He took out a one hundred dollars bill and handed
it to me across the counter. I can't thank you enough,
I said, you really just saved us. The man smiled,
feeling a sense of pride in what he had done.
Guilt did roll around in my core, however, but at
the same time, my family needed to come first. There'd
(31:15):
be more bonuses for this man, especially if he was
always this kind and generous. Before I left the lobby,
I took one last look at the TV. The news
reporter had stepped out of the way. As she updated
the situation. She spoke about several remains being recovered, as
well as a body found behind the house. I knew
that body had to belong to Detective Davenport. I felt
(31:39):
sick my prince would be all over the car and
his body. It only encouraged me to ignore the guilt
from lying to the motel clerk and hurry to plan
my family's escape from Maine. I watched multiple officers cross
through the screen, talking to one another and on phones.
I watched several firefighters walk toward the house and stop,
(32:02):
then to the left side of the screen, where the
living room window had been shot out and subsequently replaced
by Zervon moonlighting as wilb Ward, the contractor. I saw
two other firefighters remove the plywood sheet. It appeared undamaged
unburned when they removed it. I watched as the square
sheet of wood fell to the ground, revealing a large
(32:23):
mirror behind it. The firefighters appeared confused, and as they
adjusted it in their hands, the other side, the side
that faced the interior and had already cracked down the middle,
fell to the ground as well. I squinted watching the
firefighters examine the mirror, which had been slyly hidden between
two sheets of thin plywood and disguised as it boarded
(32:46):
up window. From what I could see on the small screen,
the frame of the mirror appeared to be made of
wood as well, possibly even with some designs engraved into it.
A hand crafted mirror installed by a demon who had
handcrafted so many other items with dark intent. It couldn't
have been a coincidence. It had been there for days,
(33:10):
hidden in plain sight. It was his way out, his
way to continue on. I hurried out of the lobby
and into the hall. I pulled out Anika's phone and
used our shared contacts to call father Olsen's phone. It
rang several times before he picked up Hello. He answered,
probably not recognizing the number that was calling him. Father Olsen,
(33:31):
it's Matthew. Don't say anything if you're around other people.
Go somewhere alone, and then respond. I was quick and
direct with my words. They had come out desperate and grave,
and I was hoping Father Olsen had caught on to that.
He was quiet on the line. I heard some muffled noises,
as well as a couple of isolated siren chirps from
(33:52):
emergency vehicles. A few moments later, he responded, Matthew, where
are you? He asked, with worry. I Uh, I can't
tell you. I said, right, he said, you lieutenant told
me he was helping you. Are you safe? Yes, I said,
are you Servon? He's gone. The extorcism was successful. You
(34:14):
can rest easily. The problem was I couldn't rest easily.
I had a new concern, a new fear. I have
a question, I said. You said it could be possible
for Zervon to split into two separate people or objects, right,
like a dual possession, in order to ensure his existence
(34:35):
and doers. I said that when you're dealing with the supernatural,
nothing is off the table, So it's possible. Matthew, would
you have believed anything you'd seen this month was possible?
He was right. Whatever was perceived to be impossible wasn't
(34:55):
and that scared me to death. Now, when Zervon was
still in wilver Ward's body, he masqueraded as a contractor
to fix my window. He replaced it with what I
thought was a temporary wooden board. I just watched a
live TV report from the scene where they removed the board.
Underneath it was a mirror, handcrafted, just like the Advent calendar,
(35:15):
Just like everything else I saw in the shed back
in Bayville, Father Olsen was silent. The quiet only filled
me with more anxiety. I wanted him to tell me
I was wrong, that I was overthinking and reaching based
on a fear that had burrowed into me and was
reluctant to leave. However, that's not what he said. It
(35:36):
was built with intent, he said, realizing the severity of
the situation the more he continued to speak. Just like
everything else he built in his shed, they were all
constructed with the same goal in mind, to endure. When
you survived that night thirty years ago, he felt challenged,
a possible vulnerability in his own constitution. He needed to
(35:57):
make sure that his energy would thrive better. What I
felt flush and my stomach turned. You cast him out
of Wilbert Ward's body, I said, yes, Father Olsen confirmed,
But his offering in the calendar that alluded to legion
a unit with multiple demonic forces. It was only a
(36:18):
vague suggestion. It's not one unit with multiple demons, it's
multiple units damned by one demon. I thought back to
all of the items I saw in the shed, wooden toys, ornaments, clocks,
jewelry boxes, and a mirror that exactly matched the one
I saw on TV. Zervon had possessed all of them.
(36:41):
The phone beeped in my ear and abruptly went silent.
I pulled it away from my head and realized the
battery power had completely drained. It was dead. I hurried
back into our room and gently woke up Annica. Oh
what's wrong, she asked, coming out of sleep. We have
to leave. I said, I have money. We can use
it to catch a bus out of here. We can
never look back. What happened? She asked, sitting up and
(37:05):
reacting to the urgency in my voice. I'll explain what's
We're on the road. Can the kids at least sleep
until morning, she pleaded. I shook my head. No, it's
my job to protect you all, to ensure our family survives.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out her wedding ring.
I placed the ring in her hand and closed her
fingers around it. Nothing will ever break our bond, I said,
(37:27):
as long as we stick together, that's how we survive.
We are four souls united as one unit. I helped
her to her feet and she wrapped me at a
tight embracing hug. I could feel our profound bond healing
in real time. It enabled hope, safety, and a future together.
(37:48):
We woke the kids and slipped out the back door
of the motel. A half mile down the road was
a bus stop, and we didn't have to wait long
for one to arrive. Before we boarded, I smashed Anika's
phone against the bus stop signpost. Pieces of it dropped
to the ground and sank into the snow. Wherever the
bus took us. That's where I would discard the rest
(38:09):
of it. Once we boarded, we were on the road
and headed south away from Maine. Behind us, we eagerly
left a succession of death, misery, and the ungodly horror
that was the Advent calendar. Not so eagerly, however, were
our former lives, friends, and commitments. Before us was a
(38:31):
fresh start, a path we could carve out all on
our own. But no matter which direction our lives, our
survival would take us, it would be uncorrupted by demonic influence.
And that's something that regretfully couldn't be said for anyone else,
(38:52):
who would be the unfortunate recipients of any number of
the profane and diabolical constructions that remained in Zerbon's reliquary.
Thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, please
share it with someone you know who loves scary stories
at Christmas time. If you'd like to read the full
novel for yourself in print, it's available in paperback, hardback,
(39:16):
and kindle versions at Weird Darkness dot com slash Advent
of Evil. That's also where you can go to hear
each of the twenty four chapters as they're posted. I'm
Darren Marler. Thanks for celebrating Advent with me in the
Weird Darkness
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