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ＨＩＳＴＯＲＹ (itw)
Note: Please see the warnings involved with Peter's history.
Peter Graham lives in Utah (United States) with his family, consisting of his father (Steve, a psychiatrist), his mother (Annie, a miniatures artist who works for an art gallery), his little sister (Charlie, who is thirteen years old and appears to have a sort of developmental disorder, as well as some very eerie habits, including cutting the heads off of pigeons and making macabre miniature art, foreboding drawings of her family, and clicking her tongue), and the family dog (Rex, a good boy).
When the story begins, his grandmother Ellen (Annie's mother) has just passed away, and Annie delivers a eulogy that bleeds important information: she and her mother had a very strained and seemingly unhealthy relationship, and Ellen was a secretive, distant, odd woman.
The truth is that Ellen Leigh is the leader of a cult dedicated to worshiping and summoning the ancient demonic entity known as Paimon. "Queen Leigh" has been working for years to summon this being, even attempting to use her own son as a host (he committed suicide when he was sixteen, claiming his mother was "trying to put people inside him"). Whether Paimon will obey her because of her leadership position or she simply wants to keep him in the family, only someone related to Ellen can be used as a host body. Either way, Paimon is destined to be "inherited" by one of the Grahams, because the cult has been planning and working behind the scenes for years to make sure that is going to happen.
Unbeknownst to the Graham Family, Charlie is actually Paimon's current vessel. Annie would not allow her mother near Peter when he was born, but she "gave" Charlie to her when she was born. Ellen and the cult were keeping a close watch on her from infancy, and influencing the demon they placed inside of her until he could be transferred to Peter (for Paimon "prefers" a male host, and is very unstably attached to Charlie's body, explaining why she has so many issues).
The possession by Paimon is not something that can happen overnight or with a quick spell: the host body must be severely weak, which is likely why Paimon was able to successfully attach to an infant Charlie, but failed in attaching to Ellen's teenage son. With Peter, it will take much time and effort to prepare for Paimon to enter his body.
It will take 16 years.
After Ellen's death, things are set into motion for the transfer. The first step is to release Paimon from his current vessel. While the details of the cult's abilities are left ambiguous, they appear to be using dark magic (along with interpersonal manipulation) to influence events in the Graham family's lives no matter their decisions.
One night, Peter asks his mother if he can go to a "school barbecue", which is actually a party at someone's house. After a tense exchange, she agrees, but he must take Charlie with him. Peter begrudgingly does, half-lidded as he listens to his little sister's clicking in the backseat. Once there, he convinces her to leave him alone for awhile, enticing her with chocolate cake that's being served.
An unsupervised Charlie has a piece, but she begins to have an allergic reaction to the nuts. She goes to find her brother, telling him that her throat feels like it's getting bigger. Realising what's happening, Peter quickly carries her to the car to drive her to the hospital. Charlie rolls down the window to try to get some air, and Peter has to swerve to miss a dead deer that is too conveniently placed in his path. His sister is decapitated by a telephone pole which, unbeknownst to him, bears the mark of Paimon. A shaken, teary Peter sits in the car for a long while, unable to accept or process what has happened, and then slowly drives home. He leaves his sister's body in the backseat and goes to bed.
In the morning, he stares into space as he listens to his parents finding Charlie's body, and the sounds of his mother wailing.
(itw)
Peter Graham lives in Utah (United States) with his family, consisting of his father (Steve, a psychiatrist), his mother (Annie, a miniatures artist who works for an art gallery), his little sister (Charlie, who is thirteen years old and appears to have a sort of developmental disorder, as well as some very eerie habits, including cutting the heads off of pigeons and making macabre miniature art, foreboding drawings of her family, and clicking her tongue), and the family dog (Rex, a good boy).
When the story begins, his grandmother Ellen (Annie's mother) has just passed away, and Annie delivers a eulogy that bleeds important information: she and her mother had a very strained and seemingly unhealthy relationship, and Ellen was a secretive, distant, odd woman.
The truth is that Ellen Leigh is the leader of a cult dedicated to worshiping and summoning the ancient demonic entity known as Paimon. "Queen Leigh" has been working for years to summon this being, even attempting to use her own son as a host (he committed suicide when he was sixteen, claiming his mother was "trying to put people inside him"). Whether Paimon will obey her because of her leadership position or she simply wants to keep him in the family, only someone related to Ellen can be used as a host body. Either way, Paimon is destined to be "inherited" by one of the Grahams, because the cult has been planning and working behind the scenes for years to make sure that is going to happen.
Unbeknownst to the Graham Family, Charlie is actually Paimon's current vessel. Annie would not allow her mother near Peter when he was born, but she "gave" Charlie to her when she was born. Ellen and the cult were keeping a close watch on her from infancy, and influencing the demon they placed inside of her until he could be transferred to Peter (for Paimon "prefers" a male host, and is very unstably attached to Charlie's body, explaining why she has so many issues).
The possession by Paimon is not something that can happen overnight or with a quick spell: the host body must be severely weak, which is likely why Paimon was able to successfully attach to an infant Charlie, but failed in attaching to Ellen's teenage son. With Peter, it will take much time and effort to prepare for Paimon to enter his body.
It will take 16 years.
After Ellen's death, things are set into motion for the transfer. The first step is to release Paimon from his current vessel. While the details of the cult's abilities are left ambiguous, they appear to be using dark magic (along with interpersonal manipulation) to influence events in the Graham family's lives no matter their decisions.
One night, Peter asks his mother if he can go to a "school barbecue", which is actually a party at someone's house. After a tense exchange, she agrees, but he must take Charlie with him. Peter begrudgingly does, half-lidded as he listens to his little sister's clicking in the backseat. Once there, he convinces her to leave him alone for awhile, enticing her with chocolate cake that's being served.
An unsupervised Charlie has a piece, but she begins to have an allergic reaction to the nuts. She goes to find her brother, telling him that her throat feels like it's getting bigger. Realising what's happening, Peter quickly carries her to the car to drive her to the hospital. Charlie rolls down the window to try to get some air, and Peter has to swerve to miss a dead deer that is too conveniently placed in his path. His sister is decapitated by a telephone pole which, unbeknownst to him, bears the mark of Paimon. A shaken, teary Peter sits in the car for a long while, unable to accept or process what has happened, and then slowly drives home. He leaves his sister's body in the backseat and goes to bed.
In the morning, he stares into space as he listens to his parents finding Charlie's body, and the sounds of his mother wailing.
(itw)