Sometime in the night there was a sudden banging sound against the walls, as is typical of old houses.

   Ed Warren was sleeping soundly, turned towards his wife in the bed with his eyes closed peacefully. Beside him, she was stirring. Her eyes opened. The worrying clairvoyant gazed at the ceiling, hearing the banging sounds below her.

   "Ed."

   He snored.

   She sighed. "Ed," her graceful hand drifted to his shoudler, wrapping around it in the most natural way possible. The sounds were growing louder, and her heart felt like it was coming up her throat. "Ed, dear, something's in the house."

   Somewhere in the fuzz, he must've caught the urgency in her voice, for he snapped awake. "Lorraine?" his voice reflected a tired, groggy nature. He rubbed his eyes. "What's the matter?"

   "Do you hear that?" she asked, suddenly wondering if it had been all in her head.

   He stopped, listening.

   Ed threw the blankets off his own body without answer.

   "What are you doing?"

   He turned to her. "I'm going to see what's going on. You?"

   "I'm coming with you."

   Either Ed Warren was scared, or he knew that there was no sense in trying to discourage his wife to come along, for he nodded and started to creep quietly out the door.

   "What about Judy?" she whispered, her eyes wide and worried.

   "You go on and check on her. I'll check on that noise."

   "Are you sure?"

   He nodded.

   He was grateful that she didn't stand around to argue. He surveyed the room with quiet contemplation, and determined, with much surprise, that the mystery noise was coming from the artifact room, which was almost certainly supposed to be closed and locked.

   Although he was not comfortable with this place, it had become rather commonplace for him to inspect it on a daily basis, and so he tried to pretend that this was just one of those times.

   Meanwhile, Lorraine had made it to Judy's room, and opened the door with such gentle quietness that even the most solemn-faced person in the world would've had to smiled just a little.

   "Judy," she started, creeping towards the bed in a graceful manner, trying not to trip over something that had fallen in the floor.

   "Judy, Honey--" she stopped abruptly, realizing that something was off about the girl's bed. It's sheets were in an usual ball; she darted to the bed, throwing off the sheets with a gust of dread and taking in the fact that her daugher was not underneath. "Judy," she fretted, glancing around the room, hoping for something, anything to give her a sign that Judy was safe. She saw nothing, felt nothing, and yet she was so scared and so petrified at the thought of loosing her baby girl.

   "Lorraine!"

   Ed was shouting for her.

   She disappeared from the room, tears streaming down her face.

   "Ed!"

   He met her in front of the artifact room with open arms, holding her against him. "Hey, calm down. It's okay. Everything's okay. She's in here; she's safe," he said, although his voice wavered. Her eyes darted to the room and she left him to run inside.

   "Judy, what are you--"

   She was standing in front of the case of the Annabelle doll, staring blankly at it.

   "Judy?"

   The girl didn't respond. Lorraine's mind was starting to sift past an oncoming vision when Ed stepped behind her, interrupting it entirely as he grabbed her shoulders. "We should get her back to bed. She's just sleepwalking," he assured her.

   "What was that noise?"

   "What?"

   "The noise," she said, turning to take a good look at the rest of the room. Everything was in it's usual place; nothing seemed to have fallen on the floor or even moved an inch.

   "I don't-- I don't know--" he admitted, his gaze following hers.

   Everything was silent. It was as if they were waiting for something to happen, yet they didn't know exactly what.

   Judy screamed.

   Lorraine tackled her daughter, enveloping herself around the girl with such force that they fell to the ground, Judy on her side and her mother, on her knees. "Leave her alone," she growled, although she didn't know what she was talking to.

   Judy's face was a macabre mirror of what it usually was; her eyes were dull, her mouth stretched in a gaping, permanent scream that was almost like a morbid smile. Even as her screams started to shift to cries, the face never changed.

   "It's okay," Lorraine cooed in her daughter's ear. "It's okay, sweetheart. You're okay. You're just dreaming, is all..." her voice broke and trailed off. She glanced at Ed with an uncertain look, yet never stopped holding her child.

   She eventually stopped, yet laid limply in Lorraine's arms.

   "I don't know what to do with her, Ed," Lorraine said, sobbing. Their baby girl was pale as could be. Her eyes were now closed, but she felt cold against the skin. Although breathing, she was unconscious and unresponsive.

   He moved closer to his wife, feeling his little girl's head. "Let's lay her in bed. Give her a little bit of time. See if she comes out of this--"

   Lorraine was wiping her eyes.

   "I don't know what she saw, Ed. I couldn't even feel it."

   He paused for a moment.

   "I want her to sleep with us tonight," Lorraine said. Ed nodded. His wife pulled herself away from their daughter long enough for Ed to lift her in his arms. She followed behind him, glancing one way and the other like a scared puppy as they walked back to their room. He shut the artifact room door behind him  and locked it with a spare key.

   "Did you see the keys anywhere?"

   Lorraine shook her head. "I don't understand...how she got in there--"

   "We'll worry about it in the morning; ask her if she remembers anything. Don't worry about it tonight."

   She nodded.

   They placed Judy between them in the bed. Lorraine seemed to fold herself protectively around her daughter; Ed stroked his wife's head and watched as she drifted off into a calm sleep, never once releasing Judy.

~                                                                                                                                                                                                  ~

   The noise registered in his ears, yet it was so abrupt that Ed was confused upon waking to hear it.

   "Momma!"

   "Judy!?" Lorraine took one look at Ed and disappeared from the room. Her bare feet pounded against the floor as she ran; her husband nearly tore his cross necklace from the headboard as he got out of the bed.

   "Judy!?"

   Their little girl was lying in the floor, screaming her lungs out as she tore at her own carpet.

   "Judy, Honey, what is it!?" her mother asked, wrapping an arm around her child and placing her hands over Judy's little ones.

   "I saw something," she managed to say through her sobs, "I saw something, on the ground. It was like a big hole, but it was moving, and it looked like it was going to eat me up!" she screamed, gripping onto her mother with such force that Lorraine's eyes widened.

   Ed moved to inspect the ripped-up carpet. He sighed, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Honey, what you saw was an apparition."

   She shivered. "What?"

   Lorraine shook her head. "No. Don't," she said, grabbing her husband's arm as she took him to the side. "You can't tell her," she said pointedly, giving know explanation.

   "Why? Lorraine, if she's having these apparitions...these visions..." his hands waved as he spoke. He stopped, staring into his wife's eyes. "Honey," his hand lifted towards her face. He held her cheek in his palm. "I know this bothers you. You don't want her to have to deal with these things. But we don't run from fights, you know that. It wouldn't be fair to her to not explain this to her, you can't hide that."

   She nodded. "I know." She placed her right hand over his. Tears fell from her eyes. "I just don't want her to be hurt."

   He hugged her. "Hey, it's okay. We'll get her through this, and we'll do it together, like we do everything."

   She nodded.

   Upon returning, Judy was sprawled out on the floor, balancing on her hands and knees as she stared down at the carpet. The girl squinted. She started tugging at one of the loose strings that was there. Underneath, wood peeked out.

   "Judy, Honey," Lorraine landed on her knees beside her daughter. "What do you see?"

   "It's not real. It-- it can't hurt me. I don't know what it is, but I know it can't hurt me," she glanced around the room, pausing only to stare into the shadows. Her eyes landed back on her mother for a moment, and she sniffled. "I'm sorry that I woke you up."

   She hugged her child, holding her close. "Oh, Honey, it's okay. It's alright. I just want you to feel safe, is all."

   "I don't know what to do, when they come to me. It's like-- I'm stuck. I can't move, and I just-- I want to get out," she wiped her nose then enveloped her mother in a warm hug.

   Lorraine held her again, thinking of what little advice she could give her child. "Well-- when you feel that way, you just have to tell yourself that it's not real. You have to pray. You have to tell yourself that no matter what happens, Mommy and Daddy are here and we're not going to let anything happen to you, understand?"

   Judy glanced up at her mother, nodding.

   "I'm sorry, Sweetheart. If I could take this away from you, I would."

   Ed stepped in. He towered over them both, covering them with a soft, gentle aura. He bent down, kissing his daughter's forehead. "I love you, Baby. Your mother's right-- you just have to believe that you're stronger than this, and you will be," he paused. It hit him hard to consider the fact that his six-year-old was seeing terrible things at such a young age.

   "Can I sleep with you tonight?" she asked, latching onto them with tears in her eyes.

   "Of course you can. C'mon, let's get her to bed."

   They walked Judy to their bedroom. She latched onto Lorraine, who ran her hands through her daughter's hair until they both fell asleep. Ed's solemn expression broke as he untangled his wife's hands from their daughter's hair. He kissed them both on the head, then snuggled down into the covers with a contented sigh.