The video above is an animation I made a few months ago. I thought it actually really fit this chapter's creepy feel. Enjoy :) 

It was about a week or so since the voices had stopped. Since he couldn't hear the threats in his head anymore, he decided not to go to Schneep. He didn't want to cause unwarranted panic. But something was still nagging at him. Why did the voice appear at all? Was it just a fluke? Or was he actually crazy?

'Doesn't matter.' he thought, 'It's gone and that's all that matters. Right?'

It was mid-November now and the Halloween decorations were gone and replaced with fall and autumn decor that fit Henrik's style just perfectly but everyone else was really waiting for December so they could bring out everything Christmas.

However, Anti was getting antsy about it. There was a month and a half until Christmas but he still had to worry about getting gifts for everyone before then. This would be the first Christmas  that Anti was allowed to participate in and it made him nervous with each passing day. 

But those were thoughts and problems for a different day! 

Currently it was late at night and Anti was drifting in and out of sleep every so often. His random thoughts had been keeping him awake but slowly but surely, he was floating off into the dream world.

He expected something odd. Something strange and unexplainable in his dreams but what he saw was something else entirely. There was darkness all around him. Just pitch black and the sound of soft cries in the distance.

As Anti stepped into the black void, he could feel something wet on his feet as if the ground was covered in a thin sheet of warm water. The cries were slowly getting a tad louder and he could barely make out mumbling. Something was terribly wrong.

In his anxiety, Anti started to glitch a bit, creating a bit of green light, illuminating him. He felt like he had been walking for hours when finally he could see  a faint outline of someone on the ground sitting hunched over.

"He-hello?" Anti spoke softly, not wanting to scare whoever was crying.

The figure paid him no mind and cried to themselves as if they didn't hear him. Coming closer, Anti leaned down, "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" he touched them softly and they stopped crying, leaving an eerie silence. 

Anti gulped as the figure slowly stood up, their back turned to him. The figure started to chuckle softly, confusing Anti. As he spazzed more, Anti could see from the light he emitted in the darkness that the shadow was covered in a wet substance but he couldn't quite make out what it was with his glitching glowing green.

"Are you okay?" he tried again but the thing suddenly belted out in laughter, their shrill voice echoing in the void. Anti took a few steps back but was suddenly gripped on his shirt collar. 

Anti saw the face of the thing that held him and he shouted in fear, pulling away roughly only to land in the wet. The brighter Anti glowed, the more he saw in the void and a lightbulb was suddenly lit above the creature, buzzing like light fixtures in an office building. Around him were bodies dangling from the 'ceiling' by red nooses. 

Anti couldn't move, he was so scared.

"No. . . . no, no!"

The bodies hanging were his brothers.

Schneep, Jameson, Marvin, Jackie, Chase . . . . Sean.

The demon grinned maniacally, the light shining off his sharp teeth, his eyes black and cold, "̷W̴h̵a̸t̶'̸s̵ ̷w̵r̴o̷n̸g̴,̵ ̴l̵i̸t̵t̷l̴e̵ ̵g̷l̸i̷t̶c̵h̶?̸ ̷Y̷o̷u̸ ̸t̵h̷o̸u̸g̴h̷t̶ ̸I̶ ̵w̸a̷s̶ ̸g̸o̴n̵e̷?̵"̵ it growled.

Anti couldn't form words, but when he tried getting up, he stilled, seeing in the light what the wet puddles were. . . . . . . . it was their blood.

"̴I̷'̸v̴e̵ ̷b̸e̸e̵n̷ ̵h̸e̵r̸e̴ ̶t̷h̷i̵s̷ ̵e̵n̴t̵i̵r̶e̸ ̸t̷i̵m̴e̸"̷

Tears fell from Anti's face and he shot up, splashing the blood slightly, "What do you want from me!?"

The demon smiled, "̶I̵'̵m̷ ̸n̷o̵t̷ ̵d̷o̴n̸e̴ ̵w̸i̵t̴h̶ ̷y̴o̷u̸,̵ ̵g̷l̸i̶t̷c̴h̴.̷ ̷Y̴o̴u̶ ̴w̸e̷r̵e̶ ̵s̵o̸ ̵m̶u̷c̷h̶ ̶f̶u̶n̵ ̷t̶o̷ ̷p̷u̶p̴p̴e̶t̵ ̷b̷e̵f̷o̵r̶e̸.̶ ̷ N̵o̴w̷ ̸w̴e̴ ̶c̸a̶n̴ ̸h̷a̸v̸e̷ ̴e̷v̷e̶n̸ ̴M̸O̷R̵E̴ ̵f̷u̶n̸!̵"̴ he laughed again and Anti shuddered.

"No! Leave me alone! I won't let you hurt them!"

The demon suddenly appeared in front of Anti nose to nose, "̵Y̷o̷u̸ ̴d̷o̴n̸'̵t̵ ̸h̴a̶v̷e̶ ̵a̸ ̸c̷h̸o̷i̸c̴e̷,̵ ̸p̷u̵p̵p̴e̸t̵.̵"̸ ̶he ran a hand gently through Anti's hair, not caring if he flinched away, "̵I̸ ̵h̸a̴v̸e̴ ̷s̸o̶ ̵m̸a̷n̸y̸ ̵m̸o̶r̵e̴ ̴p̵l̴a̸n̶s̵ ̴f̵o̷r̴ ̵y̵o̶u̷"̵

The demon took Anti's cheeks in his hands, mockingly wiping away his tears, "̴I̵'̸v̷e̴ ̶m̷i̵s̴s̷e̶d̶ ̴y̷o̴u̶"̵ 

The demon licked his lips before grinning and laughing in Anti's face, "̴̛̙̏̊̈́́̂̇W̵̛̺̹̱̭͖̔̋̈͊͋̾͝ͅÄ̶̪͚́͛̿̈́̀̊̐̚Ǩ̵̭̀̓̀̕̚Ē̷̞̺̙̦͗͑͒̚̚͝ ̷̧̨̠͔̥̳̓̐̽ͅ ̵̙͔͉̱̪̫̟̺̌̒̂̀̀̃Ǘ̵̗̞͓̘̜̐̕͝P̴̠̙̣̺̿͂͂͝ ̵̹̱͔̯͍̻͐ ̴̨̘͉͊̉͐G̷̝̀͒̿͗́͗͘L̷̛̗͙̝̟̝̳̘̽̔̐̽͘I̶̩̍͒͗͗̈́͝T̴̹͓̩̩́C̷͙̫̹̘͒̀̇̆͜͝ͅḦ̸͈̣́̑͂̌̒͑ ̷̙͖͓̝̅ ̵̻͊̉͘B̵̝͊Ï̴̮̲̩̄̄̈́T̸̢̞̘̽͐̑͒̏̿̈̊Ć̶̛̬̤̚H̴̤̺̿͗!̶̗̗̽͆́͝"̶̢̢̖̙͚͆̈

Suddenly Anti shot up in his bed with a tight gasp, "Gahah!"

He looked around his room shuddering, hoping not to see that face again. Staring back at him. But there was nothing. Just his room. Anti breathed in and out and slowly his breathing calmed and he swallowed thickly.

'It's back' Anti thought, 'It's stronger though. How? The pills should still be working. How has he just come back? I thought. . . . I thought it was me but it's just as Schneep said. A different entity entirely'.

"Monster" Anti whispered.

He had to do something. He couldn't just lay back and let that thing use him again. He couldn't let his brothers get hurt AGAIN. Frantically, Anti rushed out of bed, ignoring the time of night, and ran to Schneep's room, knocking furiously.

It was about a minute before the door opened and Schneep's tired face came into view in the dim light.

"Vat do you want, Anti? You know vhat time it is?" his German accent was thicker when he was tired.

"It's an emergency, Doc" Anti couldn't stop the tears again and Schneep was suddenly worried, now a bit more woken up.

"Anti" he flicked on his light in his room to see clearer and gasped, "Your face"

Anti seemed confused, "What? What's wrong with my face? Schneep?"

Schneep led him to the bathroom and flicked on the light for him to see himself in the mirror. Anti whimpered when he saw the claw marks on his face where the demon had 'caressed' him

"Vhat happened, Anti? Did you do this to yourself?"

Anti shook his head, "I . . . . I saw it, Henrik. I saw it. It came back" he shivered.

Schneep hoped to god and heaven that Anti wasn't saying what he thought he was saying, "Who? Who's back, Anti?"

"The monster. The monster in my head. It's back. He came in my nightmare, Henrik" he started crying again and Schneep's fatherly instincts took control and hugged him to him.

"Anti" Schneep hugged him as he cried into his chest, "It vill be alright Anti. I'll fix it. I swear. Calm down. Shhhh. Ve'll fix this"

After a while of crying, Anti finally let go of Schneep, "You know we have to tell the others, Anti. It'll be better this time. I promise."

Anti was scared at first and unsure but finally nodded, "Okay"

It was four in the morning but Schneep was beyond caring. They'd fix this problem NOW. Knocking on everyone's doors, yelling at them all to get up, Schneep forced everyone in the house awake. When he finished, he called Sean, having him come down as well.

It took a while but finally everyone was in the living room waiting to hear what was so important and why Anti looked a mess. Chase didn't ask questions right away, he merely held Anti to him like a child, coddling him and Anti let him, burying himself in his comforting arms.

Finally Sean had arrived looking rattled, "What's going on?! You said it was an emergency, Schneep! What happened?"

Henrik sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Ve have a problem."

"It's something to do with Anti, isn't it?" Jackie piped up and Henrik nodded.

"Something happened tonight. That's why he's shaken. He had a nightmare."

Marvin sighed, "That's all? I could just give him a potion for that, you know"

"This was no ordinary nightmare" Henrik grumbled, "Anti. . . .tell them."

Pulling away from Chase, Anti glanced at everyone still unsure, biting his lip in apprehension.

Chase wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "It's okay bro. You can tell us"

Anti took a breath, "It's back. The monster."

Everything seemed to stand still in time it was so silent.

He continued, "It as a normal dream at first. But it was black like a void. I heard crying and went towards it. Then I came up to someone on the ground. I tried to help them but they turned around and there was light and . . . . I saw. . . . . me." he shook his head.

"I mean. . . the monster. He laughed in my face and then I saw. . . .you guys. You . . . .he had hung you on nooses from above. He. . .  . he said he wasn't done with me yet. There was blood everywhere. He . . . . he's planning something."

There was silence in the room until Sean spoke up, "But .. . . but the pills! You're still taking the pills! Right?"

Anti nodded and Henrik sighed, "There is a possibility that this thing has developed an immunity to them. I . . . I don't know honestly vhat to do."

"You could give him a different medication, right doc?!" Jackie shouted, "I mean if certain bi-polar meds don't work, you move onto  a different one-"

"This is not the same thing, Jackie" Henrik interrupted him, "This monster inside of Anti is stronger now that no mere small medication is going to effect it. Ve need something stronger."

Jameson held up a card he was writing on, "An exorcism?"

They all thought about it and actually wondered if that could actually work.

"Perhaps. Anti vhat do you think?" Henrik asked him.

Anti shrugged, "I don't know. This thing is as much of a mystery to me as it is to you guys. But it is stronger. I . . I don't know. It's worth a shot, though, right?"

Chase hummed, "So where do we find an exorcist?"

Everyone looked at Marvin.

The magician scoffed, "Oh just because I'm a magician, I can vanquish demons and shit!? I can't do that!"

Anti whined, "Can't you try?"

There were a few moments before Marvin sighed, giving into Anti's puppy eyes, "Fine. I'll give it a shot for you, trouble."

Anti smiled softly as the others did, too. Jackie slapped Anti's back, "We'll kick this demon's ass together!"

"Yeah! We'll show it who's the fucking boss here!" Sean exclaimed.

Schneep nodded, "I'll go get the rope and sedatives."

Anti frowned, "Wait right now? We're doing it NOW?"

"I have to look over some of my spell books just in case but yeah. Now. We need to bite this thing in the ass before it gets even stronger" Marvin pat his back before leaving to his room.

Chase took Anti's face to look at him and hummed, "Jackie, can you go grab some peroxide and cotton balls while we wait? I don't want Anti's face getting infected from these scratches."

Anti blushed as Chase wiped off some excess blood with his handkerchief, "We'll clean you up first, brat"

Anti was still as Jackie came back and set to work on patching Anti's face up, "This thing was able to attack you in your sleep?" Jackie asked.

Anti nodded and Jackie tsked, "Gripping you like that. . . . This thing. This monster. Has it ever. . . .hurt you or touched you in any different manner?"

Anti shook his head, "No. I had never met him before face to face until tonight. Before I thought it was actually me. It was like a twisted reflection."

"So I guess this means you weren't bi-polar after all" Chase grunted, "You were possessed?"

Anti shrugged and shuddered, "He called me his puppet"

Jameson put up another card, "Let's cut those strings forever loose!"

They all nodded. Sean, meanwhile stood in the corner of the room deep in thought. Scared and yet. . .so fucking worried. What if something went wrong? What if Marvin did something wrong and this thing took over Anti completely and they never got him back?

Sean remembered being possessed by that thing, too, three years ago. He was carving a pumpkin for his channel when it slowly took him over. He thought it was Anti then but this thing was so cold. So dark and overbearing.

After about a half hour of waiting, Schneep came back and tied Anti up with rope around a chair, "Just in case, yeah? Don't know how strong this thing is" Anti nodded and Schneep continued, "We'll save the sedative for later as a backup plan"

Marvin came in the living room, spellbook in hand. Anti realized that it was the one he had tried opening that day he helped Marvin with his potions. 

"Are we ready?"

Everyone nodded and Marvin stood in front of Anti before opening the book to the correct page he needed, "Alright. This may hurt but you're strong, Anti. I know you can take it."

Anti nodded and everyone stood around the two  as Marvin took some salt and poured it in a circle around him and his ego brother, "No one else enters the circle. Clear? No matter what."

They all nodded and Marvin took out his hand towards Anti. It glowed a dark purple and Marvin's eyes behind his mask rolled to the back of his head. He started chanting something in Latin but no one could understand what it meant. It felt like a long time passed, everyone laid in wait, stiff with anticipation.

But nothing was happening. Anti didn't feel any different and no strange aura was felt or brought about.

Marvin's whole body started to glow and he seemed as if he were straining but still nothing was happening. He shivered, losing power trying to keep it up but after a few more minutes, he stopped and the glowing ended.

Everyone was silent before Jackie popped up, "Well that was anticlimactic."

Marvin hummed, "I. . . . .I couldn't sense anything." he came up to Anti and untied the ropes letting him free, "Anti . . . are. . . are you sure this thing is real?"

Anti had a look of betrayal on his face, "W-what?"

Marvin swallowed thickly, "What I mean is . . . are you sure this just wasn't a nightmare and you made the scratches yourself? This 'demon' of yours. Could you maybe just have missed a dose of your medication?"

"What? No! Of course not! You don't believe me?"

Schneep wordlessly went to Anti's room to get his medication.

Chase came over and hung his arm around me, "Dude it's alright. Sometimes it happens. We all have had bad nightmares, Anti"

"It wasn't just a nightmare, Chase!" Anti tried to make them see, "It was real! He was there! I've been hearing his fucking voice in my head! I  . . . He was there"

They looked unsure though and Schneep came back downstairs with a glum look in his eyes, "Anti. . . . there's more medication in here than vhat there should be."

"Wh-what?" he was confused, "That can't be"

Everyone looked both relieved and perturbed at this. Chase rubbed Anti's back, "It's okay man. So you missed a dose. You won't do it again, I bet, huh?"

Anti even looked unsure himself now 'Was it really just a nightmare? He wasn't real? But it seemed so real. I don't understand'.

Sean sighed loudly, "Well sorry guys but I'm gonna get going back home and try to get some more sleep. I'll see you later, alright? Remember your meds next time, Anti!"

The others, although disappointed they all got woken up for nothing, were still sympathetic towards Anti and wished him good night again.

But Anti couldn't get the thing and its words out of his head. He was sure it had been real.

Anti shook his head, 'No! This is what it wants!' he thought, 'It wants to lull me into a false sense of security. Me and the others! I won't be fooled! I don't know how I missed my medication last night but that can't be the reason that happened. And how did Marvin not sense him?! Is he hiding himself somehow?'

Anti shut his door behind him as he entered his room, 'Doesn't matter. I'll protect them no matter what. I won't him hurt them again. It's not going to win this time'