Jane Phoenix is sitting at her desk looking through the computer for articles related to unusual and paranormal phenomena. Sometimes people post on forums or on social media websites of related content and if the story is interesting and believable, she would ask questions and see if it’s worth investigating. She sent her assistant MK (Mary Kate) out to collect a few ‘Hot Sheets’ (tabloid papers) so she can search through them and possibly find one or two unique stories that stand out and are worth investigating. “Hmm, it’s been kinda slow lately,” she mumbled. The bell hanging above the door chimed as Father Patrick walked in carrying a black briefcase. His light brown eyes met Jane’s smile. She stood up from behind her desk, walked toward him, meeting him halfway. They gave each other a friendly hug. The priest is wearing his usual outfit, black slacks, a button up short sleeve shirt, with a Roman Collar and a silver cross around his neck. His dark brown hair is sleeked back, and a mustache rims his upper lip.
“The mustache is new,” Jane remarked, in jest. She glanced at the briefcase; she suspects another job is about to be assigned, something very important. “Father, what brings you here?” she said. They walked back to her desk, and he sat across from her. “I came to visit my favorite Hunter,” he smiled.
“So, the organization, Soldiers of the Holy Trinity sent you, I wonder why.”
“Where is your assistant MK?” he asked.
“I sent her out to fetch me a Starbucks coffee and Hot Sheets.”
“You still call them that?’ he chuckled.
“Why not, sometimes those articles have some truth to them, you told me to always look at everything, never leave anything unturned, besides some of my cases come from those Hot Sheets,” she fingered quoted and smiled.
The priest chuckled. “Oh Jane, you always make me smile, but I am here not just for a casual visit, but I have an assignment for you,” he said as he opened his briefcase and pulled out a file.
“Hmm, what could this be?’” she said as he handed the file to her.
“This is labeled confidential,” she said, letting out a sigh. “The Backrooms, case 47,” she whispered.
“Hmm, what is this Father?"
“Well as you know some of the cases the Church comes across are confidential and since we are in league with the governments of the world, we help them with difficult and unusual cases that are related to the supernatural or otherworldly phenomenon. This is one of them.
A teenager slipped into what is called, the Backrooms.” Jane looked at him perplexed, but as she read through the first page of the file, she sees that the young girl missing is the bishop’s great grandniece, his sister’s daughter’s child. Her mouth dropped and she looked at the Priest. “Oh wow. I can see why it’s a top priority. How do we get to the Backrooms?” Father Patrick sighed. “Well, before you go to the site where the team will meet us, you must interview a young woman who had a similar experience in the Backrooms.”
Reyna
“Who is she?” Jane flipped through the file.“Her name is Reyna,” he said.
“It says she found her way out by running through a weird wall?” said Jane, Father Patrick nodded.
“A weird wall?” Jane repeated and gave him a puzzled look. “It seems that there are exits throughout the Backrooms but finding them is nearly impossible. This young woman was lucky, she had Faith and courage that brought her out of the Backrooms,” he said.
“Faith in God? Why would God create something like the Backrooms?” said Jane, with a sigh. “God did not create the Backrooms Jane, Man did but when things go wrong, the project gets abandoned and, in some cases, the supernatural moves in.” Jane tapped her nails on the desk, thinking. “Hmm, this case does intrigue me,” said Jane.
“Everything’s in the file, and an SD card is in the envelope too. A short video is saved in it and other information that might be useful,” he said. He sent her a text of the location where the site is and where she’ll meet him if she accepts the assignment.
“Why would God allow these places to exist?”
“God is everything, God is infinite in every aspect of what we call Life. You know this. You were taught this, but sometimes when Man messes with the natural order of things, something can go wrong and most of the time opens a portal to other realms. Realms that should not be opened,” he said. Jane sighed and nodded. “Yep,” she responded and set the file on her desk.
“I suppose there’s something that Reyna didn’t tell you?”
He nodded, “When we interviewed her, she was still distraught, but time has passed and it’s been almost a year and a half since her experience, we need to find out if she had seen anything else in the Backrooms of interest to your mission,” he paused.
“Seen what?” asked Jane.
“Well, back in 2015 we sent a Hunter to find a young man who, along with his friends, were exploring an abandoned house. When we came across the case, we interviewed his friends, who told us that he just disappeared. They couldn’t find him anywhere and they concluded that he may have fallen victim to a homeless who might have been living in the house, unbeknownst to them.”
“So do you think this young man is still in the Backrooms?” He sighed and shook his head.
“No, Reyna brought back a mini handheld video camera and it recorded his last days.”
“Does the video show when he entered the Backrooms?” Jane is intrigued but something about this case makes her feel uneasy. “The video was transferred to the card so you can look at it.”
“There may be other things that she can tell you, maybe something she might’ve forgotten,” he said. Jane nodded.
“So, where’s the site that we will, or should I say, might meet if I take up this assignment?”
“The site is located in San Bernardino, in a nice community.”
“Really? How nice?” she asked.
“The community was built several years ago, however a portal developed within the house which incidentally took another person in,” he said.
“I take it that this house has dark paranormal energy?” she asked. He nodded. “It’s more the land than the house itself. In 2018, a family had an incident at the home. The Michaels lived in a two-story house and the father was a handyman, and quite a carpenter, he built a small storage room
beneath the stairs, adding a door to it. There was nothing unusual about the room, it served its purpose for several years. However, one day the mother had entered the storage room to take out a plastic container filled with Christmas decoration,” he paused. “Can I have some water please,” he asked. Jane got up and poured some water from the dispenser into a cup and handed it to him. He took a heavy gulp. Jane can see that his hesitation is a sign that the case is still unsolved and ongoing.
“It must be a case that was never solved,” she thought. “When we heard that the woman had gone missing and the details of the case fell into the unexplained, I visited the family to investigate. Naturally they were distraught. The husband told me that his wife was in the house, she did not step out into the backyard, nor did she leave in the car. One of her kids, who at the time was ten, saw her enter the storage room but never came out. She said that after her mother went in, she could feel a strange vibration, like a pulse radiating from the storage room and the hairs on her arms stood up. She went into the room, but her mother was not in there. She said that the room felt odd, brooding, and her hair on her head, stood up like when a person rubs a balloon on their hair, and it sticks upright. She called out to her but nothing. Instinct kicked in and she stepped back away from the open door and ran to tell her father. At first, he did not believe her and decided to see for himself. He went into the room, looked around, she was nowhere in sight, only a storage container that was open. He knew his wife would not have left without telling him and there was no sign of a break-in, so he was baffled and beyond himself. He too felt something inside the room but ignored it. His daughter told him what she felt when she stepped into the storage room. Naturally, the father was confused. He then called the authorities, and since the organization has someone inside each city that would let us know about unusual cases and unexplained phenomenon, we went to interview the family. The Church is well established in communities and our goal is to investigate unusual phenomenon and to help the best we can. When it’s determined that the case falls into the realm of the paranormal/supernatural, then we must relocate them and take the case. That is what we do, we help the unfortunate people that stumble across supernatural phenomena.”
“So, what do you think happened to the woman?” asked Jane. Father Patrick sighed, “We sent Hunters to retrieve her, the portal was still available for entry. They wore bodycams. The devices are waterproof, high tech. Our scientists created the cams. So, we sent two Hunters equipped with devices that our scientists created special for crossing dimensions. In addition, they also created a device that can mimic the vibrations that trigger the portal to open. It is unknown why the portal opened in the first place, but it is believed that it occurs randomly.
When the Hunters went in, the bodycams showed a vast, enormous maze of yellow walls, dirty carpet, and florescent lights. During their investigation, we lost connection with the hunters, and thus they never returned. We feel that they came across entities that exist within the Backrooms and did not make it. Our soldiers fought the fight but lost. We quickly informed the family that their house is no longer livable and is a hazard to humans, we relocated them.”
“They agreed?” asked Jane.
“Yes.”
“Where are they now?” she asked.
“They are living in Murrieta, but they grieve for the wife and mother they lost. The church prays for her return.” Jane was silent for a moment and sighed. “Wow, some never make it out do they. What about the people that do make it out like this woman named um,” she looks at the name on the file, “Reyna?”
“Well, those who make it out, tell of unusual horrific creatures that exist throughout the Backrooms. The experiences have scarred them for life,” he responded.
Inspiration: Supernatural, Lockwood, Fate Stay Night, and other related shows.
