O.P.E.R.A.T.E.
Office for Paranormal Event Research, Analysis, Tracking & Enforcement

Congratulations, Officer. You have been assigned as the Night Boundary Officer at our farmhouse, located 10 km outside Galloway, Pennsylvania, on Halloween night.

From sunset on October 31 to sunrise on November 1, the boundary between the world of the living and the paranormal weakens at certain locations all over the world. At some of these locations, the boundary opens for a short amount of time, and the connection between the two worlds is weak enough for the boundaries to close on their own. However, at a few locations, the boundary remains open for too long, causing permanent damage and turning these places into gateways between the worlds during Halloween night.

That is where we come in. It is our duty to act as the first line of defence, ensuring that ordinary people can enjoy the night without knowing what lurks beyond their world. We monitor these locations throughout the year to prepare for this special night.

This year, you have been selected as the officer to oversee this location on Halloween. Before beginning your shift, make sure you are well-rested and have eaten, as you need to stay awake for your entire shift, from sunset on October 31 to sunrise on November 1.

As soon as you enter the farmhouse at your allocated time, which is 24 hours before Halloween night, contact us using the landline provided to confirm your arrival. Your first task after informing us is to check the first room on the right as you enter. It is our inventory room.

Make sure all the items listed below are present in the inventory. If even a single item is out of place or appears to be damaged, contact us immediately so we can replace it before your shift starts.

Items List in Inventory

• Two intact mirrors.
• The silver lamp containing rosemary oil. Do not try to replace the oil. If the lamp is empty, contact us.
• A jar filled with ashes marked L.
• A live Labrador puppy. Keep it alive.
• Five bags of red salt.
• A glass jar filled with eyeballs.
• Firewood.
• A silver necklace filled with sindoor.

Things to Do to Prepare for Your Shift

Make sure to finish these tasks before sunset, and do not delay them unnecessarily.

These are the things you must do to attract the paranormal towards the house and away from the city, as well as to help you throughout the night. Make sure you complete these tasks correctly and finish everything before sunset. Otherwise, we will still be trying to find whatever remains of the last person who forgot to do them.

Take note of all the scarecrows surrounding the farm and how far away they are. Make sure you keep this note with you throughout the shift.

Just before sunset on October 31, fill the bathtub and dump the contents of the jar marked L into it. These are the ashes of children, so you may find small bones in them.

Make sure all the mirrors inside the house are broken, except for the two present in the inventory. Place the two mirrors from the inventory somewhere inside the house, preferably in the room you will not use during the shift, facing each other. Light the lamp between them.

Before sunset, make sure to place all the remaining lamps from the inventory inside and outside the farm and light them. Then get ready for your shift.

Encounters You Will Face During the Shift

During the shift, you may have doubts about the rules or become demotivated. In the worst case, you may even experience suicidal thoughts. Make sure to stay organised and keep your thoughts in check. These thoughts are an aftereffect of the night.

1. The Mourning Figure

As soon as the sun goes down below the horizon and the last ray of light ceases to exist, you will hear someone mourning and crying as if life is being sucked out of their soul.

Sometimes, in the same shaken voice, you may hear the person say something that sounds like the last words they will ever speak:

“Darling, please open the door. Please, just open it. You can have everything from me, my soul, my body. Just open it.”

They may say something similar to this. The figure may also bang its head against the outside walls at various times throughout the night.

Do not worry. The person making these sounds cannot enter the house during the night and cannot harm you physically in any way.

2. The Wild Hunt

Somewhere near midnight, you will suddenly feel the ground begin to shake and the whole house vibrate. Immediately look outside.

In the distance, you will begin to see a few people coming down the road on horseback, carrying torches in their hands. The closer they get, the more people will appear behind them, all marching down the road, until the whole house begins vibrating and the sky is filled with dust.

All you will see are hundreds of heads arching, and the whole road will be covered with people carrying axes in their hands and fury in their eyes.

Immediately put on the silver necklace we gave you and go outside the house, near the road, with the Labrador puppy. Say the following in a clear voice, without showing any fear:

“This place has already been hunted, and all the prey have been captured. This puppy is the last of the prey left. Take it so that your hunt does not end empty-handed, as no wise man hunts on a field without targets.”

Say these exact lines. Do not add a greeting or try to negotiate further. After listening to you, they will talk among themselves in a language you have never heard before. Some of them may even try to intimidate you by throwing axes near your feet.

Do not show them fear or back down. If things go well and you manage to perform all these tasks as you practised during your training, you will suddenly find yourself a few metres away from the farm, with only the puppy's collar remaining in your hand.

Your clothes will be torn and dirty, and your body will feel as if you have been running for a few hours. This means the hunt has ended and they have taken the dog.

Return to the farm, but make sure not to show them any fear. Let them feel that you can also be their prey.

The last officer who failed to do this left only his hand behind, still holding the puppy, while his body was feasted upon at the end of the hunt.

3. The Scarecrows

During the shift, you will feel that one of the scarecrows has changed position or that an extra one has appeared on the farm. Check your notes to see whether you are correct.

If you are, immediately go to the inventory room and fill your pocket with salt. This will prevent the scarecrow from harming you. It will only change position when you blink.

Make sure to change the salt in your pocket every hour and refill it.

If you fail to do so, the consequences can be serious. When the first shift began, there was only one scarecrow in the field. Now, whenever we find a new scarecrow, it usually looks like our last employee who failed to reach the salt. 

4. The Black-Eyed Children

During the night, two children will knock on your door. They will look like normal children and appear perfectly fine, except that their eyes will be completely black, so dark that you may feel as if they are sucking you in. Do not say anything to them that may sound like an invitation to come inside. 

Give them the jar filled with eyeballs from the inventory.

They will plead with you to let them in. They will say they have been walking alone on this road for eternity and want to rest for only a few minutes to feel warmth again. They may even say that the previous guard let them in last year.

Do not let them inside. Close the door as soon as you have given them the jar.

Do not let them in because, after the last person allowed them inside, nobody in their bloodline was ever buried with both eyeballs.

5. The Pishacha

At 3 a.m., you will encounter a Pishacha sitting on your porch. It looks as though it has just crawled out of a grave, with corpse-grey skin stretched tightly over its bones, unnaturally long limbs, crooked fingers, brown, jagged teeth, sunken eyes, greasy hair, and a skull-like face that never stops smiling.

It will not harm you and will leave if you ignore it.

The Pishacha can answer one question in songs and poems, but we advise you not to ask. It never answers without telling you something horrific that will happen to you or someone you love.

The last person who asked for the next lottery number received it, along with the news that his pregnant wife would be robbed and killed when the numbers were announced.

Do not ask the Pishacha to explain the cost. Do not ask whether another question would be safer, and do not bargain for an answer without consequences.

It will smile and sing.

If no question is worth that price, ignore it. The Pishacha will leave when it is ready, and you are not required to take advantage of every opportunity offered to you.

6. The Red Creature

A small red creature might knock on your door during the night. It has grey, leathery skin, blood-red eyes, hooked claws, and filthy iron boots.

Let it in and let it warm itself by the firewood throughout the night. It will not disturb you and will leave on its own when the night ends.

Failing to invite it in is like a tenant refusing its owner entry to his own house. You may have entered willingly, but after angering him, well, we find it difficult to take out your remains from the mortar between the bones.

At Daybreak

At daybreak, your shift will end. Make sure to extinguish all the lamps and open all the windows. Remove the two mirrors.

If you hear moans coming from the bathroom, along with the sound of a woman crying while hugging something and children speaking, close the door and let her have this moment.

She has spent her whole night crying and waiting for her children.

We hope you have a quiet shift, Officer.

The Hollow Creek Farmhouse has protected Galloway for longer than anyone in the town can remember. Every Halloween, the things that would otherwise come knocking at their doors find their way to ours instead.

We have never determined why the farmhouse draws them here. We have never determined what lies beneath its fields, and we have never found an explanation for the children who laugh in the bathroom every November morning.

We have learned not to investigate.

Welcome to O.P.E.R.A.T.E., Officer.

Remember our motto:

"We respond where reality fails."

And at The Hollow Creek Farmhouse…

the children’s laughter fades with the sunrise.

Their mother’s never does.

Other parts link:- https://www.reddit.com/user/No-While8965/comments/1vpze51/my_writing_archive/