Grant Society Case File #1130320-10
Jade Street, Makaha
In my nightmare, the ice-cold hands held my ankles firmly in its grip and yanked me down into the dark abyss off of the sandy shores of Keawaʻula. It toyed with me and let me resurface long enough to catch my breath then it would jerk me back down just under the surface of the water where it kept me a second longer each time. I prayed for those hands to loosen their grip just long enough so that I could get away but to no avail, it had already been fifteen minutes.
The night ended with a house cleansing on Jade Street in Makaha that actually began at ten in the morning. The family that lived in the almost sixty-year-old house claimed that a monster in their closet was terrorizing them and that the activity began a month ago when the daughter of the family arrived home late one night after working the graveyard shift at a local restaurant. Walking to the end of the hallway, she opened a closet door and hung her work uniform coat on the rack when it literally flew off of the hanger and hit her in the face. That event was followed by a foul stench, which made the daughter gag and puke.
The next morning as the two youngest children were rolling an inflatable ball to one another from opposite ends of the hallway, the colored, plastic sphere rolled past the child sitting just in front of the closet door. The door opened just wide enough for the ball to roll in and when the little boy stood up and entered the closet in order to retrieve the ball, the closet door slammed shut behind him. Their mother, who was sitting in the living room at the time, was on the phone with her boss when, all of a sudden, she heard a blood-curdling scream that made her jump out of her chair.
Running into the hallway she found her son sitting there screaming bloody murder and pointing at the closet door. It was slightly open and sitting just inside the closet was her other son. He was in a catatonic state as he stood there covered with some kind of dark greenish slime. The boy screamed that the monster in the closet did it. However, even before the mother could make any sense of what just happened, the entire hallway was suddenly filled with the stench of excrement. All she could do was grab her children and flee the home. Frantic, the mother called me the next day. She could not afford to move anywhere else and she was not about to go back to the department of human services. She found me online and thought that perhaps I could do something to help her, I told her I could not.
“Is there a family member that can take you and your children in until you get back on your feet?” I asked.
“No,” she replied. Her raspy voice told me that she had not slept the entire night, “My family disowned me because I ran off with some jerk they did not approve of. He got me into drugs and I almost lost my kids, they were right. But by the time I realized that it was too late, they disowned me. I need help please?”
“Alright,” I said and I began to scroll down my list of holy men who handled situations like the one this woman had, “Take down this number, this is someone who can help you.”
“No!” she raised her voice, “I asked you to do it! Please, I get brushed off all the time like trash. Please, I need your help.”
We all know how this story ends, of course, I get a case of having a conscience and I end up saying, ‘Yes’ and end up regretting it. When will I learn?
I arrived at the Jade Street home at ten in the morning and saw the exhausted mother with her daughter and two younger sons sitting on the front steps of their allegedly haunted house.
“Have you all eaten yet?” I couldn't help but notice the neighbors standing out on their porches or pretending to water their grass when they were actually looking at us the whole time.
“No,” the mother replied. "Fucking neighbors, they know what's going on and instead of trying to help me, they just stand there and do nothing."
I motioned toward my car and said, “Come on, breakfast is on me.”
They all piled into my SUV and we headed out to Zippy’s in Kapolei, but not without the woman flipping her lovely neighbors off first. I called ahead to the members of the Grant Society to meet us at the restaurant. My wife, Tanya, had the team meet at our house and they all came together in her Chevy Avalanche. The conversation mainly centered on the life of the family and all of the things they have been through up until they moved into their current residence. The woman’s name was Flo Texeira, her daughter was Florinda and her two younger sons were Chad and Derek. Life was definitely a struggle but all she wanted was a home for her small family and a little bit of happiness. The Jade Street house was perfect. She and her daughter, Florinda, made a sufficient amount of money to handle the rent and utilities together with just enough left over for the small comforts in life. They made it work and they were happy. As a family, they’d been through too much together and they were not going anywhere without one other. For each moment that a little piece of this family’s life became known to me, was a moment that I kept kicking my self in the ass.
Take them to breakfast, take them home and drop them off. Express your regrets at not being able to help them no matter how much they plead and beg and then leave. Let them find someone else. Don’t put the Grant Society at risk. Call off your team and go home. No harm no foul, I told myself in my head but as I reached for my cell phone to tell my team to cancel, I received a text from my wife,
“Zippy’s”
Dammit.
Wouldn’t it be just my luck as well that, the moment everyone was seated, my team, especially my wife, immediately took to the two little boys? While the Grant Society collectively ran through some basic questions with the family as they ate, I called them over to where I sat and interviewed them individually. As far as Flo and Florinda, no supernatural experiences in their life ever. Derek was the brother who was locked in the closet and he was the one I left alone and didn’t want to push any questions with. However, his brother was another story. It didn’t take any maneuvering he just came out and said it.
“The man in the closet took Derek cuz he stay mad,” Chad said.
“Why is he mad?” I asked.
“He no like us in da house,” Chad answered, “He said das his house. He like us go away before he makes us go away.”
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Moʻo” Chad replied, “He said our house stay in top his house das why.”
“Ok Chad, mahalo so much.” I smiled and went back with him and had him sit with his family.
“I need to talk with my team really quickly and we’ll be right back. Is that okay?” I asked.
“Sure,” Flo replied, “we’ll just finish up our breakfast.”
“Take your time,” I said.
With that, the Grant Society retired one booth over. Looking at Raymond I said, “Take this woman and her family home and give them Tapa Chang’s phone number and have the mother call him to bless their house. Tanya and I are going to get ready for our Waiʻanae Tour tonight.”
“We’re not going to help them then?” Raymond asked.
“No, we’re not,” I said.
“Why?” Moonie asked, “That’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s our incumbent duty, it’s the oath we took at our initiation.”
“He’s right,” Anissa inserted, “We all took that oath, we swore by it.”
“What’s wrong?” Tommy asked.
“Something happened just now when you were talking to Chad,” Tanya said “Tell us, this isn’t one of your secret society meetings, this is us, we’re here because of Glen Grant and because of his legacy and we’re not just a team but we’re like family too. Tell us.”
I suppose at that point the team could see the grave look of concern on my face and that I was genuinely worried, not only for myself but also for the family and for my friends and my wife.
“Chad said that what’s in that closet in their home is a Moʻo. That house is built over its home and it wants them out. That’s why we’re not taking this case, this is something that’s beyond any of us and I’m not putting this team at risk so we’re calling it a day.”
I was clear and stern about what I said and I meant it.
“Dude,” Raymond began, but I cut him off.
“We’re not doing it, end of discussion. Take them home and give them Tapa Chang’s phone number and that is it!” I was not backing down, but neither were they.
“You go do the tour yourself,” My wife said. “We, the team that YOU created and put together in honor of YOUR mentor, are going to help these people because that’s the oath we ALL took. We’re taking your car because it can fit all of us. You take the truck for tonight. Call us after you’re done, we’ll be at Flo’s house.”
Flo looked confused but I assured her that everything would be all right. Contrary to that, my gut told me that it wouldn’t be. I hadn’t heard from my team for the entire day and it began to worry me. Luckily my tour out to Wai’anae that night consisted of four people. It took many apologies but I was finally able to arrange for the tour to take place later that weekend. I made a beeline for Flo's house and did my best not to incur any speeding violations. What I saw when I finally arrived at the Jade Street house, made my blood run cold. It was like something out of a war zone. Flo and her family were locked in my SUV with the windows up and the vehicle running and ready to go. My team, those who were able to stand I should say, were helping to drag the others out of the house. The interior of the home was brightly lit while Moonie, Tommy, and Tanya helped carry Raymond down the stairs. He was dazed but fine, meanwhile, Anissa kept sprinkling blessed water from my Kauila wood bowl that I used for regular house blessings. Immediately, I bolted from the truck and grabbed the bowl from Aisha and poured the remaining contents of ‘apo wai on each member of my team. I shoved the bowl into Annisa’s hands and told her to get the team into the SUV and wait. In the next instant, I ran into the house and saw the closet door at the end of the hallway, it was closed. Like clockwork, it slowly swung open as if it were daring me to go in. I wasn’t stupid, I planted myself right to the spot and I waited. I knew the Mo’o was in there and that whatever it had done to my team, it did it simply for the purpose of timing the event so perfectly that when I arrived I could bear witness to what it could do. It had me right where it wanted me, so why was it waiting?
Today, as I write this portion of the story, I can say that what transpired at that moment was like a telepathic text message, the Mo’o, and its thoughts fired at me with such veracity that it made my knees buckle and gave me a very bad migraine. I was in unchartered waters and I was not prepared. The last thing I remember was seeing the darkness within the open hallway closet slowly begin to take form, it was translucent at first and then it resumed its shadowy shape. As it took form once more, its green eyes pierced through me and then they rolled over black, I felt myself losing consciousness. I was falling.
Now I was floating in the waters just off of Keawa’ula, it was midnight and the area was oddly quiet and the park itself was void of people. That’s when it happened. The ice-cold hands held my ankles firmly in its grip and yanked me down into the dark abyss, It toyed with me and let me surface long enough to catch my breath, then it would jerk me back down just under the surface of the water where it kept me for a second longer each time. I prayed for those hands to loosen their grip for just a second so that I could get away but it was no use, it had already been fifteen minutes. I was going to die.
Suddenly, it let me go.
Other hands were around my shoulders and arms pulling me up towards the surface, the cold hands gripping my ankles were gone. Once I breached the surface I took in a deep breath and when I exhaled I found myself sitting in the nearly empty parking lot of Costco in Kapolei. I was surrounded by my team while Flo and her family stood by with looks of concern.
“We got hit with the same time you did,” my wife said.
“Raymond got it worst,” Moonie confirmed.
“Man it was pissed,” Raymond was still weak. “You were right, we should have called it off.”
“I was wrong too, calling Tapa Chang would have been like passing the buck. We’re the Grant Society, we finish what we start.” I looked at everyone then and apologized. “We’re a team and we’re a family. I should have communicated more, but I shut all of you out because of my fears. You’re not kids, you’re adults and I have to stop being the overprotective father.”
“It’s not so bad to be the father figure,” my wife said as she kissed me. “Just don’t be an Ogre.”
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