[ TT ] All your friends and family are slowly changing . They do n't notice the difference , but you certainly do ...

My family was as normal as they come. Not normal in the TV Land model family way. Normal in that we had our fights, our crises. Just last week Mom argued with dad all night over money issues after he bought a new shirt without consulting him. 
 But we loved each other. 
 
 At least until last week that is. It started slow at first. 
 
 `` Pass the sugar, pansy. ``, my little sister said with a angry tone pointing at the jar in the middle of the table during breakfast. 
 
 I looked at her in shock, and then at mom who was sitting eating oblivious to what just happened. 
 
 `` Are you going to let her get away with that?'' I asked Mom. 
 
 `` Get away with what? She just asked for the sugar.'' she answered back. 
 
 As I passed the sugar, I gave a good look at my sister. Any animosity was gone now, and she was her sweet innocent self again. 
 
 I do n't know why, but the whole situation creeped me out. My sister always looked up to me and would never do anything like this. A feeling of dread and panic stayed with me for hours afterwards. 
 
 It only got worse from there. The next day whenever Mom had her back to me, I could hear her mumble a few words, always stopping when she was facing me. I never heard a full sentence, but words like `` brat'', `` little shit'' I could catch, and sometimes worse than that. The feeling of dread and panic returned. After I could n't stand it anymore I asked my Dad why she was talking to herself. 
 
 `` I do n't hear anything, son.'' he answered shortly, while reading his newspaper. 
 
 But the next day I noticed that the paper was n't the same as his normal subscription. This paper seemed to have a red tenge to it, or certain words seemed to be toned a bit red. I could n't tell which. I looked closer, but it was hard to read the words and the sentences seemed to jumble together and speak nonsense. 
 
 This newspaper had weird articles about murders judging from the pictures. Always the most graphic pictures, that would never be seen in a respectable daily newspaper. 
 
 Dad, normally a pretty boring unemotive guy, sat there reading the stories with a goofy grin. It even looked diabolical. 
 
 Later at church, the sermon was over Satan, and how he had already corrupted everyone. No man was sinless and therefore everyone had a bit of Satan within them. The message was that God was needed to save us from this fate. 
 
 My family's odd behavior continued even here, all three of them squirmed incessantly during the sermon, with an obvious look of discomfort on their faces. I had a sudden wave of fear, and ca n't explain why. After telling myself it was nothing I was able to begin to listen to the boring sermon again. 
 
 That night I had a dream. The pastor spoke to me in the voice I heard at the sermon, reminding me that all men, no matter how nice of people they could be, could be enslaved by Satan. The dream turned dark and he said as God's children we needed to root out Satan where ever he existed, and handed me a knife. The look on his face was one of glee, which given his talk and tone scared the shit out of me and I woke up. 
 
 I woke up in the dark, it must have been about 3 in the morning. The pastor's voice still rang out in my head, almost like he was in the room with me. You had to combat the demon, or he would surely would steal you and your soul for eternal torment. 
 
 I went down for the kitchen for a glass of water. Instead my hands moved on their own to open the knife drawer, as I could almost hear the pastor laugh and speak some encouragement.
