Hell

by Tom Lewis

  Sean jerked as the car door slammed, and he realized that was the moment when a life had ended. He felt nauseous — not only at Switzer’s death, but at his own voyeurism in listening to that death play out on tape.

  He reached over to turn off the recorder when he caught a new sound that was barely perceptible above the rain. It was a cacophony of whispers.

  He pressed the rewind button, then played that part again. He leaned in closer, focused only on those sounds. He was certain they were voices, yet there was nothing human in their sound...

  Sean suddenly startled back and quickly pressed the stop button. There had been a message spoken in that eerie array of sounds, and Sean instinctively understood it was meant for him —

  “Here you die, priest.”

  ****

  “... And now my last hope is that Father is able to free you of this spirit. Please know that I tried, Cassie.”

  Sean clicked off the tape. He, Justin, Alison, and Cassie were in her room at Hillview. Sean had called Alison right after hearing the tape, and they had driven up to Hillview with Justin to see Cassie.

  On the drive up, Sean briefed Justin and Alison on Jenkins’ death and what the police had told him about Switzer’s death. The hospital had already called Alison earlier that morning to inform her of Switzer’s death, and that Cassie would be assigned a new doctor. But they had left out the gruesome details of Switzer’s death.

  Taken alone, Switzer’s death was bizarre and macabre, but when combined with what she now knew about Jenkins’ grisly death, it sent a wave of fear through her.

  “What did he mean, about hoping Father could free her from the spirit?” Alison asked.

  “Are you familiar with the term ‘demonic possession’?” Sean asked her.

  “Only from the movies.”

  “It’s when a demon inhabits a person and takes possession of their faculties of thought, and mind, and even control.”

  “And that’s what he thinks is happening to Cassie?”

  “That’s what it sounds like from the tape. And it’s what Father Jenkins believed.”

  “Do you believe it?”

  Sean took a breath. “I didn’t at first, and Justin can vouch for that, but I do now.”

  “What changed your mind?” Justin asked.

  “Things I’ve seen over the past couple weeks that there’s no other way to explain. At least no way that wouldn’t sound like a lie.”

  “So what do we do?” Alison asked. “Doctor Switzer said something about freeing her from this spirit.”

  “The Church has a ritual called Exorcism, and I think that’s what we’ll need to do.”

  “How soon can you do it?”

  Sean shook his head. “I don’t know. First I need to get approval from the bishop. I have a meeting with him this week to discuss her case.”

  “And you could do it after that?”

  “It wouldn’t be me doing it. They would bring in a priest who has experience with it.”

  “What if the bishop doesn’t approve it?” Cassie asked.

  Sean shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess you would continue with your medical treatment.”

  “But it’s not working,” Cassie protested. “And it won’t work. You saw my files; there’s nothing medically wrong with me.”

  “Cassie...” Alison attempted to calm her.

  “No,” Cassie said, and panic filled her voice. “You can’t let that happen. Please, promise me you won’t let that happen.”

  “I’ll do everything I can, Cassie,” Sean said. “I promise.”

  “But you need to make him believe. I’m serious. You saw what this thing does to me. And it keeps getting worse, and I’m getting weaker.”

  “I know, Cassie. I saw it. It’s one of the reasons I believe now. But it requires the Church’s sanction.”

  “But you’re a priest. Aren’t you supposed to be able to do this?”

  “It still requires the Church.”

  Cassie’s head sank. She took a deep breath then blurted out: “I was in hell.”

  Everyone stopped and turned to her.

  “The whole time I was dead, I was in hell.”

  “You mean the actual place, hell?” Justin asked.

  Cassie nodded. “Yeah.”

  “You never mentioned this before,” Alison said.

  “That’s because I didn’t want to admit it out loud, ’cause it scares the crap out of me. But you remember the first time you brought me here, and we were driving home, and you asked me if I wanted to kill myself?”

  Alison nodded. “Yeah. And you said ‘no.’”

  “I said no, because what’s waiting for me after death is way scarier than life. This is what I was talking about.”

  Alison sank back in her chair.

  Cassie turned to Justin. “You know those nightmares I told you about, where there’s that big place in the clearing?”

  Justin nodded. “Yeah. The big manor.”

  “That’s what that place symbolizes. It symbolizes hell. And it keeps trying to pull me back into it.”

  She turned to Sean, who had leaned forward in his chair while listening. “Please don’t let it get me again.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  The Bishop

  The diocesan offices for the Catholic diocese of Capetown were in a historic Colonial building just across the sound from the peninsula. It was there, on the second floor, that Bishop Monroe’s office was located.

  Like Father Jenkins, Monroe was of an older generation of Catholics that grew up in the days that predated the Church’s reforms in Vatican II. He and Jenkins had been close friends, although Jenkins often chided him over what he saw as Monroe’s caving in to the more extreme reforms. Monroe, he felt, had bent to the changing times much more easily than Jenkins would have liked. Although he was reluctant to admit it, Monroe didn’t entirely disagree with Jenkins on this. It was part of the game of diplomacy Monroe had found himself in after his appointment to bishop. He was now part of a massive bureaucracy, with many factions to contend with, and Church politics was as much a part of his daily regimen as was the faith; and particularly so, in the wake of the horrific scandals that had recently rocked the Church.

  Monroe had been crushed when he learned of his old friend’s death, and had presided over Jenkins’ funeral earlier that week. As part of his eulogy, he noted the passing of an era with Jenkins’ death.

  What had particularly horrified him, as much as the death itself, was the apparently ritualistic manner in which he was killed and the interior of his church desecrated. He had asked the police to keep him updated and readily offered the diocese’s full support in their investigation. But so far they had turned up no leads.

  Monroe had met Father Sean on two occasions — the first had been Sean’s ordination and the second at a dinner Jenkins had invited him to at the parish’s rectory. Sean had phoned Monroe’s office the day after Jenkins’ death to schedule a meeting regarding a student of his named Cassie Stevens. By all indications, there was a strong likelihood that Cassie was the target of demonic activity, and this was a belief that had been shared by Jenkins, as well as her physician. Sean also felt there was a connection between the paranormal activity surrounding Cassie, and Jenkins’ bizarre death.

  In his forty-three years as a priest, and then a bishop, Monroe had never encountered what was determined to be a credible case of demonic possession. He knew, however, that Jenkins had; and it had come with particular alarm when he had received a letter from Jenkins two weeks earlier, in which Jenkins expressed concern that a student at his school was likely under demonic attack. Something like this would obviously bring outside scrutiny down on the Church, so he cautioned Jenkins to be absolutely certain before they moved forward. Jenkins had responded in characteristic fashion, reminding his ever-political friend that the Church’s function was to be a guardian against evil; and damn the politics if they didn’t serve that function.

  Monroe deeply miss
ed his dear friend, and it was partially out of respect for him that Monroe had cleared his calendar to meet with Sean as soon as possible. Sean had arranged to have Cassie’s medical records from Hillview messengered over several days earlier so that Monroe and his staff would have time to review them before their meeting that day.

  Sean brought Switzer’s tape with him to the meeting and had played it in its entirety for Monroe, beginning with the notes Switzer had made to himself while reading Jenkins’ book, and continuing through the ominous warning that came at the very end.

  Sean pressed the stop button. He looked up at Monroe, who was seated behind his desk in the stately office. Monroe looked ill.

  “That voice at the end...?” Monroe asked.

  Sean knew what he meant; he had also asked the same question of the police. “There was no one else in the car with him.”

  Monroe gave an uneasy nod and sat back in his chair. The sound of that voice was something he would never be able to erase from his mind.

  “In the first part of the tape,” Sean began, “you hear him leaving notes to himself to research footnotes. Those are in reference to a book on demonic possession Jenkins gave him a week earlier when they first met.”

  “How did that initial meeting go?” Monroe asked.

  Sean almost chuckled. “Father indicated it went bad. Apparently Dr. Switzer was completely closed off to any possibility of supernatural causes.”

  “He seems to have had a change of heart.”

  Sean nodded. “He definitely did. I spoke with Cassie about it, and apparently the change began after one of her therapy sessions. One of the recurring visions Cassie’s been experiencing is of a young girl, Katie Dunne, who was killed in the crash the night of Cassie’s near-death experience. During this particular therapy session, her doctor had her under hypnosis, and when she came out of it, she had a flower that Katie had given her.”

  “And it hadn’t been there before?”

  Sean shook his head and motioned to Cassie’s medical file on Monroe’s desk. “No, Your Reverence. You’ll see that her doctor even made a note of that in Cassie’s medical records.”

  “I saw the comment but wasn’t clear on what he meant. How long was this before his death?”

  “He died the next day. The last person to see him that night was the hospital’s technician, who reviewed Cassie’s MRI results with him. Those should also be in her file.”

  Monroe nodded. “They are.”

  “And I’m told they’re free of abnormalities,” Sean said.

  “Our medical team wasn’t able to find any.”

  Sean nodded. He was confident that would be the case.

  “I understand you had your own change of heart on the matter,” Monroe said. “Was it anything in particular?”

  “It was several things. One of them was during the convulsion she had outside the church. There was this brief moment when it seemed like a veil pulled back from behind her eyes, and she had this terror in them that I can’t even begin to describe.”

  Sean glanced at his arms, where the hairs had risen on them. He held his arm up for Monroe to see. “This should give you an idea of the fear I felt when I saw that look.”

  Monroe took note of this as he sat back in his chair and appeared to think about it for a moment. “You understand that if we were to proceed with an Exorcism, it wouldn’t be you performing it.”

  “I didn’t expect to, Your Reverence. But I would like to assist, if that’s okay.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Do you know who’ll be performing it?”

  “I was referred to a priest in Kenya who’s performed several Exorcisms. I spoke with him last night, and he would be available next week, should we decide to proceed with this.”

  “Is there a reason why we wouldn’t proceed?” Sean asked.

  “Just precautions,” Monroe replied. “We need to be certain that we’ve exhausted all medical causes, and I’m not sure we have yet.”

  “But that could take weeks. Or even months. With all respect, Your Reverence, I know this girl, and she doesn’t have weeks. She has maybe days.”

  “My concern, Father, is that we might do more harm than good.”

  “That’s not possible. I can tell you that right now. She will die without an Exorcism. And everyone will know it’s because the Church failed to take action.”

  Monroe sat back again and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He saw more of Jenkins in Sean than Sean probably realized. And as had happened so many times when he had butted heads with his old friend, he felt a headache coming on.

  “Are you prepared to take responsibility if anything goes wrong?” Monroe finally asked.

  “Absolutely, Your Reverence. I take full responsibility.”

  Monroe considered this a moment longer and finally nodded. “Very well, then. I’ll arrange for Father Enrico’s flight from Kenya for early next week. But before you assist in the Exorcism, there’s two things I need you to read.”

  Monroe rose from his desk and walked over to a bookcase across the room. He searched through the volumes till he found the two books he was looking for. He returned with them to his desk, where he handed them to Sean.

  “The first book is The Rite of Exorcism, which is the ritual you’ll be using. The other book is a diary kept by a young Exorcist who was about your age. It chronicles the devastation that an Exorcism inflicts on the priests themselves.” He took a moment to look Sean in the eye and make sure he understood. “You need to be prepared for this, Father. Because what you’re about to encounter will likely plague you for the rest of your life.”

  ****

  Rain beat down on the parking lot as Sean stepped from the diocesan building. The storm had rolled in during their meeting, and from the look of the dark clouds overhead, it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. He looked across the parking lot to his car on the far side. He had no choice but to make a dash for it.

  Sean was drenched by the time he reached his car and climbed in. Thankfully, he had left his cell phone in the car and not in his pocket. The two books the bishop had given him weren’t so lucky but had remained relatively dry beneath his shirt where he had tucked them.

  Sean had three calls to make. The first was to Alison, and it went to her voice mail. He left a message for her to call him back and that the Exorcism had been sanctioned. It would happen sometime next week when the priest from Kenya arrived.

  The next call was to Cassie, and it also went to her voice mail. He had seen her cell phone in her room at Hillview, so he knew sooner or later she would get the message. He again left the news that the Exorcism had been approved.

  His third call was to Justin, who answered on the third ring.

  “Justin. It’s Father Sean. We have a green light for the Exorcism.”

  “When will it be?”

  “Sometime next week. They’re bringing in a priest from Kenya to handle it. I’ll be assisting him and wanted to see if you’d be willing to assist us.”

  “Yeah. Definitely. I’m in.”

  “Good. You and I should meet to go over these books the bishop gave me.” Sean slipped the books from his shirt and looked at them. “One is the actual ritual itself on the rite of Exorcism. The other is a diary an Exorcist kept. It might be good for you to read both of them.”

  “Okay. Want me to come by the rectory and pick them up?”

  “Why don’t we do it tomorrow. I’m on the mainland, and with traffic and the rain, it could take me a while to get back.”

  “Have you told Cassie yet?”

  “It went to her voice mail, so I left her a message. Alison’s also went to voice mail. Have you spoken to either of them?”

  “Not today. Alison’s at work, so hers would be off. But I’ve left Cassie several messages and haven’t heard back.”

  “Let me know if you do —”

  Sean suddenly froze. He had seen something in the rearview mirror. It had been so subtle, that he hadn�
�t noticed it till it shifted. He spun around to look in the backseat, but it was completely empty. Then he saw the words, written into the condensation on the inside of the rear window: “you die priest.”

  “Father? You still there?” Justin’s voice came over the phone.

  Sean picked it back up. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m here.” He paused a moment to glance again at the rear window. The words were still there but had begun to blur with fresh condensation.

  “Be careful, Justin,” Sean said. “They just gave me a warning.”

  ****

  Sean arrived home to the rectory several hours later, and the storm continued to rage on. It normally would have been an hour at most, but the drive had taken him down slick muddy roads and through several detours where the roads had washed out.

  The rectory was dark as he stepped in from the rain. He flipped on the lights and looked around the living room. He was feeling its emptiness with Jenkins gone. Just this vast hollow shell that felt eerily silent and still.

  And all the more so because he knew They were watching.

  With that disturbing thought in mind, he considered for a moment heading down to one of the pubs or coffee shops at the wharf where there would be people around. But a look back out the door at the rain and he shook off that idea.

  He closed the door and headed into the kitchen, where he fixed himself a cup of coffee. He hoped to get some reading done that night before going to bed. He took his coffee with him upstairs to his bedroom, turning on all the lights as he went. It would be the first time since he was a kid that he slept with all the lights on.

  Sean sat down at his desk and slid the books from beneath his drenched shirt. It hadn’t worked as well this time to keep them dry, so he fanned them for a moment to air them out.

  The first book he read was The Rite of Exorcism, so he could familiarize himself with the ritual. He was surprised to find it rather short. It consisted of prayers to be recited and presented some guidelines for the Exorcist to follow, but for the most part, the procedure relied a great deal on the instincts of the Exorcist himself. He needed to know when to push, when to probe, when to back off, and what cautions to take — all things that came only with experience. Sean was grateful the diocese was bringing in someone with experience to handle it. All Sean needed to do was follow his lead.