The Soul Healer

by B. Groves

  Journal Entry May 7, Mid-2000s

  I’m on my computer speaking to people like me and I want to cry. There are days when I felt so alone and so hopeless. I kept my secret for so long before I met Ben and Mandy. They guided me to this secret network of hunters. Well… some called themselves hunters others called themselves seers or psychics. It didn’t matter though; we are all on this road together.

  They are from every walk of life. The stock broker in New York City who saw the shadows for the first time when the towers fell on 9/11. The farmer in South Africa who had an accident on his tractor in the 80s and saw his first shadow when he recovered and went shopping with his wife.

  Then there was the stunning model in Japan named Ryoko who was hit by a car and lost her left leg under the knee. She didn’t experience her first shadow until the year before when she tried to commit suicide from her career being over. She said hunting gave her a new purpose in life although she misses her old one.

  So many others trying to make heads or tails of the gift—or curse—that was bestowed upon them.

  Not all of us were awakened by some kind of accident. Some were able to see from the day they were born. Many not understanding their power until much later in life, like the sweet grandmother from Bosnia who always tells me I don’t eat enough. “You have to keep your strength,” she says in broken English.

  Then there is Brady. Brady and I chat privately all the time. He lives in Alabama. He was also in a car accident when he was awakened. I think I may have found a kindred spirit in Brady and he’s kind of cute too.

  Brady says he would help me become a hunter. I don’t know if I want to do that. All I wanted was to understand why I’m seeing these things.

  He tells me regardless I need to learn to protect myself. A demon will try to kill me if they are threatened by me.

  That’s fucking scary. I didn’t know they would attack me. I’ve seen them and so far, none have tried, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to know self-defense.

  Brady and I set up a date and time to meet each other in person. We’ve talked for hours and hours and I feel like I already know him.

  I can’t wait to meet him. I can’t wait to learn more about this life but I wonder what I’m getting myself into.

  Chapter 7

  “In the name of Jesus Christ, I order you to leave this little girl!” Kyle yelled, shoving a cross into the Olivia’s face.

  This wasn’t Olivia. This was an evil entity who had consumed her body and was fighting them with every ounce of its strength.

  The entity laughed at Kyle in a grown man’s voice and hurling expletives at him every chance it had.

  Kyle stepped back while the child crawled around the bed, contorting its body into positions that were unnatural and could damage the young girl.

  “What’s the matter, Reverend? Giving up so soon?”

  This was Kyle’s last chance to prove he could save this little girl. Miguel was threatening to drive her to Chicago. He found a priest willing to help if Kyle failed.

  Kyle couldn’t blame the man. He had nothing left to lose. He had a dead wife and a sick child. He was losing his family right before his eyes and Kyle was no help.

  His eyes met Miguel’s. He knew if Miguel transported her to Chicago then she might die or kill him.

  Kyle had been the only man willing to help Miguel, but he was failing him and he didn’t know what else to do.

  “Reverend? Reverend?” The entity taunted. “Didn’t your wife leave you for another man? Man, that sucks. She was fucking him right under your nose, giving him blow jobs… meeting him in hotel rooms—”

  The entity laughed and continued to crawl around the bed. Olivia’s body couldn’t do much else since they had her in handcuffs and chains for the last three weeks.

  Kyle felt so dirty doing this, but they had no other choice. If anyone discovered Olivia in this state, then—

  Kyle grabbed his bottle of water and took a sip trying to gather his mental and physical strength for his next round with the demon.

  If only he had help. Kyle slammed his water bottle on the table. He’d been searching for help for weeks, and even visited Alison Stark, a hunter.

  He cursed that selfish bitch to high heaven. She wanted to sic her dog on him. He knew it was wrong to drive all the way to Charlotte to seek her out, but he wanted to save this little girl.

  Bitch, he called her silently. He shouldn’t have gone there. She’d already told him no and he should have left it at that and sought a new avenue.

  He remembered when she opened the door. The color of her eyes had stunned him. They were the color of Emma’s fancy lawn after a fresh mowing. They were mesmerizing and pierced right through you like a knife.

  He’d never seen eyes like hers before. At least, not in anyone else he’d come across over the years.

  When he first emailed Alison, he didn’t know what he was in for. He pictured her as a rough woman with skin like leather and straggly hair. Hell, he didn’t know what he was getting when he thought of hunters.

  Not Alison. Her beige skin was smooth and flawless, except for a few laugh lines around her eyes. She had been working out when Kyle knocked on her door and that beautiful skin had a layer of sweat that glistened in the light.

  She wasn’t tall, but her arms had enough muscle tone to show physical strength.

  Her honey-colored hair was pulled back showing off a strong square jaw, but one thing caught Kyle’s eye when she turned her head.

  It was a big scar. The scar snaked around from the back of her ear and ended halfway across her cheek. The scar wasn’t old either, perhaps a few years. He also noticed she was missing a piece of her earlobe on her right ear where the scar ended.

  Kyle cringed thinking about what caused that scar.

  Kyle sighed and thought about the dog. When she opened the door to show the German Shepherd, he knew the conversation was over at that point.

  Kyle didn’t feel too threatened by him until he growled, otherwise, Kyle caught him wagging his tail in curiosity. That dog knew when to spot evil and when to warn his owner of danger.

  Alison Stark hadn’t been what he expected. She looked like she belonged on a cheerleading squad and dating a quarterback.

  Kyle shook his head. He was too busy to think anything more about Alison Stark. The woman turned him down and that was that.

  He turned and wiped the sweat from his brow although this basement was ten degrees cooler than outside. He then picked up the cross and opened his Bible. Seminary school never taught him that one day he would fight demons. They never prepared ministers for battles against dark entities. He only found out how to fight them when a Catholic priest in Philadelphia known for being an exorcist taught him the reader's digest version through a series of emails. The old priest was too sick to come down there himself, but he was the one who introduced him to the couple that hunted and they recommended Alison.

  Olivia was licking something off her fingers when Kyle got ready. She hissed and growled at Miguel, who looked ready to break down into tears.

  “What’s the matter, Daddy?” Olivia asked. “Are you thinking about Mommy and how I slit her throat to the bone?” Olivia fell over on the bed in a fit of wheezing laughter.

  Miguel turned away and retreated into the corner with his fists clenched while mumbling in Spanish. His eyes met Kyle’s and pleaded for a resolution.

  Kyle placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. There was no resolution. Olivia had been in his basement for over a week and there were still no signs of the entity leaving her body.

  Kyle walked closer to Olivia and once again held up the cross. She giggled and said, “That thing doesn’t work, Reverend. When will you give up?”

  Olivia growled at Kyle as he ignored her insults and recited verses from the Bible.

  He kept saying them until his voice grew hoarse. Every time Olivia would try to lunge at him he would hold out the cross. He threw some drops of holy water on her. Her skin made
a hissing sound and she would wail from the burning sensation, but that only lasted seconds before she mocked his style with more curse words.

  Her eyes had gone from a beautiful hazel color into a sickening black color. She sneered and opened her mouth showing him her blackened tongue.

  “Do you like little girls, Reverend?” She asked. “I know most of you like little children. Boys or girls, it doesn’t matter. This body is ripe for the picking, Reverend.”

  Kyle inhaled deeply and pushed his glasses up on his nose, disgusted by the demon’s offer.

  He heard Miguel utter more words and try to talk to his daughter in a soothing voice Olivia only spewed vitriol and hatred.

  Kyle didn’t know how much more he could do for the day. This situation exhausted him. His strength was waning and the insults were grating on his nerves. There were moments he wanted to reach out and punch the living daylights out of her, especially when she again mentioned Becky cheating on him.

  The situation escalated. Kyle shouted the words from the Bible, but it was to no avail. The little girl laughed, sneered, growled, and kicked the bed. Her face contorting into odd expressions. Saliva dripped from her dry lips and her eyes turned darker with each passing moment.

  Kyle stopped and lowered the cross. He yelled out in frustration much to the entity’s amusement.

  “Give up yet?” Olivia asked.

  Kyle sucked in a deep breath and said, “Fuck you.”

  He was about to raise the cross again when someone banged on his front door upstairs.

  Kyle and Miguel’s eyes met in shock.

  “We have company,” Olivia laughed. “Make sure you tell them you have a little girl tied up in your basement, Reverend.”

  Olivia lost herself in a fit of giggles while Kyle looked around not knowing if he should answer the door or not.

  “What do we do?” Miguel asked.

  Kyle walked over to a table and checked the time on his cell phone. It was half-past six o’clock. He wasn’t expecting any visitors. He made sure Miranda cleared his schedule for counseling and said he wasn’t feeling well.

  Who was at the door?

  The door banged again.

  Kyle put down the cross and the Bible. He handed the holy water to Miguel and said, “I’ll go answer it, but you have to keep her quiet.”

  Olivia laughed lowly, but then she looked towards the ceiling and her emotions changed.

  A small gasp escaped her lips and she turned back looking extremely worried.

  Kyle didn’t know what that was about. Who could be at the door?

  “Keep her quiet,” Kyle ordered.

  Olivia yelled as Kyle cleaned up and walked up the stairs. He stood at the landing of his basement and was satisfied that Miguel was trying to keep his daughter calm while he answered the front door.

  Kyle sighed and closed the basement door behind him, praying that Olivia didn’t scream or yell for help.

  If someone caught him… It wouldn’t look good on him, Miguel or the church. Markus was already lying through his teeth to cover this up.

  Kyle walked into the living room when the person knocked again.

  “I’m coming,” Kyle yelled out, not hiding his annoyance.

  Kyle approached the front door and pulled back the curtain. He stopped when he spotted Alison Stark waiting for him to answer.

  “Hi, Reverend,” she said through the glass.

  Kyle doubted God’s existence for a long time. Years, really.

  His congregation was thinning out as the younger generations were moving away from Wolfpine searching for better lives in the bigger cities. They rejected the word of God and Kyle was becoming like them.

  He questioned why God would make so much pain and suffering in the world. He questioned his faith after Becky told him in no uncertain terms that this was not the simple life she dreamed of. Her definition of a simple life was not living in a small town, but being waited on in cafes in New York City or having her nails done on Saturday mornings before hitting the nightlife. She thought Kyle would become a minister in one of those mega-churches and they would be rich beyond their wildest dreams and he would pamper her.

  It didn’t work that way.

  Relief washed over him seeing Alison Stark at his door. He looked down and saw the dog peering up at him out of curiosity.

  Whatever. She was here and maybe this nightmare would end.

  Kyle opened the door and said, “You changed your mind.”

  Alison shrugged. “You can thank Simon for changing my mind.” She looked down at her dog and smiled.

  “Smart dog.”

  “Yes, he is.”

  Kyle stepped back to allow Alison and her dog to enter the house.

  “Where is she?” Alison asked stepping through the threshold.

  Kyle was about to answer when the house shook around them.

  Alison looked around and nodded.

  “How long has it possessed her?” She asked.

  “Three weeks, her father thinks,” Kyle answered.

  The house shook again with the sound of muted screaming.

  “We need to move,” Alison said.

  Kyle nodded and waited for Alison to step back outside and pick up a bag she’d dropped onto his porch. Simon’s ears perked and his body language told Kyle he was sensing the unnatural presence inside the house.

  “Follow my instructions. Don’t get in my way,” Alison ordered as Kyle led her and Simon through the house and opened the door to the basement.

  Kyle wanted to gag from the scent that wafted up from below the house. It smelled like he’d been storing a dead body in there. He prayed this nightmare would end soon.

  Alison never flinched from the odor as they walked down the stairs.

  Simon padded down the steps behind them and Kyle asked, “What about your dog?”

  “What about him?”

  “Won’t he—“

  “No,” Alison answered. “Don’t worry about him.”

  They entered the basement, and Alison turned her head in every direction.

  “Is there another door to the outside?” She asked.

  Kyle pointed to the double doors and said, “Over there.”

  Alison nodded and put her bag down. She spotted Miguel hovering over his daughter who was currently trying to pull her own nails out with her teeth.

  Olivia’s black eyes turned from her self-mutilation and settled on Alison who returned her stare.

  Simon was whining and circling Alison, barking at Olivia.

  Olivia wheezed with laughter and said, “I know who you are.”

  Alison’s eyebrows rose. “Do you?”

  The child tilted her head and grinned. “Alison Stark. Cowardly hunter.”

  Olivia collapsed into a fit of giggles.

  Miguel turned away from his daughter and approached Alison. “Are you going to help my daughter?”

  “Who are you?” Alison asked.

  “Her father.”

  “Name?”

  “Miguel and that’s Olivia,” Miguel answered.

  Alison walked over and placed her bag against the concrete wall. She turned back to Miguel and said, “How long has this been going on?”

  “Three weeks.”

  “When did you notice?”

  Miguel looked at Kyle for reassurance. All Kyle could do was nod for him to continue. These hunters were pros from what he read.

  “She said she wasn’t feeling well about a month ago. She had a fever and was nauseous,” Miguel explained. “We thought it was the flu. I was getting ready for work and my wife woke her up for breakfast…”

  Miguel’s eyes filled with tears as he explained. “My wife screamed.” Miguel was shaking as he talked. He ran a hand through his hair. “I heard banging coming from the bedroom. I ran in there to find her standing over my wife with broken glass and blood covering it.”

  Miguel closed his eyes and clenched his fists. “She slit my wife’s throat. I… I couldn’t save her. Olivi
a was standing there, staring at her dying mother.” He turned his gaze back to Olivia who grinned. “Her eyes turned black like they are now. She…”

  Alison held a hand up. “I understand. Her soul isn’t integrated with the demon yet that’s why she is the way she is now.”

  Alison held out the leash for Simon to Miguel. “Hold this.”

  Miguel turned to Kyle in question and Kyle shrugged, not knowing what to say.