“I have to confess, when the young man showed up carrying you, talking about evil spirits and the like…well, I assumed you’d all had a bit too much to drink,” the priest smiled.
All of them shared a nervous laugh at that.
“But he convinced me that maybe I should try praying for you-”
“He ripped the phone cord out of the wall, yelled at him, and then begged God,” Sam interrupted, with an evil grin. Seth shrugged sheepishly at Chloe’s glance.
“Like I said, he convinced me,” Father Andrew smiled tolerantly at Sam, “and once we began the chaplet of St. Michael, your friend Sam seemed to pass out and then to suffer something. She was flailing around and crying out, and then, she got to her feet, and began railing against me. Denouncing religion, speaking of science and the strength of the human will…still, I don’t think I was wholly convinced, and then-”
“There was wind, it seemed to come from everywhere, blowing the lamp over, books were flying off the shelves, it was unbelievable,” Seth continued, “and knocking, banging, all over the walls, and that’s when the window shattered and-”
She saw Seth and the priest look at one another. They both seemed at a loss to explain what had happened next.
“A demon,” Father Andrew at last said decisively, “The shape of a man, made up of all the shattered glass.”
Chloe and Sam gasped.
“It took a few steps towards me and then…it just fell apart…and everything became still,” Father Andrew finished.
“I was possessed? I don’t remember anything!” Sam said.
“They’re not demons,” Chloe said thoughtfully. “They’re human…or at least, they once were. That’s why…I don’t know how much good an exorcism…”
Father Andrew watched her as she struggled to explain what they had all experienced.
“The devil takes many forms. The Devil is a liar. The Devil will try to trick you, to confuse you, this much we know,” Father Andrew reminded her.
“Yeah,” Chloe said slowly. “Yeah, just give us some time to think about it all though, okay? Speaking of time…?”
She glanced around trying to find a clock.
“You have somewhere you’re supposed to be?” Seth smiled at her.
“You have a game tomorrow, and practice before, I can’t believe you stayed out as late as you did,” Chloe reminded him.
“And I’m soooo hungry,” Sam added. “Why couldn’t we have gone to school somewhere where there’s a Taco Bell?”
“It’s three in the morning,” Father Andrew informed them, checking his wristwatch.
“Yeah, it’s late. Look, we’re really sorry about all this. I’ll pay for the window and-” Chloe began.
“No, no,” Father Andrew waved her off. “Never be sorry, you came to the right place. You did the right thing in coming to the Church. In the future-”
“Noooo, no more of this in the future,” Seth said determinedly. “We’re swearing off Ouija boards and ghost stories from now on.”
Father Andrew stole a quick glance at Chloe. She was studying her fingers.
“All the same,” Father Andrew said, trying to catch her eye. “I believe it’d be best if I kept my eye on you kids.”
“We’ll talk more, another time,” Chloe said, not meeting his eye and standing up.
Seth and Sam got to their feet.
“I think we should go home though, I’m soo…soo tired,” she smiled weakly.
“I’ll go start the truck, get the heat on. Father-” Seth held out a hand, which the priest shook, “I don’t know how to thank you. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“For not knowing what to do, you did very well,” The priest congratulated him. “It’s Seth Maird, isn’t it? Our local hockey hero?”
Seth looked embarrassed and shrugged.
“I thought so. Good luck tonight.”
Seth left, and Sam held her hand out to the priest.
“Well Padre,” she grinned impishly, “It’s been…an interesting night. Let’s do it again sometime.”
“Let’s hope not,” Father Andrew smiled back.
Chloe shook his hand quietly and followed Sam towards the door.
“Just a minute, Chloe…can I talk to you?,” he called after her.
Chloe and Sam looked at each other.
“Tell him, I’ll be out in a few,” she told Sam.
Sam left. Chloe stood still, avoiding his gaze by fixing on a point beyond his head.
“What are you going to do now?” Father Andrew asked. “I don’t suppose I can convince you not to go looking for more trouble?”
“No,” she agreed passively. “I’m part of this fight. I don’t think I could avoid it if I tried, but I don’t want to avoid it now.”
“You don’t have to be part of it. It seems like it was something you stumbled upon by accident, you could try and forget about it. This seems like something better handled by people who are prepared to-”
“Does it seem that way? Like an accident? I thought you guys didn’t believe in accidents,” she remarked calmly.
“You’re barely more than a child,” he told her honestly. “There are people, within the church who are equipped to deal with the sort of-”
“Oh, I think I’m as well-equipped as anyone. My Dad was trying to tell me what I needed to know all along. I can see that now,” she said.
“Your father…?” he asked.
“He’s gone, dead. I think…I think that he was one of them, the good ones…one of Abraham’s Men. That’s where I’ll start. I’m going to have to go home. I’m going to have to talk to my mom. I think I’d rather deal with ghosts to be honest,” Chloe smiled.
“If you don’t check in with me, I’ll come looking for you,” Father Andrew warned. “And when it’s not three o’clock in the morning, we’re going to sit down and talk this all through, maybe several times.”
Chloe shook her head in agreement.
“Thank-you, Father,” she said. “I’m not a Catholic, but I think sometime I’d like to confess a few things to you.”
“I’ll be here,” he promised.
Outside, Sam jumped out of the truck and held the door open for Chloe, allowing her to slide in next to Seth. The heat blasted full force out of the vent, assaulting her face. It felt good.
The drive back to the dormitory uncomfortable. A hundred times, Chloe opened her mouth to bring IT up. The subject they were all thinking about, but she didn’t seem to know where to start., and neither, it seemed, did they.
At last they pulled into a spot in the frozen dormitory parking lot. Seth turned the car off. No one moved to get out.
And suddenly, they were all talking over one another.
“It doesn’t matter guys, I’m not upset anymore, let’s forget it ever-” Chloe began.
“It was MY fault!” Sam blurted out, “the whole fucking thing, Clo! I don’t know why I’m such a jerk. And if I hadn’t- If I hadn’t…then you wouldn’t of-”
“I failed you, I know how hard it is for you to trust, and I’m going to show you that you can. That I’m going to be there-” Seth rambled.
“You’re my best friend,” Sam said.
“And my girlfriend still, right?” Seth asked.
Chloe could feel a smile spread across her tired face, she laughed.
“I love you guys,” she said. “Now can we go in before we freeze to death?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve got half a pastie in the fridge anyways,” Sam remembered. “I’m starving, did I mention that?”
Sam was the first to open the door and jump down. Seth took the opportunity to throw an arm around her and kiss her forehead, hard.
“Stay with me tonight,” he offered.
“I was planning on it.”
They followed Sam into the dormitory, Chloe with her hand tucked under his arm. Sam unlocked the door of their room, the light was still on.
“You need to get anything?” Seth whispered.
“Gim
me a sec, I need to talk to Sam,” she answered, watching her roommate shove the desk back against the wall, and then head for the mini fridge.
Seth disappeared, leaving Sam and Chloe to themselves.
“You alright?” Chloe asked, still standing in the doorway.
“Yeah. Hungry as hell and dead tired. Being possessed really takes it out of ya I guess,” Sam shrugged. “You want some of this?”
She held up a large chunk of pastie wrapped in tin foil. Chloe shook her head, and Sam took a huge bite, before dropping it on a plate and shoving it in the microwave.
“I meant, are you alright for tonight…by yourself?” Chloe asked.
Sam watched the pastie rotating in the microwave intently, as though she hadn’t heard Chloe.
“Because I’m going to go down to Seth’s and-”
“He’s a good guy,” Sam broke in. “I know that now…no, I knew it for awhile, and I just… You know what? I was jealous. I didn’t like feeling excluded, I didn’t like being left out, and I hated feeling like a third wheel. You don’t have to ask me if it’s alright for you to leave me alone. I’m not your responsibility, I’m your friend, Clo. You go, but tomorrow, you owe me a breakfast date, alright? We’ll get up late…we’ll check out that greasy spoon off of m-15, the one Mike’s always going on about. I’ve got a craving for corned beef hash.”
“Deal,” Chloe agreed.
“You wearing that?” Sam asked, glancing up and down at Chloe’s wrinkled nightgown. It was wet around the bottom from dragging in the snow.
“I hadn’t thought about it,” Chloe shrugged.
“Well, wait a minute, I think I’ve got…” Sam ambled over to her closet and started sorting through hangers.
“Oh no Sam, seriously? I think I’m going to pass out in like three seconds anyway. You have no idea how stupid I’d feel traipsing down there in assless chaps or something after the night we’ve had!” Chloe groaned.
“Sshhhh!” Sam snapped. “Trust me! Ah-ha, I knew I brought it!”
Sam flourished a summery baby-doll nightgown, and then held it up to her neck, as though modeling it for Chloe. It was white, with thin spaghetti straps. It had a high empire waist from which curtains of gauzy material hung to just above the knees.
“It is cute,” Chloe admitted grudgingly.
“And I’ve got a set of fishnet thigh highs and a pair of hooker heels that would really set it off,” Sam added.
“Saaaaam!” Chloe groaned.
“Kidding!” she laughed.
She tossed the nightie at Chloe and went to the microwave to retrieve her pastie. Chloe changed and checked her reflection in the mirror
“Coot!” Sam enthused, with her mouth full.
“Alright, alright. Goodnight Sam,” Chloe grinned.
Sam waved her off, and flung herself down on her bed, reaching for the TV remote.
Chloe paused and listened for a moment outside of Seth’s door. Nothing. The door was unlocked. The room was empty, but the light was on in the bathroom. She heard the sound of the tap running, of him brushing his teeth.
She checked herself again in his mirror. A stark white face with huge terrified brown eyes stared back. Her hair was a matted mess. Why hadn’t she noticed it before? She yanked her fingers through the long mass a couple of times, trying to unsnarl it, and then glanced at Sam’s nightie. Too much, wasn’t it? He’d think she was trying to be seductive or something, and that would be sooo embarrassing, especially since he had had to carry her to a priest to be depossessed or whatever the term was, just hours before.
Chloe could think of only one option, jump into his bed, pull the covers up to her chin and pretend to be very sleepy. He would come out at any second, so she would have to hurry. She tiptoed quickly toward the bed, but her plan was foiled by a stray piece of padding, some part of his hockey gear. She tripped, stumbled forward, kicked over a stack of games and then, pinwheeling her arms for balance, crashed into his armchair.
“Clo?” he called from the bathroom.
Now her only option was to act nonchalant. She straightened up and tried to pull the nightgown farther down, to cover her knees, but realized that she was only exposing more cleavage. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to fix her face in a look of supreme unconcern.
Seth wandered out of the bathroom, his toothbrush still in his mouth. He stopped in the doorway. Chloe swallowed noticeably.
How did he do it? He was wearing only a pair of grey and gold BHC logo boxers. Practically naked! she thought, trying not to stare at his hard chest and well-muscled arms. Practically naked, and yet he stood there with a kind of completely relaxed, comfortable-with-myself grace that she was sure she would never be able to imitate. It had to be a guy thing.
“Wow!” he muttered looking her up and down.
Chloe swung her arms nervously and glanced at the floor.
“It was Sam’s idea because mine was all wet and I didn’t have anything else so I borrowed it from her and I wasn’t trying to be all like ‘you know’ or anything…” she mumbled, running her words together.
“Okay, lesson one, learn to accept a compliment. You look hot, Clo. And if you did want to be all ‘you know’,” he mimcked, “that’s fine by me!”
Chloe’s face burned. Seth frowned.
“And it’s also fine if you don’t,” he added, more seriously.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” he stepped back into the bathroom and spat in the sink. She heard the water running again. “Look Clo,” he called from inside the bathroom. “You take as long as you want to figure that out. I’m not going anywhere. Well…okay, not as long as you want, because some day I‘d like to have grandkids, but, you know..”
She waited for him to finish. He snapped the bathroom light off and came back into the room.
“Sam told me that it was pretty much all guys ever thought about,” Chloe said quickly, her face flushed again in embarrassment.
“Sex?” Seth clarified, smiling down at her.
Chloe nodded, examining her fingernails.
“Well, it’s definitely one thing we spend a lot of time thinking about,” he admitted, still grinning, “but not the only thing.”
“What else?” she asked.
“Hockey,” Seth said solemnly.
Even Chloe, nervous as she was, couldn’t help but laugh. He brushed past her, picked up a clock next to his bed,, and set the alarm.
“Hit the light, Clo,” he ordered, setting the clock down and lifting the comforter on his bed.
She did as she was told, and a second after flicking the light off, she heard his mattress creak as he got into bed. She crossed the room, and found that he was holding the sheets up for her to crawl in.
The bed felt like ice compared to his skin. Chloe snuggled against his side, tucking her cold toes beneath his warm leg. He wrapped an arm around her, and drew her closer still, her head rested on his arm.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love hearing that,” he whispered back.
“I love you,” she said again.
“And I love you,” he answered, pressing his lips against her forehead.
“I kind of expect Sam to come busting in and demand that we do shots with her right now,” Chloe admitted, still whispering.
He chuckled deep in his throat, she could feel it where she lay against his chest.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked, still in a quiet voice that suggested they might be overheard.
“You’re going to have to put up with me,” she answered. “for a long time, because I’m not going anywhere, either. You’re going to have an awful time getting rid of me. I’ll end up being the crazy ex-girlfriend that calls and hangs up on you twenty times a day and sends you a pig’s heart with a dozen roses every Valentine’s day.”
He laughed quietly again.
“Are you pretty tired?” he asked.
“I should be, I know I should…and you should be too. You should,
you have a game tomorrow,” she paused for a moment, and then pressed her face against his side. “but I’m not for some reason. I keep feeling like I’m going to wake up any second, and be in my room again with Sam snoring in the next bed. I don’t want to wake up! Oh Seth, I don’t know if I feel awful or if I feel good!” she admitted.
“Why would you feel awful?” he asked.
“Because you’re so…you’re so perfect! You’re so wonderful and amazing, and I’m so…I’m such a mess! Look at all the trouble I caused tonight! You should have some perfect, normal girlfriend…you should have a perfect normal life. Instead, you’re dragging me to a priest in the middle of the night. You’re dating someone that used to live in a bonafied nuthouse!” she whispered quickly.
“Normal is overrated,” he said. “And besides…my Mom likes you.”
“Your Mom likes everybody!” she retorted.
“My mom tries to like everybody,” he corrected her. “It doesn’t always work. You should have seen it when I brought my last girlfriend I brought home. Carrie made the mistake of telling my mom that she was a vegetarian, and wouldn’t even try the all- vegetable pastie, my Mom made for her, because of the lard in the crust. You’ve never seen such passive-aggressive niceness!”
Chloe giggled, but the name stuck in her head. Carrie, Carrie was an ex-girlfriend. She assumed, for some reason, that it was the one who had slept with the professor.
“Clo, if you’re not too tired, I want to tell you something,” he changed the subject.
“Not too tired, go ahead and tell,” she said.
“I’ve got a plan.”
“What kind of a plan?”
“About us. I was thinking…we’ll probably lose the money we paid for housing this semester, but we can get an apartment. Somewhere on campus. They usually do twelve month leases. Mike’s got a whole house off of Main Street that he rents with another guy and they only pay five hundred a month. We can do that, live there this summer. I’ll find work somewhere around town, and we don’t have to stay here, in this dorm any longer. We can be out by next week!” he said.
“Seth, you’re not going to be here this summer, what about study abroad?” she reminded him.
“Not important,” he answered quickly. “There’ll be lots of time to-”
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