by Candis Vargo
He decided was time for him to talk to someone, he just didn’t know who. He’s heard of people contacting mediums before, but they just pulled shit out of their ass. People like that weren’t real. He rattled his brain, trying to think of who he could possibly turn to and decided that person would be Kris.
Mike figured he could just turn things around and say Mia experienced everything, leaving his experience out of it. The last thing he needed was for someone to suggest he see a psychiatrist for himself. At least with Mia, people already knew she was crazy for thinking Eli was still alive.
Mike told Mia to call her mother to come and get her...that it would be safer for her to be out of the house. He walked outside to call Kris while Mia used the house phone to call her mother. Kris answered her phone on the second ring and Mike thanked his lucky stars.
He explained to her that he desperately needed to talk, to get some help. Once he said that things had escalated a little bit with Mia, Kris agreed to meet at the coffee shop in a half hour.
Mike had Mia wait outside for her mother. He told her he was going to see someone for help, telling her not to go back in that house without him and left immediately. Mike jumped in his car and drove down to the coffee shop and parked directly in front of it. He ordered his black coffee when he walked in, hoping that holding something in his hands would calm his nerves.
Mike went over to his usual table and sat down, constantly peering over his shoulders. Even with both of his hands were wrapped around the cup, he didn’t drink from it. He just sat there, looking at it as his legs nervously shook up and down and his fingertips tapped on the Styrofoam cup.
“Hope you don’t mind,” she said as she sat down. “My nights usually consist of sweatpants and ice cream, and I didn’t feel like changing.”
He didn’t even notice her walk in. Hell he didn’t even hear the bell on the door ring. “No. It’s fine,” he said.
Kris listened intently as he replayed the events of everything that has been happening to Kris, leaving out any parts of alcohol or anything that could make her suspicious of him seeing the thing too. Instead of sounding like he was scared of the darkness, he instead made it seem like he was scared for Mia, which wasn’t all a lie. He was concerned for her.
If he was now seeing this thing too, and she was playing with it…what the hell was that thing?
When it came to explaining the part about Mia being held on a wall against her will, he simply said that Mia had told him about it happening while he was at work.
“She’s seeing and hearing stuff, and it’s not just Eli. Voices…whispers. She believes this thing can even touch her,” Mike’s voice was rushed.
“Here,” Kris reached in the pocket of her sweatpants, pulling out a pen as she took a napkin out of the dispenser that sat on the table. She wrote on the napkin before siding it over to him. “I know someone. He’s with a church out of town and he’s helped plenty of people in situations like this. I know I said this is normal, and it is…I promise you. I believe she’s starting to re-experience the trauma of the car accident but this just may help her feel more comfortable. Maybe if you see him he can give you some advice to help her feel like the house is clean…safe again, to help her accept these new memories.”
Mike looked down at the napkin and saw ‘Father John’ written on it in neat handwriting with a phone number underneath it.
“Give him a call,” she said. “It can’t hurt, right? After all, we’ve already made some progress.” She gave him her best smile.
“You want me to see a priest…Really? This is a joke, right?”
“Look at it like this…He’s a lot like me. He’s not your average priest.”
Mike shook his head and leaned in to whisper. “Yeah, but it’s not really bad enough to go to someone like that. People only do that when they need an exorcism or something. Now I know my wife’s not possessed and my walls sure aren’t oozing blood.”
“That’s always been the misconception. Why would someone wait until it was that bad before they seek help? Why not try to solve the problem in the early stages. This isn’t Hollywood. It’d be a lot easier and make a lot more sense to do it now, wouldn’t you think?
“But the point is, that hauntings aren’t real but to Mia, it is. This is a way to help her get rid of a past that’s haunting her. Everything I have you do, Mike, it’s a way to help Mia. You need to realize that and trust me.”
Mike leaned back in his chair and relaxed a little, “Yeah, I guess. Thanks.”
“No problem,” she patted his hand and stood up. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to go get back to my soap operas. But if you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank…thank you.” He folded the paper and lifted it up, expressing his gratitude. “Can I ask you one more thing?”
Kris nodded and Mike continued. “What exactly is the term for what she’s going through?”
“I believe she’s suffering from PTSD with some Psychotic features. Now, it sounds worse than it is. Basically, she’s been traumatized and has a hard time coming to terms with reality. She’s creating her own illusion of reality. It’s nothing we can’t fix though,” Kris offered a smile. “Her memories are already starting to come to the surface.”
“Oh, okay. Well, thanks again.”
“Anytime,” Kris smiled and walked out of the coffee shop, leaving him to decide what he was going to do with the priest's phone number.
Chapter 15
Mike sat at the table a little longer, debating on whether or not he wanted to call a priest. As he thought back on the events that had happened, he realized that he didn’t have another option. He reminded himself how this darkness had somehow physically touched his wife, it was trying to take the life out of her and he wasn’t able to protect her…maybe the priest could.
He pushed the thought aside with a shake of his head. There had to be something he could do to get things under control. Putting the napkin in his pocket as he stood up to leave, he looked out the large windows of the coffee shop.
His heart seized for a moment when he saw Mia standing on the opposite side of the window looking in at him. She stood there with her arms crossed as though she was fighting off a cold chill. Her eyebrows narrowed down and her lips matched the direction. Pain and agony filled her eyes as she stared at him.
Shit, he cursed himself. Not knowing how long she had been standing there, he was sure she had seen him with Kris and had to be assuming that he was back to his old tricks.
Taking her eyes away from him, she looked down at the sidewalk as she walked away until she disappeared behind the building. Mike hurried out the door. He needed to find her, to set things straight. He really didn’t need her thinking that he was cheating on her, especially not now.
He looked around outside the coffee shop, trying to find where she went. She couldn’t have gone far; it had only taken him seconds to get outside. Realizing that she was nowhere in sight, he grabbed his cell phone out of his front pocket and dialed her number. The call went straight to her voicemail so he dialed it again, hoping that she would answer. When it went to the voicemail again he hung up. It wasn’t like he could leave a message saying, “Hey babe, I’m not cheating on you.” He needed to talk to her, to be able to explain everything to her.
His phone vibrated in his hand and as he looked at it he saw ‘Mia’ written across the screen.
“Mia, babe, listen to me,” his heart twisted at the thought of causing her such pain again.
“Are you trying to make me hate you, Mike? Is that what you’re doing…trying to make me hate you?” As Mia’s voice vibrated through the phone a deep voice echoed along with every word she was saying. “You can’t love me. I can’t make you love me. Just let me go…it’ll be easier on the both of us if you just let me go. Stop trying to hold on to what’s not there.”
His body stiffened as his heart raced. Slowly, he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it. Na
usea grew in his stomach as something told him that it wasn’t his wife. There were times when she had the tendency to overreact…but not like that.
This person.
This voice…
It wasn’t her.
A cold breeze blew on the side of his face sending what felt like needles tingling down his core. Something inside of him told him that it was a warning, though he didn’t know what it was a warning for. Mia was supposed to be at her mother's and he wondered why on earth she would have followed him after what had happened.
Maybe it wasn’t Mia he saw. It made no sense.
A feeling of urgency ran through him and he jumped in his car, heading home. Throwing the car in park when he got in the driveway, he ran into the house. He screamed for Mia and the walls began to violently shake, sending knickknacks falling off of the shelves in the living room. As he ran through the house calling for her, the vibration of the walls followed him, only occurring in whichever room he was in.
With no sign of her in the house, he ran back into the living room. The shaking grew stronger and a moan screamed out from the wood that held the house together. The answering machine that hung on the wall in the kitchen clicked on, and the vibration stopped. The voice was Mia’s, stating that she was at her moms and she didn’t want him to worry. He was flooded with relief that she had listened to him.
Mike went back to his car and as soon as he sat down he dialed the number that was written on the napkin Kris had given him and called Father John. What sounded like a young man answered the phone. Mike explained how he was given the number by Kris, and the young man told him he was able to visit Father John whenever he wished, that the Father was always available for emergency situations recommended by Kris. Mike wrote down the address that the man on the phone gave him so he was able to type it into the Maps App on his phone.
He typed in the address on the App and discovered that the Church he needed to go to was two hours away. Shit just never seemed to be easy. Kris had said it was out of town, but he didn’t expect it to be that far out of town.
He called the house, relieved when Mia didn’t answer. He knew she had to be with her mom so he tried her cell phone. When she didn’t answer her cell, he left a message telling her he had a few errands to run and to call him if she needed anything.
He drove off, hoping to get some answers. Some help, anything. He never thought about contacting someone like Father John before. He thought that maybe he could be a little more open with him opposed to Kris. Someone like Father John would be more likely to believe him than anybody, even though he didn’t quite know what he was asking anyone to believe. If he at least knew that, maybe he would be able to figure this all out on his own.
He wondered why Kris, a psychiatrist of all people, gave him the number to a priest. He had to remind himself that she wasn’t your every day, run of the mill psychiatrist. Maybe she believed in something deeper than what science can explain away, something deeper than a few pills to take everything away and make someone ‘normal’. She had to, obviously. If she didn’t then he was sure she would have just had some type of nearly comatose pill prescribed for Mia.
***
The two hours driving to the church he spent looking behind him, checking every mirror. Not just looking behind his car, but behind his seat as well. He couldn’t help the feeling that somehow the darkness was following him now. Every time he pushed the thought away it came back twice as strong.
The thumping of rain pounded against his windshield, making his mood even grimmer. Even though the air was thick with humidity the rain made it so he was unable to roll his windows down. He turned on his heat as the windows started to fog up, cursing his luck.
His GPS App told him he had arrived at his location, but there wasn’t a church in sight. He was on what looked like a main street in a small suburban town so he continued to drive straight, figuring it couldn’t be too far away.
It wasn’t long until he spotted a stone tower extending above the other buildings that lined the street. Either his instincts or just plain common sense told him this was his destination.
The church was rather large and built entirely out of stone that varied in different shapes and sizes. Stone by stone, someone poured a lot of sweat and blood into building that church. There were several skinny, arched windows along the sides of the building, each one made of stained glass which also seemed to be made out of pure love. There was one tower that stood on top of the church, the one he saw from the distance, which sat at the front and center of the building.
Mike drove behind the church pulled into the parking lot. Walking his way back to the front of the building, he was grateful when he reached the archway in front of the church, finally shielded him from the rain. Pausing for a moment when he reached the wooden doors, he reassured himself that he needed to do this.
As he entered the church he saw one long aisle covered in red carpet laid in front of him like a path to his destiny. Two more aisles, one on each side of the building, followed the main one in corresponding lines. In between each path were rows of dark, wooden benches. At the end of the aisle in front of him was a large crucifix just like nearly every church had.
Mike scanned the building, searching to see if he was the only person in there and to his relief, he was. He walked down towards the end of the aisle and his shadow danced across the lines of benches.
“Hello,” he called. “Hello, Father John?”
Mike looked around taking in the beauty of man's hard labor. He always appreciated such work, being in the construction business himself. Several arches in matching stone sat between each stained glass window, connecting the ceiling to the walls. A wooden altar that matched the wood of the benches, sat in the middle of the stage. On either side of the stage hung two elegant red curtains, which looked to be of satin material. Mike could only assume that they led to more rooms throughout the church.
“Father John,” he called again. If he didn’t get an answer this time, he was going to turn back around, thinking that it was a one big mistake.
“Yes, yes my son. I’m here,” a feeble voice answered.
Mike looked in the direction of the voice and saw a frail older man in a white robe walk out the long, satin curtain on the right.
“Hi, um…I called earlier. My name’s Mike. Kris told me to call you. ”
“Yes, yes. Please, sit down,” Father John motioned towards the bench in the front row as he walked towards it.
It wasn’t until the Father sat down beside him that he realized how old he really was. His hair was white and thin and the signs of age were more than visible on his face as his wrinkles grew lines across every inch, each spreading across like they were telling their own story of his life. His eyes were cascaded in darkness from the drooping of his eyebrows and the depth of the under eye circles.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Mike said with a rush of guilt as he saw how fragile this man was.
“Oh, no need to be sorry. I’m more than able to help and I have a lot of years of helping left in this old body.” It was as if Father John knew what he was thinking. The Father placed his hand, which had skin matching that of his face, on Mike’s knee. “What is it, son? What’s bothering you that has brought you here today?”
“I…I kind of new to all of this, and what I have to say…well, it’s going to sound crazy.”
Father John smiled, “Listen, Mike. I’m not your average priest, as I’m sure Kris would have told you. I have seen and experienced many things in my time. Some of which, plenty of people might believe me crazy for if I spoke of. I have learned that the impossible is all too possible and certain things can’t quite be explained. You don’t have to be in fear of me thinking anything lesser of you than I would of any other man that would walk into my church, and you most definitely don’t have to worry about me thinking you’re crazy.”
Mike relayed the events to Father John the same way he relayed them to Kris, only he gave the father a few more de
tails. It seemed like the more he told this story, the more he didn’t believe it himself. God, how crazy he must have seemed. He thought to himself that the stress must finally be getting to him. It’s messing with him and playing tricks on his mind.
It wasn’t like he didn’t completely disbelieve in ghosts or anything, as a young child he'd had a few experiences that were completely unexplainable. But he was a child. Now, he was an adult…and adults didn’t see shit like that.
Unless they were going completely insane.
But he wasn’t, he knew he wasn’t. The only rational explanation he could come up with for himself was that all of this ‘acknowledging Eli’ bullshit was going to his head, causing him to have these delusions right along with Mia.
“Do you believe in God?” Father John asked him.
Mike told the father that he did believe in God, but yet at the same time he wondered how if there was a God, something that was supposed to be so wonderful and powerful, how could he let bad things…horrible things, happen to people—to good people?
Father John just smiled. “With good comes evil, if there’s a God, then there has to be a devil too, right?”
Mike nodded.
“Well, look at it like this,” Father John continued. “Each one of us small little humans in this big old universe…each one of us has our own little devil. That devil is riding around right here,” he reached up and put his frail hand on his shoulder. “We have our own devil that haunts us, torments us, and teases us. This devil throws out many obstacles and battles we must face and conquer. And on the other side is our guide. That is the one that helps us through the battles we must fight. The one that shows us that there is a light at the end for us.
“This…this is a battle your devil is giving you. I’m not saying this darkness is the devil…just that it is a battle. This dark entity is teasing and tormenting you beyond your wildest dreams. And you must fight it. Do not let this darkness win. Show it that you are strong.” Father John made a soft fist with his hand. “That you are ready and capable of facing any obstacle that comes your way. That you will let your guardian angel guide you through the battle, and out the other side.”