by Wood, Rick
“Mr Aslan, if you can explain how these objects fly across the room in some other way, then I would happily bend down and call you my new messiah. I would even let you bring in a video camera, if you wish. Then, you will either have footage of another hack to prove me wrong and end my career – or you will have footage of a genuine exorcism, and you will have had a shock like you have never had in your entire life.”
Jason stroked his chin. He couldn’t resist an opportunity like this, another instance of proving someone wrong. And this man seemed so adamant, it would be pure triumph to take him down a peg or two.
“Okay, I agree to your terms. I will attend this exorcism.”
“Wonderful, Mr Aslan, excellent news. I will have the details sent on to you.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you ever so much, and good night.”
“Good night.”
He placed the landline back in its place on the window sill and watched the still night out the window. The trees, the grass, the beautiful night sky. So many wonderful things in this life, why do people keep needing to convince themselves there’s more, when this life we have is so blessed?
He finished off his evening with a glass of whiskey and made his way upstairs to bed. With a wash and a careful brush of his teeth, he climbed in next to his wife, tucking his arm around her and sleeping soundly.
14
18 November 2001
Kelly prodded at her roast dinner with her fork. She’d been so hungry all day, but as soon as she had seen her parents, she’d lost her appetite. And now here she was, sat across from them at the carvery just down the road from her halls of residence, Doug sat beside her making polite conversation with her dad.
“So what is it you do for a living?” Doug asked, taking a small mouthful of beef.
“Well, I own a company that specializes in sporting products.”
“Sounds fascinating.”
“It’s really not,” her dad chuckled. “But it’s nice of you to say.”
“Kelly said that you are studying English Literature,” her mother interjected, taking a sip of her red wine.
“Yes, I hope to do teacher training afterwards and teach English.”
“Oh!” her mum cried out in joy. “How wonderful. You obviously have a lot more ambition than Kelly does. You are quite the catch.”
Kelly scowled at her mum. She couldn’t tell if it was a genuine dig at her, or whether her mum actually thought that little of her own daughter. Either way, she didn’t meet Kelly’s eyes, so she couldn’t tell.
She had been feeling sick every time she had thought about this meal over the past few days. Doug had had to calm her down numerous times. She practically threw up last night when she fully realised her parents were coming to visit.
Why am I so afraid of my stupid parents coming to see me? she thought to herself, feeling frustrated with her own mind. Maybe it was because they were there when she broke down. They were there when she was sectioned. In fact, they were instrumental in getting her sectioned and put away in a mental health clinic with as much dormant stubbornness as she had ever seen from them.
Now, here they were. She had cleaned up her life. She had laid down the foundations for a stronger future. She even had an amazing boyfriend who was too good to be true. And the whole time she felt like her parents were still judging her, like it wouldn’t be good enough. Like she still needed to prove something to them.
She just wanted them to know her life was no longer a complete disaster.
“Are you okay Kelly?” her mother asked, turning to her. “You’ve barely touched your meal.”
It was true. Kelly had been prodding it with her fork for the last ten minutes and had only taken around three or four mouthfuls.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied.
“So, how are… you know. Things?” her mother prodded, and instantly her father and Doug went silent. Their eating slowed down and they stared at the table, avoiding making eye contact with anyone.
“Fine, Mum,” she answered, stressing the f and the n of the word fine. She realised this was indicating the contrary to what she had just said, but hoped that her reaction would provoke no further conversation about it.
“So my lectures are fascinating,” Kelly changed the topic. “We’ve been doing one on conditioning, and the use of it in therapy.”
“Oh, like you had?”
“Please, Mum –” she stopped herself mid-sentence. She didn’t want to keep referring to it. She desperately wanted to move on. Her parents hadn’t seen her for three months, so perhaps they couldn’t recognise the change she had made that made herself so proud.
They shared a few moments of silence.
“Kelly?”
“What?!” She whipped her head up like a shot, glaring at everyone around the table. They glanced at each other with confusion etched over their faces.
“Kelly, we didn’t say anything,” her father answered.
She glanced around the table. No one had said her name. She had heard it, but no one had said it. She dropped her head to her food again.
“Kelly, you there?”
She lifted her head again and looked around the table. Everyone had their heads down, eating their meal. No one had said anything.
She glanced over her shoulder. There was nobody near them. A few people at the bar maybe, but not close enough to be able to say something without everyone else hearing it too.
That’s when she noticed a man at the bar. A grey-haired man with a long beard, sipping on a pint of ale. She didn’t know what it was about him, but something intrigued her. Her eyes transfixed on him.
That’s when he turned his head and looked at her. His face dripped. Literally, his eyes fell and turned to smoosh. His eyebrows trickled down his face and merged with his sagging mouth, creating one singular piece of mess on his head. His face trickled on his clothes, on his lap, his face turning to droplets.
She closed her eyes and rabidly shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut, willing her mind to straighten up. She opened them and looked to the man once more.
He was fine. Just sitting there, sipping on his pint of ale, completely unaware of the young lady staring at him.
“You okay?” Doug whispered to her.
“Yeah, fine,” she snapped, and turned back to her meal. She could feel her parents staring at her, but she ignored it. She shovelled food into her mouth to give the image she was fine, anything that would stop their concerned eyes from staring gormlessly at her.
“You should kill them,” came the deep voice again.
She ignored it. Carried on eating. It was all in her head. Can’t let her parents see her like this. Can’t let them know that there was anything unusual about her mind, whatever the cost.
She would not go back again. She would not leave the life she had made for herself; a best friend, a boyfriend, a degree that was going well. She would not leave it, not for anything. Even if that meant lying to her parents.
Even if that meant lying to herself.
“So tell us about the town, what’s that like?” her mother directed at Kelly.
“Erm, it’s nice…”
“They deserve to die.”
“… Within walking distance…”
“And you know it.”
“… Good shops…”
“They locked you up.”
“People are friendly, say hello to you.”
“Do not ignore me you fucking bitch.”
She closed her eyes and bowed her head. She leant her elbows on the table and ran her hands through her hair.
“Are you all right?”
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
Kelly threw her napkin from her lap onto the table and scarpered to the bathroom. She barged in and marched straight up to a sink, bowing her head and closing her eyes.
She ran the hot water tap and splashed the water over her face. She kept soaking and soaking herself until she finally shook herself out of it.
She looked in the mirror.
A man stood behind her.
She rapidly spun around.
Nothing. No one. Not a soul in the bathroom with her.
It was just her, alone.
She turned back to the mirror. He was still there behind her, watching her, out of focus. She glanced over her shoulder again and saw nothing, but when she turned her head back he was still there. Unmoved. Unaltered.
“What do you want?”
“I will never go away, Kelly. I am not a trick of the mind. I am a trick of your soul. I have latched myself onto you and you may as well embrace it.”
“Please, just leave me alone.”
“I am in you, Kelly. I am not psychosis. I am real.”
“Fuck off!” she screamed at her reflection, tears streaming down her cheeks, punching the mirror numerous times. She implored it to be left alone. To be normal. For her mind to be healthy.
She heard gentle banging on the door. “Kelly?” came Doug’s voice.
“I’m in here.”
Doug entered and was immediately taken aback by the site of Kelly in utter devastation. He ran up to her and took her in his arms, squeezing her tightly against his chest. He shushed her and stroked her hair. He told her everything would be all right.
He told her she would be fine.
15
19 November 2001
Eddie felt warm inside. It had been a while since he had managed to find time to have lunch with Jenny and Lacy, but sitting with them in the coffee shop, sipping on a cappuccino, the time in which they hadn’t seen each other felt insignificant.
They had been instrumental in his transition from the washed-up alcoholic sleeping on their sofa bed to the university lecturer and successful exorcist that he had become. Jenny was his oldest friend, having known him since they were born. She was there when his sister died, she was there when he attempted suicide six years ago and now, she was there, in the happier times. She was there to enjoy the success of what Eddie had become.
“So then we got to the top of the hill,” she continued her story, she and Lacy in hysterics, Eddie unable to help but smile along. “And she forgot her bloody camera. All that time, desperate to get a picture on top of the hill, and she forget the camera!”
Lacy gave Jenny a gentle nudge, playing at being offended, but all the while smirking along.
They were laughing and joking and enjoying each other’s company so much, Eddie felt himself fill with happiness, like he had finally made it.
“Man, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I hung out with you guys,” Eddie observed, still smiling.
“I know,” Jenny agreed. “And to think I used to see you every day on our sofa bed.”
“The other day I saw her gazing at it, with eyes all overcome,” Lacy laughed, and Jenny shoved her jokingly. “She missed you being there, however much she would complain.”
“Oh, it was incessant, wasn’t it?” Eddie joked at Jenny’s expense. “’When are you going to move out,’ like, every day.”
“And now here you are. Who’d have thought it, huh?”
Eddie bowed his head and blushed. He fiddled with his mug in his hands. It meant so much that they were proud of him. They were the only family he had left.
“So what’s it like, anyway?” Jenny asked, calming the laughter. “Being a world-renowned exorcist?”
“I don’t know if I’m world-renowned…”
“Please, you are so renowned. Like, all over the world.”
“I can’t even do that damn spell,” Eddie observed, thinking back to Jenny lying on her garden bench, bracing herself for an impact that never happened.
“You will.”
“I don’t know, I just… I don’t know.” Eddie was pleased she had faith in him, but he had tried that spell on both her and Lacy numerous times since, with no effect.
“Whether it works or not, think of how many people you have freed, how many people you have helped. You have done more than enough to deserve the title of world renowned.”
Eddie smiled. It was nice that they thought a lot of what he did. Especially as Jenny had been such a sceptic at first.
He thought back to when Derek had to perform an exorcism on him to rid himself of a demon. She had been vocal in removing Derek from her house and, when she finally let him back in, it was too late for him to help. Luckily, Eddie had managed to find a way by ‘crossing over’ and facing the demon that was attempting to steal his place on earth straight on, and his dead sister’s soul along with it.
For so long now, he had assumed that place was hell. He had never considered it beyond that assumption. Interesting, that he and Derek had agreed that that was what it was, without ever actually discussing it.
“We’re working on a young boy at the moment. Derek is setting up for a few weeks. We’re taking some sceptic with us, Jason Aslan, or something.”
“Jason Aslan?” Jenny repeated. “I’ve heard of him. Yeah, he’s like a big-time debunker of frauds; he’s been doing it for years. I’d be careful of him. He could hurt your reputation quite badly.”
“Except that we’re not frauds. So, once he sees what we can do, he’ll be convinced.”
“Unless he believes he can give another explanation to it. I’d be careful.”
“Yeah, well it’s Derek he’s going against anyway, so, it’s his bed, isn’t it?”
Eddie noticed a dog at the next table over staring at him. It sat, not blinking, not moving, its eyes completely transfixed. He shifted uncomfortably and decided to ignore it. Whatever, it was just a dog.
“So how’s your job going nowadays?” Eddie asked Lacy, trying to keep his attention away from the mutt.
“Oh, I’m just a nurse, never mind me. Ask Jenny.”
“Okay,” Eddie chuckled. “How’s your job, Jenny?”
“Okay. I don’t know, not really sure it’s what I want to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I worked at a publisher because I wanted to be a writer. I just spend all my time reading over other people’s stuff.”
“Well then you write some stuff. Get it seen by your boss. You’re in the best position.”
The dog growled. Eddie couldn’t help but look back at it, as the growling was so sinister and prolonged it was becoming unavoidable.
“What is it?” Jenny asked, and she and Lacy turned to look at the dog.
“Stupid dog won’t stop staring at me.”
Its growls grew angrier and it bared its teeth. It had a clear dislike of Eddie and it wanted to show it. It had no intention of looking away, it just remained poised, baring its teeth, incessantly snarling.
“Just ignore it, Eddie.”
Easier said than done when the thing was obsessed. Before he could complain any further, it started barking at him in between growls. Again and again. Snarl, bark, snarl. Non-stop.
“It’s doing my head in,” Eddie told his friends as he leant his head against his hand between him and the dog, trying to put a barrier up that would keep him away.
But the dog wouldn’t stop. It just kept barking and growling. It even started howling, too. It grew louder and louder and more aggressive.
“Shut up.” Eddie turned to the dog. He looked to the owner, who was completely distracted by a conversation she was having with someone else. How could someone be so oblivious when the dog was making so much noise?
It continued. More and more, louder and louder, angrier and angrier.
“Shut up, for fuck sake.”
“Eddie, calm down.”
Louder, angrier, bigger, it snarled and snarled.
“Shut up!” Eddie screamed, turning to the dog and looking it straight in the eyes.
Without warning or explanation, the dog went up in flames. Everyone leapt out of their seats and backed away. The owner of the dog fell to her knees and cried out, but her friend dragged her away.
It wasn’t just a small flame; the dog completely combusted into
a ball of fire. Its howling ceased and its frantic lashing out and struggling grew slower, until the flames engulfed a body that lay on the floor.
Jenny stared worriedly at Eddie. Saw the look in his eyes. It didn’t seem to cross Lacy’s mind, but Eddie could feel Jenny staring at him. Like somehow he had done it. Like somehow, he was responsible.
A waiter ran out with a fire extinguisher and put the fire out. It took a good while of spraying, but after an anxious wait, the flames went. The owner dived upon her dog in uncontrollable tears, crying over its blackened, burnt, dead body.
Eddie just stared. The carcass laying before him. No idea what had happened. No inkling as to how he could explain it.
Well, no explanation he wanted to entertain anyway.
16
1 December 2001
Derek and Eddie stood together, tentatively watching Jason pull up in his car.
“You know, this could totally backfire,” Eddie observed.
Derek nodded.
“I heard from Levi today,” Derek announced, attempting to dwell their minds on other things. “Remember him?”
Eddie nodded. Levi had both assisted on his own exorcism, and choppered them away from his confrontation with Balam. He had graduated with first-class honours and was now working on some ghost hunting television show. They were pleased for him, though missed his presence; he had always been a great help in Eddie’s early days with Derek.
“He owes me a favour,” Derek smirked, “and he’s only down the road today, I’ll get him to chopper us out if need be.”
Eddie briefly laughed, ending his humour quickly as Jason approached.
Derek stepped forward and firmly shook Jason’s hand. Eddie stepped forward, shook Jason’s hand, and retreated behind Derek. He wasn’t as forthcoming, unwilling to show feigned pleasure at Jason’s presence. He performed better without a judging audience.
Derek stood back to allow Jason a thorough look upon the house they were about to enter. It was a small, semi-detached house on a rural council estate. It was grey, with roots running up it and cracks in the walls. In all honesty, it wasn’t a great sight to look at.