Caleb swallowed. “I’ve seen some pretty bad cases, but this one takes the cake.”
“Do you think the parents will be open to our intervention or do you think we just need to take the boy, using some kind of cover-story?” Granger asked.
Caleb took a sip of his coffee and thought for a moment. “The mother is desperate for help. I don’t think she’ll be a problem—and if she is, we’ll just erase her memory,” Granger tapped the desk and nodded in silent agreement. “Finn bit that woman pretty bad. Social Services wants answers. We’ll just wipe everyone’s memories, though—no worries, buddy. Good work today.”
A few hours later Granger, Caleb, and Finn’s parents were all sitting in the living room of the family’s small ranch-style home together. Granger had already introduced himself, and had already let them know that Caleb was actually employed by a department which investigated changes like the ones they had recently seen in Finn.
Finn’s mother wiped at the corner of her eye with a tissue and sniffled a bit, “I just don’t understand how this could have happened. He was always such a good boy.”
“We never had any problem with Finn until now,” the father chimed in. This part was always difficult.
“I’m going to have to explain a few things to you that are going to sound pretty crazy, but I need you to hear me out,” Granger said. The young couple nodded in unison. “The little boy upstairs playing with finger-paints, is not your son. I know he looks like your son—but he isn’t your son.”
It was as if all of the air had suddenly gone out of the room. The father looked to Caleb, then back at his wife. His face twisted in confusion. “What do you mean Finn is not my son? Jesus, did you have an affair Kelly?” He looked to his wife, working himself up to a rage. His wife, Kelly, looked as though she wished the ground could swallow her.
Granger placed his hands out defensively— “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that the child upstairs is not the Finn you know.” Now the father seemed even more grieved. Caleb always hated this part. Every now and then he was lucky enough to encounter an open-minded parent that would understand, but usually this was the point during which parents threw him out of their homes or got violent. Caleb took in a deep breath, dreading what might come next.
Slowly, he pulled his Department 99 badge from his pocket and started to try and explain. “I investigate supernatural occurrences related to children, and I was assigned to your case so that I could keep an eye on things, and find a way to help you.”
Both of Finn’s parents’ faces turned sheet-while. The mother looked as if she might pass out. Then suddenly, tears swelled up in her eyes again. “I told you! I told you that we needed to get out of this house as soon as possible,” she elbowed her husband hard.
“I believed you honey, I just thought that we could handle things ourselves. I had no idea that things would get this bad,” Finn’s father pleaded. In unison, Finn’s parents turned to Caleb and began to explain.
“When we moved into this house a few months ago, we knew that something wasn’t right. I can’t explain exactly how I knew, but on a soul-level I could just feel that there was something here that didn’t belong. All the kids started having nightmares, and we all got the sense that there was something watching us virtually all of the time.” Finn’s mother swallowed.
Finn’s father grumbled a bit and began his own story. “I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t believe a word of it until one night I came downstairs to get a glass of water in the middle of the night and saw a dark figure staring at me from in front of the fireplace. It was so dark that it looked like a shadow. I blinked my eyes, thinking that it was perhaps some kind of trick of the light, but it wasn’t. I think it was a demon. I can’t really explain the feeling I got when that evil thing looked at me, but I stumbled backwards to try and get away from it and then it just walked right through the living room wall. Then I could hear all kinds of thumping overhead upstairs coming from Finn’s room. When I ran upstairs to check on him, he was sound asleep. Well, it looked like he was sound asleep. But then this weird grin just crept across his face. Then, he sat straight up in the bed and opened his eyes and his eyes were black—entirely black. He asked me if I was ready to do die, and I ran from the room and locked him in there.”
Caleb shuddered, imagining what the scene might have looked like. Demonic possessions weren’t generally uncommon, but when demons targeted a child of Finn’s age, it usually meant very bad news. Caleb swallowed hard. “Has anyone in the home ever dabbled in dark magic?” Caleb asked. Both parents shook their heads no. “Was Caleb ever baptized? Perhaps by a priest that was possessed?” Again, the parents looked puzzled and shook their heads no. “Do you have any idea why this might be happening to your son?” Caleb finally asked.
Finn’s mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat and smoothed her blonde hair down on the right side of her face. “Back before Finn’s grandfather died, we used to take Finn to visit him in a nursing home. There was an old man across the hall named Thomas who struck up a friendship with Finn, but none of us thought it was a problem because their relationship seemed innocent enough. Anyway, after Thomas died, Finn started reporting that he was seeing him walking around our house at night. At first, we just chalked it up to his imagination and grief, but then strange things started to happen. Tom delivered warnings through Finn. He told Finn that there was an electrical wiring problem in our house and that the house was going to catch fire and burn down. That night, a fire started in the basement and all of us had to jump out of the second story window. The whole thing had to be gutted and rebuilt.”
Granger grumbled a bit, growing impatient with the young couple. “You stayed at the same location after all that, why?”
Finn’s mother looked over to her husband. “Insurance paid for the repairs and we couldn’t afford to move to a new house.” She answered flatly.
Caleb pulled out a small pad of paper and began to scratch out a few notes to himself. Demons didn’t generally concern themselves with warning people and looking out for individuals’ safety. It sounded like Tom was actually the good-guy in the equation, and perhaps Tom’s ghost might be able to give them some information about the demon.
“How would you feel about calling in a few other professionals tonight?” Granger asked. Finn’s mother’s eyes widened. “I know a few people that I think can help us figure out exactly what’s going on.” Caleb added. Before the young couple could argue, Caleb was on the phone with various members of Department 99, setting up a séance and calling in a few ghost-hunters.
Granger received another call and had to run, but shook both of the parents’ hands before leaving. He assured them that they were in good hands under Caleb’s care.
The first person to arrive was Lillian Smithson. Caleb hadn’t expected Lillian to be assigned tonight. Caleb would be the first to admit that he harbored a crush on Lillian. Every time he saw her, he was struck slightly breathless. Tonight, he was caught a bit off-guard by the sheen of her bright red hair. Although short in stature, Lillian was quite brazen and direct. In her arms, she carried a heavy large black box. Although she struggled to manage the weight of the device, Caleb knew better than to ask Lillian if she’d like any help carrying the heavy container. Lillian liked to do things for herself, and seemed to take pride in her strength. Still, there was a sense of vulnerability beneath her exterior, and Caleb wondered much too often what it might be like to witness her letting down her guard.
All of that aside, Lillian was one of the best in the ghost hunting business. She knew how to track spirits and to get answers from them better than anyone else. She worked specifically with the dead—never with demons though—so it was unusual that she had been assigned to this detail.
Normally, Caleb would have called in his friend, Ocean—who was an experienced psychic. Unfortunately, Ocean was on maternity leave so Department 99 assigned a new psychic named Magda to their case. Magda was supposed to make initial contact w
ith the spirit in order to determine what it wanted, while Lillian tracked the electrical signals using her box.
Caleb had never met nor worked with Magda before and when she pulled up to the exterior of the house, he felt embarrassed for his profession. Magda’s car was missing the front bumper and was covered in flowers painted in house-paint. When she stepped out of the car, she was wearing a multi-colored moo-moo and thick-framed glasses. Her frizzy hair stuck up on top of her head and looked like a bird’s nest. Bizarrely enough, Magda was carrying a small orange cat in her arms.
Caleb looked to Lillian for help. “The new woman’s here,” he said flatly.
“Oh good!” Lillian said. Then, she looked out the window at the woman waddling up the front steps and frowned. “Has our profession really come to this?” Lillian asked Caleb with a frustrated sigh, before turning back to her black box.
Caleb rushed to open the door for Magda. Finn’s parents were rushing around the kitchen gathering up paper plates for everyone. They’d ordered some pizza for the crew and seemed to be trying to keep their nerves under wraps. Their twin daughters had been sent to spend the night at the neighbor’s house. Finn was quietly playing in the corner with a red truck. He made the little metal truck fly up in the air with whizzing sounds, then brought it crashing back down to the floor with a loud thud and laughed.
Caleb extended a handshake to Magda, and was both surprised and a bit offended when she refused to touch him. Magda shook her head feverishly. “I need to keep my energy signatures clean, so it’s better if we don’t touch.” She said with a slight southern accent. When Magda stepped across the threshold to the family home, her heavy perfume invaded the entire space. As if reading his mind, Magda turned to Caleb and smiled. “I smudge myself with sage before a thing like this, plus I like to add a little frankincense and garlic to put my mind at ease.” Caleb nodded silently fearing that she was some kind of con artist.
Magda lowered the rims of her thick glasses and walked quietly over to Finn. The orange cat in her arms began to purr loudly. Finn seemed to ignore her, but as she grew nearer he froze in the spot but did not look up. “I know who you are,” Magda said in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “I’ve met you before and I’d recognize you anywhere,” she said, her voice trembling slightly.
Finn looked up. His eyes were now as black as night. “Go home Magda,” he said in a deep scratchy horrible voice. Faraway from inside the kitchen, Finn’s mother Kelly had heard the voice escape from Finn’s mouth and had dropped a glass of ice water all over the floor. Lillian quickly flipped on the equipment within her black box and Caleb stood back to watch.
Finn’s head cocked eerily to the side. “I like to play with trucks,” he spoke in a man’s voice. This time the voice was deep and threatening. All of a sudden, all of the lights in the house flickered off.
Magda continued to converse with the demon inside of Finn. “What is your name?” She asked the demon.
“You say that we’ve met before—so why do you ask?” the demon responded.
“Why have you chosen to attack this child and his family?” Magda asked.
The demon responded with a low and terrible cackle…then he paused, “Because it’s fun,” he said. Suddenly the lights flickered back on. When Caleb’s eyes readjusted to the light he could see that Magda was now holding a bottle of holy water in her hand. She must have pulled it out while they were all in the dark. Finn’s eyes changed back to an innocent blue shade when he saw the bottle of holy water, and his lip turned upward and began to quiver. “Mommy! She’s gonna hurt me!” Finn cried.
Finn’s mother Kelly rushed into the room and Caleb grabbed her by the arm firmly in order to stop her from approaching the child. “The demon knows that it’s cornered now and it might try and jump into someone else’s body. You can’t make physical contact with him until this is over.” Kelly slowly nodded her head.
Magda silently began to unscrew the lid of the holy water bottle. Now Finn appeared to almost be shaking from fear. “I’m only going to ask you one more time, demon. What is your name?” Magda demanded in a powerful voice. The orange cat was now purring at her feet, rubbing itself up against her legs. Caleb was impressed with Magda now. Her skills seemed to be quite advanced. When the demon hesitated before answering, Magda flicked a few drops of holy water in Finn’s direction. When the drops of water made contact with his skin, he howled at the top of his lungs in agony. Both of his parents winced. The demon then began to speak rapidly in Aramaic. Caleb couldn’t quite make out the name, but from the look on Magda’s face he understood that this was a serious case and could tell that Magda understood what was being said.
Then, something unexpected happened. A high-pitched voice that sounded almost like a fairy forced its way through Finn’s body and began to giggle uncontrollably. Finns body was rolling around on the floor in the throes of an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“Who are you?” Magda asked, seeming a bit annoyed.
“Who are you, sassafras cat-woman who secretly drinks milk one month past its expiration date?” Magda wasn’t amused, yet the voice carried on. “I saw you touching yourself in the shower yesterday. Who was it that you were thinking of? Oh yes, Patrick Swayze.” Now the high-pitched voice was rolling with laughter as it harassed her. Then, Magda pulled out a relic from St. John of the Cross. Again, the demon inside Finn’s body screamed. He boy’s face twisted upwards into a terrible frown and he reared back.
Just then, there was a slight knock at the door. A second group of ghost-hunters had arrived. They were fresh out of Department 99’s training program and looked like kids themselves. There was a short guy with thick-framed glasses, which were somewhat like Magda’s, a young woman from the Philippines, and a hefty looking guy with a brown beard, who introduced himself as Ted. Ted claimed that he’d always been interested in the paranormal, and shook Caleb’s hand after acting as though he were meeting some kind of celebrity. Caleb could see Lillian roll her eyes behind her box and he chuckled to himself.
Next the group decided to hook Finn up to a small machine. So, together everyone accompanied Finn upstairs to his bedroom, where he stripped down to his underwear and lay back on the bed. Ted tenderly began to place electrodes all over the boy’s head and boy. “Don’t get too close to him, Caleb warned,” and yet Ted seemed to act as if he knew better. “I was the oldest of nine boys, I think I can handle this little guy,” Ted turned his face back to look at Caleb and smiled. When he did this, Finn silently sat up on the bed and smiled also. When Ted turned back around to face the boy, Finn’s face was locked in some kind of terrible grimace. His body was now stiff and he seemed unable to move.
“Just continue to place the electrodes, but don’t make any more conversation with him,” Magda demanded cautiously.
Ted sneered and leaned down to whisper something funny into the boy’s ear—hoping to make Finn laugh. “I guess that cat lady thinks she knows better than us boys,” Ted said with a chuckle. What happened next, occurred so quickly that Caleb was in doubt that it was even occurring. Before anyone had a chance to react, Finn had leaned forward, bit Ted’s nose entirely off down to the bone, and spat it across the room. Ted grasped at the hole in his face, moaning and shrieking—fumbling around the dark room, searching for his detached nostrils. Finn giggled and bounced on the bed as though nothing had happened. He looked absolutely demonic with the massive blood splatter dripping down his chin. His tiny pink tongue reached down to lick some of the blood off. Finn’s mother Kelly buried her face in her husband’s chest and began to sob.
While the nice Filipino woman helped Ted find his nose (and escorted him out of the room so that he could go to the hospital), Lillian took charge of the situation. “Caleb and I are in charge here, so if anyone else would like to defy a direct order and get their faces bitten off as well, let us know so that we can have you court-martialed by Department 99 right now.” She spoke firmly, as the Filipino woman made her way back into the room. Lillian t
ook over the task of attaching the rest of the electrodes to Finn’s body, and then they turned all of the lights out.
Lillian’s black box started to make a slight beeping sound, and a blue light appeared in the center of the box. “Tom, is that you?” Lillian asked in a sweet voice. At first there was no response, but then gradually everyone in the room could hear heavy breathing emanating from the speakers on the box.
“Tom, is that you?” Lillian repeated—this time with a little more force. Magda raised her palm up into the air to signal that Lillian should stop. Then Magda shook her head no, while the orange cat slowly sauntered over to Finn’s bedside.
“I know what you are,” Magda spoke. The speakers in the black box crackled. “Why have you attached yourself to this child?” Magda asked. Again, she raised her bottle of holy water and clutched it to her chest. Then a strange sound started to come from the black box, which sounded almost like humming. The heavy breathing faded away and was replaced by the voice of an older gentleman.
“You need to listen to what I’m about to say. You’ve got to get Cain away from Finn. He’s planning some pretty nasty things,” the older man’s voice said.
Tears swelled in Jim’s eyes. “Dad is that you? Dad?” Again, Magda raised her hand to signal that Jim should not communicate directly with the spirit.
“You’re in grave danger, son.” The voice continued, “You’ve got to find a way to get Cain away from the boy,” then the voice transmitting through the box changed again. Someone started to sing, “Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton…”
Lillian quickly switched the box onto the off position. “Let’s leave the family up here for a minute and have a quick conference in the living room.” All of the Department 99 employees quickly filed downstairs.
Caleb swallowed as he descended the dark steps. This was a complicated case, and he felt uneasy and unsure if they were going to be able to save Finn. When they reached the living room, Caleb coughed for a brief moment and quickly offered his opinion. “I don’t think that was really Finn’s grandfather who came through just now,” Caleb stated plainly.
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