by Tim Miller
“Really?” he stroked his beard gently. I guessed he grew the beard to make himself appear older, due to his position. “That’s quite unusual. The demon usually just lies.”
“That’s what I thought. In this case though, it said his mother didn’t die of cancer, but that he’d killed her. Dr. Bennett looked through her old records, and some of the files were missing. Plus, she died rather early into her diagnosis. So, something seems amiss. Just thought you should know.”
“Indeed. Well, we’ll leave that to the authorities and doctors to sort out. For now, our concern is delivering the girl from this demon”
“I understand. She exhibits incredible strength. It says its name is Legion, like in St. Mark. So perhaps there are several demons inside her.”
“Legion? I haven’t come across that one either. It’s important to get the demon’s name. There might be only one inside of her, but several others around her. That might just be a lie, as well. Either way, we’ll get to the bottom of it. I’ve had demons tell me they were the Virgin Mary.”
“My God.”
“Yes, we want him with us today, Father. The demon will also do all sorts of tricks. He might spit at you, throw up on you, move objects, or levitate. I’ve seen all kinds of wild things. Ignore those things too. Despite how many voices you hear, or how many it claims to have with it, there is only one force in charge. One demon inhabiting her, if we remove him, the rest will follow.”
“This sounds intense.”
“It can be.”
“How many exorcisms have you done?”
“By myself? I’ve done five since completing the course. During my training, I assisted or witnessed over a dozen. All were different. Some were over in a matter of minutes after a few blessings, others took months.”
“What about the hospital staff? “
“Have you spoken with them?” he asked.
“Not about this. I wasn’t sure how to bring it up.”
“We should at least have a nurse present, though a doctor would be better. You mentioned Doctor Bennett?”
“Yes, he’s the psychiatrist on duty.”
“Great, see if you can locate him. He’d be perfect to have present as a witness, and to assist if needed.”
I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. While I didn’t know Dr. Bennett’s view of faith, I always took him for an atheist, and he was a man of science. He’d never go for this. Father Harlan seemed to read my thoughts.
“I know what you’re thinking, he won’t go for it. Let him know this is completely safe, and if at any time he is concerned for her safety, we will stop, upon his request.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I’ve had to do this in hospitals before. We need them on our side. Now go find him please.”
I set off to the third floor to locate Dr. Bennett. While it bothered me to have this young man order me around, the authority he carried with him gave me hope that we can help Amanda and give us all some peace. I stepped into the elevator and pushed the third floor button. The elevator began to drift upward, but came to a sudden halt. As it stopped, the lights went off again. I tried to hit the alarm but nothing sounded. I was stuck between floors, with no way to call for help. I turned around to see if there was an alarm or emergency lever, but all I saw was a pair of yellow glowing eyes, one of them winked. Then they were gone.
Chapter 19
Dr. Bennett, 3:15 a.m.
After hearing from Dr. Karras on Amanda’s condition, I went back to my office. It was nice that the power was back on, and everything seemed normal, I didn’t worry about being locked in my office again. I sat behind my desk and took out my notebook, and made some notes of the things I’d learned about Officer Roman earlier. Something was definitely wrong. In the morning, I would contact the department administration so they could do a follow-up. There hadn’t been much of an investigation at the time of his mother’s death. Perhaps it was time.
I made my notes and returned to the staff desk. Bobby was still there, playing with his phone. At least he had cleaned up the mess. It drove me nuts the way he was glued to that ridiculous phone. I’d take it away and smash it if I could. Technically hospital policy prohibited staff from using their personal cell phones during their shift. Since he works night shift, I give him a little slack, as long as he’s not sleeping, but people glued to their phones has always been a pet peeve of mine.
“Bobby?” I said, as I stepped behind the desk.
“Oh? Hey Doc. How’s it going?”
“Fine so far. How’s everything here?”
“All good. Everyone’s still sleeping. How’s that girl?”
“She’ll be all right, I think. She might be back on our unit in a few days.”
“Oh, cool,” he said, looking back at the phone.
I walked down the hall, looking in on each patient as I did. People usually slept well on this unit. Medication to help them sleep was given during evening rounds. Many mentally ill patients suffer from lack of sleep. It’s such a vicious cycle. Their illness prevents them from sleeping, either due to anxiety, obsessive or manic behavior, or a variety of other causes. As a result, they don’t sleep, and become even more restless and agitated. Even the most mentally healthy people can experience hallucinations, memory loss and anxiety symptoms, when deprived of sleep. So just imagine the effect it has on the mentally ill.
Thankfully, everyone slept through the commotion. I checked on nurse Chloe, she was stirring a bit. I noticed one of her eyes opened, as she rolled over.
“Who’s there?” she asked, while partially sitting up.
“It’s Dr. Bennett. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was hit by a bus.” She rubbed her eyes.
“You may as well have been. It’s just the Geodon. It should wear off soon. You can stay in bed if you like. It might be a few more hours before it wears off completely.”
“I have work to do,” she said, yawning.
“It’s okay. I’ll call a day shift nurse to come in an hour or so early, to administer morning meds. Just get some rest.”
“Thanks Doctor,” she said, her eyes already closed.
I walked back into the hall, when the lights went off again.
“Dammit,” I said to no one in particular.
“You there Doc?” I heard Bobby call.
“Yes Bobby, I’m here. The power went off again.”
“Why does it keep doing that?” he asked. It’s times like this when I wonder why he’s not working at 7-Eleven. How did he even get this job? He must have family who works here or something.
“I don’t know Bobby. I’m sure it will be back on soon.”
I returned to my office to find my flashlight. It was in the bottom drawer. Thankfully it wasn’t a small light, but one of those handheld, spotlights. It wouldn’t work at first, but I finally got it to come on. As I stepped back out to the unit, it went off again. In the darkness, I called out to Bobby.
“Bobby? Can you hear me? Do you have your flashlight?” I asked, while slapping the side of my light. Nothing. Still darkness. The batteries could have been dead, but I thought I’d just changed them. There was no answer from Bobby either. I felt my way along the wall and behind the desk. He wasn’t in his chair. “Bobby?” I called a little louder, “where are you?” There was still no answer.
I walked back down the hall, literally feeling my way along the walls as I went. This time, when I shook the light, it came on. I shined it at the desk area and saw Bobby’s phone lying there, but he was nowhere in sight. Turning to look the other direction, I saw him standing about twenty feet away from me, but he wasn’t alone. There were several people behind him, at least ten of them, all wearing hospital gowns.
“Bobby? What are you doing? What’s going on?” I walked closer to the group. This night had been downright spooky, and I didn’t need my own staff losing it. “Why are all these patients out of bed?”
None of them spoke. Once I was within a few feet of the group,
I noticed their eyes were glowing yellow, the same way Amanda’s eyes looked earlier. Maybe I should call Father Pierce, after all. While I’d never believed in the supernatural, there was no logical explanation for the events tonight.
“Bobby!” I yelled, this time. “Answer me!”
“He can’t hear you Doctor,” a voice said from behind me. It was a man’s voice. I turned and saw Chloe standing there, glowing yellow eyes trained on me. “None of them can. They’re ours now!” As it spoke, my spotlight went out.
Chapter 20
Officer Roman, 3:30 a.m.
I ran down the hall from the direction of the scream. There were more patients wandering around, they appeared to be in some sort of trance. Their eyes glowed yellow. Among them was a young man, a few years younger than myself. He kept screaming, but his scream was so shrill and high pitched it hurt my ears. I had no idea what he was yelling at, he was just staring off into space.
I decided Amanda wasn’t around here, so I ran to the stairwell and climbed, again, to the third floor. It was around this time I decided it was time to renew my gym membership. My calves were starting to burn. The walk up the stairs was uneventful other than my calves being on fire. I had to feel my way up each step in the near darkness. About halfway there, my flashlight went off, again. I seriously doubted that it was the batteries. There were forces at work in this hospital that I didn’t even want to understand. I used the handrails to steady my climb, one step at a time. I tried to radio the other two officers to check on their progress.
“A-367 to units 385 and 419.” After a minute of silence, I called out again but still nothing. I reached for my cell phone and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see it was dead again. So, once again, I was on my own, so much for having backup. I hoped they weren’t in harm’s way. Once I stepped out onto the third floor, it was dead silent.
I walked to the psych unit and tried the door, but it was locked. Then I heard a pounding sound, that seemed to come from an area near the elevator. I continued toward the noise, hoping to avoid any other creepy, glowing eyed people. Nothing so far. I reached the elevator and realized the pounding was coming from inside.
“Hello?” I yelled. “Anyone in there?”
“Can you hear me?” the person answered. “I’m stuck in here!”
I wedged my fingers between the doors and pulled as hard as I could. The doors slowly worked open. In the dark, I could see the elevator had stopped a couple of feet short of the floor.
“You there?” I asked.
“Officer Roman?” the man said.
“Yes, who’s there?”
“It’s Father Pierce. I was looking for Dr. Bennett.”
“Well, I haven’t seen him, give me your hand,” I said, reaching my hand up to the opening. He knelt down and held my hand, as I helped pull him through and guided him to his feet.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Father Harlan arrived to help me with Amanda. He asked me to go get Dr. Bennett, but when I got on the elevator, the power went out and I got stuck.”
“Who is Father Harlan?”
“He’s another priest, my Bishop sent him to come see Amanda. He’s a uh, specialist.”
“What kind of specialist?” I asked. He was acting weird, and the 911 call had said Amanda got loose and assaulted staff. Strange events were happening here, but it didn’t appear to be an assault.
“He’s an exorcist,” Father Pierce finally admitted.
“An exorcist? Are you kidding? That girl is sick.”
“Yes, I know she is. But she’s not responding to any treatment. Not to mention, have you noticed all the weird things going on? I had some evil face staring at me in the elevator.”
“Well, I had some guy with half his head missing chase me through the ER. Then on the 2nd floor, all the patients are wandering around and screaming.”
“This is why I called the Bishop. Per Catholic guidelines, Amanda meets all the criteria for a person possessed by a demon.”
“Jesus Christ,” I said.
“I know you don’t believe, but that is irrelevant. How did she manage to speak like your mother? How did she know things about your mother? I still have questions about that myself, by the way.”
“Leave my mother’s death out of this.” I’d been patient with the priest so far, but he was beginning to test my patience. “So what’s the plan? You two gonna sit there and chant over her, and that will make it all better?”
“Look, I don’t expect you to understand, but we do take precautions. That’s why I was looking for Dr. Bennett. We wanted him there to observe, both for legal and safety reasons.”
“Right. Well, whatever. I don’t know how much you can do with the power out like this. Where is Amanda now?”
“When I left, she was in her room on the fourth floor.”
“So, she hadn’t gotten loose or harmed anyone?”
“Not at all, not since her surgery, she’s been asleep.”
I nodded, not that he could see me.
“Any idea where Dr. Bennett might be?” I asked.
“If he’s not in his office, he’s probably on the unit somewhere.”
“We’ll check both, the unit door is locked.”
I went over near the psych unit again, Father Pierce followed behind me. I heard him continue to walk farther past me, down the hall.
“His office is empty,” Father Pierce called out.
“All right.” I knocked on the unit door to the psychiatric ward. There was no answer. I knocked several more times and still there was no response. “Back up,” I told the priest as I drew my firearm. I was sure he’d hate this, but I didn’t see any other choice. It was difficult to know where to aim in the dark, but I felt for the locking mechanism and fired several shots at it. On the fourth shot, the door swung open
“Do you have to shoot everything?” Father Pierce asked.
“You have your tools, I have mine.”
We stepped into the unit, which was just as quiet and empty as the rest of the hallway. I kept my gun drawn, since there was no telling what might jump out at us. As we made our way down the hall, I saw the unit tech standing with his back to us. I carefully approached with my gun trained on him.
“Hey, can you hear me?” I asked. He stood there and didn’t move at all. “Hello?” I said, but still no movement. I walked around in an arching pattern so I could face him, but kept my distance. He was looking straight down the hall, his eyes glowing yellow.
“Hey?” I said. “Are you okay? Where is everyone?”
“Upstairs,” he said, “waiting for you.”
Chapter 21
Father Harlan, 3:15 a.m.
I’ve always been a light sleeper. This night it came in especially handy. I won’t say I was expecting a phone call, but it had been a strange turn of events that brought me into town. I had just returned from a short mission trip to Haiti when my friend Jacob called me. Jacob and I were friends in high school. Years later, he went to law school, and I went to the seminary. We hadn’t spoken much since, which made his call a complete surprise.
He had finally met a wonderful young lady and asked her to be his wife. He asked me to preside over the wedding ceremony, which I was more than happy to oblige. I had a few weeks until my next assignment, so making the trip to see him would be a welcome break. I’d been doing an exorcism for the past several weeks, but hadn’t mentioned that to my friend. Very few people knew that was one of my duties, actually.
I’d only been out of seminary a short time when my Bishop asked me if I was interested in becoming an exorcist. We barely touched on the subject in seminary. Most of us didn’t think the Church even performed them anymore. Once I arrived at the training center at the Vatican, I learned how mistaken I was, how wrong we all were. During the four month course, they allowed me to apprentice with a few local priests, who’d been exorcists for years. I was amazed at how often these were performed. Some were mild cases that only took a few moments of
prayer. Others were long, exhausting rituals that still weren’t resolved, even after hours of exorcism. During my training, I learned that some people may undergo exorcisms for days or weeks on end, over decades, only to be offered bouts of relief, but no real deliverance or liberation. Others might be liberated in one session. There were so many factors involved; it was far from an exact science. When dealing with the supernatural, we are not dealing with science at all.
I answered the phone on the first ring with the Bishop called. He gave me a quick rundown of what Father Pierce had been dealing with at the hospital. From the sound of it, I had no doubt this was a case of possession. It not only sounded like a possession, but a serious one. Very rarely are those around the possessed person affected or harmed by the demon. This instance was a full on assault of some sort.
I climbed out of bed and got dressed. Double checking my bag, I made sure I had everything I needed. While there wasn’t an “exorcist’s kit” per se, there were certain items I kept with me in case the need arose. I had some small bottles of Holy Water handy, as well. The water was useful in varying degrees during an exorcism, but I always kept it handy. I made sure everything else was in place, and then headed to the hospital.
When I reached Father Pierce, on the fourth floor, I could see he was visibly distressed, although it was after three in the morning, so I’m sure we all were distressed on some level. I explained to him some of the ground rules and expectations for the methods we were about to employ. This was my common practice, because I’ve worked with some priests, who had to stay away from the exorcism, due to their own lack of faith.
After our conversation, I sent him to find Dr. Bennett, the psychiatrist on duty. I always prefer to have some medical personnel present, if possible. Some of them believed that the exorcism itself was a helpful ritual in using the power of suggestion. If a mentally ill person thought they were possessed, an exorcism could cure the person, using the power of suggestion, making them think the imaginary demon was gone. It was a type of placebo effect.