Possessed

by Peter Laws

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Matt said, ‘but I still think you did the right thing …’

  ‘I did the right thing for me. But dammit, I should have taken her to see Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or Wiley Fucking Coyote or whoever the hell else she wanted. But I didn’t and she’s gone − but hey, Matt, at least my principles weren’t compromised, so there’s always that, huh? …’ A tear dropped from his eye.

  ‘You said you were an atheist till tonight,’ Perry said. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, that’s the biggest irony of all, isn’t it? See most of my clients just spat on crosses and swore in my face the usual stuff. Fine. Then after the ritual, trick or not, they were cured. Most of them did the same tonight, and they wound up dancing and celebrating and it was beautiful. But a couple of them … Jesus …’ He didn’t just shudder, he seemed to jerk at the thought of it. ‘Firstly, it was Richie … my God, he did the things you see in the movies.’

  Claire hugged her arms into herself. ‘What things?’

  ‘I mean his eyeballs … they rolled up white.’

  Matt said, ‘People sometimes do that in a heightened state of—’

  ‘Damnit Matt, I saw him lift off the ground, right in front of me. Do you hear me? I said he lifted off the ground and I saw the space under his feet. And he’s as big as a bull but he just came drifting towards me. So I ran. I screamed and I ran … and then later on, just now, I saw the girl … Abby. She was wandering barefoot in the corridors, doing the same with her eyes, and when she saw me, she turned and floated towards me. She was saying Bennie … little Bennie. My grandad used to call me that. And I just wanted to keep running until I came up here to hide. And my phone kept ringing the whole time. I was too scared to answer it, because I knew who’d be on the line. Who was on the line every single time she picked up that damn—’

  He jumped, they all did, when the door suddenly opened. Nupa came out, still shaking. ‘All done. Took a while to figure it out but I’ve found their backup system for comms. The police are on their way.’

  ‘Thank God,’ Claire said.

  ‘Thank Wi-Fi.’ Nupa’s half-smile faded. ‘What’s up with him?’

  ‘Ignore him,’ Perry said. ‘He’s lost his mind.’

  ‘Let’s go back to the chapel,’ Matt said. ‘There’s space for us all and we can barricade the door.’

  Perry nodded. ‘Excellent idea. You folks head there now, and I’ll stay and talk to Bernie for a bit. Alone. I’d like to pray for him.’

  ‘Then pray for him in the chapel,’ Matt said. ‘It’s a good place for it.’

  Kissell nodded. ‘Matt’s right, Simon. We should all stick together.’

  Perry’s eyes started darting a little as they all started to walk back down the stairs. They moved through the corridor as quietly as they could and reached the chapel. Matt held the door open as the others filed in, then he went in too. They were all inside when Matt noticed that Perry was the only one still out in the corridor, hands on his hips. ‘Please, just let me pray for my old friend in private. We’ll follow you in.’

  ‘What are you doing?’ Matt frowned at him. ‘Why are you so desperate to be alone with him?’

  ‘Because he deserves forgiveness … for all of his tricks, I mean.’

  ‘Simon, I’ve already explained about the hand thing.’

  ‘Just get inside,’ Matt said, then he froze. ‘Wait …’

  Perry’s face dropped when Matt turned back to the others.

  ‘The box,’ Matt said.

  Perry said nothing.

  ‘What box?’ Kissell was settling a shaky hand onto one of the chapel chairs. ‘You mean Tom’s box?’

  Nupa nodded. ‘Yeah. Your other gizmo. The one you put a tape player in. Remember?’

  Kissell blinked a few times. ‘I didn’t put anything in that box. I swear.’

  ‘Get in here, Perry,’ Nupa said, ‘and close that damn door.’

  Perry laughed, still in the corridor. He pointed through to Kissell. ‘Look at him, he’s had a nervous breakdown. Can’t remember anything he’s—’

  ‘Wait … wait.’ Matt put his hand on the door frame. ‘He couldn’t have. We picked him up from the airport. Then we went to the prison, which is where we heard about the box … yeah, that’s right. Then we dug it up and I took it home straight after. The tape was already inside. He couldn’t have put something in there.’

  ‘He could have put it in there today,’ Perry said.

  ‘No …’ Matt shook his head. ‘Because my daughter said she heard that box singing.’

  Perry’s face dropped.

  ‘Close the fucking door,’ Nupa said.

  Claire suddenly stood next to Matt, staring at Perry. ‘And when we dug that box up, you said you wanted to destroy it, didn’t you? You said you wanted to take it away and burn it, all by yourself. But Kissell was the one who said no. He said we should bring it here to The Reed. And I remember how scared you were, when he said that. Like you wanted this box gone …’

  ‘Holy shit … you put that tape in there.’ Matt felt his grip on his pole tighten. ‘You must have. Before Tom even buried it. Before Kissell even came into the country.’

  Perry started backing away, and his shoulder pressed against a small painting of a jetty of boats. The frame slid to the side, until it fell to the floor. ‘No, you’re wrong. Tom must have put the tape in there. That explains it.’

  Matt shook his head. ‘No, it doesn’t. You wanted that box destroyed without anybody seeing … and now that we’ve found the tape you want Kissell gone so he’d be blamed for putting it there when—fucking hell, Perry. Why?’

  Perry said one thing before he turned. ‘You’re all crazy. You’re all … demonised.’ Then he ran away, unsteady feet stomping against the carpet. His loping shoulder dragging against the wall, knocking picture after picture to the floor.

  Matt turned to Claire. ‘Sorry, I know he’s out there but we’re going to have to close this door.’

  ‘Screw him. Close it,’ she said.

  He blinked, closed it, then for a moment they all stood in the chapel, trying to get their brains around it all. Nupa was shaking her head. ‘I’m lost. Why would Perry put a tape in the box?’

  Matt was about to speak, but Claire had already picked up a candle. She looked into the flame and spoke to it.

  ‘I know why,’ she said.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  She didn’t explain it straight away, because Matt and Nupa knew they’d already been distracted enough. They started looking for things to drag towards the door, to barricade themselves in. There was hardly anything to use.

  ‘Where are the bloody pews?’ Nupa said. ‘Where are the chairs, at least?’

  ‘There are none,’ Matt said. ‘They’ve gone trendy. It’s all beanbags and cushions. Apart from … that.’

  Nupa followed his gaze to an oak table, sitting near the back of the room. They all dragged it towards the door, including Kissell, who wiped his wet cheeks as he went. It wasn’t the biggest of altars, and it wasn’t that heavy either. But it was better than a pile of beanbags, that was for sure. They lodged it into place against the door, and with a sigh Matt took a quick glance around the chapel, just to make sure it felt secure. At least the window in here had its thick curtain closed.

  There was a strange-looking water fountain buried in the wall, with water trickling over a pile of smooth white pebbles. The sound spoke of tranquility and peace. It sounded terribly out of place in this hellhole. Each corner had candles on long metal poles, burning softly. He went to blow them out, but Kissell put out a hand and said, ‘Please, let them shine.’ Matt shrugged and said, okay. He’d already decided against turning the main electric light off. He was worried eyes outside might see it click off. He didn’t want to give any reason for any of them to come up and find this room. Not before the police got here.

  He saw Nupa sinking into the circle of cushions, where Claire sat staring. ‘Well?’ Nupa said. ‘Out wit
h it.’

  Matt joined them and waited.

  Claire took a breath, ‘You were right, Matt. I did see Tom that day.’

  ‘What day?’ Nupa asked.

  ‘The day Justine was killed,’ she said. ‘I was painting at home and I saw Tom standing in the fields near our house. He was watching the windows and so I was scared. Simon already told me that he was probably possessed.’

  ‘And you believed him?’

  ‘I wasn’t sure, but Simon was in London all day and Tom was out there watching me. I was scared, so I just got in my car and drove to the next town, Sneddon. He followed me. He must have had his car. He found me in the park, sitting by the lake …’ She trailed off and touched her chest.

  ‘What did he want?’ Matt said.

  ‘He was upset. He asked me if I knew, and of course I said, did I know what …’ She sniffed and reached for one of the free cushions. ‘He thought that Justine was having an affair with Simon. Had done for months.’

  Nupa’s eyebrows shot up, and looked at Matt.

  ‘Course, I didn’t believe him. Simon always told me that the possessed tell lies. And Tom really was mentally unstable, you could see that at church sometimes. So I just … kinda … snapped. I shouted at him. I said he was a mess. That he needed help, and whether it was the Devil or his mind talking, he had to stay away from me and Simon. I was … cruel, I think. I thought that he might respond to a stronger message. Simon was always so soft with him. So kind.’ That last word made her laugh, bitterly.

  ‘So how did Tom react?’ Matt asked.

  ‘He sat there and scratched his face till he bled. Called himself horrible names. So, I ran to my car. I drove home and that night Simon came straight from London to the pub. We’d started doing that once a week. It was my idea … to help us get closer.’

  Matt shimmied forward a little. ‘And did you tell Simon, about what Tom said?’

  ‘Of course. A rumour like that could have ruined his career. I just figured this stuff about Justine and Simon was another part of the possession … a lie …’ She stopped talking and stared up at the candles.

  ‘And yet …’ Matt said. ‘Part of you thought Tom might be right, didn’t it?’

  Her eyelids fluttered. She sucked her lips in and slowly, with much pain, nodded. ‘I guess it was just the looks Simon gave Justine sometimes, in town. That and his … his distance from me … you know? We hadn’t …’ Her voice caught and she looked at Nupa. ‘We hadn’t in a long time.’

  Nupa covered Claire’s hands with hers. The touch brought Claire’s tears out.

  ‘But Tom had no evidence and the main thing was he really was losing his mind, and me … I’m not very … confident in myself. So when I told Simon that same night at the pub, he was horrified. He said Tom was completely wrong and that the demon must be going after us now, with a pack of lies to hurt us. So he went straight over to do the exorcism. He came home and said it worked … until …’

  ‘Till what?’

  ‘Justine called him. She got back from Brownies that night and said Tom was acting wild and strange. She asked Simon to come round again and he did—’

  Matt’s mouth was open. ‘He went round, later?’

  ‘Yes, but he didn’t stay long. I couldn’t handle it. I kept pacing the floor at home, then I called him. I told him it wasn’t his business and he should leave them both alone. He said he was still in the car outside their house, praying before going in. He was worried about her, and I guess I got angry, or jealous. I told him to come home straight away.’

  ‘And did he?’

  ‘He didn’t want to. He was scared for her, but I was insistent. So he started the car and came straight home, and all this time I thought he could have saved her life, if it wasn’t for my jealousy. But now I know. It wasn’t my fault, or even Tom’s … it was his. Because it was Simon who killed her.’

  ‘What? This doesn’t make any sense,’ Nupa shook her head. ‘Tom confessed. Simon didn’t kill her.’

  ‘Not with his own hands …’ Matt was starting to nod. ‘But think about it. Perry has an affair with a parishioner but he’s petrified he’ll be found out. If he is, he’ll lose his wife, his job. Along comes this woman’s husband, seeking counsel. He’s blatantly suffering from depression and paranoia. So what does Perry do?’

  ‘He sees an opportunity …’ Claire said.

  ‘Exactly. Perry warps Tom’s already brittle mind into some sort of spiritual conspiracy.’

  ‘He even took Tom’s medication away. He said they were making him worse.’

  Matt sighed and shook his head. ‘He tells him there’s a demon in him … of murder no less. Baal-Berith. And you just realised this, didn’t you …?’ Matt turned to Claire. ‘I saw your face, in the Ash Suite, just now.’

  Kissell spoke up. ‘I don’t follow.’

  ‘When I smashed the box. As soon as that happened, you wouldn’t take Simon’s hand, would you?’

  ‘What are you talking about, Matt?’ Nupa said.

  Claire bent over to cry.

  ‘I’m saying that look on your face, when you saw the tape recorder. I thought it was confusion but … but it was recognition. Wasn’t it?’

  She nodded into her hands. ‘That recorder was mine. I’ve had it for years, and I liked how retro it was. So I used it as a student. I kept it in my art room, but then it went missing … he must have taken it. As soon as I saw it in the box, I knew. Simon must have used it, to provoke Tom. He and Justine must have been together, after all.’

  Matt started pacing, taking it in. ‘So Justine picks up an innocent box from a car boot sale, and Perry somehow sticks that recorder inside it. And all the while Perry is praying with Tom, telling him that demons have voices, at the same time he finds a way of making that tape play a message in the box. Like those little gizmos he made for your paintings. No wonder he wanted to destroy it on his own.’

  She gripped her folded arms to her and rocked.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Matt said. ‘And who’s to say that was even Tom at your doorbell?’

  Claire looked up. ‘What?’

  ‘You showed me it. It was just a figure in chef’s trousers. Who’s to say that wasn’t your husband pretending to be him? It’s just technique after technique, trick after trick to slowly convince a man he wasn’t in control … but the demon was. Maybe there was no exorcism that night at all. Maybe he goaded him to finally do it. Like … like one of those damn puppets in his church office.’ A sudden, ice-cold image spiked into Matt’s mind – shockingly sharp and detailed. Of Perry whispering through Tom’s window that night with the voice of a demon … the same voice that came from the box …

  She’s a slut, she hates you, she’s going to humiliate you … and you need to stop her …

  Nupa looked over to Kissell, ‘And you are involved in this?’

  ‘No, I swear.’

  ‘He couldn’t have been. The tape was put there before he even—’

  Matt stopped dead, because something crashed outside. Claire didn’t flinch or move at all. She was too lost in the nightmare swirls of memory. But the rest of them were staring at the curtain.

  ‘Oh, no. They’re at the window,’ Kissell gasped.

  ‘No, they’re not.’ Matt pushed himself up. ‘We’re too high up.’

  ‘But they can rise up. I saw them!’

  ‘They’re not bloody flying.’ Matt rushed over and peeked through the crack in the curtain. It was too dark to see outside, not with the glare of the chapel lights, so he nodded for Nupa to switch them off after all. The room plunged into nothing more than candlelight and he looked out again. Just as he did, he heard a loud shouting coming from somewhere outside.

  ‘Keep an eye on that door.’ Matt popped the latch and started to raise the window, a tiny amount. It wouldn’t go far. But a small gap was quite enough to hear and enough to see, because now his eyes had adjusted to the light.

  He could see some of the windows of the lobby, a few floors bel
ow. Only now, the glass was smashed and gaping. The curtains were flapping wild in the wind, and scattered on the gravel path below he saw chair after chair, where someone had thrown them through, out into the dark.

  Then he saw a figure, jogging around the path, something shiny twinkled in his hands. A set of keys. It was Perry, and he was running back around the building, towards the lake, which Matt knew was where the lift door was. The main entrance to the entire place.

  Just as Perry went to turn the corner, he cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted at the black woods again. Only now, with the chapel window open, Matt could understand it.

  ‘Come back! Come back in!’ Perry shouted. ‘I’ve unlocked the doors. And look. They’re up there. In the chapel. They’re mocking you!’

  For a split second, Matt saw Perry slide his head back, and he looked right at him. For the strangest moment, a breathless, shivering moment, the lobby lights picked out Perry’s eyes. Even from this distance, Matt saw a creepy trick of the light, as if his eyeballs were luminescent and burning with yellow fire. Then he was gone, running hunched over and around the corner, opening whatever doors were left, and all the while crying out for the possessed to come back home, to find them.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Matt took a few, unsteady steps back from the window. ‘We need to go … now.’

  Nupa stared at him. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘It’s Perry. He’s calling them all up here.’

  A ghastly wave of fear washed across her. He saw her eyes grow fixed and forward. The halting of her chest.

  He went on. ‘These doors are not going to hold. Not if there’s a few of them.’

  Claire squeezed the pillow she was holding and flung it across the room with a grunt of anger. ‘Damn him.’

  ‘The roof?’ Matt said. ‘It’s flat, isn’t it? Can we get up there?’

  Nupa stopped for a moment, bit her lip, and nodded. Locking herself back into action. ‘Yeah, it’s flat. We put some cameras up there. Easy to defend, I guess. There’s a door at the top of the very highest stairwell. I have the keycode.’