HAGEN: 1. Revelations

by Jadhe HAMILTON

  “So that’s what’s been putting you all into such a state? The assumption that we’ve been betrayed by the Sages?”

  “It’s not an assumption,” corrected Hugo.

  “Until proof of the contrary, it remains an assumption,” Tara interrupted, matter-of-factly. “After my desertion, I deserved no less than a mission of this magnitude. The mistake was mine: I shouldn’t have taken you with me. Enkaz told me the mission was for me. By taking you with me, I put you in danger. That wasn’t the Decision-Makers’ goal. Taking you with me was my initiative, and I apologize.”

  “What are you saying?” Emily asked, upset. “If you hadn’t taken them with you, you’d be dead right now!”

  “Maybe, maybe not. That’s exactly what the Decision-Makers wanted to see. Since Some of Them were ready to destroy me, this mission was their final decision... But I took you with me, and Nina is the one who almost paid the price.”

  “You’re confused!” exclaimed Emily. “You’re making excuses for Them! But the reality is much more complex than that!”

  Stanislas got up, entranced:

  “That’s enough! They’re on their way. They’re coming to listen...”

  “They watch us now,” Emily said, attempting to prove to Tara that the Decision-Makers weren’t as benevolent as she wanted them to believe.

  “After what Diane did, it’s normal, isn’t it?” she replied.

  “You don’t understand,” whispered Emily.

  “Silence!” shouted Stanislas. “They’ll be here soon. Let’s resume normal activity and try to control our thoughts. All of you, focus on pleasant ideas, and begin believing that the mission was a success. They won’t stay long... They never stay long...”

  A deadly silence fell around the table. How would anyone be able to have pleasant ideas in their minds now? Annoyed by the gloomy atmosphere, Tara sank into her chair and waited.

  Then, she suddenly felt an icy presence above their heads. Making a superhuman effort not to raise her eyes to the black angel who had come to observe them, her blood froze.

  “My omelet isn’t very good, is it?” asked Emily, falsely disappointed. “What do you all think of it?”

  “I think it’s excellent,” answered Mark.

  “What’s more, the mushrooms are perfectly cooked!” Stanislas added, swallowing another bite.

  “I watched a very nice wildlife documentary last night,” informed John.

  “Was it about reproduction?” asked Hugo.

  “No.”.

  “Then we’re not interested.”

  “Hugo!” cried Emily, appalled.

  “Are these organic potatoes?” Nina asked, showing Emily her fork full of mashed potatoes. “They taste delicious.”

  “Yes, thank you for noticing!”

  They continued to mechanically blurt out the first words that came to their minds, hoping to divert their own attention from the problems that really preoccupied them. Yet, their banalities were so ridiculous that Tara feared they would betray themselves.

  Nonetheless, the presence above their heads disappeared after a few minutes. The spy was gone. They sighed in relief.

  “How long is this going to last?” Tara asked in horror.

  “Until the Decision-Makers make up their minds about you,” Emily guessed, grimly.

  They exchanged worried looks. Nonetheless, they didn’t allow this incident to ruin the rest of their lunch. After the guard left, everyone understood the importance of keeping up good spirits in their home. From then on, they would make sure they remained united.

  “It’s about time!”

  Emma hugged Tara as if the savior herself had just arrived.

  “We saw each other three days ago,” Tara remarked as she kissed her.

  She looked at her sister. Aside from the obvious anxiety she could see in her eyes, Emma had changed dramatically in two months, just like she had. Radiant, she had put on a few pounds, the pounds of love. Her cheeks were slightly rounder. She was still thin, but she looked better. Her lovers name was Cyril. She had also changed her hairstyle: a shorter, younger, wilder look. Her azure eyes sparkled like her daughter’s. She looked reborn. Dressed in a very short, pink silk dress, she seemed ready to be devoured.

  “What’s wrong?” Emma asked, surprised by Tara’s amazed look.

  “Nothing... You look great, that’s all.”

  Emma smiled happily:

  “Now that I have time to take care of myself...”

  “Yes, that definitely helps,” Tara agreed, referring to the money transfer she had made to her two months earlier.

  “Without it, I never would have met Cyril. I never went out before. I didn’t have time.”

  “You must be ecstatic to be going on a trip with him!”

  “Yes, it’s my first trip with a man... Can you believe it Tara?! By the way, thanks for agreeing to taking care of Julie while I’m gone.”

  “But you’re not leaving until tomorrow, right?”

  “Yes, but she really wanted to see you. It was urgent.”

  Suddenly they heard heavy footsteps running towards them from the corridor.

  “Julie!” cried Emma. “How many times have I told you not to run like an elephant in the hallway, think of the neighbors below us!”

  But the little one arrived, smiling from ear to ear, throwing herself into Tara’s arms who marveled when she kissed her:

  “How pretty you are! You’re like a ray of sunshine in the big blue sky!”

  Julie responded with a huge grin, uncovering all her little baby teeth as she shyly folded her arms behind her back:

  “I missed you auntie...” she said softly.

  “I missed you too,” answered Tara, hugging her again, “even though we saw each other three days ago! But tell me, your hairdo is beautiful... did Mommy do your hair like that?”

  Julie nodded timidly:

  “It’s for the park...”

  “Julie,” began Emma, hugging her, “Mommy needs to talk a little with Auntie Tara, would you give us five minutes to talk between grown-ups? After that I promise, she’ll be all yours!”

  “Okay.”

  Julie gave Tara one last mischievous glance before running to her room, just as noisily as she had come.

  When they were alone, Emma grabbed her "Cherry Blossom" lipstick and began putting on her makeup in the hallway mirror.

  “I’m glad you came,” she began, without taking her eyes off the mirror.

  “Yes... I feel like something’s bothering you...”

  On these words, Emma turned to her and looked at her gravely:

  “The day after your last visit, Julie tried to poke out one of her classmates’ eyes with a straw.”

  Tara gazed at her, wide-eyed.

  “You don’t think it’s my fault, do you?” she said, defending herself.

  “No, not at all,” reassured Emma. “Only, for the past three days, she’s been asking for you a lot...”

  “What do you mean?”

  Emma tried to conceal her anxiety by continuing with her makeup, grabbing her mascara and turning around to face the mirror. But Tara could feel her concern nonetheless.

  Trying to keep her voice sounding natural, Emma answered:

  “At first, she just asked for you... But the night before last, she came to wake me up and told me I needed to call you. I didn’t know if she herself was aware of what she was saying to me... It was as if she were sleepwalking and giving me orders in a dream...”

  Tara stared at Emma, short of breath. She was having a very bad feeling about this. However, if she wanted to get Emma to talk, she couldn’t worry her. As if nothing was wrong, she asked:

  “What exactly did she want to tell me?”

  “I don’t know... I think it’s best if you ask her yourself. But don’t rush her. You’ll be spending a few days together. I’m sure it’ll do her good.”

  Tara couldn’t wait anymore. A visceral fear took hold of her as she strode across the hallway to J
ulie’s bedroom. The door was wide open. First, she discreetly looked inside to see what her niece was playing with: she was sitting on the floor playing like any normal little girl, holding two dolls who were fighting over who would get the unicorn.

  It was Tara’s turn to work now. If there was something wrong with her niece, she would find out right away:

  “Hey, my little candy cane,” she said, as she slowly entered the room. “Am I disturbing you?”

  “Not at all auntie. Look, they don’t agree on who’s going to get the unicorn anyway,” replied Julie, pointing to the two dolls.

  “It’s been a long time since the two of us have talked,” Tara said in a cheerful voice. “I’ve thought a lot about you, you know.”

  She scrutinized her niece in the hopes of sensing something, but she continued to play quite naturally. In the hopes that she would open up, Tara changed the subject:

  “How’s school going?”

  “Good,” replied the little girl as she went to pick up a third doll.

  “Do you have any friends?”

  “Yes, I have friends.”

  “What are the names of your two best friends?”

  This seemed to be the right question because Julie started to think:

  “Well… there’s Sebastian, he’s the boy who always sits next to me in class.”

  “Ah...” Tara said with interest.

  “And… there’s Justine too.”

  “Ok…”

  “Before there was Oscar too. But now I’m not friends with Oscar anymore because he was in love with me and he was too clingy.”

  “Aha!” Tara answered. “You don’t want to talk to him anymore?”

  “No, I want to kill him.”

  Tara froze on the spot. Her niece had said those words with such rage that she didn’t recognized her. Finally, the little one turned towards her with a big childlike smile:

  “I’m just joking auntie!”

  “Ah!” said Tara, still worried.

  She watched her niece play with the three dolls and the unicorn. A few seconds later, she resumed the conversation:

  “Your Mommy told me you tried to poke out a boy’s eyes with a straw?”

  “Yes, that’s true,” replied Julie straightforwardly, picking up the doll to her left.

  “It’s true?” asked Tara, surprised that her niece confessed so easily, without an ounce of remorse. “But Julie... why would you want to do such a thing?”

  “Because he plucked out my teddy bear’s eye...”

  “Oh! That wasn’t very nice of him... but still, you shouldn’t... "

  Suddenly, Julie turned to face Tara and stared at her with hateful eyes:

  “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

  She had pronounced those words with such cruelty that Tara was speechless. She was sure that it wasn’t her niece who had just spoken to her. Nonetheless, she didn’t lose her temper and continued talking to her:

  “That’s a very grown-up thing to say... where did you learn that?”

  “In my dreams.”

  “In your dreams?”

  “Yes, a lot of things happen in my dreams...”

  “What for example?” Tara asked apprehensively.

  “Well... I’m always in strange places...”

  “Strange?”

  “Yes. And there are creatures that come to talk to me. At first, I was afraid, but now I know they’re just dreams...”

  “What kind of creatures?” asked Tara, who was becoming more and more anxious.

  “Monsters. They talk about you all the time. They say you took something from them, and if you don’t give it back, they’ll take something from you too...”

  “What will they take from me?”

  Tara felt a part of herself dying as she listened to her niece.

  “What do you think?” she replied, as if nothing was wrong.

  “I don’t know,” Tara lied, hoping the answer would be different from what she expected.

  “All I know,” answered Julie, “is that you gave Hagen away for a child. If you take it back, it will cost you another child.”

  Tara’s heart stopped. Without saying a word, she got up, her legs almost giving way, and stumbled down the hallway to join her sister in the vestibule.

  “Emma?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you mind if I go to the park with Julie right now?”

  “Sure, no problem! But don’t you want to wait for me so I can come down with you? I’m just finishing up...”

  “That’s sweet of you Emma, but after a certain hour, there are too many kids on the playground, I’d prefer to leave right away.”

  “That’s true. I understand... Julie!”

  Julie came running, all excited.

  “Put your coat on. You’re leaving right away with auntie.”

  “Yes!” exclaimed Julie, throwing a loving glance at her aunt.

  “Yes, let’s go,” replied Tara, trying to look natural. “Let’s get your coat on and go downstairs. Emma, pass me her suitcase. Say goodbye to Mommy, you’ll see her again in a few days. There you go. Come on, let’s go.”

  Julie, excited, didn’t have to be told twice. The next thing they knew, they were on the street. Tara called a cab and jumped in with her niece. Her heart was pounding. She had just received a very clear threat from the demons: they would use Julie unscrupulously if she didn’t give Hagen back to them. If something happened to her niece, Tara would blame herself for the rest of her life.

  “Where are we going, auntie?” asked Julie, as she looked out the window, watching the buildings fly by. “The park is right here.”

  “I have friends who want to have a little fun with us. Do you mind if we go see them first?”

  “Okay.”

  Julie leaned back on the car seat. She was so small she could barely look out the window. Keeping an eye on her, Tara sent a message to everyone in the house to let them know that she would be arriving in ten minutes with her niece. She also said that Julie would be needing an exorcism.

  Although the car ride was quick, it seemed like an eternity. She concentrated on not alarming the demon inside her niece, not knowing how he would react if he understood what was about to happen to him. When they arrived at the entrance of the building, Emily opened the taxi door and Hugo picked Julie up without saying a word.

  “Auntie, who’s this?” Julie asked, worried.

  “A friend of mine, you’ll see, he’s very nice.”

  As she watched Hugo rush into the building holding Julie in his arms, she lost control of her emotions.

  “Come Tara,” called Emily. “We mustn’t waste time. We’re lucky the guards passed at noon, they won’t be back today.”

  “I don’t know what would become of me... if something happened to her...”

  “Don’t worry, we’ve warned Stanislas. Everything will be fine. Now go to your niece, she’ll worry if she doesn’t see you.”

  Tara’s legs were shaking so badly they could barely hold her weight. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to Julie.

  Emily grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the entrance of the building. When they entered the apartment, Tara rushed into the living room to join Julie and the others. The little girl was chatting with John, holding Max in her arms, while Hugo and Nina watched them guardedly.

  “Julie!”

  When she saw her aunt, Julie threw herself into her arms. In a small voice, she asked innocently:

  “What’s going on, auntie? Why aren’t we at the park?”

  “We’ll go to the park a little later,” Tara promised. “I just needed to see my friends first.”

  Looking down at her shoes, Julie didn’t answer. Everyone was silent. Tara took her in her arms and made her sit down on the cream-colored sofa.

  After a few seconds, she continued:

  “Earlier, at home, you told me Hagen was given for a child. What child are you talking about?”

  “I don’
t remember... I didn’t say that...” replied Julie in a trembling voice.

  Tara looked at Stanislas who was coming into the room. He sat down next to Julie and looked at her with his two empty eyes sockets before beginning:

  “Do you have many friends?”

  The second she saw him, with the gaping holes in the place of his eyes, Julie screamed uncontrollably, throwing herself into her aunt’s arms.

  “Don’t be afraid,” reassured Tara. “This is uncle Stanislas, he’s very nice. You can answer him.”

  The little girl looked down, scared of the old man. Shyly, she finally answered while holding on to her aunt tightly:

  “Yes…”

  “What do your friends look like?” Stanislas continued in a soft voice.

  “Like children... Just like me. They’re almost all in my class, except a few who are in the class next door.”

  “Ah! You have many friends then,” he guessed. “And do you have any classmates you don’t like?”

  It took Julie a little while to answer. She huddled closer to her aunt before addressing Stanislas in a shy voice:

  “There are boys I don’t like... they hit girls all the time.”

  “Do they hit you?” asked Tara.

  “They tried the day before yesterday. But they’ll never try again.”

  Mark and Tara looked at each other anxiously. Nina stood behind her while Hugo looked at the little girl apologetically.

  Stanislas stood up. He was ready. Immediately, Tara came between him and her niece.

  “No knives,” she warned.

  “Don’t worry. Hold her tightly, I’ll be right back.”

  The old man went calmly to his room and returned a few minutes later, holding an old manuscript in his hands, written entirely in braille. He leafed through it serenely and stopped on a specific page. Everyone in the room held their breath.

  “Auntie, what’s going on?”

  He approached Julie and put his hand on her forehead, while he read a prayer with his other hand. Julie, frightened, sought comfort in her aunt’s gaze. Tara held her hand tightly and looked at her with all her love.

  Stanislas began to recite the prayer in Hebrew. As soon as he began, Julie’s body started to contract as she tried to escape her aunt’s embrace. Tara could barely hold on to her four-year-old niece. Feeling the presence of the demon inside her niece’s body, an intense anger took hold of her. Her strength grew tenfold as she allowed Diane to deal with the problem hands-on.