Unearthly Realms

by Ron L. Carter

After Holly left, Markus told Ty he thought he should try and contact his mom Trudy, once again. He told Ty, “I have to be honest with you, I tried to contact her once before, but she was being watched over by an evil demon and it scared me so much I never went back.” That’s another reason why he was cowering in the closest at the old house when Ty found him. Not only was he afraid of the demons for himself, but he felt like he had let his mom down by not contacting and helping her just because he was scared of the demon. He felt like he abandoned her when she needed him most. Ty told him, “You can’t let that stop you. I’m sure you just didn’t know what to do to help her at that time.” Ty told him he probably would’ve been afraid to do something too without any help from someone. Since he had been hanging out with Ty, he had more confidence in himself and wasn’t afraid of the demons like he used to be. He now felt like he was ready to face the demon that was with his mom. He wanted to try and confront him and drive him away from her. Ty told Markus, “You don’t have to do it alone we’ll confront the demon together. I’ll be with you the entire time, I’ll be right by your side.”

  The last time Markus saw his mom she still hated herself for the way life turned out for her. She called it her “fate”. She was like so many others that have lost someone when they were young, she hated herself and she hated God. She felt like she didn’t deserve to lose Markus at such a young age. After his death, she went to the local pastor at her church, Pastor Terry, and told him that she was angry with God because he was so heartless and cruel for taking Markus. She said, “How could God take the child I love so much.” She told him that God was the creator, the all-knowing, almighty, who had created everything including Heaven and Earth. She believed that God had the ultimate control of lives, both good, and bad and he could’ve saved Markus if he wanted too. She told Pastor Terry that she and all her friends and family had prayed for Markus to be healed and yet God didn’t listen to her prayers. She tried every new medication, every doctor and every hospital trying to save him, but nothing helped.

  Pastor Terry told her he understood her grief, but asked her why she blamed God and why was she so angry with Him. He told her that people seem to always blame God before they blame Satan for bad things that happen to them. He said, “Satan is the cause of all evil in the world. Why aren’t you angry with him? He likes to pull people away from God. That’s what he wants and that’s how he works. The more he can pull you away from God, the stronger Satan gets.” He told her if she had to blame someone for her loss why not Satan, why God?” He told her that he “didn’t believe that God likes to see people suffer, but he does expect us to have faith in Him and to trust in His Word.” He told her that God expects us to be thankful for the smallest of blessings and if a child dies like Markus, we should thank God for that life and the privilege of having had him to love in the first place, even it was for a short time. He told her he knew this was a hard thing to accept and so many people can’t accept that concept because they are left heartbroken asking God why that happened to them. Some of those people can never live the life they had before or be the person they once were. He told Trudy, “Don’t let that happen to you. Try to be strong.”

  He also told her God does answer prayers, but sometimes, people believe that if they have enough faith in God they can pray the perfect prayer and God will answer it. He said, “Don’t always think that just because you have faith, God will say yes to your every prayer. Sometimes God can’t answer yes to our prayers; sometimes he has to say no. Just like our children, we don’t always give them everything they ask for.

  Pastor Terry told her that he also didn’t believe that Life on earth was predestined where God made a choice on who was to live and die before they were ever born. He said, “God didn’t make Markus sick, and he didn’t kill him either. Sometimes things just happen. We can’t explain them. God gave his only son, Jesus in death, so we might all have life. What we see in this world on Earth is not eternity because it’s just temporary. Do you want to have eternal life on earth? We’re all going to die someday. We all must die. Wouldn’t you rather have eternal life in heaven with your loved ones that have passed on before you? Sometimes life just seems unfair, when innocent people have to suffer, but if they wait and suffer long enough they’ll eventually see the righteousness of God’s plan emerge. You may not understand it now, but someday you will.”

  Trudy was one of those people that no matter what she heard from the pastor she wasn’t going to listen to him and his preaching. Her heart was broken and she still believed that God was giving her exactly what she deserved; he was punishing her for her sins and testing her faith. Markus’s dad had left her a few years earlier when Markus first got sick because he couldn’t or wouldn’t deal with all the sickness and pain that Markus was going through. He also didn’t know how to comfort and console Trudy to help her get through those bad times either. His only cowardly way out was to just abandon her and Markus in their time of need. Trudy was filled with tremendous gilt when Markus died. She felt guilty for Markus’s dad leaving, she felt guilty for not having enough faith in God and she felt guilty because she couldn’t stop the spread of the cancer that eventually took his life. The guilt she was carrying was almost more than she could bear and it led her away from God. She aligned herself with her demons and they took her down the path of hopelessness and despair.

  Markus knew he had to do something to try and stop her from sliding deeper into the darkness that was starting to possess her entire mind and body or she would be dead just like him. After Markus passed away, she became a loner and deserted the rest of her family. She moved to the bad side of town and started drinking heavy and doing drugs as often as she could get her hands on them. She fell into prostitution to help her get the money for her habits. She tried everything she could to try and mask the pain, but nothing really truly helped. She would have moments of remorse for the things she was doing, but they were fleeting moments as she continued to get her temporary fix.

  When Markus and Ty finally caught up with her she was all alone and living in a small run down shack. She was nursing, yet another miserable hangover, as she sat at the table just staring out into space. She was holding a cigarette in one hand and a drink of whiskey in the other and her head hurt so bad that she could only think about that moment and nothing else. Markus was disappointed with the way she looked as he said to Ty, “Can you believe she was once a beautiful woman?” The drugs, alcohol and cigarettes had taken a toll on her body. Deep wrinkles were now lining her once beautiful skin. Her hair was stringy with patches of gray on the sides. The small house was cluttered and dirty and there were dirty dishes still in the sink from a few days earlier. Markus said to Ty, “I really don’t know where to start to help her.” Ty replied, “We’ll stick around with her until we find a way for you to make contact. We’ll stay as long as it takes Markus. She doesn’t deserve this kind of life. She was a good mother to you and she did everything she could’ve done for you. She deserves our help and to know there is hope, life after death.”

  Ty and Markus had only been there for a short time when a powerful dark demon came into the room. It was an ugly, hairy deformed looking creature with thick dark eyebrows, red eyes, long white fangs, and sharp claws at the end of his fingers. When it saw them it growled to them, “What do you think you’re doing here?” Markus told him that Trudy was his mom and he was there to help her. The demon became very angry and he took a lunge at Markus. He grabbed Markus by the arm and slung him against the wall. Ty tried to intervene as he immediately charged the demon. This was the most powerful demon Ty had encountered so far and they wrestled back and forth throwing each other against the sink and then against the wall. After Markus collected himself he went to Ty’s aid and helped in the fight. After a few minutes of fighting both Ty and Markus the demon stopped and said, “What is it that you want with her?” Markus replied, “She’s my mom and we’re here to he
lp her get rid of you!” The demon laughed in a deep low growl as he said, “You can’t help her, and besides she belongs to me now.” “We’re going to try.” said Markus. The demon was furious with him as he screamed, “She gave her soul to Lucifer a long time ago, and I’m her keeper now. I make sure she stays on the right path with his wishes and you and no one else can intervene to change that.” Markus looked at him and told him that they were going to do everything they could because they weren’t going to give up on her. Markus told the demon, “We’re leaving for now, but we’ll be back and we’re bringing help!” The demon replied, “I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Markus and Ty left and decided they needed to figure out exactly what they were going to do to be able to fight the powerful demon and make contact with Markus’s mom. They knew the demon had too much control at that point for them to try and pull her away from him. They knew it wasn’t possible at this point. After thinking about it for a while Markus said, “I have an idea. Let’s contact Pastor Terry from my mom’s old church and see if he’ll help us.” He told Ty that Pastor Terry had tried to help his mom once before so maybe he would give it another try. Markus told Ty that maybe the two of them could go to him while he was sleeping and plant the idea into his head that he needed to help Trudy. Ty replied, “You think that’ll work?” Markus said, “That’s exactly what we need to do. At least it’s worth a try.” They knew that pastors, with the help of a Catholic priest, were the only ones that could truly get rid of powerful demons spirits once the human body was unable to fight them off.

  That evening they went to Pastors Terry’s home and waited for him to fall asleep. Once he was in a deep sleep, they started tapping him on the shoulder so he would wake up. While he was still in that half asleep and half-awake mode Ty and Markus began to whisper in his ear. “Find Trudy, help her.” They kept saying it over and over again until the pastor got out of bed and pulled a notepad and pen from his nightstand and wrote down the message. “Find Trudy, help her” on his notepad. Markus gave Ty knuckles as he said, “We did it. I think we got his attention.”

  Markus and Ty stuck around until the next morning when they were convinced their message had gotten through to Pastor Terry. They weren’t going to just let him put the message aside and eventually forget about her. Pastor Terry was still trying to figure out if the message he received during the night to help Trudy was from God or some other source, but he knew that it was so strong he had to find her and do something to help her. He spent a few days doing some research on her whereabouts and eventually went to Trudy’s family members until he was able to locate where she was living.

  When Pastor Terry first arrived at her door she was not very happy to see him. The demon inside her was telling her to get rid of him. Pastor Terry knew she was really embarrassed that he found her in that condition. At first she wasn’t going to let him in, but he told her that he’d received a message from God that told him he needed to find her and help her. He aggressively pushed the door open and walked in and sat down at her kitchen table. As they were sitting at the table she asked him in a very angry voice, “What makes you think I need your help Pastor?” Pastor Terry was very patient with her as he said, “It’s easy to see that you need someone’s help.” The demon was directing her conversation as she screamed back at him that she didn’t want or need his help. Pastor Terry had seen enough demon possessions to know that she was no longer in control of what she was doing or saying and that she was demon possessed. He slowly and deliberately told her that he had gotten a message in the middle of the night from God that she needed help. He told her that God loved her and that she was a daughter of God and He wanted her back. For a short moment the demon in her lashed back with anger and in a deep growling and gurgling voice as she said, “He doesn’t love me, if he loved me he would’ve saved Markus.” Pastor Terry didn’t let the demon’s voice deter him as he held the Bible in his hands and started praying and telling the demon to back away and leave them alone. It took about fifteen minutes of constant prayer and a soothing loving approach before Trudy started to soften just a bit as the demon backed away. While Pastor Terry was praying, she asked God to forgive her for what she had done to her life. Pastor Terry knew he couldn’t get the demon out of her that easily so after a while he asked Trudy if he could bring in a Catholic priest friend of his to meet her so they could try to expel the demon from her body and house. After a while she very reluctantly agreed, thinking this would be a good way to get rid of him, not thinking he would really come back. He set up an appointed time for early the next day to return with Father Carlos Di Vecchio from the local Catholic Church. Father Di Vecchcio had experience in exorcism over the years and was willing to help Trudy expel the demon if he felt it was necessary.

  When Pastor Terry and Father Di Vecchcio returned the next day Trudy was there, but she was not a willing participant. She was nervous and anxious about the meeting, wishing she hadn’t made it. She first told them she had changed her mind and didn’t want to go through with the meeting at all. After coaxing her for a while, they were finally able to put her at ease and Pastor Terry and Farther Di Vecchcio sat her down and starting praying for her. Ty and Markus were watching the entire ordeal. As soon as the prayers started the demon became outraged and he started huffing and making loud noises as he was throwing pots and pans across the room. He was growling and screaming as the prayers from Pastor Terry and Father Di Vecchcio continued. He wasn’t happy with them being there trying to take Trudy away from him and the more they prayed the angrier he became. The demon through a picture of Markus that was sitting on the television at Father Di Vecchcio and it just missed his head. He immediately stood up from the table and sprinkled holly water all around them. He held a large cross out in front of him as he went around the kitchen and the rest of the house sprinkling holly water and praying at the same time. He joined back up with Pastor Terry and together they started demanding that the demon leave her body and her house as they prayed. The growls and screams from the demon were deafening. Markus was terrified as he watched what was happening to his mom.

  Trudy fell to the floor and her body began to contort as if she was having an epileptic seizure. There was foam coming out of her mouth as Pastor Terry wiped it away with a cloth and Father Di Vecchcio continued his denouncing of the demon spirit. The demon had control of her for a long time and he was powerful within her. He wasn’t willing to give up without a fight. He threw things against the wall and made loud growling noises that came from deep in Trudy. He struggled to gain control of her but the prayers and Word of God were slowly melting away at his ability to fight back. His strength was slowly beginning to fade the more they prayed. Before his strength was completely gone he flew out the kitchen window breaking it in a million pieces. As he left they could hear his agonizing and piercing voice say, “I’ll be back.”

  Once he was gone Trudy looked up from the floor and said, “What happened, is he gone?” Father Di Vecchcio reached down and helped her to the chair as he said, “Yes, he’s gone for now, but he’ll return. You have to leave this place because it’s his safe haven and he’ll come back for you.” Pastor Terry told her that he had made arrangements with the church and that she could stay in one of the small homes the church owned in town until she was back on her feet again. The church used the homes for exactly that purpose; helping those in need get back on track with their lives. They stayed with her until she collected all of her belonging and left with them. For the first time, since Markus had died, she was feeling like someone really cared about her and was concerned about how she felt. Once she was in the safe house, she started the slow process of trying to get clean and fight off the demons. She slowly began her recovery back to good health. It had been a long hard struggle for her, but that part of her life was soon to be over. She was no longer going to blame God for anything or believe she deserved to be punished for something she f
elt she had no control over. She was finally able to realize that God did love her in spite of the self-destructive path she had taken.

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  Chapter 21 – Markus makes Contact with his Mom and Moves on