by Wood, Rick
Derek perched himself against the fence outside the house and invited Jason to do the same. Eddie did not come closer. He remained leant against the car, a safe distance away, eyeballing Jason from a distance.
“I suppose your first question,” Derek began, “is how on earth did we determine that this boy is possessed?”
“Yes. How are you not sure the help this boy needs is psychiatric, rather than spiritual?”
“A very good question,” Derek smiled at Jason, gesticulating enthusiastically with his hands. He was clearly excited to prove to the great sceptic, once and for all, that he was wrong.
Eddie was not so eager. He leant back with his arms folded and his eyebrows sunk into a frown.
“You see, Mr Aslan –”
“Call me Jason.”
“Very well, Jason. You see, the majority of these cases we are invited to, I would say around ninety-eight percent, we determine that there is nothing of ‘spooky’ origin whatsoever, and we advise the family to take the victim to a psychiatrist. We must go through a rigorous testing process before deciding on such an extreme decision so as to perform an exorcism.”
“And what is this rigorous testing process?”
“You attended the lecture, Jason, you must surely remember. This boy’s bed shook whilst he was completely still, objects moved of their own accord. He even spoke another language.”
Jason sighed. “Speaking another language is not necessarily sign of a ghost. You don’t know where he picked up that language, you don’t know what he sees on TV or hears at school.”
“It’s a demon, not a ghost. And, I’m afraid you don’t quite understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
“Well, this language he was speaking. It was not French, or Italian, it was Akkadian.”
Jason looked confused. He tried to think of where he might have heard that language before, but couldn’t. He shifted slightly and turned back to Derek.
“I don’t know that language.”
“Well no, you wouldn’t, would you?” Derek smiled. “Because it doesn’t exist anymore. It was used around 2000 BC, in ancient Mesopotamia, which today would probably be Iraq or Kuwait. Can’t think of any television programs to feature that.”
Derek stepped toward the front door. Eddie couldn’t help but feel a little smug as he followed Jason along the short path to the house surrounded by overgrown grass and dead flowers.
Derek stopped before he knocked on the door and turned to Jason.
“Oh, I almost forgot. There are a few health and safety issues I need you to abide by.” He looked Jason dead in the eye. “Number one, you do not move from your spot in the room. Number two, you do exactly as I tell you at all times, without question. Number three, and possibly the most important – whatever it does, or says, you do not talk to it. Ever.”
“Got it.”
“I’m being serious, Mr Aslan. You may not believe it yet, but what we are dealing with is pure evil, demons straight from hell. Do you understand?”
“Clear as day.”
Derek knocked on the door. Jason glanced over his shoulder at Eddie, as if wanting someone to exchange an amused look with, but got no such reaction. He prepared his video camera in his hand and followed Derek into the house.
Jane Abbot, the mother of the boy, shook Derek’s hands, followed by Jason and Eddie. She was overweight, with curly hair and a bright-red face. She wore clothes as if she was a repressed housewife in the 1940s. Every item in the house was covered, either by plastic cloth or fastened by duct tape.
“Mrs Abbot, it’s good to see you,” Derek greeted her.
“Yes, thank you so much for coming.”
“My pleasure. Do you mind if we come in?”
She nodded timidly and welcomed them in, as Derek introduced Jason and Eddie as his partners.
“It’s nice to meet you all. Thank you so much for coming.”
“Mrs Abbot,” Jason interrupted. “Can I just ask – why is the furniture either covered or fastened down?”
“Well.” She looked to the floor and fiddled with the apron loosely tied around her waist. “I just had to. Everything that was loose just kept flying about the place.”
“And taping them down has stopped it?”
“No, to be honest with you. It hasn’t.”
She turned and led them into the living room, fetching them each a cup of tea as they perched on the edge of the sofa.
“How is Billy?” Derek asked. Almost as if requested, a loud bang and a morbid scream shuddered the ceiling above them.
Mrs Abbot took that has a sufficient reply and forced a sad smile, avoiding eye contact with anyone.
“Are you planning on filming this?” she directed at Jason.
“Yes,” he answered. “If it is all right with you?”
“What’s it for?”
“Oh, just for me. As a record.”
She nodded loosely, vacantly, her mind somewhere else.
“Please relax,” Derek comforted her. “We are the real deal. We will help your son. I promise.” He smiled at her and she smiled back her first genuine smile of the evening so far.
Derek stood and placed his cup of tea down. “Do you mind if we go up?”
“Of course.”
He placed a reassuring hand on her arm and gave her the faintest of nods. He went up the stairs slowly, looking around himself, followed by Jason then Eddie. The walls were void of pictures, now just a series of vacant hooks going up the stairs; presumably taken down because of the boy.
The floor-boards creaked beneath them as they approached the room with caution. Derek slowly placed his hand on the door handle, pushed it down ever so slightly, and opened the door as carefully as he could.
It was freezing. Despite the hallway and the downstairs being toasty and warm, this room made them shiver as soon as they set foot over the threshold. Jason glanced back at Eddie, who hadn’t even registered the coldness. Eddie was used to this.
Derek approached the bed where a boy lay asleep. He pointed to the far side of the room and instructed Jason to stand there as Eddie took his place next to Derek.
Jason took out his video camera and began filming, standing in the place he had been instructed to stand.
Derek put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and gave him a gentle nudge. The boy stirred and looked up at Derek with groggy eyes.
“Billy, my name is Derek,” he told him in a quiet, comforting voice. “This is Eddie, and behind me is Jason. Can you tell me, please, Billy, is this you that I’m talking to?”
Staring up weakly, the boy faintly nodded his head.
“Thank you, Billy, you’re doing brilliantly. Can you tell me, are you alone in there?”
With a glance at Eddie and Jason, who were gazing back, awaiting his answer, he looked back at Derek and faintly shook his head.
“No. Thank you, Billy. This thing in there with you. They are nasty, am I right?”
Billy’s eyes welled up. He didn’t nod or shake his head this time; instead a tear fell from his eye.
“Okay, thank you, Billy, you’ve done really well. This is Eddie.” He lifted his hand to point to Eddie behind him. “He is going to get the demon out of you, and I am going to help. Do you understand?”
Billy nodded.
“This means we are going to have to provoke the demon to reveal itself. Which means you are going to have to be really brave for me. Is that okay?”
Billy nodded and closed his eyes as if to brace himself for a sickening blow.
“You’ve done really well, Billy, well done.”
Derek nodded at Eddie and took his place across the room.
Jason watched with awe, undecided about what he thought about the whole event, gawping at Eddie kneeling next to the child and opening his palm. He moved his hand above the child’s head in circular motions.
“In the name and by the power of our Lord, Jesus Christ, demon reveal yourself,” he whispered so faintly Jason could b
arely hear it.
“Demon, be snatched away and driven by the church of God and from the souls made to the image and likeness of God. Demon, you will be not redeemed by the precious blood of the Divine Lamb.”
The boy’s chest rose in pulsating motions. The boy’s eyes had closed and his body flopped, all apart from his chest, which rose in repetitive motions.
“Most cunning serpent, reveal yourself.”
The boy’s chest rose and vibrated in violent twitches.
Jason’s eyes widened. He glanced at Derek and turned back to Eddie knelt over the boy. Was he not going to do anything about this? Why was a doctor not present?
“You shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God’s elect, and sift them as wheat. You will reveal yourself.”
The boy’s twitching grew furious. His whole body shook. Foam gathered in his mouth and Eddie rose to his feet, keeping his hand out over the boy, moving faster and faster in circular motions.
“The most high God commands you, demon, show yourself!”
Jason couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Billy was in a full, uncontrollable seizure and they were doing nothing. He needed urgent medical help; people could swallow their tongue and choke, or end up with irreparable brain damage should they strike their head on something. He needed to do something. He needed to stop it somehow.
“He, with whom, in your great insolence, you still claim to be equal. He commands you. Demon, I command you, show yourself!”
“Stop!” Jason cried out, desperately rooted to the spot.
“Quiet,” demanded Derek, adamant nothing would interrupt, knowing that bringing forth the demon was a crucial part.
“He’s having a seizure, he needs help!” Jason cried out.
“Jason, Mr Aslan – please be patient. Once the demon is present, you will have your evidence.”
“He could die!”
The boy’s fit had become uncontrollably ferocious. His head hurled out numerous times, narrowly hitting a full strike against the headboard behind him. Eddie just stood over him, repeatedly shouting for the demon to show itself.
Jason had to do something. He couldn’t let this go on.
Without a second thought, he lurched forward toward Eddie. Derek stood in the way and stopped him, pushing him back up against the wall.
“What are you doing?” Derek demanded.
“Can’t you see? This boy needs serious help.”
“Yes, I can see, and that is why you must not interfere. Do as I instruct.”
Jason pushed Derek off him and heaved himself out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Derek decided not to go after him. What was happening in that room was more important.
Almost as soon as Jason had stormed away, the boy’s seizure concluded and he lay still. His body leisurely rose into mid-air and halted. Deep, croaky breathing filled the room.
Derek burst open the door and looked for Jason. “Mr Aslan, you might want to get in here!”
It was no good. Wherever he had gone, it was not there. It was a shame he would not be able to prove the existence of a demon to him, after all that he’d had to grit his teeth through, but this was more important. The demon had surfaced. This was Eddie’s opportunity to vanquish it.
“Demon, tell me your name,” Eddie commanded.
The demon simply grinned. Eddie was used to this. They all started out so cocky. So full of themselves. He loved taking them down a peg or two.
The demon sluggishly twisted its head and pierced Eddie in the eye with its glare – then its eyes widened. A face of overwhelming astonishment and pleasure came over it.
“It is you,” it directed at Eddie. “It is true. You have risen.”
Eddie glanced at Derek. Derek appeared distraught, like his mouth was gaping over words he couldn’t get out. He had buried the prophecy for almost a year, and it hadn’t come up since. He had hoped that would be it. That it was done. Evidently not.
“It’s just playing with you, Eddie,” Derek decided. “Don’t let it.”
“It was said you would rise come the new millennium,” the demon persisted, shuddering its head in bewilderment. “And here you are. I am at your mercy. Tell me what your bidding is and I will do it.”
Eddie just stared back. Astounded, shocked, confused, unable to make sense of what the demon was on about.
“I want you to leave this boy’s body. Find another to torment.”
“As you wish.”
The boy’s body trundled off the bed with a thud. Eddie hurriedly knelt beside him and checked his pulse. He glimpsed over his shoulder to Derek, who stood there in as much surprise as he was.
“It’s a trick, surely?” Eddie perpetuated. “He can’t have gone that easily? That just doesn’t happen.”
“I don’t know, Eddie,” answered Derek. And he really didn’t.
“His pulse is fine,” Eddie observed, then moved his hand to the boy’s forehead. “His temperature’s gone back to normal. How could a demon have obeyed me so directly?”
They weren’t able to conjecture for long, as the door burst open and a horde of men erupted into the room. Jason led the crusade, followed by two men wearing matching jackets and Mrs Abbot thrashing out at them. The two men barged their way to Billy, urgently checking his pulse and temperature.
As this point, the boy screeched in anguish, his yelps mixed with furious mirth and belligerent cheers.
It was a trick. The demon hadn’t gone anywhere.
“What the hell is going on?” Derek addressed Jason with major frustration and hostility.
“I called social services,” Jason answered. “I have done numerous investigations in the past and they needed to know.”
“You complete and utter fool!” Derek spat in Jason’s face. “I invite you to observe a genuine piece of evidence and this is what you do?”
“The boy was having a seizure.”
“The fucking boy was possessed!”
With a skirmish and a quarrel that involved the boy’s mother thrashing and fighting out repeatedly, desperately resisting the invading men, social services took Billy downstairs and the mother fought after him.
Derek and Jason stood there, in a stand-off, both as disgusted as the other. Eddie joined Derek’s side, focused on Jason with utter disbelief.
“Do you know what you have done?” he venomously spoke.
“Yes,” Jason acknowledged. “I have saved a young boy from delusional abuse. And I will be making the university aware of the kind of things you are doing to young children. You can expect to be facing the dire consequences of this very, very soon.”
Eddie and Derek clasped their hands over their open mouths in stunned silence.
Then it hit Eddie smack bam in the middle of his face.
“Call Levi,” he whispered to Derek.
“What?” Derek’s jaw dropped. “I was joking. I mean, he lives down the road and does have a chopper, but I mean, I don’t –”
“Call in a favour,” Eddie told him. “Do it now and do it quick.”
Without any further explanation, Eddie ran toward the men from social services dragging Billy away, knocked them into the wall with a shoulder barge that had all the weight of his body behind it, and grabbed hold of the boy in his arms.
“Follow me,” he told the mother, who obliged as he burst out the door and ran across the driveway.
Derek followed behind them, his phone at his ear. “Hi, Levi? You around this afternoon? … Great, because I kind of have a favour to ask.”
17
Eddie ardently struggled to keep his hold of Billy writhing in his arms. Not only was his weight growing even more difficult to handle, his kicking out was making him difficult to keep hold of. The demon was furiously struggling, thrashing out his legs, grappling his hands, sticking his dirty nails into Eddie’s face.
Eddie, reliant firmly on adrenaline, kept chanting prayers under his voice, hoping they would help to numb this demon’s temper
to a controllable level whilst they ran.
Derek and Jane, the boy’s mother, kept pace with him, checking behind him as the two men from social services kept up.
“Where are we meeting him?” Eddie shouted at Derek, reaching his voice out beyond the wind that sailed past their ears.
“Football pitch, about half a mile away!”
“Half a mile?”
Eddie wasn’t sure if he could manage half a mile. Not only was the demon wrathfully flailing this boy’s limbs out at him, his mother’s crying was getting ridiculously distracting. She looked terrible, running beside him, attempting to keep up whilst crying and begging for them to save her son. He could hear Derek’s voice attempting to reassure her, but couldn’t tell what he was saying. He remained focussed on keeping his legs moving rapidly and holding the writhing Billy securely in his arms.
It was a stupid idea to have ever invited a sceptic along.
He understood what Derek was trying to do, recognised that he had the best of intentions, but it had backfired terribly.
The sound of a helicopter batting its rotor blades appeared from the distance, and he saw it descend behind a group of trees a way out.
That was fast.
Levi was a good man; he knew what was at stake. He owed him a debt of gratitude for this.
Approaching the field, he saw a thorny bush separating the escape from him.
The men approached. They reached out for Billy, even managed to grab hold of a hand, breathing down Eddie’s neck.
Derek reached his foot out and tripped the man who was almost in reach, sending him flying onto his belly. The other guy was slightly more overweight, luckily for them, but was gaining quickly, almost within touching distance.
Putting Billy into a firm fireman’s lift and holding him in a secure grip, Eddie leapt over the fence. Billy almost stumbled out of his arms, but Eddie dug his fingers into the boy’s back, ignoring the yelps of pain amongst the yelps of abuse.
“You fucking cunt, you will die for this, you bastard!”
