by J L R Webbie
* * *
The following day, a priest came to Elsie 103 and blessed the room. No further trouble was seen until October when, on Friday the thirteenth, all hell broke loose. It started when Paydon awoke that morning with mysterious scratch markings on the back of her neck. Carrie awoke half-off her bed and noticed the scratches as Paydon went to shut her alarm off. “Paydon, what happened?”
“What?” She sleepily replied.
“You have three big scratches on the back of your neck!”
“What!?” Paydon rushed to the mirror and tried to look at the angry welts, “How did those get there!”
Just then, maniacal laughter broke out and faded into nothingness, “W-what was that” Carrie stuttered.
“Uhh, probably a TV down the hall or something, you know Kaylee is always watching those horror movies.” Paydon tried to reason, after all, it could not be the poltergeist; the room was blessed . . . wasn’t it?
All was at peace for the remainder of the day, but as soon as the lights were turned out, a repeat of the first night occurred, only much more violent. Paydon and Carrie gasped as they heard a loud crash. Carrie screamed as her bed went careening across the room.
“Who are you?! What do you want from us?!” Paydon called out into the darkness, and then she began to feel a pressure upon her throat. Carrie watched as her roommate began striking at the air.
“Why are you doing this? What have we done to you?” Carrie asked. Paydon swallowed a scream as the presence left her and picked up Carrie.
“Stop this! STOP THIS!” She rushed to try to pull Carrie back down to the ground, “In the name of God, STOP!”
And all was quiet once more.
Carrie was sprawled out on her bed, panting, Paydon helped her up and together they put their room back in order.
“I can’t go on like this, Paydon, we have to do something!” Carrie whispered.
“Do what!? I think everyone else already thinks we are crazy.” Paydon whispered back.
“I don’t know, change rooms, something”
“You know as well as I do that in order for us to change rooms, we would have to switch with someone else; I am not putting someone else through this.” Paydon was defiant.
“I guess you’re right, but I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“I’ve got an idea”
“What?” Carrie asked.
“We put this presence to rest, for good.”
“Ok . . . how?”
“Halloween! It is when, traditionally, the veil between this world and the next is the thinnest. This presence is obviously other-worldly, so it is the perfect time to put it back where it belongs. It is also supposed to be a full moon, making it the ideal time to make this thing show itself, and banish it to the netherworld.”
“How do you know all this?”
Paydon then proceeded to tell Carrie of her interest in the Occult and how she had dabbled in Wicca as a teen.
