The Accidental Exorcist (5 page)

Snarling, the dog ran over, leapt at
Abby aiming straight for her neck.

Abby gasped and put up her arm to
block it. The dog sank its razor-sharp fangs into her forearm and
thrashed violently. Nothing she could do would pry it off. The more
she pulled, the deeper it bit.

Frantic, her arm bleeding and burning
with pain, Abby dropped to the floor, breaking her fall with the
demon-possessed dog. It released its jaws.

Exploiting the stunned animal’s
stupor, she grabbed it with both hands, tossed it into the closet,
and shut the door. Panting, she pressed her back up against the
door. But the dog began slamming against the closet walls and door,
growling ferociously, trying to get out. Abby would not move from
the door. The struggle continued until finally, the dog yelped and
the slamming stopped.

A bloody puddle edged out from beneath
the closet door, touching the heel of Abby’s shoes. A cold tingle
crept up her spine.

Overwhelmed and exhausted, Abby eyed
the door, the windows, any possible exit. If she could just make a
dash for—

The door swung shut just as she
reached it. No matter how hard she twisted and pulled, it would not
open. Even though it had no lock.

“
I GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO
LEAVE,” Legion’s chorus of voices said. A dark impulse forced Abby
onto her back. She couldn’t move her arms or legs, much less get
up.

Cheryl’s body descended and straddled
Abby’s chest.

Air refused to enter her
lungs.

She tried to scream but nothing came
out.

Up on the wall behind the bedpost hung
a painting, tilted irreverently to the side. It depicted Saint
Peter, sinking into the water, waves crashing around him, and
reaching out and grabbing the hand of Jesus, who stood on the
water’s surface. The look of fear on Peter’s face so resembled
Abby’s that without thinking, she cried out in her heart,
“Jesus!”

To her amazement, the words actually
came out of her mouth.

Air rushed through her
lungs.

She gasped for more.

Above her, the creature inhabiting
Cheryl’s corporeal form reared up, its face twisted in repulsion
and fright. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

At once, all the stories she had put
out of her mind from her youth of Jesus’ casting out demons came
back to her. She remembered now. It was His name. The power and
authority therein.

“
In the name of
Jesus!”

A chorus of odious, belligerent shouts
filled the air. The creature jumped back momentarily. Regaining its
ferocity, it came toward Abby, a threat in every purposeful
step.

Abby grabbed the crucifix off the
floor and held it up.

The creature spat and laughed cruelly.
“HAVEN’T YOU LEARNED?” It lunged at her with outstretched, claws.
“HYPOCRITE! YOU HAVEN’T GOT THE FAITH TO—”

Abby thrust the cross flat against the
creatures chest, right between Cheryl’s breasts. The creature’s
pained howl quickly drowned out the sizzling sound burning
flesh.

Abby understood.

She had made the choice to
believe.

And this demon, Legion, knew as well.
It had once faced the power of the Christ and begged to be cast
into a herd of pigs rather than be destroyed. It feared the name
and power.

Streams of smoke rose from a branded
cross that seared the skin on Cheryl’s chest. For a moment, her
eyes became normal. Pleaded for help. But just as quickly, returned
to their demonic state.

Legion’s voices diminished. Sounded
fewer, weaker.

But not a bit less hateful or savage.
Chest heaving, through labored breaths, its voices became hoarse.
“I will tear your limbs off, Abigail Lee…I will eviscerate you…and
feast on your innards. BEFORE I kill you!”

From the gospel of Luke,
the words of Christ resounded in her spirit: “
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall
by any means hurt you.
”

“
You’ll do nothing but
flee.” Abby climbed to her feet and for the first time, dared to
step forward, advance upon the demons that possessed Cheryl. She
clutched the Bible in one hand, and the crucifix in the other,
which she pointed at the creature.

The creature scoffed. Took two steps
back. “You think I’m some kind of vampire? You fool! If a Jesuit
priest didn’t have the faith to challenge me, what makes you
think—?”

Emboldened at its retreat, Abby stood
tall. “In the name of Jesus, I command you: be silent!”

Without another word, the creature
spread its hands wide and vomited a putrid, thick substance all
over Abby’s face. It felt like a million maggots crawling all over
her, eating her flesh. She screamed. Didn’t know if she should or
could wipe it off her eyes, lips and nose.

Then, with all its previous intensity,
the creature let out a gruesome shriek. A suffocating sensation
came over Abby. Dark. Frigid. She shuddered.

I know all your sins,
Abby.

Images, memories she thought long
forgotten, all flooded her mind. Guilt, shame, hatred, anger,
people she’d silently cursed, wished dead, every lie, prideful
remark, haughty look, surrounded her. Closed in to smother
her.

“
No….” The spiritual
anguish actually caused her physical pain. Images of her dead
mother—disapproving, glaring at her, accusing her.

Liar!

Cheater!

Fraud!

Hypocrite!

Worthless, useless…

…
No, this isn’t her…it’s a
lie
…

Legion spoke again. Its confidence
renewed. “You will die here, and nobody will ever know what
happened. No one will care. No one will remember you.”

Despair filled her heart. Tears rolled
down her face, matting her hair into her mouth along with the
rancid puke that hardened on her skin. Her hands, her entire body
quivered, as though suffering hypothermia. In the corner of her
eye, she noticed the dead police officer’s gun lying on the rug,
next to his open hand.

DO IT, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF
CRAP!

“
No…”

“
IT’S THE ONLY WORTHWHILE
THING YOU COULD EVER DO TO SAVE YOURSELF. PICK UP THE GUN. KILL
YOURSELF. THAT’S YOUR PENNANCE!”

Though she shook her head from side to
side, the guilt and self-hatred within her drove her to her knees.
The Bible fell to the ground and flipped open, its pages flapping
in the wind. The horrible feelings about herself began to swallow
Abby’s will to live. On all fours, she crawled over, dropped the
crucifix, and grabbed the gun.

Crying uncontrollably, her mind a
garbled mess of rampant emotions, she backed up and sat on the
ground. The pages of the Bible continued to flap in the wind
blowing around the room.

She lifted the gun to her
lips.
I’m sorry Mama. I was such a
disappointment to you.

YOU DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE. DO IT
NOW!

It was true. Every accusation, every
sin. She was indeed guilty. Amazing how free a person can feel when
they are not aware of the entirety of their sins. We can’t handle
seeing them all at once. It was now easy to see how, when presented
with the facts like this, anyone—trained policemen, EMTs, hardened
convicts—could yield to this inevitable urge to purge the universe
of the human disease that was oneself.

Lights flashed like lightning in the
room. Thunderclaps nearly deafened her ears, and the wind
howled.

Tears fell from her chin. Smacked down
heavily on the thin pages of the Bible, over which she hung her
head. She wrapped her lips around the cold, bitter muzzle of the
gun. Slid her finger over the trigger. She had to do it.

Had to.

YOUR GOD IS DEAD, ABBY. I KILLED HIM
TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO ON THAT CROSS. NOW GO AHEAD, SWEETIE. DO
WHAT YOU KNOW YOU MUST.

She pressed against the tension in the
trigger.

Tears streamed from her eyes, rapidly
striking the pages beneath her.

She glanced down and saw that the
pages had stopped flipping, though everything else in the room
continued to blow in the wind. The Bible was open to the red
letters, the spoken words of Christ in the book of Mark. She
recalled this story, of the boy who had been possessed by a violent
spirit, which none of Jesus’ disciples could exorcise, though He
had given them the authority to do so.

If you can believe, all
things are possible.

She pulled the gun from her mouth and
uttered the same words the demon possessed boy’s father spoke:
“Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!”

And she heard a voice in
her spirit:
You have been forgiven of all
sin, once and for all. By the power of My blood, you are Holy and
accepted.

With that, she threw the
gun down. The words resounded in her mind, clearing the clouds like
the sun cutting a swath.
By the power of
My blood.

Abby stood. Wiped her eyes so she
could see clearly.

The creature stumbled back.
“You…You’re going to have to kill me. Pick up the gun and shoot me.
It’s the only way.”

Abby rushed at it until its back
slammed up against the wall. She wasn’t going to fall for its
deception and kill Cheryl. “You’re the liar!”

It reached out and put its hands on
Abby’s neck. But it didn’t have enough strength to do any harm now.
Abby grabbed its wrists.

She understood.

She knew.

“
In the name of Jesus
Christ…”

The creature started shaking, as
though in an epileptic fit. Tried to use its foot to reach for the
gun on the floor. Tried to free its hands, but Abby would not let
go.

“…
and His
blood…”

“
NOOOOOOOO!” Cheryl’s eyes
rolled all the way back till nothing but their whites could be
seen. Every limb jerked violently, but Abby somehow found the
strength to keep her in place.

“…
I command
you…”

In one final perverse rally, the
creature spat on Abby, hurled hundreds of simultaneous curses in
English, in Latin, in Greek, in Hebrew, and possibly Hittite, for
all Abby knew.

“
I command you to leave
this body! By the name and blood of Jesus!”

Echoing like a bottomless chasm,
hundreds of voices—horrendous men, women, boars, crows, and
wolves—cried out in great pain.

Cheryl’s body writhed, twisted into
nearly impossible angles. Stared into Abby’s eyes.

Mocked her.

Insulted her.

Despised her.

But it was merely the final parting
shot of a defeated demon. Abby ignored her apprehension and held
her ground.

The back of Cheryl’s head hit the wall
repeatedly until Cheryl put her hand behind it and held it gently.
The fiendish cry continued until finally, at the end, it faded into
the solitary sound of Cheryl Morgan’s voice, moaning in
relief.

Her entire body went soft.

Fell into Abby’s embrace.

One final rush of wind blew all the
windows and curtains open. Bright golden sunlight filled the room.
The house stopped shaking. And for the first time since Abby
encountered Legion; stillness.

Then the sweet song of sparrows
singing.

A cool, natural gust brought the
fragrance of jasmines from the outside. Abby leaned forward and lay
Cheryl down on the bed, where the sunlight illuminated her
face.

Before Abby’s eyes, the rosy
complexion returned to Cheryl’s face. The puss-filled, crucifix
shaped wound faded until all that remained was a very faint, white
outline of the symbol, which Abby thought quite
becoming.

“
Doctor Lee?” Cheryl
whispered, as she opened her eyes. Those lovely brown
eyes.

“
Oh, thank
God.”

Cheryl sat up, looked around at the
bodies, the devastated windows, and walls, then threw her arms
around her, burying her sobs into her shoulder.

“
It’s okay now, Cheryl.
You’re going to be okay.”

She nodded, hot breath and tears
penetrating Abby’s shirt.

“
Do you remember any of
it?”

Cheryl lifted her face, sniffed wetly,
and nodded. “Everything.”

Out in the backyard, Father McGhee
stirred. Disoriented, he sat up, rubbing his neck. In the distance,
the sound of police sirens approached. In her rational, scientific
mind, Abby thought for a moment about the difficulty she’d have
explaining what had happened.

“
Thank you, Doctor
Lee.”

“
Call me Abby.
Please.”

“
No one else really
believed. Not Teddy, not my doctors. Not even Father McGhee, until
it was too late. But you did.” She pulled Abby close and held on
for a long time.

The squad car doors opened and thunked
shut. The feet of the officers pounded toward the house. Father
McGhee also stumbled back into the room.