I laughed again. “Yes, I went to school to be a priest.” It was funny how clueless he really was. “Let me let you in on a little fact, Will. The church likes to sweep exorcism under the rug. In the past, there were many people who were thought to be possessed, but really had psychiatric disorders.”
He started to get mad again. I could see it in his eyes. His face had turned red and his eyes were bulging, ever so slightly.
“I’m not saying that it can’t happen, Will. I’ve just never seen it. More importantly, the only ones who really know a thing about exorcism are exorcists. The Vatican even has a school.”
He stared at me, eyes pleading. “Why didn’t you go?”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t appointed to go. The church decides what you would be best for. They thought I would be best as a general parish priest, so that’s what I was. It doesn’t matter anyway because I’m not even a priest anymore, Will. Besides, if the church were to decide if Lucy were possessed, there is a huge matter of meeting the criteria.”
His eyes began to sparkle. His knees bounced up and down. He was acting more than odd, and I had to wonder if he was on something, but his pupils were normal. “Well, what are the criteria?”
This wasn’t going to be easy. He seemed so excited and desperate. His mood swings were killing me though, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could stand. I sighed. “We will get to them. First, I need to document the story. If and when the church decides to take the case on, they will interview you and make sure there are no discrepancies in your story. So, make sure you tell me the truth, leave nothing out.”
“Tor and I were looking at houses online.” He paused. That far away look reappeared in his eyes. Again, I was stunned by his mood swing. He seemed sedate now. His eyes were calm, if a little sad. His posture was slumped in the chair. Was Lucy really the problem?
“We wanted something near a small town, kind of like Martinsburg,” he said.
I remember Martinsburg, W.V. well. It was where I grew up, and it was where Will grew up. It was a small town, not a bad place, but bad enough that tragedy happened there. Both Will and I had moved far away.
The irony was not lost on me. Why he left and suddenly decided that a town like Martinsburg would be good for his daughter, I didn’t really understand. Maybe it had been so long since he’d lived in a small town, that he’d somehow romanticized the place. Maybe in his mind, small towns were safer, but I knew differently. I motioned for him to continue.
“She happened to look at a listing I’d found for this huge old monster of a mansion. It looked like a castle almost. Of course, Tor wanted it.” He finished his coffee. “Tor came from money, old money. Daddy made sure princess always got what she wanted.” The last part he said with a sneer.
I wanted to put down a note “Hostility towards his wife” but I didn’t. He could end up reading the notes. I would keep the unusual signs about him to myself. “Why’d you marry her?”
“Love is blind, I guess,” he said. “I still loved her then, not so much now, but then I did.” He scratched his neck.
“What changed?” I asked.
“This thing with Lucy.” He sat up straighter in the chair. “Tor was in denial for a long time. But finally, I think she gets it.”
I nodded. “Okay.” I caught up my notes. “Go on.”
“I should have known when we were driving through the town, honestly. Sorrow’s Point just has a feel about it, but somehow, even though it didn’t feel right, it didn’t matter. I never said a thing.” He looked at his empty cup. “Any more?”
I put my stuff down. Why had he stopped there? It just didn’t make sense to me. But, if he wanted more coffee, far be it from me to deny him. “Yeah, I’ll get you some.”
###
When I came back, I found him standing at the window, staring at something I couldn’t see. His shoulders were slumped so much that it seemed like he’d decreased his height by inches. This was the most dejected I’d seen him. The lines of his face were deeper in the morning light. It was round about five. The blue hue of the sky was slowly lightening. He looked twenty years older than he was.
I set his coffee down on the table beside the recliner. At the noise, he turned around.
“Will you come with me to Sorrow’s Point?” he asked.
I had a feeling this was coming. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I was going to have to embark on this colossal mess of a journey. I knew where it was leading Will, but I had no idea what was in store for me. I looked at him and grinned. I don’t know why, but I did. “Thought you’d never ask.”
He returned the smile, walked over to the recliner and sat down.
I stretched my back. “Look, let’s get some sleep. We can get our stuff together when we get up, then we can try to figure out how to help Lucy.”
He nodded.
“You can take the couch if you like,” I said.
He got up from the recliner and moved over to the sofa. He got his cell phone out of his pocket and put it on the coffee table.
I went to the hall closet, opened the door and grabbed a blanket. When I came back, he had the extra pillows on the couch arranged at one end. I handed him the blanket.
I walked back into the living room and crossed towards the lamp.
“Leave it on, please.”
I dropped my hand from the switch and went upstairs, leaving the hall light on as well. It unnerved me to think that he was afraid of the dark. The Will I’d known had been fearless; this new Will was something else.
###
A few hours later, I woke to a loud sound that just wouldn’t quit. After a moment, I figured out what the noise was — the loudest snore I had ever heard. It was so damn loud, it echoed up the stairs and seemed to bounce around the hallways of the house.
I knew he was tired, but damn. Sleeping to that was impossible. I got up, grabbed a quick shower and threw a few sets of clothes and some toiletries into a duffle bag. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be gone that long.
I crept down the stairs as quietly as I could, but with the old wood, the stairs creaked anyway. Will continued to snore, and something told me I didn’t need to worry about the noise I made.
I almost missed a step and bounced my duffle bag off the wall with a thud. The snores did not stop.
How long has it been since he’s slept?
His exhaustion wasn’t a good sign. I wondered if his wife was just as tired. If so, it looked like I was going to be spending a few days without much sleep myself. Happy happy, joy joy.
I set my bag on the floor next to the front door and walked into the kitchen. I flipped on the light and made more coffee. Then I rooted around in my refrigerator and found some bacon. I pulled out a skillet from the cabinet underneath the sink and plopped in the bacon and cracked a few eggs in along with it. When they were done, I suddenly became aware that the snoring had stopped. I looked around and saw nothing. But then, I heard some rustling.
After a few moments, Will appeared in the doorway. “What time is it?”
I looked at the clock on the microwave. “A little after eleven.”
He nodded and looked at the food.
I shooed him out of the kitchen. After separating the bacon and eggs between two plates, I grabbed some forks and walked into the dining area. Will was standing in the hallway, watching.
“You gonna eat or what?” I asked.
He coughed and walked around to the other side of the living room.
“Sit down.”
I placed his plate in front of him and arranged my own. My table was in the living room; the house was too small to have a separate dining room. Like the rest of the house, the table was straight out of the seventies. It had a fake wood top made of plastic and brownish colored steel legs. The matching chairs were made of brown naugahyde with the supports and legs made of the same steel. They were old and used, but they were like me: serviceable, but nothing to look at.
I walked back into the kitchen
and came back with coffee for us both. I gave Will his mug and sat down opposite of him. “So, how far away is Sorrow’s Point?”
“Eight to ten hours, depending on how fast I drive and traffic.”
Great. Not only was I about to be running off to God knows where, but I was going to be trapped in a car with Will for at least six hours. It sounded like so much fun. I wanted to kick myself for being so damn concerned. I had a feeling that this was going to blow up in my face, but I couldn’t not help. A child was very sick, and you’d have to be one Hell of a nasty bastard to ignore a sick kid. “What would you have done if I hadn’t been home?”
“That’s just it. I knew you were home. Lucy told me.”
I’d be lying if I said that hadn't unsettled me. Could he have been lying? Of course, but something told me he wasn’t. I didn’t like having the heeby jeebies about the fact that a possible demon knew my whereabouts.
I finished eating. When Will finished his, I took the plates, walked into the kitchen and rinsed them off in the sink. No reason to come home to a stinky house.
After double checking that everything was off in the house, and that I had the chargers for my phone and laptop, we left.
I took one last look at the place as I locked up. It felt wrong to be leaving like this. I didn’t want to think about it, but something was telling me I might not make it home. I ignored that little voice and hopped into Will’s car.
As far as rides went, it was pretty uneventful. We kept the conversation light—sports, the upcoming election and my love of old things. I spent a lot of the trip gazing out the window at passing farm land, cows and trees.
###
Once we entered Sorrow’s Point, I instantly knew what he was talking about. There was a strange heavy stillness that laid over everything like a suffocating blanket. While homes that lined the main street had porch boxes with flowers in them, the whole effect reminded me of a wig trying to cover up a bald head. Even when the sun was shining, the insides of the houses seemed too dark. The town looked nice, but there was just something about it you couldn’t put your finger on. A wrongness that needed laid to rest. I didn’t like it.
Suddenly, Will stopped the car. We were on a road that looked like it led to nowhere. Trees hovered over the road like an archway. The pavement was well maintained, but it was wet, as if from a recent rain. “This is it,” he said. “I’ll understand if you want to back out now.”
I looked at him. “If I wasn’t going to help, I would never have gotten in the car.”
He nodded. “You can stay at the bed and breakfast or you can stay with us. It’s your choice.”
What was with all of this wishy-washy shit now? I mean seriously. I had better things to do with my time. “If I’m going to investigate this, really investigate it, then I need to be around her.”
He nodded, put the car in drive and drove a bit further down the road. The road had a gentle grade to the left, and I found myself leaning slightly in the car. He turned into a driveway I never would have seen unless I was looking for it. I would have expected a massive gate, proclaiming the house’s existence, but there was none. It was almost as if the house wanted you to find it, and sensing intelligence from an inanimate object wasn’t something I was crazy about.
When he pulled up in front of the house, well, let’s just say I wasn’t prepared for the house. I kept expecting the Grandmother from Flowers in the Attic to be staring down at me from a tall window with her piercing gaze, but the only things in the panes of the house were curtains. This was one of those mansions where the windows looked like eyes. Creepy as Hell.
Will led me through the front door, and it was even crazier inside than out. There was so much mahogany that my head swam a little. Mahogany staircase. Mahogany paneling on the walls. As far as I could see, everything was mahogany but the black and white checked marble floor. If this was just the foyer, what the Hell did the rest of the house look like?
“Tor, he’s here,” Will called.
Soon, a woman with the blondest hair I had ever seen came out of the back hallway. I could clearly see what Will meant when he said that Lucy took after her mother. Her pale hair had a sparkle to it, and she had Elizabeth Taylor eyes. They couldn’t be called anything but violet. She was slender and walked with class. Yes, there was no doubt about it. Will had married into a lot of money. She walked towards me.
“Mr. Holiday, thank you for coming,” she said.
I glanced around the entryway. The massive mahogany staircase leading to the second floor was carved with intricate cupids and flowers. It was old world craftsmanship. The checkered marble floor was laid in a diamond pattern. I was way out of place. “I don’t know if I’ll be any help, but I’ll try.”
She seemed to accept that. Unlike Will, she didn’t seem to be so obsessed with everything. She wasn’t jittery; she didn’t have that wild look in her eyes that Will did. She was just there. She seemed like a normal mom that cared for her daughter. I couldn’t fault that.
I followed them down the back hallway. Will pointed out the living room, a powder room and finally he led me to what could only be called “The Library.” Again mahogany was everywhere. Here it was bookcases, wood panels, desks and tables. The floor was covered in blue Persian carpets with a floral motif. The room was roughly the size of the ground floor of a townhouse. There were two large windows that let in natural light. In various places, there were leather couches and chairs. The focal point was a massive wooden desk.
“I think you’ll be most comfortable here. You can’t hear the noises quite so much in this part of the house,” he said.
“What noises?” I asked. I really did want to know. If there was some sort of tapping sound, a tree could be close to the house.
He nodded. “You’ll see.”
I hated it when people were cryptic. It was silly and unnecessary. If it wasn’t for the fact that this girl needed help, I would have turned around right then and there. This whole thing was completely melodramatic and ridiculous. Here apparently was a very sick little girl. One parent seemed to be Hell bent on an age old ritual, the other seemed to tolerate her husband. I felt like I was walking in a field of landmines.
Will had me put my bag on one of the couches, then I followed him out the door, down the hallway. We turned left into the kitchen.
Tor was cooking something Italian. I didn’t ask what it was, but I could tell it was Italian by the smell – some garlic, a bit of basil. These were smells that I could handle.
She turned around. “Have a seat, Jim,” she said, motioning towards the kitchen table.
The table was one of those fancy glass tables with polished silver toned metal legs. The chairs matched with plush grey velvet like cushions. I prayed to God that I wouldn’t make a mess. I sat down. Will sat across from me.
Tor spoke, but this time, she did not turn around. “We will not talk about any of this until tomorrow morning. I don’t need it to be worse. Please don’t make it worse.”
I paused. She was much more stoic than Will. She didn’t wear her emotions on her sleeves, and I could tell it hurt her to display these emotions in front of a stranger. She was used to an entirely different life, and either Will or something weird with her daughter had turned her life upside down. I kind of felt sorry for her.
“That’s fine,” I said. “I’m just here to help.”
Apparently satisfied, I could see her body relax. Her shoulders lost their tension. She finished making dinner and served it to us, saying nothing. It was a quiet meal. Some sort of chicken with a red sauce and garlic bread. I couldn’t complain. It had been a long time since I had a home cooked meal I hadn’t cooked myself.
As she finished cleaning up, the sounds began: strange knocking in the walls, and the sound of something scurrying into the ceiling. I looked at Will.
“We’ve had exterminators, carpenters, plumbers and engineers over here. They all say everything is normal, but they aren’t here at night.”
Wh
ile not necessarily the sign of possession, the noises made me feel uneasy. Knocking I could explain by bad pipes, but scurrying, not so much. “You don’t have a pet?”
Tor looked at me sadly. “Not now.”
“And these happen every night?” I asked.
Will nodded. “Sometimes, and then for no reason at all, the sound stops. That’s when other things start. It’s hard to sleep here sometimes.”
It was really weird. Right now, it sounded like regular haunted house stuff, not demonic possession. I reminded myself I’d yet to see Lucy. “When did the noises start?”
Tor cleared her throat and sat down at the table. “Let’s not talk about it. Talking about it gives it power.”
That’s when I heard the growl. It wasn’t a growl per se, but it was odd, almost choppy. Completely unlike anything I had ever heard before.
“See,” Tor said. “Let’s relax. I’ve already given Lucy her medicine.”
“What about her dinner?” I asked.
Tor sighed. “She’s been tube fed for about two months. At first, we had a nurse coming in everyday to check things, but that got too hard. The tube feeding, it’s easier, and with her teeth, eating certain things is hard for her.”
I wanted to know what had happened to her teeth, but I figured it would all come out in time. I was afraid for the little girl, and there was no doubt in my mind that something was going on. Whether it was insanity or something else, that remained to be seen.
###
I went to bed, made myself comfortable on the library sofa facing the door. Tor had given me a large afghan, and I had it draped over me. If it wasn’t for the noises, I would have felt pretty comfortable. But the noises, they continued all night long in fits and starts. I would be deep asleep, completely relaxed, and then an odd noise would take over – a noise that even my subconscious couldn’t ignore. Something was off about the house. I wasn't sure what, but I was going to find out.
That’s what my task really was. Jimmy Holiday, old time cowboy coming to the rescue of a little damsel in distress. I sounded like an idiot.
I tried to be serious, but it was so hard. The mystery and the melodrama made for over the top theatrics. I was looking for something to prove this was a hoax, but I couldn’t figure out what would be the point of luring me here with some lie about a demonic possession. It just didn’t make any sense at all.