There were no smiles at the dinner table that night. In a scene not unlike our first night in that house, Sam and I were on either side of the wide dining room table with the priest at its head. The only difference was any sense of serenity had been bled out of the room. As expected, Officer Nielsen did nothing to help us. Once we were brought to the door, he and Father Tobias spent the next half hour discussing local gossip while we sat awkwardly on the couch, dreading the moments to come once the sun went down. Gabriel was escorted home (at Tobias’s request of course), and the moment the door was closed, the mask slipped again.

“Sit. Now.”

So there we were, stewing in our own misery, waiting for someone to talk. I was back in one of the group home meetings, only then the most I’d receive was an early bedtime or grounding. I had no idea what the man at the head of the table was capable of. He’d set food out on the table, some kind of pasta again, but he wasn’t eating. Nobody was. The priest was staring ahead, seemingly at nothing, a frozen look of apathy on his face. Sam seemed uncomfortable. He’d shrunken into himself, looking at me for support. I could only do so much to help. We both knew what he was hiding in that house.

“Who’s going first?” The priest’s intrusion was jarring, and I saw Sam recoil. The question was rhetorical of course, as Father Tobias was looking right at me, waiting for me to speak. I gritted my teeth.

“Who are you keeping in the attic?” There was no point in dancing around the issue. He knew I’d seen the door. He had to. Why else would we be doing this?

The priest didn’t lash out, or throw anything. I almost wish he did. No, instead he looked disappointed. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, leaning over the table and clasping his fingers together. For a moment, I thought he was going to say a prayer. “I understand your concern, but I need you to trust me, Thomas. One day, you will be ready to know.”

“What does that even mean?” I was getting angry now, “Ready for what?”

“You’ve only been in my custody for two days, son,” his tone had changed, venom dripping into his voice, “we’ve barely begun. All I need from you is your cooperation, your trust. You’ll come to know in time.”

“Don’t give me that!” I raised my own voice, “Who is it? Is it Judith-”

In an instant, his fake calm had shattered.

“Do not speak her name!” He stood up, slamming his hands onto the hardwood as he shouted. The silverware on the table clanked, and I saw Sam cower across from me. I was startled, and I lurched away from the man, holding onto the back of my chair to not fall over. In the heat of the moment, I’d gotten carried away, and a few seconds of silence followed.

“C-can I be excused?” 

Tobias shut his eyes again, collecting himself as he sat back down. I think he’d forgotten Sam was in the room, “yes, Samuel. Go to your room. This doesn’t concern you.” Sam made eye contact with me, and I nodded at him. Quickly, he slinked away into the kitchen of the dark house, disappearing from sight. Now I had to stall.

“Why won’t you just tell us what you want?” Repetition couldn’t hurt. I knew he wouldn’t come clean. In the other room, I heard something slide across the floor but Tobias didn’t seem to notice the noise.

“You can’t help, that’s why. Not yet at least. This is bigger than you, son, bigger than me. I’ve spent too much time working towards this, and though I care for you,  I won’t have it ruined by a curious kid.”

“There are things at play here that you’re too…” he paused to consider how to put it, but it only made me more infuriated, “… inexperienced to understand. This is not a game, boy. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as you’re told.” Now I could hear the faint sound of something clicking, and I saw his gaze drift to the doorway. I blurted something out.

“We’re not staying in this house!” I gripped the seat, counting off my head. The priest refocused, staring daggers at me now.

“If you want to save your soul,” he leaned closer to my face, “you will.” As he did, my eye caught the large jingling keyring sitting on his belt loop. So close.

Suddenly, there was a crash from the kitchen. The priest snapped his head to the doorway, “what was that?” Like a robot, he shot straight up from his seat, fixed on the source of the noise.

“It’s nothing!” I panicked. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. It was too soon. The man had already made up his mind, though. I heard his chair scrape against the floor and he was up, charging into the living room. I tried to block his path, holding out my arms, but the man sidestepped my attempts and barged past me into the room.

The kitchen was a strange sight. When I’d told Sam to make a distraction for the priest, I didn’t expect him to find a matchbox in one of the kitchen drawers. He’d pulled up a chair and was precariously perched on the counter, next to a small window overlooking the sink.The drapes were drawn, and he was desperately trying to strike the match. When Tobias entered the room, Sam looked up, a look of terror in his eyes as he froze in place.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Tobias lunged for the counter. Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t have time to think, but I couldn’t let him get to Sam. With all my strength, I charged the man from behind, sending him onto the counter. It hit his side, causing him to yell out in pain. Sam kept trying to strike the match, but the stick broke, and he had to dig into the box again. I could see his fingers tremble, he was trying his best, but then I felt my lungs give out.

The priest whirled around and I was suddenly shoved against the wall next to the doorway. He knocked the wind out of me, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. He roared at me, furious, redder than I’d ever seen.”You don’t know what you’re doing!” Terrified, I reached into my pocket, and not a second later I saw the priest’s face drop to one of sheer disbelief. He stumbled back, and I let go of the small knife I’d kept, which was now stuck into his side. Tobias doubled over, clutching the wound, which I could tell was turning red through his button down shirt. I was surprised and shocked at myself that I’d managed to do it, but I couldn’t dwell on it. 

“I did it!” Sam called to me from his spot on the counter, holding the lit match.

“Just do it!” I choked, snagging the keyring from the man’s belt. He tried to grab my leg, but I jumped over his hand and made for the counter. Sam threw the match towards the drapes, which instantly caught fire. If I knew he was going to try and burn the place down, I would’ve come up with a different plan entirely. I grabbed him and yanked him from his spot, placing him onto the ground, shoving the keyring against his chest. “Go for the stairs! Now!”

I didn’t have to ask twice. He took off, running across the house for the stairs. The room was filling with smoke fast, but against all the chaos, I heard a voice from behind, “Stop! don’t do this!” I turned to see Tobias grabbing onto the kitchen island to support himself, moving towards me, his other hand outstretched. I bolted after Sam and didn’t look back. When I rounded the corner, I saw Sam at the bottom, holding the keyring in one fist while rapidly waving me over. I hated to put so much stress on him, but this was the only way this was going to work. From the kitchen, the sound of flames crackling until they were abruptly snuffed out by another noise, a harsh spraying sound. He must’ve found an extinguisher.

“BOYS!” The priest’s baritone voice echoed through the empty halls, sending the two of us scrambling up the stairs. The priest was injured, but the loud stomping footsteps told me that wasn’t going to slow him down. He was getting closer.

“Don’t stop!” I shouted, Sam just a few feet ahead of me. I’d never seen him move so fast. My leg was killing me from my fall. Putting pressure on it before gave me the sensation of pins and needles, but running like this was agony. I was limping along like a beaten dog while Sam flew up the stairs to the second floor.

“Come on!” He was waving me up, crying, but I kept yelling for him to keep going. I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder, and to my horror, the priest was only a few steps behind, his face transfigured into a look of disdain. I screamed, and the sight was enough for my brain to disregard the pain and send me into a higher gear. I reached the top and seized Sam, hauling him along with me as we ran down the hall. Why did it feel so much longer?

“Stay away from that room!” The priest had made it to the top of the stairs and was using the wall to steady himself as he ran, leaving bloody handprints along the paint. His breathing was ragged, and the shadows of the house made him look less like a man and more like a monster.

Sam made it to the room first, holding the door open, and I was just behind him. I could hear the priest behind me, the thumping of the hardwood and wet slapping against the wall growing louder.

“No!” Tobias cried as I fell inside the room, flopping onto my back to see him coming. All I saw was his hand emerge from the darkness, soaked in his own blood, before Sam threw the door closed. He’d already placed the key into the lock, but even that didn’t seem to deter the priest. The door quickly began to buckle, the frame shaking with each pounding of his fists against the wood. He was so desperate to get inside. I stumbled to my feet, adrenaline the only thing keeping me moving.

There was no time to waste. I threw myself against the door and tried to hold it back. “Sam! The chair!” I jabbed a finger toward the small wooden chair by the desk. Sam ran over to the desk and started dragging the chair across the floor toward me. The priest kept banging the wood of the door over and over, and I knew my body wasn’t going to be enough. I pushed myself harder against it, and my leg threatened to give out on me. I had to clench my jaw.

“I have it!” I rolled over, and grabbed the chair, slamming it under the door knob before backing away. It might not do much, but it would buy us some time. The situation was already way out of hand. We’d been found out, and now we’d trapped ourselves in a room with one exit and an angry maniac on the other side of it. We’d have to confront him eventually. But first, there was the secret door. 

“Help me with this, if you can.” Quickly, we made our way over to the bookshelf. Tobias had placed it in front of the fake wall again. We braced ourselves and pushed, but it was no use. We were too small, too weak to move it more than a few inches. Sam let go of the shelf and started taking out books, throwing them across the room in a frenzy. I got the message, and began doing the same. The chair rattled against the door with every thump. The sound of the wood splintering forced us to move faster.

The bookshelf began to budge. My body was exhausted, but my brain was still wired. Sam handed me the keyring, and I shoved it into the barren wall’s keyhole, the fake wall giving way with a familiar screeching of hinges.

“It looks scary.” Sam told me upon seeing the passage’s rickety wooden stairs.

“Just watch your step.” He took my hand, and together we urgently made our way up the steps. The bulb at the top swayed back and forth with each blow from the priest, sending dust raining down from the unfinished ceiling. The door would cave in eventually, we needed to make this quick. Once we reached the top, I began to frantically shove keys into the various locks of the door. It was almost painful every time a key would jam, and so relieving when I’d hear a soft click and the chain would fall away, hitting the floor with a loud clang.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Even as a little kid, Sam could tell how wrong this looked. The door had an aura that screamed for us to turn back, not to touch it. But, I couldn’t turn away. Behind that door, someone was waiting. Someone needed help. We’d come too far to give up, and before I knew it, the last chain fell, and the only lock left was the one built into the rusted metal itself. I took in a breath, and inserted the last key. It turned over with a loud ca-clack, and it steadily began to open.

I held my breath as the door creaked, and slid from its frame. The first thing I noticed was the pungent smell of copper in that room, so strong that Sam grabbed his nose. The attic was engulfed in darkness, lit only by the moonlight shining through the darkened glass of the room’s only window. At first glance, it seemed like the room was entirely barren, but that wasn’t true. When my eyes adjusted, there was an ordinary wooden chair in the middle of the room, seemingly affixed to the floor. But, that was it.

“It’s just a room?” I didn’t understand. There was nothing in the room. I took a tentative step forward, and looked around. There were two support pillars on either side of the space, each rising to a triangular roof that tapered off to the left and right walls. The rafters were visible, each of the beams choked with cobwebs and dust. It gave the impression the space was much smaller than it actually was. As I slowly made my way inside, Sam clung to my back. He was still shaking. I wanted to tell him to stay at the door, but if the priest made his way inside, I didn’t want him to be separated from me. Ten feet from the chair, I started to question if this was a waste of time, if any of this was worth it to begin with, but that was when something hit my foot. I lifted my shoe, and saw a white smudge of dust on the floor. 

“I think it’s salt.” Sam whispered, holding on tighter than before. He was right, someone had laid a thin layer of salt across the ground, and my eyes traced its source until I realized it was a perfectly straight line that ran across the entire room. It divided the room, leaving roughly two thirds of the room on the other side. That is, until I smudged it with my foot.

Why? Why was this it? It didn’t make any sense. I was almost angry at how little there was. The priest was so adamant to keep this room a secret but there was nothing to see. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. Did I just imagine the voice behind the door? “We need to leave. Let’s just go.”

“Okay,” Sam squeaked, pulling on my sleeve.

“Hello?”

My veins turned to ice. We weren’t alone in that room.

“You came. You really came.” The voice came from the corner of the room, and I saw a shape I hadn’t noticed before. It was a dark shape hunched low to the ground, and when it moved I realized the person was facing away from us. They sounded hoarse, a quiet rasp that could have belonged to a lifelong smoker. “Oh, my children, you came.”

“W-we… we came to get you,” I stuttered. The woman was sitting in the fetal position, just facing the corner where the roof met the wall. She slowly turned her head around to face us, and I caught a glimpse of her eyes. Her cold, cold eyes reflected the light of the moon. I became glued to the spot again.

I watched the woman as she twisted her body, and I could just barely make out her details in the shadows. Her hair was gray and long, hanging in front of her face, creating the appearance of a tattered veil she was looking out from under. She was leaning over herself, perched in a way that reminded me of an owl.

“Can we go? You’re free. Let’s get out of here!” I tried to reason with her, but she just sat there and watched us. When I first imagined what would happen when we opened the metal door, I thought it would go smoothly. Open the door, find the hostage inside, and escape. This was far from what I thought it’d be. Instead of relief, I felt this staggering feeling of dread.

“Come closer, child.” A gaunt arm came forward, then a second. She was frighteningly thin, her skin appeared taught on her bones, and she began to crawl. Like a spider, she crawled across the floor, nails digging into the wood. I took a step backward. What was this? This wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Sam started to pull me away, begging for us to leave, but my mind was elsewhere. Why couldn’t I move? I just stared into her cold, dead eyes.

 “Please, don’t leave me,” she croaked. Then, I saw her face, and time slowed to a crawl. Sunken gaze. Pale face. Hair unkempt. It was a visage ripped from a nightmare. “Don’t leave me.”

“Get back!” Someone shoved past me, and I fell hard onto the attic floor. I looked up to see Father Tobias charging to the salt line, a large cross in hand. He raised it to the barrier and began to shout, but I couldn’t understand the latin phrases. Immediately, the woman began to cower at the man’s words, crawling backwards, holding up her hands in a plea of mercy.

“No! Stop!” She cried.

“Do not harm these children!” His voice boomed in the cramped attic, and he shouted another phrase I couldn’t make out. Sam was standing by the metal door, crying. In no time, I was on my feet and I rushed over to him, trying to comfort him. The woman kept moving backwards with each phrase of the priest, and eventually, her cries fell silent when she took cover in her dark corner again. Tobias heaved, still holding his side, only now he had some kind of cloth pressed against it. “You never should’ve opened that door.”

I had only one question for him.

“Who is she?” I asked, fear evident in my voice.

“That,” he answered between labored breaths, “is my wife, and she is possessed by the spirit of The Devil.”

His words crashed down on me like falling rocks, but they didn’t make any sense.”What are you talking about? What does that even-”

“Look at her, son!” He made a stabbing gesture toward the woman, who continued to shrink away from the cross. She was writhing on the floor, wailing as though in physical pain. “It’s not safe! Now get out before it’s too late!”

“Don’t leave me! Come to me!” She bolted upwards and howled, stretching her wiry hands out towards the two of us. I backed away in terror, shielding Sam with one arm, which he held onto so tight that I could feel his nails digging into my skin. The woman tried to take another step forward, but another phrase in latin and a thrust of the cross caused her to cease her advance and crumple under its influence. We didn’t take our eyes off them until we’d made it half way down the stairs, and by the time we reached the bottom, the priest came running out of the room. “TOBIAS,” she screamed, and then the metal door was slammed with an ear piercing shriek.

“Are you okay?” I sat Sam down on the bed. He shouldn’t have had to see any of that.

“I’m okay.”  He sounded weak, and exhausted. I didn’t know what to tell him, there was nothing I could say to fix this.

“I tried to warn you,” I heard from beyond. The priest emerged from the dark stairwell, and he appeared more tired than either of us combined. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Why didn’t you just tell us? ” My confidence had long since shattered. I was freaking out. Everything had happened so fast, and I was still processing it all.

“You wanted me,” the man sized me up as he approached, “to tell you that I was keeping my possessed wife in the attic? Look me in the eye and tell me you would’ve believed my words.” He hobbled past us and moved towards the desk, and I could tell his energy was different. The way he walked, the tone of his voice. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“I don’t get it, demons aren’t real. None of this should be real.”

“They are frighteningly real, boy. I’ve tried again and again to warn the world, but time and again they dismiss me as a madman. You weren’t supposed to know, not yet at least. All you had to do was stay put, but no. You wouldn’t listen.” The priest was rummaging through his drawers, eventually taking out a first aid kit and tossing it onto the bed. “Come here. You got me pretty good with that knife, so you’re going to fix it.”

Of the thousand questions I had, trying to land on a single one felt overwhelming. The whole night suddenly felt like a morbid dream. The room, the woman, all of it. I began to eye the door, but the priest took notice. “Don’t even think about making a run for it, boy. We’ve moved far beyond that, now. First, you’re going to help me patch this up.” I didn’t have much of a choice. Sam looked at me, as though looking for assurance, and all I could give him was a quiet nod.

Scrapes, bruises, strains, those weren’t new to me, but stab wounds were. I’d never seen one up until that point, so when the priest lifted the cloth, I felt queasy. “Just take the hydrogen peroxide from the kit and pour it on, we don’t have a lot of time.” 

Shakily, I took the bottle and began to apply it. The man didn’t react to the liquid. He didn’t even look in my direction. Instead, he just stared at the open wall to the stairwell, lost in thought I presumed. The quiet felt so uncomfortable, so I started asking things. “How long has she been like that?”

The priest closed his eyes, breathed in deep, and began, “Miranda’s possession began four years ago. It was small at first, just odd behavior that I’d notice every now and then. Soon, it became worse. Miranda became more brazen in her actions, and by the time I realized her condition, it was already too late.” He turned to look at me, and his eyes looked hollow and dull. 

“She killed Judith, and I couldn’t stop her.”

I tried to hide the reaction, but if he noticed my widening eyes and shaking hands, he didn’t say anything. I counted off in my head and gave a meek, “I’m sorry.”

As I began to apply gauze, I remembered when I’d heard the voice behind the door just a few hours earlier. It sounded so close to the door, she would’ve had to be pressed right up against the metal. That face, pressed against the door, I imagined her smiling as she said the words. If the priest’s words were true, then if I had the keys on me, if I had unlocked that door…

No, this was enough. I wasn’t going to deal with this anymore. I swallowed my feelings and tied off the gauze. “There. It’s done. I’m sorry I did it, but Sam and I want no part of this. We just want to leave, okay? We won’t tell anybody.” I knew he wouldn’t believe that, but I had to try.

Father Tobias stood up from the bed. Even with the bandaging, his movements were awkward, and he began to pace the room, “As I said before, boy, I’m afraid we’re beyond that now.”

I tensed up, prepared to run if I had to, “what does that mean?”

“Ever since I hid her away, I’ve been working day and night to free Miranda of the demon’s grasp. I’d tried everything, used and practiced every piece of knowledge I could find, but she’s deteriorated further. Every day, she’s growing worse and nothing I’ve done is effective. The demon’s will is superseding her own. So, I did something I’d never done before.” The man stopped in his tracks and looked directly at me, “I got help. You.”

I stepped away, “That’s why you took us in? This was all a plot to help you fix your wife? Why? We’re just kids!”

“The soul of a child should be innocent. Pure. The life of an adult is full of hardship and pain; the soul is tainted, even if unintentionally. If my theory serves true, then it’s that innocence that can overcome great evil. But, it wasn’t meant to go this way.”

“You said I wasn’t ready.”

“You weren’t, and I fear you still aren’t. Originally, I wanted to teach you, to ease into this task. I would’ve been there every step of the way, and when the time came, we would’ve done it together. But now, we’re running out of time.”

It was getting harder for me to follow his logic. “You keep saying things like that. What’s going to happen?”

“By opening that door, and crossing the blessed salt line, you set into motion something horrible. You couldn’t fathom just how complicated these rites are. Everything must go exactly as planned, and you tainted it. By crossing the barrier, the demon’s will is strengthened. Kt’s power is growing as we speak. Now, she might not have much time left before she’s lost forever.”

“I-I didn’t know. I couldn’t have known that,” my head was hurting, “none of this makes any sense.”

“It’s not your fault,” he took a few tentative steps toward me, “but you must understand what’s at stake now. Her immortal soul may be doomed forever, but there’s a chance we could pull her back from the brink. You could save Miranda’s life.”

Everything Tobias told me sounded so important, as though the fate of the world hung on this one night. Yet, I was still torn. The rational part of me was still shouting that none of this was real, it was all some kind of bizarre trick. You need to get out, it told me. But, when the priest stood in front of me, and said the magic words, that part of me fell silent.

“You couldn’t save your brother, Thomas, but you can save her.”

I was stunned, and when I eventually gave him an answer, my decision was made, “what do we have to do?”

The man smiled, but it was more bittersweet than anything. I couldn’t tell whether I should be afraid or not, but his words hit me with anxiety all the same.

“Tonight, we perform an exorcism.”

Half an hour passed. The priest was taking as many precautions as possible, pouring over journals and notes I could barely follow any of it, and I mostly just sat quietly while he regurgitated the need-to-know.  Before we entered the room, Sam tugged on my sleeve. “Are you going to be okay?”

I knelt down to talk to him, “I don’t know, Sam. This is a lot to take in. Once this is done, he’ll let us go. Then, we can go back into town, and we’ll figure everything out from there. I just need you to trust me.”

“But, I thought you said he was a bad guy?”

“I…”

What was I supposed to say? In the last forty eight hours, my thoughts on this man had switched back and forth so often that I didn’t know what to think anymore. Even with the exorcism, it’s not like I was given much of a choice. But, I was doing something good, right? This was all for the greater good, right?

“… I’m not sure. All I have to do is not mess this up, and then we can get out. Just stay here, and you’ll be okay.”

Sam looked at me for a long time. I could see him going over the information in his head, over and over, trying to make things click. Eventually, he just said, “Okay.”

For whatever reason, that response felt worse than if he’d just told me off. Instead, he sat on the bed, and seemed to disassociate, staring at his feet.

“Thomas, we’re ready.” I looked to the stairwell, and Tobias was there, one foot on the first step. He held his golden bowl in the crux of his arm, and in his other hand, he’d tied off the brown cloth of items, which he carried like a shopping bag. “You have the keys?”

“Y-Yes, yes I have the keys.” I held them up the jingling metal ring.

“Good, now come.” He nodded toward the metal door, “we’re running out of time.”

I turned back to Sam, but he was still looking down. “I’ll be back, okay?”

He didn’t give me a response. 

“Thomas.” The priest called me again, and with hesitation, I went to the stairs without another word.

When we reached the top of the steps, Tobias put a hand on my shoulder. His grip felt tight. “The demon may play any number of tricks to convince you of its innocence. Remember, Miranda isn’t home right now.”

I swallowed my fear, clutching the crucifix the priest had given me as a means of protection. Seeing the woman crawl across the ground struck a nerve in me, and so did her words. But, her face. It was awful, burned into my head. It looked like a corpse. It was a face I’d seen before. 

“Are you ready, son?”

“I’m ready.”

The priest pushed open the door slowly, the hinges announcing our return. The copper smell hit me again, and I resisted the urge to puke. Miranda made no attempt to hide herself this time. The moon’s glow bathed the room in a pale blue, just enough to see the long, stained fingers wrapped around the top of the chair. She rose from her spot, her matted hair drifting over the chair and looking dead at me. “You came back.” she rasped. She looked so happy to see me. She smiled with her teeth, and even from the door I could tell that they were stained a dark yellow. Then, she looked down, and I grabbed the crucifix again.

“NO!” She opened her jaw and screamed. It was a blaring, mournful screech. I’d never heard someone sound like that before. I covered my ears and the priest took the first steps into the room.

“Silence!” He thundered, and Miranda was sent sprawling onto the floor, convulsing. “Quickly Lock the door.” 

Immediately, I turned around and pushed the door closed, and I began to cycle through the keys. Panic set in when, key after key, the lock refused to turn. Where did it go?

“No time. Hurry Thomas! Retrieve the salt!” He dropped the cloth bag to the ground right outside the salt line.

The exorcism was already off to a bad start. Without thinking, I dropped the keyring to the floor and ran to the cloth bag, tearing it open and retrieving the sack of salt.

 “What do I do with this?” I had to shout to be heard over the sound of the woman’s screams.

“Spread it in front of her. We need to bring her to the chair.” The priest had taken out his cross, holding it out in front of him. The man’s approach was slow, deliberate, the complete opposite of Miranda. The woman was snarling, crab walking away from her husband rapidly, right towards me.

I dug into the bag and tossed a handful in her direction. It hit the floor and she twisted around. Her eyes went wide in horror, and she shrieked again, practically jumping off the ground, and skittering away. I moved with her, and the priest circled around the chair to cut her off. 

“Please! Mercy!” Her voice kept oscillating between a middle aged woman and something much deeper.

“Don’t fall for her deception!” The priest yelled to be heard over her. I found myself mirroring his approach, staying just out of reach. Miranda was lashing out, swinging her arms and legs wildly. We began to close in on her. Tobias held out the cross and I tossed another handful of salt onto the floor in front of her. She retreated onto the chair. She was hunched over again, feet on the chair. Her face scrunched up and she hissed at me like a feral animal, fingers out in front,  gnarled as though they were talons. It was so surreal I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight.

“Grab her,” the priest snapped me to attention again, “she must be secured.”

In the dark room, it took me this long to notice that what I thought were odd shadows were actually leather straps on the arms of the chair. The man grabbed one of her pale arms and wrapped one of the straps around it. I had to force myself to follow his example. I moved to the side of the chair and wrestled her for the other arm, only for her to yank it away and gnash her teeth at me like a piranha. The arm itself felt slick with grime, bone just tangible under the skin.

“Do it, Thomas.”

“I’m trying, okay?” I grabbed it again with both hands and tossed my weight backwards. The arm buckled under the pressure and it hit the arm of the chair with a heavy thunk, which was the signal for me to quickly slam down the strap, trapping it.

Panting from the effort, I backed up away from the chair, and so did the priest. Miranda struggled in her seat, but I could see the fight leaving her. Her screeching was becoming progressively quieter, and her movements seemed less erratic now. Eventually, her head hung low, and she let out a long, guttural moan, the kind of noise a draining bathtub would make. The whole display made me feel uneasy, and my fist clenched again, that is until I felt Tobias hand on my shoulder. 

“You’re doing God’s work, son.”

“R-Right.”

“We’ll need candles for the ritual. I’ll light them. Stay here, don’t listen to her.”

“Okay.” Father Tobias walked past the salt line and plucked the cloth bag from its place, reaching in and retrieving multiple candlesticks, each appearing to be homemade. The man set about placing them around the room, but if he followed any sort of pattern it was lost on me.

I was standing in the middle of the room, and without the chaos and screams, I was able to see the woman more clearly. She still looked dead, or as dead as an alive person could look, but above all she looked tired. Really tired. I think she could feel me staring, because I heard her speak in a low croak.

“Why are you here?” I couldn’t see her face under the hair, so I had no idea if she was looking at me or the floor. I didn’t know how to respond, so I just said what came to mind.

“I just want to help you.”

“Leave us,” she groaned, “there’s nothing for you here.”

I felt myself squirm a little. Something about the way she said it didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t sound like a threat. It sounded like advice.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’re ready to begin.” Before she could reply, the priest spoke up from the back of the room. The attic had progressively become more lit with the glowing orange of candlelight. Instead of the static darkness of when I’d first entered, the shadows now seemed to dance across the attic ceiling. It didn’t ease the dread I felt in the pit of my stomach. Not at all.

Father Tobias took up a place next to me, holding a leather bound Bible. He passed me the golden bowl I’d seen on my first night here, and upon looking inside, I noticed it was just water inside. He kept his gaze trained on Miranda. The man reached into the neck of his shirt, and he pulled out a small, metal crucifix. Despite his composure, I could see a tremor in his fingers as he held it. He was holding it like it was his only lifeline.

“Demon,” he called out, “abandon this vessel! The power of Christ compels you!”

She seemed reactivated again, a dull hiss rising from somewhere under the mass of black hair. She was flexing her fingers, chipped nails digging into the chair’s arms.

“Dip one hand into the bowl and cast the water.”

I dipped a hand into the cool water of the bowl, and splashed it in her direction. The moment it made contact with her skin, she erupted. You’d think it had been boiling acid. 

“It burns,” Miranda shrieked, “hellfire upon you, priest! A thousand hells! Ten thousand!” Her voice had changed again, sounding deeper.

“Again,” Tobias shouted at me, and I splashed more water, provoking the same reaction. Instantly, the priest began reading from his Bible, but I couldn’t follow along with his latin. He spoke every word in this cadence I can only describe as a “threatening gospel” tone.

“Virtus Christi te urget!” The priest drew the sign of the cross in the air, and she recoiled, eyes rolling into the back of her head, neck held back and stretched over the chair. Her face had contorted into a silent wail, gasping at the sky.

“Her soul is mine!”

I had to slap a hand over one of my ears, pressing the other into my shoulder so as to not let go of the holy water, just to block out the screaming.  I could barely believe any of this was happening. It was all too much, and there was almost nothing I could do to help. The exorcism carried on like this. Screaming, Bible verses, the splash of holy water or salt, on and on, over and over. It all became numbing. I didn’t feel like I was doing something right, I just felt wrong.

So I tried something new.

“What would Judith think of this?!”

Just like that, you could hear a pin drop in that room. It was like I’d broken through the charade. The priest turned slowly to look at me. He wore a look somewhere between rage and sheer, stunned surprise. Then, his wife spoke up.

“J-Judith?”

We both looked in her direction. Miranda’s manic eyes were fixated on me, mouth open just barely, as though waiting for a response. I was unsure what to say. Nervous, I kept pushing.

“Yeah, your kid.”

She lost track of me, head moving to the side. Now she was looking at the priest.

“Does he know what happened?”

I could feel the heat radiating from the priest, “you dare try to distract me?”

“He doesn’t know…” she whispered.

“Wait,” I interrupted, “what do you mean what happened? How’d she die?”

“I killed her.”

“Her possession drove her to take a life, we spoke of this,” the man said, matter-of-fact.

“No, that doesn’t mean anything!” I was sick of this weird game they kept playing, “I want the truth! Tell me!”

“I drove the car,” Miranda said, “I killed her.”

“She caused the crash!” Tobias thrust the cross in her direction, pointing it at her. “I knew of her condition before, but I never believed she was capable of such a heinous act!”

Wait. What?

“It was a car crash? But I thought you said-”

“Yes! She’s the killer!” Tobias spun me around to face him, getting right in my face, “Boy, she’s a demon! We need to complete the ritual soon or her soul is lost! Pull it together!”

Suddenly, everything clicked. I looked to the seething man in front of me, then to the woman in the chair, quietly weeping.

Oh.

Oh God.

I threw a punch. Hard.

“You monster!” My fist connected, and Tobias stepped back, clutching at his face. “She’s not possessed! You kept her here! None of this is real! You’re just insa-”

One second I was lashing out at him, the next I was sprawled out on the floor, my head in throbbing pain. The man retaliated fast. I’d never been punched like that. When I landed, my body knocked into some of the candles.

“What are you, boy?” Tobias approached me slowly, one foot in front of the other, “when I first adopted you and Sam, I believed you’d be perfect for this task. Sam, maybe. Your brother doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. But you? I’m not so sure anymore.”

The candles apparently caught something in the dusty room, I could feel the heat mounting up behind me. Somehow, Father Tobias was more threatening to me. I crawled away in terror. He was a different person now.

“I ask myself,” he stated, “why would God let it play out like this? Why would he send me someone so opposed to this righteous task? At first, I believed it was to guide him, to show him to the light.” 

I wasn’t fast enough. I yelped as the man grabbed me by the throat and began to lift me upwards. Horrified, I looked around to see the candles had indeed started a fire, flames beginning to grow in the corner of the attic as I was thrust into the air, feet dangling limply.

“Maybe it was for another reason,” the man continued, the fire growing in his eyes, “maybe it was to test me. Maybe it was to test my faith, to push me as he pushed Abraham or Job.”

“You’re… crazy…” I choked, kicking my feet in the air, trying to get away, but I couldn’t. I was powerless. Miranda was still in her chair, tired and defeated.

“What are you, boy? Tell me,” He asked again, holding up his cross, “are you an agent of the Devil?”

Then, I heard the screeching of door hinges, and someone stumbled into the room. Sam didn’t know what was happening, he couldn’t have. I still can’t fathom how a kid his age worked up the courage to open that door, but there he was, and he was holding my knife.

“Let go of Tommy!” With his little legs, he ran across the room and with all his might he stuck the knife right into the man’s calf. Tobias threw his head back and howled in pain, loosening his grip. I felt my feet touch the floor again and I pushed away from the man. I doubled over, coughing incoherently. The building smoke only made it worse.

“Why you little-” Tobias swiveled around on his knee and stood, stance staggered on his injured leg. Sam dropped the knife upon seeing him and moved backwards. He was scared. Then, I saw the man raise his fist.

NO!

“Get away from him!” With a running start, I jumped onto Tobias’s back and held on tight for dear life as he was sent circling around the room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He kept circling around, thrashing around, trying his best to throw me off, but I wasn’t going to let him hurt Sam. I wrapped my legs around his stomach and started pounding on his head. My hands hurt, my head throbbed, but I wasn’t going to give up. I couldn’t give up.

The fires had reached the ceiling now, the whole room becoming an unbearable inferno. Through the haze of motion, I could barely make out Sam, pulling helplessly on the straps holding down Miranda. She seemed resigned to her situation, hiding behind her mass of hair, her body limp.

“Enough!” Abruptly, the man’s hands latched onto my shirt and I was thrown over his back and onto the floor again. I hit the ground hard, skidding across the floor to a rolling stop. 

“Maybe you are the Devil’s child,” I heard from behind. “I believed your soul was pure, but no, it’s far too wicked. You reject God’s light.. You’ve sided with the demon that took away my little girl.”

“She’s not a demon,” I mumbled from my place on the floor. I slowly lifted an arm and tried to push myself up. My body felt broken and bruised, muscles crying out in pain as I coughed on billowing smoke, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me fall. Aching, I swiveled to face him as once I got to one knee. “You need help. Both of you.”

“Lies!” He called out from the other side of the room, “this is all she needs! It’s God’s work!” Then, I saw a flash of recognition in his face. I looked down and saw Sam’s knife sitting in the middle of the floor between us. 

We briefly locked eyes before breaking into a race. Tobias hobbled towards it on his injured leg while all I could do from my position was crawl in a blind panic. I couldn’t let him reach that knife. The floor itself felt hot and brittle as I scratched and clawed my way towards the weapon. Just as I was about to grab it, a burning hunk of wood crashed into the floor in front of me. It caught me by surprise, and I shielded my face from the red hot splinters. That was all he needed. The man snatched the knife away from me and brandished it, towering above me.

“I thought you’d understand, that you of all people could understand what I have to do.” I could hardly breathe, staring up at the man as he prepared to do the unthinkable. Then, I felt a sprinkling of burns across my face, and I looked up to the ceiling. It was a blaze, the supporting wooden beams having caught ages ago by now, and they were beginning to crack, visibly shifting under the strain. I knew what I had to do.

“Why don’t you get it, boy?”

“I moved on,” quickly, I lifted my leg and slammed my foot into his injured calf. The maneuver hurt like hell, but it worked. Tobias cried out in agony and I twisted out from under him before his knee hit the floor. He tried in vain to stab me as he fell, but it was too late. We made eye contact one last time before there was a sickening snap as the blazing planks gave way. I saw fear in the priest before the falling beams struck him, pinning him in place. He screamed, and continued to scream as I clambered to my feet.

Sluggishly, I got up and limped over to the chair at the center of the room. Sam was scared, the fires closing in, and yet he was still struggling with Miranda’s straps.

“Let me help,” I took over for him, quickly removing the straps.

“Tommy, is he going to be okay?” He said, voice quivering.

“Just don’t look, Sam. We’ll be out soon.”

Despite the straps being undone, she seemed to give no reaction. So, I tried to get her attention.

“Miranda?” Over the sound of burning wood and smoke, the soft sound of crying came into focus. She was shifting uncomfortably in her seat now, slowly bringing her bony hands to her face.and muttering.

“I’m a demon, a monster,” she sobbed, “I deserve this.” Miranda looked up at me, tears in her eyes. Her face was the one I’d seen so many times in my dreams, the one the priest had used to manipulate me into being his accomplice. But no. It wasn’t that face. It wasn’t him. Not anymore.

“Nobody deserves this,” I told her, “we’re going to get you out of here.”

Whatever she was struggling with, it was far deeper than a possession could ever be. I threw one of her withered arms around my shoulder and Sam followed my lead, supporting her as best he could as we limped, wounded and burned, to the attic’s metal entryway. 

We reached the steel door, and from within the burning room, I could hear Father Tobias call out one more time. “No! No! She’s still guilty! Don’t leave!”

I looked at Miranda, who was staring at the floor, lost in her thoughts. “Do you want to-?”

She didn’t let me finish the question. Instead, she weakly shook her head, avoiding my gaze. So, Sam and I leaned her against the wall, and I began to push the door closed, sealing the horrors of that room away for good. The man’s cries became muffled by the steel, until they finally ceased.

Walking back through the house, keeping Miranda steady, it took all I had not to pass out. The fire had begun to spread to the rest of the house, consuming everything it touched. As we made our way through the halls, which now felt hot and cramped, I realized I had something to atone for.

“Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?” I heard from the other side of Miranda.

“Did you steal the keys from me earlier? So I couldn’t lock the door?”

There was a brief pause in his voice, “yes. I just thought it was something you’d do. Are you mad at me?”

I couldn’t believe it. He really thought I was mad at him? I had to hold back my tears, “no, no of course I’m not mad at you. I’m so sorry, Sam. I shouldn’t have left you like that. I thought I was really doing something right for once, I thought-”

“It’s okay,” he said, as though it wasn’t even up for debate, “you told me, on the road, you were hurting. I forgive you.”

I choked up, but it wasn’t the smoke this time. All I could say to him, “thanks, bro.”

Eventually, on the stairs, Miranda stopped moving. I tried to get her to move, the house was threatening to collapse at any moment, but I had to stop myself once I saw what she was looking at. It was that picture frame, the third grade photograph I’d seen when we’d first arrived here. The house fire was reflecting off of Julia’s smiling face. Miranda looked at it for a long time, or it seemed that way on the steps. Eventually, when she did speak, the statement was clear.

“I still want to remember her.”

“Okay,” I said, and I removed the picture frame from the wall, tucking it under my arm as we continued our descent down the steps.

By the time we reached the lawn, the house had finally given up, slowly crumbling in on itself and becoming one giant bonfire. Sam and I set Miranda down in the grass, and we sat next to each other after. Exhausted, we watched the inferno as the old house finally gave out, feeling the cool night air on our skin.

Sam laid back on the grass, finally able to relax somewhat after all he’d been through. I, on the other hand, looked at Miranda. She’d curled up, feeling the grass for the first time in a long time. I couldn’t begin to imagine what she’d been through, but I hoped that she’d find the help she needed. Wordlessly, I handed the picture frame to her, and she took it. She held it tight, and breathlessly she asked, “does it ever get better?”

That was a question I’d thought about a long time, and before I answered, I looked back at Sam lying in the grass.

“You learn to live with it.”

Sirens grew closer in the distance.