Running Away Pt. 2

            “Something wrong?” the man asked as a gasp left Emma’s lips.

            “Um…” she said not knowing what to say as the boy wagged his finger as if scolding her, “No,” she swallowed hard trying to regain her composure, “Not really, just… just a headache, sorry.”

            “Well we’ll be in Austin in about an hour,” he smiled as they continued down the road.

            For the next half an hour Emma didn’t know what to do; it wasn’t as if she could exorcise the demon right here in the car, but she couldn’t let the demon just stay in him. She had to talk to the parents in private. The boy, well really the demon in him, kept smiling at her.

            “I never got your name,” the man said, almost causing Emma to jump as he looked at her in the rear view mirror.

            “It’s Emma, Emma Johnson,” she wasn’t taking her eyes off the boy.

            “Well Emma I’m Jack, this is my wife Deborah, and that’s my son Tyler.”

            “It’s nice to meet all of you and I can’t thank you enough for letting me ride with you I’m pretty much broke and couldn’t afford to take another bus.”

            “Where do you live?” Deborah asked.

            “New York,” she said the first state that came to her mind.

            “Wow, you’re a long way from home then,” she smiled, obviously trying to improve Emma’s mood.

            “Yeah…” Emma said still staring at the boy.

            She hated the fact that most likely inside that cute little boy’s body was his soul fighting against the demon. Emma thought that this demon was sinking even lower than the usual demon. It was one thing to posses a person, but a little boy? Emma wondered what this demon’s end game was.

            About 20 minutes later they pulled into a driveway and Jack cut the engine to the car, “So this is our house, I’ll let my family get out then I can take you to the nearest bus station.”

            “Do you think that I could use the telephone to let my brother know that I’m going to be later than I planned?” she asked, undoing her seatbelt, eyes still glued on the demon.

            “Sure thing, then I can take you,” he paused for a second, “Not to be forward, but I thought it was your brother’s funeral you were going to…”

            “I have two brothers. My older one was the one who died, in the… line of duty,” lying was like breathing to her.

            “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss,” they all got out of the car and trudged towards the house, Emma’s eyes still transfixed on Tyler or rather what was in Tyler.

            “Thank you,” she said quietly.

            The four of them went into the normal suburban house the likes of which Emma pictured were in every white picket fence community. The furniture was all very beige, there were flowers in almost every room that she could see, and there was a light smell of air freshener in the air. As Emma gazed back onto Tyler, he was just staring at her with his bright green eyes. If none were the wiser he looked like a normal child, until a pure evil smile had spread across his face.

            “The phone’s in the kitchen,” Deborah said smiling.

            “Thanks,” she walked into the kitchen. Tyler’s eyes continued to follow her as she went; they even turned black for a split second.

            Emma picked up the phone and was about to press a number, but then stopped. Who was she going to call? At the moment she didn’t want to talk to her older brother Ethan, who would be the first person she’d call. In reality she didn’t have any intention of calling anyone; she just wanted to get into the house to somehow perform an exorcism on Tyler. She had to let her brothers know that she was okay at least but she was in no mood to talk about the miscarriage on the phone. She sighed and dialed James’ number; she hoped that he wouldn’t say anything about the miscarriage and would just be happy that she was fine.

The phone rang and he picked up on the third ring, “Hello?”

            “James it’s me…” she exhaled, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

            “Emma!” he exclaimed. She could hear Ethan in the background say something, but she couldn’t make out what, “Are you okay? Where are you?”

            “I’m… fine,” her bottom lip started to tremble but she fought it, “I lost the baby…”

            “Emma I’m so sorry,” James’ voice was full of concern, “How are you doing?”

            “Not good, but I don’t want to talk about that now… are you two okay? The police didn’t find you or anything? You got away?”

            “Yeah, yeah we’re fine,” he said hurriedly, “Where are you calling from?”

            “Austin. Look I’ve got a situation here,” she took a breath and changing the tone of her voice, “I was on a bus but the man sitting next to me just so happened to be a detective - who just so happen to be following me to you two. So I got off the bus and got a ride with this couple and their son. But it turns out that their son just so happens to be possessed.”
            “That’s a pretty big coincidence don’t you think? That you just so happen to get into a car with a possessed kid in it?”

            “That’s why I don’t think it was a coincidence; I think that whatever is in that kid is because of me.”

            “Unfortunately I think you’re right. Look Ethan and I…” there was a click and the phone went dead.

            “James,” she said into the phone, “James.”

            She looked at the phone and then hung it up; she went to put it back on the cradle and when she saw Tyler standing there. He held a pair of scissors in one hand and the phone cord in the other. Slowly, she set the phone down on the kitchen table and went into her purse for something.

            “Nice try,” the demon said, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing: trying to get all the Carmichaels together to perform some kind of excorsism on me.”

            “Hate to break it to you, whoever you are, but I don’t need my brothers’ help to perform an excorsism. And how dare you use a little boy to get to me.”

            “We just wanted to see if the rumors were true,” it smiled.

            “What rumors and who’s we?” she gripped the crucifix in her hand.

            “Like you really don’t know who ‘we’ are,” it laughed a horrible laugh, “There were rumors that you were no longer pregnant… guess they were true…”

            “You son of a bitch…” she took the crucifix and pushed it against the edge of the boy’s face.

            The demon screamed out in anguish, falling backwards, and flinging Emma across the room into the refrigerator. Tyler’s parents then came running into the kitchen and looked at the two of them: Emma standing up from being thrown into the fridge, and Tyler with a burn in the shape of a cross of his face.

            “What in God’s name is going on?” Jack yelled as Tyler flinched at the name of God.

            “Tyler!” Deborah cried.

            “Stay away from him!” Emma yelled holding the crucifix in front of her, “He’s possessed!”

            “What the hell are you talking about?” Jack exclaimed.

            “I first noticed when we were in the car. His eyes went black, and his hands were clawed against the seat. All which are signs of demonic possession.”

            “You’re crazy!” Deborah exclaimed going over to her son.

            “Mommy…” it cried.

            “Stay away from him Deborah he’ll kill you!”

            “I want you out of my house right now! And I swear if you hurt my son again!” Jack yelled.

            “I’m not going anywhere until that son of a bitch is out of your son! Deborah stay away from him! Look I’m not crazy! If he wasn’t possessed then why did this…” she held up the crucifix, “burn him? Look at him he’s possessed!”

            Sure enough Tyler’s eyes were rapidly changing from black to green, “Oh God,” Tyler flinched again, as Deborah said it.

            “Stop saying his fucking name!” Tyler yelled in a less than human voice.

            “Tyler,” Jack paled.

            “If you really want proof…”  Emma took out a flask filled with holy water.

            Tyler then started to walk backwards away from Emma, clutching his cheek with his hand, “Stay away from me bitch!” Emma then splashed about a quarter of the flask onto him. He started to scream and steam rose off of him in droves. Emma stepped back as he fell through the doorway and into the living room.

            “Tyler!” Deborah yelled starting after him, but her husband held her back.

            “Okay, okay! We believe you. But why Tyler? Why is he possessed?”

            “I don’t know, but I do know how we can get rid of the demon… this just so happens to be my specialty.”

            “Who the hell are you really?” Deborah demanded.

            “Someone who can help your son, and that’s all you should be worried about now.”

            “What do we do?” Jack asked.

            “First we need to contain him… put him in his room or somewhere. Do you have any salt?”

            “Salt?” Deborah asked.

            “Salt will keep demons out or in this case in. Do you have any?” she asked digging through her bag for the notebook where she had written down some information for occasions just like this.

            “I think we have some in the cupboard,” she said.

            “Good, get some of that and meet us in Tyler’s room. Jack come with me…” she then started into the living room, with the excorsism she had just found.

            She set her bag down on the couch and started towards the hallway, “Which room is Tyler’s?”

            “The last one of the right,” he said as they made their way towards it.

            The door was halfway open, and Tyler was sitting on the floor with his toys, playing as if he was a normal child. He looked up at them as they came into the room; Emma didn’t know what it was playing at by going back and forth from innocent to evil.

            “Jack, get him on the bed,” she said edging around Tyler against he wall.

            “Are we playing a game?” Tyler asked as his father placed him on the bed.

            “Yes Ty, but to play you have to sit still,” Jack said and Emma could tell he was very uncomfortable with this situation.

            Deborah came back into the room with a container of salt. She handed it to Emma, and then Emma instructed Jack to hold Tyler down. Tyler started to squirm around as she started to pour a thick ring of salt around the bed.

            “Just keep holding him down Jack, and when I tell you, jump off of him and outside the circle.”

            “Okay,” he said pushing his son down as he tried to claw him.

            Emma quickly finished the ring of salt and stepped back, “Now Jack!”

            Jack then practically leapt off of Tyler and onto the other side of the ring of salt. Tyler then sat up straight and was smiling at them.

            “So what are you going to exorcise me or something?” it laughed again.

            Deborah whimpered next to Emma, “Deborah you might want to leave, this could get very ugly.”

            “Regnatare, contate diem solute domino preferte sivercheim trivulte velchutem de…” Emma started to read off the paper in Latin, as both Jack and Deborah stayed put in the room.

            “You know we knew what was going to happen!” it yelled, “We knew that you weren’t going to be pregnant long!”

            Emma stopped for a second, tears came to her eyes, but she kept on reading, “Exhorte samuste omnise de spritus satanica potestus omiso cusuro inferno e versale ad omnis cerualtio et septa…”

            “You’ll never win!” it screamed and writhed over the bed in pain. Its face contorted while Emma made sure not to look at the parents’ apparent looks of horror, “More of us will come and hunt you down! We’ll kill you all! Remember we were able to kill the rest of your family; don’t think you aren’t far behind!”

            Emma tried her best to ignore the words of the demon, but it was very hard. Tears were now falling down her face; they were tears of sadness and complete hate. She continued to read, “Ereo, regulare mano omnis spritus propinare vade satana invente regugiste omnino maste humanes hures familiare potenta in abucate nove sanctum tobibule nominee.”

            Wind started to blow all around the room but no windows or doors were open in the house. Emma knew that this was usually a sign that the spell was working the way it was supposed to. The spell was almost done; there was just one more part to it.

            “Quem in fare tremos obusines diabuli liberas nost domine en sucirum tibie imortate sebire gamus audinus in vinidicus sactume!” she yelled the last part of the excorsism.

            Then Tyler lay down flat on his back, flopping around like a fish out of water. He started to yell as the room dropped to about 20 degrees and the windows flew open. Suddenly, the wind then died down, the temperature returned to normal, and Tyler sat straight up, “Mom…” he said softly.

            Emma then nodded at Deborah who crossed the salt line and went to hug her son. Emma wiped her face of tears and walked back into the living room. Jack followed her.

            “What just happened in there?” Jack asked as he followed her to her bag.

            “That was an excorsism, of a demon,” she saw the look of horror on his face, “What never seen a demon before?”

            “No can’t say that I have; never believed in them before…”

            “Well now you have proof, sorry about that.”

            “Sorry? You saved my son, even though I didn’t know he needed to be saved in the first place.”
            “Thanks isn’t needed,” she said, still teary eyed.

            “Now that this is over,” he said as she picked up her bag and put the papers back into it, “Who are you? And where are you really going?”

            “Look, my name is really Emma, Emma Carmichael. And no my older brother isn’t really dead, he happens to be alive and running from the law at the moment with my younger brother. See the thing that happened to your son, well it’s partly my fault.”

            “Whoa hold on… you just come out with everything at once don’t you? How is my son being possessed your fault? And how the hell did he get possessed in the first place?”
            “It’s my fault, because the demon that possessed your son was spying on me, you heard what it said in there about me being pregnant? Well it was making sure I wasn’t anymore…” she said somberly, “And your son happened to get possessed at the gas station when the demon saw me.”

            “So I’m guessing the grief part is real? You’re just morning the loss of your baby and not of your brother?”

            “Right,” she sighed, already over this conversation, “Look I’m sorry I lied to you, but I really didn’t think you were going to believe that I wasn’t really headed anywhere. I just needed to get away.”

            “So how come you know how to perform an excorsism?”

            “It’s what I do; my job is to help people who are in trouble. Knowing how to perform excorsism happens to be part of the job description,” she forced a smile and headed out of the house and into the growing darkness of the early evening.

Running Away Pt. 1

Emma sat in her seat on the bus staring out the window with bloodshot eyes. Every once in a while she would shift in the cloth seat in an attempt to get more comfortable but it was a moot point. Comfortable was a word that she hadn’t known for a long time. Being on this packed bus with people she didn’t know was the last place she wanted to be but it was necessary.

The man next to her remained silent for the ride, glancing at her every once in a while. She refused to meet his eyes with hers. Instead, she just watched the rolling hills change to flat desert out the bus window. An audible sigh slipped out which caused the man to finally speak up.

            “Are you okay?” he asked and she rolled her eyes still looking out the window.

            “What was that?” she asked turning to look at him despite her instincts.

            “I asked if you were okay… you don’t look like you’re okay…” he genuinely seemed concerned with her well being.

            “I’m not…” she said flatly then turned back to the window.

            “I know you probably don’t want to share what’s wrong with a complete stranger, but I’m actually a very good listener.”

            “You’re right I don’t want to share,” they pulled into a rest stop.

            “Well it just so happens that I haven’t had the best existence either, so I might know what you’re going through,” he started to get up off the bus.

            “I severely doubt it…” she got up, following the rest of the people off the bus and into the rest stop.

            “Well if you change your mind I’d love to buy you a cup of coffee.”
            Emma couldn’t help but roll her eyes again and walked into the rest stop. Once in line to get a coffee, she checked her purse to see how much money she had. There was very little left and she couldn’t use her credit card yet. She wasn’t far enough away from the police station; they still could be following her. Sucking up her pride, she turned to the man who was now behind her in the line.

            “I guess I’ll have that coffee,” she said determined not to look into his eyes.

            “Gladly,” he smiled stepping in front of her in the line as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

            He then bought them both coffees and she was then compelled to sit with him. For about 3 minutes they didn’t talk, they didn’t even exchange names, until he finally spoke up, “I’m Matt by the way,” he smiled and extended his hand.

            “Emma,” she said pitifully sipping her coffee, not moving her hand forward to shake his.

            “So you’re not going to tell me anything are you?”

            “Nope, I don’t know you, and I don’t like to share my personal problems with strangers…” she said looking away, wondering if this coffee was worth putting up with this Matt guy.

            “So where are you going? Visiting family?”

            “You could say that…” there was a growing feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her something was off about him.

            “Is that why you’re so down? Don’t get along with your family?”

            “Listen, Matt… I don’t know you and you don’t know me so let’s quit with the 20 questions,” she stood up from the table flinging her bag back onto her shoulder.

            “Just trying to make conversation,” he said standing up with her, “I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable. I’ll stop; we can talk about something else.”

            “You’re good,” her lips curled into a smirk.

            “What?” he asked, “What do you mean I’m good?”

            “Nice try; you know exactly what I mean. You think I don’t know who you are?” she said backing slowly away from the table, “Your belt has a dent in it,” she gestured to the indentation in his brown belt, “From a gun holster.”

            “Look I don’t know what…”

            “Cut the bullshit… You also have a back up gun around your ankle; I can see the outline of the strap. And last, no guy who was trying to hit on me would want to talk about her family right away. If that’s your strategy with women, I’m guessing you don’t usually get past first base do you… detective?”

            “Talk about good…” he said smiling, walking around the table, “You’re incredibly observant Ms. Carmichael.”

            “Either that or you’re incredibly bad at your job.”

            “I think it was the first one,” he smiled, “Now you’re not under arrest, we just want to know where your brothers are.”
            “Sorry to disappoint you but I really don’t know where they are. I don’t even know how the whole thing went down. I left before the end…” she said swallowing hard to keep from getting emotional.

            “Yeah I know, and I don’t want to put you through anymore grief than you have to. You are pretty much innocent in all this as far as we can tell. The other hostages said you were with them the whole time and that your brother got you out of there as soon as you started to bleed…”

            “Yeah he did,” she said quickly stopping him, “And that was the last time I heard from him. So I’m sorry but I really can’t help you.”

            “Well if you really don’t know then where are you going?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

            “Like I said before I don’t like to share my personal life with random strangers, especially when they’re pumping me for information. Now if you don’t mind I’d like to use the rest room before we get back onto the bus.”

            “Of course, but if I do find out that you’re withholding any information from the police, you will be arrested for obstruction of justice.”

            “Really?” she asked sarcastically, starting to the bathroom, “I’ll see you back on the bus in a little bit.”

            He then smiled at her and she walked over to the bathroom. It was cleaner than she expected with four bathroom stalls, two sinks, and the thing she was looking for most: a window. A few tears fell from her eyes but she quickly wiped them away. Her boyfriend’s words echoed in her head, how he actually thought that it was her fault. More than anything she wanted his voice out of her head. Despite the echoing, she shook her head, slung her bag across her shoulder, opened the window, and jumped up onto the radiator. She then shimmied through the window, fairly easily since she was no longer carrying the baby weight.

 Once she was out of the window, she made sure she pulled it shut.            She looked out to the back of the rest stop where she saw a huge hill that seemed to go off into nowhere. She remembered seeing a sign right before the rest stop, which stated the next town was only 3 miles. If anything, she figured she would walk there and catch a ride from someone. She couldn’t risk being followed again; she needed to make sure she was vigilant which was something she had been lacking as of late.

            Emma ended up walking for what seemed like hours, but really it wasn’t more than about an hour. She walked into the small town and saw that there was a gas station. As she walked into the gas station store she looked around vigilantly making for sure that she wasn’t being followed. A couple with a small child was buying gas; they looked as if they were passing thru. All the pain and sadness was pushed aside as she put on one of her many lying faces and walked over.

            “Excuse me,” she said talking to the couple, “I don’t mean to bother you, but my bus left without me and I was wondering if you were heading out of town.”

            “Well we are but…” the woman said looking at her husband.

            “Look I’m trying to get to my brother’s funeral in Phoenix,” she lied, “But I understand if you don’t want me in your car, especially with your child. I realize it’s not very easy to trust strangers.”

            Emma feigned defeat and walked off towards the gas station exit. Before she could reach the store, just as she planned, the husband called after her, “Miss wait.”

            She turned around to face the man, a look of despair on her face that was not faked at all. He was about to say something, but he couldn’t get the words out. It was as if he was second guessing himself with his choice of words.

            “Look, we live right outside of Austin, Texas so I guess we can take you that far,” the man said smiling.

            “That would be wonderful,” she forced a smile, “Thank you so much you have no idea what this means to me.”

            “No problem,” the woman said, who had obviously been the one to convince her husband to take Emma in the first place, pulling the small child towards her.

            Emma noticed the child was squirming around in his mother’s grasp, struggling to go back towards the candy aisle. Tears started to well up in Emma’s eyes at the sight of the child but she choked them back. The couple led Emma out to their car, where she got into the backseat with the boy.

            The car started and with that started the extremely silent car ride to Austin. Emma noticed the boy kept looking at her and smiling. The bubbled in her stomach that she felt when she had met Matt returned but were even worse. She noticed the boys hand clenched upon the seat like a claw, and concern mingled in with the unsettling feeling. As soon as she looked up into the boy’s eyes his smile curled into a sneer and his eyes rolled back into his head turning as black as night. Emma stifled a gasp and turned to look back out the window at the growing darkness.