Who's Inner Demons?

A short story by Josh Fraga

 

            The walls shook the very foundation of the house, the hanging pictures began to fall from the walls, and in the background you can hear a dog howling out of pain, and all of it was emanating from a single room, on the second floor. The room belonged to a young girl named Madison. But now it was host to a kind of evil you only read about in bedtime stories. The panels of the door shook as Josh and Emily, Madison’s parents, stood staring at the door, Josh’s arms around his sobbing wife as they can do nothing but stare. The dog’s howling was almost unbearable. Emily and Madison kept a lot of pets through-out the house, two full grown cats, and five newborn kittens, all of which loved their Madison, but it was Taco, their trustful Italian Greyhound who loved her enough to say in room with her the whole time. When she is at her worst, you can hear Taco painfully cry for his Madison, who everyone believes is not there anymore. The body of the seven year old child was still Maddy, but something deep in her was something… something else. There was no doubt in her parent’s mind, she was possessed.

            Their house was now more full of people, a doctor, a policeman, Josh’s parents who lived down the road, Nelda and David, and his sister, Amanda, who drove down from college to see what she could do. Emily had family as well, but they were spread so sparsely all over the state and neighboring states, that it could take days for them to get there. Not that they would even believe that Madison was possessed, not even for a second, unless they saw her with their own two eyes. David, being a devout catholic, and having a mother, even more devout than him, had through her found a man, a man who is supposed to be able to take care of these type of things, an exorcist, and who would be arriving shortly.

 

            Amanda, Nelda, and Emily were seated at the dining room table in the dark, during her last… outburst… the power went out. Now all three sat at the table, weeping, and for the first time in a long time, Emily, Madison’s mother, prayed as hard as she could. Then came the knock, it was deceptively loud for the man on the other side. It wasn’t that he was short in stature, he stood fairly tall, it’s just, when an exorcist is on the other side of the door, you don’t expect a skinnier black man with a face covered in scars. It looked like he had been clawed in the face on several occasions, one of them taking his left eye, which was obviously blinded. He wore a black suit with a long black jacket. David ran down stairs when he heard the door open, panting he asked, “Are you Mr. Orion?”

            With a very thick African accent he replied, “Yes sir, take me to the girl.”

            “Follow me.” David said, going up the stairs, Taco’s whining and crying could be heard the entire way to Madison’s room. There stood Josh, carefully trying to listen through the door.

            “Step aside,” Orion asked in a low solemn town, “there is nothing more you can do.”

            “Wait a minute!” screamed Josh, “Who the hell is this guy?!”

            “I am the one who came to help.” Answered Orion sharply.

            “You sound like you’re from Africa!” Josh said trying to sound smug, “Where exactly are you from?”

            “Africa.” He paused before he physically moved Josh out of the way of the door. Orion grabbed the handle and opened the door. Josh and his father’s eye could not believe what they were seeing. Madison lay in bed, face white as a corpse, eyes clouded white. Her head was rocking back and forth as she spoke some demonic language the world of the living was never meant to understand. Taco had the saddest look on his face, and his tail was between his legs howling for his little girl to get better. “We must tie her down. Find some rope.” And without thinking Josh ran down the stairs, and out to the garage.

            While he was gone, his father mad a lame attempt at small talk, “So, see a lot of demons in Africa.”

            Orion stared at him for a second before replying, “Yes, many more than hear, among the uncivilized, it can run rampant. I have done many exorcisms, enough that I have had demons make attacks on my life.” He said as he pointed at his scarred face. “But they will have to try harder I suppose.” Just then Josh returned with the rope. “Come in quickly, I need your help.” Orion walked straight in, the other two were reluctant, but they came. “Tie her arms and legs to the bedposts.” All the while Taco’s whining from under the bed continued. When she was securely tied, Orion came to take a closer look at her face, her eyes troubled him. “Her eyes.”

            “What about them?” asked Josh.

            “They are white, I have never seen that, normally they turn black when someone is possessed.” Then Madison began to scream in evil tongues, only understood by Orion. Suddenly an ear piercing scream filled the room, it was Emily, Maddy’s mother, this was the first time she had seen her little girl in this state. “Get her out of here!” Orion yelled. David took Emily down stairs kicking and screaming for her little girl. “Listen to me, go out the door and lock it. No matter what you hear, don’t open this door.” And reluctantly he followed his orders. And with a quick ‘click-clack’ or the lock, Orion was on his own. He stood at her bed, looking down at her. This was strange to him, it was almost as if the demon were more dormant than usual. The room was wrecked , but it wasn’t as bad as it should have been. Not to mention he did not understand about the white eyes, he had never seen anything like that before, and he had done hundreds of exorcisms. No matter, although he was still nervous, for it is not often in his line of work you come across something new.

            She lay there, tied down, head slowly rocking back and forth, speaking some evil language. The deepness of her voice was as unsettling as her eye color. Orion stood by her side, and pulled a small book out from beneath his jacket. He turned to the correct page, and placed his hand on Madison’s forehead. With a deep breath he began to read, he was about half-way through when he noticed no change in the little girl, none at all. Puzzled he tried a different passage, still, no change, it was as if he was rading her a bedtime story. ‘How could this be?’ he thought, and he put the book away, and from the other side of his jacket and pulled out a vial of liquid, holy water. He took off the top and put three drops on her forehead, and nothing, they his her head and rolled down like rain. Was she impervious to all his methods? No, no demon is, so how could she? Unless… ‘She is no possessed, she’s being controlled’ All of the sudden, Orion’s leg was pulled out of underneath him, his head hit the hardwood floor, and then his vial, shattered in his hand. He turned to his leg to meet the dark gaze of the small Italian Greyhound.

            Taco’s eyes were a color black you could only see in a nightmare, his teeth were bared, and drool ran from his mouth. He was salivating over what his was about to do. Orion knew what had happened, the Demons finally laid a trap. They knew he would help a defenseless little girl, all they needed him to do was let him let his guard down, and he did. That was why the dog was always in the room. Taco walked like a lion, slowly, enjoying every step slowly, ravishing every moment. Taco was no longer there, you could see the malevolence over the Demon controlling him through his black eyes. Orion was frozen as Taco stood over him panting, drool dripping on his face, and only one thought was running through his head… they got me.

            Josh and Emily were outside the door when the screams began, they tried to kick the door down, but it was as if something was holding it closed. Yet as soon as the screaming ceased to door creaked open by itself, slowly revealing Orion, torn into three separate pieces, his blood covered all four walls of the room. And in the midst stood Taco, bearing down on Josh and Emily as they opened the door. Blood stained his once loveable face, and his empty eyes stared at them. They were frozen with fear. And just when they thought they were about to meet the same fate as Orion, something left Taco’s body, not anything that could truly be seen by human eyes, but some force left him so quickly, the small dog collapsed. And then they heard it, a cough, and a small voice, “Mommy, why am I all tied up.” Emily ran crying to her daughter that she had thought she had lost. She cover her eyes so she would no have to see the horror’s around her in the room. Josh ran and untied her and they rushed her out of the room. They did not know what to do about Orion or the dog, but none of that mattered now, they had their little girl back, and she had no idea of what happened, and they would never tell her.

It’s funny, for the longest time people have argued that animals deserve rights, just like people. Then the people want to disagree saying, “They are just animals, what’s the difference?” Well, when it comes to animals and humans, I guess to demons, one is just as good as the other.