Haunted

Acceptance

The day before Halloween Jack and Emily walk together from the hotel to their house. Unlike my last visit with Amy, this one takes place at a reasonable hour, almost noon.

“The last time we talked to her it didn’t go all that well,” Emily said as they walked down our woodsy street, cringing at the memory of my first meeting with Amy in my hotel room. 

“Sure it did,” Jack counters. “We never would have learned that you were a medium. We never would have figured out that you were special.”

Emily nodded aimlessly as she walked beside him through the leaves. The snow decided to start falling, and it crunched beneath our feet. It feels like we’re breaking something with every step we take.

Jack is wearing the leather jacket that Emily had bought him last Christmas, and a wool hat covers his dark black hair. Emily's frizz ball is tucked into an old gray hat with a matching scarf wrapped around her neck. When they get to their house she keeps the scarf on.

Amy is smiling when she opens the door of her car. “Welcome back,” she says; then turning to Jack, she adds, “Hello.” Amy’s dark clothes stand out against our brightly decorated house. Emily wondered whether she dressed like this before her husband died or whether she wore the dark clothes as a sign of mourning.

“You said you could help,” Emily began eagerly as she followed us into the living room. Emily doesn't sit down like Jack does. Instead, she takes a deep breath and makes the request she's been practicing for the past twenty-four hours. “I need you to teach me everything you know about how to exorcise a demon. Will you teach me?” When she doesn’t answer immediately, she adds a desperate, “Please?”

Amy nods her head. “I would be happy to, Emily. We can start work right away. You can also join Jack.”

“That’s great!” Emily is tempted to jump up and down like a little kid.  Instead, she walked over giving Amy a hug, thanking her for her help. “If I had known what I was before, then I wouldn’t be here in this mess, with you helping me, teaching me,” Emily looked up the word medium in the dictionary last night: A person who claims to be in contact with the dead. Amy might not be a qualified teacher, but she’s still the closest thing she has to that definition.

“The demon is trying to use you,” Amy insisted.

“How?”

“The other day,” Jack said softly, and Emily turned around to face him. He looked so out of place in this room— the plush furniture seemed to swallow up his long arms and legs. “The demon had jumped you when you were here then when you got away he left,” 

Jack has a point: She remembered that day. She had been angry at Father Mike for no reason. Then when Jack had removed her from the situation all the anger had left her.  “Maybe he even planted the bone and other items in the trailer when we left Montana,” he thought aloud, his voice intense.

Emily bit her bottom lip. “Okay, fine, that’s possible. But it’s not nearly enough to go on. Not when your life is at stake,”

“It will appear, Emily. You just have to wait,” Amy brings her long white fingers to her mouth, as though she’s said too much. I feel like she’s barely saying anything at all.

“But I can help you for now,” she offers slowly, her soft voice melodic as she stands and disappears outside.

“Why don’t you sit down?” Jack suggests gently, and Emily sits on the couch beside him and holds his hand. 

Emily didn’t know what to expect when Amy returned back inside the house. She comes back holding a handkerchief wrapped around something. “Here,” she says, holding the package out to her. Emily unwrapped the item and immediately dropped it into her lap.

“A bunch of flowers wrapped up,” It’s not even a big bundle. It’s not, like, a bundle of flowers you would give someone. It's kind of like a smudge stick bundle that a witch would use,” “It’s a small smudge stick,” Amy counters. “Do you know how to use one?”

Emily shook her head. “What’s it supposed to do?”

“It’s a weapon,” she says breathlessly. “A weapon that helps keep evil spirits at bay. Not permanently but long enough for me to teach you?”

“How do I use it?”

“You light it and go to all four corners of every room with the smoke while chanting”

I pick up the smudge stick and hold it up in front of me, turning it over in my hands. I stare at it, then I squeeze it tight as something is trying to rip it from my hands. It drops to the floor with a hollow thump against the carpet. “What do we start,” Emily asked.

“What happened,” Amy questioned. 

“Something just took the smudge stick from my hands,” Emily replied.

“We need to get you prepared if one of you becomes possessed by the demon—then the demon will be powerful,”

“But if the body is going to have superhuman strength, how am I supposed to overpower it? You said you couldn’t destroy this demon, and you’ve been doing this for a lot longer than I have. It’s only been a few days since I've learned that I was a physical medium.” Tears spring to Emily’s eyes. If she couldn’t destroy this demon, how am I supposed to? What kind of a teacher gives her student a task that even a seasoned medium couldn’t overcome? She felt like she was destined to fail.

“It’s been fifty-one years since I turned sixteen and learned what I was,” Amy said.

 Jack does the math automatically, “That would make you sixty-seven years old,”

Amy nodded, Emily studied her face. There are a couple of lines on her forehead. Her eyes are light blue without any dark rings around them—guess she gets more sleep than me—but there are crow’s feet peeking out at the corners. She smiles, and Emily sees that her lips are full and thick, her teeth bright white. Either Amy has a good plastic surgeon, or she has aged gracefully just like some actresses in Hollywood. “It’s true that I can’t defeat this demon for you, but it’s because this is your home you must make it leave, just think of it like an unwanted house guest that has overstayed its welcome,”