Eternal Love

Chapter 7: The exorcist

John was truly fed up with Sheila constantly disappearing into the woods behind the guest house. He wondered what it was she did back there for nearly the whole day. Her mother had informed him she was disappearing for most the day, nearly every day since they were married. This got John curious, so he decided to find a exorcist. Ophelia thought it a grand idea; especially knowing mediums didn't have that kind of spiritual authority.

They decided not to say anything to Sheila. John was afraid she might try to stop them if she knew. They chose New years Eve night to do the exorcism ritual. The exorcist said it was a spiritual day as well as the last night of the year. He didn't know if that was true or not, but he was willing to do just about anything to get rid of the spirit on the estate.

Sheila woke up and saw her mother, John and a Catholic priest in the parlor. They were sitting around the game table; speaking too low for her to hear. She thought it seemed suspicious to her. Sheila wondered what it was they were planning. She rose up and announced she was awake; surprising them.

Sheila asked, in a bewildered state of mind, what they all were doing. The priest rose and introduced himself as father Matthew. He was rather young to be a priest, Sheila thought. She shook his hand and informed him she obeyed the Bible to the letter; therefore that meant she would not be calling him father. The priest was okay with that and sat back down in his seat.

Sheila took a seat next to her mother; completely avoiding John. She suspected this was probably his idea. Had it been her mother's idea; her mother would've called for the priest long ago. Madam Gabriela began lighting the four candles, one by one. Ophelia grabbed Sheila's hand and held on tight; she whispered to Sheila she didn't care for this part of the seance.

Sheila was surprised by her mother's obvious nervousness; her mother didn't rattle easily. She winced as her mother squeezed her hand tighter. As madam Gabriela was doing her chanting: Sheila looked over at John and saw a quirky smirk on his face. He was looking directly at her; which made Sheila wonder what he was up to. For some reason, she felt something was going on that she wasn't going to like.

Madam Gabriela suddenly began to change. Not just her demeanor, but her very physical body. First, her face began to morph into something that looked like half cat and half human. Then her hands turned into claws; razor sharp claws that could put you down in one swipe. Her voice, as she spoke, came out like a hissing snake.

Whichever entity that was inside madam Gabriela; it wasn't anything Sheila recognized. The entity warned of secret meetings with the other side and meddling where the living ought not to go. It placed a curse of misfortune for any whom dared to cross the veil between the living and the dead. Sheila wasn't entirely sure in her understanding of that which the entity said; maybe due to her love for Thomas blinded her from the truth. The priest immediately began reading passages from Psalms in the Bible.

He kept reading as the rest of the party prayed the Lord's prayer behind him. The entity screamed and withered within madam Gabriela; until he was finally gone. Madam Gabriela awoke looking like she needed to go back to bed. Sheila was kind enough to escort her to her bedroom, while the others cleaned up the parlor. Sheila tucked her in and went back downstairs.

Ophelia approached Sheila and told her not to be too hard on John; somehow, without saying a word, her mother knew she was angry with John. Although she didn't understand much more than John; she still knew well enough that doing seances and the like were abominable in the sight of the Lord. She knew well enough to observe, study but not be a part of it. She did feel guilty for participating; but she really didn't have a choice. Her mother had forced her to participate.

Sheila decided it wasn't worth the aggravation to speak to John about it. It would only lead to a argument. She wasn't much for arguing; she preferred to have intellectual conversations. She simply walked up to John and hugged him. He was a bit shaken with the whole thing and she felt a simple hug would help him to settle down.

John told her he thought it was a mistake inviting the priest. He informed her he was much more than just a priest; he was a exorcist as well. Sheila was in shock. She never imagined John, of all people, would summon an exorcist to her estate. John begged for her forgiveness; he was clearly rattled.

Sheila gently pet his head and whispered she forgave him. She did have love for John; she just wasn't in love with him. He was, after all, a good man. She felt confused inside, but refused to show that towards John. She felt it would only complicate things for him.

She realized the exorcist wasn't very effective; when she arrived in her room and a dark figure was standing in the corner of her room. Sheila asked it what it wanted. Suddenly a message appeared on her vanity mirror. It simply said "Heed the warning". Sheila knew it meant something to do with what was said during the seance, but still didn't understand.

Sheila lit her candle and the message disappeared, along with the dark figure. She shook it off as a hallucination, due to what they all had just experienced and exhaustion. Sheila blew out her candle and settled into bed with John. She figured all they needed was a good night sleep. She drifted off to sleep, hoping not to have nightmares.

Just as she was starting to fall asleep, something pulled the covers off of them. John shot up, suddenly awoken. He asked what had just happened; Sheila said something yanked the covers off them. Sheila suspected this was not Thomas, but something else entirely. John got up and said he had enough and was sleeping in the parlor. He got up and went downstairs to the parlor; Sheila decided to join him, she really didn't want to be alone.

They slept by the fireplace in the parlor, together on the floor. It was a bit cold, but the heat from the fire in the fireplace made up for the coldness of the cobble stone floor. John's body heat also helped to increase the warmness for Sheila to drift off back to sleep. Fortunately, Sheila didn't dream nightmares that night. Yet, she still felt a uneasy feeling rise up within her and she couldn't help but feel this in her dreams.

The next morning, John had woken her up to let her know the exorcist had returned. This frustrated Sheila; nothing negative had happened until he had shown up. It was her opinion he was the one whom invited the negative energy onto her property. John still didn't believe in the ghostly things she discussed, but he was willing to give it a chance. Anything to make her, her happy self again; that's really what he said he wanted.

Sheila wasn't sure if she should believe him, but it was him whom summoned the exorcist to begin with. She decided if John was humble enough to give her beliefs a chance, she could believe him too. She resided herself to open up to him and take him at his word. With their agreement, they decided to head to the kitchen and eat.