An Angelic Intervention

An Exorcism

Gina stared at Kay as if she was expecting a punchline— even if he wasn’t the type to make such jokes —but she waited and it didn’t come. “Exorcism?” she slowly asked, making sure that she heard him right.

“Exor-exorcism, yeah,” Kay breathed out, fully knowing how weird his request must have sounded like. In an attempt to make an excuse, he quickly added, “It's for a‐a report!”

“You… have a report about exorcising ghosts?” Gina dubiously asked. Even Kay had to admit that he had only made things worse, but it was too late to back out.

“Y-yeah, in a uh, in our literature class. That’s‐ that’s the topic I chose for my paper,” he replied, trying to sound as convincing as he could.

“Oh, I took humanities instead of that elective,” Gina thoughtfully said. “But sure. I mean, they don’t really cover exorcisms in catholic school, but I’ve heard things here and there.”

“You have?” Kay asked, sounding a bit too excited. “What would I need? I mean, what would one need if they were to, uh, hypothetically do it at their own home?”

“Well, one would need a priest. That’s the best course of action, but you can always just bless the house or something. Now, don’t take my word for this—I am not exactly the most reliable source for a paper,” she said, taking out her phone and typing into it. “I just heard that some holy water and salt might do the trick. Oh, and some heavy praying with candles.”

“Holy water, salt, candles,” Kay muttered as he took quick mental notes. “Are there any specific incantations or something?”

“Ah, here. I’m forwarding the video to you that my classmates and I used back in high school,” Gina said, just as she sent a message to Kay's phone. He clicked on it and was directed to a video online with a guy in a black cloak on the thumbnail.

“You tried it before?” he asked, watching the video on mute. The guy in it was setting up candles around the room—something that looked straight out of one of those horror films. It didn’t seem like the most trustworthy source, but it was the best Kay had at the moment.

“Yeah, one of my friends said she was being followed by a ghost back then,” Gina chuckled at the memory of it. “She said there were cold spots in her bedroom. Of course, we took her word for it, so we helped her out. She said that it worked, so I don’t know, maybe it did,” she shrugged.

“You didn’t really see the ghost?”

“I didn’t, but I do believe in the supernatural even though I’ve never had an encounter. Maybe it was because of how I was raised, but… I don’t know. I choose to believe in the afterlife and all that. Wouldn’t it be pretty sad if there isn’t one? You know, if after we die, there’s just nothing?” Gina said, looking like she was deeply thinking, then she chuckled. “We're getting pretty existential for an early afternoon.”

“Sorry about that,” Kay sheepishly smiled.

“It’s fine, but is that enough for your paper? I mean, aside from that, I don’t really know much about it anymore.”

Kay thought about it for a second, watching the guy in the video sprinkle some holy water from a bottle. “Would you know if I could get holy water online?” he asked. “It’s just, uh, I think I’d write my paper better if I‐I uh, experience it first-hand?” He felt stupid as he said that lame excuse, but thankfully, Gina perked up and fished for something in her bag.

“Actually,” she said with a smile, as she pulled out a small container that was just the size of her thumb and handed it to him. “I happen to have some here. It’s from our school retreat back in grade school. My parents always tell me to bring it with me for extra protection or whatever,” she lightly chuckled. “I didn’t know it would actually be of some use.”

Kay examined it. It didn’t look like anything special—just a small container with water inside. “You’re letting me borrow it?” he asked.

“Well, it’s not like I have any use for it,” Gina shrugged. “Where are you going to try out this exorcism thing anyway? You know, I never really pegged you as someone who believed in ghosts.”

“I didn’t,” Kay admitted. He wanted to say that he still wasn’t even completely sure if he actually believed in ghosts or if he had just lost his mind, but he kept that bit to himself. “But, um, I might just try it at… at the dorm. It’s an old building, so there’s bound to be some ghosts, right?” he chuckled nervously.

“Probably. That makes sense,” Gina muttered thoughtfully. “Want me to help you out? I have nothing to do for more than another hour.”

Kay considered this, then thinking that he needed all the help he could get, he nodded and said, “Yeah. Yes, please, if that’s alright.”

“Nice,” Gina grinned, packing up her things and standing up. “Let’s go buy some candles!” she said, and so they did. They went to a convenience store to buy small candles like in the video, but all they could find were large ones that were sold in dozens. Kay bought them anyway, alongside a large pack of salt, claiming that “I don’t know how much salt would suffice.” He just wanted that ghost—if he even was a ghost—gone and dealt with.

After that, they walked to Kay's dorm. It was a good thing that Gina wasn’t much for doubting and questioning. She was merely excited at having something to do in her spare time, that she didn’t even ask more details about Kay's “paper.” She was simply having fun being of use and searching up even stranger videos on the internet about exorcising ghosts. Meanwhile, Kay was trying not to seem too panicked as they went up the stairs.

He glanced behind him every now and then, looked at every corner while clutching his candles and bag of salt in his arms very tightly. He hadn’t seen the man in white ever since he ran down the stairs, which had been, more or less, twenty minutes ago. By the time they reached his room, he was starting to think that maybe it was all really just a dream. Nevertheless, he fished for his keys and slowly and carefully opened the door.

The room was empty, much to his relief. He set down the candles and salt on the study desk, while Gina looked around.

“This is not how I imagined I would spend my two-hour break,” Gina said, looking out the window to check his view. “Nice room you were able to get— very clean, too. Lucky you for having no roommates.”

Kay nervously smiled at her. It was the first time he had anyone over to his dorm room— the man, who may or may not be a ghost, not considered— and even if Gina was just a new platonic friend, he still couldn’t help but feel bare as she read the book titles on his shelf.

“So, um, shall we start?” he asked, hurriedly unpacking the things they bought onto the floor.

“Right!” Gina clapped her hands excitedly as she squatted beside him and began arranging the candles to form a circle. “This makes me feel like I’m in high school again. The school and some of the nuns sucked, but our little shenanigans here and there were great,” she said with a reminiscent look in her eyes.

“Gina,” Kay called out, not listening to her little anecdote as he opened the bag of salt with scissors. “How exactly did you know that the exorcism worked back then?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” she thoughtfully answered. “We just had this feeling.”

“This feeling?” Kay asked, sounding unconvinced. He looked around again to make sure that there were only the two of them in the room.

“A feeling. I can’t explain it,” Gina answered as she finished lining up the candles. She stood up and admired her work, then held out her hand towards him. “You have a lighter?” she asked.

Kay checked his pockets, even though he already knew that he didn’t have one. He was the type of straight-edged kid, after all— didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t use drugs, and never dated. Although, it could be argued that his lack of vices wasn’t because he was a good kid, but rather no one had ever given him any or invited him to partake in them.

“Oh, I think I have matches in the emergency kit,” he said as he remembered, quickly going into the bathroom to retrieve it.

“You have an emergency kit?” Gina asked in awe.

“Yeah,” Kay replied as he found the matches and handed them to her. “You know, in case of emergencies, like an earthquake or something. It has the essentials. Canned goods, a flashlight, a first aid kit.”

Gina snickered and began lighting up the candles. “I can’t believe you’re ready for a freaking apocalypse. That’s so… weird and cool! I should prepare one for myself.”

Weird and cool. Cool. Kay couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he had just been called such by the coolest girl he knew.

“Okay, all done,” Gina breathed out as she stood up and stretched her legs. The two of them stood there, just outside of the circle made of candles and salt. Kay was pretty sure that lighting small fires wasn’t allowed in the dorm, but to hell with those rules. He had a ghost to remove.

“Are you ready?” she asked, taking out her phone to play the video once again.

Kay nodded, his anxiety making his hands cold as he held the small bottle of holy water. With that, Gina began repeating the words that the guy in the video was saying, while Kay sprinkled small amounts of the water all over the room. Not once in his life did he ever think he would come to this point, yet there he was, believing in something that wasn’t science-based, performing an act that was borrowed from the freaking internet, of all places.

After muttering all the words to the incantation, she closed her eyes and Kay followed suit. He was never one to pray, but in that moment, that’s what he did, and as he thought the word Amen to end his prayer, a strong gust of wind swung the windows open and put out all of the flames on the candles.

Gina and Kay opened their eyes and looked at each other in a startle— Gina, with a look of amazement and thrill, and Kay, with a look of horror and fear. No one spoke for a few seconds until the wind died down, leaving a few dried up leaves behind on the floor.

“Was that,” Kay was the first to speak, “was that the feeling?”

Gina nodded and answered, “Heck yeah, that was the feeling!”

Kay looked around, breathing heavily. There was no true way of knowing if it worked, but the man in white did not show up. Was that it? It seemed like that was it. There was the feeling and the wind and all that.

“Okay, so I guess we just exorcised some poor ghost living in this building!” Gina exclaimed, patting Kay's shoulder proudly. “Good job for a non-catholic boy! Anyway, I have to get going. I just realized while praying that I left my notes for next class back in my dorm.”

“Yeah, yes, of course. I’ll clean up here,” Kay thankfully smiled at her and handed her back the holy water. “Thank you, Gina. I don’t know what I’d do if it weren’t for you.”

“I assume you would have just Googled exorcism,” she jokingly said, picking up her bag. “You better get an A+ for that paper, got it? We went full-on research mode for this!”

Kay nervously laughed as he walked her out of the room. “Thanks again, Gina. Walk safe.”

She waved goodbye, and with that, he closed the door and let his back rest against it. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Now, all he had to do was clean up, then he could finally go on with his day writing actual papers for his non-made-up class requirements.

“I smell burning. Are you trying to summon a demon?”

Kay's eyes opened wide at the sound of that voice. There, sitting comfortably on the window's ledge was the man with light blond hair, green eyes, and clean, white clothes, looking very much un-exorcised.

“N-no, no way. No effing way,” Kay muttered, his voice trembling. He tried to back away but his back was already against the door. With shaking hands, he pointed at him. “Y-you, you’re supposed to be gone! W-we did everything!”

“Oh, hold on,” the man said, standing up. He had a confused look on his face as he narrowed his eyes at Kay and the items on the floor. “Were you… is this… was this all for an exorcism?” he asked with an amused smile.

Kay stayed frozen where he stood, his jaw hanging open.

“Oh, wow,” the man lightly chuckled at his reaction. “I’ll take that as a big, fat yes. This is nice and all with the candles and, is that sugar or salt? Anyway, there’s only one problem though. I’m not a ghost.” He scrunched up his nose and shrugged.

“I’m an angel.”