Into the Light

3

"Colby." God, what I wouldn't give to have her open her eyes. "Colby!" I jerked my eyes to Sam's. "What?" I asked. "You should start. You know more about this situation than anyone," he suggested. He was right. I looked back down to Anna. "It started when we went exploring the old Witch's House for our Halloween Youtube video," I started. I told her everything. From the first time that I had felt the urge to take Anna's doll, until I picked up her body from that hospital bed. Everything that I could remember. Every touch, every word, everything. It took a while. I hadn't realized just how much we had been through. It didn't seem like we had spent that much time together. When my final word rang silent, Beth put her phone down. "Well...I have an idea of what we may be fighting against here. I can feel it. I hope I'm wrong, if I'm being honest. But I'm not. You said the Darkness...her name is Lilith?" Sam and I both nodded. "She goes by another name now. Her apartment is registered to another name. I can't remember what it was now," I replied. Sam said the name, but I didn't even hear him. Anna shifted her head, next to my leg, and I leaned forwards to watch her eyes. Her mouth moved a little, murmuring something, then she fell silent and still again. "Does she do that often?" Beth asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she stared at Anna. I nodded. "Yeah, off and on, throughout the day." "Hmm." She bit her lip and concentrated on Anna's face, like she was trying to read her thoughts. Could she read thoughts? "She may be fighting whatever this is. I don't usually see them move. Not when their soul was stolen. You found her in a hospital bed?" "We've already told you that we did," I replied, annoyed that she was making us repeat ourselves. She met my gaze, and nodded slowly. "I know that. I just want to make sure that I understand everything. I believe that what has happened to your Anna, is a very delicate balance between life and death. I need to make sure that I get all of the information correctly, so I tend to ask a few times. Sometimes, people remember things differently. Like, your friend Sam told me that she had been hooked up to machines, but he didn't know how many. You told me 3. Two on one side, one on the other. One IV drip, no clue what was in it, one giving her blood and one taking her blood. It's all in the details, Mr. Brock. Just the correct ones." "Call me Colby," I insisted again. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "What doesn't add up is that she was in a hospital bed...and you said there were other people down there. Hooked up just like her?" "I don't know," I replied. "I didn't pay a lot of attention to what, or even if, they were hooked up too. They weren't Anna." "I see," she mused. She stood and stood and stepped around the table, closer to Anna. I had the sudden urge to protect her, shield her from this woman. "May I?" she asked. Maybe she was being polite, or maybe she saw how nervous I was. "I thought you had to cleanse the house or something first," I answered. She smiled at me. "I do, but I wanted to check something with Anna first. If that's okay. By the way, I'm glad that your arm is completely healed. Any more problems with it?" I knew what she was doing. She was reminding me that she had helped me when no one else could. She had saved me from death. Which is what I was hoping she could do for Anna. I sighed, and moved over a little so that she could have better access. "Thank you," she replied. She pulled a penlight out of her pocket, like the kind that nurses and doctors use, then leaned down over Anna. I watched her pull one eyelid up and then the other, shining the light in each eye. When she stood straight, she smiled at me reassuringly. "What was that for?" I asked. "I was making sure that her body was still able to hold her. That she wasn't brain dead." I hadn't even thought about that at all. "And?" I asked, swallowing against the fear that dared to rise up. "She is. If she's in there, her body is healthy, for now," she answered. "Oh, thank God," I whispered. "Yes, well, I better get started cleansing the home. I don't want any leftover negative energy around when I do what I need to do. This means every room will need to be cleansed, from top to bottom, so if one of you would like to accompany me, while I do this..." I wasn't going to move and both Sam and Kat knew this. "I'll take you," Katrina offered. I gave her a grateful look. "Just a second," Beth replied, then walked over to the bag that Sam had put on the floor, by the end of the couch. She picked it up, set it on the couch, then started to dig through it. When she found what she needed, she snapped it closed, then turned to us, items in hand. "So, this is white sage, which I will burn and waft around each room. These candles will be lit and placed in each corner of the room that we do the ritual in. The little globes are called crystal points. I will put them in various corners of the home, then in each corner of this room. Finally, the rock salt I will use to put a ring of salt around your home on the outside. This will clear the energy, as well as ward off any other negative entities or energies. Does that sound okay with you?" Sam and I glanced at each other, then nodded at her. "Great!" she replied, then turned to Kat. "If you would escort me outside to make the salt circle first, please." "Okay," Kat replied softly, and walked out of the room with Beth on her heels. "Well, at least this isn't the weirdest thing we've ever done," Sam joked. I gave him a wry smile, but I was just too worried to muster up a good one. "It's gonna be okay, man. It always is," he said. "Yeah, but one of these times, Sam, it won't be okay. We're going to run out of luck one day. I just hope it's not at Anna's expense. If this works, she can have a life."