Blackwater Springs

Chapter Twenty-Six

1

"Why do you think possession? I thought it was just something the Catholic church made up." Audrey poured Nan another cup of coffee, then poured one for herself.

"No, it's real. It's just been downplayed in recent years, something for the movies. Possession is rare, but it's real."

Audrey stared at Nan, lost for words. "But...Who...How do you know?"

Nan sighed. "It's a long story. Better sit down." Audrey sat; Nan pulled just her own chair but remained standing. "Eileen?" she called into the living room. "You might wanna come in here and hear this."

Footsteps grew closer, and Eileen appeared in the doorway. "What's goin' on?"

"We're having storytime," Audrey smiled and pulled out the chair beside her. "C'mon and join us." She sat down next to Audrey.

"Audrey and I were discussin' the possibilities of possession," Nan said to Eileen. "Before I begin, I want your input."

Audrey's entire focus was on the girl beside her. Eileen studied her fingernails a long moment before she spoke. "I've always believed in it. I grew up in a devout Catholic family, so of course demons and exorcisms and everything were major topics. Just 'cause the Vatican doesn't acknowledge possessions anymore. doesn't mean they don't happen."

Nan seemed pleased with Eileen's response. "Good. Now, have you ever witnessed one?"

Eileen shook her head at the same time Audrey said, "Nan, don't you think that's a little...personal?"

Eileen looked at Audrey. "No, it's fine. I don't mind. Unless TV counts, no, I've never seen a possessed person."

Nan paced the floor. "So we've established that neither of you girls has ever saw a possessed person, and no, Eileen, television doesn't count." She stopped and smiled fondly at the girl. "Trust me, seeing an exorcism on tv is child's play next to seeing one in person."

"How do you know?" Audrey asked again but without a trace of disbelief in her voice.

Nan looked at her for a few seconds before she answered. "Because, Audrey, your grandfather was a victim of possession."

2

Audrey's mouth didn't seem to work right. She'd close it, but it would fall back open as soon as she relaxed her jaw. She felt like a ventriloquist's dummy, without the ventriloquist. "When? How?"

"We were teenagers. One of our friends though it would be fun to have a party while the parents were on vacation. I know, I know, cliché. But let me tell you that none of us were drinkin', and there was only six, maybe seven, people at this party. Anyway, me and your Pap hadn't been together long, so when somebody pulled out a Ouija board, Thomas was the first person to volunteer to play. He always was a show-off." Nan smiled, lost in some pleasant memory.

Audrey gave Nan a few moments, before she said, "Then what happened?" and shook the woman out of her reverie.

"At first, I was sure the boys were messin' with us girls. The lights flickered a few times, but wee c chalked that up to the storm. Then the board started shaking, and it flipped off the table. The planchette disappeared; I don't know that they ever did find it. That, we knew, had nothing to do with the thunderstorm.

"As soon as the boys got up from the table, the lights stopped flickering, and everything went back to normal. Or so I thought.

* "It happened so slowly, anyone who wasn't around Tom a lot wouldn't have noticed the changes. He stopped eating his favorite foods, quit going to church, became more introverted.... The differences were too many to list. " She sobbed and gripped the chair-back tight enough to make her knuckles lose their color. "He even hit me, more than once, and hard enough to leave marks. Try explainin' that to your folks." She chuckled, but the sound held no mirth.

Audrey's eyes widened. She couldn't connect her sweet, old Pap with the man her grandmother painted. She opened her mouth to question the old woman, but before she could speak, Nan continued her tale.

"I know you're probably wonderin' why I stayed with the man if he was abusive." She released the chair and began pacing again. "I'll tell you why. By this point, I knew that Tom wasn't himself. I knew it, his mother knew it; seemed like everyone but his father had faced the music. When Tom's mother told her husband what was going on, he laughed in her face and threatened her with divorce if she dared let a priest cross his threshold. And he meant it, too. See, Alfred wasn't a religious man, said he didn't believe in all that hocus-pocus. By the end of that week, he sure was a believer. Sarah, Tom's mother, caught Alfred working late and called in her priest. He came on the double, and they blessed the house and strapped Tom down to somethin' or 'nother - I don't know what, as I wasn't there. I'm just repeating what my mother-in-law told me later. The priest started the exorcism, and Tom started screaming and hollering til he was blue in the face.

"That priest worked on him for hours - that's one thing the movies don't tell ya, how long these things last - but that demon or whatever had ahold of Tom was stubborn. At one point, Tom sat up as best he could and said in this disconnected voice, 'He's home,' and then threw his head back and cackled. A couple of minutes later, Alfred walked through the door. With all the noise, there was no way Tom coulda heard Alfred's car. He stomped in to where they were workin' on Tom and demanded that everyone get out of his house. Sarah never told me what happened next. All she said was that her husband took one look at their son, flushed white, and fled the room. After that day, Alfred became the most devout Christian man there ever was.

"Anyway, back to the main story. It was well after midnight when whatever had ahold of Tom let him go. The priest finished up and left, and Sarah said Tom slept for eighteen hours straight - the best night's sleep he'd had since it all began." Nan pulled the chair out and picked up her mug of now-cold coffee. "So what was the moral of the story? Guess there's two. One, possessions are real, and to hell with anyone that tries to tell you different. And two, it can happen to anyone, even the people you think you know best."

3

"Do our really believe John's possessed, Nan?" Hearing someone else voice Audrey's concerns should have eased her mind, but it didn't.

"Not just John. I knew something was wrong before I even got to town." Eileen raised her eyebrows, but kept her opinions to herself. "This whole town practically reeks. Like I said, I'm really surprised you couldn't smell it, especially since you got the Sight."

"What's the Sight?" Eileen asked, unable to hold back her questions anymore. "You mean Audrey was blind before?"

Nan chuckled. "No, not that kinda sight. Audrey's from a long line of Seers." Nan spoke to Eileen, but kept her gaze on Audrey.

"Like psychics and stuff?"

"Kind of. Psychics are only one type of Seer. There's four main groups." She ticked them off on her fingers as she spoke. "You got your futurists, which includes your psychics, your palm readers, and people of that ilk. There's the Travelists, people who can time-travel. Spiritualists, or Hearers, can speak to the dead, but can't see the spirit. Then you've got your True Seers, which is where Audrey and myself descend. True Seers can do everything the other Seers can, but with a twist, if you will. They can both see and speak to the dead. Not only can they foretell the future or look into the past, they can also visit there. And they can change the outcome of things."

Eileen's eyes were as round as saucers. "You're shittin' me, right? Y'all have planned this to fuck with me, is that it?" She was desperate for a rational explanation, anything other than the old lady across the table offered. When Nan didn't answer, Eileen turned to Audrey.

"I wish I could tell you what you wanna hear," Audrey sighed, "but if she's telling us this, it must be true. I know it's true. I've met other Seers, and besides, I've experienced it before."