Chapter 64: S#11. Exosister (3)
by fnovelpia
“The bus heading to the campsite exploded, and everyone on board died.”
Hearing Bob Bojangles’ words, my mind went blank.
“Officer, are you sure about this? Everyone died…?”
“Unfortunately, it’s true. The bus heading to Crystal Camp exploded, and all those hopeful young people were blown to pieces, falling into the reservoir. It’s a really sad affair.”
“Wait a minute. Crystal Camp? I’m talking about the Bible camp.”
“What, the Bible camp?!”
Bob stood up and rummaged through the papers buried under his donuts.
“Let’s see, Bible camp… Fortunately, the bus for that one didn’t explode!”
“Then what happened?”
“It disappeared entirely with all the students and counselors on board.”
The whole bus vanished.
Less shocking than an explosion, but still strange.
A bus full of students disappearing. Naomi returning alone, possessed by an evil entity…
What on earth happened that day…
I left the police station feeling uneasy, like I had stepped in demon dung.
From a distance, I could see Reiko Ishikawa’s house.
Light was flashing from the windows.
It was a flash of colors, blending pink and purple hues.
I’d never seen Reiko turn on the house lights, day or night.
She might be conducting a ritual necessary for the exorcism.
I suddenly felt curious.
What kind of place was Reiko’s house?
Night had fallen.
The night air was cool. An eerie, unknown aura lingered in the dark streets.
I went to the pastor’s house with Reiko.
The house looked even more dilapidated than yesterday, as if it might collapse at any moment.
The neighbors were having a barbecue party in their yard. They were grilling meat in a cheerful atmosphere.
They had no idea what was happening next door.
When we rang the doorbell of the pastor’s house, the pastor and his wife, looking thirty years older than yesterday, answered.
Both of them seemed utterly drained.
“You came…”
The wife said.
Reiko and I went inside.
The basement door was in the same condition as yesterday.
From beyond, the chilling sound of the demon’s laughter flowed like background music. It was Naomi making the noise.
The wife asked Reiko.
“Can we save my daughter today…?”
“Yes. I’ve brought the materials for the ritual. But it’s a very dangerous ritual.”
Reiko held up an item she had brought.
“We might have to use this in the end.”
It was a large chainsaw.
The machine looked fierce, like a bulldog. Its sharp chain blade radiated a menacing red aura.
The thought of using that on a 15-year-old girl…
The wife turned pale. The pastor muttered, “Amen.”
Reiko sat on the sofa.
She started pulling out other items for the ritual.
I expected them to be ritualistic tools, but I was wrong. What Reiko pulled out was not for a ritual.
It was a small pair of scissors and some white paper.
She handed a piece of paper to each of the couple.
“Write down the twenty most precious things to you.”
“The most precious things?”
The pastor furrowed his brow.
“Suddenly asking us to write down precious things on paper, what is this supposed to do? How does this help exorcise the demon from Naomi?”
“Of course it’s related. You both need to participate in the ritual. Please do as I say.”
With hollow eyes, the wife placed a pen on the paper.
The pastor, looking rather displeased, eventually picked up his pen.
This was entirely different from the mystical ritual I had imagined.
Writing down the twenty most precious things. I started to think about it myself.
Horror movies, health, friends, wealth…
I glanced at the pastor’s paper.
Jesus, the church, the Bible inherited from his father, and various other holy items filled his list.
He truly was a pastor.
I wondered what the wife was writing, but I couldn’t see from my angle.
“Pastor and madam, have you both written down twenty items?”
“Yes.”
“Now you must give up half of them. Draw a line through the ten you will give up.”
They had to give up half of the twenty precious things they had written down.
It was just a hypothetical situation, but the thought alone was painful.
Giving up even one precious thing would be regrettable, let alone half.
It must feel like half of their heart was being ripped out.
The pastor and his wife carefully selected the words and drew lines through them.
“…We’ve crossed out half. They’re all precious beyond measure, but we had to prioritize…”
“Now, with the ten remaining, you must give up half again. Draw lines through five more.”
“What…”
The pastor and his wife began to sweat.
Once more, they had to give up half of the precious things.
If I had to choose only five from health, wealth, family, friends, honor, job, hobbies, goals, love, movies…
What would I choose?
These are things that are naturally part of most people’s lives.
It was a time to reflect on what was truly precious.
The pastor and his wife reluctantly drew more lines.
In the end, only five extremely precious things remained on each of their papers.
“Now draw lines through three more of the remaining five.”
“Wait. How far are we going with this…?!”
The pastor protested.
It was a painful decision, but it had to be done.
With a few swift strokes, only two precious things were left on the paper.
These were the most precious things in the world to them.
“Now, leave only one.”
The couple’s faces showed their distress.
Following Reiko’s instructions, they made their final choices.
Reiko handed them scissors.
“Cut out the one remaining item.”
Snip-snip—the sound of paper being cut.
Each of them held a small piece of paper with the most precious thing written on it, folded twice, in their right hand.
The pastor and his wife each grasped their paper.
“What you hold in your hand is the reason you live.”
“…”
“Do not let go of it until the ritual is over.”
The wife asked cautiously.
“Wh-what happens if we let go…?”
“You will die.”
Reiko’s eyes were cold.
The hands holding the pieces of paper trembled.
The wife looked at the pastor.
“Honey, you’re holding ‘the Lord,’ right?”
“Of course. I am a clergyman. Nothing is more precious than the Lord. Isn’t it the same for you?”
“I…”
The wife couldn’t finish her sentence, looking somewhat guilty towards God.
I remembered the story of the ‘heart of the demon.’
A demon’s heart isn’t a physical organ but the most precious thing to the demon.
Destroying it would kill the demon.
The narrator had told me, and Mr. Strode had proven it.
The pieces of paper Reiko had them hold might be related to that.
At that moment, the phone rang.
The wife hurried to answer it. The call lasted over twenty minutes.
After the long call, she put the receiver down and spoke.
“It’s somewhat good news. They’ve found all the missing Bible camp kids. They had been stranded because of a bus accident.”
The Bible camp bus had been stranded… but it was a relief that all the missing kids were found.
“Why did Naomi return alone then?”
“According to the police, Naomi was the cause of the accident…”
“What?”
“Naomi shouted ‘I’m sick of this!’ and caused a commotion on the bus… The driver swerved, causing the bus to tumble down a hillside.”
I looked at the pastor sitting across from me.
“Pastor, did you force your daughter to go to Bible camp?”
“Her faith was weakening.”
The pastor said, his hand trembling as he gripped the piece of paper tightly.
“I was guiding her to the right path. Otherwise, the devil would come…!”
I thought of Stephen King’s movie <Carrie>.
The result of forced faith is always disastrous.
“If you guided her to the right path, why did the devil come?”
“What…?! Are you trying to lecture me?!”
As the pastor sprang up, a crashing sound came from the living room.
It was from the basement.
Before I could move, Naomi emerged.
“Naomi isn’t here, you b*tches!!”
Her face was horribly twisted and distorted.
Naomi twisted her neck. It turned 180 degrees so that the back of her head faced her chest, and her face looked backward over her back.
She kept twisting until her neck spun a full circle, and her head returned to its normal position.
The pastor and his wife screamed.
The demon laughed.
“Kahahaha! Scream louder!!”
Her mouth opened wide, and she vomited violently.
A green stream shot out in a straight line and hit the wife. The pressure sent her flying.
Naomi spun her head like a sprinkler, spraying vomit everywhere.
A spinning head. Whirling vomit.
The living room was drenched in green. It was chaos.
I dodged the vomit and pulled Reiko behind the sofa for cover.
“The situation is getting worse. Reiko, I’ll use this syringe.”
“What is that?”
“A powerful sedative that can knock out an elephant.”
“Good.”
I grabbed the syringe given by the Hyper sisters.
I stepped out from behind the sofa.
Running in a zigzag like a soldier dodging bullets, I approached Naomi and plunged the needle into her neck.
“Ugh…!”
Naomi staggered. The drug seemed to be spreading quickly.
“What… what did you do, human…!”
“How do you feel?”
“This… this…”
The demon tilted her head back.
“…Feels amazing?”
Suddenly, Naomi’s muscles bulged under her clothes.
Her whole body seemed to swell up. Thick veins popped out on her face and arms.
Had the real demon descended?
Contrary to my expectation that one shot would make her sleep like a baby bunny, she was transforming.
What the hell? Why is this happening…?
Crack
My vision went white.
I realized, belatedly, that Naomi’s fist had hit my solar plexus.
My body flew like a missile.
I crashed through the house wall. And I kept flying.
My unexpected flight ended in the neighbor’s yard.
In the middle of a barbecue party. My supersonic body overturned the grill. The shockwave swept through the lawn and people.
My body, tracing an unreal trajectory, smashed into the neighbor’s outer wall.
Bang─────!
With a loud noise, the wall caved in, creating a crater on the side.
I collapsed, coughing.
“Ugh…”
“Aaahhhhhh!”
The people in the yard screamed a beat late.
Dust rose thickly.
I tasted metal in my mouth. Sticky, hot liquid trickled down my forehead. Blood.
My spine and ribs felt shattered, turned to powder.
“Damn it…”
Muttering curses, I pulled out my Bible from my back pocket.
A sharp hand axe.
The only way to preach to the demon was with this.
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