The Possessed Read online

  “Should I tell her you stopped by?”

  “No, that’s okay. It’s…” I couldn’t say it wasn’t important, but I didn’t know how to phrase what I needed help with so I said, “could I give you my name and number?”

  Rosalind drew closer to the desk and leaned across it. “A blog post, huh?” she whispered and glanced around conspiratorially. Seeing no one who might overhear her, she said, “Does this have anything to do with…the supernatural?”

  My breath caught. I opened my mouth, unsure if I should say anything about Eloise outside of her profession. On second thought, Rosalind obviously knew about it and based on her low tone, she wanted to keep what she said confidential, so I nodded.

  A grim expression altered her pleasant features. “Is it something you’re dealing with?”

  I nodded again. Had she also had a supernatural encounter? If so, maybe she’d be more understanding if she knew I wanted to talk with Eloise for that purpose, rather than merely stopping by to talk.

  Seeing patrons at a nearby computer station, Rosalind cocked her head about fifteen feet away, toward a darkened study room. She snatched a notepad and pen and then headed in that direction. She entered the room, flipped the light on, stepped inside, and waited for me. “I can’t close the door because I’m in charge of the building, but this will give us some privacy.” A severe stare hit her eyes. “Has anything dangerous happened?”

  To hear that she took me seriously made tears enter my eyes. I stepped into the room and blinked rapidly to offset the moisture. “Something nearly attacked my sister. And then it tried to come after me.”

  Rosalind studied my gaze. “‘Something?’”

  The dark fog quickly hit the forefront of my mind. Until now, I’d tried not to think about it because doing so alone for more than a few seconds would make me start to shake. I described what it looked like.

  Rosalind put a hand against her heart. “I’m so sorry. I’ve dealt with something like that before, and Eloise helped in a big way.”

  I had no idea how tight my chest felt until she’d spoken those words. “Oh, thank God!”

  “Eloise tells me about all of her cases. Where is it happening?”

  “My house.”

  “Do you think you’re in danger?”

  “I get the impression something can happen at any moment.” I didn’t want to extrapolate on “something” because I didn’t know what could happen.

  “Eloise is working a case right now. I should get your contact info.” She prepared to write on the notepad.

  I gave her my name, telephone number, and my address. “How did she help you?”

  “Ghost infestation.”

  “Really?” I asked, realizing that two days ago I wouldn’t have believed I’d be discussing the paranormal with anyone, let alone a librarian who referred me to a ghostbuster. “Did anyone get hurt?” I hoped she wouldn’t reply in the affirmative. It might mean Eloise was experienced enough to deal with nasty elements without anyone getting injured.

  “It happened in this building. Eloise didn’t mention it in her blog post because I don’t want paranormal investigators trying to film here for their webisodes on YouTube. Understood?”

  “I won’t tell anyone a thing. By the way, what do you mean, Eloise worked a ‘case?’”

  “She works with a medium who speaks to those on the other side, among other phenomena.”

  Yes! If I could convince Eloise and this medium to help me, they might be able to identify whatever had infested my home. “I’d appreciate it if you’d get in touch with her as soon as possible.”

  She removed a cell phone from a pocket in her slacks and began dialing. “Is this soon enough for you?”

  I remained at the library throughout the morning and researched hauntings, using online databases and books, but I didn’t find anything that addressed the issues I’d experienced in my home. Just as I recalled that I’d planned to search demonology last night before my cell phone died, I received a call from a detective from the Chicago Police Department. Apparently, he’d dropped by my house, and Lilah gave him my phone number.

  I agreed to meet him at the police station, where he questioned me for a couple of hours. I explained that a new medication had messed with my mind, and I assured the detective that Jake hadn’t attacked me. After that confession, the detective grilled me for wasting valuable police resources and potentially damaging Jake’s career. He left me alone in an interrogation room for another hour and a half before whipping open the door with a nasty scowl and said: “Get the hell outta here!”

  Afterward, I called Jake in hopes that enough time had passed that he might answer the phone. I’d have preferred to visit him, but I doubted he’d let me in his home or office, so I left him a long-winded voicemail, explaining that my twin sister had impersonated me and that her behavior was probably related to some paranormal events that were occurring in my home. Throughout the entire message, my voice quivered at the thought that he might delete the voicemail upon first hearing my voice.

  When I got home and spotted Jake’s black sedan at the curb outside my house, my heartbeat hammered with excitement that he’d decided to drop by instead of merely returning my call. A moment later, however, I prayed that he hadn’t already knocked on my front door, only to have Lilah invite him inside. If Jake had to meet my mother, I would have preferred to introduce them, not allow Lilah to answer the door in a drunken stupor. Thankfully, Noelle would still be at work, so Jake wouldn’t have to encounter the person who’d tried to ruin his career.

  My pulse no longer pounded with excitement but dread. I rushed into the house and found Lilah stretched out on the sofa, holding a mug that she now lifted to her smiling lips as her gaze met mine.

  Jake, seated in the recliner and tilting a mug of his own to his mouth, saw me and placed the cup on the end table beside him. He shot to his feet. He winced as though ashamed not to have considered that Noelle had attacked him as he approached me.

  “Hello, sweetie!” said Lilah. “Your boyfriend has been regaling me with the sordid tales of your dating rituals.”

  “What?” I asked, breathless. What had Jake told her? On second thought, we didn’t have any “sordid” tales to tell Lilah, so I assumed she was just trying to get under my skin.

  My mother’s eyebrow perked up. “Holding hands while strolling through an amusement park? Sharing a bottle of wine while dining at an upscale restaurant? Oh, you rebel! When you publish your memoirs, I’ll be the first in line at the bookstore.”

  Jake gave me a hug, and his scent washed over me as those strong arms held me. But I still had trouble with the way he’d jumped to conclusions and went off on me a couple of days ago. I wrapped my arms around him, but I didn’t feel the sense of closeness with him that I’d felt for him before the incident with my sister. And I sensed a little hesitation on his part as well. Jake may have been uncomfortable because he’d just met my mother and didn’t know how to act around her, but intuition told me that Jake had changed since the moment he kicked me out of his office.

  “Thanks for calling to explain things,” he said, pulling away from me.

  “I’m glad you listened to what I had to say,” I said, surprised that he hadn’t placed his hands on my hip or shoulder or anywhere really. He usually did, so I figured he felt as awkward as I did.

  “And I’m sorry for everything I said. I kept thinking about the grilled-cheese sandwich. I mean, would you bring that if you’d really accused me of…well, something seemed way off about that. Anyway, I wanted to call you, but I misplaced my phone. So, really, if you hadn’t called, I might not have found it for a while. But by the time I found it, you were already leaving me a voicemail.”

  “Oh, you two are adorable,” Lilah said, scooting into a sitting position. “Shall I retrieve my camera? Is a proposal forthcoming?”

  “Proposal?” I asked, annoyed. “Sorry to tell you this, Lilah, but we got hitched last weekend.”

  The sarc
astic expression on my mother’s face twisted into a frown. “Surely, you jest?”

  “Yes, Mother. You’re not the only one capable of mockery.”

  Lilah glowered at Jake. “Mr. Tilburn, are you prepared for my daughter’s sarcasm?”

  “That’s one of her best characteristics.”

  “Very well,” said Lilah. She rattled the ice cubes in her glass. “Oh my goodness. It seems my refreshment has run dry.” She extended her arm and shook the glass. “Be a gentleman and supply a refill.”

  Lilah may have asked, but she had all but ordered Jake to help her…in an unfamiliar place. I wouldn’t allow her to treat Jake like an errand boy. I stormed over to her. “Are your legs broken? No? Then get your own refill.”

  “Mr. Tilburn, are you prepared for my daughter’s attitude?” asked Lilah, placing a hand against her chest, as though appalled at my behavior. “She is quite headstrong.”

  “Like mother, like daughter,” I said repeating the words she’d used earlier to describe her and Noelle.

  “That’s a shiny necklace,” Lilah said, nodding at the cross pendant against Jake’s collarbone. “Are you a devout believer?”

  “Yes, I believe in God. But I don’t go to church or anything.”

  Lilah examined his eyes for a long moment, her stare growing distant, cold. “Why?” she asked in a voice that sounded parched, making her tone come out cracked.

  “Not enough time, I guess.”

  “So you don’t truly believe,” she said as a smile slid across her lips.

  “I don’t pray, but I still believe in God,” Jake said, looking to me, as though unsure if he should continue speaking.

  Rather than encourage him to keep going, whereby my mother would then question why God allowed a drunk driver to kill her husband in an accident, I shook my head.

  Lilah slammed the mug on the end table beside her and got to her feet in one quick moment. Due to her drunken state, she steadied herself as though on a surfboard trying to acclimate to the imaginary waves under her. “See?” she asked, once more drilling Jake with a severe expression. “She won’t even allow you to speak for yourself.” She met my stare. “You have poor manners.”

  Instead of letting her drag me into an argument, I turned, grabbed Jake’s hand, and headed for the front door.

  The door opened before I had a chance to open it, stopping Jake and me in our tracks.

  Noelle appeared in the threshold, looked up at us, and stood upright, shocked to see us standing less than five feet away from her. When she set her gaze on Jake, she began to smile and turned to me with approval. “Good catch, sis.” She swung the door shut behind her and held out her hand. “Hi, Jake, is it? I’m Noelle.”

  Distrustful, Jake looked into my sister’s eyes as though for something, anything that might explain why she’d accused him of such a heinous crime, only to act as if she’d never seen him before.

  “Oh, that’s right,” said Noelle, lowering her head in shame, as if she’d only just now pulled up the memory from the video I’d shown her. It came off contrived and fake. “Jocelyn told me what happened, what I apparently said. I don’t remember any of it, but I didn’t mean any of that.” Even worse, her voice sounded condescending, as though despite seeing the truth, she distrusted the video. “I hope you can forgive me.” Without moving her head, Noelle’s eyes glanced up like a little girl who expected punishment but hoped for immediate forgiveness.

  How could she be so remorseless, so indifferent? “Are you kidding me, Noelle? You could have ruined his career.”

  “Hey,” she said, “I’ve given this a lot of thought, all right? The way I see it, you could have been the one who slapped him. I don’t even remember doing it. Don’t you think a person would remember something like that? So who’s to say that you didn’t do all that?”

  Startled by how quickly she’d turned on me, I said, “Earlier today, I found the clothes you wore that day in your closet. That’s how.”

  “Big deal. You could have put them there. What would that take? Twenty seconds? Nice try. How about a real explanation this time, or are you only interested in telling lies nowadays?”

  Noelle had always been self-centered, but she’d never been cruel, never disbelieved me, especially now after she’d admitted to losing time. This supernatural creature had to be manipulating Noelle right now. I had no doubt about it.

  But how? Where was it? Hiding somewhere in the house? In this room? Inside her? And how could it control Noelle so easily? Dammit. I needed answers. Come on, Eloise. Call me. Now!

  “I would never do that to Jake,” I said, hoping Jake heard the sincerity in my voice.

  “And I would, apparently,” my sister said, which is really odd because I only recently found out he existed, so how would I know where he worked? And why would I slap him and accuse him of rape? What do I gain from that?”

  “It’s connected to what happened with the Ouija board,” I said. “All of its related. Can’t you see that?”

  “How do you know?” asked Lilah, more alert and interested than she’d been in quite some time. “What evidence have you uncovered?”

  I looked from her to Noelle and then to Jake. Each person stared at me, waiting as the silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

  Jake inspected the house. “Nothing strange seems to be going on.”

  “Except,” my sister said in a calm, detached voice, “Jocelyn blaming me for a crime that I never committed. Where did our relationship go off the rails so badly that you’d lash out at your boyfriend and blame me for it?”

  “And what did I ever do to deserve that?” Jake asked, turning toward me with a snarl and eyes that blazed with confusion and aggravation.

  “Not you, too,” I said, my stomach plummeting at the thought of Jake believing my sister over me. How could he trust someone he’d never said hello to…over the woman he’d just met…over the woman he’d been dating for three months? That question made it difficult for me to form words, but when I did, I set my attention on Noelle. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I’m being honest.” She folded her arms and leaned her weight on one hip. “Are you?”

  Jake nodded, his severe expression growing ever more curious and angry.

  “I don’t have any—”

  “You’ve been dating for a while,” Noelle said. “Do you love him?”

  “That’s none of your business,” I shot back, anger propelling the words from my mouth.

  Jake dug his tongue into his teeth behind closed lips.

  “Don’t look at me that way,” I said and looked at my sister “You’re not yourself. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “I asked if you loved your boyfriend. Jake heard it. Lilah heard it. And you heard it. So yeah, I really do know what I’m talking about. Now how about being honest and answer the question.”

  So much rage shot through my system that I shuddered. That’s not your sister. Some paranormal creature is controlling her, making her ask these questions. Noelle would never be this rude. “I’m not answering your goddamned question.”

  “Hey,” Jake said, heavy breaths shooting through his nostrils. “Don’t slander the Lord’s name.”

  Noelle tittered at that. Lilah watched on with eager eyes, as though waiting to find out who’d launch the next volley of animosity. And Jake just glared at me.

  “Well, Jake,” said Noelle. “Since Jocelyn isn’t interested in cooperating, I thought I should ask you something she probably hasn’t: how are things going at the university and with the cops? I’m sure they’ve both reached out to you, am I right?”

  Jake opened his mouth, took in a deep breath, and let it out evenly, as if doing so might allow him to regain his composure. “I spent,” he started, his voice booming before he stopped talking, swallowed, and took a moment to suck more air into his lungs. “I started out this morning getting interrogated at the police station. After that, they held
me until the detective told me that Jocelyn had dropped the claim and didn’t want to press charges.” He turned to me, his expression softening ever so slightly. “Thanks for that, by the way.” His tone was clipped, forced.

  I had no idea we’d been in the police station at the same time, but I was glad the police had let him go. Still, I found it incredibly worrisome that he’d seemed more hostile towards me than Noelle. I tried really hard to remain calm and not let it affect me. It took a lot of intestinal fortitude. “Will they get in touch with the university and clear things up with them?”

  “They already did,” Jake said. “The dean will call me later today, so we can meet and come up with a game plan so I can return to work. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of damage control we need to work on. We’ll need to let the students know I was falsely accused, and hopefully, they’ll feel safe around me again.”

  I wanted to be happy for him, I truly did, but the way he’d treated me made that difficult.

  “Jake’s career trajectory will soon be back on track,” Lilah said, flicking her gaze my way as her eyes reflected warmth and positivity. “The dean knows how to flip a bad situation into a good one. Take your father’s death and my firing. He spun things in a way that the news behind those tragedies vanished within days. I’ll tell you what Jake needs right now.” The edges of her lips curled into a hungry smile. “He needs to celebrate. Drinks all around! Noelle, as the official bartender in this household, please set up some drinks.”

  “No, we’re good,” I said, startled how quickly my mother’s empathy and well-intentioned speech morphed into a reason to drink. “We’ve got some things to do.” Like talk about Jake’s hostility. And his inability to trust me. I cocked my head toward the door and mouthed the words, “Let’s go.” I reached the door.