Exorcize This by Julie Steimle (sad books to read .txt) 📖

for Hanz, when he had seen me using my wings, though he was polite, he also did not want me to linger near his family much longer. I could see it in his eyes. I had freaked him out.

But really, how many people actually believed in demons in this modern age? I knew Catholics traditionally acknowledged their existence and even had some kind of pantheon of them with names… but that was sort of a medieval era Catholicism. I had also heard one group of evangelicals in school say that aliens—ETs—were actually demons. And as I walked to my room, I figured if anyone believed that demons existed and they if were good people who tried to follow God, they would fear me. It was only logical. It was also depressing.

 

An Evening

 

That evening at dinner, Mom and Dad mostly discussed work affairs and the possible audition for Dawn at a dance school Coach Sheehan was eyeing. Their imps were shouting at them to take out a loan or mortgage our house, which I thought was weird because imps only shouted things that would cause trouble. My parents did not vocalize these thoughts, though—so perhaps they knew something I didn’t. Dawn’s imps were shouting for her to not eat anything fatty, telling her she was way too fat as it was. Dawn was not fat at all, but I had noticed that she was getting thinner recently. I was a little worried that Coach Sheehan was encouraging her to lose weight to be more competitive in dance. The one thing I didn’t like about Coach Sheehan was that she always found a way to speak privately with Dawn so I could not overhear her.

Dawn pushed away the rest of her chicken, pretending she was full.

I shot her a wry look. “You are not fat.”

She blushed and stabbed that last piece of chicken, eating it with relief. A little smile crooked to the side of her mouth. She knew I wouldn’t lie.

Our parents glanced to us for a second, and my mother smiled at me appreciatively.

It was only the four of us these days. Will was at Stanford. Travis went to UCLA. Dawn and I had two more years of high school left, but the house felt empty without our noisy brothers. Our dog, Hiccup, missed them.

When dinner was over, I went to our family computer to use my email. Dawn went upstairs, using her computer which had been a gift from Gran Wilson in an attempt to woo the family (sans me) back for holidays. Gran Wilson continually refused to believe that I was part of the family package. I emailed Rick, then my friend Michael Toms (who lived in San Diego), and my other friend Jessica Mason. Jessica had been a faithful ‘pen pal’ since I returned from Middleton Village, which was the same town Rick live in, and we chatted on a regular basis. She was also Michael’s friend as both Michael and she were part of the Holy Seven, who were in fact eight individuals. Another long story. Seriously, I’ve got lots of those.

Anyway, after finishing off emails, I watched a few YouTube videos, and then (after a call from my mother to go to bed) I went upstairs to my room where I changed clothes for night flying.

Here’s the thing, I go flying out every night. I have to. For me to sleep soundly so I can be awake in the day, I have to have to have a nocturnal jaunt over the town. My mother and father are fully aware of this. My advantage is that I can go flying invisible, so no one has to see me and get freaked out.

I put on a tank top, letting my fleshy bat-like wings out from my birthmark which rests between my shoulder blades, spreading them open so they were the length of my arms. With them out, I was now able to go invisible and immaterial. I also could make my body as light as I wanted—something I had recently learned. So, with a gentle push off the ground, I launched through the ceiling and lifted high over our house.

The sky was now dark though a shade overcast. Bats were out along with the mosquitoes they ate. I soared through them, rising higher and higher into the cool open space. The wind hardly blew my hair, nature barely having an effect upon me when I was in this immaterial state. Spinning in a three-sixty as my wings enlarged to twice my arm length, I gazed over the entire ocean side town, the Pacific Ocean to the right of me, and the mountains inland, dark and full of trees. I mildly wondered where in those woods the hikers had disappeared and where their bodies had ended up. Undoubtedly they had been picked off by the vampires. I didn’t go searching, though. That would be treading into vampire territory.

Instead, I soared over the town, enjoying the wind currents and zipping over the trees. Somewhere in the middle of my flight, I ended up in the park where I wandered about and scared off out-of-town vandals who thought it funny to mess with the swing sets and spray graffiti on the playground equipment while getting high off of who-knows-what. Their screams, as my invisible person pushed them and prodded them and sent imps after them to take up their own spray canisters and spray them with it, split into the air in such a way that my imps were loving it. But in the midst of my work, I paused atop the swing set bar, feeling that freaky sensation again coming from the Bale’s house. Someone was watching me. And not just one someone. It felt like several someones.

I flew to the edge of park, landing softly on the sidewalk, and stared at the house. A clunky old Pontiac sat the driveway. There was a light on in the house, though it did not look electric. It flickered like candlelight. Had they not turned the power on yet?

But I didn’t want to get any nearer to the house. It seemed to breathe colder, like it wanted to suck the life out of everything. With chills, I decided to go home.

I was in bed early that night. And my dreams were filled with whispering voices, angry and scared voices. Voices beyond my ability to hear.

 

New People

 

“Jane, can I ask… what does your mother’s new church say about demons?” We were walking together toward the school and I had not been able to get that thought out of my head since yesterday. I didn’t say ‘Mormon church’ because whenever I did that Jane always corrected me and said the whole long name of it, which got a little tedious.

Jane blinked at me, actually startled. She then shrugged. “I’ve never heard anyone say anything about demons. I’ve been attending their church, but they don’t like talking about things like that—though I have heard some people mention evil spirits. I suppose that is what they think demons are.”

“But I’m not evil,” I said, wondering what they meant by evil spirit. I wasn’t a spirit either. I had a living, breathing body.

“I know. So… I have no answer.” Jane nodded, walking a little slower. Dawn had gone on ahead.

For a bit, as we walked in silence, I just thought to myself. Then I said, “Why don’t they like to talk about stuff like that?”

Reading my expression, though she could not see my eyes because of my sunglasses, Jane finally admitted, “I think it is because they like to focus on the positive. But I also heard someone say that if you talk about stuff like that, it is like inviting evil things in. Sarah won’t even entertain the idea of playing with a Ouija board. She doesn’t even use face cards. She says it is best to avoid even the appearance of evil.”

I stared. My mother was against Ouija boards too. But did I constitute the appearance of evil? “Meaning?”

Jane shrugged. “Well, you know… going to a party that has alcohol but walking around with a cola. Nobody can tell what you really are drinking, so they assume you are drinking what everyone else is. That kind of thing.”

I frowned. That didn’t answer my question, though that made sense in a way. It kept people from accusing you of crossing lines you really didn’t cross. I knew people in Jane’s new church did not drink anything with alcohol. But I was surprised she mentioned drinking cola. I had heard a rumor they didn’t even drink that. They didn’t drink coffee or tea at all. I knew this because Jane’s mom had thrown out all her coffee when she got baptized so it would not be a temptation for her. She ended up giving it away, actually. She hated throwing stuff out.

“Would they consider me—?”

“I don’t know what they think about you.” Jane cut me off uncomfortably. “I think they are afraid to talk about it near me.”

I nodded.

“But Sarah does not think you are evil,” Jane added on, gazing at me earnestly. “You just freak her out.”

An ironic laugh escaped me. I could not help it. It sounded all the same to me.

When we separated to class, Jane going one way and me going another, my mind was full and whirling. My mother was ‘taking the missionary discussions’ as Jane put it and was ‘investigating the church’. I didn’t know how serious my mother was, but I was concerned. My family was already being ostracized for my existence. How much more would they be ostracized for my mom becoming ‘Mormon’? And would their church allow it? My mother’s entry, I mean. Would that that church want to be connected to a demon such as myself?

As soon as I got to the locker room to change for PE, Coach O’Connor signaled for all of us girls on the flag team to look at the parade schedule. We had been invited to the Rose Parade that year. And despite her distaste for me in particular, she wanted me there especially as I was the best in flags though not the flag captain. That was Tabby McMahone who looked the ‘Irish’ part with her styling red curls in our Leprechaun green uniform.

Tabby was ok for a flag captain. But these days she insisted (with a smug gaze at everyone) on being called Tabitha, though very few did call her that. She also insisted on pretending that I wasn’t