Page 55 of Splintered
Evan slumped on the couch, his eyes slitted open and staring at the ceiling. His arms and legs were spread akimbo like a careless broken doll. He didn’t even seem to breathe. His skin had gone pale, almost translucent, and if possible, he looked thinner, nearly emaciated. His eyes were sunken holes in his face, the hollows under them nearly black. Ben could count the ridges on his jawbone, trace the notches where his shoulder met his arm socket.
“William, Ben. Will you help carry Evan upstairs to the bedroom?”
He and William carried Evan together, one arm thrown over each of their shoulders as they moved up the stairs. Evan didn’t even try to walk, and they ended up lifting his wasted legs and carrying him the whole way.
As they passed beneath the amber chandelier, it thrummed with an electric pulse that made Ben’s hair stand on end.
Father Mathew, Dr. Kao, and Donna followed them into Ben and Evan’s bedroom. Earlier, Father Mathew and Ben had affixed the restraints to the headboard and footboard and arranged the room for the exorcism. Cleared out the nightstands and the chair, put away anything that could fly on its own. “You only want the heavy furniture left, if you cannot move those too,” Father Mathew had said. “Ideally, you want an empty room.”
The bedroom was what they had, and Ben and William carried Evan to the bed and laid him in the center of the mattress. They’d stripped the blankets, leaving only the bottom sheet. Ben spotted a few spots of dried come, white in a sea of gray cotton. If William noticed, he didn’t comment on it.
“Please restrain Evan before we begin.” Father Mathew kissed the back of his stole and draped it around his neck.
Ben’s shaking hands pulled apart the Velcro and wrapped both ends of the restraint around Evan’s right wrist. Evan was still in the white undershirt and cotton shorts Ben had dressed him in that morning after their shower. It seemed too innocuous for an exorcism. He pushed the Velcro together as Evan flexed his wrist and made a fist, as he groaned and tossed his head from side to side on the bed. William finished with his restraint and they both moved to Evan’s ankles, quickly tying him down before Evan tried to kick his feet free and pulled on his wrists.
“It is time.” Father Mathew made the sign of the cross over himself. Donna and William followed, as did Dr. Kao. Father Mathew moved to the bed and made the sign of the cross over Evan.
Evan groaned. He pulled on the restraints. His shorts slid up his legs, twisting around his thighs.
Father Mathew came last to Ben. He made the sign of the cross over Ben, too.
Ben nearly vomited.
Father Mathew moved back to the bed, standing beside Evan as he held open theRoman Ritual.
Ben exhaled. The room seemed to quiver, waiting. Stillness hung over the bedroom, a smothering, gagging weight that made him want to collapse. Evan’s groans scraped the inside of his skull, a pitchfork dragging across concrete.
It didn’t sound like Evan. Not anymore.
“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”
Donna and William both crossed themselves again. They dropped to their knees, well out of the way by the door, and clasped their hands in prayer.
“Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.” He repeated his plea three times. “Holy Mary, pray for us…”
Ben stood behind Father Mathew’s shoulder, watching Evan. The prayers droned on, the litany of the saints, a long list of saints and the responder,pray for us. He let the words wash over him, the mutter of Evan’s parents, the hum in the air. He left it all behind, staring at Evan.
Evan groaned on the bed, the discomfort he’d shown at being restrained now shifting into something deeper, darker. He jerked, trying to free himself, tugging on his arms and kicking his legs as hard as he could. He thrashed, his head rocking side to side. He moaned, a long, continuous wheeze like a dying animal.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Evan’s moan shifted during the prayer, dropping, deepening. Before Ben recognized it, the sound had turned to a growl, the low, hungry growl of a predator. Guttural, like a wild bear was in the room or a pack of wolves. Like Ben was seconds from death, from being ripped apart.
Every instinct inside of him reared, the panicked mammalian brain lighting up in neon Technicolor.Predator! Prey!He almost backed up.
The sound was coming from Evan, from somewhere deep, deep inside of him. His mouth was open and he’d arched back, his head tipped so far his throat made a violent C, his Adam’s apple jutting toward the ceiling. His arms and legs had gone taut, pulling on each restraint until his limbs shook.
Something in the house shifted. A heaviness, a weightedsomethingpulsed in the air. Made it hard to breathe.
Father Mathew launched into his psalm.
“God, by your name save me, and by your might defend my cause. For haughty men have risen up against me, and fierce men seek my life. They set not God before their eyes. Turn back the evil upon my foes, and in your faithfulness destroy them.”
At the last line of the psalm, Evan screamed. He wailed, his voice sounding like something had ripped in two, something wet and organic. He flopped onto the mattress, then arched up again, his body going from limp to a violent C, like the night of his seizure that had begun all of this, in seconds.
Ben started forward, rushing to him. He heard Evan’s spine groan, his bones crack with every furious spasm up and down. Fuck, Evan was going to break his spine if he kept seizing, arching like that.
Father Mathew stopped him. “Don’t! It’s trying to draw you in!”
