Part 2
“My son, let me help you,” a voice says behind Amy.
Amy snaps her head around to see who has snuck up behind her. She pulls herself free and lunges at the man in all black with a white strip in his collar.
“Priest,” Amy hisses. “Go away!”
“Demon, be gone! Leave this child alone and go back to hell where you belong,” the priest says, holding up a cross at Amy.
Amy cheers as she feels whatever took over her body scream in agony. The demon forces Amy to run, but the other man catches her and holds her tight. The demon struggles to escape as the priest chants prayers in Latin. The demon cries out again and shrinks away, Amy feeling as if she can get a hold of herself. Amy pushes through the darkness until she is breathing heavily, sweating, and staring into two murky chartreuse eyes of the priest.
Amy looks around to see she is now sitting and tied to a chair. Her hair is wet from sweat and sticking to her neck and face. “What happened?”
“This priest…” the man starts but stops, unsure of how to explain what happened.
“I am Father Adam,” the priest says, taking over for the other man. He closes his bible and walks over to the chair. “I’m glad I came into your shop, young lady.”
“I’m Amy. I own this shop, and I am glad you came in here, too.” Amy looks at the other man. “And you are?”
“I’m Tony. I came in to do a little shopping. I had found a few things, but I dropped them when you… or the demon inside of you… attacked me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault,” Tony says. “But I will pay for whatever I broke.”
Father Adam and Tony unties Amy from the chair. They help her stand and walk out of the back room where they had placed her. They sit her on a stool behind the counter while they clean up the mess she made. They toss out the broken items, sweep up the glass, tosses it in the trash can, and straightens up a few items on the surrounding shelves. Tony turns the store’s sign to closed and turns off the open sign.
“Tony, will you finish helping Amy? I must go now,” Father Adam says as he makes his way to the front door.
“Yea, no problem, Father.” Tony says as he tosses a few more broken items into the trash can.
Father Adam unlocks the door and walks out of the Colored Seasons Antique shop, heading down the sidewalk, humming to himself. He clutches his Bible against his chest, nodding to a few people who walk past, staring at him.
Amy looks at Tony, appreciating the help since she is exhausted from being taken over by a demon. She woke up this morning ready to sell antiques, not having to have an exorcism. Amy glances at Tony’s clothes, noting he is wearing blue coveralls. “Tony, I’m curious. Did you just come from work? Are you some sort of demon hunter or something?”
Tony chuckles and sits down on a chair he brought from the back room. “No, ma’am. I did just come from work but I am not a demon hunter or one of the Ghostbusters. I am an elevator technician. I just wanted to do some shopping for myself and my wife. She loves antiques and our anniversary is coming up. Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. I guess because today has become very strange. I mean I was possessed by a demon and then suddenly a priest turns up to do an exorcism. Unless you called him but I don’t remember seeing you call him.” Amy shakes her head. “I just think it’s odd, that’s all. And I saw your coveralls so I just thought you were with the priest somehow.”
Down the street, Father Adam glances inside another shop. A dark shadow slides up to him, unnoticed by a few others walking past the candy shop. The demon stands up next to Father Adam and the two watch as a young man bags some candy. The young man hands it to the customer, wishes them a great day, and goes back to wiping down the counter tops.
Father Adam grins and nods. “He’s next. Soon I will be in all of the papers and the Pope will have to notice me then.”
The demon cackles and enters the shop through the open window. The demon slides up behind the young man and as soon as the customers leave, it whispers in the man’s ear.