June 12 | Thursday #5
Will found it hard to get any sleep, and even harder to focus on his exams, but he’d been functioning like that for several days, not daring to tell anyone about his conclusion.
Because his conclusion was a terrible one.
If he really was possessed, and he no longer had a shadow of a doubt, his place in this group would be in question.
In fact, there would be no question—they would simply isolate him.
They’d perform an exorcism or make a deal with the demon, and then they’d probably wipe his memory.
Even if Will managed to convince them not to, things would never be the same.
Will remembered the many times he’d wished he didn’t have any powers and could just lead a normal life, but now that the prospect seemed to be right within his grasp, he felt a sense of panic.
Because he’d finally realized that Liam, Norma, and even Abigail and Blake were, at this point, the only people in all of Black Hollow who cared about him in some way.
People he could talk to honestly, just be with, and feel like a piece of the puzzle that actually fits.
Now he felt like an impostor.
It wasn’t until the end of the exam period that he decided to bring up the subject in the most subtle way he could.
“I haven’t seen Christine around,” he said to Norma as they walked down the school hallway.
He’d been looking for the once-possessed girl lately.
He wanted to see how she was doing; he’d even considered asking her a few questions, though that probably wasn’t a good idea.
He wanted to know how a person felt after going through something like that. “Is she okay?”
“Uhh… Yeah.” Norma’s hesitant reply surprised Will. “She’s not back at school yet.”
“Why not?”
“You need some time to get back on your feet after something like that.”
“I know. It’s been a few months.”
“Well, yeah, but… It’s more complicated.”
“In what way?”
“Everything’s fine, Will. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
“And don’t you brush me off, okay?” Will snapped. The whole situation was making him more and more uneasy. “I think I have a right to know.”
Norma was silent for a long moment, as if considering something, before finally replying:
“She’s not coming back to this school.”
“Because?”
A long silence fell.
“I told you it was complicated,” Norma finally muttered, clearly trying to dodge the question.
“And I told you not to brush me off. Just tell me.”
Norma sighed heavily. The last traces of her smile vanished from her face.
“Christine’s parents are dead,” she admitted slowly.
“The demon killed them.” Will felt an unpleasant chill.
He hadn’t expected to hear something like that.
“Because of that, we had to hand the case over to the Agency. First, because yes, Christine probably won’t remember much, but certain events have a tendency to leave permanent marks on the mind.
Especially ones that traumatic. And second, either way, it’s a huge problem.
She wakes up, and then what? She suddenly discovers her parents have disappeared and she has a hole in her memory?
What does she do? Go to the police? What if they start an investigation and find evidence that points to her guilt?
Or what if they stumble upon something more…
troublesome? Something that could lead them to us?
In any case, it’s not a simple situation. ”
“So what’s going to happen to her now?”
“I have no idea. Nothing bad, I’m sure.”
Norma’s final assurance was so unconvincing that Will practically ignored it.
Nothing bad? Christine had lost her parents.
She might remember that they died by her hand.
Maybe not, but that didn’t make the situation any easier.
She wasn’t coming back to school, so she probably wasn’t even in this town anymore.
Will doubted that cooperating with the Agency was her choice, since she hadn’t been aware of what was happening to her.
None of it sounded like an offer of help.
It sounded like an attempt to get rid of a problem.
That terrified Will even more. The realization that in this world, victims didn’t always receive the support they deserved.
That sometimes they were treated as a threat.
Norma could pretend everything was fine, but Will was willing to bet she had no real idea what happened to the people taken by the Agency.
Because it was easiest not to think about it.
He himself would have gladly taken comfort in the knowledge that someone was taking care of Christine, if he wasn’t so terrified that he’d be in her place at any moment.
Paranormals didn’t have an easy life. They had to hide what they were, which meant practically living a lie, constantly pretending and controlling themselves at every turn so as not to expose their true nature.
But Will was beginning to see that ordinary people, who accidentally got entangled or were dragged into the affairs of the Different, were in an even worse position.
Will left the exam in under forty minutes, unsure if he’d answered all the questions. His thoughts kept returning to Christine, and he analyzed his own situation through her lens.
Instead of going straight home, Will found a secluded hallway and sat on a windowsill.
He took a deep breath, looking out the window, with no real idea what to do.
Just yesterday, he’d been telling himself he would keep it a secret for as long as he had to—that he would just wait it out, as if things would resolve themselves.
Because if the demon became active, someone would notice, right?
And then they’d cast it out, and Will would have no say in any of it.
But what he’d heard today… That Christine had murdered her parents…
Well, the demon had murdered them, using her body to do it, but she hadn’t been able to fight back, even when it came to people so close to her.
What if Will did the same? Even if he killed a stranger, he wouldn’t be able to handle the guilt, so how would he feel if he did it to someone he cared about?
People from his small group? His grandparents? Danny?
It was too much.
At one point, he heard footsteps. He only looked up as the person was passing him. It was Blake. Alden glanced at him but didn’t stop. Well, not at first. After a few feet, something must have occurred to him, because he halted and turned back.
“What’s with you?” he muttered, walking over to Will.
“Nothing,” Will replied weakly.
“Did you fail?”
“How should I know?”
“If you don’t know whether you passed or not after leaving an exam, I wouldn’t count on much.”
Will closed his eyes for a moment. He was in no mood for Alden’s bullshit.
“Are you feeling sick?” Blake’s next question had a note of concern.
And Will really wanted to brush him off, but the situation was so overwhelming that he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“I think… I think I might be possessed by a demon,” he confessed, watching Alden carefully.
He expected shock, but Blake didn’t even seem surprised. On the contrary. The look on his face seemed to indicate it was something he had suspected or at least considered.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I have weird powers that I have absolutely no control over?” Will snorted bitterly.
“Like many beginner wizards.”
“They don’t belong to me. I don’t use them consciously. And not subconsciously, either.”
“How can you know what you’re doing subconsciously?” Blake asked condescendingly.
“I just know they’re foreign, okay?” Will couldn’t shake the feeling that Alden wasn’t so much arguing against his theory as trying to gather more information.
“Back when that psycho kidnapped me, I was only half-conscious. Dazed by some incense, and then suddenly I felt this shiver…” Blake stared at him intently.
“Like something inside me woke up and was trying to wake me up at the same time. And the power cut the ropes, even though I didn’t even think about doing it.
And then I attacked him, with no control over it at all. ”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“And there’s the first day of school, half of which I don’t remember at all. That sounds like someone else was controlling my body, doesn’t it? Besides, I changed completely after that.”
“In what way?”
“For example, I stopped liking people I used to like.”
“Are you talking about me?” Blake asked openly.
Will smiled faintly. Also, but he wasn’t about to admit it.
“I used to be a huge fan of Venom, for example. Then suddenly, I couldn’t stand him.”
“So the improvement in your musical taste is thanks to the demon?” Alden scoffed. “If so, you should be thanking it.”
“Improvement?” Will said, surprised.
“Of course! How can anyone listen to that trash?”
He had theoretically expected that Blake, in his eternal loftiness, would scorn popular music, but it was nice to hear someone agree with him. To be honest, he didn’t know a single person who didn’t like Venom’s work.
“But it happened literally overnight.”
“Meaning after that day you don’t fully remember?”
“Yeah… except now I remember a little more,” Will admitted after a moment’s hesitation. “When I was walking home, I saw something fall. Like… a device?”
“Fall from where?”
“I don’t know,” Will admitted with a shrug.
“I didn’t know then, either. Like… from the sky?
” he mumbled uncertainly, and Alden furrowed his brow.
“It was just… falling. But very slowly, like it was light, which is why it caught my attention. When it finally hit the ground, I picked it up. I don’t remember anything after that, and it scares me.
Did you know that girl, Christine, killed her parents?
” he asked, and Blake nodded, grimacing.
“And it was because of something in a family heirloom. How do I know I didn’t stumble upon an enchanted object myself? And that I won’t do the same thing?”
“Do you have the object?”