"Jillian, what the hell is she doing here?" The man's gruff voice demands as we walk through the front door. Jillian gives him a threatening look as she effortlessly pushes him aside and waves me in.
"Oh, shut up you old toad! Can't you see she's terrified? Go put the kettle on."
"Hmph! Alright, but when I get back I want to know what the hell is going on! I told you I won't have anyone who associates with the devil in my house!" The devil? Good God, can't he see I'm the victim here?
Maye I better leave. jump as a soft fluffy blanket is draped around my shoulders. "Okay Dearie, now you sit right here." She tells me as she guides me to a small leather recliner and pushes me down gently.
"I'm going to help Sir pain in the ass make some coffee, I'll be back in a minute. Try to relax okay?" I nod slowly and allow my eyes to follow her as she walks out of the lounge and into the kitchen.
There are a few intense whispers before the sound fo a door being slammed erupts, causing me to jump. A second later I hear a satisfied "Hah!" as Jillian returns with an old fashioned flower tray holding two steaming cups.
"Thank you Jill." I tell her as she hands me a warm green cup. I wrap my hands around the hot cup and take a deep breathe, allowing the strong, familiar scent to calm me down a little.
I avoid her eyes, knowing exactly what she's going to ask but really not wanting to answer. She sits down opposite me, Sets her cup down on the little coffee table and leans forward with her elbows on her knees. "Now tell me, what what happened?"
"Okay, so when you left I went upstairs to see what that scream was about. When I got there the priest was sitting on the toilet whistling! Just whistling as if he were on holiday!"
I wait for a reaction but she just nods, silently encouraging me to carry on before she makes any comments. "I looked into his eyes, and they were black, Jill. I think he was possessed!
He said all this stuff about coming through the veil and some plan that he has and rushed at me! I think it's the demon nobody can identify. Either he was killed around there so many years ago that nobody knows who he is, or that little girl summoned him.
When he attacked me I didn't know what to do so I pushed him back and he tripped, when I heard a loud crack and he stopped moving, I rushed to his side and his eyes were normal at that point but he wasn't breathing. He was dead! I-I killed him!"
The tears started up again despite my efforts to control my breathing. Jill was silent throughout the whole explanation, nodding every now and then until the tears started flowing and she wrapped her arms around me. "Now listen here, Dearie, what happened in there wasn't your fault."
"Hah! Tell that to the police. Oh my God, Jill! The police! Oh no no no no, I'm going to jail! When they find his body in my house.." "shh...shh...nobody is going to jail." She says softly as she gently strokes my hair the way my mother used to when I was a young girl and had another one of my night terrors.
"Of course I am! Do you honestly think the police will believe I pushed him and cracked his skull open because a demon took over his body? I don't think so." She gives me a stern look and places her fists on her hips.
"No, I don't think they'll believe that. Which is why I've called in a team of paranormal investigators to come help get rid if the evil in that house once and for all. They said they'd be there by morning, they're the best in South Africa and they happen to be in town on some investigation or something like that.
"But what about the body?" She leans back and looks me dead in the eye, before whispering, "We have to get rid of it."
"What do you mean, like hide it? Bury it?" "Yes, Dearie. Unless you have a better idea?" I shake my head quickly. Oh my God, how did I get myself into this crazy mess. I'm actually accompanying my boss on a body burying mission.
Not just any body, but the body of a priest, that I murdered! "Good, now go wash up and meet me back here in five minutes. I'll get everything we need. Bathroom is down the passage, second door to your left."
I quickly get up and follow her directions to the bathroom. Switching on the light to the light purple themed bathroom, I give my eyes a second to adjust from the dim lighting in the lounge to the bright white that assaults my eyes the second a flip the switch. I blink a few times as I watch the light pink water run off of my hands, washing away the blood on my hands.
After rubbing my hands together vigorously for a few seconds I finally get the last red stain off. I quickly splash my face with cold water and look at my tired reflection. Okay, we're doing this.
We have to do this, I mean what the hell else can we do? I'm actually going to get rid of a body, a body of a priest. That I killed. What's become of me!? I hear shuffling in the living room and make my way back to find Jill standing with a black bag full of God knows what.
"You ready? We need to leave soon, I have everything we need right here. Come on, let's go." I follow her out into the cold air and jump into the car quickly. A short while later we're standing in front of my house again, not a single sound breaks the nervous silence that's settled over us.
The only thing that convinces me that time hasn't come to a stand still, is the soft chirps from crickets all around us I'm the dewy grass. I take a deep breath, letting the cool air fill my lungs as I stare up at the old building, trying to muster up whatever courage I have left to go in there and clean up the mess I've made, literally. Okay, here we go, I'm actually going to do it, I'm going to hide a dead body.
Jillian wastes no time waddling up the front steps and pushing the door open, I can do nothing but let her take charge and follow close behind with sweaty palms the scary part is she actually looks like she's done this before, how else can she be so calm about doing something like this. I'll have to ask her a bit later. As we walk along the upstairs passage, I take a few quick steps and grab Jillian's hand, just before we reach the bathroom door.
"Where are we going to hide him? Won't two women burying a large black bag in uch a small town look a little suspicious?" "Yes, but there's a farm not far from here. It's been vacant for years, so we.." we both jump as a loud knocking noise interrupts her sentence.
Oh God, please don't be.. "Miss? Is everything okay? It's the police, open up." "Shit!" I squeak as my heart rate speeds up and my hands start to shake. It takes everything in me to not scream and jump out the nearest window in a panic.
We need to think logically here, I look left and right for a quick escape I know doesnt exist, the only way we're getting out of here is through the front or the back door. "What do we do now?"
Jillian presses a finger to her lips and starts creeping along the passage and down the stairs. As we pass the front door and walk into the kitchen, the knocking becomes louder. I place both palms over my mouth to avoid them hearing my suddenly loud breathing as the voice of one of the cops bellows through the door,
"Ma'am, open up please. There's been a noise complaint from one of the neighbors and we'd just like to have a word with you."
Please God, please let us get out of this. I'll start going to church and pray often, I'll even get a little cross necklace thingy and invest in some holy water, just please. Jillian interrupts my desperate thoughts as we reach the back door.
"Okay, here's the plan. We're going to sneak out back and run like hell, as soon as we make it over the wall just follow me, okay?" I nod quickly as she lays the black bag down as quietly as possible and slowly pulls the door open with a click. As soon as her foot touches the grass she takes off as fast as her little legs will take her.
Not bothering to close the door behind me, I follow closely behind. Adrenaline courses through my veins as we race to the end of he back garden. Come on, come on, just a little further yes! Jillian huffs and puffs as she catches up to me a few seconds later. "Okay, jump over and wait for me." She nods and grabs the thick concrete wall with both hands, and with a loud grunt, pulls herself up.
Or at least, she tries . Poor thing hadn't thought about the finer details of our escape, like fitness, but to be fair I hadn't been abe to think at all so we're lucky to have gotten this far! I quickly entwine my fingers and squat down next to her. "Here, step on my hands and I'll push you up, just swing one leg over the top and carefully drop down." She mumbles something softly to herself before placing her small foot in my hand and bracing herself.
With a small squeal she clumsily pulls herself up and fall over onto the other side with a thump. Just as I grip the top of the wall, a loud bang erupts from within the house. Not wanting to stick around and see exactly what that was, I hastily scramble to pull myself up and over the wall. Jillian's standing up and whispering frantically into her phone. When she turns around and looks up at me, she keeps eye contact and switches the phone off.
"Okay, Dearie. Let's go." She keeps to the shadows as we walk quickly through the quiet side streets, past closed businesses and drunken idiots stumbling around outside bars. We avoiding the bright yellow light shining down from the street lamps until she leads me across a large field towards an old farm house with only one light on in one of the upstairs rooms.
We rush up the stone steps leading to the back door. At the sound of our heavy breathing and loud footsteps a dog starts barking from somewhere inside. Almost immediately after that, a light flickers on from one of the windows closest to us and the door swings open, revealing a tall man with wild, curly brown hair that reaches just below his ears. His eyes are the perfect mixture of green and blue that immediately remind me of the ocean under the clouds of a thunderous rainstorm.
His plump lips are pressed into a hard straight line that only brings my attention to the small dimple in his left cheek. Basically, he is hands down the sexiest man I've ever seen. The only thing that might be a bit of a turn off is the massive shotgun he's got pointed straight. At. Us.
