Tom Residence

“Patrick!” Kassie Tom cried out.

Patrick Donavon’s head turned to the side, and his eyes opened slightly. Through his dizziness, he managed to crack a smile.

Kassie did the only thing that could come to her mind.

She kissed him.

After a few seconds, Kassie opened her eyes and pulled away. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to do it…”

“You didn’t…?” he groaned, trying to sit up.

Kassie shook her head. “You know… I thought you were dead… and you’re now alive… I was just happy.”

Patrick wanted to get up. “I’m happy to see you, too.”

“Don’t…” Kassie whispered.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t get up, that’s what,” Kassie stated. “Is there anything broken?”

Patrick shook his head. “Nope. My head just hurts a whole lot!” he announced, and then, “Do you have a really bit bottle of aspirin?”

“Is it a concussion?” Kassie asked, not knowing exactly what it was.

“I’ve had a concussion before – this hurts, but it isn’t it.” He stopped. “How is everyone else?”

A flush came over her face. She had been so preoccupied with Patrick that she had forgotten about her mother giving birth.

Back in the living room, Robert Carlyle had managed to break free. Darla Tom didn’t seem to be doing very well, and this was worrying Robert.

“Breath deeply!” he continued. Darla didn’t look good at all. He continued, “Breath… don’t stop… don’t –” He stopped.

She was bleeding.

“C’mon!” Robert coached, shaking her slightly. “Breath…” He realized that her breathing wasn’t continuing. “No… breath… don’t stop… breathe… Breathe!”

Darla seemed to be in pain. It was as if she had something in her throat, preventing her to take in air. But she needed to!

“C’mon!” Robert insisted.

Darla nodded, and calmed herself down. “Okay…” she wheezed.

The blood continued to come, but there was no way for anyone to prevent it. Robert could only keep her calm, and hope for the best.

Darla looked up to Robert. “Is everything alright?”

“Of course,” Robert insisted. “Just keep calm… you’re almost there…”

Darla tried to give a smile, but felt Robert was holding something back.

“You’re almost there,” Robert continued. “You’re doing great.”

Presence Beach

Mateo Consuelos realized he had made a mistake. Seeing Brianna Huber running away from the corner of his eye, he wanted to get away.

But he couldn’t. Skye wouldn’t let go! The inhuman force he felt coursing through his body caused him to lighten. And he no longer wanted to fight back.

After a few more seconds of Skye gripping Mateo head, she finally let go.

Mateo pulled away from Skye.

“How did you like it, Mateo?” Skye asked curiously.

She needed to say “Mateo.” Otherwise, he would have known his name.

“Mateo” responded, “Strange, but good.”

Skye nods triumphantly. “It worked… Everything is working out perfectly!”

Mateo smiled back. “Give me the details. Who am I?”

Skye could hardly hold back her excitement. “Your name is Mateo Consuelos. You live in Presence, California. Your brother was recently hauled off to a mental asylum –”

“Your doing?” Mateo responded.

“Of course!” Skye announced.

“It sounded like your work… I can tell you’ve been busy up here!” Mateo paused, and continued cautiously, “Have there been any… ‘problems’?”

Skye shook her head. “Nope. The church here doesn’t even seem to care that were here! It’s funny. Remember how hard it was to do this in the seventeenth century?”

Mateo nodded. “No kidding. Remember when my host was burned at the stake?”

Skye laughed. “Yeah! I was looking on… They think that it works?”

“Well,” Mateo shrugged, “I was left unable to come up here for over three hundred years! But I’m finally back.” A pause. “No other troubles?”

“Besides me loosing my energy?”

“That was a simple fix. Yes, besides that.”

Skye thought. “Only one.”

“What is that?”

Skye smiled eerily. “Brianna Huber.”

Huber Residence

Brianna Huber rushed through the door to her home to catch her husband Ian on the phone.

“Ian!” she cried. “I need to speak to you!”

Ian lifted his fingers to his lips. “The hospital has been overflowing lately with patients. If it’s about the earthquake, it’ll have to wait.”

Brianna was upset. “No… it isn’t. It’s a matter of life and death!”

“I’m on the phone with my boss. Actually my boss-boss… the highest it goes!” Ian continued to the phone. “Sorry about that, sir… who was it that needed care right away?… I know you want him to take priority over any other patient, but…”

Brianna disconnected the phone.

Ian looked up at her. “What do you think you’re doing?” He listened to the dial-tone. “That was very rude! What you have to say better be important.”

“It is!”

“Out with it!” Ian insisted.

“It’s about something that happened,” she started. “Did you ever study or come across cases of demonic possession…?”

An Abandoned Building on Mystique Road

Julian King turned off his cell phone. “Damn that man! He hangs up on me, and when I need my son transported to the hospital!”

Iris Torres tried to slip away. She remembered what had happened not half a minute ago:

Julian announced proudly: “I’m going to sue you.”

Iris, for a split second, snapped.

She slapped Julian across his face.

She couldn’t believe his arrogance.

“And you!” Julian announced, approaching Iris. “What the hell gives you the right to slap me?”

Iris wanted to do it again. “Do you ever listen to yourself? Everyone in town has wanted to slap you. Some want to do worse!”

Iris had done a complete one-eighty. She remembered last spring, before her stabbing, she had been so nervous and timid. Now, she was standing up to the most powerful man in town.

And, for some reason, enjoying it.

“No matter…” Julian insisted. “I’ll just add it to my lawsuit.”

Iris almost tackled him, but she controlled herself.

Taking her mind off her problems with Julian, she stared to the yellow-taped area where Adam King had collapsed. He had just been taken away in an ambulance – Julian called the Chief of Staff to make sure he got special treatment.

She then turned to the mass of concrete and rubble that was her brother’s tomb. A construction was removing the rubble that evening, chunks of metal and stone being lifted away.

While Julian was making calls to his lawyers, among other vermin and slime, Iris answered yet some more police questions. She swore that they kept asking the same questions, only changing the adjectives and the order of the words.

Soon thereafter, Iris spotted a police cruiser pull up beside the curb, adding to the mass already there. But this time a non-uniformed man came out. Running.

To her.

In a matter a seconds, she knew who he was.

Her father.

Presence Memorial Hospital

Gillian Evans was sitting beside her mother’s bed. She was lying beside several beeping machines and hanging IV bags. Some machines gave off light, some displayed numbers, and others gave the time.

She knew the ones that gave time were the clocks.

Soon, Giovanni Pike came back in with a doctor.

“He’s here to explain your mother’s condition,” Giovanni explained to her.

Gillian nodded, turning to the doctor.

“I’m doctor Germane,” he said softly. “Your mother is suffering from a minor head injury. She had several minor burns on the right side of her body. She’ll need to rest here, but she’s doing very well.”

Gilliam smiled. She was surprised that she was happy her mother would be all right – despite everything that she had done.

“You glad?” Giovanni asked.

Gillian shrugged. “Only mad. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, she would have never gotten herself in this position.”

Giovanni pulled up a second chair. “She seemed pretty upset. I mean, remember when she tried to shoot you?”

“It was a cap gun.”

“Never mind that,” Giovanni stated. “She was obviously upset about us being together.”

Gillian smiled. “We’re ‘together’?”

“Aren’t we?”

“You said it,” she stated.

“Do you think so?”

“Do you?”

Giovanni thought. “Maybe. You?”

With that, Brooke Wright came into the room. She approached Gillian, and whispered in her ear, “I have something that you really need to have.”

Gillian turned to her co-worker. “What is it?”

“I know where I remember Giovanni?”

“Where!?” Giovanni popped in.

“Think ‘Enrico’,” Brooke said slyly.

With that, Giovanni grabbed Brooke’s wrist and dragged her from the room.

Presence Beach

“Brianna Huber?” Mateo asked. “Explain more…”

Skye breathed deeply. “Well, she was the reporter who broke the story on ‘your’ brother going to jail.”

“So?” Mateo asked innocently.

“Well… she sort of knows about my being possessed… she even printed it… but no one took it seriously!” Skye laughed nervously. “She was even here on the beach when I… ahem… was floating…”

Mateo’s eyes flared red! “What?!”

“I’m sorry!” Skye whimpered. “But she’s harmless enough.”

Mateo shook his head. “Not good enough. She could go as far as consult a priest on the matter! We don’t want the church to get wind of this. Society has worked long and hard on bringing down its power and authority. People’s poor values and religious intentions are a – pardon the expression – “blessing” for us these days!”

“What did you want to do?” Skye asked.

“Go on a mission…” Mateo announced. “Against this Brianna Huber.”

“To what ends?” Skye probed.

“To her death, of course!”

Huber Residence

“Demonic possession?” Ian asked, stupefied. “Why on Earth would you ask a question like that?”

Brianna knew she sounded crazy. “Our neighbors… They’re possessed by demons or something. I saw the woman next door floating into the ocean!”

Ian shook his head. “You’re taking that crazy article you wrote too seriously!”

“It’s true. I think there might be two, now. I saw the woman take over the man!”

“Woah!” Ian burst out, waving his hands in the air. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when that earthquake struck? You’re sounding a little off.”

Brianna was exasperated. “Just answer the question.”

Ian sat down, and covered his forehead. “No. Demonic possession has never been medically documented.”

“But didn’t they used to have reports of possessions in colonial times?”

Ian rolled his eyes back. “They also used to bleed people to rid them of disease… And they thought that rats were too small to carry disease… Want me to go on?”

Brianna was really frustrated. “I know what I saw and heard. They’re possessed!”

Ian smiled. “How about you come to bed?” he asked.

Brianna shook her head. “Didn’t you have an important call?”

“Nah…” Ian insisted. “Thinking about it, he’s really a pompous fool. I’ll explain to him what happened a little later.”

Brianna moved out of the room and into her kitchen. She looked out the window to wards the ocean. And unsettling feeling crawled up her spine. She pulled her black hair behind her head.

“I don’t like this feeling I have…” she muttered to herself, looking up to the stars. “I don’t like it at all…”

An Abandoned Building on Mystique Road

“Dad!” Iris called out as he rushed up to her. “You’re out!”

Bo Torres didn’t answer. After seeing the blood on the floor of her house, he was worried she was dead.

“How’d you get out?”

Bo slipped up beside her. “Your brother is sloppy with evidence. Anyways… how are you?”

“Good – considering, or course, my current situation. I was stabbed again, my mother’s dead, I killed my brother, I’m being sued…”

“Woah…” Bo blew out. “Stabbed?”

“Not badly. A scrape, really.”

“Killed Wyle?”

“Locked door. Building fell.”

“Lawsuit?”

“Slapped most powerful man in Presence – maybe the state – in the face. I also locked his son in my basement.”

Bo remained silent.

“Sooo…” Iris said, looking at her father. “How have you been?”

“Alone,” he answered simply.

Suddenly, a search member called out to the paramedics. “We’ve found a body!”

Iris and Bo both turned in the member’s direction. The saw a body being pulled out from near the entrance of the building.

As the body was wheeled away, Iris turned away. She couldn’t watch. Then something happened that hadn’t happened in over ten years.

Her father held her.

Presence Memorial Hospital

“Nervous?” Brooke asked from the hallway.

Giovanni had a look of pure anger on his face. “What are you trying to do to me? What do you have in your purse?”

“You know.”

“If it’s what I think it is, you need to get rid of it,” Giovanni stated.

“Never!” Brooke said. “I’m going to keep it…”

Brooke then reached into her purse and took out a book. “See this?” she said. “You want Gillian to see this?”

“How dare you!” he blasted, diving for the paperback.

Brooke’s finger trailed along Giovanni’s arm. “How little you know on what I know! Just remember that.”

Gillian entered the hallway, watching the two scuffle. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine,” Brooke cooed.

“She made a cheap shot at my mother,” Giovanni lied.

Gillian eyed them both strangely. “Okay… It’s getting late… And the holidays are coming up.”

“You’re right,” Brooke said. “I have some parents to visit for Christmas.” She looked at Giovanni: “Wouldn’t want to ruin the holiday season.”

She left, leaving Gillian close to Giovanni. She gave him a hug, but he seemed very distant. Gillian thought something was up between the two of them.

And it wasn’t just Giovanni’s mother.

Tom Residence

Darla continued to push.

“Almost there…” Robert announced. The bleeding had stopped, but Robert was nonetheless worried. The baby was almost out – and Robert could only pray for a good outcome.

“I’m feeling… faint…” Darla spoke weakly, still reserving her energy. Beads of sweat permeated on her forehead.

“You’re fine…” Robert insisted, hoping his voice didn’t sound unsure.

“Listen,” Darla began. “It isn’t like this is the first time I’ve done something like this! You know? Kassie was a problem child at birth.” Darla reflected. “God, it seems like so long ago. It was so long ago!”

Robert chuckled. “I almost forgot.”

“She didn’t want to come out!” Darla continued. “It was frustration.”

“This one wants to come out!” Robert observed. “It shouldn’t be much time yet. Just keeps breathing and pushing…”

Darla nodded. “It shouldn’t be much longer now…”

“My mother should be doing great,” Kassie answered. “Now!” she said, reversing the conversation, “Are you sure you have no broken bones?”

Patrick nodded happily. “Usually, a broken bone comes with a excruciating pain. And I know about those, too!”

Kassie laughed. “You have been active in your life, haven’t you?”

“Of course… That’s why I wanted to be a bodyguard!” Patrick declared. “I’m partial to playing football and hockey.”

Kassie smiled. “That’s just like my dad. If he weren’t working, he’d make up for the time he spent behind the desk playing rugby with his buddies. They acted like they were ten!”

Patrick smiled back. “Well, enough lying down on the floor for me! I’m not a China plate. I don’t break so easily.”

Kassie got up, and waited for Patrick to get up. “C’mon!” she insisted. “I want to see my little brother being born.”

Patrick didn’t seem to get up.

“Hurry!” Kassie blurted out, getting angered. “You’re going to make me miss the action!”

“I think my leg could be broken…” Patrick stuttered. “I can bend it.”

Kassie bent down and felt his legs. “Does it hurt?”

Patrick shook his head. “It’s weird… it doesn’t… Try pressing in places.”

Kassie squeezed his right leg. “How’s this?”

“Nothing.”

Kassie moved to the left leg. “How’s this?”

“Nothing… Can you squeeze my leg already!!”

“I am!!” Kassie screamed, wondering why he was being so stubborn. “Just stop playing around.”

Patrick shook his head. “I didn’t mean ‘nothing’ in that I didn’t feel pain… I mean ‘nothing’ in that I can’t feel anything!”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No… I wouldn’t joke about something like this…”

Kassie covered her mouth. “Oh…”

Patrick propped his back against the wall. His face showed strain and confusion. He reached down to touch his legs. When he did, he couldn’t understand. “Damn it!!” he cried out. “No!!”

Kassie came up beside Patrick, and got on her knees. “I’m so sorry…” she comforted.

As Patrick finally gave up, he almost broke down. His eyes watered up, and he wiped away random tears with right pointer finger. Kassie, crying herself, wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

Darla knew the baby would eventually be born in the middle of the night. Through the ordeal, she knew exactly what name she’d give the baby if it were either a boy or a girl. Unaware of Patrick chaotic state, she thought Christmas would certainly be a day of great surprises and warming gifts.