The Exorcism of Little Billy Wagner (cont'd)
The seminary and the priesthood were, he believed, the best decision he had made in his life. But these last few years had been tough. He found himself in a living situation with a man who was as difficult and temperamental as his own father. In addition, Monsignor Volmert had proven that devoutness and laziness were not mutually exclusive. Not surprising given this situation, he had found he was terribly lonely, though in fairness increasingly knowledgeable about the classical movies of the 1930s and 1940s.
And then came that one night, in the Catholic conversion class, when he met Veronica Fields. In the last month or so, their friendship had deepened. She had come from a broken home and had a hard life. She suffered from depression and recently left drug rehab, clean for the first time in her life. She was enrolled at the University and was completing her four-year degree. She was trying hard to get her life on the right track, and she very much wanted to turn her life over to the Lord. Increasingly they had met for coffee and lunch, and he was counseling her as well as helping her in her conversion. She was very much drawn to the Catholic Church and was very curious about all aspects of the as evidenced by her questions. She was particularly curious about the saints notably male Saints, who either had been warriors or played musical instruments. And they would just talk, and she was so easy to talk to, and she had this way of placing her hand lightly on his arm or even knee, and they would just talk and laugh and drink coffee at the café, and her bright clear blue eyes would always marvel at him. One day, Fr. Leo thought I don't think anyone has ever been this interested in me as Veronica appeared to be in him; in fact Fr. Leo was not even that interested in himself -- his existence, even at its most vibrant and dramatic -- had been rather dull to him. But it wasn't just Veronica's interest in him or the mutual fun that they had when spending time together, no he realized, Veronica was the most beautiful girl he had ever met in his life.
Having said this, his vocation and deep faith in Jesus Christ and God had never mitigated. He wanted to be a priest, celebrate the sacraments, and be a good priest to this parish and this community. But each day with Veronica made his heart ache in another direction. He tried to be around her as much as possible, which led to awkward situations. On one occasion, she had visited him in the rectory, and he was showing her his Gregorian chant CD collection in his room, and when they left his room, Monsignor Volmert noticed them in the hallway, giving them a critical sidelong glance before continuing on his way.
For a moment he was worried about what the Monsignor and those he would talk to would think until he realized that Monsignor Volmert thought that most priests were gay and it would take a little bit more than having a beautiful woman in his room to convince Monsignor Volmert otherwise about himself. Also Monsignor Volmert really didn't talk to anyone unless it was movie trivia night.
Nothing had happened, however, between he and Veronica. Yet in the last week she had made known she was in love with him. She had told him the night after he had said mass and done a funeral for a 14-year-old girl who had died from cancer. Back at their house after the funeral the family had thanked him for giving such a touching homily and a wonderful tribute to their daughter. He believed that he had done an entirely inadequate job, but maybe he did an all right job because maybe he was meant to be a priest. He was conflicted.
By the time Fr. Leo was about to retire with a good book and cold one, Monsignor Volmert had given him the Wagner assignment. Monsignor Volmert as an incentive for taking this job offered him a coupon for the Manhattan Sub Shop, the best sub shop in the city. Monsignor Volmert added, 'I feel bad for anyone who hasn't tried their subs.' Fr. Leo was annoyed as he put the coupon and placed it in his pocket with the other coupon the same parishioner had given him, thinking he always does this and regifts something to meet like he has just done me a favor.
Fr. Leo had hoped to place a call to the residence and set up an appointment later in the week, but Mrs. Wagner insisted that he come over and as soon as possible.
And so he drove over to the Wagner's residence and knocked on their door. Mrs. Wagner ushered him into the house, and he took a seat in a cushioned chair in the family room. Mrs. Wagner was a medium-height, slightly overweight woman with a sweet smile. She asked in a quiet voice whether he would like something to drink, coffee, a soda. He shook his head in the negative.
Mr. Wagner walked out of the kitchen and appeared before Fr. Leo.
'Bill Wagner,' he said and then firmly shook other Fr. Leo's hand
'Father Leo, nice to meet you Bill.'
Bill Wagner was an oversized man, tall and heavy, with thinning gray hair. He was wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey; he and well the rest of the room smell of a meat lovers cheese pizza.
'Would you like a beer?'
He again declined.
The wife brought Bill a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, setting it down on a coaster, and then took a seat next to her husband. An awkwardness set in the room as both the parents and Fr. Leo considered how to broach the subject.
'We talked to a Fr. Waller, did he send you?' Mrs. Wagner began.
He thought and recalled that the memorandum describing the incident had been signed by Father Waller probably the one from the Archbishop's office.
'Yes.'
Father Leo then asked various preliminary questions about Billy his age - 12, his health - generally good before asking about the present situation.
'It all started the day he was sent home from school. Apparently during math class, he pulled out a knife and very rapidly jabbed it between his fingers over and over again, and his teacher said he was saying some foreign words, you know, words that weren't in English and also hateful things about long division. It was very upsetting to the other students and the teacher.'
'No, it wasn't even that,' Bill corrected impatiently. 'It was the Internet, there was some Satan worshipping group that he got involved with over the Internet. It was a chat room devoted to satanic rituals; that's when the change took place--'
'You don't even know that-'
'In the last two weeks, he's basically been up in that room, there's the screaming, the voices - he speaks and writes in Latin we think, maybe Spanish-'
'It's definitely probably not English,' Ms. Wagner added helpfully.
'The change,' Father Leo said, taking notes. 'Speak to that how he has changed.'
Mrs. Wagner went into a fair amount of detail about how her dear little Billy Wagner was no longer the sweet thoughtful boy he had once been, but was someone else entirely almost as if he had been possessed by some demonic force.
Ed Wagner interrupted here and there, saying all boys go through a phase like this, and that he thought his wife was just being hysterical. But she teared up and became very emotional and said that numerous times in the last week the voice coming out of her dear boy was just not his, it was the voice of an older man, low in tone and creepy or loud, raspy, and just screaming out such horrible things. She had been genuinely frightened and many times was afraid to go into the room alone. Again Bill disputed this, and the couple began to argue.
Father Leo continued to take notes and diligently listen.
'Not so loud,' Mrs. Wagner cautioned, gesturing upstairs towards Billy's room.
'I'll agree his voice is different, and it's a little weird, but not that much different.'
'Okay than tell Fr. Leo what happened to you,' she said with sudden determination.
Ed Wagner was immediately taken aback and considered what to say.
'Show him the scar, honey.'
Ed tilted his head forward, so the top of his head was facing Fr. Leo. A jagged line of stitches surrounded by puffy red skin was visible.
'Father, I honestly don't know what happened, but I was in the room bringing Billy his food, and a chair and a picture from the wall and a baseball trophy all came at me.
'Ed, tell him what happens every night!'
At that moment, a heavy object - perhaps a piece of furniture, could be heard scraping along the floor above. Everyone became quiet, and looked up; their mouths slightly agape. A THUD! THUD! sound could be her reverberating overhead. Father Leo startled; his face went pale white from fright; a piece of wood could be hurt splintering.
Mrs. Wagner began to weep more audibly, saying, 'This happens every night.'
More heavy objects could be heard scraping across the wood floor above; the chandelier in the next room began to vibrate. The sound of a little girl could be heard crying out for help, and the sound echoed about them as if the sound were coming from the bottom of a well. The rush of more objects across the floor could be heard followed closely by the crashing sound of these objects thudding against the wall.
Father Leo's ears pricked up towards the ceiling as he heard the entirely disconcerting sound of a little girl crying for help as if she were at the bottom of a well. He looked over at Bill comforting his wife with his right hand over her shoulder and watched his left hand slowly collapse the aluminum beer can.
Then there was silence followed by a sudden succession of lights and electronic equipment going out, signaling there was something wrong with the electricity in the house. The three sat in the silence and listened to what would come next.
'I'll light a candle and then let's go up there, ' Bill said as he stood up.
Fr. Leo looked over, and though he wanted to form a response, he could not as he was utterly petrified. After Bill retrieved a lighted candle, the two of them began to ascend the stairs with Mrs. Wagner standing nervously at the bottom.
Fr. Leo - who for reasons that were not entirely clear to him – was taking the lead in their approach to Billy's room upstairs. He had hoped to approach as stealthily as possible, and to this end, he planted each step as lightly as say a ninja would do while on a ninja job, but each of his gentle steps caused a creaking sound that reverberated through the stairwell in a way that was more disconcerting to Father Leo than anything that had previously occurred this night. Father Leo looked back and he was pretty sure that Bill Wagner was now at least three steps behind him, and there was no indication that he would be gaining anytime soon. He was about to take another step, now almost to the top of the stairs, when an object or body was flung at the bedroom door directly across from the top of the stairwell. This did not just happen at once, but this object or body repeatedly flung itself at the door, causing the door to appear to be warping out towards the hallway. An absolute condition of paralysis set in to Fr. Leo. He could not move forward; he could not retreat. To the extent that he could think; these simple thoughts passed through his mind: I-did-not-sign-up-for-this; this was not in the brochure. He looked back up at the door and the repeated force thrown at the door reminded him of a psychotic Labrador retriever that his family had when he was a kid and how that dog would throw himself at the back of the garage door to get to the backyard to chase some trespassing squirrels until someone came and opened up that door. It was time for him to be honest with the Wagners, he was an average seminary student; what he was doing here as he approached the No Man's Land in the war with the Evil One was outside of his skill set. Though he knew the Archbishop believed in taking a preemptive approach against Satan; Satan has always been around; God's - pretty powerful, omniscient, fond of making things in six days, and even God has trouble keeping wraps on his disgruntled former employee, maybe what this situation calls for, is a cooling off period, let's properly assess this situation, hey I know during the daylight when this house isn't so creepy, after my nap, when I'm more energized, maybe I should come with more reinforcements. Fr. Waller - know him, sort of, great guy; he could be my wing man; I mean it's great that the Archbishop and Father Waller and Monsignor Volmert want to do the meet and greet with the horned one, but I'm the guy actually doing it, and I know the whole vow of obedience and chain of command etc.. The door suddenly came unhinged and was falling towards Fr. Leo, but Father Leo, and Bill Wagner had already turned about-face and were racing down the stairs.
Two days later he had returned with Father Waller and some muscle – Joe Allen, a seminary student who allegedly had a black belt in Tae Kwon Doe. They flung opened the door, and Joe Allen raced in first and took a position behind the dresser. His head slightly moved out from the dresser, and he could see that Little Billy Wagner was playing some sort of hand-held videogame. He signaled for Father Leo and Father Waller to enter the room. Father Leo - armed with two crucifixes -- led the way until all three men were on the side of Billy's bed.
All three men had the same reaction upon seeing Billy; for a twelve-year-old, he was a big kid; this was perhaps not surprising as his father was a large man perhaps over 6' 5'. Father Leo noticed immediately that something was wrong. Billy's eyes had a glazed over look; his pupils were dilated and there was a strange puffy redness around his eyes as if he had been sleep deprived. Father Leo also taken noted that Billy in no way seemed surprised nor interested that three strange men were standing next to his bad. But beyond that, he appeared to be a normal twelve-year-old boy, playing his video game on his bed.
Father Waller whispered for Fr. Leo to say something.
Father Leo pulled up a chair, took his seat and said, 'Billy we are friends of your parents-'
Billy's head snapped in their direction -- his eyes were bright, yet bloodshot, which gave him a wild look like that of a strung out drug addict. A deep voice of an older man, resonant like a stage actor, and clearly not a voice of a twelve-year-old boy spit the following words out of the boy's mouth, 'Don't ever come into my fucken room, while I'm playing my video game!'
'Billy, we were just stopping by to check on you. Your parents are very concerned,' Fr. Leo suddenly paused as the bed shook violently and the boy screamed out curse words as well as phrases in Latin. Father Waller appeared very frightened, but Father Leo tried to remain composed.
'Why don't we try, kneeling here and praying,' Fr. Leo suggested.
The three knelt down, lowered their heads, and began their silent prayers. At the mention of the name, 'Our Lord Jesus Christ,' Billy sprang out from his bed and swiftly kicked Fr. Leo in the face, and then with a second kick to his gut, Fr. Leo was thrown against the wall as if the kick had a supernatural force.
Father Leo looked up and saw that Fr. Waller and Joe had retreated behind the dresser. He heard the bedroom door slam shut. Suddenly he noticed that Billy was atop the far bookshelf next to the bedroom's window; he had grabbed a hold of the two crucifixes that Fr. Leo had brought into the room and threw those crucifixes as well as other objects at the three men and the now closed-door. Father Leo buried his head, and while still ducking, he heard the other bureau by the window race across the floor and slam into the closed-door, further barricading them into the room.
Father Leo for the first time since he could really remember was genuinely frightened out of his wits as he tried to prevent himself from trembling. The demon voice coming out of Billy was now booming as it chanted out a phrase in Latin. Billy was approaching and had a knife in hand, and as evidenced by the wide-eyed, psychotic look that glossed his eyes, Billy was either possessed by a demonic force or stark-raving mad; the distinction to Fr. Leo at that moment was wholly rhetorical. He realized that he had one chance to make it as he made a mad dash to the door.
At the bottom of the stairs, the three men were catching their breath and licking their proverbial wounds.
'Oh my dear, oh my dear,' Ms. Wagner said worriedly, regarding the bruise on Fr. Leo's right cheek and his swollen right eye. 'Let me give you something for that.' She also mentioned that her husband would be home any minute from work.
Father Leo rested against the banister of the stairwell and looked over at Fr. Waller and then Joe Allen.
'Are you guys all right?' Fr. Leo asked.
They both nodded in the affirmative, though each appeared rather stunned by what they had seen.
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