Possessed

The following story is a self-imposed challenge. It's an attempt at dialogue-only story-telling. Any and all constructive criticism is welcome, as I'm not entirely certain how I feel about it. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.

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Note to the reader: This is a work of fiction, and is, in no way, an attempt to influence nor discredit any religious belief or point of view.

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“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

“That’s right, Sean. I’m coming back.”

“Why… why are you doing this to me?! Ugh!”

“It’s what I do, Sean. And, oh, how I love to watch your frail bodies stiffen with the pain!”

“God!... I- I want you out of me!”

“God has no place here. Look into the mirror, Sean. Do you see ANY room for God?”

“AAHH… Ugh… No! I see me… and you.”

“The sweet sound of grinding teeth, the creak of strained joints… You humans are so weak!”

“Go to hell!”

“I’ll go home soon enough, but I haven’t had my fill of you yet, Sean. Just look at you! White-knuckle grip on the sink, black holes for eyes, mouth frozen in anguish… I have such power over you! I can make you do anything!”

“Get out of me! God damn it! I have nothing you want… Eahh!”

“I told you to leave God out of this, Sean. He has no power here. I am your god now. And true, you have nothing I want. But that girlfriend of yours… We’ve had our eye on her for some ti…”

“Don’t you dare! You stay away from her, you asshole!”

“Focus, Sean!”

“AAAHHHH!!!!”

“I’m not going to go near her, unless you do… But that’s just it, boy. You won’t be going near her! Turn those eyes back to me… I’m right here, in your mirror.”

“What d-do you want from… from her?”

“You misunderstand, my boy. It’s not what we want from her, but what she will do for us.”

“U-us? Who is ‘us’?”

“I see that the pain of my presence has addled your brain. ‘Us’ is me and my brethren. She has the potential to open my kind up to so much more of you talking monkeys. Our influence will be far beyond even the reach we had in the Dark Ages. She has an evil within her that would rival even Lilith. I shiver with excitement at the thought.”

“What makes her so ‘evil’? She is a good person…”

“Her evil is in her actions, Sean, not her personality. You believed in creatures like us, once upon a time. Then you met Cassandra… And you had fully given up on knowing that something like me existed. She washed out of your mind all conviction of the religious… the supernatural and the preternatural. God was a figment of the imagination, meant only as a ‘moral backstop’ for the deluded masses. And the Devil? He was nothing more than the scapegoat for the deluded masses to qualify and quantify their atrocities. But Cassandra stole that from you, just as she will steal it from millions upon millions of you useless hunks of flesh! You were not open to me until you met her. You had just enough conviction to keep me out.”

“And what is your boss’s plan, once you have these… millions?”

“Why, war, of course. She may give us the numbers we need to finally stand up against the faithful of this putrid planet. Her fight for a secular world will be the dawning of the Age of Hell!”

“But, in the Bible, your side loses.”

“History is written by the victor, dear boy.”

“What’s the endgame? Tell me that… uh… what do I call you?”

“The endgame? Simple, Sean… Hell on Earth. What else would it be?”

“C’mon, that’s it? There aren’t enough souls in Hell for you guys to torture? What’s the purp… AAAHHHH!!!!”

“You’re getting awfully comfortable in this conversation, meatsack! Remember who’s in charge here!”

“AAHHH! Ugh!”

“Lucifer wants Earth. He wants victory over the Father, to be the usurper of Creation, and to be the iron hand over free will. He wants power and praise.”

“GRR… That’s it? It’s all for vanity? Tell me this… Damn it! What do I call you? I can’t stand speaking to somebody without a name!”

“My name? Well, boy, it’s Belphegor. Fallen angel, Prince of Hell, demon extaordinaire.”

“Belphegor, huh? Tell me, Belphegor, what’s in all of this for you? Where’s the challenge in being a demon of Hell if there’s nobody left to terrorize?”

“I never think that far…”

“AAAAHHHHH!!!” “AAAAHHHHH!!!”

“How does that feel, you son of a bitch?! A sink full of holy water! HAHAHA!!!”

“AAAHHHH! Damn you, monkey!”

“GAH!... Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proel... defende nos... AAAHHH!!!”

[Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in batt... defend us...]

“Don’t even think about it! I’m here to stay!... EAAAHHHH!!”

“I feel you weakening, Belphegor… There’s no stopping it now!”

“No! Noooo!!”

“Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio... contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium.”

[Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle... Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.]

“AAHH! No! You can’t!”

“Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur…”

[May God restrain him, we humbly pray...]

“Sean!... SEAN!!!”

“Tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, in virtute Dei, in infernum detrude Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos...”

[And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust Satan down to Hell, and with him those other wicked spirits...]

“Sean, open the door! What’s happening?!”

“… qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo!”

[... who wander through the world for the ruin of souls!]

“AAHHH-” “AAAAHHHHH! AAHH!” “Sean! Oh my God! What is that?!”

“Sean… Sean?! What the hell was that?! What just happened?!”

“Amen… Cassandra… that… was Belphegor.”

“Bel… Belphegor?! I don’t…”

“A demon, babe. The demon that was possessing me to keep me away from you. You were part of their plan…”

“You know that I don’t believe any-”

“You do now. You do now. And the world is safer for it…”