Exorcismo

Exorcismo Part I

This story was created for TheGallowsMovie Creepy Idea contest. After receiving an invitational message to participate, the original idea was submitted and selected. Then a story less than 5k words had to be created after that idea.

I'm honored both the idea and the story has been approved by the judges and crew from The Gallows movie promotional page on Wattpad!

Exorcismo

I

The white candles on the altar burnt, the flickering flames illuminated with iridescent tones of yellow and orange the dimness in the church's vault. The statues of saints, angels holding spears, and Jesus Christ itself, acquired a gloomy and terrifying appearance that night, a night that was already dreadful as it was.

It was the summer of 1968 and Father Barboza, an old Brazilian bishop designated by the Vatican to perform exorcisms in the western dioceses, conducted a rite assisted by young priest Father Thomas and Sister Ana, head nun of San Pedro's Chapel, a mission old church in Carrizo County, Texas. This time the victim was a teenager named Rodolfo.

"Dómine, quam multi sunt qui tribúlant me multi insúrgunt adversum me. Multi sunt qui de me dicúnt: Non est salus ei in Deo..." Father Barboza recited the psalms in Latin out loud standing by the pulpit, placed just below a huge wooden crucifix of the Christ, the rustic image staring down pitifully to all the presents. Holding the Bible with firmness he sprinkled holy water on the boy's face, each drop sizzling to the contact with the skin.

Possessed Rodolfo screamed and twitched tied to a chair, his eyes rolled erratically side to side almost to pop out of their sockets. His pallid and aghast face changed forms while his skin, covered in scratches and dried blood acquired a greenish color. Yellowish foam came out from the boy's mouth who repeated constantly in a deep guttural beast-like voice "Nolo! Nolo!"

Leeway behind the bishop, attired in black and purple as accustomed for the rites, the younger priest held in his trembling hands a lustrous silver crucifix. Next to him, Sister Ana prayed fervently, eyes tightly closed. Kneeling in a corner by the first row of wooden benches, Rodolfo's mother and two other females witnessed the ritual reciting the 'Our Father' in Spanish so rapidly it came almost unintelligible.

"... Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi, et exaudivit me de monte sancto suo..." Father Barboza continued the ritual; his voice emphasizing in certain phrases of a psalm that asked for protection from the enemy, an enemy that was invisible and hidden inside the teenager's body. "... Penes Dominum est salus: Super poplum tuum sit benedictio tua!"

In the moment the priest finished the psalm, silence engulfed the vault. Rodolfo ceased moving; his face dropped as if he had fainted.

"Is it done, Father Barboza?" The young cleric asked in a shaky voice, giving a few steps forward.

In the back, the women sobbed still clinching their rosaries. Everything was expectation, their eyes fixed on Rodolfo hoping for the rite to be successful.

"The ritual hasn't ended... This is strange... Perhaps..." The old priest prodded the boy's arm. "Rodolfo..."

"Aaaaaaah!" The boy, or the demons inside of him woke up, scowling in a graveyard-like voice. He broke in laughter, loud and scornful. A thousand hellish mocking voices resonated echoing against the chapel's masonry walls making the structure to vibrate. The teenager's eyes blackened, abysmal pits while his face disfigured acquiring the cyanotic color of the dead. A heavy smell of sulfur and roses filled the air in the moment he screamed, "Stulte! Vos no potestis contra nobis!"

"Give me the holy crucifix father Thomas! This is not over yet!" Cross in his hand Father Barboza continued the exorcism this time his tone was defiant, speaking to the demons inside Rodolfo. "Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino, Tribuite virtutem Deo. Exorcizamus te!"

"Arrrrgh!" the dark entity protested, growling, screeching and revolving frantically.

The boy dug his nails scratching the chair's wooden surface, his fingers tips bleed. The women gasped, stepping backwards when the chair levitated, shaking with violence and tapping on the floor.

"Omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio..." Father Barboza prayed out loud.

"Nolo! Ille sit meus!" the fiends inside Rodolfo responded angrily.

"No he's not yours! You will leave this child's body in the name of Christ! Tell me your name, God commands you!"

"I am Alocer!" It responded.

"Alocer", father Thomas whispered, his eyes widened in terror.

"Alocer, duke of legions, I know you yet I don't fear you. I command you to leave Rodolfo's body, for he's a creature of God and belongs only to him!"

It breezed, a  chilling gust swirled inside the church, blowing off some of the candles on the altar. Father Barboza continued with the rite. "... Vade, satana, inventor et magister, omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis. Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei...!"

"No! No God is here, you fool! You can't fight me! I'm Alocer... I'm never alone!"

The chapel's front door opened abruptly. The ropes that tied Rodolfo were broken and he was standing up by the Jesus Christ's sculpture feet. The priests stepped back and the nun fell to the floor crawling back screaming.

The demons inside Rodolfo growled and snarled and lifted him off the ground making him levitate in the air while twitching and screaming. His mouth opened wide, to the point his jaws could be loosen. For times it was his voice screaming in pain and others the angry demon that fought to remain inside his body.

It was an infernal chaos inside the church: women crying, the priests praying and the demons screeching. Then it was heard a loud thundering noise and the colorful tainted glass panes exploded. Pieces of glass rained inside and outside the church.

Rodolfo plummeted to the hard floor and his eyes went blank. His mother came running screaming hysterically to check on her son, but in the moment she was about to reach him, she was pulled back and hurled into the air to then crash against one of the church's wall. Sliding down to the floor, the woman fell unconscious.

The front doors of the religious building shut closed back again by themselves and the candles in the altar burnt intensely reaching the drapes behind the pulpit's table. Hell unleashed inside the chapel. There was fire and smoke everywhere. The blazes reflected on Father Barboza's eyes who dropped the silver cross to the floor, frightened.

Everyone ran to the door and tried to open it but it was locked. They ran all around the place desperately trying to find somewhere to escape, but it was in vain. Fire grew fast and extended extending to every corner in the old chapel burning everything within seconds. Their screams resonated out loud in the distance, but there was no one to hear them. No one came to save them, not even God. And the church was reduced to ashes in the middle of that solitary prairie.