The Girl in the Window

Chapter Thirteen

Athena looked at her unconscious brother lying on her bed with worry. She cautiously picked up the knife that had struck him and looked at the green ooze that was still dripping off of it. She knew that Effie was to blame for this. She knew that the shadow Derek had pushed out of her room was Effie. She could hear her laughing the entire time in her head. She suspected that the green ooze on the handle and coming out of Derek's arm had to be a poison of some sort.

So smart, Athena. Effie laughed in her head. 

But why? Athena questioned her. What had Derek done to make you mad? You should only be attacking me, not Derek. All that Athena had done to Effie was go into that asylum. Although, if Effie had been waiting for her revenger for who knows how long, Athena was the closest and only person whom she could latch onto. 

She dropped the knife onto her bed and raced into the bathroom, grabbing some towels and racing back towards her brother. Effie was silent in her head. She never answered her questions. She knelt beside Derek and began to clean the knife wound. She cleaned it the best that she could before she wrapped a towel tightly around it, hoping to stop the bleeding. She had never had to do any of this before, but she had watched plenty of crime shows and tried to mimic what they were doing. 

The phone started to ring on the bed beside her. In a haste, she grabbed the phone and clicked the accept button. She brought the phone up to her ear and panted out, "Hello?"

"Miss Athena?" the voice said from the other side of the phone. "It's Mr. Schneider."

Athena sighed thankfully. "Oh, thank goodness! Mr. Schneider, we need that Priest now! Effie just tried to kill Derek and I'm afraid she's not done with me." Athena began breathing hard again and beads of sweat started to form on her forehead. It had felt like the room had turned into a sauna. 

"I know, honey. I have the Priest and we'll be at your house soon." There was a pause before he continued, "Just try to stay alive."

Athena let out a desperate chuckle. "How soon?" The panic in her voice was obvious. 

"In about an hour." Mr. Schneider paused before continuing. "Hang in there." He hung up, making Athena take the phone away from her ear and throw it on her bed. 

She looked down at her unconscious brother in front of her. She needed to go downstairs and be ready for Mr. Schneider, but she didn't want to leave Derek. She looked around the room for a while and sighed. She leaned her back against the headboard and stayed with him. Tears formed in her eyes again.

Just hurt me, she pleaded. Just hurt me.

This is hurting you. Effie finally spoke up in her head. You and your brother are close. Hurting him means that I'm hurting you.

What did you do to him? What is that ooze?

It was like she could feel Effie shrugging her shoulders in her mind. Something I created. I don't know whether I want to wake him up yet or not, Athena. 

Athena closed her eyes as the tears flowed even faster down her cheeks. She sat like that for an hour until she heard the front doorbell ring. The ring sounded foreign and unnaturally loud in the quiet, eerie house. Athena reluctantly got off of the bed and gave her brother a quick kiss on his forehead. "I'll be right back, Derek." She hurried down the stairs and opened the front door, letting in Mr. Schneider and the Priest. 

Mr. Schneider quickly wrapped Athena in an embrace and introduced her to the Priest standing behind him. "This is Father Calvin. Father, this is the woman I told you about."

The tall, greying Priest held out his hand and Athena shook it. "It's nice to meet you, Athena. I can already feel the bad energy radiating throughout your house. Just touching your hand, I can feel the spirit's presence on you." He turned and started to walk around the house. He held on tightly to the Bible at his side. Athena and Mr. Schneider followed him. 

Athena started to grow even more nervous as the long minutes passed by. She could feel her heart beating violently inside her chest. It began beating so hard she thought that it would jump right out. She wrung her hands together repeatedly. She was surprised at how quiet Effie was being in her head. 

What if Father Calvin couldn't get the spirit out of her house? Would she have to move away? Would Effie follow wherever Athena and Derek went? Hundreds of questions filled her mind as she followed Father Calvin up the stairs and through all the rooms. She waited for Effie to sarcastically answer all of her questions, but there wasn't a single noise from her. 

When they reached Athena's bedroom, she expected Derek to still be lying on the bed, but he was gone. She gasped and started to shake. "Where's Derek?"

Father Calvin turned around and gave her a confused look. "Who?"

"My brother," Athena explained quickly. "Derek." She pointed to the bed where a small pool of blood and ooze was still on her bedspread. "I left him laying right there. The spirit, Effie, threw a knife and hit Derek on his arm. He passed out and I left him here when you both came to the door." Walking over to the bed, she searched for the knife. Finding it underneath a pillow, she brought it over to Father Calvin. "This was the knife that she threw." Holding it up, green ooze started falling down it again. 

Father Calvin took the knife gently in his hands and inspected it. "What is this green goo?"

Athena shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Father. Effie told me that she was the one who made it and it caused Derek to pass out. He never faints at the sight of blood."

Father Calving looked up at her. "You can talk to the spirit?"

Athena bit her lip as she nodded. "Yes, I can hear her in my head." She waited a couple of seconds for Effie's voice again but didn't hear her. "I can't hear her now."

Father Calvin nodded as he started to touch the green ooze. The door to Athena's bathroom started too slowly open. They all turned to look, just to see Derek standing at the bathroom door. He didn't look like himself. His smile was gone and replaced by a thin line. His eyes were glazed over and not looking at anyone.

"Derek?" Athena called out to him. She started to race towards him, but Father Calvin grabbed her arm holding her back. "Snap out of it, Derek!" She looked down at his hands. She saw a large, sharp shard of glass and blood running down his hand. Blood was dripping onto the floor. "Don't do it, Derek." She finally understood why Effie was quiet. "Effie, let him go!"

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