The Girl in the Window

Chapter Fourteen

Derek stared at them emotionless, the bloody glass shard still in his hand. Athena tried talking to him – tried talking to Effie – but she could tell that he couldn't hear her. She turned to Father Calvin, frantic, who was staring at Derek. 

"Can you help him?" she asked him, her voice trembling. 

Father Calvin reached inside his jacket and pulled out a cross on a chain. "Get behind me, Athena. No matter what happens, you need to remember that he is not your brother." Athena started to open her mouth to argue with him, but he interrupted her. "Whatever spirit lurks in this house has attached itself to him." He held the cross out in front of himself. He started to mutter phrases in Latin under his breath. 

Athena looked at Derek and frowned as she saw no change in him. "Whatever you're doing isn't working!" She was growing impatient. Effie, you better let go of him soon, she tried to reach Effie, but there was no response. 

Mr. Schneider grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. "Shush, Athena. Let Father Calvin do his work."

Athena shut her mouth and watched Derek. He stared with a blank face at Father Calvin. His grip on the glass shard grew tighter, causing a stream of blood to flow down his hand and drip onto the floor.

Father Calvin closed his eyes and continued to mutter his phrases under his breath. The cross hanging from the chain started to move in little circles. 

"Come out of Derek, spirit, and leave this family alone!" Father Calvin finally said aloud with a commanding voice.

Effie made Derek throw his head back and laughed. "You think you can scare me with that form of method?" Effie's little jesting voice came out of Derek's mouth. "How dumb do you think I am?" He held up the glass shard and pointed to Athena. "I am not done with that wretched girl yet. I told you that you would feel my pain!" He threw the shard, making Athena and Mr. Schneider jump out of the way. 

Mr. Schneider fell into the hallway and the door shut on him, leaving him separated from everyone else. Athena jumped into a desk and unintentionally pushed a picture frame off of it. The picture frame fell onto the floor and shattered. Athena looked up at the wall and saw the bloody shard sticking out of the wall. She felt her head being yanked back by a strong hand and fling her across the room.

She crashed into the wall and grimaced at the sudden pain flowing through her body. Looking up she saw Derek stalking towards her. 

"Derek," Athena whispered as she held up a bloody hand. "Please, don't do this." She could hear Mr. Schneider pounding on the other side of the door, screaming to be let back in. He was pleading with Effie.

Father Calvin was quick to step in between Athena and Derek. He raised the cross again. This time, he was more forceful in his words, "Come out of Derek, spirit. Leave this family and house alone!"

Derek stopped and held his arm out behind him towards the glass shard that was still lodged in the wall. It came flying towards his hand and he grabbed it causing fresh blood to drip down his hand again. Derek smiled diabolically at Father Calvin. His eyes did not meet his smile, they were still glassed over. 

"This is what you get for getting in my way," he sneered. "I warned you. I will have her pay." He threw the shard at Father Calvin as Athena screamed. The shard lodged itself in his stomach, but it didn't stop. The force of the throw caused the shard to come out through his back and hit the wall above Athena's head, barely missing her. 

Father Calvin slowly looked down at the hole created in his stomach. The cross slowly fell out of his hand and landed on the floor. His knees buckled and he fell with a thud onto the floor.

Athena crawled over to him and rolled him over, so he was on his back. "Father Calvin!" Tears flowed from her eyes as she watched his blood flow out of his body and onto her floor. She started to put shaking hands on the hole, but she knew it wasn't going to make a difference. 

He reached out to the cross with shaky hands, putting it into her hand. "Finish the job." His voice was grave. 

Athena looked down at the cross. "But I don't know how to get a spirit out of someone!"

"Just touch him with this." He motioned to the cross still clutched in her hand. His eyes went back in his head as he took his last, shaky breath. 

Athena looked up at Derek, who began to laugh and shake his head. She had heard that laugh too many times in her head the past couple of days. She needed to take care of this, and she needed to do it now. Slowly, she stood up and faced him. Blood stained her clothes. Whether it was hers or Father Calvin's, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had to save her brother. 

She held out the cross in front of her and readied her stance. Glaring at her brother, she said, "Come and get me, Effie."

Derek stopped laughing and stared at Athena. For a while both of them merely stared at each other, not moving a muscle. She still held out the cross in front of her. Finally, Derek made the first move. He charged at her with supernatural speed, but Athena was quicker. Full of adrenaline, she pressed the cross into Derek's forehead when he was an arm's length away.

A burning sensation started to appear on Derek's face. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. A little girl's scream shrieked out of Derek's mouth. He clawed at Athena's hand, drawing blood. 

Hissing, Athena let go and was surprised to see the cross was still stuck to Derek's face. Derek still worked to claw and pull the cross off his face, but it wouldn't budge. He thrashed around the room until he fell onto the floor and screamed. Athena covered her ears as the scream pierced her ears and lasted for a full minute before he became silent and limp. The cross fell off his face and onto the floor. 

Everything became silent.

------edited------

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