It was well before midnight when the girl and her companion arrived, half-soaked in the rain battering the narrow, dark streets. Strands of her long copper hair stuck to her oval face, making her cat-like eyes a deeper shade of brown. Her sharp features shone against her pale complexion in the light of the candle carried by the woman of the house as she came to answer the knock on their door.
"Hi. We're so sorry for disturbing you at this hour. But we're looking for Fr. Andres?" The girl asked while the lanky boy beside her struggled with the umbrella he was holding. Behind them, metal roofs continued to rattle from the strong winds that howled and whistled through the thin gaps between houses, the sound created like an out of tune symphony.
Looking up to the sudden guests, she held the candle further out in their direction. She could tell the girl was pretty, even in her unkempt state. Her aquiline nose and light complexion gave away her mixed origins. On the other hand, the boy's features remained concealed. The hood of his green cotton jacket cast shadows over his face like a mourner's veil.
"Are you here for the-?" The woman was unsure what to call the happenings in their house for the last four days. Nevertheless there was a tinge of hope mixed in with the more evident exhaustion.
"Yes. We're here to help." A small smile formed on the girl's slightly full lips. "May we come in?"
"Oh. Yes. Please." The woman said as she stepped aside, pulling the door open. "I apologize for the darkness. There's been a province-wide blackout because of the storm."
The girl simply nodded and made her way inside the house. Her companion followed closely behind her in silence.
"Let me take care of that." The woman reached for the dripping umbrella the boy had just managed to close. She let it rest against the door frame, creating a puddle on the painted concrete floor.
"Thank you, ma'am." The boy spoke with a noticeable accent, his vowels pronounced short and sharp.
There was a dreadful weariness on the woman's face that showed under the light of the candle when she smiled. She had dark circles around her big, round eyes, and a dullness in them that spoke of sadness and lost hope. Her nose, a flat stub in the middle of her circular face, crinkled whenever she sniffed, the sound echoing in the otherwise silence that filled the humid home.
"Let's get you warm first. I'll tell Fr. Andres you've arrived. He's in my daughter's bedroom with the others" The woman spoke as she guided their visitors past the humble living room of bamboo couches and painted concrete walls. It was a short walk into the adjourning shared dining and kitchen, which looked a bit worse with the exposed plastering on its walls.
"Thank you." The girl replied, watching the woman place the candle holder on the table made of cheap wood and plastic.
"I should be the one thanking you." She smiled. "Padre told us you were coming all the way from the capital."
The girl nodded. She and her companion had taken the first flight they could book after the priest rang her with urgency earlier that afternoon. She did not question why he wanted her to come; their seven-year relationship revolved on one thing.
"We're sorry to have you come a long way." The woman said. "It can't have been easy getting here with the storm and all. Please make yourselves comfortable. Let me know if you need anything."
The girl shook her head. "It's really no problem. It's what we do." She smiled.
"We're still really grateful either way." She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, squeezing it gently.
The girl barely stopped herself from jerking away from the woman's touch. She was still not in the best of shapes, and any form of human contact was like a sizzling burn to her sensitive nerves.
YOU ARE READING
Incarnated
Horror"It is from sin that we were cursed, and from repentance that we were made." --xx-- Adelaide comes from a family of exorcists who has the unusual ability to use their own bodies as temporary vessels to contain demons prior to their banishment back t...
