The Genie's Possession

From Stalker to Fainter

Three days later Lindy and I were just about to have dinner when someone knocked at the door. I looked at Lindy in confusion; Gavin was out of town for the weekend. Who could possible knock at the door at this hour?

"Are you expecting someone," I asked Lindy.

"No, but let me go see who it is."

"Okay, I'll set the plates out then."

I turned around and rummaged through the drawers for some spoons and I found a rubber duck, a couple of pencils, and an entire box of the specially imported tea from Asia that Lindy claimed she had accidently thrown away.

Spoons forgotten I grabbed the box of tea to question Lindy about messing with my stuff--more specifically my tea when I heard Lindy yell, "What the hell are you doing here?"

I couldn't tell who was at the door for a second and then I saw a man's face. "You freak, what are you doing here," Lindy demanded.

Kevin seemed to be exhausted. His clothes were disheveled and sweaty, his hair sticking up at awkward angles.

"Look, I just want to talk--"

"Talk? You want to talk after you rudely insulted me and my best friend?"

Kevin threw his hands up into the air and said, "I don't mean any harm but something just doesn't add up. It hasn't for the past few months, I can't remember stuff."

"So that gives you the right to stalk us? How did you know where we lived?"

"I-I-I can't remember."

"Okay well maybe the police might help you remember. Nora, call 911."

At that Kevin began desperately saying, "Wait, please don't call the police," as he began walking closer to Lindy and into the doorway of our apartment.

"Stay back you freak," Lindy shrieked trying to close the door. I could only stare, frozen.

"I just want an explanation of what's going on, then I'll leave," Kevin protested desperately. "Get out," Lindy screamed as I raced for the phone. Kevin collapsed.

Seconds went by as Lindy and I stared at each other and Kevin's cold body. Lindy looked absolutely confused snapped into attention. "Lindy grab his feet and help me haul him in."

Lindy looked shocked. "Nora, we are not letting this creep into our house. What if he's faking it just to get into our apartment and then murder us behind close doors?!"

Leaning down I took his pulse. "We can't just leave him here Lindy."

"Uhh, yes we can."

"Lindy!"

"Alright, alright!"

"On a count of three. One, two, three, lift!" I grunted as I lifted part of Kevin's body off of the floor. He was heavy. Carefully Lindy maneuvered him into the apartment.

"Let's put him on the couch." I nodded and carefully set Kevin down on the couch.

"Lindy grab me a small flashlight and a wet rag, he's burning up."

"Nora, we need to call an ambulance."

"Okay, I'll try to cool him down-you call."

The second I placed the wet rag on Kevin's forehead he jumped almost colliding into the coffee table--I barely avoided being hit.

"Wait," he screeched, "Don't call 911 it won't work I've tried it before." Lindy's mouth hung open in surprise.

"911 what is your emergency?" a voice on the other end of the phone said yet Lindy could not say a single word.

Kevin seeking his chance grabbed the phone from Lindy and turned it off. Lindy shrieked trying to wrestle Kevin for the phone. Kevin slid the phone across the floor so that it was in Lindy's reach. Lindy looked even more confused.

"Look I know what this seems like but I really need help and I don't want to hurt you and I'm sorry for calling you a bitch--Lindy right? It was way out of line I'll admit. But if you just give me five minutes I'll explain what's happening because I feel like I have no control over my life right now," Kevin babbled talking a mile a minute.

Lindy met my eyes and I could see that her anger was slowly simmering after Kevin's apology. In fact her eyes were being replaced by a glint that was all too familiar. She wanted confrontation, she needed it.

"Kevin, Lindy and I were just about to have dinner and I don't think it's a good time. So now that you are all better why don't we schedule for a different--"

"Okay, let's start from the beginning, why did you deny who you were and how did you find out where we live," Lindy demanded completely ignoring me. I sighed, I did try--I really did.

"Lately random people whom I could have sworn I'd never talked to before come up to me and ask when I am going to be working again or how could I have possible forgotten to show up at the reception. I just don't understand. I don't work for any funeral home--I'm a full time student at American University studying biology! I work at the coffee shop on weekends--that's it!" Kevin ranted.

"You kind of forgot to mention the part where you tell us how you found out where we live," Lindy pointed out frostily.

Kevin sighed. It appeared he was preparing himself for a grand introduction. "This is going to sound even more strange but I actually don't know. All I know is that one second I was sitting in my apartment studying and the next second I was standing in front of a door. It was almost an instinct--like I knew that somehow if I knocked on that door I would finally figure out what's wrong with me. When I recognized you I knew I needed to talk."

"And you expect us to believe that? You sound like you need a therapist," Lindy exclaimed her eyes wide in disbelief.

Kevin rocked back and forth on the couch and laughed darkly, "You don't believe me; no one believes me. I can't even talk to Abbas because he has suddenly disappeared. You're right, I'm going crazy and I need to be locked up."

Lindy narrowed her eyes, her face was taut. She said something, but I couldn't comprehend what. In the back of my mind I was desperately trying to figure out why the name Abbas sounded so familiar. Almost on instinct I reached in my pocket for the small card I kept inside. It read: Abbas Milligan: plumber, electrical engineer, veterinarian, author, and exorcist. For more information call 555-XXX. The anxiety in my chest grew. Why was everything linking back to Mr. Milligan?

"How did you know Mr. Milligan," I demanded.

"I don't really know him that well, I just bought a couple of books from him. And he gave me this."

Kevin took out a white handkerchief very similar to the one Mr. Milligan had given me.

"And to prove that I'm not lying about anything I need you to look."

Kevin dug his fingers into his arms and raked with his nails, hard. Blood oozed out in droplets out of the thin welts.

"Ew, what are you doing?" Lindy exclaimed but I put an arm on her shoulder and squeezed it hard, preventing her from moving. I watched Kevin breathlessly as he shook out the handkerchief and pressed it against his arm. When Kevin removed the handkerchief, his wound was gone. I wasn't crazy, I had never been crazy. My handkerchief had done the same thing--it had healed my head wound on the bus.

The apartment was so quiet that all that could be heard were the heavy breaths Kevin took.

"See," Kevin said, "This kind of stuff has been happening to me a lot. I always close my window before I go to sleep and for some reason my window is always open. I am an organized person and recently I have been losing my things, and misplacing them. I have strange nightmares where I see myself doing things I never would do. These things probably don't seem out of the ordinary but for me these things are not normal."

I felt so confused. But at the same time I felt relief, I wasn't crazy. Someone else was going through everything I was.

I opened my mouth to say something when suddenly Kevin's eyes rolled back into his head. He was pointing at something before he fell onto the couch and passed out again. When I turned around I could see nothing but a dim shadow.