When the priest approached the sleeping girl, she instantly woke up. She opened her eyes wide, quickly sat up, and panting, looked around the room. When she recalled her dream, she quickly understood why the priest and her mother were beside her.
“What did you dream about, dear child?” the priest asked.
He knelt beside Caroline and took her hand, looking deeply concerned into her eyes. The young woman, still emotional from the nightmare, tried to gather her thoughts to recount the dream as best as she could. Deep in her heart, she felt it was a genuine spiritual experience. She knew it wasn’t merely her imagination at play.
“Mom, could you make me some coffee? I need to wake up,” she weakly requested.
Laura looked at her with concern and nodded, quickly heading to the kitchen. Caroline sat on the bed, staring blankly at the wall across from her. The setting sun reflected off a discarded CD, creating a beautiful rainbow on the wall. The priest noticed Caroline gazing at the rainbow.
Trying to lift her spirits, he said, “Do you remember the story of Noah?”
“I think so. He built an ark to save himself, his family, and the animals,” Caroline replied softly, still groggy from waking up.
The priest noticed Caroline speaking nasally, reminding him of his own experiences after naps. He smiled at the thought.
“And do you remember what happened at the end?” he asked mysteriously.
“Hm… God created the rainbow as a sign of His covenant with humanity,” Caroline looked at him, understanding where the priest was leading.
“The Lord is here, Caroline. He is with you and always will be,” the priest said comfortingly.
Caroline looked into the priest’s blue-gray eyes. She smiled gratefully, feeling reassured by his words. She turned her head and looked at the rainbow. Reflecting on the closeness of God, she felt inner peace and spiritual uplift. Feeling inclined to pray, she suggested to the priest that they pray together.
The priest gladly accepted. They prayed together, concluding their last prayer just as Laura’s voice came from downstairs, calling Caroline for coffee.
Caroline thanked the priest for his care and spiritual help. She swiftly got out of bed and energetically headed downstairs to have coffee with her mom. She ran down the stairs, feeling immense love in her heart. Prayer had brought her relief and energy.
In the living room, where her mom awaited with a cup of coffee, Caroline asked, “How are you feeling, Mom?”
Laura smiled at her daughter. She was immensely grateful to the priest for brightening her daughter’s mood.
“I’m good, sweetheart. And you?” she replied with a smile.
“Great, but still in need of a coffee boost,” Caroline laughed.
“Do you know where your dad is?” Laura asked, looking around the house.
Caroline remembered the demonologist mentioning a visit to the station.
“Probably dropped him off there,” Caroline suggested.
They sat together on the couch, sipping coffee and chatting about trivial matters, reminiscent of old times. Laura joyfully watched her daughter as she recounted childhood stories. She dreamed of such normalcy returning to her family.
“I can’t express enough gratitude to the priest,” Laura thought.
As if summoned, the priest appeared in the living room.
“Caroline, how are you feeling?” the priest asked as he descended the stairs.
Caroline turned towards him, placing her left hand on the sofa’s armrest. She smiled at him and said she hadn’t felt this good in a long time. The priest felt he was fulfilling his mission as a spiritual person. He also noticed Laura looking at him with immense gratitude in her eyes, to which he nodded, indicating he understood and that she didn’t need to be thankful. After all, it was his calling.
“Maybe the priest would like something to eat?” Laura asked.
“Thank you very much, but your daughter has already taken care of me in that regard,” the priest replied.
“Right! Mom, your dinner has gone cold,” Caroline remembered that her mom’s dinner was on the kitchen counter cooling down. She slapped her forehead with an open hand and began apologizing to her mom. ” I should have reheated it right away, wait, I’ll bring it to you right now, Mom,” Caroline quickly got up and ran to the kitchen, scolding herself all the while for forgetting.
Laura called after her daughter that it was okay and she didn’t have to do it, but it was too late. Caroline was already in the kitchen, transferring Laura’s dinner into a pot. The priest chuckled to himself, seeing how mother and daughter were acting as if he wasn’t there. Laura sighed heavily and looked at the priest.
“Let the priest sit beside and rest,” Laura said, pointing to the empty seat next to her.
“Oh, thank you, I’ll gladly rest,” the priest thanked.
He walked past the table and sat on the sofa. Laura began thanking the priest for his help in their difficult situation.
“Even the priest doesn’t know how grateful I am that Caroline is smiling again. That she’s as lively as she used to be,” Laura finished her thanks.
The priest was about to respond when William and Henry arrived at the house. He got up from the couch and went to the window, eager to know if the police had agreed to their investigation. He watched as Henry and William got out of the car and chatted cheerfully together. The priest felt relief in his heart, sensing that the men’s good mood was due to good news.
The men entered the house, greeting everyone warmly. William approached his wife and hugged her, kissing her on the cheek. Laura, embarrassed, scolded her husband for being so familiar in front of the priests.
“But we’re married,” cheerful William replied.
Laura gave him a stern look, and the priests pretended not to notice.
“Changing the subject, dear, we did it. Henry got the police to agree to the investigation,” proud William said.
“Really?” exclaimed delighted Laura. “Thank God for that.”
Henry smiled at the couple and glanced at the priest. He too was happy. It had been difficult to convince the police to cooperate, as he wanted to tell his friend. Laura invited everyone to the table. She wanted to brew them some tea, but Caroline burst into the living room carrying a hot plate and cutlery for her mother.
“Ouch! Hot! It burns!” she muttered under her breath.
She hurried to the table and quickly set down the plate. She gestured for her mom to come to the table and eat.
“Sweetheart, could you make tea for everyone?” Laura asked. She didn’t want the dinner to get cold again. She thought that since Caroline was in such a good mood, it wouldn’t bother her to boil some water.
“Sure, I’ll go now,” Caroline said and returned to the kitchen.
The demonologist, sitting at the table, looked meaningfully at William. He nodded towards Henry and said,
“Henry and I did something amazing today.” William sat proudly and looked at his wife.
Laura returned his gaze and watched her husband with slight embarrassment.
“He’ll be boasting like a child,” she thought amusedly.
She was right. William recounted how he had almost heroically pleaded with the demonologist, until the police finally agreed to their request.
“Can you imagine? I had to beg them. If it weren’t for me, I don’t know if they would have agreed,” William finished his story.
Throughout the story, Laura covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. She tried to nod approvingly to support her husband. The priest also tried to maintain his solemnity, to please his parishioner, although it was difficult at times.
When William finished, the priest turned to his friend, “So we have a free hand? Can we search the basement?”
“Not entirely,” Henry replied, scratching his head. “We can search the basement, but only in the presence of the police. After all, it’s a crime scene. The cops are already upset that we disturbed the body and made a hole in the wall.
Laura frowned.
“If you hadn’t disturbed the crime scene, as they called it, you might not have found that poor child,” she muttered. The topic of her sister’s crime still weighed heavily on Laura, but she wanted to be supportive for her daughter and husband. She felt that if they had to deal with this, she should try to as well.
Meanwhile, the priest was finalizing plans with the demonologist regarding setting up cameras and special equipment in the house to record the paranormal events that occurred there.
“Actually, something happened today while you were away,” the priest began cautiously.
William looked at the priest, horrified. This was what he feared, that when he wasn’t there, his beloved girls would need him the most.
As if reading his thoughts, the priest quickly added, “Nothing terrible, Caroline just had a bad dream, she hasn’t told me about it yet.”
William breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone waited for Caroline to return with the tea so she could share her dream. In the meantime, the priests and William chatted, while Laura listened curiously to their stories.
Caroline didn’t take long to prepare the tea. Caroline opted for green tea after reading it was the healthiest choice in a magazine. Entering the living room with a tray full of cups and a pot of tea, she arranged them neatly on the table before sitting down between her mom and dad. The priest thanked her for the tea and asked if Caroline would like to share her dream with everyone.
Caroline sighed and agreed to the priest’s proposal.
“So, it was like this, at first I saw a house in my dream. It looked completely different, but I felt inside that it was my home. It was very dark. I mean, the house had a dark facade and it was very dark inside. When I entered inside, there were lots of candles lit everywhere. They were placed randomly. Some were even on the floor, and the wax was dripping onto the floor,” Caroline sat up straight in her chair and closed her eyes to better recall the whole dream and tell it with all the details.
The priests and parents listened attentively to every word the girl said. They tried to imagine the scenery she described to them.
“As I went deeper, I mean, as I walked from the living room to the basement door, I saw that there was a bright light shining there. I went in and suddenly some dark figure started pushing me away. She didn’t want to let me in,” Caroline paused.
“What did this figure look like?” Henry interrupted the girl.
Caroline opened her eyes and looked at the demonologist. She tried to remember as many details as possible.
“It’s hard to describe. It was like… shapeless. A shapeless creature. It was black. I think it had eyes because I felt it staring at me angrily. Overall, it emanated a terrible anger,” Caroline continued.
Upon hearing this, the demonologist sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. He clasped his hands together and listened further. William glanced at Henry and had a feeling that what they had just heard wasn’t a good sign.
“Behind it, there was my aunt. She was yelling something at me, but I couldn’t hear her. It was as if someone had muted her voice. And then I woke up,” Caroline finished describing her dream.
“What could this mean, Father?” Laura asked.
Henry looked concerned as he glanced at everyone.
“It means that whatever is haunting the house is malevolent, that we are trying to unearth the reasons for its presence here. It’s certainly bad that we are here with the priest. Whatever summoned this entity here is in the basement, for sure,” Henry struggled with his explanation.
He had a lot of thoughts in his head and tried to convey them as quickly as possible.
“What do we do now?” William asked.
Seeing that Henry was trying to think through everything, the priest preempted his friend and explained to everyone that they had to wait until the police arrived and only then could they continue searching the basement.
“When will the police arrive?” Laura asked.
As she said this, she grabbed her daughter’s hand to reassure her.
“Tomorrow morning,” Henry replied quickly. “Today, with William and the priest, we would like to set up cameras. They will record every paranormal event.”
English 
Polski