Portholes of Evil

I awoke with a violent jerk, my heart was pounding, I gasped and opened my eyes not knowing where I was. The evil lay heavy on my chest as I adjusted my eyes to the grainy dark room. My breathing calmed slightly as I recalled the struggle for the note book, the gun going off and the body laying in a crumpled heap against the wall. I searched frantically under him for the notebook, the map to where the money was hidden, an accomplice who was actually just another me, two of us…..the body was not dead and began to come to life, we ran to the convent across the street pounded on the door…it opened and …..there he was!!!!!!

My heart began to pound again, my eye lids heavy luring me back to sleep, quickly back to the evil. I forced myself to start praying…”Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee….”, then the Our Father, how did it go about any two people praying together. The cat was laying against my legs (in the center of the bed as always) and I inducted him as the number two, “Our Father who art in Heaven….”

What seemed like an eternity, maybe five minutes, the panic and dread began to abate. The evilness that followed me out of the dream faded until I could turn on the light and check the time.

Midnight.

My mind began to race as I searched for an answer, some soothing ointment to smear over my frantic electrified fears. Why did I feel the presence of evil breathing down my neck?

Last year, after my Dad passed away, I read many books about the afterlife seeking answers and assurances that he was in the arms of God. It lead me to read many books concentrating on paranormal theory and communicating with the decreased. What to do, what not to do. If goodness exists, an after life that hovers just beyond our consciousness, just beyond our touch, so does evil.

My mind quickly recalled the warnings concerning the Ouija board and the dangers of communicating with demons because they are likely to be the ones “passing by” looking for a door. I remembered the day the old Jesuit priest had to leave after noon mass to conduct an exorcism. The examples he gave us of previous exorcisms he had been involved with.

Evil was on my mind as I was reading Thomas H. Cook’s latest book, Master of the Delta. The main character is teaching a class to High School students about the inherent evils that have threaded its way through out our history. Tiberius, the Spanish Horse, the prison ship Minsk, Jack the Ripper, the Jukes lineage which has been blamed for populating the world with the scourge of poisonous, demented, dangerous, criminal personalities, the Salem Witch trials, the Spanish Inquisition. My mind was ablaze with examples of evil people who committed unspeakable crimes against mankind.

No wonder I was having night mares and visions releasing Evil into my bedroom!

Once I was calmed down enough to read, I picked up the book and studied the cover wondering if it should be returned unfinished to the library?

Heavens no! I cracked it open to where I had left off, the demons and evil spirits now faded away, and resumed reading.