Phil

I hear panicked chatter between Dominique and a nurse outside my door for a good minute before they enter my room distraught. "I'm afraid to say, Father McKelsey, that you won't be seeing your daughter anytime soon," the nurse says to me.

"Why?"

"She didn't wake up from surgery. She's alive, but in a coma. Apparently, she was injected with a syringe that will punish her if she has those things removed."

"What- When is she going to wake up?"

"We don't know at the moment. We need to check the serum levels and make our best guess about it."

"Any antidote?"

"Sorry, Father McKelsey, there is none available."

My breathing comes in and out with more pressure, trying to breathe out the thoughts I wanted to say out of pure blasphemy, not towards God, but towards Netedinark. I can see Markus looking at me, probably in the same thoughts as I am. I wanted this so-called lord to be out of our lives forever. He is too malicious to arrive on our planet. I wished that the exorcism worked in our favour. If I didn't leave before the blizzard and still helped the coven against my own beliefs, we wouldn't be in this moment. I failed Alicia's rule: It was to protect our daughter. I pray to God that Naomi will just wake up soon than stay in this state of deterioration for the remainder of her life. I don't want her to go out like that.

"Markus and you can visit her while she is out. You can remind her that you're still there," Dominique informs us.

"Thank you- uh-"

"Dominique."

***

A decade-year-old motion picture of memory returned again by what I see hooked up Naomi. There are monitors hooked up to her. The monitors show all her organs in a sandy fashion. Every time her heart beats or organs contract, some of the golden sand jumps up before rejoining back again. There were no alarms of any organ failure, yet the monitor showing her blood flow throughout her body displays flashes of orange, indicating a foreign serum or poison has entered her bloodstream. They don't beep. They play the movements of organs like an ultrasound.

Hot winds of invisible fire brush past me. I wince at Markus. He stares at Naomi. His breathing is audible. It's human. The hot waves keep soaring in. His skin starts to blacken with a sizzling grill. Despite the heat bursting from Markus, the way he stares at Naomi is frozen as the Earth's poles.

"Markus," I say to him while my eyes trace to his skin, "Ease yourself."

"Trying," he mutter, "My emotions are not covered, ain't it?"

"I don't want you to lose it at this time." I said sternly.

"I won't. The person who did it is not here, so I can't screw him up."

"Why did you save me?"

"I was ordered, Father McKelsey," he said point blank, "Dominique assigned me to rescue you. Good thing, she did. Dominique and her friends may be Satanists, Pagans, Witches, or whatever, but they still have a heart to care. At least, Naomi still has you in her family. I think it was the reason why the rescue mission happened in the first place."

"Thank you though."

His skin returns to normal. He becomes puzzled as his eyebrows raise."What?"

"I said thank you, Markus."

"You're welcome, I guess, I'm not used to you complimenting me."

I shrug my shoulders. "That was because I tried to have no contact with you at our own house even when Naomi took care of you."

He adds, "Don't forget Alicia."

"And Alicia... She shows up and helps you too. She told me while I was home alone when you were at the coven house."

"Phil, maybe it's time for us to talk more. Alicia is not afraid of me anymore. Naomi is also the same. Even though I am a pain, I still care about this family. I got'ta admit that this is the only family that did try to show care for my well-being."

Alicia and Naomi might have let go of the past too easily. I will never forget the days when he destroyed my home, nearly killed my family, and Naomi's change. He devastated our apartment and ruined thousands of lives. I remember the fear that day when he turned me into stone. His wrongdoings are too great to let him go without watch or go without punishment. It took him a decade for him to finally show he is grateful. Late, but at least he showed it. His burning skin alerts me that the old Markus is still there, ready to be released. I also must look upon the fact that he is angry about what happened to Naomi and the rising spite for Netedinark.

"Probably a little after we get out of here," I say to him.

"For once, we both agree on something," he responds back with a slight smile.

"I will never go back to this world. I will never visit the coven again even if they complain that another person is possessed."

"You probably don't have to. This is another universe if I ain't mistaken."

"Universe? What are you on? Marvel marathon or something?"

"Ivelisse connected to these beings from another universe from a ritual. She paid the ultimate price just like I did decades ago and what's Marvel?"

I gruff, "Nevermind."

Markus and I talked for a little while. He tells me how technology changed for him instantly after finally regaining control. He was from the 2000s, and so was I. He went from small televisions to large high-definition TVs. He had no computer at home, and he had to borrow the school's library while staying late due to his home lifestyle forbidding it. Now he is in a world with people having touch-screen phones, computers, and other things that he didn't know existed. He wished he had seen technological progress as he aged. There was more than history he missed: The Influencer Age, Covid-19, Russia's picking wars, and many other things. It's hard to keep up with whatever happens in recent history as it is difficult for me to keep time now.

My eye fixates on Naomi's rising and falling chest as she breathes like a sleeping beauty. I see Markus's eyes gaze at me for a moment as his eyes go back to her. He has been doing this for the past couple of minutes now. My right shoulder tingles as if I feel someone resting their hand upon it. I don't worry about it because something tells me to not be afraid like I have been trained to be for all my years of priesthood.