Luke went to bed with an answer. But he followed Father Matthew's advice and spoke to Jesus as if he was his friend. He sat in his bed facing the ceiling, pretending to have a nighttime conversation with Kev, which rarely happened since Kev went to bed so early—or maybe Luke just went to bed too late.

He mumbled to himself, audible for anyone with good hearing in the room to hear, "Sup Jesus how's it been?" He couldn't help cracking a smile. He knew he didn't talk like this, but it's how most guys talk today wasn't it? "Nothing special I hear," Luke continued. "Well it's been pretty crazy down here. I still have no clue what caused the flame in my hand, and I'm still awaiting your answer on that one. I hope Darryl has cleansed himself in purgatory and has made his way into heaven. If not, please expedite the process. He was a good guy who made a poor decision. Don't we always make one? Anyway, today I went to confession and talked with a priest named Father Matthew who gave me an idea on what's been causing these weird things to happen on campus—demons. I mean it sounds crazy if you ask me, but then again sprouting fires in my hand is also crazy ain't it? And seeing my face distorted and aged forward in a pond? Isn't that crazy too? What's happening to me?"

Luke allowed himself three minutes of silence. He was growing frustrated at the silence but tried his best to tune into any sound—any sign in the room. The mini fridge purring to life, the consistent screech of his watch wirelessly charging, the passing freight train outside of his dorm.

Nothing. He heard nothing from Jesus.

"Useless," he muttered to himself as he made the sign of the cross. But, before he was able to finish the sign he heard a voice emanate inside the room amongst a rustling body. He tuned into it, "Mmph, angel." He locked onto the noise and realized that it emanated from the mouth of Kev who was muttering as he was dreaming—and one that may result in a soiled bed if he wasn't careful. Luke shook his head disappointed in the lack of a response. I got my hopes up for nothing.

***

While working his Tuesday shift at Safe Walk, he was stationed in the Pryz. The Pryz was the Grand Central Station to this campus. Many students passed through there still, even though there was a newer building on campus that also served food. It was still only here that someone could get Chick-fil-A nuggets or a Subway sandwich. Many upperclassmen stuck to the Pryz for this reason as their meal swipes could get a heart clogging, but delicious chicken filled meal or a somewhat healthy sandwich that will evolve into an unhealthy sandwich with an excessive amount of toppings and chips.

Luke sat beside the door with his coat on. The students at the school had a tendency to hit the handicap button on the door even though they were not handicapped. Luke understood that the doors were pretty heavy and that hitting that button made it so much easier, but it brought in a huge draft of cold air during the winter time as he sat for five hours watching students come in and out of the Pryz while he shivered doing homework.

Luke gets extra annoyed when a strong person walking with almost pure muscle slams the button with extra bravado to show off his "mad strength." Such idiots, he thought to himself. Then he realized, Hey, maybe if the button breaks it'll force people like you to actually use some of that strength you're always showingoffto open the damn door.

As he sat there working on his homework, he spotted from the corner of his eye a miracle—someone had entered the premises without pushing the handicap button. Luke wanted to congratulate the person for using their arms and hands for things other than pushing buttons. He was more surprised when he found out it was a girl who did it, although he shouldn't be. In fact, the strongest person in the world is a woman I know, but at the time Luke hadn't met her yet so I digress.

His eyes widened when he saw that he knew this red-headed girl. He was shaking, and not from the cold, when he saw her stern eyebrows arching down like an interrupted W.

Shit, he thought. Throughout all his struggles, he hasn't talked to Nellie in days since their first date. And he knew she was not happy about it.

She stopped in front of his table with her arms crossed, "It seems the only time I can reach you is when you're at work. Are you trying to avoid me?"

Luke gulped. After making such headway in speaking to beautiful girls, he was now falling behind as he stumbled over his words, "I—uh..."

"Uh what? Did I do anything on our date to freak you out? Was it the kiss? Did I rush things? No, it couldn't be that. It had to be the play."

"No, it wasn't you," Luke interrupted.

"Then what Luke? Why have you've been avoiding me? I've texted you a hundred times and not one reply. Are you too busy to send a single message?"

"No, I mean kinda." At this she clenched her fists and Luke attempted damage control. "What I mean is that, the guy who committed suicide on Friday night was my friend."

Nellie uncrossed her arms and her eyebrows broke into a worried wave, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. Did he say anything?"

"Well yes. He told me that he was raped beforehand by a girl he didn't know. He couldn't go public with it because he was afraid that no one would believe him."

Nellie gulped, "I—I can't imagine what—what you're going through. I'm sorry for my anger. I was just worried you left me."

"No, never. I really had fun on Friday. It's just—while I was with you he..."

She stopped him, "You don't have to say it...I can put it together. I understand now why you needed some alone time. I'll let you be..."

"No," Luke interrupted. "I don't want to be alone anymore. I've had plenty of time to dwell on what happened. I need people right now—I need friends. I need the—distraction. Is that bad to say?"

She shook her head, "No, a distraction is the perfect word. It shows you're always thinking of him whenever you're not distracted. It shows you care.... If you're not busy, I could sure use a safe escort to Caldwell Hall. There's a presentation in Caldwell Auditorium that my professor is forcing our class to go to."

"That sucks," Luke said as he stood up. "Well the presentation, not walking you. Walking you certainly doesn't suck."

Nellie laughed. "You're weird Luke, but I like weird. Come bodyguard."

She extended her arm for interlocking and Luke locked his arm with hers and radioed in to headquarters, "Safe Walk Pryz to HQ, escorting student to Caldwell." They walked out the door as the dispatcher responded from the radio in his pocket, "Roger, 19:27."

Luke walked Nellie over to Caldwell, a short walk across McMahon Parking Lot that was stationed alongside Caldwell Hall. In that short walk they managed to talk about the in-betweens of their past couple of days: class, TV shows, bad Pryz food, etc. When they arrived at the hall, Luke unlocked his arm from Nellie's.

"Guess this is where I leave you," Luke said. "Hopefully the presentation doesn't put you to sleep."

Nellie smiled. "I hope it does. I could use some sleep. Gonjá knows I don't get it at night."

"Gonjá?"

"Opps, it's how we say..." She paused for a second as if saying the next word was making her want to hurl, "'God' in the land down under."

"I didn't know that—sounds cool."

"I know, and it'smore true to its meaning than the word 'God' ever will be." She dammed the flow of a question leaking from Luke's lips with a kiss. Luke's eyes fluttered close. He needed Nellie. She was the only good thing he's had happen to him in the past week and a half. He felt the anxiety and stress leave his body through the kiss, like she was willing to suck away some of that dread from his soul.

When their lips separated he opened his eyes to her smile, "Stay safe my hero." She turned around to walk up the steps into the building, but stopped herself to turn back around and say, "And don't ignore my texts. Otherwise, the next time we meet I'll eat your soul."

"You can eat any part of me. I'll just be glad to be inside you, even if it's just for a short amount of time," Luke blurted out.

She laughed, "Luke you really are weird. See ya."

As she turned around Luke started smacking himself after he realized what he had just said. Stupid! I meant it like food not like...ah who cares, she didn't seem to mind. Then he asked himself, Soul, who says they'll eat people's souls as a threat. I'll tell you who, my extremely brolic and beautiful girlfriend. Don't mess with her.

No sooner did she enter the building did the dread of Darryl's suicide plague him once more. But, the topic he had been researching the night before also popped up and it led him to Caldwell Hall....

Which he happened to be right in front of. Why not get paid to do some real security work, Luke thought. He curved along the side of the building, pass Campus ministry and near the House entrance, the place where many Campus Ministry led events took place. Beneath the House's upper entrance was a small alley that led to a gray metal door.

Caldwell's basement, Luke thought. This must be the entrance described in the Tower article. Luke reached for the handle and pulled on it.

Damn it, he thought. Why would I think it'd be unlocked?

"Seems like you're lost Luke," Luke heard from behind him. He turned around and spotted Father Matthew holding a lit cigarette, "It's not every day I find students trying to sneak inside here."

"Sorry father." Luke's face turned pink. He started to sweat. "I was just curious."

"About what?" Father Matthew inclined his head as he tapped his cigarette to release the tail end of its burning embers.

"The thing we talked about yesterday."

"What thing? I forget all my confessions, best way to go about these things."

"Demons," Luke muttered.

"Ah yes," Father Matthew huffed. "Demons."

Why are you speaking so loud? Luke clenched his teeth.

"But it was a stupid idea," Luke admitted. "I should get back..."

"Nonsense, come, let's see what you can find," Father Matthew said as he unhooked a keyring filled with many keys clanging against one another as loud as church bells. "I think I have the right one here."

The first key he put in was correct. Either he made a lucky guess or knew what each key was for. Or he's been down here frequently, Luke thought to himself.

They entered into the basement and Luke was immediately overcome by the dust that his nose vacuumed up into his lungs that caused him to cough sporadically. The place reeked of mold and mildew as puddles of water had congregated below leaking water pipes. The dimly lit lighting in the basement and the dusty cemented floor made the puddles of water looked like congealed dark blood.

"This place needs an upgrade," Luke coughed.

"It sure can use a little cleaning," Father Matthew agreed.

Luke inched onward with Father Matthew in tow. He looked behind him and Father Matthew urged him onward with his hands. "You're the explorer. I'm just the guy with the keys, and also making sure you don't break anything or sink the building or anything that could get me in trouble for letting you down here."

Luke nodded and continued exploring. The Tower article only mentioned the incidences in Caldwell basement and attic. From that point on, he was on his own. He may not even find any signs of demons. By the looks of things, the kid who got hurt down here might have just slipped in a puddle of water or choked himself into a coma by breathing in the ancient polluted air.

Luke turned around a corner and what stretched before him was a long corridor populated by blinking lights that cast a green hue due to the buildup of gunk and dust around the cases surrounding the old light bulbs, which struggled to emit a consistent stream of light. Along the walls were exposed pipes that looked rusted enough to be considered from the Roman ages had they conquered North America too. Broken ladders littered the sides of the hallway as if someone had something against fully operational ladders in the confined space. Also, along the corridor were pairs of metal doors that led to storage rooms. Luke tried getting into one of them, but it was locked.

He looked back at Father Matthew who shook his head, "Can't do that son. They didn't give me the key to these side doors. I believe that room belongs to Admissions. They still have some old literature in there they used to send out to prospectivestudents. Other than that, I bet there's probably just some big old spiders in there."

Luke shook his head, "No thanks. I hate spiders."

"I bet they hate you too," Father Matthew guffawed shaking the dust loose from the pipes above them. Luke fought the dust with his hands, waving it away like it was a swarm of annoying gnats. It only made it worse as it formed into a cloud in front of him. He closed his eyes and kept on waving while Father Matthew laughed in the background.

"I'm sure you're giving the air in front of you a real pounding," Father Mathew said. "Are you prone to seizures?"

"No," Luke spat. "There's dust everywhere."

"I understand there is some dust, but not enough to swarm around you like a pack of biting horseflies. Relax child."

"Yes child, relax, allow me in."

"Who said that?" Luke shouted as he opened his eyes. What he saw in front of him was dark and hazy, almost like a shadow.

"Said what?" Father Matthew asked. "If you mean relax, then that was me. I think you need to leave if this place is messing around with your mind..."

"No, it's not that. I heard another voice. Didn't you?"

"He won't be able to hear me. Only you can."

"See, I mean hear! Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Father Matthew said trying to tune in to whatever it was Luke was hearing. "I don't hear a thing."

"It's the voice—it sounds like an old woman speaking through a wet rag full of boogers."

"A wet what?" Father Matthew cringed. "If this lady is speaking to you, then what is it saying?"

The dusty shadow formed the shape of a faceless woman. Where her face should've been was a black obsidian slate that reflected its surroundings. Its cloudy arms beckoned him over. She then lifted herself into the air and rose up through the ceiling.

"She disappeared," Luke said. "She flew up."

"What was it you saw?"

"It was a shadowy faceless figure, like dark storm clouds in the shape of a woman."

"Are you telling me you saw a demon?"

"I don't know what I saw. But, I have an idea of where it's heading."

"The attic."

"Yeap."

"Come, I do have a key for that."

Father Matthew led Luke out of the basement and up five flights of stairs, with the last being a narrow wooden set leading up into the attic. At night the attic was only lit by the street lamps that leaked in from the parking lot below. None of the light switches worked, and Luke left his phone by his bag in the Pryz, a dumb move for someone who works in the security field.

Lucky for the both of them, Father Matthew was a heavy smoker. He took out a matchbox and struck a flame. "I'm old school," Father Matthew said. "Although we should try not to burn down Caldwell Hall in the process." He handed Luke the match, which he held like a mini-torch.

Each step the two took, the wooden floorboard squeaked in pain. Spider webs decorated the stained-glass windows. One of the windows was filled with plain glass smacked in the middle of the window where the edges depicted some disrupted image of a Biblical scene.

"This is the exorcism room," Father Matthew spoke. "It was said a priest tried to exorcise a demon from a young female student more than 100 years ago in this very room. The process did not go well, and the student lost her marbles and leaped out of that window to her death four stories below. The window was covered in cardboard for decades until a little over 50 years ago when they finally filled in the broken window. As for the brave priest who attempted the exorcism—he hung himself a week later. He was tormented by the same demon that he tried exorcising from the female student."

Luke gulped because after he heard the story, he also saw the shadowy figure materialize inside the room, "Yes child, the brainwash follower of the tyrant speaks truth."

"I heard her again," Luke quivered. "And the demon is in the room."

"It might be the same demon that terrorized the campus a century ago."

"I never left, only watched and waited for the next powerful host to appear."

"Powerful host?"

Father Matthew stood quiet. He knew Luke was conversing with the demon. He waited to see what he could gather listening to only half of the conversation.

"Yes. The last was disrupted. But I've learned my lesson."

Lesson? Luke thought. What lesson? But Luke was more interested in who this thing was, "Who, hell, what are you? Why are you here? Why am I the only one able to see you?"

"It is because of who you are child—your heritage. You and I—we're more alike than you would presume."

Luke stepped closer to the shadows, holding the small source of light to get a closer look at the creature.

"Headquarters to Safe Walk Pryz, report status on escort." The radio in his pocket shook his mind away from the creature for the briefest of seconds as he hovered the light closer to him to remove the radio from his pocket. When he held the radio in his hand, he moved the light source back in front of him, but it illuminated nothing but a withering wall as a cold breeze occupied the room.

Luke shook his head and radioed in, "Safe Walk to HQ, escort completed. Returning to Pryz."

"Copy, 19:49."

Luke turned around and approached Father Matthew, who stood silently watching the scene unfold before him. To the priest, he saw a boy talking either to himself or an otherworldly entity. As a believer in demons and after hearing the description of what Luke told him, Father Matthew knew he was speaking to a demon of some sort—quite possibly the same demon who terrorized the campus before even Father Matthew was born. But why wait so long to go back at it? Father Matthew thought. More importantly, what was so special about Luke that he could see and speak to them?

Father Matthew had a few answers he could indulge himself with, but he had to let what he just experienced sift through his old brain, teeming with knowledge, memories, and nicotine, before he leapt to a conclusion.

Father Matthew placed his hand on Luke's shoulder and said, "Come boy, let's leave this haunted attic."

"Yeah, let's go."

As they made their way down, both were silent and lost in thought. Luke was thinking about the conversation he had with the creature. What was my heritage? Who am I? Does it have anything to do with what happened before I was adopted? More importantly, was that even a demon I just saw? I thought demons were just scary stories parents and priests told children to keep them in line.

While Luke was debating what the creature was and whether demons existed, Father Matthew accepted the fact that what he saw was a real demon—even though he didn't actually see the demon. He was more concerned with what the demon was up to, and where Luke's place was in all of this. He knew he would have to keep a close eye on Luke from here on out.

When they finally reached Campus Ministry Luke motioned a goodbye until Father Matthew stopped him, "Luke boy, I'm not quite sure what happened back there, but I think it's best if we keep this private."

Luke nodded, "It's nothing Father. I think I was just seeing things anyway."

Father Matthew shook his head, "Either way, stay safe Luke, and don't think of yourself as crazy for seeing things. We may not know what's happening, but..."

"Thanks Father," Luke interrupted. "I'll see you later."

Luke made his way back across McMahon parking lot, lost in questions and in what he heard and saw minutes before. Having a witness to his insanity only made it worse. He felt that soon he'll be locked up in an asylum because he saw things—flames in his own hands, foreign creatures in water, talking shadows.... But the one question that bothered him the most was, Who am I?

*________________________________________________*

Author's Note

[Who am I?] Any idea what makes Luke so special or what his "heritage" might be? Share your theories now. It may be right, it may be wrong, it may be obvious, who knows. 😜 In either case, you'll find out more about him soon, I'm just curious to see what you think as of now.

Any thoughts on the demon? Was she interesting, scary, stalker-level (I mean she was lurking around campus until the "next powerful host" appeared)?

Speaking of scary, when I was a Freshman, I shot a video on my phone of Caldwell's basement. I edited it together for a short story I wrote, entitled The Caldwell Run (which is also available to read on my profile page). The video is a bit silly, but if you're interested in how creepy the basement looks, you can give it a look below.

https://youtu.be/k0xb_Lh18j0

Feel free to share any paranormal incidences you've experiences at your schools as well. I'm pretty sure most of our schools and colleges may have some very unpleasant and creepy histories involving paranormal entities. 👻 

As a side note, you may have noticed some spacing issues with certain words while reading. If you find any throughout your reading, don't hesitant to comment "spacing" on the sentence where the issue appears. Apparently, when I copy and paste my story from Microsoft Word to Wattpad it randomly joins words in the middle of sentences to make my life difficult. Thanks for any help you have provided already by pointing out any grammatical mistakes or issues. 

Happy Friday the 13th....See you next week.

- L. A. Rivera

P.S. 🎂 Happy birthday 🎂 to my bro @EthanRivera1. Hopefully you'll escape the bad luck. 👍🏼