Phantom Chained

Chapter 30. Adaptation(cont.) Elm.

"Can you explain which plant alkaloids you use for trance?"

"I've about had it with you, Caleb!" I cut, irritably leaving the state of melancholic pondering. "Do you ever get tired of going on about the same thing over and over? You have a set procedure on how to expel evil based on centuries of practice and tradition, so get on with it and stop asking stupid questions."

The priest furrowed his brows, clicked his tongue and spread his arms. His numerous rings glimmered in the bright light of the lamp that hasn't turned off once since I ended up here.

"My good friend, Raul," The restless priest gave a respectful nod to father, "said that you misunderstand who I am. You think I'm a magician, an exorcist but I'm not like that. There are a lot of frauds and scammers these days and I could be earning thousands if I wanted, but the only thing I want is the truth. To cure a disease you have to diagnose it. For that, you need to fully understand the symptoms and how and where they come from. That's why what I'm learning is very important!"

"Or you can just go onto any occult website, or better yet, just Google 'astral', 'dark magic', and so on, and you will receive a plethora of resources." I impatiently muttered. "So why do you have to cling to me?"

"I tried many times." Caleb shook his head.

"And? What did the almighty Google say?"

"Nothing useful. I'm also interested in general information about out-of-body experiences and lucid dreaming, because it's like a bunch of people bumping into each other in a hallway and being happy just from that when they should be looking for doors to open. I often looked for guides but every time they ended up being anywhere from plain stupid to plain crazy."

"Keep looking then."

"Maybe you can help? You are very interesting, Johan. And very very needed! I understand that people in the hallway can only go through doors if there is an occult being helping them. But it doesn't just randomly help them; it climbs inside their body in return. And even then the person doesn't remember what's behind the door, so what's the point? But I know you remember; that's very valuable. But you don't want to tell me, why? It's important!"

"Caleb, there are things that you wouldn't want to ever tell anybody. Imagine if you liked fucking chickens..."

"Me? Do that? Why chickens? How..."

"Stop screaming, it's just an example, understand?"

"What a dumb example! I never even thought that someone could do that to a poor..."

"Well have fun picturing that in your bed tonight." I interrupted impatiently. "Just listen to me for a second. Therefore, you enjoyed raping chickens but one day you got caught and punished. Then you confessed to the animal protection services and stopped for good. But here's the question: would you go around telling everyone how amazing it felt when..."

"I got it; the chicken is just an allegory, right? You don't want to tell me the truth because you felt guilty about enjoying doing something bad."

"Something like that. It's also so that I don't remember the pleasant details and give in to temptation."

"The struggle with temptation is always present in the lives of holy people!" Caleb exclaimed. "You have to fight and overcome it! That's how your spirit is tested!"

"So, you still want to attempt it?" I asked insinuatingly.

"Definitely. But without ridicule and stuff! I know what you want to do; I know you want to talk about chicken now, about greasy, about dead, about frozen and offer different options because you live to talk about nothing. But I'm an investigator and want to investigate your 'path to self-destruction' because I have a strong spirit! I can do it but I still need the details like where to go, what to do and so on. Do you believe me?"