Going Lucid by Holly Dae Read Free Book Online

ahead again. “She was just rebellious and her parents wanted to
scare her. That’s emotional abuse. A scare tactic.”
    John
looked at her silently, going so far as to stop as he did so. Then he started
walking again and asked, “You really don’t believe in any of this do you?”
    His
tone was without judgment or reprimand. There was only curiosity, and Malakha
appreciated that for once someone wasn’t looking down at her for her thoughts.
    “The exorcism or Catholicism?”
    “Both.”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    The
question surprised her. Most people usually wanted to know what she did believe
in and when she couldn’t give them an answer, they usually just stopped talking
to her.
    After a
long pause, Malakha said, “I really don’t know. I was raised like every other
Catholic girl. My mother filtered everything I watched and read, didn’t let me
read Harry Potter for a long time,
and made me read the bible and learn Latin and sent me to a catholic all girl’s
private school. Catholicism is all I know, but it never made any sense. Nothing
was logical about any of it. Nothing seemed practical enough, so I never really
believed it and as I got older, I got more vocal about it.”
    “Do you
believe in anything?”
    “Only
that something put us all here, but beyond that…” Malakha trailed off with a
shrug.
    John
stopped in front of the main entrance to the school as they began to pass it,
hands clasped in front of him.
    “That’s
interesting,” John finally said. “I have to go, but I hope I’m able to get to
know you better Malakha. See you soon.”
    John
began walking back to the school again, leaving a somewhat perplexed Malakha
behind. He was a very different kind of monk. Most of them thought she was more
heathenish than interesting. She could honestly say John was a monk she
wouldn’t mind seeing more of.
    ******
    The
laughing came back Sunday while they were in the chapel. Malakha was doing her
best to try not to fall asleep. If she weren’t already in trouble, she might have
stayed in her dorm. But after sneaking into the music room last week and
storming out the exorcism earlier that weekend, Malakha figured she had caused
enough scandal for everyone to talk about for the rest of the month and allowed
Sabrina to drag her out of bed to the worship.
    By the
time it was time for the choir to sing, Malakha had given up trying not to fall
asleep and the fact that she was so cold she had goose bumps again wasn’t
helping, so he started to give in to her heavy eyelids. Then the sound woke her
up; not the sound of the loud notes of the organ or even the sound of the choir
singing in mostly perfect harmony. It was that laughter; that mocking laughter
she had heard during the exorcism Friday evening.
    Malakha
slowly sat up, looking around for a source, hoping that this was just some big
joke that the entire school was in on in order to scare her out of her
rebellious ways.
    “What’s
wrong?” Sabrina asked.
    “Nothing,”
Malakha said slowly.
    “Yes
there is. You suddenly started looking around like something spooked you.”
    “I…”
Malakha heard it again, but it didn’t sound like it was coming from in the
chapel. Rather she heard it coming from outside.
    Malakha
stood up suddenly, starting past Sabrina.
    “Where
are you going?”
    “The bathroom.”
    “For real this time?”
    “Yes,”
Malakha said continuing out the row, then down the aisle and out the chapel.
    The
laughing became louder in the hallway, but seemed to be coming from one
particular direction. Malakha took a left, heading down the hall, passing the
large stained windows, and going towards where the bathrooms were. The laughter
started to quiet down to low chuckles, but continued to persist steadily.
    Malakha
stopped at the bathroom door, putting her hand against it, the laughter seeming
to echo from behind it. Malakha slowly began to push it open while saying,
“Hello.”
    When it
was all the way open, she stopped,