Hell Calling by Enrique Laso Read Free Book Online Page B

although given the circumstances, he had no other option.
    “I would like it if you could sleep here tonight. Don’t get the wrong idea, but I think it would be good if you...”
    “I had already thought about it. Marta told me about the radio-alarm clock. Of course I’ll stay with you.”
    “We’ll have to sleep together... It’s a big bed though.”
    She shot him an open and complicit smile.
    “Don’t worry. We’re just going to sleep next to each other, like back at school when you’d go on a school trip,” she said.
    “I’m sorry... This whole situation...”
    “I hope you’ll start to loosen up. I’m going to need you to be sincere and open, otherwise I won’t be able to help you.”
    “I’ll try.”
    The parapsychologist settled into an armchair, and began leafing through the little diary. All of a sudden her eyes stopped on one particular page, and her pupils dilated.
    “What is it?” he asked, puzzled.
    “Well... It would be something almost normal in a teenage girl... And perhaps... But given the circumstances, I think we should analyse it in much greater detail.”
    Elena handed him the book, open on one page, and she pointed at the middle of it where, in his daughter’s handwriting, was written very heavily in pencil:
    ‘I HAVE TO KILL MUMMY’.
    XXVIII
    His father was a little hurt, although he understood that it was not the best time for any kind of reproach.
    “You have to confide in me much sooner; contact me about these things as and when they happen to you.”
    “I know...”
    “Your father is the one person who’s truly always going to be here for you.”
    “Dad, this is all so hard. There are mornings when I look at myself in the mirror and don’t recognise myself.”
    “I’m noticing you’re more... reserved, like you’re more distanced from everything.”
    Carlos knew that, in a way, he had failed his father, whom he ought to have counted on before turning to third parties. But there was also the shame of going along feeding the idea in him that his son was delirious, and that the delirium, far from getting weaker, was becoming increasingly intense.
    “I’m struggling to take in what’s happening. Dad, you know that up until recently, I was a practical man, subject to the firmest reality, and far away from any approach that was... mystical...”
    “I know.”
    “But now... I don’t know what to think anymore. I’m having doubts about everything; I’m even having doubts about my own perceptions. At times, I get to thinking absurdities: is it even true that right now I’m talking to you, or is it a fantasy created by my own mind?”
    Esteban circled his son. That tranquil lakeside location they often went to, so distant from all of the noise, was ideal for talking about any subject. It was also the place where he had chosen to tell Carlos that his mother had died.
    “That’s why I called you. When you told me about this woman... Elena. I don’t know, I don’t want to go closing any doors for you... But I thought I ought to put in my two pennies’ worth, and I’ve done a bit of groundwork...”
    “What kind of groundwork?” inquired Carlos, confused.
    “Well... As you know, in the Community there are all kinds of people, from many different countries. I talked with Padre Salas, I don’t think you know him.”
    “I hardly know anybody in your Community.”
    “Well... Padre Salas is Mexican, although he’s been living in Spain for nearly ten years. He now works for a newspaper, and collaborates with different Non Government Organisations from the Church, but before, he was a fully practicing priest. In Mexico, he had his own church, and carried out Masses.”
    Carlos sensed that his father was prolonging the introduction because in a way, he was afraid of getting to the end of it.
    “Dad, please, just tell me what this man has to do with me...”
    “Padre Salas carried out a few exorcisms in the past, many years ago. Now he’s moved well away from all