“Did you want a cup of tea or something, Gill?” It dawned on Churchie that Watts was protecting himself. Behind the bench, he was out of sight of the outside world. No sniper was going to get him there. Was the sergeant a good rifleman? Did he even have a rifle?

Churchie looked over to the window and saw a smarm of flies gathered outside. Other demons were loitering, but they were afraid to enter as they knew this house was occupied by a believer, a follower of Jesus. He wasn’t sure why this one was in the house. Maybe he was a stronger one.

Gill stared at Churchie while the hovering unseen entity moved towards Churchie. He could smell the vile creature and sense the evil that came with it. Churchie smiled. He needed to attack this one with the sword of God.

“I command you in the name of Jesus to be gone.”

The creature tilted its head and gave Churchie a puzzled look. It backed away from him, and passed through the kitchen wall. Churchie could see the large demon outside, confused. The small, hesitant, spectator demons fluttered up to the large demon, and he brushed them away.

Gill Watts changed again. He came and sat down next to Ruby. “I’m tired.”

Churchie sat in the chair next to him. “You’ve been exposed to some nasty things, Gill.”

Gill stared at Churchie. “You look so peaceful.” His fingers tightened on the handgun.

“Some of those nasty things have attached themselves to you,” Churchie said.

“I know. Mum told them to.” Watts rubbed his arms and looked around the room. “I feel lighter for some reason.”

Churchie knew why, and he felt the Holy Spirit moving within him.

Watts must have sensed something. “Can you help me?”

“I can.” Churchie placed his hand on Watt’s shoulder.

Churchie felt the prompting of the Spirit and spoke quietly. “In the name of Jesus, I command you to come out.”

A soft groan came out of Watts. Churchie felt something pass by his face. He searched for whatever it was and saw what looked like the fragments of a small cloud—barely visible to the eye—moving towards the wall. The fragments passed through the wall.

He spoke again. “In the name of Jesus, I command you to come out.”

He again felt and saw the whitish-grey fragments come out and pass through the wall.

Watts had his eyes shut but still held the handgun. Soft painful groans continued to come out of Watts.

Churchie turned to Ruby and the doctor and raised his free hand to give them some reassurance. They both looked puzzled, which he understood.

Churchie called on the name of Jesus a few more times until he sensed Watts was cleansed and the Holy Spirit confirmed the cleansing. Churchie took his hand away from Watts’s shoulder. “Are you okay, Gill?”

Watts took his hand off the gun and grabbed the sides of the table. “That was weird. I feel like I’m going to float away. I feel so light. Did you hypnotize me or something?”

“Nope, just got rid of some of the garbage you picked up from your mum.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say about my mum.” He put his hand back on the gun. “But you’ve done something to me. I feel weird.” He moved his hand away from the gun and ran his hands up and down his face.

As Churchie watched the man’s fingers massaging his face there was a sudden movement as Ruby reached over and snatched the handgun. She stood up and pointed at Watts. He stopped rubbing his face and stared at the handgun in Ruby’s hand. He picked up the doll and placed it next to his chin. Childlike.

“I’m sick to death of your type. And if you’re anything like your brother, you need to be locked up for good,” Ruby said.

The doctor flew out her chair and raced to the front door. Within seconds sergeant Phil was in the room with his gun drawn. He spoke into his two-way.

Churchie sat there, staring at Gill Watts, who’d been delivered from entities who controlled his life most probably since childhood.

Watts held the doll in his hand. Caressing it and then he dropped it on the table and pushed it away. “Why don’t you burn that?” He shuddered. “It’s alive to me. You don’t see that. But it has some power. Please burn it.”

“Yes, all clear.” The sergeant said into his two-way.

Jack and Catherine came in and looked around to get their bearings. Catherine walked over to Ruby and opened up Ruby’s hand to remove the handgun. Ruby started crying. Catherine hugged and squeezed her tight.

Churchie looked at Watts. His eyes were darting around the room. Something still had hold of him. Churchie picked up the doll.

“Not sure if you should touch that, Christopher.” Jack said. “It’s evidence.”

“I need to do something with it. Sorry.”

Jack gave a weary nod.

Churchie knew those in the room would be struggling with what they’d seen, and with what he was about to do. But people just didn’t understand the power of idols. He walked towards the pot belly stove with the doll in his hand.

Watts made a sudden grab for Churchie, but the sergeant and Jack held him back.

Churchie stopped and looked at Watts.

“Please don’t. I’ve changed my mind. It’s important to me. My mother, my brother.” Watts said.

Churchie sighed. “It controls you, Gill. It has power over you. We need to destroy it.”

“You’re an idiot,” Watts screamed.

Jack and the sergeant firmed their grip on Watts.

Churchie knew Gill’s words were a last gasp from the entity controlling his mind. Churchie walked over to the stove and removed the hot plate lifter from the basket beside the stove. He lifted the hot plate and took a step back as he was swamped by the heat. He looked at the doll.

“Be gone,” he whispered. He took a step towards the stove and threw the doll into the opening at the top of the stove.

Silence filled the room and then came a high-pitched sound that turned into a loud piercing scream. Churchie stepped back as a greyish steam cloud shot out from the stove. Through the misty form, Christopher could make out bulging eyes on a slimy skeleton frame the size of the doll. The cloud hovered, then moved and passed through the wall.

Christopher followed the cloud outside where the gathering of spiritual entities was spreading out and moving away from the house. It was like an invisible wave cleansing the yard. As the entities disappeared into the tall cane grasses, the swarm of flies hovered, and fled.

“What was that all about?” Jack asked.

Churchie looked around the room, full of confused silence. He could see Jack asked the question for all of them. Ruby looked spent.

“A connection to evil—whether it was in the mind or real, I don’t know. A demon may well have been attached to the doll and encouraged Gill to believe the doll had some power, but it probably connected to him through pre-existing thought patterns and some underlying evil constructed by his parents.”

Catherine sat down with Ruby, and the doctor joined them. Ruby sat upright, regaining her composure.

Churchie continued. “So, I don’t believe the doll was alive or anything. It just helped those that idolised it stay focused on the evil that was already in them. It was given some power it didn’t really have through their thoughts.”