Conner returned to the room, and Adam gulped a bottled water and then downed the pills.
Conner squirted lotion onto his hands then softly massaged Adam's thigh. "Gotta loosen up the muscles first. Then I'll work on the ligaments to your knee."
Adam laughed.
"What?"
"You always tell me that. You've done this a dozen times, and you sound like a doctor every time."
"One of these days."
Closing his eyes, Adam concentrated on relaxing his leg as Conner gently applied pressure with his fingertips. Even the soft touch was painful. He sucked in air through clenched teeth. "Hey, do you—"
"Too hard?"
"No. It's fine." He took another deep breath. "What do you think about Jared's house?"
"Uh. Well, I think it was kinda weird."
Adam propped himself up on his elbows. "The bed?"
"Yeah."
"So you think the stories are true?"
"Yeah."
Relieved to not be alone with his suspicion, Adam replied. "Yeah, I do too." A jolt of pain in his thigh caused him to jerk his leg away from Conner's touch. "Ow."
"Sorry. Relax, dude. You'll feel better in a few minutes."
"Are we still going to the funeral in the morning?"
"Yeah, I think so. Don't you think we should?"
He did.
While Conner worked on his ligaments, Adam stared at the ceiling. The soreness had already started to fade, and he was able to relax more easily. Then he said, "Can you believe Zach? He's such an ass, bringing up Lisa."
"Totally unexpected," Conner replied as he sat on the floor and wiped the lotion from his hands. "I'm surprised you didn't punch him in the face."
"Probably would have if you didn't grab me."
"Yeah, well, I didn't think a fistfight was what we needed to deal with at that moment."
Adam sat upright and rubbed his knee. "Much better. Thanks."
"You're welcome." Conner moved to the edge of his bed. "Do you ever think about Lisa and the pregnancy?"
"Not really. Sometimes I think that makes me an ass."
"You still don't know if she had the baby or not?"
Standing, Adam exhaled as he rested his hands on his head. "Nope. No idea. I'm totally outta the loop."
Conner jumped to his feet before the moment of silence became awkward. "Okay. So now whatcha doing?"
Adam wanted to avoid the possibility of getting dragged into an argument with his parents. He also wanted to spend time with someone who appreciated and loved him no matter what. "Can I sleep over?"
"Yeah, of course." Conner walked toward the door. "Let's brush our teeth and then jump into bed."
* * *
Hailey settled herself in bed and pulled the pink comforter up to her chest. She clasped her hands and breathed in deeply.
"Dear Lord, I don't pray as often as I should. But sometimes life gets kinda hectic, and then I forget or I'm too tired. I know that's not a good excuse. But I'm grateful for all the wonderful blessings in my life. Like my sisters and my parents and my grandparents. My favorite aunt, Patsy. Well, everyone. Thank you for giving me a great family. And I have great friends too.
"Tonight, we went to Jared Smith's house because we wanted to see if there was some sort of evidence about his rumored possession by the devil. And please, forgive me for talking about the devil. I hope it's not blasphemous. I'd never want to offend you.
"Anyway, it was kinda spooky in the house. And we found his bed all by itself. And there was damage to the room like something violent happened in there. We were about to look at this scribbling on the floor under the bed, but the police came, and I was totally scared that we were going to be arrested. Oh, my parents would have been so mad. Not to say that they weren't upset with me. Because they were. But they forgave me. And I'm thankful for that.
"So um, the main reason I'm praying to you now is because I'd like to ask that you lay your hand upon me and my friends. Protect us from evil. 'Cause I think there was something evil in that house, and I don't want it to follow us. And oh, dear Lord, I hope it didn't latch on to one of us already. We're all good people. Like, we don't get into serious trouble or anything. And I don't want trouble from the devil for me or my friends. So please, please, please, keep Satan away from all of us. Restrain him in the depths of hell where you banished him.
"Thank you, dear Lord. Thank you. Amen."
She scrutinized the darkness from wall to wall and ceiling to floor. Then she flicked on the lamp on her nightstand and pulled the comforter over her head.
* * *
Lou Price situated an old wooden coat rack next to his desk and then clamped a new silver-rimmed spotlight onto the upper portion of the pole. He turned it on, then checked his face on his computer's screen. The lighting wasn't right, and he always wanted to appear professional and attractive on film. So he adjusted the height of the spotlight and reevaluated his image. The lighting was much better, washing out his sun-damaged skin and giving him a more youthful appearance.
During his short career as an online personality, he'd learned the importance of good video presentation. For the sake of his die-hard viewers, he needed to be entertaining and informative. For the sake of a handful of girls, he wanted to be considered somewhere between cute and handsome.
He tapped his cheeks in an effort to rejuvenate his energy at the late hour. Burning the midnight oil in a rush to film a segment for his vlog, The Ghost Stalker, wasn't something he was accustomed to. He usually hunted ghosts during the night and filmed during the day. But his routine was temporarily thrown off course because he and his partner, Dave, had consumed much of the evening working on a proposal for a cable network. If he and Dave
