The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 11.3

[touchturnfly]

3

"You don't look so well. So I'll say some prayers for you," John told Reiko and she bowed her head. A chronic headache, exhaustion and anxiety. She'd be grateful if those things would be cured.

Reiko herself wasn't self-conscious of the strange actions she took. Sometimes she was in a daze and not aware of the amount of strange things she would say. Even so, because of her own low self-awareness, she solemnly sat down on the sofa and hung her head.

John had brought placed the candles on candle stands that looked like a small silver-colored dish, and set fire to them. He placed them on top of two tables. Between those he had placed one more small silver-colored dish with salt on it.

Midori stood beside Reiko and watched attentively over how John carried out preparations with courteous movements.

After John completed all of his preparations, he went down on his knees in front of Reiko, gently put together the fingers of his hands and hung his head.

"Our Father who art in heaven."

With an accentless voice, the words of his prayer flowed solemnly and audibly.

The words of the prayer crossed over religions and for some reason it had an effect of making people feel solemn, Midori thought. Additionally it was different from a cryptic spell, the prayer with understandable words unconditionally made a person devout.

Like Reiko, John hung his head and placed his folded hands on top of his lap, but the fingers of those hands were put together unnoticed. When Midori suddenly realized that, she did the same as he did.

"... ... And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. -- Amen."

John made the sign of the cross. He picked up the small bottle he put on top of the table. It contained water. I wonder if it's holy water, Midori thought.

John gently shook the small bottle. A few drops of water flowed out of the capless bottle, transparently repelling the light. Then he applied his fingers to the opening of the bottle. He wet his fingertips.

"I am the person who speaks to you. Using the name of Christ I command you, who have hid yourself in  any place in the body, to show your appearance and disappear from this body whom you possessed."

His wet fingertips dropped down to Reiko's chest and drew a small cross.

"With a spiritual whip, I hereby flog and drive you out. I demand you to leave from this body that has been cleansed by the Lord."

Subsequently he drew a cross on Reiko's forehead. Did Reiko shiver because the drop of water was cold?

"You shall leave. Leave from wherever you may be concealed. Refrain yourself from this body that has been offered to God."

He drew crosses near the left and right ears.

"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I forbid you from possessing this body forever."

Lastly, he drew a cross in front of her mouth. Then John picked up the bible and opened up the page that was bookmarked.

"In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being."

While Midori watched, she noticed that Reiko violently shivered. She was about to say, 'What's the matter?', but her gaze on John stopped her.

"Not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life."

Midori listened to the faint weeping sounds. Reiko was shedding tears.

"Life that was the light of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not understand it."

Even Reiko herself could not understand why she was crying. She only felt pained and miserable, and the tears wouldn't stop. She was shivering, because for some reason she couldn't help but feel cold.

A warm hand touched around her eyes.

"Rest in peace. ... ... It's alright now."

The words were spoken towards Reiko, but for some reason or another it felt as if the words were meant for someone else besides Reiko. Then coincidentally, she sensed that the thing that obstructed her chest abruptly vanished. The heartrending feeling left her by then.

"I'll give this to you instead of a charm," John said.

Feeling that those words were unmistakenly directed to her, Reiko opened her eyes. That was when he put a necklace with a small cross around her neck.

"Please don't take it off for a while. -- Do you feel well?"

Reiko blinked. She no longer felt painful. The room was warm and there was no draft.

"Yes. ... ... How strange. I wonder why."

Reiko picked up the apron that was folded beside her and wiped her tears.

"You must have felt strained." John said that with a warm smile on his face. "It's alright now."

"Thank you very much. Somehow, I feel a lot better."

"That's great to hear."

While looking at John's smile, Midori gently put her hands together. She sensed that she understood to whom Reiko's tears actually belonged to.

-- Her warning didn't come in time.

However, soon everything will come to an end, so please be at rest.

---

Back to Chapter 11.2 | Forward to Chapter 11.4

Notes

John starts with the Lord's prayer, then his own words in the middle and finishes with John 1: 1-5.

Comments

John's words

[sera131]

Oh, I just noticed this because I translated John's exorcism in Volume 6. His words are from the Gallican Rite which I found referenced in Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages by Jeffrey Burton Russell (pg 126) written in 1986. There's a preview on Google books. John likes to pick out pieces from this.

Again, thanks for translating this! You're such an inspiration! I read this all the time.

Re: John's words

[touchturnfly]

Thank you! That's very interesting.
Here's the link for my own reference. I'll update the translation when I have time.