Hell Calling (9 page)

XXXVII

The house had been invaded by a multitude of strangers. Carlos felt disconcerted, and from his position, sunk down in the sofa, he observed the comings and goings of people without understanding anything.

“Is something up, Carlos?” asked Eva.

“Well... This is all... so strange...”

“You’ve no reason to worry. What we’re going to do is try to capture something of what you’re hearing. All of these people are friends, and the only thing they want is to help you...”

He contemplated a young man who was extending some cables towards his room, whilst another was guiding microphones against the walls. They had been previously soundproofing the rest of the rooms along with the front door.

“And if nothing happens?”

“Then we’ll just have to keep on trying. We’ll have to use other methods, but we’re not giving up.”

“Elena... thank you...”

She smiled, and gave him a little pat on the shoulder.

“No problem!”

“Really, thank you. If it weren’t for your help, I myself would have been asking for them to shut me away in a psychiatric hospital.”

“Don’t even joke about it. Carlos, I trust you; I know you’re telling the truth; I know that in the end we’re going to be able to prove it.”

Carlos looked Elena in the eyes, fixedly, and within them he discovered the peace and security he needed to keep going forward.”

“I hope I don’t disappoint you...”

“Well, now it’s time to go to sleep.”

“I’m not going to be able to, I’m really nervous.”

Elena got up and went looking inside her bag. From it, she extracted a little packet and returned next to Carlos.

“I’ve thought of everything.”

“What is that?”

“They’re some tranquilizers. They’ll help knock you out and make you sleep well.  It’s in our interests that you do it soon.”

Carlos took a couple of the tablets and went to his room. It was strange, but he missed having Elena’s body and warmth nearby. The room was packed with microphones, of very different sizes and designs. They had already explained to him that this was because they all had different sensitivities, and they wanted to register any sonic event that could happen.

‘My life’s become bona fide insanity.’

He got into the bed, and soon took note of the tranquilisers’ relaxing effects, and it was not long before he nodded off, and went into a deep sleep. Outside, Elena observed him via a small monitor.

“He’s asleep now...” said Elena.

Andrés, a young friend of Elena’s, and very much the amateur when it came to all things regarding sound technicalities and the paranormal, approached her.

“I hope something comes out of all of this.”

“Me too. He’s very impatient, and has doubts about himself. Today could change everything...”

“You know that probably nothing’s going to happen, even if something really is going on in this house.”

“I know. But I’m also convinced that this story is highly complex and that, whatever it is that’s stalking Carlos, will want to manifest itself today. Together, we form a substantial number of witnesses.”

Andrés shook his head. He wasn’t entirely convinced of them capturing any footage that night, although deep down inside he longed for it. And he longed for it not because of the poor man who was resting in the bedroom next door, but for himself; for that moment of excitement suggested by registering something initially inaudible, something which
ought not to be there in the first place
.

“But the worst case is that our being here makes it impossible for anything to occur. You yourself have been sleeping next to him for long enough without anything happening.”

That commentary by her friend hurt Elena. Although at the end of the day, she couldn’t answer back because she knew he was right.

“Let’s see what happens...” she concluded.

They stayed up the whole night, fuelled by regular cups of coffee. Andrés watched a little frequency meter, to check if the microphones were picking up anything. Every now and then, there were brief jumps and registers, although they could be down to anything, including breathing or any snoring from Carlos himself. However, Elena interpreted that as a sign, which encouraged her hope, and she smiled. And thus came the morning, and with it the time to listen.

“I can’t wait,” said Elena.

“Take it easy, firstly we have to invest a few hours in processing the recordings... then we’ll listen to them.”

Elena went to wake up Carlos. He sprung up.

“Has anything happened?”

“Well, calm down. There will be something, although we need to listen to it.”

“But... I haven’t heard anything. I slept the entire night, and the radio-alarm clock didn’t...”

“Carlos, we need to wait.”

And they waited in the bedroom together in silence, until Andrés walked in with an expression of satisfaction spread across his face.

“Guys, it seems that we really do have something strange in this house. Although it isn’t the voice of a little girl.”

Carlos did not understand, although Elena jumped for joy, and ran out of the room, saying:

“Come on, Carlos, let’s go!”

Carlos followed her, although deep down inside he was harbouring more fears than hopes, along with a small amount of strange scepticism. In spite of everything that he had experienced in recent times, his rational mind always aspired to take an empirical position towards facts.

“Let’s see, we have three very clear recordings. The rest are just unimportant noises. We’ll be able to work more patiently back at the studio, but right now, for me, we’ve got a lot.”

Andrés began with the first and second recordings.

“I’ll play them each simultaneously, so you’ll see how they’re almost identical.”

Carlos could not hold back a brief shriek upon hearing them.

Bzzzzz... Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii... Bzzzz...

––––––––

B
zzzzz... Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii... Bzzzz...

“And that’s it. But it’s really intriguing, right?” said Andrés.

Elena looked at Carlos, and understood immediately that those sounds really did represent something important to him.

“Are you alright?”

“Those sounds... They’re the sounds I heard before on the radio every time Laura spoke through it...”

“This is good, Carlos. This is really good,” she added, passing her hand slowly over his shoulder.

Andrés did not understand the situation all that well, but he was clearly very excited by the final recording and wanted to play it as soon as possible.

“This really is worth it. You can hear a human voice, although very faintly. It’s the voice of a woman, an adult woman. Later, we’ll try to improve the sound quality, but it’s enough for now.”

Andrés selected the fragment, which began playing almost instantly through the computer speakers through which they were processing the sound:

‘You must adore Gehena. Adore Gehena...’

“It almost sounds like begging. I’ll run it through again for you, although as you’ve heard, it’s perfectly intelligible,” said Andrés.

But Carlos had not listened to those words on the recording he had just heard. He felt faint, he felt like he was about to die. He
wanted
to die right there and then. And then he began to shout like a man possessed:

“No, no, no! You damned demon, curse you! Either get away from here, or take me away with you, take me with you!”

As he shouted, he went around hitting everything he could, until several men from Andrés’ team managed to get him down onto the floor and control him.

“Leave him alone, you’re going to hurt him!” exclaimed Elena, pushing everyone aside.

“If we don’t keep a hold of him he’s going to wreck all the equipment,” said Andrés, trying to take control of the situation.

Carlos lost consciousness for a moment. When he woke up, he was in the arms of Elena, who was looking at him with an expression of kindness and understanding.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Elena, it’s terrible. I don’t think I can carry on.”

“No, don’t say that, not now. Not now that we all know that it isn’t you being insane, and that there’s an element of truth in what you’ve been saying. Don’t give up, not now when we’re going to help you more than ever.”

“You don’t understand. All of this is too much for me...”

“What’s happened? Have you understood the message?”

In Carlos’ eyes was an expression of infinite terror, of fear of the unknown, and yet conviction at the same time.

“You don’t understand. The voice speaking was Alicia’s. It was my dead wife who was begging me...”

XXXVIII

Padre Salas had told him that he would only talk to him in the church, after Mass, and near the altar. Otherwise, he would not meet him anywhere else, even less his house. Carlos had quickly accepted, and had relayed with a wealth of details what had happened the previous day.

“Gehena...”

Carlos observed the priest whilst he very slowly passed his hand over his chin and half closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Gehena is a valley near Jerusalem, in which they practiced strange rituals. It’s supposed that they also carried out sacrifices in honour of the god Moloch. The sacrifices were parents killing their own children.”

“But that’s awful...”

“Of course. Then the place turned into a sort of rubbish tip, and in the New Testament, Gehena is considered a synonym for somewhere very well-known to all.”

“Where?” asked Carlos, impatiently.

“Hell.”

Carlos could not hide his surprise upon hearing those words, which he immediately tied in with the words Laura usually transmitted through the radio-alarm clock.

“But my wife... what...?”

“It’s all intertwined...”

“I don’t understand you...”

“Perhaps your wife is also finding herself trapped halfway, in a spiritual no-man’s land, and is fighting to save her daughter. Although there are other possibilities that also fit.”

“What possibilities? You have to help me,” Carlos implored.

Padre Salas moved away from him, and searched for refuge beneath the image of Christ, who seemed to be observing him benevolently from the altar.

“I can’t help you anymore...”

“Of course you can!”

The priest turned towards Carlos with a firm yet beaten expression.

“That’s right... The real truth is that I
don’t want
to help you anymore.”

“What?”

“I know I’ve hardly done anything... but I’ve come too far. You can’t understand it, but I feel the presence of evil very close by, and I don’t wish to get into danger again...”

The man was right: Carlos could hardly understand anything of what he was saying.

“Danger?”

“I already told you that I had to stop performing exorcisms. The practice carries with it a great risk. I’m satisfied with the decision I made back then. If you want to come and consult me about things, I’ll gladly help you, but I won’t go any further than that.”

Carlos knew that he could not afford to lose Padre Salas’ help; that he had to make do with the crumbs that were left, because they may prove fundamental in his battle to help Laura.

“Alright. Then what did Alicia want to tell me? You told me there were other
possibilities
.”

“Yes. It could be that she’s fighting for you, and not for your daughter.”

“For me!”

“We don’t know anything about what’s happening in... another dimension. Perhaps your wife is certain that your daughter is still unsalvageable, and only wants to avoid you suffering any evil.”

“Explain, please.”

“She’s encouraging you to adore Gehena. As I said, that was the place where they performed sacrifices. The parents, to save themselves from Moloch’s rage, had to kill their own children by burning them in the fire, as a sign of adoration and submission to the malign god.”

Carlos could hardly believe what he was hearing. Everything was all going too quickly, and his life was turning into a horrible caricature of everything he had believed in as a child. It simply wasn’t possible that these things were happening.

“But... that’s madness! Besides, how am I going to burn my daughter to death if she’s already dead!”

The priest maintained a tense calm, although his eyes could not avoid transmitting the fear that was eating him up inside.

“I don’t know, I’m just helping you out with the interpretation. Perhaps the part about burning her can be ignored. But honestly, I believe that the strongest possibility, and the one I believe in the most, is the most terrible.”

“The most terrible! There’s nothing more terrible!”

Carlos was gasping with exhaustion, incapable of thinking straight, of maintaining a conversation with the least amount of sanity. It was curious that the more it was being demonstrated that everything he had experienced was true, the closer he felt to the deepest levels of insanity.

“Yes there is, at least in my understanding.”

“Please...”

“The Devil is also powerful. For some reason, he has focussed on your family and wishes to bring all of you into his domain.”

“And what does this have to do with Alicia’s message?”

Padre Salas looked towards the altar once more, like he did on every occasion when his strength was flagging.

“It wasn’t your wife who was talking to you. It was Satan himself who was inviting you to adore his kingdom.”

XXXIX

Carlos observed his father’s face; a serene face, in spite of the terrible nature of recent events, with an innocent and sincere gaze in which Carlos was able to find the peace that he needed.

“I don’t know how to help you. I’m really doing everything within my power...”

“Dad...” said Carlos, making a gesture with his hand.

They both looked towards the lake, and further, towards the mountains rising majestically towards the sky.

“All the time, I’m looking less forward to dying. All the time, I find myself more and more gripped by this world that’s... so beautiful,” said Esteban.

Carlos did not know what to add to that. He had spent a few days with his mind partially blank. Since his conversation with Padre Salas, he had aimed on distancing himself from his fellow mortals, and so to do that, he had taken refuge with his father.