When Cora fired those words to my face at point blank range, “I’m possessed,” I felt a shiver run down my spine. The cool savannah air turned cold, and I became conscious that my back was literally against a wall.
I looked at Cora’s beautiful face and her beady eyes. I said “Are you sure you are possessed? Because people who are possessed are usually evil. They usually have some evil tendencies. Do you ever feel a strong desire to do something evil…like say…kill…?”
“Well one time, my friend and I were in the kitchen,” Cora related. “And I didn’t know what got into me, but I picked up a knife and walked toward her as she was facing the sink. And I was about to stick the knife in her when she turned around. And she asked me what I was doing. I told her I was going to cut something. But if she hadn’t turned around, I would have stabbed her with the knife.”
That was pretty convincing. I looked through the glass door that partitioned the balcony from the hotel room, and I glanced at the hotel room door. It seemed like a good distance to make a run. On top of that, it would seem pretty shameful for a grown man like myself to run away from a “little girl.” But at every moment, I wondered if Cora would suddenly spring for my throat.
“Was that the only incident Cora?” I asked. “Or where there other times?”
“There was one time I nearly drowned my brother.” she said. “He was annoying me. We were by the river. He was beating my little sister. And I got really mad at him, and I jumped on him and shoved him under the water. And I would have drowned him if my sister hadn’t run toward me and stopped me. She saved him.”
“Do you feel like something is living inside of you?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said.
This is the girl whom I had once dreamed of cuddling, kissing and falling asleep with, and I still do. There was a chance she might wake up and choke me in the middle of the night. But it was a chance I was still willing to take.
Up Next: I try to convince Cora that she’s not possessed.
