She sat on the floor and put a hand to the back of her head. She could feel the warm heat from the blood that had started to seep from the cut there. Strands of her hair clung to the blood as she pulled her hand away. The ringing in her right ear grew louder as the pain radiated across her scalp.
“Make him shut up,” she shouted as the man’s voice screamed out.
“I’m fucking trying. You don’t think that I’m trying? I can’t do this on my own.”
The light in the room was dim but she could make out her husband straddling the man on the bed, trying to pin him down.
“We need Caleb,” she said. Caleb had been stronger, and he’d had a way of soothing them when they began to fight. She wished that she knew what Caleb had whispered into their ears when they’d screamed that they wanted to die.
“Will you get over here? I need you. Get the rope.”
She fell onto her knees and reached out and grabbed the edge of the small antique table. She grimaced through the pain as she eased herself up. It felt as though her brain was rolling around in her skull.
“Come on,” she said through gritted teeth as she brought herself to her feet. She felt a pain in the left side of her stomach. The flesh was already bruised and tender from where he’d kicked her.
“This one is a fighter.” She picked up the red rope that was on the table.
“Hurry up and tie his legs.”
Her husband shifted down and sat firmly on the man’s thighs as she wrapped the rope around the man’s ankles and then secured the rope to the bed frame.
“I need to release you,” she said. She picked up a candle and held the dancing flame to his feet. His screams bounced off the walls as she moved the flame from left to right. The smell of burning flesh didn’t bother her anymore.
His screaming became muffled as her husband leaned forward and pushed both hands against the man’s mouth. She stood up and limped toward the top of the bed. The ringing in her head had stopped by the time she’d put the candle down and picked up the bucket. Her husband released his hands from the man’s mouth. The man was crying now. Big choking sobs that rattled his chest.
“All we’re doing is trying to save you,” she said. Her husband got up off the man and picked up a black piece of cloth which he tied around the man’s mouth. The man’s chest rose and fell at a quicker pace as he tried to bring oxygen into his lungs. She raised the bucket above her head and let the water fall.
“Leave him,” her husband said. He picked up a small red Bible and began to read. The man tried in vain to breathe against the torrent of water that ran down his nose, the back of his throat and entered his lungs.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in faith,” she said as she placed the empty bucket down. She felt proud that she’d remembered the words that Caleb had spoken just before he’d cast out the demon. She watched the man as his body contorted and the skin on his chest strained as he tried to release himself from the restraints.
Kneeling down, she placed her palm against his hot forehead and whispered, “Leave him. Leave.”
“Stop,” said her husband. “Can you hear that?”
She stood up and listened, putting a hand to her chest to calm down her heart that was pulsating with excitement. His crying never failed to bring her joy. She knew that all she had to do was to hold him close to her.
“You just changed him,” said her husband as he checked his watch, and the crying grew a little louder.
“I think that it’s time for his feed. Hopefully he’ll take a bit more of the bottle this time. I’ll get him,” she said. She couldn’t stop smiling when she thought about the baby that God had chosen to place in her care. “You pray for him,” she said, “and I’ll take care of the baby.”