Josslyn woke up at 6:30 a.m.
She felt a mild burning sensation on her upper left arm. She lifted the sleeve of her nightgown to see what it was, but it was too dark. She turned on the night lamp beside her bed and looked at the abrasion on her arm but couldn’t see it too well from that angle. She went into the en suite bathroom, flipped the switch, and looked in the mirror.
The red welts on her left arm stupefied her. From the shoulder down to the crook of her arm were thin lines of coagulated blood with reddened flesh that spread out from what looked like a three-pronged scratch mark.
Josslyn stared in the mirror for a while. To some extent, she recalled an eerie dream she had where she’d thought it was Nathan giving her some foreplay until that putrid, fetid stench and luminous yellowish-green vapor had woken her. She remembered not seeing a face in the dream, not even Nathan’s face, but a sensation as if someone touched her and caressed her with a finger. She pondered for several minutes about how she didn’t feel anything when something scratched her while she slept. Anger rose in her as she realized the evil spirit did this.
She turned on her heel and strode from the bathroom. She went to Nathan’s side of the bed and gently shook him awake. “I’m sorry, honey,” she signed, “but I wanted to show you something.” She lifted the sleeve of her nightgown and showed him the marks on her arm.
Nathan stood up too fast, almost dizzying himself by doing so. “What is that?” He scrutinized her arm.
“I believe they’re marks left by that demon. I had a weird dream last night, thinking it was you initiating foreplay with me until I smelled a foul odor and saw yellowish-green smoke coming out of a mouth, which woke me. When I looked over at you, you were sound asleep.”
“We need to get some kind of help somehow —and soon.”
Josslyn looked up and saw Caden standing by the bedroom door. He waved his hand for attention. “Sorry,” he signed. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“That’s all right,” Josslyn signed. “What is it?”
“I want to show you something on my phone.”
Caden entered the master bedroom and went to where Josslyn and Nathan stood. He pressed the Home button and lifted the smartphone which showed “666.”