Tagline: N/A
Back tagline: Children’s game or tool of evil?
Summary: Julie and Terri are popular teenage twins, identical—until a car accident places Julie in a wheelchair.
Angry and dispirited, she rejects all her friends to spend hours alone in her room playing with a Ouija board. Then, suddenly, Julie’s fingertips open an unseen doorway, and something unspeakable begins to possess her mind and body. When Terri and her boyfriend try to help, the demon’s fury strikes out— stones rain from the sky, flies swarm by the thousands. And this is merely the beginning. With terror pounding in their veins, Julie and Terri unite in a battle against evil that ends only at the gates of hell….
First impressions: After spending so long covering the Fear Street Seniors, I thought we’d try out another series that I haven’t seen anyone recap before. I won’t be reading the whole series in one go, so there’ll be more variety on the blog this year! This is the first in the Dark Forces series, published in 1983, which was about 6 years before the first Fear Street book came out, and I’m excited to dig in! The plot sounds a bit more intense than what we’re used to with Fear Street and Point Horror, and I wonder if that’ll be a good thing or a bad thing.
I’m super interested in Ouija boards, so fingers crossed this is fun. I actually played with a Ouija board years ago, but nothing interesting happened. My brother has also used one, and afterwards doors would open by themselves. They even flipped the door handles so you’d have to pull the handle up instead of pushing down to open it, but the doors were still opening by themselves, which is scary AF.
On the cover we’ve got Julie looking possessed as she toys with a Ouija board, with what I assume is an evil spirit coming out of the planchette and swirling around her. Ooky spooky!
Will this be good as I’m hoping? let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Julie – One of our protagonist who’s personality changes after causing a car accident.
Terri – Our other protagonist who’s way better than Julie.
Scott – Terri’s boyfriend who Julie grows fond of.
Father Shea – The local priest who’s had a run-in with the demon in the past.
We begin with a prologue where a girl referred to only as ‘she’ wakes up from a nightmare, her heart pounding. In her dream, she was walking down a twisting road when a shadowy figure robed in black swooped down on her, waking her up. She’s had this dream countless times, with the only difference being the location; sometimes she’d be walking down a road, sometimes through her own house. She would see the robed figure and be unable to run, as if paralysed. Then the figure would swoop down on her and she would wake up, terrified.
To the main story now, and Julie Mitchell’s behind the wheel as she’s driving home with her dad, Mike, in the passenger seat and her twin, Terri, in the back. Dad’s nervous because it’s raining, but Julie’s determined to drive because the rainswept highway doesn’t feel familiar — ‘It held strange, unexplainable fascination for her; it was a mysterious black ribbon unwinding in the darkness. Julie wasn’t about to let anyone else take the wheel.’ Terri silently notices that Julie doesn’t seem like herself, and wonders what’s wrong with her, hoping Julie will answer — apparently sometimes one can read what the other is thinking. Julie doesn’t respond, so Terri switches her thoughts to her boyfriend Scott Roberts and their summer ahead. He’s lifeguarding across the beach straight across the lake from the Mitchells’ home, so the summer is looking pretty good!
Back to Julie, who’s staring at the road but isn’t really focused on driving. Trees dance on the side of the road, looking like beckoning hands, and she’s sure the thick rain is hiding something beautiful. [What drugs is she on? I want some!] She’s paying so little attention to driving that the idiot actually speeds up, ignoring her dad’s shouts. As the car gains more speed, the thick veils of rain part, and she spots what’s been waiting for her — someone lying in the road, arms outstretched reaching towards her. [So it was Julie in the prologue! I’d assumed so anyway] Julie swerves, and the car goes into a long skid. In the backseat, Terri has her eyes closed, and doesn’t open them until she feels a sharp, crippling pain through her spine… [Does this mean Terri gets badly injured too?]
At the hospital, we learn Dad and Terri are just a little bruised, while Julie was pinned against the wheel and is now in the emergency room; Terri realises the sharp pain she’d felt must have been Julie’s injury! After a phone call from Dad, the twins’ mum Karen arrives, and the adults head over to the pharmacy to get some prescribed sedatives. Scott then rocks up, having been called by Terri earlier, and as he comforts her, a police officer appears. He wants to speak to Terri’s father, but she’s happy to answer any questions, so he asks about the body in the road. Terri has no idea what he’s talking about, and he explains that Julie had regained consciousness and told one of the doctors she had swerved to avoid hitting the body in the road, which was dressed in black. Terri assures him that she and her father would have mentioned it if they’d noticed a body in the road, and Dad backs her up when he returns. Julie insists she’d seen a body with its arms outstretched, though, and the police scour the area that night and the next day, but find no evidence of a body.
Julie returns home a few days after school lets out. The doctors had said it may take weeks or even years before they’ll know if they can operate on her spine injury, so it’s a possibility she’ll never walk again. Dad’s made the house completely wheelchair accessible so Julie can get around easily, and has even purchased an expensive motorised wheelchair for her to use. He blames himself for the accident so now he’s overcompensating, and it’s caused tension between him and his wife.
The first night Julie’s home, Mum makes her favourite meal, but Julie barely eats anything. She’s lost a lot of weight and is super weak, and afterwards she and Terri head to the living room to watch TV. Julie still hasn’t mastered the wheelchair yet and hits her knee on the doorway before reminding Terri her legs don’t have any feeling. Terri had forgotten, and realises how different things feel between her and her sister. Julie herself seems different now, and Terri can no longer guess what she’s thinking.
Halfway through the movie, the doorbell rings. It’s Tom, Julie’s boyfriend, who she’d turned away each time he tried to visit her in the hospital. He’s going away for the summer to work, so Terri hopes Julie will see him now since she may not get another chance. She goes to fetch Julie, who hauls ass to her bedroom because she doesn’t want to see him. Terri tries to coax her out and asks why she won’t see anyone, but Julie thinks it’s obvious – ‘”Look at me, Terri. What if it was you in this chair instead of me? Would you want to see Scott? Would you want to see anyone?”‘ Terri has had this thought a number of times, and decides to leave Julie alone. [I mean, I’d probably want my friends and partner around me as a support network, but I guess sulking in her room works best for Julie!]
Julie continues to refuse to see Tom, and when he finally leaves for his summer job, she ignores his letters until finally he stops sending them. [Poor Tom] Besides Terri and their parents, Julie refuses to see anyone until Ruth Barnes comes to visit one day. Mrs. Barnes was the nurse on duty the night the twins were born, and she retired not long after that following the death of her husband. She lives just down the road from the Mitchells and had taken care of the twins often, so she’s pretty much part of the family, which is why Terri thinks Julie is willing to see her. Julie immediately changes following the visit; she’s more talkative at dinner and even washed her hair! She’s not quite her old self, but it’s a big improvement. Mrs. Barnes visits often, which is as good as medicine, and Julie begins to gain back some of the weight she’d lost. She even tells her family she’s looking forward to returning to school! [Nerd!]
Then, one early morning, the phone rings. Mum beats Terri to it, and Terri can tell something terrible has happened from her mother’s face. After the call, Mum reveals Mrs. Barnes has died from a heart attack, and it was her daughter on the phone. Terri can’t help but wonder how this will affect Julie and begins to cry because the family can’t seem to catch a break.
It’s two weeks after Mrs. Barnes’ funeral now, and Julie’s barely said a word since then. She’s out on the sun deck watching the beachgoers across the lake with binoculars, which she quickly hides under the blanket over her legs when she hears mum approaching. Mum plops down at the picnic table and offers Julie an egg salad sandwich, but Julie’s not hungry. Mum suggests Julie accompany her to the mall – ‘”Carsten’s has some new knickers sets in.”‘ [Underwear shopping with your mother? Fun!] But Julie can’t even bear to look at her weak, pale legs anymore, so she’s definitely not interested in going shopping.
As soon as she hears Mum’s car leaving the driveway, Julie goes back to people watching with her binoculars. She spots her friends and classmates all having fun and continues to search until she finds Terri, sitting with her friend Carol Manning and Carol’s boyfriend, Rob. One of Rob’s friends comes over and sits with them, and Julie watches as he and Terri talk. Every time the boy says something, Terri tips her head back and laughs. Soon, Terri and the boy go for a walk down the beach together. Julie doesn’t like this; she would never do that, not with Scott Roberts around! He’s the real reason Julie sits on the sun deck with the binoculars. She’d seen him rescue a small boy from the water one day, and she knew he’d save her if she was drowning, too. She actually does feel like she’s drowning sometimes, even on dry land. She looks towards the lifeguard tower, which is shaded by a big umbrella. She can’t see Scott but she knows he’s there, and pictures his dark eyes and great smile, imagining it’s for her. ‘If she had a boyfriend like Scott, she would never even look at another boy, let alone walk down the beach with a complete stranger, she thought. Terri didn’t appreciate Scott. Not at all.’ [What about Tom, Julie?! He seemed nice!]
Drowsy from the sun, Julie puts the binoculars down and falls asleep thinking of Scott. Julie isn’t crippled in her dreams, and in this one, she and Scott are walking in a forest to a cabin, which is their home. Julie wants to hurry, tugging at Scott’s hand, but he just laughs, so she runs ahead. She feels cold as she nears the cabin, and as she opens the door, an icy blast hits her. Standing in the doorway is a robed black shape, and as usual in these nightmares she can’t move. She can’t see a face, but a drop of cold spit flies out and hits her cheek. Then she wakes up to find that the sky is filled with clouds, and the first raindrops are falling on her.
At the same time, Terri’s returned from the beach and is shocked to find Julie sleeping in the rain. When Julie suddenly jerks awake, her pupils are almost invisible within her icy blue eyes, and it’s like she’s looking at Terri from another world. Terri asks if she’s OK, and Julie says she’s fine and asks if Scott came back with her. Terri explains she got a ride home with Carol and Rob and a friend of Rob’s, Jim Peterson. Terri wants to tell her all about Jim; she’d decided right away that he’d be perfect for Julie, and is hopeful that Julie would be keen to make friends with someone she hasn’t met before. But Julie clearly isn’t interested in hearing about Jim, and simply she rolls past Terri into the house. Terri follows and tells her Jim’s new in town and loves Mozart, just like Julie! ‘”I’ll bet he loves Mozart. I bet he’s Mozart’s biggest fan. I bet he thinks of nothing but Mozart all day long.”‘ replies Julie. [What a fkn bitch] Terri thought Julie would be glad to hear about someone who loves Mozart and demands to know why she’s being rude, but Julie tells her to forget it. It may be her sister, but Terri’s starting to think Julie’s a complete stranger now.
That evening, Mum comes home with two knickers suits sets, one for each twin. Terri tries hers on straight away, and she looks great, [OK, maybe knickers didn’t mean underwear in the ’80s… I tried to google it and it may be a type of 3/4 length pant, but then the book says Terri’s tanned legs look stunning in them, so I’m not sure if this is what the book is referring to?] but Julie orders her mum to take her set right back since she won’t be wearing it. Mum thinks she might change her mind and will want new clothes when school starts, [OK, I guess they are pants?] suggesting things might be different in the fall. Julie asks if she means that she’ll be able to walk, sarcastically exclaiming it’s nice to know she’s so sure, because no-one else thinks she has a chance! [Ugh, I cannot stand Julie]
Dad comes home just as Julie’s rolling to her room and starts a fight with Mum. Julie listens as he accuses his wife of being either crazy or cruel; Julie can’t even stand to look at her legs, why would she want to wear knickers? Mum also makes a good point though, when she points out that they can’t stop treating Terri and Julie the same way — ‘”Julie deserves nice things, pretty things, as much as Terri does. Or do you think she just deserves pity?”‘ Mum knows she’s gone too far, and Dad storms out of the house in anger.
Julie feels terrible; her parents never fought until the accident. She’s tearing the family apart, and knows everyone would have been better off if she’d died. She’s sure she doesn’t belong here anymore, and wishes someone would come take her away. [Maybe try changing your attitude instead of moping around? Her feelings are valid but like, look at the positives. You’re alive! I’d have more empathy for her if she wasn’t so insufferable] Terri knocks on the door and comes in, holding the local paper. She informs Julie their art teacher, Mr. Adamson, is off to Paris again, so all they’ll do in art class when school starts again is look at slides from his trip. Julie takes the paper from her to have a look, grateful Terri hasn’t brought up the knickers or the argument, and notices the article below Mr. Adamson’s. [Why is that even in the paper?] Mrs. Barnes’ belongings are going to be auctioned off the day after tomorrow, and Julie wants to go. She’s not sure why, but she feels like she has to. Terri thinks it’s a morbid idea and doesn’t reckon Dad will want Julie to go, but Julie doesn’t care. She’s going, and that’s that! Terri’s sure it will start a fight, but to her surprise, her parents are just happy Julie wants to leave the house, regardless of the reason, and Terri and Scott get to accompany her!
Seeing all of Mrs. Barnes belongings spread out her lawn gives Terri the creeps, but Julie doesn’t seem to mind. She also doesn’t seem to be bothered that people keep coming up to her and telling her how good she looks. She smiles a lot and talks to everyone, including Scott. Especially to Scott, Terri realises. It almost seems like Julie’s flirting with him! But Julie would never do something like that to her own sister, so Terri feels guilty for even thinking it. [Little do you know, Terri!]
It’s time for the auction now, and although Julie had been looking forward to it, nothing’s catching her eye. She’s got $54.65 in her pocket just waiting for the right thing, and here it comes now! It’s an old footlocker with brass fixtures, the trunk a faded black with a torn leather strap attached at one end. The auctioneer struggles to lift it and announces that it seems like the lock’s been rusted shut for several years, but there may be something good inside. Julie starts the bidding with $2, and after a war with a southern woman who Julie finds herself picturing in the farthest depths of hell out of hatred, despite not really hating anyone in her whole life, she wins with an offer of $30. Terri silently thinks it’s strange that Julie wanted the trunk so bad, since she’s sure neither of them have ever seen it before…
Julie doesn’t feel like fielding questions about the trunk, so she’s glad to see her parents are out when she, Terri and Scott return home. They set the trunk at the foot of Julie’s bed, and Julie can tell Terri isn’t a fan. Scott complains of hunger after lugging the heavy thing around, so he and Terri disappear to the kitchen. Julie’s eager to get the trunk open, but realises she can’t bend over to reach the latch, and even if she could, she doesn’t have the leverage from this angle to get it open. She knows something special is waiting in there just for her, but she’ll just have to patient…
A short time later, Terri passes Julie’s open door and asks if she’s gotten the trunk open, and Julie says she was waiting for her. It takes some time, but Terri finally gets the latch open with a hammer and a screwdriver, and the girls are disappointed at the quilting scraps inside. Julie instructs Terri to search deeper, because maybe the fabric is just padding, and Terri ends up finding a Ouija board and planchette made from old-fashioned celluloid inside. Terri thinks it’s all nonsense, but Julie wants to try it out, suggesting they may have psychic abilities on account of being good at picking up each other’s thoughts. Terri agrees, and Julie asks the board what her initials are. The pointer moves to the J and M. Terri thinks Julie moved it and asks what Scott’s middle initial is, which Julie wouldn’t know. The planchette doesn’t move. Julie asks the question, and this time it moves to the C, which Terri says is correct; C for Curtis. Julie thinks Terri moved it this time, and suggests they ask something neither knows the answer to. ‘”Will I marry Scott?”‘ Again, the planchette doesn’t move, so Terri tells Julie to ask it, since it seems to like her better. Julie asks the same question, and the pointer moves to no. Then Julie asks if she will marry Scott, and it moves to yes! Terri’s had enough now since the board seems to be against her, and she still suspects Julie’s moving the pointer. She didn’t mean to make a big deal out of it, but it’s no fun being told your sister will marry your boyfriend!
Later, Julie wakes up in the middle of the night and notices the planchette glowing in the light of her digital clock. She wonders if Terri was right and she’d been controlling it, even subconsciously, and decides to give it another whirl:
In her mind she asked:
Did I move the pointer on purpose?
The pointer moved toward no.
Did Terri?
No.
Did something else move it? A spirit?
Yes.
Are you here with me now?
Yes.
[I would not be able to sleep after that! But then I wouldn’t play with a Ouija board in my own house or by myself, lol] Presumably the next day during Scott’s lunch break, he and Terri sit on the beach while she complains about home life – all the fighting between her parents is taking it’s toll on her. Scott then has to get back to work, while Terri opts to stay on the beach for a while since it’s better than going home. A short time later, Jim arrives and makes it clear he’s into her. Terri explains she’s dating Scott, but mentions her twin, who Jim is keen to meet, so Terri says she’ll see what she can do.
Meanwhile, Julie’s got the binoculars out and is watching Terri on the beach, and Julie’s getting mad! How disgusting that Terri is smiling at everything Jim says! How can she flirt with him like that? How could she do this to Scott?! [Julie’s soooooooo annoying, stfu] Her snooping session is interrupted by Dad who, along with Mum, would like to talk to her. They head into the kitchen where Mum reveals they’ve booked her in with Dr. Eilers for some more testing. Julie doesn’t want more testing, but Mum insists Dr. Eilers wouldn’t do them if it weren’t necessary. ‘”Dr. Eilers is a nerd,”‘ protests Julie, who whips out one of her frail, skinny legs to emphasise that she’ll never walk again. [I kind of want her to die] Mum’s firm, so Julie starts begging Dad not to make her go. Dad still blames himself for the accident, even though it only happened because Julie wasn’t paying attention, and the guilt trip works on him, but Mum refuses to give in, which starts an arguments between them.
Julie rolls to her room to get away, knowing that her dad won’t be able to save her this time. [But you thought you’d trigger a fight anyway? Little cow. More tests means more knowledge for the doctors, and more opportunities to help you walk again! You’re literally the only one not trying to help your situation?!] She finds comfort in the Ouija board which tells her that it lives ‘above and below. Everywhere.’ Julie doesn’t understand, so the spirit explains ‘I live in you.’ [Ooky spooky!] Julie asks for the spirit’s name, but it doesn’t respond, so she asks it to come back. She realises it’s punishing her and wants her to beg, so that’s what she does, and the board just spells out ‘Tomorrow’.
The next day, Julie eagerly awaits the spirit, but it never comes, and she has no desire to do anything else, so she just lays in bed all day. Mum comes in at dinner time, but Julie says she’s not hungry. Fed up, Mum tells her to stop all this self-pity, insisting good things will happen, but she needs to put in the effort. [yeah, you tell her!] It’s like a slap in the face to Julie, who orders her to get out. Before leaving, Mum reiterates that this needs to stop and when they see Dr. Eilers next week, she’ll be asking him to recommend someone for them all to talk to about the situation. Julie cries herself to sleep and wakes up in the middle of the night. Thinking of the spirit, she decides to try the Ouija board again. She feels energy flowing through her as soon as she touches the planchette, and knows she’s not alone. Before she can ask a question, the spirit commands her to be patient, promising to tell her everything that’s necessary in time.
It’s hard to be patient, but when the spirit returns some time later, it fills Julie with happiness, and she begins to have an understanding of it, watching hypnotically at the sentences it spells out for her. It tells her how it had been a handsome young man in life, and remembers what earth is like. It had ‘heard her cries of pain across the vast black silence and came to her, drawn by her pain and by her beauty.’
Yes, you are beautiful. You are shining. Through you I know what it is to live again. I smell summer rain and hear raindrops falling on the grass. It is all so good. Let me stay with you. You are so young. And beautiful. And alive.
Julie smiled. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. The spirit cared for her! It thought she was beautiful! A sense of belonging entered her soul. She made up her mind— whatever the spirit wanted from her, she would give. She would do anything, if only the spirit would stay with her. Their secret partnership would give her the strength to face all she had to face.
[FFS, I genuinely cannot stand this girl. What a dumb fkn idiot] It’s time for the testing now, and Julie is not having a good time. [Is she ever?] She’s rude to Dr. Eilers, who recommends she speak to Dr. Melendez, a colleague of his. Mum notes down the doctor’s name and number, and Julie seethes over being forced to see a counsellor; she can’t decide if she hates her mother or Dr. Eilers more right now! [I bet she doesn’t hate either of them as much as I hate her] Julie’s eager to chat to the spirit, hopeful it’ll tell her how to get out of seeing Dr. Melendez.
As Julie prepares for bed that night, Terri pops into her room for a visit. She wants to talk to her about Jim, but it’s obvious Julie’s in a foul mood, so she glances around the room while thinking of something else to talk about. That’s when she notices that a plant, which Julie had moved from the window to atop the chest she’d bought at the auction, is completely black, now dead. Julie, straight-faced, tells Terri she grew it just for her. Terri then spots the planchette on Julie’s beside table and asks about the Ouija board. Julie lies that she got rid of it but liked the pointer so she kept that, but isn’t sure why she lied; ‘the words just popped out, as if they’d been waiting there all along.’ She then kicks Terri out of the room, claiming to be tired from all the tests.
After everyone goes to bed, Julie whips out the Ouija board and asks what to do about Dr. Melendez, but to her annoyance the spirit just tells her not to worry over and over. Then it spells out ‘patience’ and tells her to trust it. Julie insists she does, but she really doesn’t want to go to Dr. Melendez. The pointer hovers, as if the spirit is deciding what to say next, settling on ‘Girl 3’ over and over again, which makes no sense to me or Julie at this stage. It tells her not to worry one last time before disappearing for the night. Julie sighs, hoping the spirit will take care of the Dr. Melendez situation in its own way.
As the next few days pass, Julie nervously waits for her parents to tell her the meeting with Dr. Melendez is off, putting her trust in the spirit. She reminds herself to be patient, though, and today she feels something surge inside her as she closes her eyes and concentrates on breathing; it’s the same sort of energy she feels when the spirits will flows through her fingertips to move the planchette on the Ouija board. She lets the spirit’s energy flow through her body, and when she opens them, she can’t remember what had happened, feeling like she’s just woken from a big sleep. All she remembers is being worried about seeing the doctor, then drifting off into nothingness. ‘That, and a funny, shrinking feeling. Almost as if her soul were wrapping itself up and rolling away into a distant corner of her body.’
Julie struggles to fall asleep the night before the appointment, and while having breakfast that day, the phone rings. Mum answers it, and it’s clear from her tone it’s bad news. When she returns to the table, she tells Julie the appointment’s off due to a terrible accident. Julie asks if something happened to Dr. Melendez, and Mum explains that his ex-wife and three-year old daughter were in a car accident in LA where they live. The woman is fine, but they’re not sure how the little girl will do yet. Julie recalls the spirits words, Girl 3, and actually smiles, ‘bowing her head over her toast so her mother wouldn’t notice. She wanted to laugh out loud.’ [Omg she’s actually so awful lol. Or has the spirit partly taken over and is now influencing her behaviour directly? I don’t know, she was shitty before she felt the energy flowing through her body] Dr. Melendez flew out to LA to be with them, and isn’t sure when he’ll be back so all his appointments are cancelled. Dr. Melendez doesn’t return the next week, or the next, or the next. Mum knows she should find a different therapist for Julie, but she keeps putting it off, hoping the little girl will get better and the doctor will return. Plus, ever since that morning, Julie’s been oddly happy; maybe she doesn’t need to see a therapist after all!
One day, Terri heads to the sun deck and asks Julie if she can borrow her halter top; Terri’s is dirty and it’s too hot for a t-shirt! Julie allows it, and Terri heads to her room to find it. Unfortunately she’s met with a feral odour, like rotten meat, and she ends up scramming from the room halter top-less. It’s not just the smell that bothers her, but the disarray and gloom of the room, too; there’s a sense of something terrible in there. Is it just Terri that’s noticing Julie seems to be slipping further away with each day?
It’s August 9 now, exactly 3 months after the accident, and also the twins’ birthday! Usually the family goes away, but a trip is out of the question this year, obviously. Mum and Dad tell the girls they can invite some people over, but Julie doesn’t want to see anyone, which means Terri can’t either. Terri is understandably upset at this favouritism since it’s her birthday too, but Julie gets her way. Julie is more than willing to let Terri invite Scott over though, because of course she is. Terri greets Scott at the door when he arrives and notices he’s got a gift for each girl, but Julie’s is bigger. A short time later, Julie joins the family on the sundeck, all decked out in makeup and a nice dress, which furthers Terri’s suspicions that she’s into Scott.
After dinner, it’s time to open the gifts and Terri’s jealous when Julie opens the one from Scott – it’s the most beautiful scarf she’s ever seen! Terri’s gift is even better, though; a gold ID bracelet with her name engraved across the plate, and ‘Love Scott’ on the inside. Mum and Dad give the girls matching cross necklaces, and Terri gratefully puts hers on straight away. Julie doesn’t seem to like hers as much, and doesn’t put it on until prompted. As soon as it’s around her neck, though, she begins choking. She assures everyone the chain isn’t too tight and she just needs water. She tries to hide her pain from everyone else, but she’s never felt this before — ‘the cross, resting in the hollow of her throat, was burning a hole right through her skin.’ [I can’t imagine why!]
Later, Terri and Scott go for a walk along the shore of the lake where she tells him she’s had a great birthday and wishes it could last forever. Scott agrees, but best be on his way because he’s got work early tomorrow — ‘”I have to be there at ten.”‘ [In what world is a 10am start early? Come on, Scott] As they return to the house, Terri thanks him for hers and Julie’s presents, and he offers to come in and say goodnight to everyone. Glancing at the house, Terri can see that only Julie’s light is on, so says it’s too late, but she’ll say goodnight to Julie for him.
Inside, Terri stops by Julie’s door, but just as she’s about to knock a voice booms, ‘”Get away!”‘ It’s not Julie’s voice, and it doesn’t even sound human; ‘it was a voice straight out of hell.’ The voice repeats itself, frightening Terri, who asks Julie if she’s OK and struggles to open the door. It won’t budge at first but finally gives way, and Terri finds Julie sitting in bed reading a magazine. Julie asks if Terri’s OK, her voice normal, and Terri said she heard a voice. Julie says she had the radio on and was listening to Mystery Theatre. Terri knows she’s lying, because that airs at 11pm and it’s 12:15, but doesn’t say anything. She also doesn’t bring up that Julie’s not wearing the cross necklace, or the red mark in her throat where the cross sat. The room is super cold, and that gross smell is still around, so Terri isn’t keen to stick around.
The next morning, Terri hurries to the beach and tells Scott about the foul smell in Julie’s room, the vacant look in her eyes, the jammed door and weird voice from last night. Scott doesn’t know what to do, but he might know someone who does, and he picks Terri up when he finishes work at 2pm. They visit Father Shea, the local priest, and Terri tells him everything that’s happened since the accident and begs him to visit Julie. Father Shea agrees immediately, ‘”the sooner the better, in a case like this.”‘ Long after they leave, Father Shea remains at his desk, thinking. They’d brought back an old, dormant memory. It couldn’t possibly be, though! ‘But the seed of fear was already there. It had been since he first heard of the Mitchell girl’s accident. Now it was coming into flower.’ [Oooh, what does he know?]
Back at home, Terri floats the idea of Father Shea coming over to her mother, who’s more than happy for a visit, telling Terri to invite him for dinner tonight. She’s curious why, though, and Terri admits she wants him to talk to Julie. Terri reminds her she’d wanted Julie to see a counsellor, which fell through, but Mum argues that Julie’s much better now; didn’t Terri notice how beautiful she looked on their birthday? Terri’s in disbelief, but Mum continues on to tell her a secret that they want to keep from Julie for now — Dr. Eilers got the first test results back, and he thinks there’s a good chance Julie may walk again!
Before dinner, Dad gives Father Shea a tour of his garden, and the priest can feel a cold and angry presence afoot. Dad wants to show him his beefsteak tomatoes, which he takes special pride in and grows in a strip of rich soil under Julie’s bedroom window. Unfortunately they’re all black and withered now, despite being fine a few days ago, and Father Shea’s old memories continue to rise to the surface…
Later, Julie goes pale as soon as she spots Father Shea at the dinner table, snatching her hand away as he takes it and sitting as far away as possible from him. Julie stares at him during dinner, and he stares right back, making her feel queasy. From her perspective, he looks like a demon; his hands are like claws, and his eyes glow red, his gaze burning through her. Soon, she excuses herself, explaining she’s going to be sick, and flees to her bedroom to vomit. Father Shea follows her down the hall and listens to her retching, ‘the suffering pants of some helpless, tortured animal.’ As he moves to open the door, an inhuman voice snarls at him to get away, and he realises it’s the same voice Terri mentioned hearing. Father Shea knows this voice all too well — ‘it was the same voice he had heard in this same house, in this same room, almost twenty-five years before.’
After dinner, Father Shea retreats to his study at the church and thinks back to 25 years ago when he met the Campbells. They’d built the house the Mitchells now live in, and Mrs. Campbell had summoned Father Shea to discuss her son, 15-year-old Joe. He’d always been a good kid, but in recent months he’d developed some strange habits. He’d write profanities all over the walls, and would steal the car and race it up and down the road, scaring pedestrians. When his parents tried to punish him, he’d just laugh and laugh, and even crushed a bone in his father’s hand when the otherwise gentle man had tried to hit him. Mrs. Campbell was hoping Father Shea could recommend someone for Joe to talk to, and Father Shea had given him the name of his psychiatrist friend.
Over a month later, Father Shea was golfing with the psychiatrist and asked about Joe, but it turns out the Campbells never reached out. A few days later, Father Shea drove to the Campbell home, where a dishevelled Mrs. Campbell was surprised to see him. He explained he was just dropping by to see how things are, and Mrs. Campbell smiled as she declared Joe was much better, much, much better! She didn’t even react to the loud banging that interrupted her sentence, and Father Shea wondered if she’d lost her mind, noticing the vacant look in her eyes. He wanted to say hello to Joe, and a suddenly frightened Mrs. Campbell pointed him to Joe’s bedroom, but didn’t follow him.
As Father Shea raised his hand to knock, a voice boomed ‘”Get away!”‘, startling him. The priest opened the door anyway, discovering the walls of the room covered in reeking filth, the furniture broken, and the floor littered with debris, with Joe standing in the middle of it all. Joe quickly lunged at Father Shea, strangling him against a filthy wall, and the voice inside him ordered the priest to stay away. The last thing Father Shea saw before losing consciousness was gleaming red eyes, and he knew he had met the devil.
Father Shea woke up face down in the grass beside his car and quickly fled, spotting Mrs. Campbell staring out the window at him with empty eyes. He then researched everything he could about demonic possession, even contacting a priest in Chicago who knew a lot about the subject, and tried to arrange an exorcism, but the Campbells wouldn’t cooperate, insisting there was nothing wrong with Joe. Father Shea didn’t give up, but unfortunately on Joe’s 16th birthday, he took the family’s car and raced down the road, the same road Julie had crashed on. According to police, Joe was driving 90 miles per hour when for unknown reasons he lost control of the car, careening off the road and into an elm tree, killing him. [So was Julie already starting to be possessed before the crash maybe, and that’s why she was so distracted?]
Back in the present, the priest’s phone rings, and he wonders who would need him at 1am. To his surprise, it’s Julie Mitchell, who asks for help before another voice cuts in and the line goes dead: ‘”You can’t save her—she’s mine!”‘
Julie stays in bed all day the next day, pretending to be sick. She feels fine, but just can’t be bothered getting up. She’d had strange dreams all night, including one where she’d called Father Shea, but when she opened her mouth, a beautiful voice ‘like the singing of angels’ came out instead. She grabs the Ouija board and asks it why Father Shea visited last night, and it replies with one word: Betrayer. She asks who the betrayer is, and the crucifix that’s been hanging above her bed her whole life suddenly moves, now upside down. The board spells out ‘thepriest’ over and over again, and this leads Julie to decide that the spirit is her only friend. Everyone else is a liar and betrayer, out to get her, including her family. She surmises that they all just think she’s an ugly, pathetic cripple and want to send her away, and decides she needs to convince them that she’s better. She’s sure the spirit will help her fool them! [She’s legit just based all this on ‘thepriest’ lol. Big jump to make, Julie! Weird that she’s also acknowledging that she’s not quite right, but doesn’t seem to want any help? Like why would you think a random spirit has your best interests in mind over your family?]
A little later, Julie’s in the living room watching TV when Terri asks if she wants to come into town with her. She’s having lunch with Father Shea, then meeting Scott for a movie in the afternoon. Of course, her lunch with the priest is to discuss Julie, but Terri thinks it’ll be good for him to see her in action some more. Julie asks if Terri’s going to the beach today, which of course she’s not, because it’s raining. Julie points out that Scott is going, and Terri reminds her he gets paid to be there, even when it rains, but she doesn’t: ‘That was just like Terri, Julie thought disgustedly. Always thinking of herself.’ [???????????] Julie thanks her for the offer but will pass because she doesn’t want to miss General Hospital on TV! As Terri drives into town, she’s grateful that Julie’s at least out of her room, even though watching TV all day isn’t much better.
At lunch, Terri tells Father Shea that sometimes Julie appears to be getting better, but mostly she just doesn’t seem the same as before. Mum and Dad don’t seem to notice the things Terri thinks are strange, and they act like Julie really is getting better. Terri wonders if maybe it is just all in her head, but Father Shea assures her it’s not. Terri wonders if getting Julie to help her plan a party will help, [She doesn’t want to be seen by anyone and doesn’t leave the house EVER, but sure, a party will help! Idiot] and Father Shea agrees, silently thinking that feeling needed might fill the spot in Julie’s heart that the demon is trying to manipulate. He gives Terri his personal number and tells her to call any time if she needs his help with anything at all. Terri promises to do so, but is sure nothing will go wrong. [What could go right? Obviously Julie’s going to agree because she has to act normal, but Terri doesn’t know that. Why would she think Julie would want to throw a party?]
As soon as she’s home, Terri suggests throwing an end of summer party, since they didn’t have a big celebration for their birthday like they normally would. Inwardly, Julie wants to vomit, sure that Terri has an ulterior motive, like making her the comic relief. Outwardly, Julie smiles and tells Terri a party would be absolutely wonderful.
We jump forward to Friday afternoon now, and Scott has just arrived to help set up for tomorrow night’s party. Terri’s feeling great since Julie’s been in a good mood all week and her parents have been fighting less; maybe everything’s going back to normal! Terri leads Scott to the backyard, where Jim Peterson and Julie are. Terri claims she invited Jim to help set up, but Scott sees right through that and knows she’s trying to set Jim up with Julie. Julie spots the happy couple and is filled with jealousy, silently vowing to take Scott from Terri. All she has to do is wait for her chance…
Over the next few hours, the boys carry picnic tables from the sun deck down to the beach and dig a pit in the sand while Julie observes and Terri brings refreshments. Julie struggles to seem interested in Jim, but he’s definitely buying it! He asks if they’ll play Mozart, and she tells him only if he’ll dance with her, which confuses him, I guess because he thinks people in wheelchairs can’t dance? He nervously agrees, declaring they’ll ‘”Trip the light fantastic”‘ which I’ve never heard before in my life but apparently just means to dance, and then kicks himself because tripping is definitely not what you should use ‘when you were talking to a cripple.’ [Calling someone a cripple isn’t a good choice either, Jim] Julie thinks Jim’s a nerd, but smiles; tripping the light fantastic is ‘exactly what Jim Peterson was going to do. He just didn’t know it yet.’ [Oop, poor Jim. Is she going to electrocute him or something?]
The sun is setting now, and Terri slips off with Scott further down the beach for some alone time. This leaves Jim and Julie alone too, and he tells her it’s much cooler on the ground, if she’d like to join him. Julie nods, so he lifts her out of the wheelchair and plops her down on the soft grass. For a moment her heart races; Jim is super cute and a sweetheart, after all! But then ‘a sharp, stabbing pain crashed through her skull, wiping out the thought. Jim Peterson was an idiot.’ [I’ll have him!] She asks him about Mozart, since that’ll keep him entertained for a while, but he doesn’t answer. Instead, he slides his arm around her shoulders, and she shivers at his touch; ‘There was something angry inside her, something that wanted to claw Jim Peterson to death.’ [And she doesn’t question this irrational anger?] Then Jim pulls her in for a smooch:
Julie didn’t protest, but there was a tight, choking feeling her her throat.
Get away!
Julie heard the words as clearly as if they’d been shouted in her ear.
Get away!
“Huh?” Jim murmured. “Did you say something?”
Julie pulled away. She gave him a little smile.
“Not a word,” she said. “Not me.”
Jim’s face stiffened. He was staring at something over her shoulder.
“What the hell—!”
Julie turned around just in time to see it—a formless black shape fading into the twilight.
[Spooky! I wonder why it hasn’t made it’s physical known from the start? It’s been at the home long before the Mitchell’s moved in, so why is it only doing all this now? It’s not like the Ouija board unleashed it, because it’s been in Julie’s dreams for years and appeared on the road to cause the crash, so it was always around] It’s time for the party now, and Terri ducks back to the house to fetch some more paper plates. Her parents are on their way out for date night and they’re very flirty, which Terri is happy to see. Back at the beach, she finds Scott talking with Julie and Jim and pulls him away for some alone time, angering a very jealous Julie. She asks Jim to dance, and again he’s confused until he realises she wants him to pick her up and carry her. [I feel like that would be more embarrassing for Julie than if she just danced in her wheelchair?] He’s super into her so he picks her up and they sway, but she complains that she’s cold and asks to move closer to the bonfire. Jim obliges, and Julie can tell the heat is unbearable for him on this already hot night. She glances around for Scott and Terri, since she needs them nearby so her plan won’t be ruined. Then, suddenly, she shifts her body violently in Jim’s arms: ‘Push, something inside her thought. And every fiber of her being pushed Jim Peterson away from her.’
Jim feels an unseen force gripping him, shoving him towards the fire, and tries to hold onto Julie, who slips from his arms. He ends up falling, and a chilling scream echoes in the night. It’s coming from Julie, who’s rolled towards the logs around the fire pit. Jim rushes over to her apologetically, but she accuses him of dropping her on purpose and tells him to get away. A crowd gathers, Terri and Scott among them, and Julie bows her head and pretends to cry to hide her smile of triumph, pretending to be injured. Terri instructs Scott to take Julie up to the house, and Julie feels herself being lifted ‘by the strongest arms she had ever known.’ As Scott carries her up to the house, she hears Jim telling Terri he doesn’t know what happened, but their voices fade away. Now Julie can smile as much as she wants to, because her dreams of being alone with Scott are coming true! [She’s gonna be so humiliated when he turns her down, lol. I wonder if this is part of the spirit’s plan, to make her even more vulnerable?]
As Scott lays Julie down on her bed, she tells him she’s starting to feel better. He flicks on the lamp, but Julie switches it off immediately and instead lights the candle on her bedside table. [Romantic!] Touching his arm, she asks if he thinks she’s as pretty as Julie, and he points out that they’re twins. Julie pitifully says they used to be twins, and Scott finds her smile pathetic and touching. She is pretty, and he feels sorry for her, because what does she have to look forward to? Nothing, that’s what. [They act like being in a wheelchair is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone! Even in the ’80s I’m sure there were countless wheelchair-bound people living their best lives] Moving her hand to his shoulder, Julie pulls Scott down towards her. At first he’s confused, then angry, but also pleased; ‘he wondered if that was how girls felt when guys came onto them.’ He starts to pull back as she moans his name, but she clings to him and puts her mouth on his, and he actually kisses her back. [For fuck’s sake, Scott] It was almost like kissing Terri, ‘and after all, if Julie wanted him so badly—’ But luckily, he stops himself before finishing that thought and pulls away, realising what he’s doing will hurt Terri. He struggles free from Julie’s grasp and wordlessly disappears from the room, ignoring Julie’s cries, ‘weak and pitiful at first, then growing stronger and stronger until they echoed with fury.’
Julie whips out the Ouija board, which points out that she’s alone. Julie knows this, obviously, and knows it will always be this way; no-one will ever love her in her condition. [It’s not your disability, it’s your awful attitude] She begs the spirit for help, and it offers to be with her, and they can do many great things, but she’ll have to do whatever it tells her to because they will be one. Julie confirms this is what she wants and asks what she needs to do, and the spirit tells her to invite it into her heart.
Terri suddenly appears in the doorway and demands to know what she’s doing. Julie warns her to stay away as Terri moves towards her, eyeing the Ouija board and reminding Julie that she’d said she’d thrown it away. ‘”Leave us alone”‘ growls Julie, but Terri forces herself closer, fighting through the nauseating stench that seems to be coming from Julie herself. As soon as she’s close enough, she grabs the board, and the sisters struggle with it until Terri finally manages to wrench it out of Julie’s hands. Julie screams an awful scream, ‘as if some vital organ had been ripped from her living flesh’, while Terri scampers back to the beach and throws the board into the firepit. To her horror, it doesn’t burn, so Scott douses it in lighter fluid. It isn’t until the can is empty that the Ouija board finally starts to burn, sending cloud of black smoke into the air.
Later that night, Terri watches as Scott rakes through the ashes of the fire with a long stick, assuring her the board has been reduced to dust. Then they notice that Terri’s palms and fingers are covered in welts and festering blisters everywhere her skin had come into contact with the board. Scott thinks it must hurt like hell, but Terri doesn’t feel a thing; her hands are totally numb. The pain kicks in in the middle of the night though, and Terri tosses and turns in agony in bed. The pain eventually eases and gives way to itchiness, which is even worse than the pain, and she decides to tell her parents about Julie and the Ouija board first thing in the morning.
Early the next morning, Terri’s shaken awake by her crying mother. Uncle Carl, Mum’s brother, has suddenly died from a cerebral haemorrhage. Mum and Dad will be heading off for a few days, but the drive will be too much for Julie, so she and Terri will be staying behind. Mum promises to call every night, and Terri assures her they’ll be fine on their own. Later, as Mum and dad pack and prepare to leave, they don’t seem to notice that Julie is clearly avoiding Terri. Julie’s pissed that Terri destroyed the Ouija board, which is all Julie had in the world, while Terri has everything. Julie will never forgive her Terri for what she’s done!
Julie stays in her room all day, and Scott comes over in the afternoon to keep Terri company. They head out for a bit to pick up a pizza for dinner and some food for the week, and have to take Scott’s car, since mum’s won’t start for some reason. [Which I’m sure will be important later when the girls are trapped in the house!] Scott stays over until the late evening, and not long after he leaves the phone rings. It’s Dad, checking up on the girls, and after a few minutes of talking the call ends and Terri heads to bed.
Sometime later, Terri’s woken up to what she thinks is banging on her bedroom door, but can’t be right because the door is wide open. The loud thuds continue, and seem to be coming from inside the walls! She leaps out of bed and enters the hall, where she notices the banging is all over the house, not just in her room. As she rushes to Julie’s room, the ceiling above her begins to crack and sag, and she realises whatever it is is walking on top of her. In Julie’s room, Terri finds her draped over the bed, eyes rolled to the back of her head, her mouth open. Terri checks for a pulse, relieved to find her still alive, and Julie regains consciousness after a few minutes. [Was she just asleep? Or in a trance?] Julie begs Terri not to leave her alone and wraps her in a hug, and Terri believes Julie must be back to normal again. [Or is it an act to get Terri to lower her guard?!]
As the girls cling together on the bed, two corners suddenly lift into the air before crashing down. The banging stops, replaced by a keening wail that grows louder around them, and the temperature seems to plummet. Terri scurries to the linen closet to fetch more blankets, and when she returns, the bed is floating in mid-air as Julie screams on top of it. Terri tries to tug it back to the ground but it doesn’t budge. Finally it plunges to the floor, and Terri scrambles on, but the bed doesn’t rise again. As morning arrives, the wailing fades, and the exhausted girls fall asleep.
They wake up around 10am and Terri helps Julie into her wheelchair, which now has a dead motor. Julie pushes the wheels, but only gets a few feet before her arms ache because she was too lazy to power it manually in the past. Terri promises to help her, and Julie feels awful because she knows everything is her fault. [So the house rumbles and the bed floats and all of a sudden Julie’s done a 180? Why didn’t we see her realisation that the spirit is bad in real time? Like, what exactly has made Julie realise the spirit is bad and her family are good?]
The girls find the living room in disarray, with all the furniture jumbled and overturned. Terri attempts to call Father Shea, but the phone grows too hot before she can dial, causing her to drop it. She tries again when it cools down, but the same thing happens. They then decide to drive away, but Terri remembers the car doesn’t work. She tries anyway, but it’s no use. They head onto the sun deck and, knowing Scott will be on duty, try to wave for help, but it doesn’t seem like he notices them all the way across the lake. Suddenly, pebbles start raining down onto the house, growing larger in size. They’re slimy and leave greasy tracks behind before sinking directly into the earth or floorboards of the deck, vanishing with a hiss — ‘they had gone back to wherever they had come from; they were waiting to come again.’
Back inside, Julie’s sure that whatever is doing all this wants to hurt them, and Terri has no idea what to do. [Just walk down the fkn road and wait for a car to drive past?] She eventually decides that they’ll clean the house and then have lunch, [??????????] then she’ll try to call Father Shea again, and Scott when he’s off duty. If she can’t get in touch with Scott, she’s sure he’ll call her, since they’ve spoken on the phone every day since they started dating.
Unfortunately, by evening, they still haven’t been able to get in touch with anyone because the phone still gets too hot, and when Terri tries to call Father Shea without touching the receiver directly, there’s only a lunatic voice blabbering in another language on the other end. The girls then notice, through the glass doors leading outside, a dark shape standing on the deck. They quickly realise the dark-robed figure is in the glass itself, and it raises its arms triumphantly. The glass doors explode into the room, allowing a cold wind inside, and the girls quickly flee to Julie’s room, [Why would you go to that stinky room and not Terri’s?] where Julie admits she’s seen that thing in her nightmares all her life. Terri reveals she’s seen it in her dreams too, for as long as they’ve lived in this house. Funnily, though, neither girl has had the dream since the crash, and Julie quickly remembers that the dark-robed thing was the body she saw lying in the road that night! And it’s also what she was speaking to through the Ouija board! It’s all her fault! [Yes, it is, but I still don’t understand why you’ve changed your mind about it so quickly. You were so willing to let it in, what changed?]
Terri blocks the door with Julie’s desk as the entity starts banging on it. The room is surrounded by evil, and Terri can feel that it’s on its way in. Suddenly, the door flies off its hinges and disappears, a stone shatters the window, and a voice calls their names. Lucky for them, the calls are coming from outside the house, and it’s our beloved Scott! [I’ve forgiven him for kissing Julie bc he simply got lost in the moment and pulled away as soon as he realised what he was doing was wrong] Turns out he’d been trying to call all day but got nothing but static, so drove over here to find piles of smelly trash everywhere and stones and pebbles raining from the sky. He circled the house for a way in but couldn’t find one, and finally saw the light on in Julie’s room so threw a rock through the window. [Couldn’t use any of the doors?] Terri yells out the window for him to get Father Shea, and as Scott turns to head back to his car, something shoves him to the ground. He spots a dark figure scurrying away from him as he scrambles to his feet, and dashes to his car faster than he’s ever run before.
It’s 10pm now, and Scott’s trying to speed down the road to fetch Father Shea, [It was early evening when the glass doors shattered, and Scott shows up shortly after that, so how can it be 10pm?] but his car is going noticeably slow. It also seems way too dark outside, despite his headlights being on, so he turns on the overhead light and discovers black clumps of squirming flies covering the windshield! He disposes of them with his windshield wipers and merges onto the freeway, which is strangely absent of other cars. The car suddenly loses it’s sluggishness and speeds up, and a claw-like hand clamps down on Scott’s shoulder. There’s nothing in the rearview mirror, but when Scott turns his head he can see the outline of a face hidden in the folds of a hood, with evil shining through the narrow slits of the entity’s eyes. The grip on Scott’s shoulder tightens and the thing hisses, its breath like a sewer. Scott tries to concentrate on the road and attempts to slow down, but the car only speeds up! The brakes don’t work, and the entity laughs mockingly at him before closing its hand over Scott’s on the steering wheel:
Scott struggled to stay in control of the vehicle. He glanced sideways. The robed figure was sitting beside him, now—right beside him in the front seat of the car!
The hood fell back from the creature’s face, and Scott saw the lipless mouth grin malevolently. When he tried to push the creature away, his hand floated through thin air.
The talons tightened around his fingers. The steering wheel was wrenched out of his grasp.
Scott saw the dark ribbon of road twist away from him. Trees rose up in front of him. He saw a sweeping branch and a bright burst of light. Then he saw nothing at all.
[Oh no, I hope he’s not dead] Meanwhile, Father Shea is just settling into bed, feeling a bit uneasy since he hasn’t heard from Terri in days, despite the fact she said she’d call. He’s unable to sleep, so he tries to call her, but the line is busy so he assumes she’s on the phone with Scott. He returns to bed and falls asleep, only to be woken by a knock at the door. It’s two policemen, who tell him Scott Roberts is at the hospital and insists on talking to the priest, and they’re here to give him a lift.
Over at the hospital, Scott’s been checked out and is waiting patiently for Father Shea to arrive. The doctors had wanted to keep him overnight for observation due to the lump on his head, but Scott had convinced them he was fine, and after a few stitches and the X-rays showed everything was normal, they’d agreed to let him go. Father Shea rocks up with the police, one of whom is a friend of Scott’s brother, who’d kindly agreed not to notify Scott’s parents about the crash or make a big deal out of anything. [Won’t they find out anyway, though? Like, isn’t the car damaged?]
Scott’s car, which only has a dent in it, [Oh, I guess the parents won’t have to find out after all!] is in the parking lot, since when the two officers had found Scott in the ditch, one drove him to the hospital while the other followed behind in Scott’s car. Scott explains everything to the priest, who tells him to drive past the church first so he can pick up a few things. Father Shea had anticipated an exorcism and several weeks ago sought approval to perform once. The battle will be tough and victory is not guaranteed, with failure likely leading to death, but Father Shea is willing to risk it to banish the evil that killed Joe Campbell all those years ago and now seeks to possess Julie.
Back at the Mitchell house, Terri and Julie are patiently waiting for Scott to return with Father Shea. They hang a sheet over the doorway, scared of what they might see, but soon the sheet seems to mould itself around a shape. The sheet disappears and in its place, ‘standing in a blaze of furious light, was a slimy and iridescent creature, covered with barbed scales. Its tail swept between manlike legs, and it’s slitted eyes were opaque with yellow light.’ [Spooky!] The creature disappears, jabbering laughter trailing after it, and then suddenly Julie’s chair starts spinning around, faster and faster. The creature’s laughter fills the room, and before Terri can grab the chair, it takes off down the hallway. Terri dashes after it, managing to pull Julie off the chair seconds before it ‘sailed noiselessly through the wall and disappeared.’
Scott and Father Shea finally arrive to find a yellowish glow has enveloped the house. Stones continue to rain down on the house, and the lawn is covered by rotting masses of stinky garbage. Father Shea whips out a crucifix and the rain of stones retreats as they move closer to the home. Entering through the front door, they find the inside of the house in a worse state than the outside; piss and poop seep across the rotted floors, furniture is toppled in every direction and insects hungrily swam over the filth on the walls. In the middle of it all are Terri and Julie, huddled together. Terri quickly runs to the priest and wraps him in a hug, but Julie, ashamed for causing all this, averts her eyes. The priest approaches her, and she apologises through tears. Father Shea pats her back and asks if she feels better, and Julie feels a weight lift off her shoulders, feeling forgiven.
It’s time for the exorcism now, and Father Shea lines up some holy items on a small table. The house begins to creak and tremor as he makes a cross sign over the items, but he pays no attention to the noise. Eyes closed, he kisses a purple stole and places it over his shoulders, then blesses everyone present before chanting the exorcism ritual in Latin. The temperature of the room immediately plunges, and filth and vomit spew up through the cracks in the floor while a horrible banging sounds in the walls. To everyone’s horror, the purple stole starts to wrap itself around Father Shea’s neck, choking him. Scott moves to help, but the priest motions him back, knowing he must battle the demon alone. Gasping for breath, he continues reciting the holy words as obscenities, strange symbols and pentagrams begin appearing on the walls.
Julie’s bedroom door and wheelchair suddenly appear, and everyone can sense the evil is getting weaker. Father Shea’s voice grows stronger, and the stole stops choking him and falls back onto his shoulders. He commands the demon to show itself, and after some whimpering yelps, the dark, robed figure that had stalked the twins’ dreams throughout their lives and forced Scott to crash appears. The entity bursts into flames and changes into the lizard-man creature the girls saw before. The demon shrinks back as Father Shea approaches, making the sign of the cross and sprinkling holy water on its scales. It hisses angrily as its scales drop off, revealing a thick, slimy hide, before its tale withers into a blackened husk:
The demon fell to the floor. Its body bloated, sizzled, and burst. The spirit became a hideous, crawling mass. The flesh still moved, the voice still whispered.
Father Shea sprinkled more holy water on the seething flesh. Emitting a final screech, the demon disappeared into the floor.
[That was a quick battle] The phone rings, and Terri answers it. It’s her father, who says he’s been trying to call all night. Terri assures him she and Julie are fine and have been at home, but suggests the phones mustn’t have been working properly, shielding him from the truth of the ordeal. He says they’ll be home around 4pm, and Terri tells him to drive carefully. Terri heads back to the living room to see that all the filth is dissolving into thin air. The cracks in the walls are closing up, and the floorboards return to smooth, polished wood. Free of the demonic presence, the house is returning to normal, including the glass panels in the door leading to the sun deck. Scott helps Julie back into her chair, and she apologises for her behaviour the other night.
Scott drives Father Shea back to the rectory before heading to the beach for his shift, leaving the girls to put the furniture back in order. They also discover they can sense each other’s thoughts again when Julie silently wonders what’s for lunch and Terri answers out loud. Both girls can sense the rift between them is healing. [Woohoo!] The house is back to normal by lunchtime, and Terri even manages to get Julie’s door back on its hinges. [How come that didn’t fix itself like the glass doors did???]
Dr. Eilers calls, wanting to speak to the girls’ parents. Terri insists he can tell her whatever the news is, and he reveals that the nerve damage seems to be self-healing to some extent, thanks to some of the tests they did on Julie, and her condition is now operable, with the chances of total recovery being quite high! They can perform the operation whenever Julie’s ready, and Terri goes to fetch Julie so he can tell her the good news himself.
Some time later, the Mitchells are enjoying burgers on the sun deck. Julie will be having surgery tomorrow, and while she’s sure the recovery will be hard, she knows she can do it, determined to find the strength and courage for whatever it takes. Not that she’ll be doing it alone, of course; her parents and sister will be with her every step of the way! [Bless]
Time for an epilogue now, and Julie returns to school a month after the operation on crutches; the doctors predict it will be a few months before she can walk unaided. Luckily she has Jim Peterson, who’d taken her to a Mozart concert at the Civic Center, battling with her boyfriend, Tom, to carry her books around. [What, he took her back after she ghosted him? Know your worth, Tom9] She’s basically been seeing both of them at the same time, and isn’t sure what she wants; her main concern is learning to walk, and everything else will have to wait. [Jim, Tom, dump this bitch]
In November, Father Shea has a heart attack and stays in the intensive care unit for three weeks. The Mitchells go to visit him, and Julie is walking unaided by this time, although her steps are shaky, like those of a young child. The doctors think he’ll bounce back, and the book ends as Father Shea assures the family it’ll take more than a heart attack to get rid of him. [OK]
Final thoughts
This was kind of underwhelming in the sense that not a lot really happened. It seemed to be heading towards Julie being possessed by the demon, but then the spirit banged on the walls and Julie somehow realised the spirit was evil? And then the story just fizzled out with an anti-climactic ending. It feels like a majority of the book was just a build-up to nothing. Like it didn’t feel like there was a beginning, middle, and end, because nothing exciting happened in the middle. I thought the Ouija board would play a bigger role too, since, you know, the book is called The Game. I get that the demon used it to speak to Julie, but it wasn’t actually necessary since it could manifest physically already and didn’t seem to need a board to possess Joe Campbell 25 years ago, so what was the point?
I wish we learned more about the demon, too. Where did it come from originally? If it’s been around for the girls’ whole lives, why was it only striking out now? Why did it want Julie over Terri? And what was its end goal? It was obviously trying to isolate Julie from everyone else so it could prey on her vulnerability, but why? Did it just enjoy wreaking havoc and tormenting people? It presumably caused the therapist’s wife’s accident and Mum’s brother’s death, so why didn’t it just kill those that were trying to interfere? Lots of questions that will unfortunately never be answered.
Julie’s sudden desire to steal her sister’s boyfriend was also weird, as was her disdain for Terri who’d done nothing but try to be there for her. Julie was just awful in general, to be honest. I get that she was just struggling to cope with her disability, but she also wasn’t trying to cope with her disability, so my sympathy wore off pretty quickly. The way everyone acted like being in a wheelchair was the worst thing ever also annoyed me a bit, but I guess it could have been a lot worse back then than it is now. Surely not, though!
Not sure if I’ll pick up a Dark Forces again anytime soon since this one seemed to drag. I thought this was going to be a quick read because it has the same amount of pages as a Fear Street, but it ended up taking a lot longer than I anticipated because it turns out the font is smaller. My bad! I’ll try pick something short and sharp for the next few recaps so I can try get into a good rhythm of posting again. Life just gets in the way, you know?
Anyway, 77 dreams haunted by a black-robed figure out of 184!
