Happy spring! It’s fine for free stories from around the world.

My contribution this month has a familiar theme, but a slightly different take - let me know what you think!

And don’t forget - scroll to the bottom for the other free stories! Enjoy!!!

POSSESSION

It smelled like any other courtroom—stale coffee, sweat, desperation, and triumph. To add to the insult, it looked like any other courtroom too—the TV version—heavy wood everywhere, the judge’s stand in the center, the jury box to her right, and on the left, the court stenographer’s desk.

 Prosecutor and Defense Attorney tables between the court area and the audience seats. Empty, empty, empty.

 Dana took the long, slow walk to the lectern facing the judge, murmured, “Where do I sit?”

 rosecutor’s table, the demon—unpronounceable name who grudgingly told her she could call him Bob—grumbled inside her.

 “But I’m also the defense. You’re suing me,” Dana reminded him.

 Bob snarled, Simple case of landlord/tenant under statute—

 “Save it for the judge.”

 A side door opened and a uniformed officer stepped into the room.

 Then a priest.

 Dana wasn’t versed enough in the common religions to decide which denomination he belonged to, but he looked appropriately attired—in the movie sense, again. Why didn’t she know these things without relying on movies?

 One of the doors behind her also opened, and her attorney came through, chatting with the demon’s attorney. Both she and the demon straightened.

 “Ah, yes.” The prosecutor eyed her up and down. “Demon Bob is also present?”

 The demon rose up inside her, took her vision, her muscles, her mouth. Here.

 “Excellent.”

 The defense looked as if she wanted to break in, but the prosecutor hurried on, “We’ve talked about it. You’ll sit where you belong, depending on who is… in charge?”

 “Ascendent.” Dana and Bob together, giving so much power to the word that the lights flickered and dimmed.

 The priest raised his bible, but before he could do more than that, the defense said sharply, “None of that. That’s part of the problem, isn’t it? None of that today.”

 Dana and Bob bowed their head.

 

*

 

It had looked, Dana later reflected, somewhat like a bizarre game of ping pong. Their body had moved back and forth between the two tables, doing their best to be in the correct place depending on who was ascendent, but both of them had a tendency to be snarky when under pressure, and how could there be any more pressure than when deciding their fate?

 So back and forth they went, with everyone else watching suspiciously each time they moved.

 By the end of it, the priest was a twitching mess but the uniformed officers had finally relaxed.

 During one particularly droning expert, she wailed silently, “Why are you doing this?”

 He snorted. I’m here to stay. Deal.

 “But—”

 And then the attorney asked another question and they were off again.

 The stand, at least, was simpler, from the movement point of view—their body could stay in one place while testifying, even if they had to switch who was in charge. Especially since because she hosted the demon, Dana had been denied her right to plead the fifth.

 So they testified and were cross-examined, and the tension wound tighter and tighter until their body prickled with sweat and the priest wilted in his chair.

 But in the end, it seemed all her arguing had been for nothing. After hearing all the witnesses and Dana and Bob themselves, the judge decided, “Possession is nine-tenths of the law,” and forbade Dana from any more exorcisms.

 The gavel smashed down like the final period to end the sentence of Dana’s life.

 Bob receded, triumphant and secure, leaving Dana to stagger out of the court room. The attorneys each said things Dana didn’t hear. She passed them by and made it to the front steps of the building before her knees gave out.

 Dazed, she watched the priest run down the steps, fleeing her and her corruption, then the lawyers, chatting like old friends.

 Her partner had already left, holes in their apartment and life she hadn’t yet filled. Her family would disown her.

 But—so quietly that the demo Bob wouldn’t hear it—she whispered to herself that he would never leave. In fact, he’d fought to stay. Fought harder than anyone else in her life.

 

Maybe his possession wouldn’t be so bad after all.

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