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ASHFORD: What’s that?

SARA: Nothing. It’s from a book.

She stands.

SARA: I’m ready.

VIDEO EVIDENCE

Donoghue Exorcism

Recorded by Andrew Ashford

May 10, 2017, 12:34 a.m.

Video is fragmentary, lapsing frequently into black or visual and audio distortions that make comprehension impossible.

A man speaks in a calm, clear voice. The language appears to be Aramaic.*An image flickers into view: Becca Donoghue, pacing at the edges of a circle of chalk surrounded by strange symbols, perhaps lettering of some kind. Andrew Ashford stands to the north of the circle; it is he who is chanting. Melanie Whittaker stands to the east, Abigail Ryder to the west, and Sara Donoghue, back straight and eyes fixed on her sister, to the south.

The image turns to black; a sound like howling wind drowns out all else, followed by an electronic squeal and then a cacophony of other sounds, impossible to distinguish.*

The next clear sound is a woman screaming.

Seconds later, an image flickers briefly into view. Melanie Whittaker stands against a wall as if flung there. Ashfordhas stumbled back. Abigail Ryder remains in position, hands moving swiftly in strange, mathematically precise configurations.

Sara Donoghue remains. Her sister stands at the edge of the chalk, inches away, teeth bared and pupils filling her irises.

The video cuts out. Here and there, fragments of shouting can be made out, syllables isolated until they have been stripped of meaning.

ASHFORD: It’s not working. We need to stop this.

ABBY: No. We’re not stopping yet. I just need—

Audio cuts out. Video and audio cut back in several seconds later. Only Sara remains beside the circle. The others have fallen back. Becca Donoghue stalks back and forth along the inner edge of the chalk. She licks her lips, her head moving like a snake’s.

BECCA: They died because of you. All of them. You can’t even remember poor Nick. Vanessa? You weren’t even her friend. You didn’t even notice she was gone when youdidremember her, and then you were perfectly happy to kill her, weren’t you, just to save Trina. Perfect Trina, who died anyway. Died savingyou,and was it worth it? You know it wasn’t.

Sara Donoghue does not flinch. She reaches out her hand, across the barrier of chalk.

ABBY: Don’t—

SARA: I found you once, Becca. I’ll always find you.

Becca flinches back from the hand.

BECCA: She’s already gone. There’s no point to any of this.You failed. You tricked them all. Brave Jeremy. Anthony, so loyal he lied to you for a year about his feelings for Becca so he wouldn’t hurt your fragile little ego, because he knew you couldn’t stand to be anything but the center of attention. Mel, sick with love and too afraid to tell you, but oh, you enjoyed finding out about that, didn’t you? Back to being the shining star.

Sara laughs, bright and sad.

SARA: You don’t understand her at all. You don’t understand us at all. I wanted to shine as bright as her, because she was the most beautiful thing in the universe. My sister. The brightest thing.

Sara steps forward. She stands at the very edge of the circle now.

ABBY: Donotstep over that circle, Sara!

SARA: It’s all right.

Sara Donoghue takes another step forward, breaking the barrier of chalk, her hand still outstretched.