Chapter 5: Coffee and demons
She woke up awhile later back in her room. It was already dark outside, but the dim light from a street lamp was shining through her window. She laid in bed for a few moments until she heard voices coming from the garden. She quietly rose from her bed and went over to try to listen at the door, but the voices were too far away. She opened the door as gently as she could so that she didn't make a sound and left the room. Keeping to the shadows she followed along a path just outside of the garden. She stopped dead in her tracks when she finally got sight of who was talking. It was Father Gabriel and the man from the diner; the one who had left her the note on the napkin and scared away the demon. What would he be doing here? Nothing seemed to add up.
As Eden stood there trying to make some sort of sense out of all this she had forgotten that she was standing in the open. She was reminded when she saw the man look over in her direction. She was stunned at first and wasn't sure what she should do. He didn't seem surprised to see her. He just looked straight at her, smiled almost sarcastically, then continued talking to Father Gabriel. Their conversation concluded quickly and the man turned and left the garden, but not before sending another snarky smile in Eden's direction. Father Gabriel, now aware of Eden's presence in the garden walked over to her. Standing in front of her he said, "I know you must have many questions. We'll speak in the morning. Right now you should rest, as should I." Eden just shook her head in agreement, although feeling slightly frustrated at how everyone seemed to avoid telling her any useful information.
She went back to her room and sat on the edge of her bed. She had just slept through most of the day and half the night, so of course she wasn't tired. She sat for a long time thinking of everything that had happened and everyone she had come across in the past few days; Father Gabriel, the man at the diner, Abe, the demon that revealed itself to her in her waking hours, and the one who had confronted her in her dreams that started all of this. She couldn't believe all that happened in such a short amount of time, and what had happened beneath the church earlier with the young girl. What was going on? Was Father Gabriel finally going to give her some answers? There was just no way she could even think of sleeping the rest of the night, but she couldn't just sit on the edge of her bed.
She grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. It was late, but she had decided to stop in at the internet café she passed by on her way to the church. It wasn't far and she noticed that it was open late. She figured she may as well do something productive with her time seeing as she wouldn't be getting any sleep. She knew the gates to the church would be locked already, so she found a place on the wall that had large overgrown vines cascading down the sides. She gripped the vine firmly and began to climb over the wall. Once she reached the top of the wall she steadied herself and jumped to the ground below, landing on her feet. Straightening her jacket and dusting herself off she began walking to the café. The streets were eerily quiet and empty. She heard dogs barking in the neighborhood and as the cold air bit at her skin she pulled her jacket tightly around her. She was quite relieved that she didn't run into any trouble on the way to the café.
The bell rang over the glass door as she entered. There were only a few other people using the computers. It was a decent size and well-kept, considering the area it was in. Inside was warm with the smell of coffee floating through the air. She walked up to the counter and ordered a cup of coffee and paid to use the computer for an hour. After receiving her coffee and a code to type into a computer, she placed her jacket on the back of the chair and sat down to begin her search. Her search on Nybbas offered very little insight as to whom or what this demon was. He was considered a charlatan among other demons. Apparently not respected in any way, however she was intrigued to find out that he was charged with the task of overseeing visions and dreams. Was he the cause of her nightmares? If so, why hadn't she seen him before; and how had he appeared to her while she was awake? Whether he had caused the nightmares or not, she was certain that he was not the demon who had left the scratches on her face a few nights ago. No, that demon was much more frightening.
She then did a search on sleep paralysis; a sensation that occurs in the moments between being asleep and awake. She had heard of it awhile back, but upon further research she found that though there were similarities between this occurrence and what happened to her each night, none of the people who experience it ever woke up with any scratches or bruises. When sleep paralysis occurs it is during a period of REM sleep that the person suddenly becomes aware before they have completed the sleep cycle. The mind is awake, but the body is still in a relaxed state, unable to move or speak. This can cause a sense of dread or fear because the person does not understand what is happening. People would describe being overcome with anxiety and sensing an evil presence in the room. They wouldn't be able to move as if being held down by someone or something that they couldn't see, they couldn't speak, and they were fully aware as if they were awake.
Sometimes the presence would taunt them and sometimes it would even smother them to the point where they couldn't breathe. Eventually they would be able to break free, but were too frightened to attempt sleep again. There were pictures of demons sitting on top of sleeping women, tall dark figures haunting children in their beds, and demons sucking the life-force out of sleeping victims. Though it was considered a common condition, many people were frightened by it. They believed that demonic creatures visited them at night. Whether it was to torment them, steal their soul, or steal their life-force was uncertain. All they knew was that there was something terrible and evil that came to them at night.
Some people however found that they were able to control this occurrence with patience and practice. Even to the point of experiencing astral projection, also known as an out-of-body experience. During these times the person claimed to be able to leave their physical body behind and travel to any place their mind could envision. Some could even travel between the realms of the living and the dead. Though, scientifically this was nothing more than lucid dreaming, in which a person is able to gain full control over their dreams.
Eden was becoming frustrated. Were these people actually experiencing demonic attacks, or were they just suffering from an occurrence that was common for people with sleep disorders. She leaned back in her chair grasping her head with both hands out of frustration. She let out a sigh and as she lowered her hands she accidentally knocked over her cup of coffee and it spilled all over the floor, luckily only a small amount spilled on the table. "Great, that's just what I needed," she said as she grabbed a napkin and began to soak up the coffee on the table. Seeing that she didn't have enough napkins she went over to the counter to get more.
As she was kneeling down cleaning up the mess she happened to look up and to her surprise saw the man who had been talking to Father Gabriel walking by the café. She quickly got up and ran for the door. Pushing the door open she began shouting at the man, but he seemed to be ignoring her and continued walking. She started to run after him and just as she started to catch up he turned a corner down an empty alley. Eden wasn't far behind, but when she turned down the same alley the man had vanished. She stood for a moment in disbelief that she was so close and he still managed to lose her.
Realizing how late it was she decided that she had better get back inside before something happens. She felt defeated as she walked back to the café hanging her head. She arrived just in time to see the young worker flipping the sign on the door and locking up. "Oh come on" she exclaimed, raising her hands in despair as she stared at the jacket still placed neatly on the back of the chair she had been sitting on. She pounded on the door trying to get the attention of the worker whose back was turned towards her as he walked away from the door. Were it not for the earphones he had stuffed in his ears he would have heard her, but he just continued walking to the back of the café dancing to the rhythm of the music that was being blasted in his ears.
She turned and leaned against the door, with her hands grasping her head she slid down into a sitting position. She wasn't sure what to do now. Maybe if she waited the worker would be back out to clean up and would notice her. She didn't really have much choice, all her money, her ID, and the keys Father Gabriel had given her to her room and a couple other areas were in the pockets of that jacket. She let out a heavy sigh and pushed herself back onto her feet and turned back towards the door and waited.
It seemed like she was waiting there forever. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, but it was so cold without her jacket. She saw the worker come back out with a mop and bucket and began pounding on the glass again. It still took a little bit to get his attention. It was when he looked over and noticed the jacket still sitting on the back of the chair that he started to look around. He jumped at the sight of Eden standing outside looking at him. She motioned to the jacket and the worker quickly ran over and picked it up. He then hurried over to the door and nervously fiddled with his keys trying to find the right one. When he finally was able to open the door and pulled out the earphones he handed her the jacket and said, "You need to be more careful lady! You know, you could get hypothermia or somethin'!"
Slightly annoyed Eden simply said, "Thanks" and grabbed the jacket. Feeling bad for not noticing it before he offered her a cup of coffee and said that she could come inside and warm up for a few minutes. She accepted hesitantly and walked inside.
After receiving her cup of coffee she sat at the table where she was using the computer before. Most of the lights had been turned off so that illumination mostly came from the dim computer screens. Glancing over his broom the young man noticed that her internet search was still up and tried to make conversation as Eden clutched her coffee cup with both hands.
"You havin' some trouble sleeping," he asked nodding to the article on the screen. "I guess," she replied before blowing on her steaming coffee. "Ya know, my gir---err um, a friend of mine says she's had that…sleep paralysis…thing." Eden suddenly perked up a little bit. She lifted her head and asked, "Really? What has she told you about it?" Still sweeping the floor the he said, "Only that it's the freakiest thing she's ever experienced. Says that it feels like she's being held down, or restrained, but it's like…all over. Like…her skin is a prison and she's stuck inside. Sometimes she hears something laughing in the room and voices talking to each other." "That sounds awful," Eden said staring at the young man. "Yeah. She looked some stuff up too. She had a hard time finding anything, but said there was some demon named…Ny…Nybba…I dunno, some weird name. Said he was the demon of visions and dreams, but he was like…a really low-level demon or something. Something about he's always grinning. You believe in any of that stuff?" Eden lowered her head to hide the troubled look on her face, "You don't want to know what I believe kid."
He stopped sweeping and rested on the broom for a few seconds, "Huh. Well, maybe you just need someone to talk to," he said smiling at her. Eden decided it was time to go. She set the cup down on the table and got up from her seat. Reaching out to shake the young man's hand she thanked him for the coffee and explained that she had to get going. He walked her over to the door and held it open for her. On her way out the door she told him to tell his girlfriend thanks for the info and that it was very helpful. His face became flushed with embarrassment and he lowered his head as he closed the door behind her.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone