I know... I'm so sorry it took so long... I'm struggling again and I don't know when I'll start feeling back up to writing. I'm going to try and crank the rest of this story within the next few days so I can post it up either all together or in sequence like when I started. I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but I thank you for your patience..

Associação Escola Graduada de São Paulo (Sao Paulo Grade School)

Sao Paulo, Brasil

June 21st, 2004

8:40 a.m.

Taina and Vitoria walked together through the yard of their school waiting for Maria and Gabriela.

"Where the hell are they? We only have twenty more minutes," Vitoria groaned as she checked her phone's clock.

Leave it up to Princess Maria to be "fashionably late".

"Hey, you!" they heard called from behind them. They turned to see who called them. It was Maria, and by the look on her face she was heavily pissed.

"Hey Mari," Taina chirped as Maria marched straight up to her.

"You psycho!" Maria screamed as she pushed Taina.

"What the fuck, Maria?" Taina said pushing her back.

"Hey! Chill out," Vitoria shouted coming in between them.

"Maria, what's your problem?" Vitoria said shooting her a look.

"You think you're funny, huh?" Maria screamed keeping her focus on Taina.

"What are you talking about?" Taina shouted back.

"You snuck back in my house last night and started choking me! What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Vitoria and Taina both looked at Maria like she was yelling at them in another language.

"I couldn't have choked you because I was at home at night!"

"I know what I saw. Just stay the fuck away from me- you spooky bitch!" Maria spat as she stepped around them to go inside. The schoolyard had become eerily quiet as the children in the lower classes had stopped to watch what was going on.

"She must be crazier than you are," Vitoria said with a scoff as she and Taina watched Maria stomp away.

"Right," Taina said turning back to look at Vitoria. "Hey, where's Gabi? She's always with Maria, but she's not here."

Vitoria shrugged as she pulled her phone from her bag, "I'll call and see." Taina stood by as she waited for the call to commence. "Oh, hi Mrs. Aguilar, is Gabi around? ...Oh, she's not? ...I'm sorry to hear that. Tell her Viti and Taina hopes she gets better. Okay, bye bye." Vitoria looked over at Taina after she put her phone away.

"What's wrong with her?" Taina asked.

"Her mom says she's sick, but I could hear her crying in the background. I guess you really did a number on her mind when you slaughtered that goat."

Taina placed a finger to Vitoria's lips. "Shhh, I don't want anyone to hear you!"

Vitoria rolled her eyes with a smile, "Come on, Taina- nobody at this school is that invested in you," she said as she started to walk up the pathway to the school's doors.

"Still, it'd be best if we all kept quiet. You never know what could happen..."

History Class

3:00 p.m.

Taina yawned as she leaned forward to rest her hand on her hand. She hated the parts of class that considered of listening to the teacher talk and talk on for the students to take notes. She picked up her pencil to draw small hearts, skulls, and x's in the side margins of her paper. A bad habit that got her in detention more than once. The teacher's voice had become just an annoying buzz at the back of Taina's head as she began to tune her out. She was almost completely zoned out when she heard, Taina... She paused mid-stroke to look up and around her. Everyone seemed to be focused on the teacher instead of her. Taina looked back down at her paper continuing her drawing. She was beginning to tune the teacher out again when once more, Taina... Her pencil clacked softly on her desk as she placed it down to turn around.

"Stop bothering me," she huffed at the boy who sat behind her.

"What?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Leave me alone," Taina growled before turning back around in her seat. Chills ran up and down her spine as her eyes veered out the window to her left. She could swear she saw someone dressed in all black staring at her from the yard. She couldn't see their face because their hood was up, but they were disturbingly tall and freakishly skinny. The bell ringing caused her to flinch. She looked upwards to the clock that read 3:30 p.m. Time to go home. Taina looked back out the window as the chills grew stronger. She could feel the tiny bumps making their way down her arms as she looked upon the normal scenery of the yard with no one in sight.

Taina gathered her things from her desk and stepped out into the hall. She came upon Vitoria who stood idle at her locker.

"Hey, you!" Vitoria said flashing Taina a peace sign.

"Hey," Taina replied hugging her things tightly to her.

Vitoria's smile began to slowly fade, "What's the matter? You're so pale."

Taina shook her head, "It's nothing, just my mind playing tricks on me."

Vitoria laughed as she and Taina began down the hall together, "Don't tell me your going crazy like Maria. I don't think I'd be able to handle two of you."

Taina giggled shaking her head again, "Nah, just letting some things get to-..." Her words trailed off as she looked ahead to the back of what looked like the same thing she saw earlier. All black, very tall, and skeletal in frame.

"Just letting things do what? Taina? Helloooo?" Vitoria called.

Taina couldn't hear her. She couldn't take her focus off of whatever it was walking amongst the other students in front of them. Taina's whole body felt cold and heavy when she noticed it stop walking. She tried to stop. To turn around and run the other way as fast as possible, but her body wouldn't cooperate. The cold feeling in her body began to burn as if ice had formed in her veins as it began to turn around.

"Taina!?" Vitoria had practically shouted her name. Taina's attention snapped back to Vitoria as the yelling of her name brought her back. They were outside now staring at the school.

"Finally! Look!" Vitoria shouted as she pointed towards the top of the building. There was someone standing on the tower that stood above the entrance to the school. Taina had to squint to make out who it was. It was Maria. "What the fuck is she doing!?" Vitoria shouted over the panicking voices of the others around them.

"I don't know..." Taina said as she looked on.

Vitoria cupped her hands around her mouth, "Maria!" No response. "Maria!" she shouted again even louder.

"She's not going to jump is she?" Taina asked with a quivering voice. No sooner than she asked, the screams of the students around them pierced the air. It was as if the moment happened in slow motion, but lasted no longer than two seconds. Maria had gone from the top of the building to lying directly in front of the doorway. The last sound they heard before she landed being a grisly thud.

"Oh, my God..." Vitoria whispered as she hugged two hysterical children to her. Taina's eyes slowly crept up the face of the building to the tower Maria once stood. There was the thing that she had seen in the yard and the hallway.

"She was pushed..." she said aloud to no one. She felt the familiar cold run through her body as her vision became blurred and black. I'll come back for you... She could feel the rough surface of concrete hit the back of her head for a fraction of a second before slipping into nothing.

Present Day

Taina clasped her hands together as Olivier and Father Durand looked between each other.

"What happened to the others?" Father Durand asked turning back to Taina.

"Gabi never came back to school and Vitoria moved away shortly after the incident." Father Durand nodded his head slowly.

"Well, the good thing is it hasn't caused you to harm yourself or others. We can take care of that with a pray-"

"Actually," Taina interjected, "it has." Father Durand stared hard at Taina waiting for her to continue. "I... I was awaken one night to it calling me. I picked up my gun and followed the voice. It commanded me to turn around to see it. It was coming towards me and it was reaching out, so I fired at it. What else could I have done?" Taina's voice wavered as her throat became tense with emotion. She swallowed hard and continued on, "But ever since, I've been getting flashbacks. I didn't shoot it. I shot my teammate. I can see him begging for his life at the end of my gun. I can see it going off as I put bullets in his body. I can see his soul leave his body as I- as I..." Taina held her face in her hands as she screamed through her heavy sobs. Recalling the event was so much harder to do when she said it out loud. "I didn't mean to kill him. I swear that's not how it happened," she said as she put her hands down to look at Father Durand.

"I know. You didn't kill him, the entity attached to you did. I'm so sorry, my dear girl," Father Durand said reaching across to take one of Taina's hands in his. Olivier tensed expecting Taina to react violently as people were one of the top things she hated, but to see her trembling fingers wrap around Father Durand's put him at ease. "We're going to need more than a prayer. This is going to be a battle of mind, soul, and faith. Olivier," Father Durand said turning to face him.

"Oui, Pere Durand?"

"Are you feeling confident enough in your faith to help me help her?" Olivier nodded confidently.

"Good, good. My dear, will you be willing to fight against it with everything in your body and mind?" Taina nodded wiping the tears from her eyes giving him a weak but reassuring nod.

"Good. I'll need both of you to come back tomorrow- I have to make preparations. For now, I can give you this," Father Durand said standing up. He made his way over to a shelf on the far wall to retrieve a small golden box. He returned to his seat at the kitchen table and opened the box to gingerly remove its contents. He pulled out a rosary and a small vile of clear liquid. "The rosary and anointing will protect you while you're alone," Father Durand said popping the cork on the vile. He waved Taina closer and slipped the rosary over her neck.

"Are you sure this will work?" she asked.

Father Durand nodded as he dripped what looked like oil from the vile on the tip of his finger. He made the sign of the cross on Taina's forehead as he blessed her, "In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit..."