A little girl was standing next to me. We were standing in front of a dark hallway.

“Do you see it? Do you see it?”

She kept asking. I shook my head no as I grabbed hold of the little girl’s hand. “No, but I hear it.” I admitted.

Neither of us were willing to walk into that darkened hallway and risk chancing the danger that we knew was there. At the same time, we felt ashamed; Nobody else would believe us if we had admitted our findings to them. It made us feel crazy when we knew we were not.

I squeezed the small child’s hands and stared forward at the horror that lay before us. I imagined the girl probably saw a pale man with red eyes and yellow teeth.  The thought was fleeting and I was sure that, for a second, I saw what she saw; I did not like it.

“I won’t make you go in there.”

I promised as I gripped her hand even tighter. The girl inclined to this by squeezing mine in turn. Was it her trying to comfort me? I don’t know, but then I heard laughing.

My eyes hardened as I stared at the dark hallway. I wanted to march up to whatever was right there and smack it a few good times in the head.

“Can we fight it?’

Her question sounded curious and scared; not something I wanted to answer honestly. I looked down at her and decided that the best way to help her is to tell the truth.

“No we can not, but I know someone who can.”

I said as the image of a priest popped into my head.