Cusala

By Jack Freestone

You may believe, but do you really really believe? An evil girl conjures up a demon in New Zealand, and tests the faith of Christians, with deadly consequences. Jack Freestone's occult novella. Not for the faint of heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Freestone
• Release date: Oct 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215442661

Jack Freestone

Scorpio Snake.Surfer.Criminal defense barrister, in a previous life.IF YOU LIKE MY WORK PLEASE DO ME A FAVOUR AND PUT A RATING ON GOODREADS.https://dev-jackfreestoneblog.pantheonsite.io/If you like my work, you can buy me a beer and share your thoughts here! ? Plus get exclusive access to audio files, original poems, and first chapters of audio books.http://buymeacoffee.com/jackfreestPOr alternatively, PayPal, or Crypto donation:https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=RFANJQHW2XKNSSend crypto to:0x3CADA9f951Be57E7450Cd54C8f2D2240243CD4E2Author of The Fake Celebrity in China, China Laid Bare, Cusala, Slice, The Point, The Control Sickness, No Rest for the Wandering Soul, Dark Days and Dangerous Nights, Bali Fungus, and short stories, such as Blind Escort, and The Great Awakening.

Book preview

Also, by Jack Freestone:

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China Laid Bare

The Fake Celebrity in China

Bruce Grove

Bali Fungus

The Control Sickness

Boomerang

Weirdly Bland

Slice

The Point

Dark Days and Dangerous Nights

Blind Escort

The Pures

PART ONE

1

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I first saw him in a church. It was at the end of my third year studying law at Otago University. I had agreed to go to the church with my roommate Ann. She was from Dunedin and was studying journalism. It was the beginning of summer and we were both bored. The masses of out-of-town students had left as usual at the end of term and the city felt almost empty. We lived in a four-bedroom flat on Castle Street, almost opposite Selwyn College. Our other two roommates had left, gone north to their hometowns.

I had chosen not to go home that summer but to work in Dunedin. Ann and I got on well and had a lot of fun. Not in a romantic way at all, more like brother and sister. She was a year younger than me and had a wicked sense of humour and we got up to all sorts of happy mischief.

Her parents were affluent and she was something of a socialite. She seemed to know half the girls at university, so hanging around with her had other advantages. Two of her friends were Pentecostal church members. They were identical twins, both brunettes with curly black hair and gorgeous dark brown eyes. They had such clear healthy eyes, which could only be possessed by people who drank no alcohol, took no drugs, and only ate healthy food. But they were extreme believers. In fact, they were said to have the rare ability of speaking in tongues. That meant they spoke in some kind of sacred language when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ann feigned interest in them and their ability but behind their backs openly mocked them as was her way with many people. So, they had invited her to attend a church meeting one night. She invited me along. I was not religious in the least and had only attended churches at weddings and baptisms but I was bored and the twins with their beautiful angelic eyes interested me, so I agreed to go along.

Ann was more interested in the dark side. We had done stuff together like a Ouija board and had visited the cemetery overlooking the ocean at St Kilda stoned one night, though we had sped out of there when the smoke from the crematorium freaked us out.

The church was very large and ornate and was about three quarters full that night with loyal worshippers. The priest did some prayers and bible readings and things warmed up pretty quickly into some songs. I was standing at the aisle and next to me was Ann then the two twins. During one song Ann dug me in the ribs slightly with her elbow then flicked her eyes towards the twins. They had their eyes shut and were indeed speaking in tongues. Ann used her usual short high-pitched laugh reasonably loudly and I smiled but was too polite to laugh. It was kind of interesting, though it did appear to be completely faked. I guessed they believed that they were speaking God’s language but I was far from convinced.

The next part was the miracle of God part where people told the congregation of some wonderful experience. The first guy was a Maori and he cheerfully got up and said that he had injured his leg terribly playing rugby but through his faith and the power of prayer and God he had become healed and could play again.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Everyone echoed the words.

It also seemed very fake to me and I just scratched my head and smiled to Ann. After that, others got up and shared their great news.

About this time, I had lost interest and was more interested by the sounds coming from the rear of the church. It seemed there was some kind of argument going on which I thought was odd.

Before I looked back, he was beside me, arrogantly walking to the front of the congregation followed closely by two far smaller men who were trying unsuccessfully to stop him. He was very tall and a little fat and was holding a big bottle of Lion Brown beer.

He turned to face us, the congregation, while the priest tapped him gently on the shoulder and asked him to leave. He had a big head and unkempt brown hair and looked kind of mean. He took a swig from his bottle. There was complete silence in the church and all eyes were upon him.

I am the closest thing to the Antichrist you will ever see, he said quite loudly and clearly.

It was the first thing in the church that night that I thought might be real. He did look very evil.

He laughed loudly, took another swig from his bottle then began mocking us. The priest reacted by getting most of the people to sing. And people started yelling, Praise the Lord, over and over again. It drowned his voice out and perhaps sensing defeat he started to walk