“So Caroline said you could help. How can you help us?” Amanda was quite protective of Stacy.

“Well, I am a medium… exorcist … demon hunter … ish.” Dave was apparently not used to being questioned like this, so all he could do was answer awkwardly and scratch his head: “I’ve worked with Caroline for some time, she trusts me and my abilities. So you can trust me.”

“Hmm. Okay. What kind of exorcisms have you done before?” Amanda asked.

“Actually not that much… Um... I helped some common family with some poltergeists in their new home?”

“Okay. I’m not gonna just buy it. But you can try.” Amanda thought for a while, then also realized that there was basically no way for her to verify anything.

“Cool, thanks for letting me help.” Dave chuckled: “New year, new excitement for me.”

“So dealing with things like this is exciting for you?” Amanda became a bit worried again.

“Yeah, kinda. ” Dave nodded: “It only excites me when I succeed, so no worries. I’ll be very responsible.”

“Okay ...” Amanda frowned: “I guess that’s okay … you wanna put down the jar? And is… is that a jellyfish in your jar?”

“Ah, no. I’d better not. It’s very heavy.” Dave shook his head: “And this one here can help … it can feed on the negative energy radiated by unclean presence.”

“Okay. Follow me.” Amanda finally decided not to engage in too much smalltalk with Dave as she felt that there really wasn’t anything they could connect on.

Sitting on her sofa all curled up in a blanket with cat figures on it, Stacy took a look at Dave and only greeted him with a nod: “Hello, Dave, right? Caroline told you to come?”

“Indeed.” Dave sat down on the floor beside Stacy: “Well not exactly, Caroline asked her boss for help first, he wasn’t available so he asked me instead. ”

Stacy looked worried by Dave’s answer.

“But worry not!” Dave chuckled: “I… I may not be as amazing as Caroline’s Boss, I am still very… uh very good!”

“Okay, Dave, buddy. Just help us and let us decide, shall we?” Amanda pulled a chair and also sat beside Stacy.

“No problem!” Dave smiled and looked at Stacy: “So, Stacy, tell me everything about these nightmares you have.”

“It’s ... it’s a shadow that keeps following me.” Stacy thought for a while, took a long inhale and said: “Sometimes I am in some corner of a street … Sometimes I am in a hallway that has no end … sometimes I am in a staircase. And last night, I was on an empty street, and, and and it was following me, sometimes giggling and laughing, sometimes crying like it’s in pain … and when I woke up, I...” Stacy turned around and started unbuttoning her blouse.

“Woah, woah woah.” Amanda stopped Stacy and continued her story: “She had scratches and bruises on her back.”

“And one of the bruises looked just like a hand.” Stacy was trembling: “And last night in my dreams, the shadow was really close to me, I could feel it was reaching out to me … I think I’m haunted, something must have latched onto me...”

Dave thought for a while, then nodded: “Okay, I understood. I won’t need to look at your back. But can you turn around? I need to sense it a little. Don’t worry, I won’t need to touch you.”

“... okay.” Stacy hesitated for a while, then turned around.

Dave extended his spare hand at Stacy’s back, then he switched his hand and let the jar with a jellyfish inside close to her back. The jellyfish twiched its tentacles a little bit when it got close to Stacy’s back.

“So, you sensed it too?” Dave said to the jar of jellyfish, with no consideration of how Stacy and Amanda would see him at all, then he turned to Stacy: “Okay, I think the best course of action for now, is for you to try and sleep right now.”

“What? I .. I don’t understand.” Stacy grabbed onto her blanket.

“Yeah. She just had a nightmare, you can’t ask her to do that.” Amanda said.

“You’ll need to. Like you said. This thing has latched onto you.” Dave said to Stacy directly: “Well, not to you directly, it’s actually latched onto your thoughts. That’s why you only see it in your dreams.”

“But … the bruises and scratches ...” Stacy grabbed onto her shoulders.

“They’re from you.” Dave answered: “They’re the manifestation of your thoughts. Um, to be precise - extreme thoughts. You ever heard of the story of a serial murderer’s wife? She fed him soup and told him that there was poison in the soup. And he indeed died, showing symptoms of poisoning. But when the police checked the soup, there was no poison in it at all.”

“Okay.” after thinking about it for a while, Stacy sighed and conceded.

“Okay. If you’re okay with it, I’m okay with it.” Amanda also sighed: “What do you have, Stacy? Do you need help sleeping? I can see if I have any pills...”

“No worries. I can help you.” Dave smiled, “Just find a place to lay down.”

“O… okay, here’s fine.” Stacy laid down on her sofa and covered herself with her blanket, then she looked at Dave and Amanda with worries in her eyes: “What… what should I do next?”

“Okay, look at my hand.” Dave placed his spare hand in the space above Stacy’s head, “Focus on my palm, and listen to my instructions: first, take a deep breath.”

Stacy did, with her eyes focused on Dave’s palm.

“Now, I want you to keep imagining this, while looking at my palm, no matter how sleepy you’ve got. ” Dave continued: “Imagine that, your fears, your worries, your stress, and the thoughts that prevent you from being relaxed and content be materialized into some objects in this world, something you can throw away or set aside.

“Then, take another deep breath, hum the chorus of your favorite song, then take another deep breath, hum again. Repeat this process and keep imagining. Remain focused on my palm.”

It didn’t take long before Stacy started snoring.