Naomi Hirahara - Santa Cruz Noir

“The Catholics call it exorcism, but Christians don’t,” Rachel said. Rachel’s father was the minister of New Hope. Lisa’s grandparents had been in the same World War II camp as Rachel’s.

“If you’re born again, you can’t be demon-possessed,” Wendy assured them. “The Devil has no hold on you.” Wendy, always the good cabin leader, was steady and calm.

“But you can be oppressed,” Rachel said.

“What does that mean?” a Lukewarm asked.

“That a demon can attach to you,” Karen said. “They can’t take over, but they can still bother you. They can enter through a weak spot.”

Rachel squinted her eyes as if she was reassessing Karen’s level of spirituality.

Before Karen could say anything more, the chubby boy in shorts was back standing in front of their cabin. She began to realize that he had a crush on someone in the cabin.

“It’s Lisa Tanizaki,” the boy called out. “They want Karen Abe to come to Cabin Twenty-One.”

“Why?” Karen tightened her fists. The boy said her name as if he knew her. He didn’t know her.

“You’re her best friend, right? They think you can help.”

The Lukewarms made room for Karen to get through the door.

“I’ll go with you,” Wendy said, pressing lightly on her elbow.

“And I’ll take care of things here,” Rachel volunteered.

What a kiss-ass , Karen thought.

Wendy wrapped Karen’s hand around the crook of her arm and together they walked down the stairs of the cabin, the screen door flapping behind them.

As they crossed the dirt walkway, something crackled and then landed on her white long-sleeve T-shirt. “Shit! What is that?” Karen felt her throat closing up. She hated bugs, especially spiders and cockroaches. But this one was worse because she didn’t know what it was.

The boy pointed his flashlight at Karen’s T-shirt. It was about an inch long with six legs and white stripes on its back. “Oh, it’s a Mount Hermon june beetle. I think they’re endangered.”

Of course this nerd would know about bugs . “God, get it off me!”

The boy started slapping at her body, even grazing her breasts in their A-cup bra. Karen pushed him away.

“It’s okay.” Wendy put herself between the two campers. “They don’t bite.”

They examined Karen’s T-shirt with Wendy’s soft flashlight. No bug.

“What is wrong with you?” Karen frowned at the new boy. His bare legs were caked with a layer of pink.

“It’s just calamine lotion. Got into some poison oak today.”

You better not’ve given me your poison oak , Karen thought to herself. She silently swore at him, noticing Wendy giving her a sideways glance.

The three of them continued walking through the crowd of high school campers, most of them in college sweatshirts, their faces frozen. Someone murmured that the local hospital had been called and an ambulance was on its way.

They were greeted at the door of Cabin Twenty-One by its cabin leader, a skinny young woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail. Karen recognized her as Wendy’s good friend Tammy. The two leaders awkwardly embraced, their stiff, thin bodies knocking together.

Karen continued through the porch to the bunkbeds. The room smelled of barf, and Karen stifled a retch.

There were grown-ups surrounding the far bunkbeds. Camp admins, all men in polo shirts embroidered with the camp Christian cross ablaze above a redwood tree, were absorbed in their walkie-talkies. As they quickly huddled for an impromptu meeting, the view to the bottom bunk opened. From a distance, Lisa Tanizaki looked like sleeping beauty in her baby-blue UCLA T-shirt.

But as Karen got closer, she saw there were streaks of vomit on Lisa’s cheek. Her eyes were half-open, as if she was watching everything transpire in front of her.

“No, young lady, you’ll have to stay in the other room,” a walkie-talkie man stopped Karen. She looked down and saw a dark circle on the rug.

“I’m her friend. Karen Abe. I was told to come here.”

“We’ll get you when we need you,” he said, practically pushing her back out onto the enclosed porch.

“Lisa was acting weird, like she was high,” a voice said from a corner of the porch.

In the dark, Karen spied someone else from New Hope: Jacob Conner. He was hapa , half and half. In certain contexts he looked more white, in others, Japanese. Here he seemed otherworldly. An elf. An angel.

“What are you doing here?”

Jacob paused before answering. “Lisa forgot her jacket in the hall after worship. I was here to bring it back.”

That’s a lame excuse. Weren’t you here to spy on her, make sure she kept her mouth shut?

Cabin Twenty-One leader Tammy’s back was turned toward them, but Karen could still overhear her talking to Wendy: “Her body got all stiff like a board. She was grinding her teeth.”

“Sounds like The Exorcist to me,” the poison-oak boy said to Jacob and Karen. “You know, there are Satan worshippers up here in these mountains.”

The back of Karen’s neck tingled like when a tine of a fork accidentally hit the middle of a cavity.

“Shut up, Carl,” said Jacob. He was acting tough, but Karen saw right through it.

“No, really. I even saw something when I was hiking around Mount Hermon.”

Karen’s body lurched. So this stupid boy Carl was in Mount Hermon today too; did he see anything?

Carl couldn’t shut up: “I went to this clearing and there was a pentagram carved into the rock floor. And stones piled up at each point of the star.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Jacob scoffed, as if he were trying to convince himself.

“And this dark mark in the middle of it. I think it was blood.”

He’s so full of shit . Karen turned her back and gestured for Jacob to do the same.

Rachel walked up onto the porch in a Stanford beanie. “Is Lisa still alive?”

What a question to ask , thought Karen. “Of course, she’s alive. An ambulance is coming for her.”

“Since I’ve known Lisa the longest, I thought you might want my input,” Rachel said, as if she was making some kind of public announcement.

What a bitch , Karen thought. Just because their grandparents were interned together, that didn’t mean anything.

The two camp leaders turned to listen. “Whatever information you may have, Rachel, please share,” Wendy said.

“If you ask me, Lisa hasn’t been herself. At our last youth praise meeting, Lisa usually helps lead worship, but she said that she couldn’t do it. She sat in the back of the church. I mean, just sat there. She didn’t sing or anything.”

Karen remembered that night. She was, in fact, relieved that Lisa wasn’t up there in front, hogging the spotlight. Jacob had sat right next to Karen in the third row of the padded pews, for the very first time. The side of his thigh grazed hers. Karen was so self-conscious, she only mouthed the lyrics to the praise songs.

“Maybe Lisa was just feeling sick?” Wendy said.

“But then she dropped out of the worship team for camp too. Something was definitely going on with her.” Rachel took a deep breath. “Maybe Karen would know. Because the two of them took a walk to Mount Hermon during our afternoon free time today.”

Jacob’s head jerked up. “You spent time with her today, Karen?” His voice sounded strange. On edge.

“How did Lisa seem?” Wendy asked.

“The same. Like always.” Karen tried to keep her voice light and normal.

“I mean, I hate to ask something like this, but was she taking any kind of drug?” Tammy stuffed her hands in her front sweatshirt pouch.

“Absolutely not,” said Rachel.