spooky

On Friday afternoon, we were lined up at the door, waiting for the dismissal bell. That's the exact moment that one young lady chose to announce to the room at large, "The devil is in my house."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, wanting to tread lightly.

She then launched into an extremely detailed story about how a lady talks to her in her ear at 2 or 3 in the morning. She said when the old lady talks to her, her heart starts "beeping real fast." (I'm pretty sure she meant "beating.") She said the devil is in her brother's room, too, and also downstairs, and that he turns the lights on and off in the middle of the night.

At this point, I could see that some of my kids were starting to get spooked. I tried to end the conversation by saying, "Wow, that sounds like a scary nightmare. You know what I do when I wake up with a bad dream? I say a prayer to ask God to protect my house and my family." (Gotta love working in a Catholic school when these things come up...)

But the Girl Who Hears Voices wasn't finished. "It's not a dream," she said. "It really happens. My mom told me to pray, too. And she hung a rosary on my brother's bedroom door. And she's gonna buy white candles to get rid of the devil."

The bell rang and we started walking out the door. Girl Who Hears Voices kept talking. "I know what a curse is, Miss M." "Really?" I said, noncommittal. "Yeah, it's when someone says, 'I want you to die,' and then you do."

Six years of teaching, and this is the first time I've ever had to deal with demonic possession.

I taught this girl's older brother (now in 5th grade), and I know a little bit about the family. Mom & Dad are divorced. The kids saw Dad beat Mom pretty badly. Older Brother has a history of lying. His stories range from the grandiose (claiming he went to the Superbowl last year) to the petty (saying someone stole his pencils, and then "finding" them in the closet). It would stand to reason that Girl Who Hears Voices would have some problems, too.

I'm going to talk to her kindergarten teacher, and then contact the parent involvement counselor. We'll see where it goes.