Arnie continued.

“I stood in the attic and looked into the mirror . . . suddenly it felt like I was being watched. It was like something or someone was there with me, and I blacked out. I woke up an hour later feeling as well as I’d felt in years. I was in my office when I woke up. I don’t know what she did while she was inside my body, but I felt great after. She even wrote a note and put it in my pocket—“thanks Arnie, back soon”—I think it said,” he explained.

Arnie went on to explain how this woman possessed his body for a brief time at first—often for a few hours at a time during the school year. Arnie was sort of asleep as long as he was possessed, though he would get little glimpses here and there. She apparently took his body to a number of occult stores in the area and also to several recreational things—restaurants, movies, even a couple strip clubs. She would leave notes thanking him every time, and he would destroy them so that his wife would never ask questions. Arnie felt great every time after she left. Then, as the possessions continued, they got longer—much longer. They went from a few hours at a time to a couple days or even a week at a time. Each time, Arnie got only bits and pieces, and sometimes quite few of those. No one ever said anything about Arnie’s acting weird or anything, and Arnie enjoyed the respite from daily life. Having her inside him just felt right.

“Then she stopped coming one day,” Arnie said sadly, “she was gone. I would wait for her to come, but she never did. One night in August about 2 years ago, I was sitting with my wife Joanna on the porch . . . she had made chocolate chip cookies. A man built like me shouldn’t have those, but I love them,” Arnie said. “Anyway, we were sitting on the porch swing eating them, and suddenly my wife, my Joanna, she looked up at me and said ‘It’s been nice getting to know you in person, Arnie,’ and suddenly her eyes glowed this bright purple color, and she passed out.”

“You mean the woman from before possessed her body?” Jonny asked. Arnie nodded as his pudgy little hands clenched into fists. “When my wife woke up, she thought it was early June!” Arnie said, barely containing his anger, “that woman had possessed my wife’s body for literally months! I was prepared to have the woman jump into my body, but my wife never asked for this . . . she thought she’d gone nuts because she didn’t remember much of anything—just bits and pieces—from the last three months. She damn near had a nervous breakdown!” Arnie said. “After that, I looked through all the books I could find to stop her from possessing even my body . . . I didn’t want her in me anymore, but I couldn’t stop her. She started to posses me again. She’d leave notes in my pockets too—‘Aren’t you enjoying the game you fat little bastard?’ or something similar,” he said, “and she’d stay inside me for weeks at a time . . . started using my body to commit petty crimes, and my relationship with Joanna grew worse,” he explained.

Arnie’s life had spiraled out of control from there. His wife distanced herself from him—apparently he had said and done some terrible things while the woman—who Jonny assumed was Lena—was inside him. Arnie’s resistance angered Lena, and in retaliation she would use his body in ever-more unsavory ways. Arnie would sometimes wake up in other cities or even in police stations, having been arrested while possessed. Lena had wanted a body to experience the world in while her own body could be recreated and readied for her to occupy it, but she’d taken her time with Arnie too far.

Jonny stood and paced around. “I believe you, Arnie,” he said as he headed toward the door that led back down to the office, “now let’s go back down and see if we can get this handled.”