"Making some eggs." "Yeah, making some eggs." "What do you see?" "Hey." "She ruined the surprise." " What could she be doing?" " Good morning." "I think somebody misses you." " Is that 'cause it's your big day?" " Yeah, it is." "Good morning." "I thank you for letting Mommy sleep." "You excited?" "Should we tell her what else we're making?" " Bacon." "Yeah." " Oh." " You're making... did you cook the bacon?" " All by herself." "Chef." "Amen." "And raised in the likeness of his resurrection, you are hereby recognized before the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." "Amen." "Pleasure, anytime, enjoy." "Hello, Minister." " Thank you." " Thank you." "Hi, ladies!" "Thanks." " Thank you." "Hi." "You're welcome." "Enjoy, eat, please." "Sarah." "I didn't mean to startle you." "As you were." "I'm not here to chastise." "That was a lovely ceremony today." "A long time coming." "Well, after all the occasions that Brown's had to be there for other people's children, yes, it was quite special." "Oh, I wanted to give you this." "It's for Skya, and also for your house." "The voice of the Holy Spirit." "Wow." "I didn't expect you..." "Thank you." "And I also wanted to ask about..." "Fine." "Thank you, everything's fine." "Good." "Glad to hear it." "I realized later that I must have caught her in a good mood or a moment of weakness or something because..." "Hoo!" "He let his faith fall in that which at least is faithful also in much." "Just replace "he" with "she" and "is faithful" with..." ""has her sister stand up to her bitchy self once in her G-D life."" "Well done." "We ran out of mac and cheese almost immediately." "May not have been as good as gold," " but it was surely good enough." " Surely good enough." "I'm up." "Hey." "Think it's a Magetto Fire Road kinda night?" "Honey." "What is it?" "The sun." "It's okay." "Take your time." "I can't..." "I can't believe." "He had it." "It happened, but..." "But it did." "Bram, what happened?" "Something wonderful." "I believe..." "I believe that... that God almighty Himself, He appeared to me." "Tonight." "In the most literal sense." "Moses and the burning bush." "He..." "He was here." "But..." "What..." "Did he speak to you?" "Oh, Sarah, it was... it was wonderful." "I was in bed, only it was a dream." "It was... but it was more present, more... nearer than anything I'd ever experienced." "He appeared over me but He was..." "He was everywhere." "There was... there was light." "There was so much light." "Then He..." "What?" "He spoke." "His voice was... it was in me." "Through me." "And..." "I don't know how else to say it, but he said..." "What?" "He said that there was something coming for us." "For me." "And that soon, He would be calling upon us." "That would be an act of great importance." "And then I..." "I would be His right hand." "Let's pray." "Yes." "Yes." " Amen." " Amen." " Goodbye." " Bye." " Goodbye." " Bye, Daddy." "Hey." "Just be in touch, okay?" "Anything happens." "I'm not gonna say anything to anyone." "To Uriel." "I just..." "I think we should keep this to ourselves until we have the whole picture." "Of course." "Hi there." "Sorry for just showing up like this, but I noticed yesterday you had some sort of baby party here, and I wanted to contribute." " Thank you." " Oh, you're very welcome." "We made a whole batch this morning, so it's not any trouble." " We?" " My... well, Joseph and I." "Right." " I'm sorry..." " You know what actually, I'm on my way out." "Sorry." "Right, well, um, another time." "Wasn't that just the most gorgeous ceremony the other day?" "Mm-hmm." "You sure I can't get you one?" "Mom." "So what else is new?" "Nothing big." "Oh, wow." "That's Sam Taylor's mom." "What was her name?" " Victoria." " Right." "So sad." " There were always rumors, you know." " What do you mean?" "Well, it..." "Jacob was odd." " Yeah, the brother." " Yeah." "He never acted like a..." "well, like a normal adult." "I mean, don't get me wrong." "He wasn't 30 years old, wearing diapers, coloring on walls or anything like that." "He was just odd." "You remember the one family festival?" "Yeah, of course." "There were stories about... a dinner party." "Some of the things your husband did at his worst, they can't even compare." "That's what made it so unfortunate." "I thought." "For Victoria, and then of course for Sam." "The fact that the signs were all there... adding up and up and up, and..." "Victoria just thought what she thought." "Didn't matter." "Well, maybe if she'd had her eyes open she'd still be with us." "Sarah..." "I know Skya is the end of a long road for you and Bram, but all things considered, your life is still very blessed." "I know that." "And others don't, and that's why they get into trouble." "Sarah, when Victoria was working..." "Signals were being sent to her day after day and she did nothing." " Sometimes it isn't as easy as that." " Yes, it is." "And I'm sorry, but having a son who's unbalanced is not worse than having to drive yourself to the hospital after your third miscarriage because your husband is too drunk to get himself off the couch." "Maybe." "Maybe if Victoria Tanner had just taken a moment to think." "Maybe Sam wouldn't have found her face down in the swimming pool with a knife in her back." " Hey." " Hey, could you give us a hand?" "Sure, gimme one sec." "It was all I could do to keep quiet today." "It was the same for me." "I just..." "I feel so full." "I used it." "Today..." "Today is a special day... my brothers and sisters." "Special because you are here with me... and I with you." "And because we are here together... we know we are on the right path." "Know it." "And yet, there are moments... past and future, that we question that." "Why?" "Because of an inherent weakness?" "No." "Because of an inherent humanity." "A man is lost in the woods." "What keeps him trudging on?" "Faith." "A man suffers terrible injury." "What keeps him from succumbing?" "Faith." "A man's family is torn from him long before their time." "What raises him from his bed each and every morning?" "Faith." "Yes." "Maintain your faith by embracing your inherent humanity... even in the face of apparent hopelessness, because when you put your faith in Lord God... sooner or later you will be rewarded." "Your faith will become certainty... because He is here with us always." "We are never alone." " I love you." " I love you." "Honey, what's going on?" "Bram, tell me, what's..." "Hey." "Sorry." "I was trying not to have that happen." "Are you okay?" "I didn't wanna come here again." "I didn't wanna come here in the first place." "It's fine, taking a step was my decision." "We've covered that." "I know that my behavior has been irregular, but I've told you over and over that there are some changes, and..." "I have to work through them on my own." "So, I just..." " I need some time." " You've had time." " Weeks." " Then I need more... time I guess." "Sarah, how does that make you feel?" "Frustrated." "I feel like he's keeping secrets." "Secrets he doesn't have to be keeping because I'm here for him through anything." "Bramwell, are you hearing what Sarah's saying?" "Yes, and I appreciate it." "If I decide that something is for the best, I think that my wife should honor that." "Bram, you haven't slept in almost a month." "You're barely eating." " Your behavior is almost exactly how..." " Sarah." "I'm not drinking, you know that." "It's a fact." "Sarah, do you know that?" "My head does." "Bramwell, the position you've taken is valid." "Ephesians asks that wives submit unto their husbands as they would unto the Lord." "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, and therefore, as the church submits to Christ, so let wives do unto their husbands." "However... your position has validity too, Sarah." "What you described, and described on several occasions, is behavior that is, to say the least, unusual." "And it seems to me is indicative of a larger problem, but we're not going to make any progress until Bram... is honest." "Are you telling us, truly, that there's nothing wrong?" "I'm honestly telling you..." "I need to work through some things." " For how long?" " As long as it takes." "I'm very sorry, but I can't live like this for as long as it takes." "For the past month I feel I've been sharing the house with some sort of photocopy." "It constantly reminds me of how things were... and I can't go back to that." "I'm sorry, I just can't." " What do you want me to do?" " I want you to tell him." " I don't think that's a good idea." " I think it's the only idea." "Bramwell... what's she referring to?" "As I understand it..." "I've been visited by God almighty." " Well, that's wonderful." " It was." "He appeared to me and said that something important was gonna fall on Sarah and I, and that I would be the one to carry it out." " And when was this?" " 33 days ago." "And has it happened again since?" "Every night." "And on these subsequent occasions... has He spoken to you?" " Yeah." " What has He said?" "Try to understand." "Please." "His words... they aren't like ours." "It's as if you were born blind and deaf and gained everything at once." "It's overwhelming." "But as I understand it..." "If I do not carry out His will, the end times are nigh." "He's shown it to me." "Darkness covers the earth, piece by piece, closer and closer." "Other things change, but that's always how it begins." "People turn on each other." "Action is taken but to no effect." "Fear and pain only grow and long after it's become too much to bear..." "The earth itself swallows all who remain." "And what is His will?" "What must we do to prevent this from happening?" "As I understand it..." "I must kill my only child." "Your confession has shown tremendous courage, Bramwell." "But understand that there are many ways to interpret what you've experienced." "Interpret?" "Well, first, and most importantly..." "Of course, you haven't considered..." "No, of course not." "Next." "Are you certain that what you've seen are visions as opposed to dreams?" "Yes." "Of that one thing I am certain." "Well... count yourself blessed that you've received His touch." "But know that wise men, historically, have posited that He would never ask the slaughter of one of His children." " But the..." " By Abraham and Issac... the binding." "Jeremiah 32:35." "God speaks of the ancient Israelite practice of child sacrifice, and he asserts it never entered my mind... that they would do this abomination." "Now you said it yourself." "God's words are not ours." "As early as the 1300s, it was suggested that unlike the cruel heathen deities, our Lord in heaven requires only spiritual surrender." "It was Abraham's imagination that led him astray." "All God wishes is to know that you are His." "Mind, body and soul." "Yes." "Of course." "Then go forth with this new certainty." "Be troubled no more." "Hello, you've reached Sarah Eyman's cell phone." "Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can." "Thank you, have a blessed day." "Sarah, hello, this is Minister Uriel." "As you might imagine, I was a bit taken aback this afternoon by what occurred." "It's not everyday that something of this magnitude presents itself." "I hope that my counsel was helpful, and I pray that it means the end of this trouble for you and yours, but... if it isn't... if Bramwell's visions persist or intensify..." "I have some information here regarding someone that you might consider seeing." "A good God fearing man." "A psychiatrist." "He helped my brother in a time of need a few years ago and he..." "Well, that's all." "God bless." "Did you have fun at Nana's?" "Yes, you did." "Yes, you did." "How dare you." "Bram?" "You questioned my will." "You shake your fist at me in defiance." " Bram, wake up." " I will not be commanded!" "First... darkness covers the land." "Brother turns against brother." "It all begins with your child." " Bram, stop this." " You have yet to learn the meaning of spiritual surrender." "Bramwell... your family must remain whole... until the night... the night that you remove your daughter from all others." " All who meddle." " Stop this right now." " Present her to me." " Stop it!" "And cut her heart from her chest!" "No!" "What happened?" "What happened?" "Well, it appears as though we're looking at a sort of good news, bad news situation." "Good news is, there does not appear to be a single thing medically wrong with you." "Everything is right where it needs to be." "Nothing barren or out of place." "The bad news is, if everything you've told me is the God's honest truth... signs point toward you're suffering a psychotic break." "And that's another matter entirely." "Great, thank you." "Goodbye." "Okay, we're all set for tomorrow at 12:30." "Is that still okay?" "None of this is okay." "I appreciate that, Bram, which is why we're taking steps to get you well." "Look, Uriel spoke very highly of Dr. Kore." " With any luck, maybe he'll..." " He's not a doctor." "He's a shrink." "I think it's the same thing." "I'm gonna go there, and he's gonna say that I'm crazy and put me on all sorts of medications or ship me off somewhere where I'm not gonna be able to see either of you anymore." "Bram, what's happening to you?" "I don't know what's happening to me, Sarah." "I just..." "I think that maybe we're looking for answers in the wrong places." "Wrong places?" "We devoted ourselves to something, Sarah." "Something bigger than ourselves." "Something that has been there for us through good and through bad." "Something that's solved our problems when we both didn't think we could get lower, and I don't think that it's in our best interest to just cast that off the moment..." "The moment that what?" "Mind your tone." "Please." "It's worth thinking about, that's all I'm saying." "No, Bram, I saw something the other night that I've never seen before." "I don't think anyone has ever seen before." "Okay, I don't know who was speaking to me in our bedroom, but it wasn't you." "Do you understand?" "So what happens the next time that little visitor decides to show up?" "But instead of just talking, he wanders into the kitchen and gets a knife and finishes the business out for himself." "I don't think that that's the way that it works." "If God wanted Skya dead, Bram... she would be dead." "He would have caved the roof in on her or blown out my tires with her in the car or set off a gas leak one of the ten times a day that she's in the kitchen, but she's still here, healthy as can be." "Sarah, I'm sorry, but I don't think that that's the way that it works." "I think His children need to act on their own." "Great, so our alternative is what?" "You just keep having these visions night after night for the rest of your life for the next 50 years?" "God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." "But will with that temptation make away to escape that ye shall be able to bear it." "I will bear what I must." "It was what?" "Three weeks." "Three weeks until you stopped acknowledging our child all together." "How many more nights until you stop sleeping, avoiding what's happening completely?" "And how long after that until you turn back to alcohol?" "How long after that until you break entirely?" "I will bare what I must." "What are you suggesting then?" "We asked the minister for help and that didn't work." "Oh, that didn't work spectacularly." "We looked for physical evidence." "Nothing there." "So if not this next step, if not cold, clinical, psychiatric diagnosis... then what?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "But..." "I think if we're willing to surrender our faith so easily then..." " what was the point of any of it?" " I am not surrendering a thing." "I am making sure that the death of our infant daughter isn't the result of a chemical imbalance in her father's brain." "I'll sleep on the couch." "I'm well, Mom, thanks." "How are you?" "She's good." "Hey, I know this is kind of last minute and you're always saying that..." "Would you mind coming over and spending some time with her?" " Oh, hi." " Hello." "I, um, I brought you this." "You and your Joseph." "Was that his name?" "It is a thank you." "You know, for the other day." "Oh, thank you." "That's not at all necessary, but we appreciate it." "Yeah." " Listen, you want..." " Are you..." " We have to stop doing that." " Right." "Ladies first." "I, um..." "I think I'm..." "I might have made some unfair judgments before, and that's not the person I strive to be, so... it was unfair of me and I apologize." "So... what was that party you had at your place a couple weeks back?" " You know, had to do with little, uh..." " Oh, Skya." "Skya." "Oh, my God, how cute is that?" "What was it, her birthday or something?" " No, it was her Christening." " Oh." "Now, explain something to me, 'cause I guess I've never really known." "What is a Christening?" "I mean, it's kind of like a baptism, right?" "There's a ceremony and the rest of it, but, you know, what's it mean?" "It's a sacrament." "It means a divine grace." "It cleanses original sin." "Oh." "Okay, so you, like, really believe all that?" "And your answer is, yes, Gabe, that is exactly what I believe." "Just like the majority of the country." "Oh, my God, I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "That was really offensive." " No." " No, no, look." "Like you said, it's nobody's place to judge." "If you're happy and living a life, more power to ya." "I am." "You know, you really don't have to help with any of this." "Please, it's only polite." " Son of a biscuit." " What?" "Well, this has been happening once a week for what, like, months now." "What's been happening?" "Well, I only drink beer and wine." "I get crazy otherwise." "And Joseph is a vodka and soda man, always and forever." "So..." "Well, some local hobo is using our trash as his drop spot." "I have no idea why..." "Hi." " Did you see the doctor?" " Yes." "Did you or are you lying to me?" "Please don't speak to me like that." "Yes, I saw him." "We talked for a long time." "My session with him went 40 minutes over, but he said not to worry about it, because I took precedence." "He's a man of faith, Sarah." "Unconventional, there's no doubt about that, but... very much a believer." " Is Skya already asleep?" " My mother was here." "I asked her to take her home with her." " Had we discussed that for tonight?" " What sort of ideas did this man have?" "He gave me a prescription." "He told me to try it for a few weeks, and if nothing changes then he had..." " thoughts." " Thoughts you'd like to share?" "There's no use in getting ahead of ourselves." "Until we know more." "He says I'm repressing in several senses of the word." "King Saul lost three children... and rather than live with everything that happened, everything that was going to happen..." "He fell on his sword." "I want you to think very carefully before you say anything else." "I want you to please explain this." " Where did that come from?" " Is it yours?" " What do you mean is it mine?" " I think I was pretty fucking clear, Bram." " Watch your language." " Answer the question." "I never bring up the cigarettes you hide everywhere." "That you think are so secret." "Not once." "Because I respect your privacy." "You found that in a trash can?" "Somewhere nearby." "Then yes." "It is mine." " So what?" "What, all of the visions..." " It's not what you think." " ...they're all just part of some big..." " Listen to me!" "It's mine, but I didn't drink any of it." "I never have." "Not once in all of the months that I've been doing it." "All of the months that you've been doing what?" "This is gonna sound like a story." "That's why I avoided telling you in the first place." "I knew it would be difficult for someone else to understand." "But I have been sober for more than 3 months." "That's the God's honest truth." "I chose you and Skya over the bottle, right?" "But I don't work late on Thursdays." "I never have." "Every Thursday night... since the first week of my sobriety, I..." "I have a ritual." "A way to prove it to myself." "Prove what?" "I go to Mark's Liquor on ninth." "I buy a 37 ounce bottle of Nu-ball... and I go to our spot." "On Magetto Fire Road, and I look out at the city." "The lights." "I think of all the people unburdened by my problems, and I think about all the people burdened by problems much worse than mine." "And then I pour out every drop... and come home." "To prove it to yourself?" "To prove that alcohol and I can exist in the same world." "So why risk it?" "Why risk bringing the bottles back here, why not just leave them there?" "I don't know." "Maybe I didn't wanna litter." " Is all of this true?" " Every word." "What happens now, Bram?" "I take the medication." " See if anything changes." " And if nothing does?" "Right, it's now or never." "Skya's asleep, she's usually out for a while in the day." "She'll want a bottle when she wakes up." "Yeah, I know." "I'm smart like that." "I guess I'm in denial." "I'll be back as soon as I can be." "Be careful." "Daniel thought he saw the car again this morning." " Bram's?" " Yeah, he thought so." " Sarah." " Hi, Sam." " You look so different." " So do you." "Oh, what do you mean?" "Oh, no, no, no." "Just... it's been a lot of years, that's all." "May I come in?" "Yes, but, um, like I said on the phone," "I'm very busy so I don't know how long you can stay." "Look, Sam, I don't wanna take up any more of your time than I have to..." "You wanna know about Jacob." "Yes." "Jacob hasn't been out of Anti-OC for years." "Doesn't really talk anymore, not even to me, but I go there every week, look after him, look after this place." " Those were my mother's wishes." " I understand." "I guess you remember that Jacob was weird." "Just antisocial." "We thought low level Asperger's or something, but nothing... nothing that could ever become dangerous." "But he started to have... outbursts, temper tantrums he was too old to be having in places he shouldn't have been having them." " Wasn't anyone concerned?" " Of course we were concerned." "But they were having trouble diagnosing him, and there'd be long periods of time in between episodes, and..." "I mean, what were we supposed to do?" "Life goes on." "Are we supposed to flee to Canada?" "Leave him on somebody's doorstep in a giant basket?" "Then one day..." "Yeah." "This doesn't mean anything, you understand?" "Bugs under the skin, dissecting the neighborhood pets." "Crazy has patterns." "Do you understand?" "It's always different, but it's always the same." "I'm just trying to gather as much information as I can." "Information is fine, just don't start looking for meaning." "One day Jacob told us that he was hearing voices in his head every time he tried to go to sleep, so, obviously we all got on the diagnosis train in a big way and... by that point it had been going on much longer than we knew about," "and he was near the edge." "Did he ever tell you what the voices were saying?" "Not at first, no." "But after, when the police asked why he had put the knife in so many times, he said it was because the voice told him to cut out our mother's heart." "You didn't come here for any kind of confirmation, so why don't you just tell me what you wanna know." "I guess the... the only thing is that..." "If you could have done anything differently, what would it have been?" "I would have had my brother locked in the deepest, darkest hole, and sold the key for scrap metal, and if that didn't work, I would have killed him." "Hey." "If it's another votary I still don't wanna talk to anyone." "Daniel has Bram on the phone." "Sarah, are you there?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I'm here." "How are you?" "Oh." "Not good." "Not good at all." "I haven't..." "I've just been at home." "Uriel and I both agreed I should... take a leave of absence." "Bram, what happened?" "Lord God... we give you thanks for the joy in the house this day." "Sooner or... sooner or later... we all come to a crossroads." "What we perceive as... as a moment of crises... a time that we must choose... between the tangible something..." "And the..." "The intangible everything." "Two..." "Two... impossible choices." "Please!" "Please." "Control your child." "That's the problem." "When people can't even..." "Don't you understand, this is difficult?" "What I'm doing right now." "Don't any of you understand that?" "Well..." "I'd like an answer." "I don't know." "You don't know?" "You don't know something as simple as that?" "Well, then, what are you gonna do on the day of your reckoning?" "The day that Lord God comes to you and demands of you the impossible." "The day that the stakes are higher than you could imagine, and that doing the right thing will utterly damn you." " Well!" " Bram, please." "Hey, stop, stop." "How are you feeling now?" "It's..." "It's like a migraine, but... there is a heed." "It's that light, it's... it's almost every time I close my eyes." "And the voice." "It's worse than what I see." "The commandment is the same." "Always the same, it's..." "It's so loud." "I feel like it could kill me anytime it wants." "Okay, Bram, listen to me." "Have you spoken to Dr. Kore?" "That was the next step, right?" "If this didn't work he said that... that he had something you could try." "Something we could try." "I just got off the phone with him." "He said it's something we need to be in on together." "You don't have to do anything." "Are you still there?" "Yeah." "Where should I meet you?" "I'm outside." "I'd like to thank you both for making the trip." "The office can be so impersonal for visits like this." "Doctor, excuse me, I assume Bram has brought you up to speed." " I told him everything." " Oh, yes, and it is a beautiful story." "Pardon me?" "Remarkable." "Extraordinary." "I am of a mind that anything which can be considered truly remarkable in this world of quantifiable data, should be considered beautiful." "Do you not agree?" " Wow, look at him." " Sarah." "No." "No, look at him." "I have had to watch him recognize and then resist, and then fight tooth and nail against whatever it is that is trying it's damnedest to rip his mind apart." "And you're standing here telling me that it's beautiful?" "No, no, no." "Of course not." "Not in the traditional sense." "He said you could help us." "Understand." "I make no promises." "I have prescribed your husband enough medication to knock the wren activity out of a west Indian manatee." "And it's only made things worse." "Which leaves me to believe that what we are dealing with is not entirely internal." " What I said from the beginning was..." " What you have said from the beginning, as you perceive it, is that God or something very much in his image appeared to you the night of your daughter's Christening, and almost every night since then, commanding you to take her life." "Not unlike the binding of Issac." " Yes." " Yes." "I once had a patient who I knew relatively straight away was manic depressive." "At first, oh, he denied it." "Vehemently." "Delusions of grandeur so characteristic of the disease." "He was unyielding." "So I invited him here one evening like this." "I made ajiaco like tonight." "You've both seen that there is corn in it." "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" "By the time we were ready to eat, he had withdrawn." "He refused to make conversation." "So, I made a little remark about where I'd got the corn." "At a farmer's market." "And do you know what he said?" "No." "No, you didn't get it there?" "No." "To the corn in it's entirety." "There's no corn in this he said." "Spooning the corn into his mouth." "There was no change in his demeanor." "He wasn't having an episode or anything of that nature." "So, I slowly encouraged him to explain himself." "He said, he had seen the jar on the counter, and the label had said capers, so clearly, this was not corn." "Can you imagine?" " I think what Sarah meant was..." " Would you help me serve?" "Please." "It's very good." "Great." "I'm glad." "You should see if you can try to get some of this down." "I think you'd like it." " It has potatoes." " What is this?" "Are you messing with us or something?" "Why did you bring us here?" "I thought we would enjoy our dinner first, Bram." "Well, excuse me if I have other things on my mind." "Can you help us or not?" "What?" "What was that about all your other patient?" "He had seen the capers, and he had seen the corn, and his mind was not in a place to differentiate the two." "You are visited by a creature calling itself God... and all that you have allowed yourself to do in response is to discern whether those visitations are real or imagined." "Is there anything incorrect in what I'm saying?" "No." "Real... imagined." "Two options." "But, as I see it, strictly according to the data, there is a third option, an option which you have yet to fully explore, an option which in my opinion as a man of faith and a man of medicine" "potentially holds the most validity of all three." "Which is what?" "That you are indeed commanded by a spirit." "A supernatural being." "But not the heavenly father." "Not our God who art in heaven." "Something else." "You described this being as enveloped in light, did you not?" "Well, then, don't see what you believe." "See what you see." "Morning star, light bringer." "Lucifer." "Sarah, you'll be happy to know that I've consulted the district superintendent." "Okay." "One of the ways in which Christ's ministry is continued throughout the world." " His words." " Okay, so..." "Yes." "Yes, authority has been given." "Bramwell... the presence and love of Jesus Christ... is here today." "Do you accept this?" "We ask you, Jesus, cast out any and all spirits within or near Bramwell Eyman." "Cast them out, Jesus." "Cast out the evil spirits." "Praise the Lord." "Leave this man now." "Cast out the searing and profane light this spirit has shown upon him." "Pray with me." "Pray with me, Bramwell." "Cast them out, Lord." "Cast these spirits out." "Cast them out." "Cast them out." "Cast them out." "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ." "Leave Bramwell Eyman." "Leave him!" "Cast out all evil spirits attached to Bramwell Eyman." "We pray you cast the evil spirits from this man." "Free Bramwell." "Free him." "Leave Bramwell's body, and never return!" "Never return." "Amen!" "Bramwell." "How do you feel?" "Empty." "I feel nothing." " Is that how you've been feeling?" " No." " Anything but." " So there you are." "Of course we'll have to keep an eye on you." "But I think we've broken back this thing." "Yes." "Yes, oughta be so." "Please God." "Let it be so." "Minister?" "Now, Sarah, if you really didn't like the gift I got ya," " you could've put it on eBay." " Just tell me." "Do you truly believe?" "Is it over or not?" "Yes." "You have to believe that it's over, Sarah." "Just as Bram has to believe it's over." "It was the seeds of doubt that began all this." "Now you put this behind you, and move on." "Utterly." "And it will be over." "Jesus resisted the devil three times." "You and your husband have done that and more." "Keep yourself free from sin and the devil will have no foothold." "But... if you feel that Skya's in real danger," "call the police." "God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with that temptation... make a way for you to escape." "That ye shall be able to bear it." "I wonder if we've escaped." "We have." "Of course we have." "What happens now?" "I'd like to keep things the way they are." "Just for a little longer." "When some time passes and... you're still feeling better, then we can discuss being together again." "All of us." "I'd like that, Sarah." "I'd like that very much." "I love you." "I just want you to be absolutely sure, that's all I'm trying to say." " I'm as sure as I can be, Mom." " You think that's enough?" "It's gonna have to be." "It's been more than a month since Bram has had any kind of episode." "He's back at the church." "And our nights alone at the house have been fine." " Fine." " Better than fine." "He's sleeping like a log." "He's gotten up two, three times a night as long as I've known him, but for the past few weeks he's slept straight through until seven or eight in the morning." "He says he hasn't done that since he was a teenager." "All right." "I mean, what more can he have us do right?" "Right." "That's where I am." "Hey, could you grab those?" "I think once we toss that out in the bag that's everything." "If there's absolutely anything that you..." "Thank you, but... we have to start getting on with our life." "And... first step just has to happen." "Hi." "Hi." "One more?" "Hey." "I'm sorry, I have another favor to ask." "It's just..." "I mean, it's our first night back, and I'm so happy to have us all together again." "I just..." " Well, if not for my own..." " You want Skya to sleep with you." " Alone, just the two of you." " Is that awful?" "No." "Not at all." "Baby steps, right?" "Right." "Once upon a time..." "God almighty appeared under one of the chosen." "And commanded that he slay his own flesh and blood." "Perhaps that time has come again." "I figured it out, Sarah." "What he's been asking me." "All this time." "Everyone had it wrong." "I just need a little time with our daughter." "Hey." "Hey." "Listen." "Listen to me." "I don't wanna hurt anybody." "But I will do what I must." "Do you understand me?" "There's only one option left." "And I can't let you stop me." "I'm gonna put tape over your mouth, and lock you in the garage." "Then... everything will be finished." "Only it'll be real this time." "Are you going to behave?" "Don't." "Don't be like that, Sarah." "The visions never stopped." "Call them whatever you want, but that's what they are." "Visions." "Darkness." "Closer and closer and closer, swallowing everything." "He showed me until I obeyed." "He wanted the three of us as a family under one roof, and I did as he said." "Now, Sarah... are you going to behave yourself?" "Come with me." "We're going straight to the garage." "Keep walking straight." "All of the doors are locked, the phones are gone." "So please." "Walk." "You said... you said that you know what everybody's been asking you to do." "After Dr. Kore misdiagnosed... after Uriel failed..." "I turned to the good book." "I knew that there was something I must have missed." "And then... after several days..." "I found it." "It had been staring us in the face only no one had the good sense to see it." "When God commanded Abraham... to sacrifice his child..." "God needed only to see that his devotion was absolute." "And he was pardoned." "That was his spiritual surrender." "Don't you see, Sarah?" "You don't need to hurt our daughter." "But I must be absolutely prepared to." "Mind, body and spirit." "I must proceed with the binding, knowing that there is no other way." "Then, and only then... will an angel of God stain my hand." "I'm sorry, Bram." "But that's just not good enough." "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name..." " ...welcomes me." " No." "No." "No, no, no." "There was nothing." "He never came." "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "It's okay." "It's okay, Mommy's here." "I'm not gonna leave you." "It's over now." "It's over now." "Sarah, I'm sorry to just show up like this, but..." "I thought maybe I should check in." "No, that's fine." "I actually just put Skya down for her nap." "It keeps coming back to me, whether or not I could have done something different." "I thought it was your crucifix." "The voice of the Holy Spirit somehow... linked to everything." "Then I realized I was crazy." "Well, you know, sometimes things aren't always clear while they're happening." "I'm learning sometimes things aren't clear, period." "The gun." "Our gun, the one he used to threaten me with." "To get me out of the room." "Wasn't loaded." "Good coffee." "It's imported I think." "Sarah... the last thing on earth I wanna do right now is lecture you, but..." "Then don't." "My father was a hard man." "Times were different then." "When I was eight years old, one day I came home from school and I couldn't find my roller skates." "They were only the most important thing in the world to me, so I asked him... if he knew where they were... and without looking up from his newspaper he told me he'd thrown 'em out." "No explanation." "No reason at all." "Just..." "Well, as you could imagine, I was shocked." "Confused." "But ours wasn't the kind of household where you ask questions or talked back, so..." "I went to my room and I shouted into my pillow." "I was angry and confused... and I chose to stay angry and confused for a long time." "Long after I'd become a man... after he had passed away." "And it became a kind of story, you know." "My father, that old so and so." "You know what he did to me when I was just a kid?" "And one day I was telling that story to friends... and I, uh, finished... with my usual flourish of incredulity, and... waited for the chorus of sympathy... and a man at the far end of the table... asked me when did this happen." "And I told him the year, and he pulled up his pants leg and he showed me a scar like you would not believe." "Those skates... had been recalled that year because they had faulty wheels." "My father never told me that." "He did what was in my best interest and he knew it." "And that was enough."