Anthony took refuge in the chapel, sitting with his head in his hands. Religion was grace at family dinners and Easter Sunday service, but he was normally not a praying man. Couldn't hurt now though. Not when a cadre of doctors looked baffled by Hayley's broken arm, by those small handprint bruises. None of them could tell him what the hell was wrong with his wife. She looked so broken when they finally pried the door open, her breathing too faint. His feet tapped, unable to keep still. He was going to lose her, and so soon after losing their son. His box was strained to breaking. It was a good thing he was in a hospital because if she died on him he would lose his shit. A half sob broke from him at the thought.

"Did you need something, son?"

He started at the chaplain's voice. "No, I'm sorry, I was just..." What could it hurt to confide in the man? "Do you believe in the devil, Chaplain? In demons or ghosts?"

The chaplain gave him a sardonic smile. "Usually comes with the gig."

"But do you believe?"

"I don't think it's a matter if I believe, but do you?" The chaplain sat down beside him, arms folded over his chest. "Most people come here for comfort or questions. The first I can offer with ease. The second, well, that is a matter of faith. While I can offer you a listening ear, you need to decide if you have faith or you don't."

"I don't," said Anthony. "I don't really have faith. I don't believe in demons or ghosts, but there's something haunting my wife. Something real. Something I can't see but it's hurting her. It's killing her. I—I can't lose her."

The chaplain was silent for a moment, tapping his fingertips on his arms. "You don't believe it's real?"

"No one can see it when it's there, but the physical evidence is there. The doctors don't have a clue how to help her. I don't know how to help her. I can't fight something that isn't real."

"Maybe to her it is," said the chaplain.

Anthony frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

The chaplain shifted and sighed. "I see a lot as a man of God in a hospital. The ground level view, as it were, to the many miracles of science, and how genuinely miraculous the human body can be. How a body can trick itself into healing on placebos, how the mind can manifest our deepest demons for all to see." The chaplain lifted his shoulders in a half shrug. "Maybe it is a demon or a ghost haunting her, or maybe her grief has manifested as a tangible entity in her mind. A psychosomatic placebo she is convinced can hurt her. She created her own demon."

Anthony stared at the man. "Why haven't the other doctors come up with something like that?"

"It's their job to dismiss as many symptoms as possible. They don't immediately jump to out of the box theories. And don't take my word for it. I don't practice medicine, but I do know a thing or two about belief. Belief is powerful drug. Belief can trick the mind into damn near anything." The chaplain stood, clapping a hand on Anthony's shoulder. "You might not be able to believe in the devil or ghosts, son, but you need to believe in your wife."