Idea for Novelistic Sequel

A couple of years ago I had started a story in Fan Fiction – a sequel to The Exorcist, in which Damien Karras has not died. Never finished it, and I don’t have the time now anyway. But I just wanted to throw it into the mix to see if anyone thinks it might be workable as a novel… Provisional title: “The Incident at Hmong Pass”.

Everything stays the same as in The Exorcist, except that Karras survives the fall. He loses consciousness at the bottom of the Hitchcock Steps, Dyer “hears” his “last confession”, Karras grips Dyer’s hand in response, and as he passes into unconsciouness, a light of triumph appears in his eyes. He is put into an ambulance, which speeds away, leaving Dyer at the bottom of the long flight of stairs. Dyer sees the broken window in the MacNeil house and goes up the stairs to the house. He finds everyone in chaos, joyous over Regan’s sudden recovery, shocked by Karras’ jump through the window, Kinderman baffled but tight-mouthed.

Then the doorbell rings, Chris opens the door, and a panting young Jesuit, who has just run from the Georgetown campus, delivers the news: Father Karras is alive and has a chance of pulling through.

The story line now goes into “Georgetown”, “Leaving Georgetown”, “Rambling Man”, and “The Incident”.

“Georgetown” is Karras’ period of recuperation, his interactions with Kinderman, Chris, Dyer, and especially Regan. Loose ends are tied up by Kinderman, Chris sometimes finds herself casting a forlorn prayer to an unknown God, Dyer is beside himself with joy at Damien’s survival/recovery, etc.

It is obvious that his close encounter with the demon and his act of self-sacrifice has left Damien a changed man. That his faith has been rekindled is the least of it.

Now, Damien Karras seems driven by a spiritual force akin to sainthood. There is a searchingness and restlesness that impels his recovery and ultimately leads to his “Leaving Georgetown”.

As the lone wanderer (“born a ramblin’ man”) Karras may no longer be “carrying pain in a black valise”, but still there is a new dissatisfaction in Damien’s soul. He wanders the world, with Church dispensation, in search of the Source of his new vision. Ostensibly, he is still a practicing psychiatrist, and attaches himself to church hospitals and seminaries wherever psychiatric aid is called for.

Ultimately, he is drawn to a remote region high in the Cambodian plateau, an area known as the Hmong Pass. There, amid the savage, bloody depredations of the Khmer Rouge, Damien Karras finds the Something that he is looking for. But not without a price.

In the exposed rock and wind-whipped grasses of the Pass, there is a tiny village in need of a medical doctor as well as a psychiatrist: for there is a young villager who has been possessed by a devil for months.

Just as Karras comes close to his Goal, he encounters one final trap. The yellow eyes of the possessed child glare at him in satanic glee while the gutteral bass voice grates, “Ah, Karras, my dear morsel, so nice to see you again. And know this: This time, you will lose!”

And one final time Damien Karras finds himself in an exorcistic dual with his – and Merrin’s – ancient enemy. Can he drive out the Beast without another – and this time perhaps truly fatal – act of self-immolation? What does this fresh encounter do to his new-found faith? Does he still see the divine Other on the far side of this possession?

So… just some ideas for an Exorcist sequel in which Karras “lives to fight again”.