Chapter 10
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The steady beeping of a heart monitor was the only indication that Edith was still alive. She had suffered severe damage to her brain and she had several broken bones. In the condition that she was in, Mable knew that she didn’t have very long to live.
Raum was at the dying teen’s bedside, perched in the same bird-like position he had always assumed at the end of Edith’s crib when she was just a baby. Gently, he reached out and brushed her cheek with the bend of his index finger, making sure he was careful that his sharp talons didn’t graze against her delicate skin.
“I suppose our little adventure ends here,” he said, pulling his hand away.
Mable shook her head, “She’s still alive. You don’t have to . . .”
“Mable,” the demon approached her and rested his hands on her shoulders, “It doesn’t matter if it’s because you want me to stay here or not. I’m not needed here anymore.”
Mable looked from him to Edith and then back to him, “You know?”
Raum nodded, “Edith is dying. I doubt she’s going to do anything soon to throw her off the path of righteousness. All humans take stumbles here and there, but she never fell.”
Mable struggled to keep herself from crying, “And . . . where will you go?”
Raum shrugged, “Probably back to the hole I crawled out of, and I’ll wait until the next opportunity arises for me to come back.”
The demon made his way towards an open window and morphed into his animal form.
“Wait!” Mable cried out as she rushed towards him, “Just now and back when the accident happened, those were the first times you had ever referred to me by my name. Why did you wait until just now to call me Mable?”
Raum changed back into his demon form.
“Maybe I was just afraid to get close to you, O Pure One. It’s not every day that I’m partnered up with an angel.”
Mable wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into the feathers of his chest.
“I can’t believe I care about a demon. I’m going to miss you, Raum.”
Raum patted her head, “Me too. Maybe we’ll meet again one day. Eternity is a long time, after all.”
He waited until Mable finally released her grip and he disappeared out the hospital room window and out of sight. Mable just stood there.
Edith was hers. She’d be going to Heaven. She’d accomplished what she’d stayed beside her to do. And Raum knew everything about it; down to the last minute.
Was that torture, or was that just his life?
Mable strode back over to Edith’s bed and took her hand into hers.
“Now, Edith, it’s time to go home.”
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