Chapter 4
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As it was expected, Edith quickly grew out of having Raum as her imaginary friend. It had also gotten to the point where she didn’t believe in monsters in the closet or under the bed. All of this left Raum in the shadows, where he could only watch and observe from afar.
It looked as though the odds were beginning to lean in Mable’s favor. Edith had begun to follow the path of a die-hard Christian. She prayed every night before bed. She’d attempt to read pages out of the bible; but being only seven years old, there were still several words she struggled with. On Sundays, a friend would pick her up from school and they’d attend church. Bad behavior became an incredibly rare occasion with her and she’d started to become very popular with her peers at school.
Mable could see Edith had taken a lot of the things Raum had said to heart. She wanted to be a good girl, she wanted to have friends; friends like Raum’s character, Remy, had been to her. In the process, however, it would seem Edith had forgotten all about Remy and had started to seek out the company of real people.
That fact didn’t seem to affect Raum in the slightest. Edith was still young and he knew that there would still be lots of opportunities to win back the little girl he’d become so fascinated with. This competition between him and the angel was just beginning. The teen and young adult years would be the official deal-breaker.
As time passed, Mable began to grow her own fascination with Raum. He was still a mystery to her. Who was he? What was he capable of? If she were to restore his freedom, what would he do?
She theorized that he wasn’t there to harm Edith, nor was he there to drag her to Hell. There was something else to him that kept him there, something he was trying to hide. Before her death nine years ago, she’d been a hard-headed, persuasive, and persistent woman, and she would prod for answers until they came spilling out. Those traits still remained and she definitely still knew how to use them.
One morning, she found Raum in his usual spot; on the roof of the house beside the gutter. Edith was at school, and she saw this as the perfect opportunity for her to start asking him questions.
Raum, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with it. Mable had noticed that he was growing more and more solitary with each passing day and that he was going longer lengths of time without speaking to her. Did he know something? Was there something troubling him? Had he admitted defeat already?
“I want to talk to you.” Mable said as she sat down beside him.
“What have I done now?” Raum asked in an annoyed tone.
“Nothing that I’m aware of.”
“Then what is it?”
Mable tapped her fingers against her thighs and sighed, “I’ve noticed something.”
Raum turned his head slightly, but didn’t say anything.
“You’re odd,” Mable continued, “You’re a very odd demon.”
“Humph, tell me something I don’t know.”
“I can tell you care about Edith and that you want her to be happy. Right now we seem to share the exact same goals, only you seem to be trying to distance yourself from her. Why? If you care about her . . .”
“Because life is like a book I’ve already read.”
Mable gave the demon a confused look, “I don’t understand.”
“To me, life is like a book I’ve already read,” Raum explained, “I know what’s happened in the past, I know the present, and I know what the future holds, as well.”
“That’s incredible!”
Raum turned his body so he was facing her, “Do you know why it is that you find me so unusual; so odd?”
Mable thought about her answer for quite some time, only to realize she didn’t exactly know.
“You just don’t seem like a demon, to me,” she said, “You’re ugly, terrifying, and have a wicked sense of humor, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call you evil.”
“Even though that is what you called me when we first met?”
“I guess I spoke too soon.”
Raum let out a chuckle, “The reason you find me so unusual is because you find that I care a lot about the welfare of Edith. You’ve never seen me try to harm her in any way, even though you were so sure I’d snatch her up the moment your back was turned or your guard was let down.”
Mable couldn’t deny his words.
“What’s your story, Raum?” she asked, “Who are you, exactly?”
Raum was silent. He stood up and stretched his wings and shook himself until his stiff limbs limbered up, and then he sat down again.
“That’s a long story,” he said. He spoke softly and in a low voice, “Long before this Earth was here—much like with the other demons in Hell—I was once an angel in Heaven. Life was good for us, back then. We were peaceful. We were happy. But Lucifer wanted more power. He convinced a lot of us that we could become greater and that if we chose to rebel with him, we could have that power, too. Of course, being God’s favorite, we all thought he had a good chance at becoming ruler. Then it all backfired and we were all cast out of Heaven and sent to Hell. We were stripped of our beauty and left to suffer.
“A great number of years later, after God created Earth, I became quite interested in people. As a raven, I was able to sit up in the trees and watch Adam and Eve from afar. At first I was uninterested; they bored me.”
“What happened that changed your mind?” Mable asked.
“Well, one morning I flew down to where they were sleeping and noticed a creature I had never seen before. A child. While Eve slept, I watched him. He was so small and innocent; nothing I had never known before. Cain was the most darling child. Babies are born with a strong grip and wide eyes full of wonder; eager to learn all. I soon grew to love him and the children that were born after him. But cursed with knowing the future, I knew what would happen. I knew that he would kill Able. I saw it twice; once in a vision and once as it actually happened.”
Raum rubbed his face with his hands, as if he were tired.
“Long story short, I became a demon that loved children and obsessed over their souls. I have the power to reconcile friends and enemies, and I can invoke love.”
“So you aren’t evil?”
“I didn’t say that. I steal treasures from kings; carrying them off and hiding them wherever I want to hide them. I can destroy cities and wipe out the dignities of men, as I bare a strong disliking for dignities. I don’t see those as good aspects of myself.”
“It’s still a lot more good than be said about most demons,” Mable took Raum’s hand into hers, “A while ago, you told me you couldn’t be a good person.”
“Which I can’t. When we were sent to Hell, our minds and our consciences went sour. We try our hardest day after day to make people sin. All because Satan wants us to.”
Mable pitied him. That was all she could do now. She pitied him.
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