Phantom Pain (trilogy)

Kera

Chapter 9: Kera

The first thing I noticed was that Kera was coiled like a spring.

The second was the similarity between her and an animal backed into a corner. In fact, she had taken a step towards the door.

“What are you talking about?”

Dez opened her mouth, then closed it again. “I don't think it's my place to say.” She looked over at me, and there was no going back.

“I apologize again for how I acted when I learned who you were,” I said. “I was just shocked.” I paused, a long, tense gap. “My true name is Ramiel. It is nice to meet you officially.”

She stared at me for a moment, mouth agape.

“Ramiel.” She repeated the name, as if it would change if she said it enough time. “Ramiel. Fucking Ramiel.”

It would appear that she knew who I was.

“Well at least now I understand why you were mad at me.”

“He had no right to-” Dez tried to talk, but Kera held up a finger to silence her.

If I could have put a word on the emotion I sensed coming from her, it would have been relief. If anything, she seemed to stand taller. She still had this air of sadness, but she was no longer curling in on herself.

“He talked about you a lot,” she said, very matter of fact. “You were one of the first angels whose name I began to recognize.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It's alright. I know it wasn't you who...” She stopped. “What happened to you?”

I rolled my shoulder blades self consciously. “I'm not sure if you really want to know.”

“I'm so stupid, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bought it up.” She looked mortified, like she had just accidentally uttered the most horrible racial slur. Her words continued pouring out in a stream. “Everything was just so confusing, but I was out of hell-” She was shaking a little bit, and Dez guided her gently to the edge of the bed. “-but when I got back here. Home,” she whispered. “There was hell on earth too.”

I sat down on the floor, suddenly very glad I had told her.

“And I was alone. And Raphael was dead. The devil tied a ribbon around my wrist, and told me that he always kept his promises.”

A cold silence had fallen over the room.

“What happened to him, Ramiel?” she asked me. “How could something like him have died?”

No words moved past my lips, and I wondered for a moment if my heart had stopped. I could not speak, I could not escape my own body. They would bury me again.