Your Name Here

	The crutches were humiliating. That didn’t change the fact that I couldn’t walk anymore. Maybe I’d never walk without them again; but definitely not right now or in the foreseeable future. Best not to dwell on it, or the fact that modern medicine and modern magic could only get you so far. It was all up to chance really.
	What burnt most was the silence. I’d run out of books and had no way of getting more, not that I really wanted more. I’d burnt myself out on reading but it was something to do. The steady flow of get-well cards and friendly visits from family on down to coworkers had trickled to nothing at all after the first month. There was nothing to do but dwell on the odds. The odds, and my new crutches.
	All of this changed with Lilly Johnson. Obstinately she claimed she was there to read to me but I never signed up for the hospital reading program. Little inconvenient truths like that didn’t bother her. She would still show up. Her visits became the highlight of my stay.
	I wouldn’t learn until later (much, much later) that she was only supposed to stay for 45 minutes. But with all the chatting on top of her reading she ended up staying for most of the later hours of the afternoon. It got my mind off of my misery. I wasn’t sad to be leaving the hospital by any means, but I would miss Lilly Johnson. It was like this little tugging in the back of my mind every time she left me and I was alone with the setting sun and hospital food for dinner.
	Life in the big city gives you plenty of experience with Para-Humans but I admit that I didn’t really know what she was. She had wings and a tail. Standard fare. But her skin was a rich, smooth blue that I found absolutely alluring and black sclera. Her eyes were a sea of black with a tiny island of red in the middle that seemed to sparkle with humor and energy, feeling her look at me was like being under a warm lamp.
	“Is there something wrong, Desmond?” She asked me one afternoon.
	“Sorry?”
	“You’ve been staring at me for the past five minutes now, and I’ve just been making it up.” She said, holding up the copy of Isaac Babel’s works that conveniently covered her modest yet still on display cleavage. Not that I had been sneaking glances.
	“Sorry.” I said again, feeling like an idiot for doing so. The silence lasted a bit longer than usual, enough for it to be considered awkward.
	“Hungry?” She asked me.
	“Lilly, I could not subject you to hospital food.” I said as I moved to sit up. She sprung into action at the first twitch, moving to help me and adjust the pillows behind me.
	“Nor would I subject you to it. I brought us something homemade. To celebrate, you know. Aren’t you being released at the end of the week?” She asked. It didn’t bother me that she knew that without having to tell her. I suppose in the moment it slipped my mind. I was just happy to know she was thinking about me like that.
	“Yep. Then its back into the normal world.” I said. She had thoughts about that but didn’t voice them; I could tell by the way her eyebrows moved ever so closer together and her lips pursed.
	“What about you? Gonna find yourself another ruggedly handsome man to read the classics to after I’m gone?” I said to lighten the mood. She laughed while she put the book at the foot of the bed (she had a thing for picking the longest, thickest ones) and moving to the backpack she had placed by the door when she first came in.
Instead of picking it up she bent over it and swayed from side to side slightly. I found myself having to look away while she spoke conversationally over her shoulder.
	“I don’t think so. Truth be told my schedule has been getting rather busy and I think I found someone—excuse me—something else to occupy my time. You might be the one.” She said as she straightened and headed back towards me.
	“One what?” I asked.
	“Sorry, you might be the last one.”
	“Oh.” I said.
	“Its rewarding work to be sure, but I almost start to see you all as my patients as well. Except no one ever tells me about recovery.” She said. God I couldn’t keep this from getting depressing could I? Thankfully she placed a still warm Tupperware container in front of me.
	“Wow this looks delicious.”  I said. She beamed.
	“Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t much of a cook?”
	“Nope!” I said. We shared a laugh. The silence that settles between us is natural and there’s only the scrape of plastic on plastic and the ticking of the clock in the room now. Lilly breaks the silence first, dabbing at her lips with her napkin in a well-rehearsed display.
	“They don’t tell me how it happens, if you don’t mind my asking.” So there it was. ‘That’ question. I felt a mixture of defensiveness, guilt, and shame every time it had been asked before. But when Lilly looked at me with that cocooning warmth and concern I felt none of the usual.
	“Drunk driving.” We sat with it for a moment before continuing.
	“Oh my.” She said sadly, perhaps because she had nothing else she could say.
	“Will you be alright?”
	“Its only crutches.” I said with a brave face.
	“That’s not what I meant.” She pressed. I faltered.
	“Well, we’ll find out wont we?” I said jokingly. Awkwardly. Lilly moved in close, grabbing me by the hand.
	“I’m here for you, you know.”
	“Thanks Lilly.” I said with a blush. She smiled.
	“It is my pleasure.” She said earnestly.
	“Nothing you can fix with your magic?” I asked, trying to deflect.
“Oh, I’m a Demon. We don’t have magic like that I’m afraid. The name sounds intimidating I know, but I promise I’m sweet.” She said. It clicked in my mind then, I did know something about her kind.
	“So what’s this about a contract?” I said between mouthfuls. Her mouth hangs open for a moment and I swear I had no idea that blue could turn that shade of red.
	“It’s a soul-binding agreement between lovers.” She said.
	“Gonna steal my soul or something?” I asked. She smiled at that.
	“Its much more satisfying when they’re exchanged between both parties, don’t you think? And relax; I’m not like those overgrown tarantulas.” She told me.
	“I never said you were.” I told her. We both fell into silence with nothing else to say. Rather, with nowhere else to take our conversation. Instead we went back to eating, sneaking glances at one another.
	“This is good, thanks for bringing it.” I said.
	“People care about you Desmond, maybe more than you realize.” She told me.
	“I’ll keep that in mind.”
	“Good.”
	Back into silence, but it was more complete this time. More relaxed.
	“Would you like to go for a walk with me?” Lilly asked suddenly.
	“I could do for a stretch.” I said.
	“Let me get dressed.
	“Do you need any help?” She asked. Maybe a little too eagerly.
	“Just give me five.” I said. She turned around but did not leave the room. Pants were difficult yet I managed to get them on. The whole time I was shooting glances at Lilly. She had on an open back shirt and a skirt that accentuated her curves nicely.
	“Desmond?” She asked, as if she could feel my wandering gaze.
	“Ready.” I said. She turned fast with a smile. And then we were off.
	“She was happy to keep pace with me, hands behind her back as we made our way to the gardens outside. It was bright out, the sun making me squint hard. It was as the sound of human life flooded my ears, that I realized, for the longest time all I really had was the richness of Lilly’s voice to break the silence. We didn’t say much as we crossed the street. Idle comments, really.
	Lilly walked practically on top of me and I had to work to not crush her toes with my crutches. She was chatting about her apartment. It feels empty, she said. She would prefer some company, she said.
	“I bet you have all sorts of friends.” I told her.
	“Actually in the year I’ve been here I’ve yet to make one.”
	“Well maybe I could be your first and come over some time.” I said. Lilly beamed.
	“Oh but having you over would be different.” She said, her voice rich and thick, mischievous and implying.
	Different?
	Different?
	Something must have shown on my face because she let out a distinctly womanish laugh and skipped a step ahead of me. Her wings stretched out and her tail swayed. I was speechless. Lilly laughed again.
	“Are you coming?” She asked.
	I hurried to catch up; all the while that word dominated my mind. She made no attempt to slow and after awhile I began to suspect that there was a destination in mind. I let her keep her secrets, satisfied just to be watching her move. The journey became taxing on my body though.
	“Are you doing okay?” She asked eventually.
	“Worth it.” I said, taking a great breath of fresh air.
	“Well, we are really close. Can you make it or do you need a break?” She said moving off the main trail and down one of the side ones. I simply nodded and moved as quick as I could to join her but she had slowed down to her former pace. After a few more minutes and a few more turns I found myself in a simply breathtaking clearing. Tall golden stalks of long grass rippled in the breeze, and evergreens blocked off any sights of civilization. A path cut the grass field in two, leading to a bench. Standing in front of it was Lilly.
	Her fingers locked around a strand of grass and twisted it gently. She was staring at me with a look I couldn’t quite place. She sat down and gestured for me to join her. She didn’t see me almost fall flat on my face in my haste; her eyes traveled over the grass and the treetops. As soon as I sat down her head found itself on my shoulder and a contented sigh escaped her lips.
	“You know this always was my favorite place.” She said aloud. I thanked her for sharing it with me.
	“Will you be okay out of the hospital?” She asked.
	“You worry too much.” I said, not quite answering her question. She noticed.
	“Desmond I’m serious.”
	“I’ll be fine, it was a one time mistake and accident. I know how lucky I am to be alive and its really put things in perspective.”
	“Like what?” She asked, maybe a little too pressingly.
	“That, I dunno, I should calm down. Take life slower. Find better people to include in it.” I said. She let out a breath like she’d been holding it in.
	“That’s a relief.” She said. Silence. It stretched on and on, only the wind and the sound of it moving through the branches of the trees disturbed it.
	“I hope that includes me, the finding better people part.” She said hesitantly. I felt something in my chest jump up and I was paralyzed by it for a moment. Too long, she lifted her head up and that part of my shoulder and neck were exposed to the breeze again. Lilly was looking at me.
	“Why wouldn’t it?” I said. She smiled again and leaned in until the tips of our noses were almost touching.
	“I’m thinking about you Desmond. I’m seriously considering you.” She warned me.  I didn’t say anything. I only leaned into her lips. She tasted like blueberries. She pulled away after a moment, her eyes wide but a contented feeling on the air around us. A thought entered my mind and I chuckled at my own joke before reaching over to wrap my arm around her shoulder and whisper into her delicately pointed ear;
	“Now, do I need #2 pencil or will your average pen work?”