Chapter 10
Despite his "fainting spell", Criss went along with his plans for the escape, but under Elidra's suggestion, he took it easy. He was confident that all would go well, and so were his team as they continued to smooth out details. JD and Costa relaxed as much as they ever did with these things, but Elidra's nerves became more frayed, almost to a breaking point.
She stopped sleeping again, and Criss often lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, listening to her pacing in her room. Had it been day, he never would have heard her footfalls on the thick carpet, but the silence of the night enhanced them. Rolling onto his side, he hugged the second pillow on the bed to his chest and listened to her pace. For almost a week after he fainted, she shared his bed and he found that he had gotten used to her warmth, to the sound of her breathing next to him. She had nightmares every night she managed to fall asleep, and in those few days that she slept next to him, he woke up every night hearing her whimpers of pain and fear.
Then she left his bed for her own and he missed her warmth and the sound of her heart.
A few weeks later, his skydiving lessons had ended and he and his instructors were confident that he would be able to escape the straight jacket and pull the ripcord in time to float safely down to the ground. JoAnn and his mom were due to fly in so he drove out to the airport to pick them up. He gave and received hugs and kisses and they all got back into the car.
"Oh, before we get back to the hotel, there's something I have to tell you." Criss said.
"Yes?" Dimitra asked.
"There's someone staying with us, her name is Elidra, and she's," Criss paused as he tried to find the words. "Very difficult to describe, but she is a good friend and I trust her. You two will like her, I know you will." He said and gave them a smile.
When they got back to the hotel, JD and Costa were waiting for them outside and they both gave their mother a hug.
"Where's Elly? I thought she'd be out here waiting for us." Criss asked Costa while they were on their way up to the room.
"She said she wasn't feeling very well, so she's laying down." He said and Criss nodded.
"Good, maybe she'll finally get some sleep." He said.
"Worried about her, too?" Costa asked.
"I think we all are." He said.
When they got back to the room, Dimitra and JoAnn made their greetings to the crew while Criss quietly crept into Elidra's room, looking at her as she laid on the bed on her side.
"Hey, El, I'm back." he said but she didn't move. "El?" he asked, but again, no movement. He went to the side of the bed and knelt down, putting him on the same level. Her face was calm and devoid of emotion, her lips slightly parted. "Elly?" he whispered. "Elidra?" he was starting to get scared at her lack of reaction. No one sleeps this deeply. He touched her cheek gently, running his thumb along her cheekbone.
"Criss?" he looked up and saw JoAnn standing in the doorway. He then noticed the lack of air moving across his hand, since the heel of his hand was in front of her mouth. His head snapped back to look at her and he pressed his fingers to her neck, but her skin was still.
"JoAnn, call 911!" he said looking at her but she didn't move. "NOW!" he yelled and she ran to a phone. He picked Elidra up from the bed and set her on the floor, pressing his fingers to her neck again but again found no pulse.
"Criss!" JD and Costa ran into the room just as Criss began doing CPR. "What's going on?" JD asked.
"Elly's not breathing and her heart isn't beating." He said as he did compressions on her chest, then bent down to breathe into her mouth. "Come on, come back to us." He whispered and she coughed, taking in a large rasp of air. He pressed his fingers to her neck once more and found a pulse, but it was weak. "Stay with us this time, okay?" he said, cupping her cheek but her eyes didn't open, nor did she respond to his touch in anyway. She was so pale her lips bloodless and her face gaunt. "Stay with us."
Elidra was lying in the hospital bed, hooked up to a respirator. She had stopped breathing en route and her heart had stopped beating. The paramedics had managed to get it going again, but she was still unconscious. Criss, JD, Costa, JoAnn, and Dimitra were sitting out in the hall, JoAnn holding Criss' hand tightly in her own. He had a faraway look in his eyes and his hand was limp.
"She'll be fine, Criss." JoAnn said but he didn't seem to hear her. "The doctors are doing everything they can. She'll be fine." He stood abruptly, and JoAnn's hand slid away. He leaned in the doorway of the hospital room and looked at her as she lay unconscious. Her hand twitched and he went to the side of the bed, touching her skin gently. She was cold. Her eyes snapped open and she fought to breathe against the tube down her throat. Her heart monitor started to beep rapidly and nurses rushed in, peeling the tape off the skin around her mouth and pulling the long tube out. Elidra bent over with racking coughs while the nurses took her pulse and other vital signs. Criss pressed a glass of water into her hand and she drank down the fluid greedily, some of it spilling around her mouth and dripping onto the hospital gown. She drained the glass and he took it from her as she flopped back onto the pillow, breathing deeply. She swatted away the nurses as one would swat away a fly and they left the room. JD and Costa came into the room and joined Criss at her side.
"How ya feeling?" Costa asked and she gave him a weak smile.
"Tired." She said, her rough voice barely above a whisper.
"You scared us all half to death, Elly." JD said and she managed a weak laugh.
"Sorry." she said and her eyes flicked to behind them as if something caught her eyes. "Hello." She said and they looked over their shoulders seeing JoAnn and Dimitra standing there, looking as if they didn't know what to do.
"Oh, Elly. This is our mom, Dimitra." Criss said and the older woman stepped forward. Elidra held her hand out to her and they shook hands gently before Dimitra pulled away.
"It's very nice to meet you." She said and Elidra gave her a smile.
"It's very nice to meet you too, Mrs. Angel." She said and they all laughed. "Did I miss something?"
"Angel isn't my real last name." Criss said.
"Call me Dimitra." She said and Elidra nodded.
"And this is my girl, JoAnn." Criss said and the blonde woman came forward. He laced his arm around her waist and she leaned against him slightly.
"Pleasure to meet you, JoAnn." Elidra said and JoAnn nodded at her. "Now if you excuse me, almost dying has made me tired."
"Come on, guys, lets leave Elly to rest." JD said and they made their way to the door.
"JD?" Elidra said and he stopped, looking at her. "Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked and he nodded.
"I'll be out in a bit." He said to the rest.
"Close the door please." Elidra requested and he did after reassuring the others again.
"What was that all about?" JoAnn asked Criss as they stood outside the room.
"Elly and JD have a really good friendship, they talk a lot and whatever she tells him, he tells us." Criss said.
"Why doesn't she just tell us herself?" Dimitra asked and Criss shrugged nonchalantly.
"I don't know. Never gave it much thought."
Back in the room, JD stood at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.
"What do you mean, 'he's here'?" he asked.
"Azrael is here in this very room." Elidra said and her eyes went to the angel. He was standing next to JD in his bright green robes, his long golden hair falling past his elbows, contrasting with his dark skin. His robes matched the color of the large parrot wings growing out of his back. His hands were clasped in front of him politely and he smiled at her when they locked eyes. The other man was of course, completely oblivious to the angels' presence.
"You said he only shows up when someone is about to die." JD said, his brow furrowed.
"Yes, I did, and I was telling the truth." Elidra said.
"Who's going to die?" he asked, still not getting it. She locked eyes with him and his went wide.
"No." he said, shaking his head but she nodded.
"Yes. My body is failing, JD. My heart is growing weaker by the second. I'm dying." She said.
"There must be something you can do. That healing thing you did."
"The damage is too severe."
"But you healed yourself after being cut to shreds. You can't heal a damaged heart?"
"No, like I said, the damage is too severe. I will die, whether I want to or not. Trust me when I say," she looked Azrael right in the eyes. "I don't want to." Azrael just gave her a sad smile.
"What do you want me to do? I can't just stand here and watch you die." JD said, his voice growing strained.
"I'm not, and I couldn't, ask you to. I want you to go out there and tell the others I want to be alone. That I'm very tired and I just want to rest all by myself. Knowing Criss and his previous actions, he'll want to come in here and keep me company. I can't have that. I don't want any of you, most of all him, to see me go. Understand?" Elidra said and JD nodded. "Now go." He went reluctantly to the door. "And JD," he paused. "Goodbye. I truly valued our friendship."
"Elly…"
"I'll always be watching over you, and Costa, and Criss. You know most of all that I mean literally watching over you. Now go, it's almost time. Azrael is getting impatient." She said and indeed the angel was tapping his slipper-clad foot inaudibly against the linoleum. JD left the room with one last look to her and she gave him a soft smile before he fled the room. She listened intently as he delivered her message to the others and looked at Azrael again.
"It's time, Elly." He said and she sighed.
"I know, Azzy. I was just hoping for more. I wanted more time with them. I wanted to tell more jokes, hear more stories. But all things must come to an end, huh?" she asked, her eyes tearing up and he nodded. He unclasped his hands and gently laid his hand on her shoulder.
Everyone jumped to attention as loud beeping came from the room. Nurses rushed past them into the room.
"She's crashing! Get me the paddles!" a nurse said. "Clear!" A jolting sound rang out. The beeping turned into a drone. "Clear!" No change. "Clear!" No change, just that one long note. "I'm calling it. Time of death, five fifty-six PM."