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“No idea. Just a gut feeling I have sometimes,” she said, pulling the hood up on her cloak.
That could only mean one thing. She was off to visit the dying. “Follow me,” she murmured as she set off down a lane with tents on either side of it. Soundlessly she entered the third on the right and motioned for me to join her.
The smell of decaying was unmistakable the second I entered. I looked around for the source of it and it finally dawned on me what it was when my eyes took in the form laying under a mountain of blankets. It was an old woman, barely breathing. I could see why now Ava called this a mercy mission. She was here to put those that suffered out of their misery.
A movement to the woman’s right caught my eye and brought a tear to it. Her husband laid a calming hand on his wife, soothing her in his own slumber.
Ava looked at me as she kneeled beside them and laid a finger over her lips, silently telling me to not say a word. I knew what she was about to do. But it didn’t stop the pain from stabbing in my chest. I watched as she reached out with both hands and lightly touched them on their foreheads.
Confused I sent her a questioning look.
She only shook her head at me and then stared into my eyes as if she were in a trance. I knew then that she was off, escorting the elderly couple to heaven. I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay but too afraid to move in fear that it would break her concentration. A few minutes later, maybe five minutes later she blinked, and I knew she was back with me.
Not wasting a second, I asked, “Why did you take them both?”
She stood and moved over to my side. “Because he would follow her two weeks to the day. I just sent them now so they could be together.” She lifted the tent flap and walked out into the night.
For over an hour, Ava visited over thirty tents. And each time, I stood as a sentinel outside giving them and her privacy.
She lifted the flap of the last one and stepped out beside me. I looked at her, wanting to erase the fatigue from her beautiful face but knowing I couldn’t, I asked, “Now what?”
“Now we walk back to the car.”
Side by side we walked, and I was about to take hold of her hand when I noticed she held both her arms out, like she was walking into a strong wind, and it were pushing them back. Turning around, I was shocked to see houses where there instead of the tents that were there moments ago.
She was building them houses. No not building them, she just plopped them in place of the tents. By the time we had reached the Land Rover, she had built a village. Lamp posts and streets had replaced the campfires and the well-worn paths in the snow-covered grass and each family that had called a tent their home, now had an actual roof over their heads. And knowing Ava, each one was fully furnished and stocked with food.
Standing there not believing my eyes, I looked at her. “Your ability amazes me more and more each second that I’m with you. How come you never built us a house.”
She burst out laughing. A musical sound to my ears. “Because I loved our house, I just hated the dreadful shag carpet.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said softly as I dared put my arms around her and pulled her close. “I’m going to kiss you now and don’t you dare pull away from me.”
She tilted her head to the side and looked at me. Before I knew it, she was grabbing hold of my coat and yanking me to her.
Chapter 14
