Lola was gone from my side!I bolted to my feet, horrified, only to spot her standing behind me when I turned about. She was smiling… and she had wings!

Awestruck, I took a step back. I could taste her serene contentment and bubbly joy as she stretched her magnificent appendages out carefully. Unable to understand how such a sight was before me, my jaw fell slack as I blatantly stared.

Lola beamed at my obvious confusion. “The Infinite One has taken me back into His grace!” I blinked, still too astonished to grasp the meaning behind her words.

Her grin only widened as her excitement grew, “In my forgiving you, Yahweh saw the nature of my character, after all this time, and asked me for my pardon! I can finally go home!”

She rushed around the settee and hugged me tightly. Gone was the taste of her hurt, her suffering from centuries of unrequited love. In its place was a soft, sweet euphoria, with a hint of bright optimism.

To see Lola healed, lighthearted, and free to return to her homeland filled me with gladness, taking a heavy, rankling weight off my heart. I returned her embrace, sharing in the moment of her celebration.

Lola was the first to pull away. She held both of my hands in hers and we stood together, in silence, for a moment. She rose on tiptoe to kiss me on the cheek, a chaste and unassuming gesture. Again I felt the shadow of regret fly over my heart that I wasn’t able to return her love the way she deserved.

But before I could say anything more, she squeezed my hands and smiled up at me. “It’s time for me to go.”

My tongue was tied as emotion I wasn’t accustomed to clogged my throat. Would she be alright? Would I ever see her again? Did she even want to see me again? Would she, too, look back on our time together, so long ago, with happiness? Was she truly not angry with me? All those thoughts, and many more, flitted through my consciousness in rapid succession.

With so many sentiments at war, I could barely manage to speak at all. I refused to allow any tears to fall as I said what might be my final farewell, so long overdue. “I have missed you. I will miss you again.”

Lola smiled kindly, and for just an instant, I tasted a sharp pang of her sadness. She had no need to say anything more; she knew I understood. She was, at last, finally able to move on. With a final squeeze of my hands, she took a step back.

From one moment to the next, everything around me changed. I had been surrounded by cats, books, and plants; Lola standing before me. With the briefest flash of that brilliant glare, everything disappeared, and I was left, alone, in a completely vacant apartment.

Surrounded by empty silence in a place, just moments ago, so full of life, was unsettling. I watched motes of dust fall through a ray of sunlight that shone through a now empty window as I thought on what had just transpired.

After some time, I smiled, satisfied. My nightingale had, at last, flown home.

Notes

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