In the House of the Wicked by Thomas E. Sniegoski

nodded quickly, and he could see a fresh tear spill down her cheek. She had some more of her coffee.
    “She stopped eating yesterday,” Ashley said. “Didn’t matter what we gave her. We even tried sliced turkey. She loved sliced turkey, but she wouldn’t even take that.”
    “I guess it was just time,” Remy said.
    “Yeah,” Ashley agreed. “She was pretty old.”
    “Had a good life, though,” Remy assured her.
    “Ya think?” she asked. She turned her head to look at him, and Remy was surprised to see not the little girl he’d first met on that hot summer’s day in ’96, but a young woman dealing with one of the sad facts of life.
    Everything eventually died.
    It was something that he still wrestled with in his own immortal existence, one of the difficult truths of being human.
    “Sure,” Remy said. He drank some more of his coffee, thinking about what he was going to say. “She had somebody who loved and cared for her, who gave her a safe place to live. I really don’t think a cat could want for anything else. Do you?”
    She thought about it for a moment, taking a long sip from her drink.
    “You’re probably right,” she finally agreed.
    They were both quiet for a bit. He could tell that she was still thinking, working things out. Remy was glad that he was sitting with her, wanting to do everything he could to help ease the pain.
    “Spooky slept with me last night,” Ashley said. “She never slept with me. I think it was because she wanted to sleep exactly in the center, and that’s where I would be…. But last night she came into my room and meowed for me, and I had to help her up onto the bed….” She sniffled as more tears began to fall.
    “She got onto the bed and sat down…and looked at me. It was kinda giving me the creeps, so I asked her what her problem was, and she just gave me one of those disgusted-Spooky looks and lay down right beside me.”
    Ashley began to cry, and Remy moved closer, putting his arm around her.
    “She started to purr, Remy,” she continued. “Spooky never purred…but last night, she started to purr and then she went to sleep.”
    She cried some more, and he said nothing, choosing instead to just hold her.
    “She…she was…gone when I woke up,” Ashley said, struggling to get the words out. “She must’ve died sometime in the night.”
    “A nice way to go,” Remy said. “Sleeping beside the one you love.”
    They sat like that for quite some time, the sun slowly setting, the warmth of it gradually overcome by the evening’s chill.
    “Did you ever have to deal with this kind of thing, Remy?” Ashley asked him.
    “Sure,” he said, remembering without regret the pets and the acquaintances he had lost in his seemingly endless existence. How empty his life would have been without them. They had helped him to be what he was today. “It never gets any easier.”
    “Didn’t think it would,” she said, tipping the cup back and finishing the last of her coffee.
    “Don’t let this experience spoil it for you,” he said.
    “What do you mean?” Ashley asked, looking at him.
    “What you’re feeling now, the sadness…don’t let it take away from all the happiness that you had with Spooky…. It’s too special to be spoiled by a sad fact of life.”
    “Everything dies,” Ashley said.
    “Afraid so.” Remy nodded.
    They sat for a bit longer, and finally she had had enough of the fall chill in the air and stood.
    “I’m getting cold. I think I’ll head in now.”
    “You gonna be all right?” he asked her, standing up from the steps.
    “I’m good,” she said. “Sad…but good.”
    Remy understood perfectly. “You hang in there, all right?” he told her.
    “Yeah, it’ll probably take a little time, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
    “Good to hear.” He headed down the steps. “If you need anything, give me a call.”
    “Will do,” Ashley said, climbing the stairs to the building’s front door. “Thanks, Remy.”
    “You’re