Finding "F. D."
"What the heck is it?" Pips asked.
"It can't be true," Damien said softly, as if in a dream. "I saw him...killed...dead..."
"What's he talking about?" Kat asked.
"Damien, tell us," Sandy said. "Please."
Damien still didn't take his eyes off of the D. He continued shaking his head slowly in a dazed way, oblivious to the others.
"They killed him," he said. "I know they did. This is a joke, a cruel joke..."
Kat took the D's chain and pulled it out of Damien's hands. She gently turned his head so he'd look at her, but even as he did, he seemed so distant, so far away.
"Damien, what is it?" she asked. "Who was killed?"
Damien closed his eyes and dropped his head. "My uncle, Damien...a cult...all of my relatives, except Lilith, and Lucifer...Beelzebub, Pazuzu, Namtar...they got my father, my mother, my grandfathers...they got him...I saw him fall..."
Pips looked at Sandy, who sadly patted his head. "Could you run along, Pips?"
Pips nodded and ran off. He wasn't that nosy.
"Sandy..." Kat whispered. Sandy turned to look at Damien. He hadn't moved, but Sandy could clearly see the tears.
"I cared about him most," he said. "They always took away those I really cared about."
"The note--it's signed F. D.," Sandy said. "Well, let's just find him. Where's the return address?"
"The orphanage?" Kat said. "Who do you know there?"
Damien took a look at the address, then stood up and ran over to his car. He got in and slammed the door. The tires squealed as the car sped off.
Not long after, Damien tentatively pushed the orphanage door open. Mercy, Mercy Me was softly playing, and in the lobby two children, one a brown puppy with a baseball hat and tanktop, the other a gray tabby with a pink dress and hair ribbon, were sitting on the floor, whispering the words and looking at magazines. [Note--the song title should be in quotes, not italicized.] The kitten looked up but continued singing.
Damien sighed and sat in a chair, looking around. The room was somewhat shabby. After taking this in, he stood up. "No, this is silly," he thought out loud, and started for the door.
"Damien?" a voice asked from behind him.
Damien stopped. That voice...
He turned around slowly, as if he weren't sure that he'd been called. The two kids were staring at him openly now, and not too far away from the desk at the far end of the room stood a priest. But who...
As if to answer, the priest held up a silver D, attached to a chain.
"Here's the new," he said, smiling. "Hello, Damien."
Damien's eyes widened. He pulled out the gold D and looked at it, and then back at the priest.
"Uncle...Damien?" he asked.
The priest, still smiling and holding the D, nodded once.
Damien started to say something, but his words were choked off. Instead, he threw his arms around his uncle, sobbing and laughing at the same time.
"I can't believe it!" he cried. And, above his own crying laughter, he could hear the two children cheering and clapping.
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