Waiting With Death

Chapter 9:

"300 light bulbs," Cassedy said. They stood underneath the sign and Grim looked over at her. "Alright, another down. Where to next?" he asked. She thought for a moment. "You think the zoo is open yet?" He grinned and nodded. "Come on, let's go." He grabbed her hand and they started walking. Cassedy was quiet for a while. "You think someone planned that? Exactly 300 bulbs." Grim glanced at her and shrugged. "Maybe, i don't know. Didn't think about it, I like that you did. Not many people could come up with these random tasks," he said. She smiled at him and looked ahead. 

They walked into the zoo that had just opened and walked around until they found the map. Grim pointed to one spot on the map. "We're here and the gorillas are there, so we need to go that way." Cassedy looked at him, "What do the gorillas have to with anything?" He shrugged, "I want to see them while we're here." She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Alright, let's go." They started walking through all the exhibits, all the animals were just waking up. Cassedy nodded to one cage. "Look, penguins!" she said. He grinned as they walked past them. They got to the gorilla cage and Grim stopped. There was a big gorilla in there with a smaller, baby gorilla. Cassedy smiled. "Aw! Haram-baby..." Grim looked over at her and shook his head. 

They kept walking until they got to the pandas. There were two big pandas asleep in the corner of the exhibit and a baby panda near by. Cassedy's face lit up. "They have one!" she said, excited. He laughed then looked at the cage. "How are you gonna do this?" he asked. Cassedy shrugged, "Climb down, I guess?" Grim nodded and put his foot on the bottom bar. He swung his other leg over until he was straddling the railing. He slid his other leg back until he was on the other side of the railing. He held his hand out to Cassedy. "Come on, I got you." She smiled and took his hand before hopping over the railing. They carefully made their way down the cage until they reached the floor. Cassedy looked at Grim who was looking at her. "Go on, you got this." he said. She smiled nervously before starting forward. 

She carefully crept across the enclosure until she was a few feet from the baby panda. She reached down and ran her hand across it's fur. The panda opened it's eyes and looked up. Cassedy knew it couldn't see her but it was looking right at her. She reached down again and pet the cub again, this time longer. The baby panda rolled onto it's back with it's little paws up. Cassedy gently bend over and picked it up. The panda let her and she rubbed it's head with her hand. "Grim, I'm holding a baby panda!" she whispered to him. He grinned at her and walked over to pet the panda too. 

Eventually, they put the panda back before the parents woke up and climbed back out of the cage. "Is it just me or do we seem to be doing a lot of climbing lately?" Grim asked. She smiled as they walked out of the zoo. On their way to the next task, Grim stopped by a store to grab spray paint. As they were walking down the side walk, Grim handed her the spray paint. "What do you want to paint?" he asked her. She thought for a minute. "Can we paint a sunset?" she asked. He nodded, smiling. "I like that idea."

 They spent the next hour or two spray painting the wall of an alley. Cassedy took a step back to admire their work. "We're not that bad at this," she said. Grim laughed and walked over to see it better. After a minute he shrugged, "Not to bed." Grim looked at his watch. "Cassedy, the sun is setting soon. We should get going," he said. Cassedy sighed and nodded. They started their way back to the pond. When they got there, it was still a few minutes before the sun set so they sat and waited. 

Cassedy looked down at the water, watching the fish splash about. "What are you thinking about?" Grim asked. She kept her eyes on the water. "I'm going to miss Bamboo..." she said, sadly. Grim looked confused for a minute. "Bamboo? Wait, did you name the panda?!" he asked. Cassedy looked up at him and started laughing. "Maybe," she said. Grim grinned and looked up at the sky. "Oh, look. The sun is starting to set," he pointed out. Cassedy looked up, her face sad. Grim put his arm around her and pulled her close. "It's okay, Cass." he said. She nodded, watching the sun sink slowly down. 

Rosanne sat outside the hospital, watching the sun set. She couldn't be in the hospital room when they.... She wanted to watch the sunset, it made her feel closer to Cassedy. A tear slid down her face as she watched the sun get lower and lower. Cassedy's eyes followed the sun down. "We finished the list, Noah. Thank you," she said. Grim nodded, silent as the sun disappeared. Rosanne held her breath as the sun finally set. Shaun walked out of the hospital and walked towards her. He nodded once and Rosanne felt tears fall down her face. She hugged Shaun and he hugged her back. She whispered to him, "We did the right thing. It's okay." 

Grim sat alone on the bridge. Cassedy was gone, just like that. He looked down at the water and the fish seemed to be splashing around, searching for her. He smiled slightly and whispered, "We finished your list, Cassedy, be free."