Sometimes, the Demons Win

"Truth, love, faith and goodness shall always prevail!" Elle's father's voice echoed in her mind as she trembled under her bed sheets. Ever since that strange incident about three nights ago, wherein a strange but pretty lady had suddenly appeared in her room to snuggle with her, the young child had lived in fear of that lady returning. Although the lady had been very kind and gentle, Elle had felt the strangest sensations around her, all of them dark and almost foreboding. There was something suspicious, almost sinister, about that woman, sweet and pretty as she had been, and Elle feared the night they might meet again. But as she lay there, trembling alone under her bed sheets, she could hear her father's strong, comforting voice ringing through the darkness and bringing a small ray of light through the shadows and into her heart.

"God will protect those who are faithful to him and his angels shall always triumph over Satan and his demons. Evil shall perish at the hand of goodness and none who are faithful will ever be left behind or unprotected," her father's voice continued to speak through her memories and, scared as she was upon this dark and moonless night, a sense of peace settled over her. Even though she was worried that the strange lady might come back to her to haunt her again, with her father's gentle promises of eternal triumph for all those who walked on the side of goodness humming through her brain, the little girl soon fell into a deep, dreamless sleep and the lady didn't come at all.

Ooo

"Do not worry, my child," Elle's father told Elle, caressing her long brown locks tenderly. "Mme. Perrodon will be ok, I am sure of it."

"But Papa, you've had every doctor within 50 miles come to try and heal her and she is still very sick!" Elle's little voice was shrill with fear and distress, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she thought about the poor old woman resting in her bed upstairs. Mme. Perrodon had been stuck in that state for almost a month now, barely able to speak or move without great pain and effort and it burned Elle's heart to see her like that.

"Oh, Papa! Papa! Please say she'll be ok! Please say she won't die?" Elle begged, burying her face into her father's waistcoat. He could feel her tears through his shirt and his heart went out to her. He pulled her into a hug before offering up a few more words of comfort.

"Do you not remember what I told you before, years ago, when you were afraid?" he asked her gently. "Didn't I tell you that goodness and love will always triumph over anger, fear, sorrow and evil? Mme. Perrodon will live, God willing, and even should he choose to take her home to her place in Heaven, she will still have won, for the Devil won't have a single inch of her soul, and instead, she will have found eternal rest and everlasting peace and happiness. I promise you this, Elle, even if I can promise you nothing else," the old man continued to caress her hair.

Although he wished terribly that he could've given her a more concrete oath, he could do no more than remind her that Mme. Perrodon would get through her sickness, one way or another. Although one way was a little less pleasant than the other, he continued to hold his daughter close and remind her that even if Mme. Perrodon succumbed to her disease, she would not have lost. Instead, she would've been rescued in another way, taken to another place far more wonderous and happy than the one she was leaving behind. Once there, then, she would stand at Heaven's gates, with Elle's mother, waiting for Elle and her father to join them once again.

"It will all be ok in the end, my darling Elle, I promise you this, for the angels will always win..."

Ooo

With a mysterious plague sweeping the countryside and Elle, herself, feeling a bit under the weather, Elle's father had brought in a doctor to come and inspect the young girl to make sure nothing was wrong. In the end, he declared her relatively healthy, nothing a few basic medications could not cure! But Elle hadn't liked this idea one bit, recoiling in disgust the moment the doctor mentioned a prescription to her. And Elle's father, who was in the room with them at the time, caught sight of Elle's grimace and chuckled warmly.