Emma sat next to the window reading a book. She enjoyed the silence and outside noises, and read very often. Turning the page of her book, she gave herself a paper cut. She let out a small whimper, and placed the cut in her mouth where she had began to suck on it. Outside, she noticed Evelyn walking to her house, but was stopped by two  older boys who blocked her way. She overheard one of the boys making rude comments towards her, and even pushed her afterwards. The other boy just stared and laughed. Emma ran to her drawer to grab a baseball to throw at the boys but before turning around she heard one of them scream in terror and run. She curiously walked back to the window, and saw Evelyn giggling. The other boy who made the impolite remarks was crying, and his leg seemed to be broken, for it was twisted in an awkward position. He was on the floor backing away from her and begging in fear.  “Please don't hurt me, I won't do it again. Please just get away from me you freak!” Emma had enough of this and decided to do something about it. “ Hey! Leave her alone you  jerk!”  He got up not losing eye contact of Evelyn. Gulping, he limped away and yelled, “ FREAK!” Emma was halfway down the stairs when she saw her dad ask her , “ Is everything ok?” Not knowing what to say, Emma ran outside and checked on Evelyn. “ Hey kid, are you alright?” Evelyn came closer to Emma and whispered, “ Yes, I’m alright. You know Emma, I like you. You're a good person, so if I were you I wouldn't step any closer towards me.” She  leaned back quickly, and watched  the little girl's eyes fill with sorryness. “ He doesn't like it when I talk to other people, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind,” Evelyn giggled. “ Who won't let you talk to other people?” Evelyn looked both ways as if making sure she wasn't being watched. “Azrael, my friend.  If  you'd like I can let you see him. Would you like that?” In fear, Emma answered, “ I don't know if I would or not.” She was both terrified yet curious. “He won't hurt you if I tell him not too.” Evelyn said as if everything she said was completely sane. “ Than I guess I wouldn't mind if I could see him.” Evelyn smiled, closed her eyes, than opened them slowly. “ Do you see him?” Emma looked around, but no one was there. She Laughed at herself in realization that Evelyn must've  be talking about an imaginary friend, because “Azrael” was nowhere to be seen. “ Haha i'll see him another time I guess, well ima head back inside. See you around kid.”  Evelyn nodded and skipped back inside humming the same melody she sang when they had first met. Emma opened the door, turned one last time to see if anyone was around, and closed the door.

“Thanks for having me over Emma”, Evelyn said in her sweet voice. “ No problem kiddo. You have a wonderful night.” She walked back up two sets of stairs making sure not to disturb her sleepy parents who were watching television. Emma laid down in her bed and thought about earlier that day. She's known Evelyn for about two months  now, but she hasn't seen her imaginative side. And what made her think about using the name Azrael as her play pretend friend. Something about it sounded familiar but not in a good way. Suddenly, her lamp began to flicker, and the room became dim very quickly. Emma moved her legs to one side of the bed, and got up. She walked towards the flickering light, and then the light randomly went out. She gave a little shriek and attempted to walk back to her bed in the dark. When the lights went on, a tall dark figure appeared right in front of her. It’s clothing was black, and had a black belt with thorns on it across its waist. Around it's neck was a short cape leading down to what she had noticed to be dark black wings. It had black hair that wasn't short, but it wasn't long, and had long sharp finger nails. Black fog surrounded it's every move, and Emma’s whole body froze, and she couldn't make a sound. “ Shh,” he said in a deep gentle voice putting a finger over his mouth. “ If you be a good child and don't say a word I won't have to kill you,” Emma took a step back but bumped into her dresser. He gave a huge grin, and chuckled. His teeth were all pointed and his red eyes were glowing in the dim setting. “ W-who are you?” Emma stuttered. She closed her brown eyes and wondered in her head if this was all just a bad dream. “ Azrael. I'm sure you've heard of me. Evelyn must've told you all about me.” She opened her eyes. “ Azrael. Your name means-” “ -Angel of death?” He interrupted. Emma thought back to her dear friend. “ What do you want with Evelyn?” Azrael’s voice became even more gentle “ I only want to protect her. Keep her safe.”  “ You-” Emma was speechless and wondered why he would do such a thing. He didn't seem safe, and she was sure he was the one to break the boy’s leg. ”Why?” Her voice cracked and she quietly opened the dresser drawer behind her, grasping onto a pair of scissors. “Because she was the only one who could hear me. I felt so lonely. I felt unwanted. Until one day I spoke, and she heard me. Everyone thought she was a crazy person, so she never really spoke of me.” The way he spoke almost sounded sad, but Emma still didn't know why he had come to see her. “ Why did she tell me about you than? And why are you here?” Azrael was impatient, and quite annoyed with all the questions. “ Listen here darling I don't know why she told you. I don't even know how she let you see me. But let me tell you this. The last person who tried to separate or bully Evelyn, I killed them. Oh and I mean hundreds of people. All those innocent children you see die aren't innocent at all! ” he snarled very aggressively. “ So if you want to test that statement go ahead no one's stopping you! But to make sure nothing comes between me and my friend,” A pause of silence was created as Azrael began to lift above the ground and hover over Emma. “ I'M GOING TO KILL YOU RIGHT  NOW!” Emma briskly grabbed the scissors and striked Azrael in the chest, causing him to let out a pitching scream that ran throughout the house. She ran towards the window and quickly opened it up, sliding her body out as fast as possible. “ COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE MENACE!” Azrael flew to the window and grabbed a hold of Emma’s leg. With great force, she kicked him in the face. “ Let go of me!” Trapped on the third floor roof, she thought about jumping, but knew it was too high of a risk. Rain drops began to fall from the sky that soon became heavy rain. The demonic being grabbed her leg once more but this time he left her with a huge scar up against her calf. He carved his pointy nails into her leg. Emma let out a wild scream of pain and slipped on the wet roof, almost falling, but caught herself on the railing. She felt her hands beginning to slip, and the thought of falling was on her mind. She screamed for help from her parents who hadn't heard the sounds of Azrael because Evelyn didn't allow them to see or know about his existent like she did with Emma. “ MOM! DAD! HELP ME PLEASE ANYONE! HELP” She yelled as loud as she possibly could, but she didn't know that they were under a deep sleep that Azrel had put them in.  Azrael crawled towards her, bleeding black blood from his chest. Before Azrael could attack her and finally kill her, Evelyn yelled from her room through her open window, “Azrael Stop!” He turned his head and saw the innocent child he called friend. His anger turned into remorsefulness. “ Don't hurt her.” Emma’s hands felt as if they were going to slip. “ She was trying to separate us! I couldn't let that happen, you are my friend! My only friend I can't have that feeling of being  alone.” His glowing eyes grew dim and his words weren't filled with rage any more. “ But Emma is my friend, and I can't let you separate us. I know you care about me, but do you really have to kill people because of it?” The sound in Evelyn’s voice was tired, tired of dealing with him. Emma’s hands began to lose grip, and she began to fall. She screamed and closed her eyes. But she didn't hit the ground. Opening them, she saw Azrael holding her up, and place her gently onto the ground. He lowered his head, and flew to evelyn's window, picking her up and setting her down beside Emma. Barely breathing, Emma fell to the floor and watched the inconceivable scene play out before her. “ I guess I couldn't help but want you to live perfect life, because you are my friend,” Azrael said, beginning to sound like a friend more than foe. Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears. She tried not to cry, but she couldn't help it. Azrael walked over to her, making her appear a lot more shorter than she already was. Evelynn lowered her head, and he opened his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Still crying, Evelyn lifted her hand up. In her hand, was a sharp piece of glass like object, and Emma assumed it was from some sort of mirror. In a tiny raspy voice, Evelyn said, “ I'm so sorry, goodbye friend.” Evelyn expeditiously impelled the glass into Azrael’s back. His eyes widened, and blood began dripping out of his mouth. His knees hit the floor, and Evelyn released him. Once he landed, he became black dust, and shriveled into the sky. Emma stood up, still in amazement of what had happened. “ I had to do it. He would've kept killing innocent people.”  She turned her head to Emma. “ He was gonna kill you. He told me. I couldn't let that happen.” Emma took deep breaths in, and walked towards Evelyn to give her a hug. “  I'm just glad you're safe. I'm so-” “-don’t be” Evelyn answered. “ it's ok. He is safe now. You should get some sleep. We’ll talk about it in the morning,” Evelyn said. Emma grabbed her leg. “ My leg, it's cured! It used to have a scratch mark on it where did it go?” “Once an angel is killed, all it's wrong doing on earth is set back, unless of course you are killed. You can’t bring people back from the dead.” Emma couldn't help but to feel sympathetic, but she knew it would be best to get some rest. She turned and walked on to her house. “ By the way,” Evelyn said. Emma turned her head towards her, and listened carefully. “ You won't remember a thing in the morning.”

Emma woke up feeling her legs get sore. She stared at a drawing taped to her dresser. The picture was a black figure with the words written:

Azrael

under it. Emma thought it was strange that a random picture was placed with a random word. But she didn't pay much mind, and got up to get ready for school.

THE END