Canto Thirty-Seven: The End of Summer:

My boy lay in his hospital bed with needles sticking out of his skin. His body was covered in boils and blood spots. He could barely breathe. There was something stuffed into his nose. Irani kept making low gurgling noises as he tried to breathe. Cloths covered his forehead. Bayu knelt beside him. She looked up with tears in her eyes.

“Bayu-chan…” I said.

“This is all your fault,” she said in a low voice.

“Baby…” I said. I reached out to her but she slapped my hand away.

“Stay away from me!” she shouted. “It was a mistake to come here!”

“You can’t mean that,” I said.

“We are leaving as soon as he gets better,” Bayu said. She glared at me as she spoke. I opened my mouth to protest.

“Mama, papa?” we heard behind us. Bayu and I turned to see Lust standing a few feet away from us. She had a worried look on her face. My wife gritted her teeth.

“You!” she growled. Lust bowed her head.

“I’m so sorry!” she wailed. Bayu crouched down as if to attack. I held out my arm.

“You whore!” she screamed. “You did this to him!” My wife tried to run at her but I held her back. Our daughter tried to shield herself from her.

“Bayu-chan, please,” I pleaded with my wife. She broke down screaming. I had to grab her and hold her back at one point. I didn’t care about who was looking at us.

“You did this!” Bayu cried. “You are killing your brother! You seduced him! Give him back! Give him back!” I dug my heels in to stop her from matching over to our daughter. Three nurses had to help me. Lust kept bowing and apologizing.

“Please… stop…” I heard behind us. We turned to see Irani lying on his back. He tried to get up but another nurse pushed him back down.

“Stay down, my lord,” she whispered. “You are still not well enough to get out of bed.” Bayu and I walked over to Irani. He looked like he could barely see us.

“Mom… Dad…?” our son asked.

“We’re right here, baby,” Bayu said. She moved aside the cloths from his forehead and rubbed on the skin.

“You’re going to be okay,” she said. “Shhh. Shhh. You’re in good hands, just rest now.” Irani slowly closed his eyes and went to sleep. Bayu turned back to me.

“I will be healing him in Heaven,” she said. My stomach dropped when she said that.

“Bayu-chan…” I said.

“I don’t want to hear it!” she shouted. “I’ve already made up my mind.” I must have looked hurt to her. She gently stroked me on the cheek.

“Dear, I love you,” she said. “But it was a mistake to come here. Now, we have to leave in order to save our son.”

“But…” I said.

“I’m sorry, Lucifer,” Bayu said. She took off her ring and walked away. And that was it.

Days later, Bayu and Irani were gone. They went straight back to Heaven. I could’ve forced them to stay if I wanted to. But we both knew that Irani didn’t have a chance to live if he stayed any longer in Heaven. I shouldn’t have been surprised but it still hurt. That would be the last time I was truly happy. I watched as the Golden age of my kingdom walked away. Looking back, I didn’t really have a choice. Either way, I was going to lose my family. I should’ve known that the dream of the family that I had wasn’t meant to last. Still I clung to that hope in vain. But Irani’s illness and Bayu’s despair showed me otherwise. My relationship with Lust fell apart after that.

Once again, I was alone in my kingdom.