Lily stayed on the ground, staring at her blood-covered hands for at least ten minutes. The metallic tang of gore seemed to cling to her skin, a sickening counterpoint to the vibrant red. It was hard for her to come to terms with the fact that she had just killed four men. Growing up, she never even got into fights; she considered herself a pacifist. Now, she was a murderer. A cold, heavy knot of dread settled in her stomach, twisting with a self-loathing she'd never known.
"Lily... Lily!" Through the ringing in her ears, she heard Alex's voice beside her, a distant echo in the fog of her horror. She continued to stare at her shaky, blood-covered hands, unable to tear her gaze away. What happened to her? Was she turning into a monster? Tears rolled down her cheeks, hot trails cutting through the grime.
Alex ran quickly over to Emily and Cherry's bodies, feeling immense relief to find they were both still alive. Their pulses were weak, but present. Cherry, however, was in pretty bad shape. What the hell happened here? he thought, looking around; it looked like a massacre in the alleyway.
He was just about to start healing them when he heard a yell from the entrance of the alleyway, along with murmuring voices "Come on, Lily, we have to go now!" He ran over to Lily, shaking one of her shoulders, but she remained frozen, a blank stare in her watery eyes, lost in the abyss of her own actions.
"Shit," he whispered. It seemed he would have to do this the hard way. He easily lifted Cherry and Emily onto his shoulders, their limp forms surprisingly light for him, grabbing Lily's hand just as people slowly made their way into the alleyway's mouth.
Alexander closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on Lily's house, but his powers didn't want to work right now, a growing side effect of being around Lily for so long. "Come on... come on, not now!" he whispered, trying again. This time, his powers worked. Opening his eyes, the gritty alleyway vanished, replaced by the familiar warmth of Lily's living room.
Sighing in relief, he gently laid Emily's body on one couch and Cherry on the other. Lily finally snapped out of her daze, her eyes focusing on her friends. A wave of raw, protective instinct, mixed with profound guilt, washed over her. She fell on her knees beside the couch Cherry was lying on, her trembling fingers hovering over his bruised face. Alex stood beside her, hovering his hand over Cherry's body, healing him. The grotesque wounds on his face slowly started to heal before Lily's astonished eyes, fading like a bad dream.
Lily stood, her legs still feeling like jelly, and walked over to Emily's body. Her friend seemed to be fine physically, though pale and unconscious. Lily carefully re-buttoned the torn top of Emily's dress, a surge of fierce anger at the men momentarily eclipsing her horror at what she'd done. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, smearing more blood across her cheek. "Should I wipe both their memories?" Alex whispered softly, his back still facing Lily, as if sensing her internal struggle.
Lily thought it over, running her fingers through Emily's soft, red hair. The idea of them remembering any of this was unbearable, the thought of their fear and their possible judgment. But... didn't they deserve to know the truth? They could have all been killed tonight because of her lineage, because of secrets kept. The weight of the decision pressed down on her, heavy and suffocating.
Suddenly, she heard a faint beeping sound coming from Emily's pocket. Lily quickly wiped her hands on the front of her shirt, smudging it crimson, before pulling out Emily's phone. It was a message from Thomas:
Thomas- Hey baby, are you spending the night at Lily's? Just let me know, it's getting pretty late.
Lily bit her lip. Emily always let Thomas know if she decided to stay over; of course, he was slightly worried. Her heart ached with the deception, but a plan, desperate and immediate, formed in her mind. Quickly, Lily texted Thomas back:
Emily- Hey bae, yah, I'm staying at Li's. Sorry for not letting you know yet. Kiss our pudding on the cheek for me.
Lily knew Emily's daughter Andy's nickname was "pudding," which came in handy today. She felt like shit pretending to be Emily, a betrayal twisting in her gut, but it was the only way to keep them safe, to keep them innocent of the horror that had unfolded.
Thomas- I'll let her know mommy said goodnight. See you tomorrow. Love you.
Emily- Love u.
Lily let out a ragged sigh, sliding the phone back into Emily's pocket. Turning to face Alexander, she found he was already looking at her, his blue eyes filled with understanding and a silent question. "Wipe them," she said softly, the words tasting like ash in her mouth.
He nodded, his expression somber, and worked on wiping both their memories. They wouldn't remember anything after that point, only the harmless dinner at Red Lobster. Momo walked into the living room, looking over the situation with curious green eyes, then rubbed against Lily's leg, sensing her distress. "Don't worry, Momo, it's not me in trouble this time," Lily said, her voice thin, petting him. At this point, she fully understood he could understand everything she was saying; he was a magical cat after all.
"Can you take their bodies to the guest room, please?" she asked as he finished wiping their memories. He carefully picked up their bodies, almost weightlessly, taking them to the bedroom beside her own. Lily was just about to walk into the bathroom to get cleaned up, desperate to wash the blood and the memory from her skin, when she heard Alex come out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.
"Lily, we have to talk about what happened tonight," he said, his voice gentle but firm.
She swallowed hard, looking down at her still-stained hands. The image of the men, broken and lifeless, flashed behind her eyelids. "Not tonight, please..." The plea was raw, laced with exhaustion and a deep, penetrating fear.
Reluctantly, he didn't fight the subject, nodding his head. "Fine. I'll check up on you later. Please don't beat yourself up over this, Lily," he whispered, walking closer, kissing her softly on the cheek. His touch was a faint comfort against the storm raging within her, before he disappeared into thin air, leaving her alone with her own terrifying thoughts.
*****
"Breaking news from New York! There has been a murder of four men in an alleyway beside Dick's Hardware. We are yet to have any suspects in the murders, but a witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, saw the aftermath and said it was the most gruesome thing they'd ever seen..."
The next morning, Lily sat in the living room, wrapped tightly in her pink blanket, numbly watching the news. They were talking about the murder of those men she killed. A cold, darker part of her felt like they deserved what they got, a chilling flicker of the monstrous power that had surged through her.
Her friends made their way out of the guest room, yawning and stretching.
"Ugh, my head is pounding. What exactly did we do last night after dinner? It's all a blank," Cherry mumbled, rubbing his temples.
"Seriously, I don't remember anything after Red Lobster," Emily added, looking puzzled. "Did we go to that bar, or...?"
"Geez, I feel like I've been hit by a truck," Cherry groaned, rubbing his head.
Lily quickly changed the channel, a frantic movement. "Anything good on TV?" Emily asked, sitting beside her. Lily kept watching the TV blankly for a second, the news report's words echoing in her mind, before quickly changing the channel to a morning cartoon, not even turning to look at her friends.
"Nothing... absolutely nothing."
YOU ARE READING
Miracle
Dragoste***** Lily has always been a clumsy unlucky person all her life tripping over chords bumping into walls where a normal occurrence for her in her verily normal life but a traffic light falling on her head, was a whole new level of unluckyness who kne...
