Surviving to Soulmates

Chapter 1

EXPELLED.

A new word branded Lilith. When she'd decided to bully the principal's daughter, Lilith had known exactly what she was doing, and getting expelled was in her list of possible outcomes, though it hadn't been high on the list.

As she walked outside of the dark brick walls that had confined her the previous three years of high school, a silent sigh of relief rushed through the school. At the same time, the students within the school felt the weight on their necks grow heavier. While many students weren't individually satisfied with Lilith or what she stood for, they knew the alternative was worse, and many students hoped dearly to graduate before the bullying that preceded Lilith returned.

The red letters on her transcript were among the lighter things Lilith carried with her outside her school. Heavier were the bottles of spray paint she'd carried ever since she was bottom of the food chain freshman year. Someone had been expected to vandalize desks, and girls who either ranked higher in popularity or intelligence had too much to risk to do it themselves, so the responsibility had landed on Lilith. She'd maintained the habit of keeping them with her to this very day. Grabbing what she had left of her paint, Lilith took to buildings around her city to kill the time. The awards she'd won in art weren't just for show. Beautiful murals that would wash away with the next rainfall covered the city.

Walking over to a dumpster on the side of the road, Lilith disposed of her last can of paint.

"Hey," a soft voice came from behind her. Lilith turned around to be greeted by the sight of a youthful face. The boy's soft brown hair contrasted his sharper features and elegant way of dressing; however, his shoes betrayed his real economic status. "Why aren't you in school?"

"Why aren't you?" Lilith shot back. The boy in front of her tended to act hypocritically.

"Aunt Elizabeth called me out. She called your school too, but you weren't there. That's why I went looking for you."

"How'd you find me?" She thought she'd been relatively secretive about her location.

"I followed the wet paint—that's not important. Why weren't you in school?"

"I was expelled."

The alleyway stood still. Aside from the chirpings of surrounding crows and the rustle of rats around them, the twins were silent. Lilith listened to her brother's low, steady breaths as he closed his eyes. He ran his hand through his hair.

"Fuck." His voice was a low whisper.

"What did Auntie call about?" Lilith asked, her voice gaining a similar quietness. She didn't want to break the peace of the alleyway. Her brother would get over the expulsion soon enough. Lilith  had enough credits to attend community college already, she'd only planned to stick around senior year to help out a few friends. Unfortunately, that plan had been cut short.

The boy who'd blinked himself back to reality, his arms loosening to his sides and his breath relaxing, tensed up once more.

"This shouldn't come as a surprise, but" he started, his voice shaky, "Mom's dead."

Lilith felt her breath ball in her throat. Her vocal cords seemed to strangle her.

"Oh" was all she could say.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"I'm going to kill myself today," her mother had said as Lilith had walked out the door this morning. But Lilith hadn't taken it seriously; her mother said it so often that it was tantamount to "I love you" or "Goodbye." Now, Lilith realized this time she meant goodbye for good.

"How'd she die?" Lilith struggled to ask.

"Jumped into the highway. Driver couldn't stop soon enough."

"I see. That's not his fault then."

"No."

"Who do we have left?"

Lilith's breath shook. She already knew the answer.

"Dad."

It was as if Lilith was a balloon, and all the breath held in her, choking her, was released at once as she released out a cry. Her brother's arms surrounded her; engulfed her.

"Oh God," she wailed.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"What's going to happen to me?" Her arms felt full of scars, tearing at her skin and threatening to rip her open like a ragdoll. All she could think of was her father – her father and his knife.

"I'll make sure he doesn't touch you."

Lilith let out another loud cry.

"That's what you said last time."

"I think Aunt Elizabeth can help us."

"She's not our real aunt."

"She owes me one. She told me she could rent us out an apartment so you and I could go to school without seeing Dad as long as we were bound to get into four-year colleges, but...that doesn't look like much of an option anymore."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, I'll renegotiate." He patted her back. "Don't be sorry."

Heavy breathing wracked Lilith's body as she closed her eyes, cutting her off from the world. All she had now was her brother and aunt.

She just had to make it out alive.

Stepping away from her brother, she watched him pull out his phone from his pants pocket and dial a number. Turning away from him, she pressed her back towards the wall of the alleyway, letting her legs give out from underneath her as she fell to a seated, fetal position. Tears washed down her face, but both her brother and her knew it wasn't from the death of their mother. It was from something – or rather someone – much, much worse.

Closing her eyes, Lilith listened as the sound of linen pushed against brick told her her brother had sat next to her.

"Lilith," he said.

"Yeah?"

"We're going to live with Aunt Elizabeth. She said if we work part time jobs for her company to foot some of the cost, got along with her kids, and complete high school, we can live in her guest house and go to school next door."

"But the expulsion..."

"It's a private school, as long as we pay them, they shouldn't care. There's only one caveat."

Lilith took a breath and moved her head to stare at the sky. No matter what it was, if it got her away from her father, she knew she'd have to succeed.

"We have to pass the transfer student test."

Relief washed over her.

"Okay. We can do that."

"Alright. Then let's grab our stuff from Mom's house when you're ready."

"Thank you, Gabriel."