Whispers on the Wind

2

Lily awoke with a headache as she has been hit by a truck. She pondered, "What have I been through?" remembering the closeness and scent of Brian. She blushed, then grew angry at herself, thinking, "What am I thinking?"

 

They were bad people, both Eliza and Brian, they had done what bad people would do. She wondered what Aunt Nora would say if she knew. For a very brief moment, she thought about holding his waist just like Eliza did, but immediately regretted it. She was angry at herself for not being able to control her thoughts. "I should be feeling disgusted, and look what I'm thinking," she thought. "Am I a sinner?" Aunt Nora would sometimes say about Eliza, "She's a sinner. Don't you ever look at her as an example."

 

Shaking her head and telling herself to "Pull yourself together," she suddenly remembered; today was the day Brian was leaving... She felt as if all the air in her lungs had vanished, unable to breathe.

 

"What will I do? What if I can't see him?"

 

All her anger vanished in an instant, thinking, 'What if he's already gone,' she panicked and dashed out of the room. She rushed through the hall, adorned with white marble, and entered the kitchen, her cheeks flushed. "Has breakfast started, Aunt Nora?" she asked, and their eyes met with Eliza. 'Does she know what I saw?' she panicked for a moment, but Eliza just looked at her briefly and continued to message flirtatiously on her phone as usual. 'Is she sending these messages to Brian?' she thought, her fists clenched as she glared at Eliza, her anger boiling inside her. Just when she was about to say something, Aunt Nora intervened: "Eliza, if you haven't found that rich husband you're looking for, take these tomatoes upstairs, Mr. Brian will be leaving the house shortly." Lily suddenly blurted out, "I'll take them." Everyone was quite surprised.

 

"Let Eliza rest, she's busy. Let me take them."

 

Lily usually did not interact much with people, preferring to converse inwardly. She would ask herself questions and provide her own answers. She listened to people, followed orders with a simple "Okay," and heeded advice, doing whatever was told. Rarely did anything but "Okay" come from her mouth. Her first initiative to say "I'll take them" had a surprising effect on the kitchen's calm flow. But Nora liked this change, thinking,

 

Maybe the girl is finally getting used to the house. "Go on then, take it."

 

Taking deep breaths, her hands trembling, Lily slowly climbed the stairs to the upper floor, focusing all her attention on the plate in her hand, repeating to herself, "I mustn't spill it, I mustn't spill it." But her hands seemed uncontrollably shaky. She suddenly grew angry at herself,

 

"How can I face him after last night? Am I a fool for throwing myself in to the mix saying, 'I'll take it'?"

 

Then she remembered again; "He's leaving, he's leaving," she told herself. "What if I never see him again? Oh God, is the man dying that I can't see him? But what if I never do?" she murmured to herself. "He's leaving, Lily, come on, get yourself together," she admonished herself and took another deep breath, starting to move towards the table.

 

Brian was engrossed in his phone, his mother constantly asking questions, to which Brian replied with short 'yes' or 'no' answers, not even lifting his head from his phone. Lily hesitated for a while about where to put the tomatoes. No one seemed to notice her anyway; she was free to hesitate as much as she wanted. "I'll put it next to Brian," she thought, and just as she was extending the plate towards the table by his side, her hands were shaking so uncontrollably that... Brian, without taking his eyes off his phone, suddenly held Lily's hand while trying to take the plate, and with that contact, Lily shrieked and practically flung the plate. Now her invisibility was lifted; everyone could see her.