An Arrangement was Made

Chapter 23: Too Close Behind

Charlie and Vaggie had been making plans together about how they were going to find Lilith. The more they talked about it, the more excited Charlie got. Charlie skipped up to her bedroom to get some art supplies to write down her new plans. She opened the door and went stiff.

Adam was laying in her bed on his side waiting for her. He waved. Each finger curled back in one after the other to close his hand.

"Hi." Adam greeted her.

"What are you doing in my room?!"

"Hanging out with the cat." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the KeeKee who was busy hunting mice. Charlie looked over at her, then back at Adam. Keekee was normally a good judge of character, but she was still a cat. Her choosing to remain in Adam's presence wasn't an indicator of anything.

"Anyway, so I was looking through your shit," He picked up her book and ran his finger along the spine, "When I found this fucking thing. You got anything to say about it?"

"I don't need to explain my things to you." She tried to be firm. She would not let Adam bully her. She was going to stand her ground just like her mother did. That was the only way she was going to preserve herself in this. Adam opened the book and flipped through the pages.

"Got some nice pictures in here. I think this one is my favorite." He pointed to the last picture. It was one of himself in his full exorcist gear commanding his armies to destroy as many sinner souls as possible.

"I think they got my likeness down pretty well. The writing though? Not so much." He closed it again and looked at the cover. No author's name.

"So which one of my shitty exes wrote this?" Charlie didn't answer.

"Lilith? Eve? Your dad?"

She wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion.

"My dad is your ex?"

"NO! Answer the damn question!"

"My mother."

"I knew it. After all this time...SHE'S STILL OBSESSED WITH ME! AHAHAHAHA! I haven't thought about her ONCE since I got Eve and she still can't move on!"

"I'm pretty sure she moved on." Charlie attempted to counter, but Adam bulldozed that.

"People who've moved on don't write books bad mouthing their ex." He tossed the offending piece of literature out the window breaking the glass in the process.

"NO!" Charlie ran over to the window and looked out. It was 9 stories down. She could see where the book had landed but she heavily doubted it was undamaged from a fall that high.

"Why would you do that?! My mother wrote that for me!"

"My mother wrote that." He mocked back. "Some mom she ever was. The only thing she left for you to remember her by was a glorified diary entry full of lies."

"That's not true! She was a wonderful mom!"

"Why'd she leave then, huh?"

Charlie hesitated.

"We don't know for certain she left on her own."

"As if anyone could ever make her do anything. Let me tell you a little something about Lilith to make things fair. Whenever Lilith gets bored of something, she dips. She abandoned you. Just like she abandoned me, like she abandoned Eve, and like she abandoned your daddy. I'm surprised it took her so long to get bored of you too."

"You're a liar! You're lying! You don't know anything!"

"I never lie sweetheart. Lies are your daddy's territory, not mine."