A Lily's Shadow

Part One

*Authors note* this was an assignment in my creative writing class this year that I thought I'd put up.

A Lily's Shadow
He called me Lily-Ann. My actual name was Annabelle, but lilys had always been our mother's favorite flower, and he always said I reminded him of her. The Ann had come from the first part of my name, Annabelle. He didn't like using the belle part in my name; Our father called me Belle. Or at least he had, once upon a time.

He, my brother, called me Lily-Ann, for I reminded him of our mother, with my blue eyes like the sea and bobbing blonde hair that fell down in ringlets. He called me Lily-Ann because our father had always called me Belle. He called me Lily-Ann because my real name reminded him of a something lost.

At first, I slept in the softest, deepest bed, full of brightly colored pillows and blankets that always cocooned me like a cloud when I sunk into it. At first, I had a wide room filled to the brim with toys and stuffed animals, with a big, bay window that always let in pools of warm yellow light. At first, Soren and I were happy. Now I slept on a hard bed with threadbare sheets, and the walls of my new room trapped me in like a cage. There were was only one window to let in comforting light, but it was always tied shut with curtains, so thick that no light could penetrate through the fabric, and there were no toys for me to play with. The room smelled of mold, but I should've been grateful; Soren had to sleep on the floor in the basement, and it was always freezing and dark down there. Laying in bed, I could easily picture him shivering away in the darkness. I briefly pondered sneaking a blanket down to him, but I had already tried that once, and when Uncle had caught me, both Soren and I had payed for it.

I missed our old home. It had been bright and warm and full of happy memories of my brother and I. Sometimes Soren would stay up and tell me stories about our mother, who had died shortly after I was born. Father never allowed us to talk about her in his presence, but he wasn't around all that much anyway. Soren always looked after me while he was gone on business trips and other affairs. While Father was away, my brother taught me to climb trees and put on puppet shows, now he sat shivering away in the basement.

It was only about half a year ago that Father brought us here, saying it wasn't right for two young kids to be on their own for so much. Soren had resisted and protested as much he could, saying that as a fifteen year old he was mature enough to handle watching over me, and that he had for the past four years. I think mostly he was afraid of coming here, to live with our uncle, because he had heard stories about him. Father didn't listen, dragging us here anyways and disposing us off to his brother as if we were nothing more than trinkets. Soren had become increasingly bitter towards Father in the last half year, in fact he had become bitter to just about everything. Only I seemed to be able to make him smile anymore. It was hard when Uncle was always making him cringe.
From the start Soren had hated Uncle, and that hatred only grew; Uncle eagerly fed it. Uncle was very strong, and very mean, and very easy to snap. He wasn't someone to be messed with, and my brother had learned that the hard way. We had only been there for a week when it happened, and already my hair had been pulled and there was a bruise on the back of my leg; I hadn't gotten to my bedroom on time. There was a fire in Soren's green eyes as he caught sight of the bruise, and he was hell-bent on revenge as his eyes switched to Uncle. I could see the determination in his gaze, a need to make the older man pay for hurting me.

I don't know what Soren did, but that night he had come racing into my room around midnight. A crash could be heard from below, then a bellow of fury and finally the stomping of feet accompanied by my brother's name screamed into the air. Soren had chuckled as he held the door closed, but I could still see a hint of fear flashing in his eyes. I trembled as Uncle's fury could easily be heard expanding.