Scarlet

Chapter 9

Lily

Lily ran through the strange fields of gold wheat. The place seemed to go on forever. The sky was blue with no clouds and no sun. The whole area glowed and Lily thought she felt something... something strange and foreign, a feeling she had never felt before. But it was gone in a second, just as the wind passed. The breeze moved across the ocean of gold like a wave. Lily ran along, her black boots barely touching the ground. Her black hair swirled around her.

"Stop."

A voice rang in her ears. She knew that voice. Lily did not stop.

"Lillian. Please."

Lily gritted her teeth and kept running, her breath shortening. The wheat went on forever.

"It will do you no good to keep running. What you need to do is stop."

Lily screamed, and sprinted forward. "Why would I listen to you?!"

"Because I am you and you are me. We are one. You can not escape your fate, Lillian. You know that."

She stopped and the golden fields stopped too. They seemed to freeze in time.

"No." Lily's voice quivered. "I am not you! I will never be you! You are selfish, heartless, abusive, and-"

"You do not know how to love, but you do you know how to be afraid, my dear."

Lily collapsed in the golden plants. A tear fell across her cheek.

"Do not despair. Come with me. When we unite, we will be powerful, indestructible, invincible. No one will stop us."

Lily smiled and stood up, looking into the sky. "No one, except for me." She twisted her wrist and her hand became a blade. She took a strand of the golden wheat and stabbed it forcefully. The ground shook.

In the distance, she heard a scream. The ground fell away, and she was falling, falling, falling, falling. Her hair swirled around her in a black mass. Lily shut her eyes. She had not killed him, only stalled him. At least she had bought herself time, and time, not him, was her biggest enemy.