Lilith

 

Lilith: OMG Dirk. This place is haunted!

Dirk: My house is too, remember? Mom shows up every once in a while to check up on us. See how we're doing.

Lilith: Now I feel like an idiot.

Dirk: Don't Lilith. You're beautiful.

Lilith: I wish you were here right now.

Dirk: I do too.

 

“I can't believe she's still sleeping.”

    “Mom said not to wake her up.”

    “I'm not going to.” Voices drifted through Lilith's mind as if she were dreaming. Maybe she was. She certainly didn't want to move.

    “Look, Anne. She just left her phone lying here.”

    “Do you think it has a picture of her boyfriend on it?”

    “I say we find out.”

    “That's not a good idea.”

    “She's sleeping. She'll never know.”

    “Where are the photos on this thing?”

    “Right there, Anne. It says photos.”

    “You can read that word?”

    “Yeah, can't you?”

    “Do you think that's him?”

    “Well she is kissing him.”

    “Aww. That's so sweet.” Those voices sounded like someone was looking at her phone. But that couldn't be possible, since she had a password on her phone to keep her parents and sister from snooping around on it. Except she had gotten tired of keying it in every time she wanted to use it, so she had turned it off while she was texting Dirk last night. She had put it back on, hadn’t she?

    Lilith's eyes flew open to reveal the two little girls with her phone, looking at a selfie of her giving Dirk a kiss on the cheek.

    “Give me back my phone you little brats!” The girls screamed as she bolted off the couch and lunged at one of them, but not the one that had the phone. They took off in opposite directions just as she landed on the floor.

    “What is going on up here?” Bella raced up the stairs and Lilith got up.

    “She called us brats,” the darker girl said, hiding the phone behind her back.

    “They took my phone!” Lilith countered. Bella looked at her sternly.

    “It's not nice to call others names, Lilith,” she said firmly. “That kind of behavior has no place in this house.” The girls giggled. Bella turned to face them. “And you two aren't off the hook either,” she continued. “You both know better than to go looking through someone's phone, especially a guest. Amanda, give it here.” Amanda handed Bella the phone, a guilty look on her face. “Now what do you say?”

    “I'm sorry,” both girls said at the same time.

    “But I just wanted to see a picture of her boyfriend,” Amanda winned.

    “Then ask her next time,” Bella told her. “I'm sure she'll be happy to show you one. You're both in time out for five minutes. Amanda go to your room. Anne, you're with me.” She handed Lilith the phone. “I'm sorry, Lilith, they normally behave themselves. You can go ahead and use the bathroom the girls use. It's in the middle of the hall downstairs.” She then took Anne down the stairs leaving Lilith alone on the third floor landing.

    Slightly grouchy from the rude awakening, Lilith took her suitcase and headed to the bathroom. She did her hair and makeup and slipped into a black fake leather vest that was perfect for the desert. She then decided to do some exploring. There was an extra staircase in her landing area, so she walked up that to find herself on a flat portion of the roof. With nowhere else to go, she headed back downstairs wondering if Dirk had gotten up yet.

    She wandered down into the home's entryway to find Randy standing with the two girls she had seen him walking with the day before. The girl on her right had brown hair and was wearing a lavender top. She seemed somewhat familiar, but where Lilith would have seen her, she didn't know. The girl on her left, however, was something Lilith had never seen before. She had green skin, for one thing. For another, her eyes were black orbs. She had wavy black hair and was wearing a skater get up, a tank top with a tie and cargo pants. Was she an alien? Lilith had overheard a documentary her father had been watching one time about alien-human hybrids, and there had been something about alien abductions being the main cause of that, but she hadn't paid that much attention to it.

    Another girl stood next to the green skinned girl, but unlike her friend, this girl was a normal blonde. She had a similar looking nose to the other girl, however, suggesting that they were related.

    “You remember my cousin Jill, right?” asked the green girl.

    “Oh, yeah,” said the brunette. “We're in the same advanced technologies class.”

    “Yeah, how did you get into that class as a freshmen?” asked the blonde.

    “Probably the same way you got in as a junior,” the brunette replied.

    “No,” said the blonde, “they usually only let upperclassmen take that class. Your parents must have pulled some strings to get you in there.”

    They all noticed Lilith at the same time, the three girls all turning to look at her with interest. Her first instinct was to ignore them, but she thought about what Bella had told her the night before. Randy wasn't Angela. These weren’t Angela's friends. In fact, they knew nothing about her, no rumors, no gossip. And while she still felt bitter, she realized that they would only see the troublemaker everyone thought she was unless she put in some effort to be nicer to everyone.

    “Hi,” she said.

    “This is Lilith,” Randy told his friends. “She's staying with us for the week. These are my friends Joanna and Kelly.”

    “Hi Lilith,” said the girl with green skin. “I'm Kelly Curious. It's nice to meet you. And this is my cousin, Jill.”

    “I'm Jill Smith,” said the blonde.

    “My dad and uncles are away at some science symposium for the week, so they sent me off to Aunt Jenny's,” Kelly explained. “Jill wanted to hang out with us.”

    “Beats sitting at home by myself,” Jill said.

    “I have an aunt Jenny too,” Lilith told them, taking the perfect opportunity to join the conversation.

    “Really?” Kelly said. “That's so cool.”

    “She goes by Jenifer, but I guess it's kinda the same.”

    “Oh, Alexander!” Jill called out. Lilith turned around to see him coming down the stairs. “You wouldn't happen to have the math assignment for this week, would you? I think I wrote down the wrong thing and didn't realize it until I got home.”

    “Sure,” Alexander said. “Let me just get it for you.” He headed back up the stairs.

    “We were just going to Spritzkies,” Joanna explained. “It's smoothie place in the middle of town.”

    “Sounds fun,” Lilith said.

    “Why don't you go with them?” Bella suggested as she came into the room with a basket of laundry in her arms.

    “You mean I'm allowed to leave?” Lilith asked.

    “You're not a prisoner here,” Bella replied. “As long as you stay with Randy, I don't see the problem.”

    “Yeah, come with us,” Kelly said. “You've got room in the car, don't you Jill?” Jill nodded.

    “Here's the assignment for this week,” Alexander said once he got off the stairs. He handed Jill a piece of paper which she slipped into her pocket.

    “Thank you Alexander,” Jill said. “You're a life savor.”

    “If only Amanda and Anne could hear you say that.” He laughed and then went into the living room.

    “Well what are we waiting for?” Joanna asked. “Smoothies await!”

 

    The drive to Spritzkies was a pleasant surprise. Lilith had expected to feel like an outsider, just like she had at her own 13th birthday party. Well, she might as well just call it what it actually was – Angela's 13th birthday party. While it had technically been for them both, Angela had gotten way more attention and Lilith had ended up sitting alone on the sofa while Angela blew out their birthday candles. Not the best welcome to being a teenager. But Randy and his friends were doing their best to include her in their conversion. It had been easy for Joanna and Randy to understand, since, Lilith learned, they had been the new kids not too long ago. Kelly and Jill had lived in Strangetown all their lives, but still were kind enough to let Lilith have her say. It was actually quite nice.

    Spritzkies was definitely the kind of place you could only find in a small town – a colorful joint with lots of different seating options, from booths to couches to beanbags. Each table had its own set of chairs. It was one of a kind, and although Lilith preferred darker colors, she had to admit that she liked the place for it's uniqueness, and was sure the colors would grow on her.

    As they stood in line to pour their own custom smoothies, Lilith noticed that there wasn't a set kind of customer – everyone was there, from families to adults to, of course, other groups of teens.

    “This is finally going to be the year I try the Spring Break Special,” Kelly said once they had sat down with their drinks.

    “Kelly, you say that every year,” Jill replied, “and every year you wait until the last minute and then chicken out.”

    “I mean it this time,” Kelly said. “I think I'm finally ready.”

    “Wait, what's the Spring Break Special?” Joanna asked.

    “It's this amazing smoothie they only sell during spring break,” Jill explained. “Legend has it that if you're not ready for it, the taste will blow you away.”

    “What legend?” Randy asked. “I thought that was just something they said to hype up advertising.”

    “Then why is Kelly so afraid to try one?” Joanna asked.

    Before she could answer, Jill looked over her shoulder and called “Hey Buck! Over here!” A blonde, slightly overweight boy in a red t-shirt came over to the table and pulled up a chair.

    “Jill!” he said, giving her a friendly hug. “I didn't know you'd be here today.”

    “Neither did I, but I have my mom's car and needed something to do so I figured, why not?”

    “So who's your friend?” Buck asked as he sat down.

    “This is Lilith,” Randy said.

    “She's staying with Randy for a few days,” Kelly added.

    “This is my friend Buck Grunt,” Jill said. “It's nice to see you managed to get out of the house.”

    “You mean boot camp?” Buck asked. Jill laughed.

    “Buck comes from a long line of generals,” Kelly explained.

    “Your older brother's in the military too, isn't he?” asked Joanna.

    “My oldest one, yes,” Buck said.

    “I didn't even know there was a military compound here,” Joanna said.

    “Well there had to be something here before the scientists took over,” Jill replied. Lilith must have looked confused, because Kelly leaned over to her.

    “There's always been a presence of scientists here,” she explained, “but a few years ago the labs got the best type of equipment and people started flocking from all over to work at the labs. That's why Joanna and Randy moved here.”

    “So your parents are scientists too?” Lilith asked Joanna.

    “No, they're software engineers,” she explained, and was met with a bunch of blank stares from the group. “They make the programs that the machines use to run.”

    “Well my dad was a scientist here before the science boom,” Kelly said.

    “Don't look at me,” Jill added. “My mom's a nurse.”

    “Lilith,” Randy said, “what do your parents do?”

    “My dad's an assistant coach for the Llamas.” Randy's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

    “Really?” he asked. “Have you ever been in the secret areas of the stadium?”

    “No,” Lilith said flatly. Randy's face fell. “I'm not that much of a sports person,” she added quickly. “He did invite my sister once and I just didn't want to be with her.”

    “How old is your sister?” Jill asked. Lilith sighed. She did not like where this conversion was going.

    “A full 12 minutes older than me,” she answered reluctantly.

    “So you're twins,” Kelly concluded.

    “Yeah,” Lilith said hoping to put an end to this topic.

    “Why are you less than thrilled about that?” Joanna asked.

    “Yeah, isn't she supposed to be your build in best friend?” Kelly added.

    “You wouldn't feel that way if one of your earliest memories is her getting credit for something you did,” Lilith explained.

    “That's too bad,” Buck said. “I feel you though. My dad never notices anything I do.”

    “At least it's better than my first memory,” Jill said.

    “And what's that?” Buck asked.

    “Your dad getting into a fight with my dad.”

    “Your dads got into a fight?” Lilith said excitably. “This I've got to hear.”

    “Well, my brother can tell you the story better than I can,” Jill explained. “I was only, like, two or three. But I do remember my mom coming into the living room and yelling 'Jill! Your father's gotten into a fight!' I tried to look out the window, but I couldn't see anything. It was a full on brawl though.”

    “That's crazy,” Joanna said, taking a sip of her smoothie.

    “Who won?” Randy asked.

    “My dad did,” Jill answered.

    “And my dad's never forgotten it,” Buck added. “I'm sure if he knew you would be here, he wouldn't have let me out of the house.”

    “Didn't he also have fight with your dad, Kelly?” Jill asked.

    “Yeah, when they were our age,” Kelly replied. “But enough about that. Lilith, we never heard what you mom does.”

    “She's in politics,” Lilith explained. “What about your mom?”

    “I literally don't have one,” Kelly told her. “I'm the product of an alien abduction.”

    “So it is true,” Lilith said under her breath. She took a sip of her drink and let the flavor dance in her mouth before she noticed that everyone was staring at her. How loud had she said that? “I mean I've heard things on TV shows and such, but I've never actually met anyone who... you know.”

    “Well now you've met two,” Jill said. “I'm also half alien.”

    “But you look normal,” Lilith mused out loud.

    “I got that from my human mother.”

    “It happens in about twenty percent of all cases,” Kelly said. This time all eyes were on her. “What?” she exclaimed. “When you live with a bunch of nerds like I do, you start spitting out facts randomly.”

    “Oh please,” Jill told her. “Your dad and our uncles are not nerds.”

    “Yeah, they are,” said the four others at the table.

    “My dad's always going on about how there's a rational explanation for everything,” Kelly explained. “When I was a kid and thought I saw monsters under the bed, he did a whole investigation of the room and showed me what was making the shadows.”

    “My dad just told me to man up and not be a wuss,” Buck said. Lilith hadn't thought any parents could have been worse than hers, but the more she listened, the more she realized that she didn't want to meet Buck's dad.

    Her thoughts were interrupted by Kelly's laugh.

    “What's so funny?” Randy asked.

    “Strangetown Memes just posted to their Facebook page,” Kelly explained. “This one's pretty funny.” She showed her phone to Jill, who burst out laughing. Buck did the same when he saw it. The phone was passed around the table until it got to Joanna.

    “Just give it back to Kelly,” Lilith told her. “I probably wouldn't get it.”

    “Oh you'll get this one,” Kelly told her.

    Lilith took a look at the phone to find a picture of a UFO hovering over what she guessed was the school. “What really happens over spring break” read the caption. She laughed lightly, and handed Kelly her phone back.

    “So this town has it's own set of memes?” Lilith asked.

    “You haven't seen the one that's gone nationwide?” Joanna asked.

    “Yeah, it's kind of a meme now to joke about people suddenly appearing in Strangetown,” Randy said. “They just photoshop the person next to the welcome sign.”

    “Did you hear the latest one?” Kelly inquired. She then went on to mention an alternative musician who had recently gone incognito to await the arrival of his first child. “There's a rumor that he was seen around here recently.”

    “I seriously doubt that,” Jill said. “But it would be kinda cool if he was here.”

    “Yeah, it would.” Lilith added excitedly. “Could you imagine being the first person to see him after such a long time?”

    “Wouldn't have any idea what that's like,” Joanna said sarcastically as she slumped in her chair. What had Lilith done? Unable to figure out the sudden change in the girl's mood, Lilith stood up with her empty cup.

    “I'm going to get another drink,” she said, and entered the line at the front of the room. Great Lilith, just great. She was finally feeling like she could actually make some friends that were hers alone, and she'd somehow screwed it up. No wonder everyone preferred Angela over her. When her “friends” weren't making fun of her behind her back or setting her up to get in some kind of trouble, they pretty much ditched her when they met her sister. The only person who hadn’t done that was Dirk. But from the very beginning of their friendship, Dirk had only been interested in her. Sure, he said hi to Angela when he saw her in the hallway, but he never showed any interest in hanging out with her. “Angela's nice and all,” he had told her on multiple occasions, “but I just don't enjoy being with her the way I do with you.” Then their relationship had turned romantic and she could tell he only had eyes for her. She needed to talk to him. Once she placed her order, she pulled out her phone and started texting him when she heard Kelly say “Lilith?” She looked over her shoulder.

    “You didn't really do anything wrong,” Kelly told her. “It's just that Joanna got the credit for finding Bella, and it forced her into a public life that she wasn't ready to live.” That's where Lilith had seen Joanna before – the news! She remembered when Bella Goth had been reunited with her family a decade after her abduction because her mother had the news on the whole day. Of course it was Christmas and so her father had been trying to convince her mother to turn the TV off before their guests arrived, which had been the cause of another argument. But Lilith had been able to catch a glimpse of Joanna.

    “Sorry,” Lilith muttered.

    “Hey, it's not that big of a deal,” Kelly told her. “She's already over it. Now quit pretending you're going to drink another smoothie and sit back down.”

    “I already ordered,” Lilith said as she was handed her drink, “but I guess we could share this one.”

    Kelly took one look at the drink and shouted “You got the special!”

    “I figured since I was here, I might as well taste it.”

 

Bella

 

    Bella noticed a change in Lilith once she had returned from her outing with Randy and his friends. She was less irritable and seemed to be enjoying herself a little bit. Mortimer definitely noticed it too. He was still uneasy about the whole thing, but seeing their house guest somewhat happy made him feel a little bit better.

    Lilith showed up to dinner on time, but didn't participate much in the conversion. Bella had asked her about her boyfriend, which got her to talk a little bit, but other than that she was silent. Still, she stayed for the duration of the meal.

    Bella found her in the living room after dinner where she was looking at a blue vase. It was handmade by Lauren's sister as a Christmas present and had been given to her the day after Bella reunited with her family.

    “Do you like it?” Bella asked.

    “Not really,” Lilith said. “It kinda brings back a bad memory.” She sat down on one of the sofas. “My mom made a vase like this when I was little. Angela knocked it over. I got in trouble for it.”

    “Did that happen a lot?” Bella asked. She joined Lilith on the couch.

    “All the time,” Lilith answered. “Angela would do something bad and then blame it on me. My parents always believed her.”

    “You didn't stand up for yourself?”

    “I tired at times, but I usually got into more trouble.”

    “That's too bad.”

    “I don't get it,” Lilith said. “How do you enjoy being with each other all the time?”

    “It was wasn't always that way,” Bella reminded her.

    “Yeah, but you liked each other before... you know.” Lilith looked at the ground. “I get why being separated like that would be hard in that case, but I can't stand my family. Mom never has time for anything but work, Dad has apparently been busy with the maid, and Angela won't leave me alone. And she's always the last person I want to talk to.”

    “Why not?”

    “Because, it's annoying enough that she's there getting everything. I just want to forget she exists. And when she does talk to me it always ends up in a fight. She came up to me the day we found Dad with Kaylynn. You know what she did when I told her? She slapped me right in the face.”

    “So what did you do?”

    “I slapped her back,” Lilith said with a smirk.

    “Lilith,” Bella said “did you ever realize that your sister is going through the same thing you are? She also learned that her father hasn't been faithful to her mother. Maybe she just wanted to talk to the one person who knows what that feels like.”

    “Maybe she just wanted to drive me nuts.”

    “I highly doubt that Lilith. Maybe if you just give her a chance...”

    “Do you want to know why I ran away from home?” she asked. “Because I couldn't stand being there anymore. It started with the party. Whenever Angela throws one it turns out perfect. I wanted people to see that I could throw one too, maybe make some new friends. I made sure everyone knew it was my party, not Angela's. I was sure this time it was going to work. And then Mom found Dad kissing Kaylynn and they got into a fight. And that's all anyone ever talked about - not how great the party was, but how I was the girl with the cheating father. I don't think anyone had a good time, except Dirk. Instead of new friends, I got people who felt sorry for me and my sister. Mom and Dad just kept fighting and fighting and fighting. Angela was the only other person there and she wouldn't leave me alone. I got sick of all of them treating me like dirt. So I grabbed some things and left. I didn't know where I was going, I just ran. But after a while it was clear that I was nowhere near ready to live on my own, and I didn't want to go back home.” Bella noticed tears forming in her eyes. “The only person I wanted to see was Dirk. I just wanted him to hold me in his arms. So I tried to sneak into his place, but the police caught me before I made it inside. I told them I needed to see him, but they wouldn't listen to me and took me home instead. Mom did give me a hug, but after that she and Dad were both more upset than relieved. They don't know what it's like to only want to see, to be held, to be told that everything's okay by the one person you can't get to.”

    “I know that feeling.” Bella put her arm around Lilith. She didn't try to get away. She just continued to cry. “I know that feeling very well.” They sat together for a few minutes before Bella spoke again. “Did you get to see him?”

    “At school,” Lilith replied, “where we couldn't do much. That weekend he came over to bring me the suitcase I left at his house and Mom left us alone for a bit. Until then we had to sneak... never mind.” Bella didn't pry for information. It was clear Lilith didn't want any adult to know. Bella couldn't relate to that – she had never snuk around with Mortimer as a teen, but she did understand why Lilith didn't want to tell her. But the fact that Lilith trusted her enough to almost tell her – that was something.