The snowy village was quiet as it was buried beneath a thick blanket of white powder. Lilith firmly held my hand as we traverse the active roads, occupied by passing pedestrians wearing thick clothing protecting them from the freezing temperatures of the cold blizzard.
Strangest part of all in this is Lilith herself as she wore the same dress that is not suitable for weather like this, the wind blowing in the wrong direction. Despite this, she did not appear bothered by it and instead, smiled happily as she looked up at the sky. “Lovely, is it not?” Lilith asked as she pulled me close by the arm.
“Yeah…”
She laughed lightly as she continued to hold onto my hand as the two of us walked down the road. “You know, it is rare to see a boy as young as yourself so well-behaved. Children in this village are usually upbeat and full of energy, yet here you are being so calm and silent, it is quite a pleasant sight to behold,” Lilith complimented me with a warm and gentle tone of voice.
“T-thanks,” I replied with a simple reply. “I am…not really a people person, mommy.” Her eyes widened as a surprised look formed on her beautiful features, “why is that? You are a smart and handsome twelve year old boy. Why is that, I wonder?”
Her unmoving gaze and smile made me want to look away but could not for some reason, “I do not know. I guess because I am a loser.” When I said those words, her eyes softened a little and a small sigh escaped from between her red lips. “Hahaha, that is not true,” Lilith shook her head as she stared at the ground. “There is no such thing as a ‘loser.’ Everyone is different, everyone has their own unique traits and characteristics that set them apart from each other.”
“But, I am not normal,” I sighed as I felt the tears forming again. “My father said so,” I told her in a soft whisper. “Your father is not exactly right about this. It is true that you are not normal, Adam,” She paused before continuing with a thoughtful expression, “but what is stopping you from adopting a new life and trying to be someone better than the Adam that you think that he is?”
I furrowed my brows, “what do you mean by that?”
“You have lived your entire life being afraid of the things that happened to you,” she stared at me with a posture of kindness, something that is foreign for me to experience from my past of living in a hellish life, “you are always so guarded, so cautious. Even now, after all these years, you still act as though everything around you is a threat. That is why, you are still alone in this world.”
“I-I do not understand,” I muttered as I ashamedly looked down to the floor.
“Yes you do, Adam. You are still holding on to that fear you held within your heart ,” Lilith let go of my hand, approaching before me as she knelt on her legs, her warm and cold hands touching my face. “Let go of that fear and replace it with me. Let go of the darkness and embrace this new life you and I built together,” she stared deeply into my eyes, “let go of the world of nightmares that haunts your mind and always imagine me as your light, the warmth that keeps you alive and the love that never fails.”
I shivered, feeling a chill run down my spine as her pale red eyes met with my own, “do you now feel that, Adam? Do you feel the change that is happening inside of you already?”
I nodded as I closed my eyes, “yes…”
She smiled, kissing me on the forehead, “that is my Adam, whenever there is something dark or cruel; always remember and imagine just me, Adam.” I nodded with a smile, grateful for this moment with my new parent.
Lilith smiled in return, standing up before holding my hand once again, “come on, there is something that I want to show you,” she pulled me towards, leading me to a building in the village that I could not fathom to understand how it appeared to be.
“What is that mommy?” I pointed at the strange looking building with a triangle shape as rooftop, causing Lilith to turn her head at me, smiling as she spoke, “that Adam is a church, a house of God. It is a place that we come to pray to God to save us and give us strength and hope in times of harshness and despair. And it is also a place that everyone goes to learn about faith and about themselves. Come, let us go in and say a prayer, shall we?”
I nodded as we head inside the building, the interior comprised of white marble walls, pillars and floors with stained-glass windows that gave the room a bright and peaceful atmosphere as pairs of chairs and pews lined the sides of the hall.
“Come on, Adam. We are going to sit down here and talk for a while,” She guided me to an empty seat and sat beside me, “now, Adam, do you know who or what God is?”
God? I am not sure what that is exactly? “What is God?” I tilted my head as I asked.
Lilith laughed, “He is the creator of all things in this world, Adam,” she took a deep breath, staring down to the ground while whispering to me, “he is the one that brought everyone and everything in existence into being.”
Oh, that is what God is then! So he must be the creator of everything, right?! That makes sense, “wow, so that is what it means..”
Lilith giggled, placing a hand onto mine, “Yes, that is what it meant. God is a significant figure in this world, Adam. He is the source of everything and he is our protector.”
Protector, so he is like a father then, huh… that is pretty cool, “so that is why everyone worships him then, to thank him for creating everything and protect us from harm and danger.”
Lilith chuckled, “yes, that is correct. Now then,” she lifted herself as she stood in front of another occupied chair and knelt on the floor, “close our eyes and bow your heads, Adam. Let us start praying now. Please open your heart to God and ask for his guidance, protection and love. Amen,”
I knelt beside her as we closed our eyes, feeling a sensation of nothingness to the point of boredom and silence. As I continued kneeling in silence with a bored mind, my ears adjusted to conversation between women in the church, talking about something unrelated.
Feeling intrigued and interested in listening to something else other than this void of boredom, I carefully tone my hearing to the two individuals that are conversing among themselves.
“I am telling you, my divorced husband just went insane after she left him.” The woman spoke with a stern voice, ” it does not make any sense. He was known to be an egoist and a harsh but reasonable guy. To go insane after someone left him like he did to me is just ridiculous!”
“It is true, he is a jerk and a terrible person to be with, but that does not imply he became a crazy man overnight,” a younger female replied.
The woman shook her head, “it is not adding up. He would not just go insane over having someone leaving him at only after the night of the divorce.”
That was strange, I could not imagine a guy divorcing his wife over a new person and suddenly he went insane because she left him? People do not go insane over that, especially someone they describe to be a man of extreme pride.
Although, I cannot help but continue listening their conversation!
“What about you, did anything interesting happen to you as well?” The woman asked.
The younger female nodded, “my boyfriend also suffered a similar fate like your husband but instead of going insane, he..he..”
“He killed himself, right?” the woman said with a grim face as the younger female gulped down.
“No, he killed another man after obsessing over a girl he spend time with from few days ago. He went over rampage killing a few unlucky boys and men until..” Tears trickled down the young lady’s cheeks as she continued, “until he got shot by one of the villagers.”
“Oh, that is awful,” the older woman said, comforting her.
It is depressing to hear about losing loved ones because of extreme jealousy and obsession. After a while, the younger woman then regained her composure and wiped away tears from her face before continuing. “Well anyway, hopefully we can find more information about this horrific tragedy and learn how to prevent it from happening again. If we solve the reason they acted the way they did, then my mind can be at ease knowing that it will not happen to others anymore.”
The older woman then smiled, “you are such a good person. It is admirable of you.”
That is just sad to consider. I really hope those two women can hopefully solve the case of their husband’s strange deaths. After the two left the room, I yawned and stretched out on the seat. Then, I felt a soft tap on my right shoulder.
“Adam, it is time to go home.” Lilith told me as the sudden light of the sun shines through the windows. I sighed as I stood up and walked outside the house, the air was cold and crisp. “Yes, mommy,” I replied as she grabbed my hand, leading me towards back at the entrance door of the church.
As we left, we heard the bell echoing across the atmosphere from the church tower, announcing the end of our day. I huff in relief, finally over from the long boring day of praying. We walked down the street as the snowflakes continued fluttering on the ground, continuing the route back home.
Then out of nowhere, a snowball suddenly flew me on the side as it hit my head. “Hey, that hurt!” I complained while rubbing the area of impact.
“Sorry about!” a voice of a girl shouted from afar. I turnaround to look at the direction of the girl and boy. The boy appears to be in the same as me while the girl, on the other hand, looks to be around eight or seven.
The perpetrator who threw the snowball approached me, “I am so sorry! That was totally uncalled for. Here, let us start in the beginning! My name is Alice and the person beside me is my brother, Bobby,” the girl introduced herself, causing her brother to respond from beside his sister also, “sup! My name is Bobby. Sorry for that, we were playing around with snowballs,” the boy replied with a smile.
“It is fine. My name is Adam by the way,” I say as I extend a hand to shake hands with them both. “Are you a friend of him miss?” Alice looked at Lilith, her innocent eyes glimmer in wonder as she smiled at the woman.
Lilith looked down at the girl, smiling in return with a creepy expression. “Oh, yes little one. Adam is my precious child of mine. It is also a pleasure to meet you, young lady,” Lilith said as she shakes the girl’s hand.
“Oh, it is a pleasure miss!” the girl replied with a giggle. “Um, miss? You can let go of my hand now..”
“Ah, no need to be shy, don’t be so formal. Call me Lilith,” the woman responded with a warm grin. “And, call me Mommy,” the woman added with a wicked grin, holding her hand firmer and harder to the point of hurting.
Alice began to protest, her tears welled in the corner of her eyes as she started to whimper as Adam and Bobby turn pale and sweaty. “Miss..you are hurting me..”
“Oh dear, are you hurt?” Lilith asked. Then Alice quickly replied back, “no miss, just a bit startled.”
“You know, children should be more respectful towards their elders.” Lilith decided to let go of Alice’s hand as she put on a sweet smile. “Now, how about Adam and the two of you get to know each other? It will be fun for everyone.” She turned to me, letting of my hand as she spoke with her smile that appeared…forced? “Adam, how do you like spending time with these children?”
Not wanting to cause anymore trouble, I nodded in silence as I glanced at the children, who appeared to be trembling in fear. “That is right, is it not Adam? That is what children do these days, hmm? Very well, I will be back at home, have fun with your friends,” Lilith ominously said, walking away as she waved goodbye.
As soon as she left us, Bobby wasted no time checking on Alice as he inspected her hand. “Alice! Are you okay?! Did she hurt you anywhere else?” “No, I am fine,” the girl answered, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Bobby continued to inspect her fingers and palms as he checked to see if anything was broken. “She did not break any bones. That is a relief,” he sighed in relief as he turned his head towards me with an angry frown, “your mother hurt my little sister! How could she do that to someone like my sister?!”
I could feel the anger and rage radiating out of his aura as his hands clenched tightly. “I am sorry, she is…sometimes like that. I do not know why…”
“You are lying,” he spat, turning his gaze to the ground. “Why did she do that anyway?”
I wanted to answer the question but could not find the proper way to say it, so instead, I simply shook my head, causing Bobby to grow angrier. He balled his fists and punched the snow covered ground with his fist as he screamed in fury, “why you-“
“Stop it Bobby! It was not his fault or his mother! Maybe it was an accident?!” Alice yelled as he grabbed hold of her brother’s arm. “It is his fault, Adam is the reason for harming you Alice, he is the one that is responsible for bringing his mother,” he shouted as he looked up at me.
I do not know what to do…I do not know what to do…
“Bobby please! Let go of Adam, he is not to blame for this!”
“He is the one that is responsible for his mother’s actions, Adam is the one that is to blame!”
“Bobby, stop it!”
As the siblings bicker, my vision returned to a dreamlike state as the world around me began to expand and warp in front of my eyes. My mind felt numb as the world around me appeared to be in slow motion as I saw myself floating in space.
The two siblings bickering with one another in front of me had been replaced as me and my alcoholic father. The memories of my past life living with my abusive father flooded back to the surface of my brain.
I remember how he always hit me and called me insulting names and I remember how I tried to stand up to him and protect myself against his wrathful hand.
“Adam, your worthless son, are you still alive after being adopted by a new whore? You useless little shit, it appears like you always manage to go without me,” the voice of my father echoed throughout my ears.
“Shut up!” I placed my hands over my ears to block the sound of his yelling as it caused a ringing in my ear. “You are dead! You died from that burning cabin! Why are you still here?! Why are you still torturing me! Stop it now, father, it is enough already. Please, just leave me alone,” I begged, tears rolling down my cheeks.
The voice belonging to my father still continued to echo in my head. “What do you think that you are worth? Do you really think that being adopted by that bitch will change your life alone son? That she will reform you to become her little boy? Face it son, you will always be my fucking slave through and through.”
Tears started to pour down as I grip my ears harder, trying to drown out his voice. “You are nothing but trash, a waste of life, and a disappointment to everyone who ever loved you. Just die, just die and let me rest, just fucking die like how my wife did. It is better to die than to be a pathetic little coward that is afraid of his own shadow. Fucking die, die, die, DIE, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die”
Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! “Stop it! STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screamed as the image of a fire burned in the distance, the smell of smoke filled the air as the familiar sounds of flames that engulfed the cabin.
“DISAPPEAR! JUST DISAPPEAR, DISAPPEAR FROM MY LIFE!”
The visions of that night came flooding in as it repeatedly replayed in my mind. My father’s screams, the feeling of hot ashes falling on my skin, the smell of burnt wood and flesh.
My vision then turned black, and all I saw was darkness.
