The Lilith Box
Structure
Exposition
The Man
We meet the Man. He is old, retired. His body is beginning to fail from the wear of age. Our perception of him is complete; we know his thoughts, feelings, and motivations. We join him in self-reflection.
His view of his own life is jaundiced. He sees the years he spend working as wasted, since he never, in his own words, "became something." He still pines for the Woman. He views her choice keep him as a "just a friend" as a failure on his part; if only he had been more handsome, more masculine, more wealthy, perhaps she would have seen him differently.
The Man's Youth
We see a memory. The Man is young, barely a man at all. He works on the docks, toiling hard. He sees the Woman, young and beautiful, passing by and his heart leaps. He works the day through, then calls on her. She is with her companion, Kalila Constantia, who seems always present. They enjoy a pleasant evening, and the Man goes home to his meager bunk in the flophouse, happy.
We see another memory, a few years on. The Man is now a foreman on the docks. He leads his team, loading the ships that bring trade from wherever and carry goods to wherever. The fog of Mistport hangs around him as he works. When the day is done, he visits the Woman. She eats alone. They dine and chat, ending the day in a pleasant and friendly way. The man goes home to a modest apartment alone.
The Man's Perception of Life's Struggle
He sees young men, working hard out in the city, and he scoffs at them. They will love, only to be rejected. They will work, only to remain in obscurity. They will live long lives, only to have their bodies betray them.
The Woman
We meet the Woman. She, too is old, though she hasn't retired. Our perception of her is that of an observer. We never hear her internal dialog, and the insight into her thoughts and feelings are her expressions and body language.We see her body failing, as well, but she accepts it, even laughs at it. When a pain wrenches her back, she gently chides herself for picking up a laundry basket wrong. She eats her bread soaked in milk, so that it doesn't trouble her failing teeth. When she moves about her place, she hobbles and walks with a stoop, but she laughs and jokes about it with those who come to her door.
The Man Remembers
We see a memory. The Man is comforting the Woman. She is inconsolable, for Kalila Constantia lies before her, the gray of death on her serene face as she lies in a casket. The Woman weeps bitter, hot tears. The Man feels inadequate, but does his best to give her comfort.
We see another day, a few years later. The Man is on one knee, proposing to the Woman. We see the troubled look in her eye, the compassion in her face, as she tells him that they cannot marry, that he is her best friend and must content himself with that.
We see a third day, decades later. The Man is calling on the Woman in the morning before going to his office, where he is a supervisor on the docks. They banter and laugh as they do every morning. She gives him a bit of money and asks him to pick up a bolt of wool for her while is about today. He goes to work and at the end of the day, he stops by the weaver, picking up the wool. He drops by the Woman's home and delivers her request. The laugh and joke. He enjoys a bowl of soup with her and goes home to his modest house, alone.
We watch her happily rise and beak the daily bread. She hums while she sweeps her kitchen. When the Man arrives at her house for his daily visit, she embraces him affectionately and asks for him to go to the curiosity shop and buy her the matching flour and sugar pots they have for sale. We see her happily accept laundry from the townsfolk, for her to wash and return to them.
The Box
We see the box. It is perhaps a foot long and nine inches in length and another four in depth. The ancient wood is carved, with geometric designs in relieve around the edges of each side. The smooth surface is lacquered and polished, like ebony, and the recessed areas of the relief are painted a rich crimson. A single polished brass piano hinge runs the length of the box in back where the lid is attached. The latch is made of brass and features a clever and intricate series of cunning gears that move of their own accord, motivated by unknown means to relase the catch when a small lever is depressed.
The box sits in the curiosity shop. Beside it, a matching set of sugar and flour cannisters sits on the shelf, cute in their own low modest way. The Man enters the shop to purchase the cannisters. He is humming to himself, but stops when he sees the Box. Absently gathering the cannisters for the Woman, he eyes the Box.
He shakes his head and begins to walk away, but stops. He turns and looks again at the Box; its beauty and intricacy alluring. The price on the Box is laughably low for such a piece. Perhaps the clerk mis-marked it? The man turns and takes another step toward the front of the store, but stops again.
He returns to the shelf, captivated by the Box. He stares for a long time, imagining this single, beautiful item in his modest home. Perhaps this one thing could give him the illusion of the success that has forever eluded him. It should be so expensive, but the price is so low! Maybe if he purchases it quickly, he can capture the price before the clerk realizes it is obviously marked incorrectly.
With this petty and avaricious thought in mind, the Man takes possession of the Box.
Conflict
The conflict in this story is two-fold. First the Man must struggle with himself. He must reframe his perceptions of how his life has unfolded and embrace what he has enjoyed and accept what has eluded him. Second, the Man must struggle with the Box, which feeds on his perceived failures and slights, urging him to ever deeper and darker deeds of cruelty, covetousness, greed, and malice.
Rising Action
Starting Small
The Man's belief that he is deceiving the clerk in the curiosities shop is the first small possession of his mind by the Box. But the Box is not content. It begins to gnaw at him. He tips less frequently. When he sees someone drop a large bill, he picks it up and pockets it, rather than returning it to the owner.
Unsettling Memories
The Man begins to relive episodes of his life in his mind, facing times where he felt he was slighted. Each time, the Box brings him to the present and presents an opportunity for a similar scenario, but where the Man can take what he believes he is owed. These acts range from the petty, to the unsettling, to the deranged.
The Succubus Effect
The Box brings the Man to consider many perceived failures and slights, but it always returns to the Woman. It dredges painful memories, or resentful ones, and poisons the Man's mind.
The Box, unbeknownst to the reader, only to the author, is seeking to compel the Man into the Three Betrayals against the Woman. These are betrayal by thought, betrayal by word, and betrayal by deed. The Box cannot abide his pure love for the Woman, even if it is not the love the Man truly wants.
The First Betrayal
The Man makes his daily visit to the Woman, which is now a chore for him. When she asks him for a small favor, as she has done every day for four decades, he agrees, but in his mind he rages against her, resenting the request. As he dwells on his resentment, all the requests of the years compound on him and his resentment grows to bitterness. He does the favor and returns to her in the evening, as usual, but he goes home filled with resentment and bitterness.
The Second Betrayal
As time goes by, and the Man seeths in his bitterness toward the Woman, he continues his daily habit of visiting her, but it is only a habit. Gone is the affection that once guided his feet to her door. His other deeds of cruelty and depravity have begun to earn him a reputation around the neighborhood, which he perceives in his twisted mind as the respect he is due, finally being paid. The Woman, accepts his visit every day, but asks favors less frequently. Her eyes are rimmed with defensiveness and wariness when he visits, and rarely does she offer him supper on the evenings that he does run an errand for her. On one such evening, he explodes in fury. He accuses her of manipulating and using him for decades as her errand boy and a balm for her broken heart, but selfishly withholding her love from him in return. Visibly wounded by his verbal attack, she demands that he leave, telling him she never wants to see him again.
The Third Betrayal
The Man goes home that night, mad with rage and resentment. If she no longer wishes to see him, he will see that she never has to. His mind, thoroughly twisted by the Box, is filled with images of gouging out her eyes with a knife, so she will never see anything again. He falls asleep dreaming these dark thoughts with an evil and twisted satisfaction in his heart.
Climax
The Battle
The Man will awaken before dawn, sweating with his heart pounding. How could he entertain such a though about the Woman. He rises, and warring emotions rend his mind. He wants vengeance and satisfaction for her perceived manipulation. But, did she manipulate him? Or, did she love him in the best way she was able, for a lifetime? He bathes and prepares to visit her, but he takes a sharp knife with him.
The Battle for Possession of the Man
The Man will arrive at the Woman's door, who is not happy to see him. She will not invite him in, but he will push past her. They will argue, which will escalate to physical struggle. Just as he is poised to strike at her eyes, and then her throat, for he has determined she must die, he is transported to a featureless void. He confronts an amorphous and unquestionably evil entity that is demanding that he carry out his twisted act. By his side, a youthful version of himself encourages the Man to resist. The Man will struggle with the entity, first in words, then finally in whatever physicality exists in this space. In the end, he strikes the entity in its center with the knife. Though not at home, the Man is certain the Box on his shelf has shattered. He returns to the material world to find himself lying atop the Woman, and blood is pumping out everywhere. Terrified of what he has done, he becomes aware of something wrong; there is a deep pain in his chest, and his knuckles are on fire. Looking first at the Woman's horrified visage, then down at his hand, he sees that he has plunged the knife to its hilt in his own chest. His lifeblood fountains over his hands. His last words, as he heaves himself off the Woman are, "I'm sorry. I have always loved you. And you loved me in return."
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