6 comments/  23559 views/  34 favorites

The Wallflower Ch. 01

By: BlessingAndCurse



"Can't wait till you get out my damn house!" 

Lily sighed heavily as she once again heard her mom rant about her lazy, stupid daughter needing a place of her own. Even while said daughter was doing just that on the laptop. And had been doing that for the past week since she graduated from high school. 

"All you do is eat up my god damn food, sleep, and shit! Ain't no better than a damn infant!" Ma continued to seethe behind her. "You think you better than me because you graduated ten percent!" she said mocking the final words. "You ain't shit! You a lazy ass bum!" 

Lily wanted to scream what the hell did her ma think she was doing on the computer looking up apartments. Because it sure wasn't playing video games or shopping on Amazon. But Lily knew better. It was best just to let the woman rant instead of confronting her on it. The latter either resulted in a loud shouting match or a backhand across the face. Ma always said ignorant people were dangerous. Too bad she didn't realize she was one of those ignorant people. 

In need of listening to some music, Lily reached out to grab her headphones to listen to Panic at the Disco. 

"PUT THOSE GODDAMN EARPHONES DOWN WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU!" Her mother's caramel skin started to turn a bright cherry red as her voice became louder than humanly possible. "ALWAYS BEING SO DAMN DISRESPECTFUL!" 

Grinding her teeth till she felt as if they turned into dust, Lily put her earphones down. She just scrolled down the computer as peacefully as she could, but was no longer looking at the apartments and the prices. She finally decided to give up for now since there was no way she was going to find an apartment with this crazy woman screaming down her back. Lilly closed the laptop and turned around in her chair to face Ma's fury head on. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"I can't wait to get out of here," Lily sighed while closing the door to her bedroom. She opened her laptop back up and continued her search for an apartment that was good but cheap enough to afford. Her job at the library only paid so much for her to pay for a basic apartment but in horrible neighborhoods. She wanted a basic apartment that was at least safe. 

Growing up in the suburbs was a privilege that Lily never took lightly, but yet it had crippled her for the last eighteen years. The books her family was able to afford helped her be the best of the best in her classes. Even going so far as to help her become part of the top ten percent of her overall class. Her grades were her overall pride. The social class wasn't. 

In fact the social class that she was born into disgusted her. It was full of close minded people who said one thing but thought another. The most close minded of all of them was Ma. She laughed with high pitched arrogance and had a painted on smile of a clown's. She was a well known upstanding physician who surrounded herself with people just as upstanding as her. But with all her outstanding degrees and knowledge, she was utterly ignorant. She spoke of things she did not understand and knew nothing about. Especially Lily. 

Too many times Lily had sat there and listened to Ma belittle her in front of people and bring her name through the mud. Ma painted her just as her ignorant brain saw her. An immature child who could do nothing for herself. Lily was done with living with that lie. It was only time to move forward. 

Lily held back the tears that threatened to stream down her face. Once she had composure over herself, she stared at the deal of a lifetime. A nice upstairs room in a townhouse that only cost $150 a month. 'There has to be some kind of catch. 'she thought as she clicked on the offer. 'Why would they rent a room for so low a price? In a townhouse of all places, at that." She pushed her spectacles up as she narrowed her eyes at the description. It was a townhouse in a part of the city that had little to no violence. The address that was given was only a few blocks away from her job which would save a lot on gas. The picture of the room itself was beautiful with golden painted walls with white trim. The room was already supplied with furniture, a queen sized bed, and had a personal bathroom. 

With a curious expression on her face, Lily wrote down the phone number and address to the townhouse to meet with the landlord about the room. She closed the laptop and prepared herself to go to bed. But the question of why the room was so low continued to plague her mind. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Here it is. 760 Meridian Street." 

Lily stared at the number on the side of townhouse door as she calmed her nerves with this big step she was going to take. A step to get away from the crazy suburban life she had lived with for so long. All she needed to do now was ring the doorbell. 

With a heavy sigh, she walked up the steps onto the porch and pressed firmly against the doorbell. 'See...you can do something for yourself," she smiled to herself as the cheery ring resonated from within the house. 

The door opened to reveal a frail woman who was nothing more than bones wrapped in a thin layer of skin. So thin, in fact, that the blue of her veins stood out prominently against the pail whiteness of her skin. Her face was as stern as stone with a pair of sunken in tired eyes that spoke of many years of living. Her hair went along side with the physical disparity she portrayed. It was all white and looked as if it had not been combed or brushed in years. 

"Are you here to look at the room or look at me like a perv?" she said sarcastically, giving Lily a bored look. 

"I-I'm...here to see the room, ma'am," Lily finally replied, feeling heat flood her face. The shoved opened the door and walked up the stairs. Taking it as her cue to follow, Lily stumbled inside and hurried up the stairs to catch up with her. The time it took to climb the stairs felt all the more awkward as the woman did not open any opportunities to make conversation. 

"You'll be sleeping here," the woman said when stopping in front of the doorway of the room. Lily's face broke out into a smile as she remembered the warm golden colored room she had seen on the internet. But when she looked inside, the smile disappeared. Instead of a warm room, there was a cold desolate room that had significant amount of golden paint that was scratched from the walls and a queen sized bed that had lost all its comfort. But the bed wasn't the only occupant in the room. 

"That is my son, Nicholas." The woman pointed to the brooding man lying on a well used bed adjacent to the other. "If you decide to take the room, you will have to share it with him. Before we get into all of the terms to living here, let's go down to the kitchen to discuss." 

Still staring at Nicholas, Lily turned her body slowly while trying to get a glimpse of his face. She had a feeling he was handsome, but she couldn't see his face through the veil of hair he threw over his face. She finally gave up and walked back downstairs with her hopefully new landlord. She tried to piece together why the room cost so low all the while. 'The price would come down a bit if you have to share a room with someone else, but it wouldn't be THAT low. Even if the room is crap it still doesn't make sense." 

On arriving at the kitchen, they sat opposite of each other at a table. As time ticked away and still no one said a word, Lily decided to speak. "Where's the lease for me to sign ma'am. I can give you the pay-" 

"Not yet." 

Another moment of silence passed by. 

"What do you mean? Not yet?" 

"I have a requirement for people who actually want to rent the room to stay in the room for the night before deciding to sign the lease and move in. I have too many people asking to leave the night after they signed the lease and moved in." 

Lily sat there dumbfounded and lost. 'Honey, maybe you need to keep looking because there is something seriously strange with this house.' But what other options did she have? She could leave this place and go back to her parents' house but she would have to deal with that crazy woman for god knows how long till she can find another deal on an apartment. Like that'll ever happen. Where was she gonna find a nice apartment in a safe area for this good of deal again? Never. 

Exhaling a heavy sigh after her mind was made up, she said, "Okay. But at least tell me what is so wrong with that room that I can't even sign the lease?" The woman stared back at her with hard grey eyes for several minutes. 

"You'll figure it out."

The Wallflower Ch. 02



/// I thank everyone for the support. I would really love for more criticism for this chapter. Write me in the comments what I can work on in the next chapter and even tell me what I'm doing right. I'm mentally prepared that not all comments will be positive, just as long as you leave criticism, I don't mind. But remember there is a difference between mean comments and actual critiquing. I hope you enjoy this story. I will be posting weekly. Thank You and please leave a comment  Have an awesome day///





'I can't believe I'm doing this.' Lily sighed as she brushed her teeth with the toothbrush borrowed from the woman. 'Hell, I don't even know the woman's name. Yet I borrowed a toothbrush from her.' She looked out the door at her roommate who had not even moved at all since she got here. Just laid there asleep in his bed all day. 'I don't even know who this guy is. For all you know he could be a rapist.'

She cleaned out her mouth with water to remove the remnants of toothpaste. When she looked back up at herself in the mirror, she frowned. 'Even if he was, he wouldn't want to touch me.' She gazed at a girl who was too dark in complexion that kept most boys from even considering to date her. The small almond shaped eyes were hidden behind thin spectacles. She had high prominent cheek bones but believed that couldn't save her face from being considered ugly. The only saving grace she considered to be beautiful was her full lips. Her classmates had always said she had a beautiful smile, but she barely did that at all.

Finding the need to escape from her disparaging thoughts, Lily turned off the bathroom lights and walked to her bed. She sat down on her bed and began to undo her pants. With a quick look behind her, she made sure her roommate didn't miraculously decide to wake up before pulling down her pants all the way. Now that she was only clad in a t-shirt and a thong, she got up and pulled back the covers to get in. She looked at Nicholas again to ensure he wasn't looking. She knew he was asleep but...that didn't shake the feeling of someone watching her.

Without another moment of hesitation, she climbed into bed and tried her hardest to fall asleep. She turned over on her side and closed her eyes but sleep continued to evade her. Her weary eyes found their way to rest on Nicholas since she wasn't going to get any rest anytime soon. 

Thanks to the slight part in the windows that separated their beds, she could make out only the shape of his body. His body structure was slender, but not so slender to be considered skinny. Unlike other girls, Lily didn't care too much for guys who had a thick body of muscle. Don't get her wrong. It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to guys with muscle. She just wasn't attracted to swole guys that looked as if they could rip their shirt and become the Incredible Hulk. Even though she couldn't tell for sure how big he was under his blankets, she could at least agree that he had a nice slender shape.

His large height seemed to nicely complement his slight t frame. He was so large that he had to scrunch his body in an almost fetal position. Considering the size of the bed, she guessed his height to be about 6"3, maybe even 6"5. 

Even though most his body was covered by heavy blankets, she strained her eyes hard to see the sliver of his neck that was exposed to the outside light. It was hard to get an exact idea of his skin tone because the light casted a dark blue hue over his skin. She finally gave up after awhile when she found it useless to make it out in the bad lighting. 

"I guess I'll get a better chance to see what he looks like tomorrow," Lily said as she reached over to the bedside table to put her glasses away. She settled in with the covers over her head continuing to think about how her new roommate might look. She had even thought about what kind of person he was in general. Was he friendly? Was he kind? Or was he the kind of guy who would be a jerk and remind her how much she lacked in her appearance. Unknowing to her, her consciousness began to fade...

SLAM!


A loud scream followed.

Lily woke up bolt upright with wide eyes and looked to the door of her room. The slam had come from this room. She knew that. It had to. It wasn't a faint sound from another room or down below. It was thunderous and near. Even though the curtains were still open, the previous light had long left the room as midnight came. She blindly reached over to her bedside table for her glasses, but a pair of eyes stopped her movement.

Where Nicholas was sleeping were a pair of glowing otherworldly red eyes that stared right into hers. The eyes peeked out from the darkness of his hair that made his eyes look predatory. The longer he stared at her, the quicker her heart beat inside her chest until it sounded like a fast beating drum in her ears. She wanted to get up and run but his red eyes held her in place. The eyes seemed to dare her to move. To move out of his control. For her to be recaptured and regain control.

Just as sudden as the eyes had appeared, the eyes drooped slowly back to slumber. Casting the room back into darkness. Lily let out a ragged breath that she didn't know that she had been holding in. After that came another. And another. And another to the point it was full on hyperventilation. 'What the hell? What the hell?! What the hell?!? No! What the fuck was that?!' She stared back wide eyed at the bed beside hers. She felt the panic rise up in her like bile in her throat as her breathing continued to intensify.

'What am I doing still sitting here?!' Lily grabbed her glasses miraculously in the dark. 'I need to get out!' She scrambled out of bed and raced to the door, twisting the door knob with such force it could have ripped the doorknob off. But it didn't. The rattling of a locked door was all she heard.

'No...,' she thought as she jiggled the doorknob again. She began to bang on the door with her fists in frustration. 'No. NO! NO! NO!' With one last bang, she screamed, "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Her chest heaved up and down with each ragged breath ripping out of her body. She closed her eyes and began thinking 'What did I get myself into? What the fuck is Nicholas?' 

As soon as she thought it, she heard a slow scratching on the far right wall of the room and could see a light from her peripheral vision. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to see what the cause of the noise was. But her need to put curiosity to rest had to be fulfilled. She turned her head slowly and opened her eyes, expecting to see Nicholas. But it wasn't Nicholas.

'Is this a dagger I see before me?'

A dagger it was. A dagger that scratched itself into an illuminated wall. A wall that had seemed to have no actual light source. A wall that seemed to be scratched with blood.

The sight had made her laugh. What the fuck was wrong with her? This could not be real. This vision was like that of a scene from Macbeth. She had to be dreaming. Or crazy like poor Macbeth. Because such things do not happen in reality.

Who are you? 

Those were the words written on the wall. When she was about to speak, more words were written.

Write your answer on the wall.

With that written, the knife floated to her. Waiting for her to grab the knife. She noticed the dried blood stains that covered the whole entire handle. This had to be dream. This wasn't real. She shakingly reached out to grab the handle. And she could feel the undeniable thick layer of blood that had long crusted over.

'This is real. This blade is real. This...ghost is real.' She stared out blankly across the room to the wall written in blood.

Somehow she got herself up and walked across the room to the wall. She casted her eyes underneath the words and focused all her will on just writing. There was no room to let in the craziness of this whole situation. Her breathing increased once more as she firmly carved the words into the walls.

I am Lily. Who are you?

She quickly placed down the knife and wiped the dried blood off her legs. The knife once again was picked up by its apparitional owner and began writing. She read the next words slowly and out loud:

"I am Nicholas."

She took a look behind her but Nicholas was still there. How could this apparition be Nicholas when Nicholas was lying right there? She picked up the knife again and wrote down shaky letters on the wall.

But Nicholas is sleeping in the bed.

The knife was taken from her hand and the words written next both scared and puzzled her.

So you think.

Then the wall lost its light, casting the room back into darkness.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Lily couldn't sleep. Of course the hell she couldn't! She just talked to a ghost who claimed to be Nicholas when Nicholas was sleeping in the bed right beside her! It didn't make any sense! How the fuck was that possible?

At least one of her questions was answered. The room was so cheap because you have to share a room with a ghost who loved to talk to people with a knife! And a body on top of that. No one wanted the damn room after one night because there's so much insanity after just one night. She wondered why the woman even bothered to rent this place. No idiot would actually live here voluntarily.

She brought her knees up to her chest and laughed at herself as thought crossed her mind. It was funny how one mystifying question would be replaced with several other strange and unusual questions. Why would this woman put an unrentable room up for sale? Why does a ghost need to use a knife to communicate? Why do the dead claim to be the living? 

Thinking of the last question, she turned to look at Nicholas. The answer maybe that he isn't alive. She's never seen him wake up except for that one time, but that can be easily explained by the possibility of a ghost possessing a dead body. 'That's not right, idiot. Ghosts possess people who are alive.' Maybe. But that doesn't get rid of the fact that he's never physically moved. Not even to roll around in his sleep. She hadn't seen him do any human routines like go to the bathroom or get up and eat. Only sleep.

As morning was approaching, she was able to get a better look at his skin tone. From the glimpse of his neck, he was very pale. Pale as death. The more she looked at Nicholas, the more she believed he was dead. It was possible. She didn't know the landlady. She could be one of those people who sheltered dead bodies. She needed to make sure first.

She crawled out of bed and went to go turn on the lights. She looked back at the body in the bed and walked over. One sign of life was breathing, so she decided to put her finger under his nose. With a sigh, she pushed his messy black hair out of his face. She swallowed slowly as she gazed at him.

This guy was sexy as hell! He had nice flawless skin. Yes, it was pale, but it only added to his attractiveness. She actually thought it was a turn on, depending on the person. He had long black eyelashes that rested against the fullness of his cheek. As her gaze traveled down his slim nose, she zeroed in on his lips. They were the right amount of fullness that made them look normal instead of looking like he had two sausages for lips. He had a nice cupid's bow that made his lips all the more inviting. And they looked so soft. 

'Dude, you could be getting wet for a dead man.' With that disgusting thought, she immediately placed her finger underneath his nose. She let out a happy sigh when she felt air brush against her finger. Letting her hand rest at her side again, she looked again at his face. If she guessed, he had to be about early twenties. She was sure enough that he definitely wasn't a teenager. His facial structure was too prominent and mature to be any age other than his twenty's. 

'Maybe I should check if his heart is beating right. Just to check.' She gingerly pulled down the covers to make sure she didn't wake him. 'I'll just put the covers back once I'm done.' When she pulled the blankets down to his hips, heat rushed to her face. He was still slender, but he wasn't soft either. He had lean muscles in his arms that lead to veins that stood out on the back of his large hands. His chest may not have been chiseled, but they were well defined. As she began looking down, she noticed the well defined V that led to- 'I thought you were going to check out his heart, not everything else.'

Rolling her eyes at herself, she rolled him on his back as best as she could and positioned herself where she could listen to his heart. The beat of his heart was even and strong. Without a doubt, this guy was very much alive.

"The fuck? I knew I was a pussy magnet, but c'mon." The voice was very deep, masculine, but lazy. And seemed to come from the very person who she thought was dead. The embarrassment of it all made her tense. She dared to look up to find a pair of sleepy gray eyes looking at her. She tried to breathe out very slowly, but all she let out was a loud scream.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Nicholas looked at her annoyed with his pinky finger in his left ear.

"I was just checking your heartbeat!" she shouted back. He raised one eyebrow as he looked at her confused.

"Really? Because it looks to me like you're about to mount me and ride me for all I'm worth." She looked down at herself and realized that not only was she straddling his lap in only a t-shirt and a skimpy thong, but her lower half was pressed against his crotch. And his morning wood was poking right against her bottom. "And feels to me like you weren't going to have a rough ride." A crooked smile crossed his face and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Lily could only deal with so much humiliation for one day. She quickly got off of him, grabbed her pants off the floor and slammed the door. Behind the door, she could hear him say, "Oh c'mon! I would've let you have a free ride!"

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

She finally got out of the bathroom when she heard the door to the room open. There was no sign of Nicholas to be seen. 'Thank God. If I can get out of here without seeing him, that will make my day.' She looked at the opposite wall and noticed that there was no sign of the blood she had seen last night either. Only a multitude of indescribable scratching on the once golden painted wall. 'Strange.' She looked down at her palms and noticed there were no traces of blood as well. 'This makes no sense.'

She walked down the stairs towards the kitchen where she heard the clanging of pots and pans. 'All I have to do is tell this woman there is no way in hell I could possibly stay here.' She let out a breath and walked into the kitchen. The words died in her mouth as she saw the person cooking at the stove.

"Hey there, cowgirl." Nicholas gave her the same crooked smile as before. He still hadn't changed out of his night clothes at all, which only consisted of a pair of boxers.

'So much for leaving here with my dignity.'

"Where's your mom, Nicholas," Lily sighed, already getting annoyed.

"Out."

"For how long?"

"Don't know." He looked back at her and snickered to himself.

God, this guy was annoying! She had only officially met the guy two hours ago and all he did was find away to get underneath her skin. Now the asshole was laughing at her! She glared right into his naked back.

"What's so funny?"

"Your face." He glanced back at her and began to chuckle.

Her mood darkened all the more. "What about it?" she gritted out.

"Hold your horses, cowgirl. I was just thinking how cute you look when you're angry."

'Asshole....he's actually enjoying this.'

"Well could you tell your mom that I decided not to take the room?"

He stopped his movement and looked back at her with an amused look. "I actually was hoping you'd stay. It would be nice to have a roommate into fucking me while I'm sleep." He gave her another one of his perverted crooked smiles.

"Bye, Nicholas." She turned her body and headed towards the door.

When she closed the door, she swore she heard him say, "Bye, Lily."

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Pulling up the curb to her parents' house, she sat back in her seat exhausted. She knew things had to be good to be true. 150 dollars a month for a room. Yeah, for a room that was haunted by a ghost who could only communicate by scratching on the wall with a murder weapon. A ghost that swore he was a living man along with that. Who knows who had possibly been killed in that house – let alone that room. She didn't want to stick around to figure it out.

She was desperate to find a place of her own, but she wasn't that desperate. What was the point of leaving one crazy situation for an even crazier situation? She shook her head of the thought and got out of her car. She noticed a dozen large garbage bags on the curb. 'Maybe its trash day.' She shrugged and went up to the front door and put her key in the lock. Before she could even fully open the door, her mom came out and slammed the door behind her.

"Don't come in my house," she said low and calm. Lily knew better. It was anything but calm.

"Ma, I just-"She received a sharp push that had her falling down the front steps and landing right on her back. A gush of air left her body. She struggled for breath for a few seconds. As she regained her breath, her mom stood above her, glaring down at her.

"I said, don't come in my house! You can't stay here no more!" Spit spluttered on Lily's face as her mom fought to get the words. Her brown eyes were like smoldering eyes boring into her as Lily let the words sink in. She was getting kicked out.

"Should've done this sooner. Your nothing but cancer when you're around. Doing everything you can to ruin my image in the community. Making me look like a damn fool! I refuse to let you ruin me! YOU HEAR ME! I WORKED TOO DAMN HARD TO GET HERE! I AIN'T LETTING YOU FUCK THAT UP!" After she was done ranting, she let her anger simmer down and become more composed. She looked around before helping her daughter off the concrete pathway. Not because she wanted to. But because she was being watched.

"Last night was the last straw. You were out all night without telling me where you are. You think other people don't notice around here?" She looked at Lily as if to say 'Stupid girl'. "You think I don't know where you were last night? You were sleeping in a room with a grown man." Her voice got hard again. "I don't have whores in my family. And I refuse to keep a slut for a daughter. I don't give a damn if you did come from me. You ain't mine." 

Insider Lily's mind was that of a living hell. She did call to say where she'd be. She did say what she was doing. What had she done that was so wrong? So what she slept in the same room as a man. SO FUCKING WHAT?! Because of what it appeared to be?! THAT WAS IT?! Lily wanted to scream it but she was too numb to talk.

"I put all your trash in those bags. You take that and put it in your car and go wherever you want. Don't come back here no more." With that, her mom snatched the house key out Lily's hand and walked back in the house, slamming it behind her. Lily stood there with everything inside her in turmoil. The emotions inside her fought for dominance over one another inside her brain. The words and the curses fought alongside with the emotions which came out as a jumbled mess. All the war and turmoil inside her soon became borderline explosive. Then she finally exploded.

"A WHORE?! A WHORE?! REALLY?! I'M THE WHORE?! THE VIRGIN IS THE WHORE?! YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU'RE THE WHORE!! YOU'RE THE SOCIETY SLUT! YOU DO EACH AND EVERYTHING AND PROBABLY ANYONE AS LONG AS YOUR IMAGE LOOKS GOOD!" she turned around and spotted people looking out their doors and windows. At that point she didn't give a damn. "DON'T BE CONFUSED PEOPLE!! A SLUT LIVES HERE!" Once the explosion was done, the aftermath had followed.




The Wallflower Ch. 02



The tears flowed down her face and her shoulders slumped. She wanted to say more. She didn't want to be quiet and be kept in the dark when everyone could talk so freely in the light. But her mouth wouldn't let her. With leaden feet, she made her way towards the trash bags and loaded them inside her car. She could feel every eye in this suburbia of hell fall upon her. Judging and scorching through her. Predators lived here. The Prey don't have a chance of survival. She may have been born here, but she was prey.

She got in her car and wiped her eyes. There was only one place she could go.



The Wallflower Ch. 03



This is more of a relaxed chapter, since I imagine ya'll are pretty overwhelmed by the drama in the last chapter. I wanted to give ya'll more of a breather this time around. I won't drop drama bombs in every chapter. :3 I'm working hard to write more pages to the story with each submission, since also being a reader, I want more than just one page. Plus I feel ya'll deserve more than one page too. Leave a comment and leave me feedback at my email, I read all of them. Enjoy the update. 

***** 

Drips of water rolled down the windows slowly. Trickling against the glass surface till it finally reached the edge of the window and disappeared into a puddle amongst other drops of water. Then the process repeated again with the next drop of rain. Lily had stared at this recurring process for awhile. Staring was all she could do because everything else seemed to hurt. Even blinking was too much of an effort. 

She continued to stare out as she thought of the rain. Why was it so fascinating? Out of all the moments, it was now that she was finally noticing. The rain seemed to voice a need to reach out to her. It spoke to her without even using words. The droplets of water reflected her image upside down when she looked hard enough. And that was Lily's world. It was her reality. It was upside down and utterly crazy. 

The rain called out to her. It invited her to get out and go live in her reality. There were no predators here. There were no disapproving eyes. There was nothing but a promise of starting her new life. 

Lily turned her head towards the car door and looked at the handle. It was the only barrier that kept her from that life. And all she had to do was push down on the handle and open it. What was she waiting for? This is what she wanted from the beginning. She wanted freedom from suburban hell. Now she had it. She just never thought it would be like this. To be kicked out of her own house by her own mom and treated as if she herself belonged in an oversized black trash bag to be thrown out with the rest. She would have rather had that instead of being publicly humiliated by being knocked down, talked down to, and spat on in front of everyone. Even the thought made the pain resurface and her blood boil. 

But she looked back at the rain. The soft pattering of the rain invited her. The sound alone was like a soft whisper. The voice told her to move. 'Fuck it that it didn't go the way I planned...I have to move on.' Lily firmly pushed open the door. She stepped out of the car and closed the door back. She stood there taking in the coolness of the water. It easily went through the barrier of her clothes and seeped into the pores of her skin. It felt like a physical form of utter relief washing over her body and cooling the burning scars of her soul. There were no burning gazes here. Only relief. 

Lily let out a relieved sigh and relaxed her shoulders. Once she was fully relaxed, she reached inside her car for her purse and then proceeded to make her way towards the townhouse that she had to call sanctuary for now. 

Lily trudged up the steps rung the cheery doorbell once again. She stepped back and waited patiently. She made note of her surroundings for awhile before hearing the clinking of metal locks. 

"What the bloody hell do you wa-" the old woman was in mid fury before realizing it was Lily. Her face toned down to a neutral stern look. Lily took note that they were the same exact lazy eyes Nicholas gave her. In a more tired voice that gave way to a British accent, the old woman asked, "What the bloody hell do you want?" 

"I'm here to sign the lease and move in," Lily answered in a serious tone. The old woman was taken aback a little. Her eyes widening for a brief moment. The old woman took in Lily's state at that time. Lily imagined herself with her hair matted down to skull and clothes that clung to her form. 

"Do you happen to know what time it is?" the old woman said sternly. Lily's own eyes widened as she finally took notice of the sky. So much had happened to her today that she didn't much take note of it. It was already dark, so it had to be after six. Lily had thought because of the downpour of rain that it had been perhaps four or five in the afternoon. Before Lily could answer, the old woman answered for her. "It's eight o' clock." 

Silence had taken place again between the two. Only the sound of rain hitting the cement could be heard. The woman looked down at the ground before looking at Lily straight in the eye sternly. "Are you just going to stand there like a lump on a log for the rest of the day? Stand on the carpet here while, I go fetch you some dry clothes." She moved away from the door and walked upstairs, leaving Lily to herself. Lily stepped into the warm house and closed the door behind her. She hadn't realized how cold she was until she realized that she was shivering right down to her toes. 

Now that she had the time to take note of her surrounding, she mapped out the entrance of the modest townhouse. To her left was the kitchen that consisted of mere necessities of cabinets, cupboards and what not. The table, that she was now getting used to seeing, was opposite of the kitchen area. There was a main room, near the middle of the entrance that she had yet to see. What she could see were nice posh furniture with a few modern technology. Then, of course, to the right was the staircase. Overall, the house had a nice Victorian theme to it. Everything was very clean and put together. Everything fit together. 

All except the room. It was like it had a whole different life of its own 'Well, Lily, it does', she reminded herself. But the room wasn't like that all the time. It was once a part of the rest of the house. It was once also warm and welcoming. Now it was desolate and chilling. It was full of life. What had happened in that room? 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

Lily sat comfortably at the kitchen table wearing a pair of Nicholas's boxers and his extra large My Chemical Romance T-Shirt. The old woman said it was all she could find-that was clean that is. Lily didn't mind though. It was warm and dry. That was all that mattered. 

Now that she thought about it, Lily wondered where Nicholas was. It was then going about nine, and she had seen no sight of him. There was no way possible he could be in bed now. It was too early for someone his age to go to bed. Maybe he was the kind of guy that partied. His perverted personality made him seem like the type of guy who spent the whole party trying to get a girl to go home with him. 'Trying? More like succeeding. With those looks, any girl would willingly go home with him and maybe even leave happy.' 

Lily looked up from the table and watched the old woman at the stove preparing tea for the both of them. She said Lily needed something to warm her bones. Before Lily could object, the old woman had already put the kettle on and brought out two glass mugs. Once the kettle had started to steam, the old woman poured the water into the mugs and placed a teabag in each. She put the mugs down on a coaster on the opposite ends of the table, but before sitting down, she went to a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. 

Once the old woman settled down in her seat, she put the piece of paper in front of Lily. 

"Read it. I won't give you the pen to sign until you read it," the woman whispered with a tone that was deathly serious. 

With mug in hand, Lily proceeded to read the document. It was an overall neat document with clearly typed font with a medium font size. Unlike other legal documents, the information was straight forward and to the point. It stated in list form what she could do. For instance if she wanted, she could repaint the room whichever color she liked and decorate whatever style she wanted as long as it was in her half of the room. Lily made a mental note of that before reading what else she was allowed to do like use the washing machine, use the kitchen, etc. 

Little did she know, the most interesting details of the contract were not in the benefits. It was in the requirements. 

Lily flipped the page to the requirements and was amazed that it was so short. In fact there were only four requirements. And they were as stated: 





The Wallflower Ch. 03



You're lying. If everything was fine, why are you here? No one stays here because they want to. They would only stay here if they need to. I asked you a question, but you answer me with lies. Don't think because I am not living that I am stupid. You signed the lease that you would appease me every night. Lie to me again and I will have to punish you. Now tell me the truth. 

The word 'punish' made her whole body tense. How many people had he "punished"? And what did he do to punish. Not wanting to know the answer to that question, she picked up the knife and wrote the words as calmly as she could without trying to think of what all that word might entail. 

My Ma threw me out. She put all my things away and told me to get out. I don't have money to pay for a decent apartment, so I had no choice but to come here. Lily couldn't think of anything else to say, so she put the knife on the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. This time when the apparition wrote on the wall, the scratching was softer and more like a scribbling on a piece of paper. 

I'm sorry about that. You're still holding back from me. But I'll let it slide tonight. It's not as simple as you make it out to be. You're hurting. Lily glared back at the words as she read them. How the hell could he tell her how she felt? She had given him a truthful answer, what more did he want. 

How can you tell me what I'm feeling? I told you what you wanted. She ended the sentence with a stab to the wall and left the knife embedded in the wall. 

You told me the truth, yes, but you didn't tell me what you wanted to say. I can still see what you don't write. I saw you as you sat in your bed deep in thought with your legs tucked under your chin. I saw the furrow in your brow as I angered you with my last message. I see how you hold yourself as you wait for me to finish writing as if to support yourself from collapsing. Your pain runs deeper than just being kicked out. At this point, Lily just wanted to go to bed. She didn't feel like having everything about her observed and talked about. 

I'm not up to this psychology bullshit, ok? I just don't want to talk about it. She laid the knife down and pushed her curly hair back frustrated. 

Fine. I guess there not much else to talk about tonight. Tomorrow, you will appease me. Before she could even ask him how she had not appeased him, the wall had lost all its light and returned to being a normal scratched up wall. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"That shit is fucked up!" 

Vanessa stared wide-eyed at Lily as she went about her business putting returned books on the shelves. Vanessa was one of her co-workers and best friends. People always wondered how it was possible that she and Vanessa could even be friends. Vanessa was more outgoing and typically went to party on the weekends. Despite the personality difference, Vanessa was able to cheer her up even when Lily was at her saddest point. And right now had to be the saddest part of Lily's whole life. 

"Yeah. She kicked me out because someone told her I was roommates with a man. Because she didn't want to risk having a slut for a daughter, she kicked me out." Vanessa rolled her eyes at the whole lunacy of the situation. 

"Oh c'mon," Vanessa scoffed. "As scared as you get around guys, I wouldn't believe you to sleep with a guy, let alone have a one night stand with a guy you just met. You're mom is fucked in the head if she actually believes you would sleep around." 

"It doesn't matter to her if I have my V- card or not. To her it's all about what it looks like." Lily rolled her eyes as she mimicked the annoying voice her mom used when she wanted Lily to give a fuck about appearances. 

Vanessa put a book on the high shelf, so it appeared to the librarian at the front desk that she was working and not just running her mouth. "Remind me to pay that bitch a visit so I can shove my foot up her ass. Because no friend of mine is a slut. Especially not you. You're too smart to be fooled by any man trying to run a game on you." 

"A guy has to be interested first, before they can run a game, Vanessa." Lily looked down at the floor as she put a book back into place. Lily wasn't like Vanessa either when it came to looks. Vanessa was of a lighter skin than her and had a pretty face to match. She had long red coiffed hair that complemented her face. To top it all off, her body was like the models a person saw in magazines. Vanessa was a tall 5"8 with a thin frame. She may not have had curves like a porn star, but she still had enough to give her a nice feminine touch. Vanessa always had guys coming up to talk and flirt with her at the library. Lily was lucky if she even got a glance. 

At that moment, Vanessa glared at Lily and placed her hands on her hips. "Uh uh, you ain't doing that again. Don't you dare do that 'I'm too ugly' bullshit. You are good looking naturally. If a brotha don't wanna holla at you 'cuz he thinks you're too dark or whateva, he just missed out. Plus, there's some fine white boys too." Vanessa gave Lily one of her devious smiles. "Which reminds me. You didn't tell me about what your roommate looks like." 

"He's an asshole," Lily said and left it at that. 

Vanessa playfully hit her arm, trying to get more out of her. "That doesn't tell me anything," she whined and gave her best pleading face. "You know me. I want detaaaaiiiilllss." 

"Well he's sexy-" 

"Knew it." 

"How did you know?" Lily asked in total disbelief. 

"Something about the way you said he was an asshole. I don't know. Continue." 

"He's white. Looks sorta emo." 

"The few emo guys I've seen are pretty cute. A little skinny, but cute." 

"Yeah." Lily shrugged. "He's slender but he has a few muscles. He has awesome vibrant looking tattoos and I think he has three piercings, and-" Vanessa nudged her right in the ribs. Lily had to bite down on her lip to keep from yelping. 

"Look at that guy over there." Vanessa crouched next to her behind the book return cart. Lily rolled her eyes as she looked in the direction Vanessa was pointing to. 'Oh the fucking irony' 

On the other side of the library, Nicholas was looking through books in the Non-Fiction section. His head was low in deep concentration as he looked over the books on display. He looked totally different from his usual self. He had on a warm gray long sleeve shirt, jeans that actually fitted him, and didn't have his piercings in. It was not only his clothes that were different, but his whole demeanor. He was usually loud, perverted, and over talkative. In here he was quiet and looked kind of lonely. Why in God's name was he here? And what's with him? 

"He's been coming here for the last few weeks on Monday every week," Vanessa said as if reading her thoughts. That explains why she never saw him here. In school, she only worked on weekends. Vanessa, graduated early and worked weekdays. "He always checks out nonfiction books. Sorta mysterious, don't you think? And he's totally hot! I had to go retrieve a book for him, and he's much cuter up close. And-" 

"He's my asshole of a roommate," Lily said in a deadpan voice. 

"Say what?" Vanessa looked back at her shocked. "That guy? An asshole? He's totally sweet." 

"He's totally perverted." Lily went back to putting books back on the bookshelf with more determination this time. She would deal with his ass when she got home. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

Lily unlocked the door to the townhouse with the key Mrs. Yates, the old woman, had given her. Lily was still fuming inside that out of all the libraries in the city, Nicholas had to go to the one she worked at. 'Well it is in walking distance, Lily. It's only two blocks away. Plus, you're not mad at him for being at your job. You're just frustrated that you get to see him every Monday...checking him out every Monday.' 

Her own thoughts began to grate on her nerves. 'Shut up, Goddammit!' She fumed as she closed the door and marched up the stairs. Lily looked through the bags of clothes to find an oversized shirt, thong, and a pair of shorts. She changed into them quickly before looking through the house to look for Nicholas. 

It didn't take her long to find him. He was sitting in an arm chair that was faced away from her. "Nicholas, why-" 

Lily stopped mid sentence as she rounded the chair to look at him. There was something wrong with him. When she couldn't see him, she thought his head was bent over one of the books he had checked out. But there was nothing in his lap or even his hand. He was simply sitting there with his legs spread equally apart and arms haphazardly resting on the arms of the chair. But the way he was sitting was so unnatural. There was something wrong. 

His head was bent over with his hair covering his eyes. She slowly pushed back his hair to see his face. What she saw caused her to yelp and jump away from him. His eyes were wide open as if in a trance. They were bloodshot and red and wide open. And if possible, he looked paler than usual. Something was definitely wrong. What the hell was going on? 

Lily came back to him and started slapping each side of his face urgently. He wasn't responding. "Nicholas, wake up," she said weakly. She straddled his lap to listen to his heart beat. It was still beating strong, so he wasn't dead. His chest was rising up and down steadily, so he was breathing correctly. Then what the fuck was wrong with him? 

"Nicholas, wake up!" she began shouting. She started slapping him harder, getting more desperate in getting him out of the trance that he was in. His unblinking eyes were still staring out into some sort of space that wasn't there. "C'mon, Nicholas...wake up." Her head rested on his chest as she hoped and prayed for him to wake up. 

All of a sudden she felt these two large palms gripping her ass. 

"Trying to ride me again while I'm asleep, cowgirl?" she heard the familiar carefree voice burr. She looked incredulously into his face and saw his crooked smile etched on his face. "At least I get to feel a nice, round firm arse when I wake up." He took another firm squeeze out of her ass and even spanked it. 

A loud slap rung out in the air. 

"The fuck you hit me for?!" Nicholas yelled, holding a hand to the stinging red handprint to his face 

"You're a fucking pervert!" Lily screamed at him, readying her hand to slap him again. Her blood was boiling with rage as she glared at him. She was actually worried about his ass! She couldn't believe he was trying to feel her up again while she was scared to death that he was in shock or something! 

"You're the one sitting on my lap!" Nicholas pushed back his hair with a look of annoyance. 

"That doesn't give you a free pass to fondle me!" 

"Well you know I'm a pervert. I see a girl sitting on my lap, I'm going to touch her! Because NORMALLY girls sit on men's laps when they want some dick!" Heat rushed to Lily's face in both embarrassment and rage. "You don't want me to touch you? Easy. Don't sit on my lap!" 

"I was only sitting on your lap to check your heartbeat!" Nicholas sputtered and gave her a cynical look. 

"Uh huh. Remind me to go to the doctor more often. It must be a new procedure I haven't heard of where the nurses have to sit on your lap to listen to your heart beat because you've been giving me that same bullshit excuse whenever I catch you about to ride me." 

Lily closed her eyes and breathed out her mouth slowly to calm herself down. This guy was so aggravating! With a final breath, she opened her eyes and glared back at him. "Something almost makes me think you faked that whole trance like shit, just so you could get me worried about you." 

"Aww, so you do care?" Nicholas mocked and touched his heart playfully. "For your information, cowgirl, I have silent epilepsy. Meaning I can have epileptic attacks without frothing at the mouth and convulsing. It makes me nonresponsive. Almost as if I'm asleep." 

An awkward silence came between the two. Lily felt like the asshole this time. She was just sure it had to do with the ghost. It's not as if the ghost didn't use Nicholas. Nicholas was used each and every night to alert her that the ghost was in the room. So, the possibility of the apparition putting Nicholas in a trance didn't seem too farfetched. 

Without any warning, Nicholas got up from the seat, causing Lily to tumble onto the floor. Lily landed on her backside and let out a yelp. "Asshole," she muttered. 

"Well the asshole has to go eat dinner." With that, Nicholas left Lily on the living room floor wondering what kind of person Nicholas Yates really was. The loudmouth asshole she had to live with or the quiet boy that kept to himself in the library?



The Wallflower Ch. 04



Sorry for such a long delay. I can go on a long list of what kept me from writing, but ya'll want a story not my excuse. After this submission there will be at least a 2-3 week delay in the next submission. I'm sorry >_ 

***** 

Lily brushed her teeth furiously as she mentally chanted 'ASSHOLE! ASSHOLE! ASSHOLE!' Her eyebrows knitted together in concentration, trying hard not to think about the crap Nicholas pulled in the kitchen. 

Lily had gone into the kitchen after getting off the floor. As she got nearer to the kitchen, there was a weird smell coming from the kitchen. Lily didn't even bother to roll her eyes. When living with Nicholas, anything strange became normal. She covered her nose as she entered the kitchen. 

Standing at the stove was Nicholas smoking a blunt while fixing himself an overly large sandwich with some Doritos. Lily just stood there in the doorway dumbfounded. She had only heard of people smoking weed, but never seen someone actually doing it. Vanessa had told her that she had done it once but it was at a party. She didn't typically hang out with people who regularly did any kind of drugs. 

He glanced at her from behind. "What are you gawking at, cowgirl?" he said, removing the blunt from his mouth. "Never seen a man fix a sandwich?" 

Lily opened and closed her mouth as she searched for the words to say. Nicholas puffed a bit on his smoke while he waited. Lily looked down at the floor and shook her head a little to clear her thoughts. 'C'mon Lily. You're an adult. Open your mouth and talk.' She let out a breath as she looked back up at him. 

"Yo...You're mom said ... in the contract that she doesn't want any drugs in her house," Lily said in a soft tone. Nicholas turned around with his dinner in hand and walked to the table. His eyelids were drooped lower than usual, making him look more at peace. He sat down and ate a bite of his sandwich before looking back up at her. 

"And?"His voice was casual as usual, but it unnerved her how he didn't care at all what upset his mom. Yes, his mom was stern, but she never came off as being mean or unfair. "To me that sounds like more of a you problem." 

"But you live here...In her house." 

Nicholas took a long drag on his smoke before answering her. "Me and my mum have an understanding. This." He held out his blunt for her to see. "This is a herb. Not a drug. This is the only thing I smoke, so it's fine. Plus I'm twenty-three fucking years old. I know what I'm doing." He took a moment to eat before taking another drag. "Wanna hit?" 

Lily shook her head. "I don't...do that...I don't smoke." He looked back at her calmly. His gray eyes were searching hers as if looking for something hidden inside her. The stare was not only intense, but also felt invasive. He was invading every inch of her body and soul and conquered every part of both. She smoothed her hair as she look down to fake interest at her fluffy pink house shoes. She heard Nicholas let out a slight snicker. 

"You're a good little princess, aren't you, Lily?" She raised her eyes to look at him, amazed that he actually used her name for once. She expected to see a humorous look on his face, but all she found was a stern look that mirrored his mother's. "You over react when I touch y-" 

"You grope me like a pervert," Lily said, finding her voice. 

"I'm not talking about your verbal reactions. I'm talking about your body's reactions. It's always so tense before I even touch you. That tells me you're not used to being touched. That tells me two things: you haven't had many boyfriends and you're a virgin." 

Lily's face heated up to full flames. She knew she was less experienced than all the other girls. She just... wasn't experienced with guys. Only thing she experienced from them was pain. "With the disturbed looks you gave me when I was drunk and high, I'd say you've never done any of that either. So, miss princess... what have you done besides be the perfect teenager?" 

Lily couldn't answer him. How could she be perfect? How could she be when with all the hard work she went through to be the perfect daughter had failed? She was supposed to be a smart, beautiful woman with a future. But only to be viewed as a stupid, ugly girl who works at a library. 

"Answer me this one question." He took another drag on his blunt before putting it out. He got up and threw away his plate before coming towards her. "Have you ever been kissed?" 

Lily avoided his eyes again by looking down at her feet. "It's none of your business." 

Why did he even want to know about her personal life anyway? It's not like he liked her or anything. Even if he did...what if he did? 'Don't be stupid. He's only known you for three days. Plus he could have any girl he wants. Why would he waste his time trying to flirt with you.' 

A firm hand on her chin brought her from out of her thoughts, and a pair of lips erased all essence of what she was thinking. His warm soft lips worked slowly against her still inexperienced ones. Gradually his wet tongue began to open her tense mouth to welcome her into their lips' passionate union. His breath was pungent with the taste of weed but yet still managed to be so sweet. His tongue searched for her bashful one to coax her to join him. Once he had found it, he stroked underneath her tongue slowly. The feeling felt so weird to her but felt so good at the same time. But ever so slowly, he withdrew this wonderful feeling he gave her till he had fully withdrawn himself from her. 

She opened her eyes and looked back at him while warring with herself about what to feel. She didn't know what to feel. Something inside scolded her for letting him kiss her. Another part was chastising her for being exactly what her mother had called her. The other was simply hungry for more of that good feeling. 

"That was your first time," he said. 

"Huh?" Lily couldn't make any sense of his words. 

"That was your first kiss." His burning coal gray eyes added on to the heat she felt creeping up her cheeks as she finally understood. "I'm more observant than you think I am. Remember that." He left her once again with a dazed expression on her face. 

She eventually settled on anger to be her response. Her first kiss was supposed to be with a guy who loved her. Not with some asshole who wanted to prove a point! 'The sad thing is you let him kiss you! You didn't struggle or nothing! When did you start letting yourself be so easy?!' 

Lily seethed as she increased the pace on brushing her teeth. After awhile her hand started to cramp up. She sighed in exhaustion and spit the remaining toothpaste out. She slipped into her fluffy house shoes before stepping out the bathroom. The lights were already turned out as she slipped into bed. Lily proceeded to put away her glasses. She looked at Nicholas sprawled across the bed beside hers. Lily shifted her body to the other side of the room. 

Nothing good ever came from looking at him for too long. Both when he was awake or asleep. She was too exhausted just thinking about what he did just today. Her eyes began to droop as she drifted off to sleep. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

SLAM! 

'Not now...ugh... It's too late for this.' Lily's eye lids were firmly pressed together with her body still curled up in comfort 'Just five more minutes Mr. Ghost...' Her thoughts wondered off into muddled oblivion as she returned to sleep. 

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! 

Through closed eyes, she saw an intense light flickering on and off. Lily eventually opened her eyes to see the room in ultimate distress. Furniture was tipped over on the ground, doors were banging in a deafening slam, and papers were swirling all over the floor around her bed. She pushed herself up onto her elbows and picked up the only one that was placed beside her head. It read in capitalized red letters: AWAKEN OR ELSE FACE PUNISHMENT 

Then all of a sudden, the banging doors became silent. The swirling paper remained motionless. The flickering lights bathed the room in darkness. Utter darkness. But not for long. 

A blood red light bathed the whole room, but it didn't come from the light bulbs. Lily had a feeling, but she didn't want to look. It would be too much! She crawled back under her covers hoping and praying to make it stop. She had never made the Spirit this angry. Why did she have to go back to sleep?! Why didn't she just get up?! 

Lily screamed a loud and kicked her feet wildly. Something had touched her. They were cold as ice and felt like hands. It tried to grab her ankles. Again it wrapped around her ankles but refused to let go as she kicked frantically and screamed for help. It dragged her from underneath the covers like it was nothing. Lily closed her eyes and began to scream, "I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!" 

She felt a hand ball her hair into its fist and guide her head upwards. This caused her to start crying and chanting her apology to the Spirit. It tugged on her hair harder as it pulled her head backwards. "Open your eyes." The voice was measured and deep, commanding her to do what he said or the ominous promise would be fulfilled. 

Lily found enough courage to stop crying and opened her eyes. It was Nicholas with blinding red eyes. His expression was filled with absolute rage. The eyes glared at her ominously as he brought her head towards him, bringing more attention to those ominous eyes. Her eyes flickered anywhere she could, but the closeness became inescapable. The eyes were now her main focus. 

"Look at him," the deep voice rang out again. "You will listen to me. I will not allow this disobedience again. Do you understand?" A jerk to her head caused her to yelp out a yes. She made sure that she continued to look into his eyes. His expression softened but not entirely. "We will not have this discussion again. Next time I will punish you. You play by her rules during the day, but you follow mine at night. You will get up and talk to me whenever I choose. You will not go to sleep until you have satisfied me. I don't ask for much. I just want to talk. Nod your head if you understand." 

Lily nodded her head slowly. 

"Good." He released her hair and walked over to Nicholas's bed. "This warning has exhausted me. You can go back to sleep. We will talk later." He yawned and laid on the bed. As soon as he closed his eyes, the room was cast back into darkness. 

But Lily couldn't sleep. She sat there dazed. The whole situation was ...odd. Throughout this whole time he had communicated through the wall, but tonight he communicated through Nicholas. Why didn't he just talk through Nicholas instead of communicating by wall? Does Nicholas even know he's being possessed? How long had this been going on? Who was this Spirit? How much was Mrs. Yates not telling her? 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

Lily drug herself out of bed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She had literally gotten no sleep last night. The warning she had gotten from oversleeping had haunted her every time she fully closed her eyes. She didn't know what got to her the most. The cold tight grip that dragged her by her ankles or the red rage filled eyes that burned her from the inside? 

Even though she was terrified to even look at Nicholas, she still needed to learn about the Spirit that took control of him. She needed to learn something, no matter how small. 

She got in the shower and took a cold shower to clear her head of these thoughts. She got out of the shower and got dressed in a casual floral printed dress with a flower clip in to compliment her outfit. She fluffed out her hair a little before going downstairs. Just as she reached the last step, she saw Nicholas rush out the door. A few seconds later, a frazzled Mrs. Yates, still wearing he night dress, rushed to the door and yelled down the block, "You forgot your lunch, Nicholas!!" 

She passed a hand through her frazzled hair and sighed exasperated. She let loose a spill of unrecognizable curses before she closed the door. When Mrs. Yates turned around, her eyes widened at Lily standing at the stairs. "Could you do me a favor, Lily dear?" Mrs. Yates rushed out in one breath. Before Lily could answer, Mrs. Yates handed Lily the brown sack bag. "When you go on your lunch break, could you please go by the tattoo shop down the street to give Nicholas his lunch? It's only four blocks away from the library. I'll write you some directions, so you don't get lost. I'll bring it to you once you finished your breakfast." Mrs. Yates hurried upstairs, muttering something about Nicholas being a forgetful bloke. 

'Just my luck.' Lily mentally sighed as she fixed herself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 'I don't want to deal with him again. It's enough to deal with him at home, possessed or not.' She sat down and munched on her sugary breakfast in silence. Usually the treat lifted her spirit, but not today. She couldn't truly explain the dread that she felt when she thought of him now. Of course she knew that the Spirit didn't talk to her during the day, but seeing Nicholas being used as a physical form for it scared the shit out of her. If it was an only a one time deal than she wouldn't be as nervous, but no it was a daily occurrence. 

Mrs. Yates padded into the kitchen and handed her the directions on a piece of paper and walked back upstairs. Lily looked at it and scanned over the contents quickly before putting away her bowl and heading out the door. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Oh my God, this table is so cool.' Lily pressed the side of her face against the cool linoleum front desk. She was so glad she had an awesome friend like Vanessa. When Vanessa saw that Lily was zoning out while trying to put up the books, Vanessa switched her easy desk job with Lily. Vanessa lied that it was a slow day anyway. Far from it. The place was flooded with customers due to the new popular books that the library acquired that day. 

At least she was sitting down, instead of being out there either putting books up or searching for books for customers. She risked stumbling on her face a few times but made sure to catch herself. At least at the front desk she could do something while sitting down. She looked at the computer clock at how much time she had till lunch. Two more hours till it was twelve o' clock. 'Ugggghhhhh.' 

She focused all her attention in checking out books, collecting book dues, looking up books, and placing returned books back on the return cart. In between these tasks, she kept looking back at the clock. The time just seemed to tick as slowly as possible. 'C'mon stupid clock. Hurry up,' she groaned inside. As the time drew nearer to twelve o' clock, she became more eager to get done with her tasks as fast as possible. 

When it finally hit twelve o' clock, Lily nearly fell out her seat trying to get up fast enough to go on break. But when she was about to exit the desk, her boss stopped her. "I need you to finish with this last line of customers before you go on break." Without any explanation to follow, her boss turned on her heels and exited Lily's work desk. Lily wanted to scream what the fuck, but she had never confronted her boss on the decisions she made. She gritted her teeth and turned around to return to her station to check out books. 

'Almost done. One last customer.' When she turned around in her seat, she froze in place. There looking down at her like he had done many times before was Brandon Atreides. The star football player at her high school. The hottest guy in school that every girl in school wanted. The guy who had invested every extra time he had in making her life a total hell. 

Lily immediately shifted her head down to look anywhere. She didn't know. Just anywhere than to look at him. She had hoped that she would never have to see this asshole again after graduation. It was enough to deal with her ma talking shit about her but to hear him repeat the exact same thing had totally crushed her. Even just looking at him made her feel...inadequate. 

"Oh hell, no," she heard him mutter. She didn't even have to look up to know he was wearing that crude look of disgust every time he saw her. She passed her hand over her forehead and sigh. 

'C'mon, Lily. Just do whatever this asshole wants so you can go on break, deliver Nicholas's food, and HOPEFULLY take a nap before my next shift.' Lily reasoned with herself. She let out a breath and looked straight at Brandon. As she thought, there was the same look of disgust. "Hello, may I help you?" she asked in the most deadpan voice that she could muster. 

"Yeah, take your fugly ass somewhere else and get Vanessa to help me," Brandon basically snarled at her. Lily closed her eyes momentarily and exhaled slowly. 

"She is going out to break, I am the only one who can help you with what you need." she said looking back up at him. Her eyes wavered a bit because of the huge stature of this guy. He pressed his knuckles on the desk and hovered his body over her. "Brandon, I don't need this. Vanessa is on break. She won't be back for an hour. And honestly you're wasting my break time with your foolishness. Either you state what you're here for, or go somewhere and wait for her." 

His hazel eyes burned into her as his presence became more intimidating by the second. "Bitch, who do you think you're talking to? If we weren't in this library right now, I'd slap you like the dude you look like. But hell I can't even stand looking at you, let alone touching you even if it was to beat yo' ass. People like you aren't even worthy to talk to me. Yet you think you have the nerve to talk to me like you better than me. Well here's a reality check bitch. You're a dark fugly ass bitch who NO ONE would touch even if you paid them. I already told y-" 

Fuck what she was told to do. Her job was to check out books not argue with people. She got out of her seat while he was in mid sentence. She already had to deal with this bullshit for the last eighteen years, she'd be damned if she let someone belittle her for another minute. "That's right you dark bitch. Go back to the slave ship where your nappy ass self belongs." A bark of laughter followed behind her as she walked as fast as she could to the break room. She punched in the clock, got Nicholas's lunch and ran out the library. 

'Shit...I forgot the instructions in my locker.' To hell with that though. She wasn't about to go through Brandon again to get a napkin. According to the directions that she had memorized, it was straight down and to the right. Mrs. Yates had even given her a description of the tattoo parlor. It was Rosie the Riveter with tattoos going up the arm she flexed and several facial piercings. 

'That shouldn't be very hard to miss.' And it wasn't. By the time she was a block away, she was able to see the image of the elaborately done woman. She walked calmly inside the door hopefully to see Nicholas. All action inside the store died down to a halt as everyone stared at her. Lily stared back at everyone else in the store. They all had a retro punk fashion and had their piercing and tattoos on full display. She, in comparison, was average in her simple floral dress. She crossed her arms and walked towards a man at the front desk. He was bald and had tattoos creeping up his neck with a septum piercing. 




The Wallflower Ch. 04



"Um...I'm here to see Nicholas Yates," she said quietly. 

"I'm sorry, hon. He's booked straight though today," he informed. 

"I'm not here for an appointment. I'm here to give him his lunch." Lily held up the brown paper bag with Nicholas's name scrawled over it. She heard some murmuring behind her back. About her no doubt. "He forgot it at home." 

"I thought he only lived with his mom," he said, not totally convinced. 

"I'm the new tenant. Lily. I just started living there this week. His mom sent me to give him his lunch since he forgot it again." 

The bald man chuckled to himself. "Sounds like his forgetful ass. Would forget his dick if it wasn't attached. Sorry for the third degree, hon. Have too many of his one-nighters trying to stalk him at work." The man pointed to a white door that said 'For Piercings Only'. "He's in the back giving someone snakebites. If you don't mind piercings, you can go on to the first room on your right. Knock first though." 

She smiled and thanked him as she walked away towards the door. On her way, she couldn't help but notice a tall blonde woman with pink highlights. The woman glared down at her with her bold red lips fixed as if she was about to snarl. She looked like one of those pin up girls from the 50's with her hair nicely coifed in a red bandana and her clothes in a skimpy outfit. Only thing was she was shaped like a stick. 

'I wonder what her problem is?' Lily thought as she closed the door behind her. She knocked on the door to her right and waited for an answer. 

"Come in," Nicholas shouted through the door. Lily opened the door and nearly lost the cereal she ate that morning. She had thought all piercings were done by doing it with a piercing gun. She was mentally prepared for that, but she wasn't prepared to see Nicholas pulling a piercing through a guy's lip with needle and thread. 

Nicholas looked back at her briefly before going back to pulling the piercing through. "Hey there, cowgirl. What are you here for?" 

"I'm here to bring you your lunch. You left it at home." 

"Oh how sweet of you," he said in a fake syrupy sweet voice. "My mum put you up to it, didn't she?" 

"She wouldn't have to if you remembered to pick up your lunch." 

"Ha ha ha. And...I'm...done." Nicholas stood up to his full height and threw away his latex gloves. "Your mouth is going to be a little swollen for awhile. You can put some ice on it. Make sure to clean the piercings on the inside and outside. Clean the inside with a saline solution and the outside with a nonalcoholic medicated mouthwash..." 

After awhile Lily just tuned Nicholas out as he talked to the guy about taking care of his new piercings. Lily took the time to observe Nicholas. 'Yeah right, Lily. You're checking him out.' She rolled her eyes at herself but continued to look. Today, he wore an oversized tank top of the British flag with a pair of nicely fitted jeans and some Vans. In this outfit, his toned tatted arms were on full display. His tattoos were just a colorful continuous flow. It made it hard to see individually but they were still beautiful as a whole. As he turned a little, she could see his own snake bites jutting from his mouth. Of course he had his eyebrow and nose studs in, but they didn't grasp her attention like the lip piercings did. 

Looking at his full pink lips pushed against the metal rings made her think about how it would feel with those same rings pressed against hers. Heat started creeping up her face as she remembered yesterday's kiss. But that memory soon turned to fear as she remembered Nicholas's cold hands forcefully tugging at her body as the possession took over. 

A pair of fingers snapped in front of her, bringing her back to the present. "Helllooooo? Cowgirl? Stop thinking about riding me for five seconds, please." 

"Can't you be normal for five seconds," Lily said, placing her hands on her hips. 

Nicholas stuck his tongue out at her and pulled down his lower eyelid. "Nope." He grabbed his lunch out of her hand and walked to the door. "Are you on lunch break?" 

"Yeah. Why?" 

"Keep me company and have lunch with me." Nicholas requested in a more serious tone. Lily looked at him unsure of what to say. Every time they were alone, he always pulled some kind of crap to touch her while at the same time proving a point of his right. As if reading her mind, he added, "I won't try anything. Promise." 

With one last moment of uncertainty, she agreed. He gave her an actual smile as he opened the door for her. He led her down the hallway to a door that said 'Employees Only'. In the room was a typical small kitchen setting of a coffee machine, sink, cabinets, and so on. He pulled out her chair for her before going to wash his hands in the sink. 'Since when did he get some manners? This is the same guy who dumped me on the living room floor after grabbing my ass.' She looked at him confused as he washed his hands. 'This man is confusing. One minute, he's a perverted asshole. The next he's a loner bookworm. THEN he's a gentleman! What the fuck...I need some answers.' 

"Nicholas?" Lily said in a quiet voice. 

"What's up?" Nicholas answered back while heating up his lunch. 

"You know stuff about me..." 

"Sexual stuff about you, yeah." Just like him to ruin a perfectly serious moment. Lily rolled her eyes. 

"I want to know more stuff about you." A silence crossed over them as the request floated through the air. The silence became so intense to the point that the only thing that could be heard was the whirring of the microwave. 

"Well..." Nicholas said, breaking the silence. "I'm not a virgin." 

Lily let out a loud groan that made Nicholas jump. "That's not what I meant!" 

"Ok! Yeash! Calm your tits. What kind of questions did you want me to answer?" 

"I don't know...like why do you go to the library every Monday?" 

Nicholas put his lunch on the table before taking the seat beside her. "Well every Monday I have the day off. So I like spending it at the library." He shrugged his shoulders and took a bite out of his sandwich. "And yeah I did notice that you work there." He turned his head to look at her. "What's with the look on your face?" 

"I don't know." Lily shrugged. "I just thought...you don't look like the book reading type." 

Nicholas's face hardened as he continued to eat. "And what type do you consider me?" Another awkward silence passed between them as Lily tried to pick her words carefully. But were their really any words to make this seem less insulting than it was? 

"I thought..." she lowered her tone a little. "I thought... that you were the type that was only interested in having fun." 

"Don't sugar coat it. What do you mean?" 

A few seconds passed before she gave up on figuring out how to make it seem any less insulting. "I thought you were a party boy who liked to party, smoke, and drink every night. And thought you would fuck anything with a pretty face and a short skirt..." 

"So basically an idiot without a brain?" Lily nodded her head. "Well I won't lie...I do some of those things, but they're not the only things I do. Sex is not the only thing I think about. I'm not always loud. Sometimes I need my time. And during my time I like to read since I'm working during the other weekdays." 

"Is that why you're quiet and by yourself when you read in the library?" He nodded his head. "But...you look and act like a different person." 

"Isn't that the beauty of humanity, though?" Lily looked at him curiously, not understanding this philosophical question. "Why must a person fit into an overly stereotyped personality? Why must a person act a certain way just because it has been told to them they must act or expected to act? The beauty of human nature is complexity. Because of this, it is possible for me to be extroverted and introverted. I like to party and I like to read. But yet another person can like to party and hate reading period. No person is exactly like the other. But the sad, ugly truth is that most times humanity conforms to stereotypes in order to fill the need of being accepted." After he was done talking, Nicholas continued to finish his lunch 

Lily sat there pondering what Nicholas had just said. Was that what she had been doing this whole entire time? Conforming herself to be accepted? Couldn't be. She didn't dress in skimpy clothes like other girls. She certainly didn't act like other girls who gave up their virginity easily. She had never drank, smoked or partied in her entire life. She never was in any kind of clique. She was always a good girl. She was always obedient. Always working hard. Always respectful. She never did anything wrong. No, she was her own person. 

"Can I ask you something?" Nicholas asked her, getting up to throw away his trash. 

"Sure," she said exhausted from thinking. 

"What kind of person do you consider yourself?" 

"...A good girl." Lily shrugged her shoulders. 

"Then you are part of the sad and ugly truth," he smiled sadly at her. She looked back at him with widened eyes. How dare he tell her that she was party of this ugly truth? Before she could challenge his accusation, he asked. "Would you like me to walk you back to the library? I still have time left in my lunch period." 

"Sure," she said not too enthusiastically. 

As they took that long walk out to the entrance of the tattoo parlor, neither one said anything to each other. She was internally cussing out Nicholas all the way to the entrance. How dare he say that she was part of the ugly truth?! She actually wished at that point that she had the perverted Nicholas instead of the serious Nicholas. At least then he would have been joking. She crossed her arms in front of her and pouted as she strolled down the street. She was NOT part of the problem. 

"Did you have any other questions?" Nicholas asked, breaking her concentration. Lily glared back at him but decided to let it go for the moment since she really wanted some answers. 

"You never talk about the Spirit. Why?" she said looking up at him. 

His being immediately became distant as he mulled over the question. "He's just there. What else is there to say?" 

"Well every night he takes over your body. I mean...how long has he been doing that?" 

"For as long as I can remember." His answer came out clipped and short. "Change the subject." 

"But do you know anything about him at all? Like why does he use you specifically? What happened in that house?" When she looked into his eyes, she nearly froze in place as the same look of rage from last night marred his face. 

"It doesn't matter. Why be concerned with things that don't even have to deal with appeasing him? I don't want to do to you what I did last night, ok? There will be no second chance if you fail to appease him again."He turned around and headed back to the tattoo parlor without even saying anything else. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"My Nicholas has always been like that," Mrs. Yates sighed. 

Lily sat across the living room table from Mrs. Yates playing cards in the late evening. They were both dressed in pajamas with their hair up as they looked over their cards. Lily didn't play many card games, but when Mrs. Yates had offered to play a few rounds, she found herself accepting the offer. Lily wasn't doing anything anyway. She was just fuming over Nicholas was all. After awhile Mrs. Yates started to notice her dark mood and asked what was wrong. Lily told her everything that happened with Nicholas today minus the perverted teasing. 

"He's always been very social ever since he was a little kid, but at the same time he kept to himself. It's nothing that you did that angered him. He's just...it's just a sore spot with him." She laid down a card before reaching over to drink some of her tea. "Do you have any threes?" 

"Go fish." 

"Damn." She pulled a card from the stack. 

"But you've lived in this house longer than he has. How come you are able to talk about it more freely than he can?" 

Mrs. Yates thought her answer over before saying anything else. "People handle stressful things in different ways." 

"Do you have any Aces?" 

Mrs. Yates handed Lily one of her Aces before continuing. "For me, I've never experienced the Spirit the way that Nicholas has. He has never come to me about the Spirit. Not since he was a little boy. I remember when he was beginning to talk, in the middle of the night he would scream 'Pictures! Pictures!'. Of course I thought he was just spewing some nonsense, so I told him to take his little bottom back to bed. When it came the time for him to sleep in his own bed, he screamed that the monster would come in his dreams and show him these horrible things. He was trying to tell me, in his own way, that when he is possessed he relives the Spirit's life. He feels everything he felt and is feeling. So I imagine that it hurts him still to see those visions. Even being a bloke of twenty-three, it hurts him. So the best thing is for him not to talk about it." 

Silence passed between them as what she just told Lily began to settle in. Lily had never considered that. That every night for perhaps the last twenty-three years, Nicholas's dreams were full of the nightmarish life of the Spirit that possessed him. 'Great. Now I feel like a total ass again.' Lily could barely take the Spirit for one night, let alone for years. She would need to apologize to Nicholas when he comes home. 

"Do you have any Kings?" Mrs. Yates said, breaking the silence. 

Lily handed her the king while still deep in thought. "Mrs. Yates." 

"Yes, Lily?" 

"How come you and Nicholas refer to him as a 'he' if he can not talk?" 

Before Mrs. Yates had a chance to answer, the front door opened with a bang. Nicholas's recognizable drunken laughter rang out from the entrance. But it was not alone. A female's titters could be easily heard along with it. As usual, Mrs. Yates was oblivious to her son's drunken stupor. But Lilt dared to turn her head around to see who he was with 

It was the blonde woman from the tattoo parlor. She had glared at Lily earlier today. Lily made sense of why. It had to be only one thing that made any sense to her. She had to be Nicholas's girlfriend. 'Well he's good looking, Lily. Of course, the man isn't single. Plus he only did all of those things to you just to get a reaction, Not because he liked you.' Then why did it still hurt. Of course she was foolish for even being attracted to the guy in the first place. She only knew the guy for four days for God's sake. She couldn't fool herself that she liked him because she didn't. All she ever felt was attracted to him. 

'What would you have had to offer anyway? He's still in the stage in his life where he fucks the hottest thing nearby. I mean look at the way she's built.' The woman didn't have any curves at all but she was very leggy and had a pretty face. 'I mean seriously? Even the guy said it himself. Nicholas has a whole bunch of women who are just as attracted to him as you are. What could you have offered him anyway? You've never had sex. You're too dark. AND you're fugly as hell.' 

Lily wrapped one arm around her middle as she knew it was all true. His girlfriend may not have been much, but she had things that Lily surely didn't have. She looked perfect Nicholas. She was pretty enough to be with him. She didn't dress like a prude like Lily. She actually knew a way to get a guy. Her polka dotted skirt didn't make it pass her thighs and her crisp white blouse was unbuttoned enough to see down her shirt. Nicholas seemed to be very interested in her since his hands held tightly to her thigh and her lower back. Lily just didn't have the things that Nicholas liked. 

"Hey mum," his words slurred. 

"Hello Mrs. Yates!" the woman shouted and snickered afterwards. 

"Hello, slut," Mrs. Yates said only loud enough for her and Lily to hear. 

"I'm going to go turn in for the night," Nicholas shouted as he climbed the stairs with the blonde woman. "Night, mum." After a few minutes, the deafening sound of door closing was heard throughout the house." 

Mrs. Yates and Lily sat there in silence. The once light hearted game of Go Fish was now shattered by the drunken pair. Mrs. Yates breathed out as calmly as she could. "Do you care to sleep down here for the night?" 

Lily nodded her head numbly as she forced herself to get up and help put away the cards.



The Wallflower Ch. 05



// Hey Everyone! :D I got a request for 3-4 pages in the comments, so hopefully when this is uploaded it will be at least 3 pages. Every chapter since chapter one has been to give you more to read. But it's going to take me 2 weeks to write a full chapter now because to write another page for Literotica equals 6-7 more pages of writing on Microsoft Word. I think ya'll are going to love this chapter. Please leave a comment, email feedback, criticism because I do read and respond to everyone. In fact I read them every time before I write. Have an awesome read. –BlessingAndCurse//




The night seemed at its darkest that day. There were no windows to get even a sliver of the bright iridescent moon. But Lily felt that it was simply the norm. Darkness always came before the true horror began.

The Spirit would not be pleased with this. 

For the past few nights, all Lily did was anger him. She had gotten warning after warning. And last night was her last one. But it wasn't her fault that Nicholas chose tonight to bring his girlfriend over while she was left to lay on the living room sofa to sleep. She actually wondered if he did that on purpose just so she would get punished as she recalled him saying something earlier about how he didn't want to do that again. He knew this would happen when he brought her over.

Anger started to burn inside her chest as she thought about once again being punished for something that wasn't her fault. Only just seemed to be her fault. She already had been through enough of that. She was a good girl but was always every asshole's scapegoat. She had gotten the full brunt of that during high school when everything was going to hell.

On her fifteenth birthday, her father had been killed at the store while buying Lily a last minute birthday present. Being as she was, Ma didn't feel as though Lily didn't feel low enough already. She still remembered the horrible words he mother had said to her. "If only you weren't a demanding little bitch," she had said lowly. "Maybe he would still be alive." The words were short and to the point like a deadly weapon. And it had hits its target and twisted inside her chest. Her father had known how crazy her mother was. He would always be her knight in shining armor who came to her rescue when her mom tried to embarrass her or punish her. If he was alive, she wouldn't be in the predicament she was in now. She'd be in college getting her degree and still be able to go back to her house where she knew at least someone loved her.

But once the protection was lost, Ma had full reign to make her life a living hell. Once she was in full control over her college fund, Ma had spent every last penny on clothes, shoes, and other foolish things. Lily had no idea what she had done till came her senior year. She had asked her mom for money to pay for her enrollment fees. Ma just looked at her dumbfounded and said, "What money?"

"From my college fund." Lily exasperated. "The one dad set up for me."

"Oh." Ma said looking back at her newspaper. "You don't got no college fund no more."

Lily remembered being unable to talk for a few minutes as she tried to sort through her mind how to feel about this. When she questioned Ma about what happened to the money, Ma answered back that the college fund was used to buy whatever she wanted as payment for having to take care of Lily for the past eighteen years. A future destroyed by being someone's scapegoat.

It wasn't enough for her to have no father and no future. She also wasn't allowed any self confidence. Brandon made sure of that. Every day he would find her to make his remarks. It always started out the same. He would see her. Walk up to her. And corner her. With his height and his bulky muscles, it made it seem like she had nowhere to go. All she could do was stand there and take the insults.

One time Lily had dared to walk away and not put up with this bull shit. She had tried to push him out of her way and go to lunch. Before she could even take a step, Brandon grabbed the front of her dress and slammed her back up against the wall. For a minute she had lost her breath and was struggling for air. "Who gave you permission to walk away from me, you uppity little bitch?" he had growled in her face. He rolled his shoulders backwards which caused her to flinch. It made him seem like he was preparing himself to give her a beating. "I'll let it go this once, since it looks like you have somewhere better to be." He nodded towards the snug form fitting dress and leggings that she was wearing. He laughed to himself as he put her down and walked away. "Wearing tight clothes won't make me change what I think about you."

When she looked around her, she saw everyone looking at her outfit. She heard some mummers of "slut" being loudly whispered in the hallway. She heard wolfish laughter ring out from the guys. She saw the disgusted looks the girls gave her. Lily walked as fast as she could to the bathroom as she could and locked herself there till the bell that ended lunch rung. Another way she was one asshole's scapegoat.

Lily lay there blinking back the tears and memories that occurred. But like the tears, the memories left a cold trail behind. That was just what people could do to her. What could a Spirit do to her?

Lily repositioned her body to lie sideways on the couch. Another thought inside her head sprang forwards. 'Are you really angry at Nicholas because he could get you punished or are you just angry that Nicholas brought his girlfriend home?' The idea disturbed her so much that she sat upright and slid over to the other side of the couch as if trying to escape her own thoughts.

That wasn't true. That woman was threatened of Lily. Not the other way around. How could she be threatened by that woman when she had no feelings for Nicholas whatsoever? 

'Lies.'

She didn't like him!

'But you like the way he touches you and kisses you, making you feel like a woman instead of a girl.'

But she didn't like HIM! 

Lily felt those thoughts give her a sly smile as she came into realization at what she inwardly admitted. She liked to be touched by Nicholas. She was threatened by this woman. Because when he touched her, he wasn't touching Lily. She did not like him, but she did want to be the only woman he touched. Woman. Lily smirked at herself. Like she was ever one in the first place.

She laid prostrate on the couch as a mixture of feelings washed over her. Disgust. Anger. Sadness. Happy.

Happy because that woman would be here tonight, yes. But she would never return. She would have to deal with the wrath of the Spirit for tonight. The Spirit never missed a night to possess Nicholas and write on the wall. Lily imagined the look on the woman's face as the Spirit handed her the bloody hilt of the knife. She certainly wouldn't be back after tonight.

But that was...wrong. Those thoughts were evil. She was good. She wouldn't wish that experience on anybody. Lily may like the way Nicholas touches her, but the sad truth was he had used her. Nicholas had to have a girlfriend this whole entire time he was feeling her up. Lily didn't want o be some side chick. Those kind of girls were not good at all. It was for the best that she just stepped out of the way 

The only thing she felt for him was attraction. She was only glad that it didn't get any further than just kissing and touching. She wished the woman to do better than Nicholas. And she also wished for the Spirit to not be so bad tonight, at least for the woman's sake.

Lily stayed awake as she strained her ears to listen to the telltale sign of the Spirit entering the room. The slam of the door. Or even a horrified scream coming from the room. She waited and waited. It was long after midnight when her eyelids began to falter open and close, open and close, open and close. Until they finally closed shut into slumber. Not once did she hear the slamming of the upper door.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Lily grumbled as she awakened from sleep. She quickly shut her eyes back as the light from the kitchen blinded her. Even though she had only lived here for a short amount of time, Lily had never seen so much light coming from the kitchen. She climbed to her feet and dragged her feet to the entrance of the kitchen.

The curtains, behind the table, had been push back all the way to fully let in all the light from outside. She had never recalled Mrs. Yates ever to pull back the curtains. And she understood why. The windows faced the street, so any passerby on the street could peer into the house. Lily shrugged her shoulders as she went to close the curtain.

"I opened the curtains for a reason, bitch," she heard a female voice say behind her. She turned to find the blonde woman glaring daggers at her. The woman was wearing the clothes that she was wearing last night and holding a box of Cheerios.

"Mrs. Yates always keeps them closed," Lily yawned as she went back to closing them.

"I don't give a shit what that old woman wants. It's too fucking dark to even see in here without them opened." This woman sure had a mouth on her. Without any care, the woman plunged her hand into the box and ate the handful of Cheerios. After what she was doing with Nicholas last night, Lily could only imagine where those hands had been Lily mentally noted to not eat that box for breakfast that morning.

"That's why she uses the light switch," Lily noted as the room was cast into darkness. She went over and flipped the switch to cast the room back into a less harsh light. When Lily faced the woman again, the woman scrunched her face up at her and muttered a string of expletives.

"Who the fuck puts a stupid light switch near the door?" 

'Uh...everyone?' Lily reached for her Cinnamon Toast Crunch on top of the fridge. She turned to go to the cabinets to get a bowl but the woman was still standing in front of it . "Excuse me, please," Lily said, almost no louder than a whisper.

The woman stared her down while in the middle of sticking her hand in the cereal box. "Seems to me you needed to be excused a long time ago." The woman glared at her while continuing to eat. Lily inhaled deeply before letting out an exhausted sigh. She wasn't up to fighting this early in the morning. All she wanted to was to eat her favorite cereal in peace. 

"I just need a bowl from the cabinet."

"Just eat it from the fucking box."

"I like milk in my cereal. I'm sure I can't drink milk from my hands," Lily countered. The woman shrugged and shifted her body out of the way. Once Lily retrieved the bowl, she went about her business to prepare her cereal. All the while, she felt the familiar feeling of being watched. Not only just watched... but sized up and judged as if she was prey.

"Let me ask you somethin'," the woman said behind her. Without giving her time to answer the woman continued. "How long have you been fucking my man?"

Lily turned around and faced the woman. Her icy blue eyes glared down at her like a predator waiting to strike. "I haven't been fucking him."

"Bullshit," the woman gritted through her teeth and walking closer towards Lily. Her mom's voice began ringing out in Lily's head. 'Ignorant people are dangerous.' And this woman was about the most ignorant person she had seen yet. She had to get some distance between this chick.

"Look," Lily said while walking over to the table with her bowl. "I am not fucking Nicholas. Ok? Whether you believe me or not, that's up to you."

An awkward silence floated between them. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of Lily eating her cereal.

'Well you might as well be since you've already kissed and touched him,' her thoughts criticized. 'That's not right. He kissed and touched me. It's not like I was begging him to do it.' But didn't his girlfriend need to know? But that wasn't the only thing she needed to know. What was that other thing that she needed to tell her?

She looked at the woman with curious eyes, trying to remember what it was. Something important...

The Spirit. That was it. But by now the woman should already know. Lily narrowed her eyes. The woman didn't seem affected. Actually, she looked as if she didn't even care what happened last night. That didn't make any sense. Even if she had been with Nicholas for some period of time, she still would be affected in some way. Not even Nicholas, who had to deal with it for all his life, was immune to the Spirit. What happened last night?

"Are you some kinda fucking lesbian?" the woman said glaring at he. Lily turned her head back to cereal, realizing that she had stared for too long.

"N-no," Lily stuttered, while trying to swallow her spoonful of cereal. "I just wanted to ask you something?" 

'She's gonna think I'm crazy...well here goes.'

"Did anything strange happen last night?" Lily asked the woman. The woman looked at her, not understanding the question. "Like did you see anything strange about Nicolas or... something else?" 

The woman's face instantly turned into rage. "If you're talking about how he fucked the shit outta me, then no, I didn't see anything strange about him last night! He did a damn good job as he usually does! But that's none of your GOD DAMN BUSINESS!" The woman sat the box down and began moving towards Lily with cruel intent. "If there's anything 'strange' about his dick, you probably gave it to him, you fucking slut!" The woman's breathing was labored as she fumed in and out. She was so close to Lily that the hot flames of the woman's breath scorched her skin.

The woman gripped the kitchen table as she bent over to glare right into Lily's eyes. Her scalding blue eyes spoke of suck hatred and disgust that it was too much for mere human eyes to contain. It spread throughout her whole entire face as it twisted her lips into a permanent snarl, scrunched her slim aquiline nose into a turned up pig's, and finally scorching her skin in a deep violent red..

"Now let's make things fucking clear...This maybe that old bag's house, but MY man lives in that room. If I even catch anything that belongs to you on his side of the room, I will beat your ass. Same goes if you try to pull that shit again in the tattoo parlor. You announcing and flaunting that you live here with him. I'll knock your ass out right in the shop." Silence came between them. "Did I make shit clear?" she asked in a low and deadly voice.

The squeaking of the stair case alerted the woman of someone coming down the stairs. She immediately backed up and sat in the seat across from Lily. Lily thanked God for whoever was coming down the stair case. She turned her head slightly to see Mrs. Yates in her long white nightgown.

"Good morning, Mrs. Yates!" the blonde woman said with a smile. The woman instantly had a face of angelic pleasantry in the stead of the wrathful scorned face of a demon. 

Mrs. Yates said nothing to the woman as she went over to the sink to wash her hands. Lily took the chance to get up and dump the sugary milk into the sink. While Lily was washing her bowl, she saw Mrs. Yates reach for the Cheerios box that the woman had earlier. Lily thought of something quick before Mrs. Yates put whatever that woman had on those hands into her mouth.

"Hey, Mrs. Yates. I was just about to make pancakes. Would you like some?" Lily emphasized her last question. Mrs. Yates looked at her funny, not understanding at all since Lily just got done eating cereal. "I just thought we could have something else than bland, old cheerios."

"I disagree," the blonde woman said. "Cheerios are more heart healthy than that fried pieces of bread." 

Finally getting the point, Mrs. Yates looked back at Lily and said, "Sure , I'll have a couple of hotcakes, hon."

Lily hid a small sigh of relief as she got the ingredients and cookware out. All while she was preparing the food, the blonde woman talked with Mrs. Yates. More so the woman was talking and Mrs. Yates was suffering.

"Hey, mum!" Nicholas's voice shouted from upstairs. "Are you making pancakes?" As soon as it was asked, Nicholas came barreling down the stairs like a worked up little kid to see what was being cooked for breakfast. Lily chanced to look away from the pancakes and scrambled eggs to see an overexcited Nicholas in his pajama bottoms. He had a severe case of bed head with his curls going in every which way imaginable. He had been so worked up about breakfast, he had forgotten to pull his bottoms all the way up, so she could clearly see the top curve of his ass. Lily couldn't help but laugh as she went back to cooking breakfast.

"Shut up, cowgirl," she heard Nicholas say behind her. "Where's the pancakes, mum?" he whined.

"Nicholas, does it look like I'm anywhere near a stove?" Mrs. Yates asked sarcastically.

Lily heard heavy and determined footsteps come up behind her. "Cowgirl, pancake me," Nicholas demanded.

"They're not ready. Go sit down somewhere." Nicholas let out a loud groan as he went to the table and sat down.

After a few minutes, she served pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon to Mrs. Yates and Nicholas. "Would you like a plate...?" Lily simply asked the blonde woman since she didn't know her name. Somehow in the middle of scarfing down his breakfast, Nicholas noticed the hesitation.

"Lily, this is Anna Belle. Anna Belle, this is Lily," Nicholas said in one single breath before going back to demolishing his plate.

"Pleased to meet you," Anna Belle said as if she hadn't just threatened Lily minutes ago. "But no thank you. I don't eat a meal with lots of fat." Annabelle smiled in mock sadness. 

"Actually, the only thing with a high fat content in this meal is the bacon, Anna Belle," Lily said just as pleasantly. Anna Belle flashed a hateful glare as Lily turned back to the oven. Lily sat down with her plate and began eating her second helping of breakfast.

"Well Nicky, honey, I gotta go to my apartment." Anna Belle gave Nicholas a long dramatic kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you at work later." As she left to go out the door, she waved goodbye to Lily and Mrs. Yates.

Once the front door clicked, Mrs. Yates visibly became agitated. She began to skewer her pancakes and stuff them in her mouth as she mumbled in between bites. "I don't know why you bring that girl in here, Nicholas," she fumed. Nicholas responded with a simple shrug and continued to shovel in his food. "What was wrong with the Cheerios?" 

"She stuck her hand straight into the box," Lily said.

"S' wat?" Nicholas said around a mouth full of food.

"She dipped her cum encrusted fingers into food that we eat on a daily basis." Mrs. Yates looked sternly at her son. "Funny how the wench has a classy name but has low class manners and a mouth fit for the navy. She doesn't fool me one bit with that 'Hello Mrs. Yates' act." She scoffed loudly as she mimicked the high pitched voice that the nice version of Anna Belle.

"Hey, cowgirl, can you get me some more bacon?" Nicholas said as he finally lifted his head up for air. "If you have time, could you also make me lunch?" 

Lily stopped in the middle of eating as she stared at him. Why should she? All Nicholas had done since day one is send her into mental distress and confusion. His personality (or personalities as it seemed) was never consistent and always infuriating. All this time she had been trying to figure him out. Who was Nicholas? But yesterday she had found an answer to her question. He was a manipulator.

All he did was do whatever he wanted whenever he felt like it no matter who he hurt. When he couldn't get what he wanted for himself, he would simply substitute. And Lily was that substitute. She was Nicholas's substitute whore...and nothing else. It all made sense now to why he wanted to know about her. All that bull shit about he wanted to know, he wanted to know. He wanted to know if she was easy. And he had proved it. Just like how everyone else had tried to prove it.




The Wallflower Ch. 05



Not a day went by that he would try to prove his "theory". Every day except for yesterday when he finally brought her home with him. He could do things with her that he knew he couldn't get from Lily. A good time. An easy lay. A woman with experience. When he had what he really wanted, he didn't even care to recognize her. Until he realized that she could cook. 

Fuck him. He possibly risked her life just so he could have a good time with his girlfriend. To believe she was going to apologize to him when he came home. And she actually believed his line about "I don't want to do that again" bullshit. How horrible would he have felt when the Spirit makes him plunge the blood encrusted knife into her heart? How sorry would he feel then? Then she would've been another asshole's scapegoat.

So how dare he? How dare he sit there and expect to use her again like she was just an object?! He had already got what he really wanted out of that hoe last night, but yet he wanted more from her! He wanted her to now cook his meals while entertaining him until the real thing comes along?! Only thing Lily could think of is what he had said to her before. He was twenty-three years old. He could do shit for himself.

Lily ate the last bite of her breakfast before getting up and throwing her plate away. She began to walk out the kitchen. But before she left, she said without looking back, "Do it your damn self, Nick." She stomped up the stairs and firmly closed the door behind her with a purposeful and defined click. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

That's how things continued. Lily refused to speak to Nicholas, and after awhile Nicholas didn't press her to speak to him. Everyday Nicholas forgot his lunch, and Mrs. Yates would always ask Lily to drop by his work to give it to him. Lily would always refuse. Each day, she would convince herself it was best to not talk to Nicholas because she could never shake the feeling that she had been used.

Every night Nicholas would get drunk with Anna Belle and bring her home with him. So every night, Lily would sleep on the couch in the living room, fearing the possibility of the Spirit's wrath. But he never came. 

Until a week later...



"Lily what's up with you?"

Lily looked up at Vanessa as she came out of her daze of thoughts. She had had been right in the middle of convincing herself once again that all Nicholas was, was trouble. She had been reminding herself so many times now that it had started to damper her mood into silence. 

"Lily what's with you?" Vanessa repeated the question. "You've been more quiet than usual. What's worse is you walk around the library with this look in your eyes as if...you're not here." Vanessa switched to her 'no-nonsense' stance of folding her arms and leaning on her right foot. "What's up 'cuz if I need to hurt a bitch..." The flame in her eyes got the rest of her sentence across.

"It's just..." Lily began trying to find the words but couldn't. "It's just living with him."

"You mean Nicholas?" Vanessa quirked an eyebrow. "What about him?"

"It's just things are different..."

"Well...yeah. I got that on Monday when you all of a sudden took an early lunch break. Then he came asking around about you, wanting to know where you were. It was easy to put two and two together."

'Still trying to play that 'I care' bullshit,' she thought as she shoved a book into the shelves.

"I just don't want to talk about him. Not even think about him at this point." Lily said, drawing the end of the discussion.

"Well, how about you come party with me on Friday if you really want to not think about him. I've been trying to get you to go with me for yeeaaarrrss. There's always cute guys and awesome dancing. We can even go shopping for something to wear tomorrow. Pleease come with me this time." Vanessa crouched down to Lily's height and gave her her best pleading face.

Lily sighed exasperated. Vanessa really knew how to wear her down. "OK Vanessa." Vanessa let out a slight scream before covering it up with her hand. She began jumping up and down instead just as content as she could be. 

Hell, Lily didn't have much else to do anyway. She didn't feel up to seeing Nicholas bring Anna Belle home again like she was some loser who had nothing else to do with her life besides watching other people live their lives. She was going to change her life.

All of a sudden, Vanessa stopped hopping up and down and stood there with a weird expression. Vanessa was looking at something past Lily. With her eyes, Vanessa kept flickering her eyes from Lily to what was behind her. What was she trying to tell her? The worst thing possible was that their boss saw that they weren't working, but Lily could see her on the other side of the library. Vanessa gave up and tried to reach for Lily's hand, but a familiar voice stopped her in place.

"Do you mind if I borrow Lily for a moment?"

Lily's back tensed as she slowly turned around. There he was glaring down at her with intense gray eyes. His face was set in stone with a serious expression on his face. She wasn't going to talk to playboy Nicholas. She was going head to head with serious Nicholas.

Lily looked behind her to get help from Vanessa, but Vanessa was long gone. 'Yeah...Thanks for being there for me, Vanessa.' Well, she couldn't blame her. Going up against this part of him was near to horrifying, but any other day this would have scared her. Why should she have to back down as if she was the one who did wrong? She had just enough reason to be angry with him as he did her.

"What do you want?" Lily said leveled and clear. She picked up a book and put it into the shelf and moved on to the next set of shelves.

"I've been trying to talk to you all week," he gritted out as he followed after her.

"And I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to talk to you." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nicholas flex his jaw. 

"Well I still want to talk to you. I've been trying to figure out what I could've possibly done to you for the last week. I've been leaving my lunch at home on purpose to get you to come see me at work. Do you know how many times I had to go hungry because you wouldn't come see me?"

Lily glanced back at him and said, "Oh boo-fucking-hoo." Lily proceeded to push the cart down the aisle.

"And what's with your mouth of late? It's become dirtier than a shitter. Whenever I do get you to talk to me at home, you can't say one sentence without cussing at me."

"I didn't think you had a problem with dirty mouths since you bring home a toilet mouth every night." Lily shoved the next book in so hard that a loud thud resounded over the Nonfiction section.

"Is this what all of this is about?!" he said a little too loudly. "You're upset because I brought a woman home?!" 

Lily glared up at him as she turned around to confront him. "No, it's not about that," she angrily whispered. "It's that you risk my life over a good time over a woman every night! With all that crap you said about 'oh I don't want to do that to you again' was just what it is. Crap! How would you feel having to kill me with that same damn knife he uses?"

Nicholas met her glare with his own as they silently challenged the other to look away or say something. 

"You assume too much," Nicholas distinctly defined each word. "The Spirit wouldn't make me kill you."

"How do you know?" Lily gritted out between her teeth.

Silence passed between the two again.

"This isn't what you're really mad about. If you were afraid of the Spirit you would have talked to me sooner. No one just fears for their life for a solid week and blame it all on one person. I don't deny that you fear for your life, but that is only part of the reason why you're mad." He stepped forward towards her, using his full height to tower over her. Lily only raised her head higher to meet his eyes straight on.

"Just because you're bigger than me, doesn't mean you'll intimidate me into telling you," She turned back to her cart and pushed it down the rows of bookshelves. Out of nowhere, Nicholas grabbed her wrist and twisted her back around towards him. The hellish face that she had seen a week before glowered down on her in full. She tried to get out of his grasp by slapping his hand with hers, but he only restrained the other hand. He brought his head close to her ear.

"I'm here to talk to you. I've been trying to do that for days. I've come down here before, but you wanted to play games and avoid me. I'm here to say game over." He brought his head back and looked into her eyes. "I came today because I knew you wouldn't expect me, so now you are going to listen to me. I get that you're afraid. I understand that more than anybody. But if the other side of this story is that you're mad because I brought another girl home, all I can say is you knew better. You knew I bring girls home. I've been doing that before you came to live there. So get used to it."

Lily's resolve began to break down slightly to the point that a few tears slipped from her eyes. She tried to jerk her hands away to wipe her tears, but Nicholas held on tight like iron. "I-" Lily took a moment to swallow down the emotion that tried to escape from her throat. "I don't want to be used by you or any man who think they can," she trembled. "I don't give a damn about your girlfriend Nicholas. I'm mad that you tried to use me." Angry tears rolled down her face as her anger started to become too much. "You got what you could from me before putting it in my face that I was just side fun." Her voice began to break as the tears finally came like waterfalls flowing down her cheek.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"What?" she looked at him through blurry eyes.

"Shit." He backed away from her and offered her a napkin. "She's not my girlfriend and she never has been. She's just my co-worker."

"Then why do you bring her over every night?" Lily countered. "And why does she say that you're her man?"

"Because I'm drunk as hell and my thinking isn't too good when I'm drunk, alright? She's been trying to get with me for years. Biggest mistake I ever made was sleeping with her that one time. Ever since then, she's been telling everyone I'm her man so she can scare away who she thinks is a threat. All she's been was a fuck buddy ever since I met her. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about yourself. If it makes you feel better I won't bring her home with me anymore, ok?"

Silence passed between them again.

"But I should have known better. If she's just entertainment for you then I'm just entertainment too. Nicholas...I don't want to be used. I didn't want to be touched by you in the beginning and I still don't want to be touched." In the back of her mind her thoughts told her she was lying, but that wasn't important right now. She was already in love with him touching her, she didn't want to become any more attracted to him then she already was. She had to stop it here. "You can say all you want, but you can't tell me that I shouldn't feel used. Because I do feel used. Because we both know you aren't attracted to me."

"Are we cool then?"

"Yeah," she said, quietly crossing her arms and looking down at the floor. "I have to go back to work." Before he could say another word, she took the cart and pushed it down the aisles of shelves.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Sigh.

Lily pulled the baggy shirt over her head as she got ready for bed. Today had been a long and draining day. All she wanted to do was sleep for days and maybe never wake up. But she couldn't even do that if she really tried. Nicholas would never let her rest in peace. 

She opened the bathroom door to find Nicholas staring back at her. He sat on his bed Indian style facing the bathroom door as if he was waiting for her to come out. Usually he would be sleeping the minute he hit the bed. But the look in his eyes told her that he wasn't interested in sleeping a wink. The look would typically have her pinned to the ground. But not today. She was too exhausted to care.

Lily walked over to her bed and settled in before placing her glasses on the side table. She laid on her side with her back to him.

"Lily," Nicholas said.

Lily let out an exhausting sigh as she turned over and looked at Nicholas. He hadn't moved an inch. Only thing that had changed was the position of his hand underneath his chin. His eyes held her attention as he said the next few words.

"You will talk to me."

He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, but stern gray eyes did not greet her. The room suddenly went black, so all she could see were those luminous red eyes. 

A shudder ran down her back as she knew what was coming next.

'Oh no... Oh no Oh no Oh no! GOD NO!' 

The Spirit was coming.

The wrathful Spirit was coming.

Nicholas calmly stood up as he walked over to the other wide of his bed. Lily wanted to run away, but her body wasn't moving. The hair on her body stood on end as she saw the bloody rusted knife glinting in Nicholas's hand.

'Move! Move! Move!' she yelled at her body. Lily flipped over the covers and pushed her body out of bed. But just as soon as she stood up, she felt Nicholas's strong hands wrap around her waist. She screamed out loud as she tried to force his hand free from her waist. All attempts stopped as Nicholas leisurely encircled his arm around her neck. In that hand, the knife lightly laid on her shoulder.

She closed her eyes tightly as she felt his even breathing against her ear. "Where are you going?" The dark booming voice breathed into her ear. "You haven't talked to me yet."

"I'm sorry." she wept. "Please don't punish me. It wasn't my fault."

"How did you expect me to punish you?" Lily swore he was smiling behind her. "Tell me."

"K-k-" Lily couldn't bring herself to say the words without crying in fright. But the soft moving of the knife on her skin easily unloosened her tied tongue. "Killing me."

"Really, now?" The flat of the knife skimmed across the base of her neck. "Where did you think I would plunge this knife?"

Lily licked her dry lips as she searched her brain quickly for the answer. As flat of the dagger began to slowly continue downwards, her breathing began to grow rapid. Her breathing turned into wheezing as she felt his hands lower her shirt till her breasts were exposed. He guided the knife in between them until she felt the steel tip right in between them. Her breathing cut off all together. She was too scared to even dare breathe in fear that her rising chest would pierce through her skin and into her heart.

"So you thought I would plunge it here?" he said more as a statement than a question. Lily didn't answer him as she turned her head and closed her eyes. If she was to die than she wasn't going to witness it. She just wanted it done.

"Any why would you think I would damage such lovely breasts?" 

'What?'

He took the knife away from her chest and pulled her shirt back up. Lily stumbled onto her knees and inhaled gulps of breath, trying to get as much as possible. "I knew you couldn't be in the room for certain reasons. I know Nicholas took over the room to have sex. I'm a spirit, but I'm not blind."

"But... but I thought you come...come every night." Lily breathed as she turned around to face him.

"I do. I just didn't let my presence be known this last week." That didn't make sense to Lily, but she went along with it anyway. "But at least I know now that I have your whole undivided attention." He laid down on Lily's bed and closed his eyes. Soon his body relaxed into sleep, casting everything into darkness.

The bright blue light began to illuminate on the wall as the knife floated towards it.

Know though that when I do punish you, I will not go so far as to kill you. You don't have to worry about your life here.

Lily thought over what had just transpired before she took the knife and slowly wrote:

So you were playing with me?

In a sadistic sense of humor, yes. The Spirit wrote back.

Lily didn't know whether to be relieved or angry. She nearly passed out from all the hard breathing, or the lack there of, because of this sense of humor. But she decided not to say anything since she didn't even receive a mark on her skin due to this "prank".

OK was all she could think of to write back to the Spirit. As much as she wanted to argue and fight with him as she would with Nicholas, but the Spirit wasn't Nicholas. If skimming a knife across her body was considered a prank, she would hate to see what he'd do for punishment. A silence passed by for a few seconds with both parties at a loss of what to say.

How was your day? The Spirit scratched out. Lily looked at it almost confusingly. What happened to all the intrusive questions about her life?

Horrible. Well this whole week has been horrible. Lily answered honestly.

What has made it so horrible? 

Lily thought about this before she wrote anything down. What was the point of telling the Spirit? He didn't need to what had happened between her and Nicholas, but then she remembered the crushing weight of all the pain, fear, and nearly dead exhaustion she had been through. It wouldn't hurt to tell someone. It's not as if the Spirit would tell anyone.

She looked back at Nicholas lying fast asleep on her bed. And as far as she understood, Nicholas only remembered two things about the ghost. That is how the Spirit was killed and the things he made Nicholas do while possessed. So it shouldn't hurt to tell someone who couldn't even tell anyone.

Lily held the knife in her hand for a moment before scribbling her message into the wall.

Well, me and Nicholas have been fighting for the last week. Well more like I've been fighting him. I got...

Lily paused in her writing to consider how she felt. She couldn't be that. That would be stupid. What would she be jealous for? She was just angry was all it was. Nothing else.

I got angry at him. Ever since I met him, he's been touching me every chance he could. I thought it was so perverted the way he would touch me, but it made me feel...wanted...after awhile. But then I realized he only did that to prove points. I have never felt this used in my whole life. 

She laid down the knife as she felt all those emotions began to rush to the fore front of her mind. She wanted these feelings to go away. They were of no use to her. These feelings of attraction, lust – and the horrid feeling of being spurned. She couldn't live with those feelings. They had to simply die in her breast just like every feeling that threatened to take her, because she knew it would always lead to pain.

What points, Lily? The Spirit softly scratched into the wall as if trying to comfort her.

Lily made sure that she pushed those feelings back where they came from before picking up the knife again. That I was attracted to him. That I was inexperienced. But it was all just a game to him! He felt me up to get a reaction out of me. He even stole my first kiss because he wanted to prove I was pure! I can't get any of that back! I can't get back my first kiss, my first time being touched by a guy, and... Whatever. But what makes me so mad is that he acted as if he cared. But in all actuality, he just wanted a good girl to entertain him. Because the next day he brought a bad bitch home!

I'm sorry, but I'm lost. The Spirit wrote. I know you're mad that you've been used, but the way you put that last part makes it sound as if you're jealous of this other woman.

I'm not jealous. It's just... it proves it. He confessed to me today that all she was was entertainment. If she is entertainment, then I am entertainment. It's as simple as that. It just proves he's just using me. And I refuse to be used any further. 

Do you know what your name means?




The Wallflower Ch. 05



Lily stood there confused for a few moments. What? What did this have to do with anything?

No I don't know what my name means. What's the point?

Let me write. The Spirit scratched in a way that somehow conveyed his annoyance. Lily means purity. Because of this purity, you strongly value how you are treated when everyone else doesn't. Stay that way. It is what makes you a good woman in mind and body. 

Lily smiled sadly at the words that were written. I am only pure in mind and body because I am not wanted.

Seconds went by before anything else was written. What do you mean by wanted?

Desired. Loved. I'm only pure because there is nothing about me that is desired. No one wants an ugly, inexperienced girl who has nothing to offer.  Lily looked down at the ground in deep thought. She knew it in her heart to be true.

She felt a hand softly caress her cheek, making her lift her head. She turned around expecting to see Nicholas, but he was still lying on the bed. When she looked back on the wall, she saw these words before the light begin to fade back into darkness.

You are wanted, pure one. That is why you have everything to offer.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

'Oh...my...God.'

Lily looked down on the floor with her mouth gaping open. She couldn't believe her eyes.

'Nicholas is a total slob!'

Lily got off work early that day and thought she should take that time to do some cleaning on her side of the room. She changed quickly into a tank top and a pair of shorts with a bandana tied around her head before getting to work. After a few hours, she completed her task of getting everything cleaned up. She looked towards Nicholas's disheveled bed and thought it wouldn't hurt to just help him out this once. If Nicholas came home thinking she was his maid, then she would know better than to do anything to help him out again.

She stripped the bed of the comforter and nearly threw up. She held her hand to her nose as her eyes water from the stench of the bed. When was the last time these sheets been changed? It was hard to tell what was all on the sheets. She could smell strong stench of liquor, weed and something else that she wasn't sure of. As she stripped the bed of the other sheets, the odor only got stronger and stronger. After awhile she figured out the other smell was sex because of the several pair of women's underwear she found.

Once she stripped all the sheets off, she ran down the stairs and dumped them in the washing machine. She filled it with nearly five large capfuls of vanilla fabric softener. If that didn't get the smell out, she didn't know what would. From the laundry room, Lily got new sheets for his bed and a bottle of Febreze. 

She sprayed down the mattress with the air freshener. Once she felt like it was safe to breathe, she inhaled deeply in satisfaction of the pleasant scent that wafted through the air. At a more relaxed pace, she put on the new mattress pad on the bed. When she went around on the other side of his bed, she tripped over something and almost landed face first into the floor.

'Shit! It's probably something of Nicholas that he left on the floor.' When she turned her head back to see what she tripped over, she narrowed her eyes. There was a loosened wooden floor board that was significantly sticking up from the floor. Lily knew better than to go through Nicholas's side of the room, but the curiosity of what could be underneath got the better of her. She told herself that she couldn't get caught. She was on the side of the bed that no one could see her if they happened to come in. Even so, she would probably here them coming up the stairs or down the hallway which gave her enough time to act as if she was just fixing up Nicholas's bed. On top of all that Nicholas was still at work.

'Here goes nothing,' she thought, licking her dry lips nervously. Lily wrapped her fingers around the edge of the board and began to lift it. She placed the board on the bed and looked inside. There gleaming back at her was the blood encrusted dagger. Looking at it, reminded her of the way it lightly scraped up against her arm and down to her chest. A shudder passed through her as she remembered the tingling feeling of the cold metal against her skin.

She reached inside the floor board and grasped the knife in her fist. She brought the knife in front of her and looked at it. She ran the pad of her finger along the flat of the knife. She was...amazed. Amazed at how significantly different it appeared during the day than at night. At night, it was menacing, sharp, and deadly. Now, in broad day light, it seemed no more than a knife that had lost all its shine and was so rusted that it didn't seem good for even cutting anymore. One thing she could deny, no matter the time of day, is that this knife was used for a deadly purpose.

But why was this knife over on Nicholas's side of the bed where no one could see where it is but Nicholas himself? Just to say that he was possessed by the Spirit was not good enough for Lily. Why next to Nicholas specifically? It could have been hidden anywhere else, but why on Nicholas's side? Nicholas didn't need the knife when he was possessed. Typically all he did was look at her anyway. The Spirit needed it to communicate with people by writing. The Spirit could have essentially put it anywhere in the room. Why put it in a place that is readily available to the possessed.

"Mum! I'm home!" 

'Oh crap!' Lily began to panic as she moved to put the knife back into the hiding spot. A scream erupted from her throat as she felt as flash of searing pain run up arm. She looked down at her hand to see blood seeping from the tip of her finger. She had forgotten that she had her finger on the edge of the knife when she moved put the knife back. It had made a slit in her finger that was deep enough to drip droplets of blood on the floor.

Nicholas must've heard the noise because she heard urgent steps racing up the stair case. Lily reached for the floorboard to put it back in place but the moment it made contact with her injured finger, she screamed out again as the burning pain raced up her again. Tears began to form in her eyes as she gritted her teeth.

She lifted her head as she heard Nicholas coming over to the side of the bed. His light gray eyes were like burning coals as he looked back at her. His whole demeanor was a visible dark contrast to his usual playful personality. "What are you doing?" he said in a tense voice. Before she could answer, he stood her up on her feet, wrapped her hands around her waist and carried her to the bathroom sink. He put her injured finger over the faucet and ran water over it.

"You shouldn't have been playing with that," he said as he concentrated on cleaning up all all the excess blood.

"I was-"

"But you were messing around with the knife." Once he was satisfied, he turned off the faucet and sat her on the edge of the sink. Nicholas got a towel, and applied pressure to her finger. He told her to lean forward a bit as he got some of the medical supplies out of the medicine cabinet behind her. Lily sat there quietly, feeling like a little kid who was in trouble. She didn't mean to slit her finger. It just happened.

"This is gonna burn like hell," Nicholas said as he dabbed a bottle of peroxide on a cotton ball. He took the towel away and blotted her finger with it. More tears came to her eyes as she kept from screaming from the fiery liquid seeping into the wound. Nicholas gave her a small smirk when he took the cotton ball away. "That's why you leave dangerous knives like that up to the real cowboys." Even though he smiled, his eyes were still burning with anger.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered.

"But you did." 

A silence passed over them after that while Nicholas applied pressure to make sure the bleeding had stopped. Lily looked down at the floor, trying to escape from the burning coals while she waited. But after awhile she began to notice another source of heat that was burning her up alive.

"You know you're too close, right?" she said.

"Yeah, yeah. But I'm sure in this instance it's ok to break you're 'don't touch me' rule," Nicholas said while still concentrating on her finger.

"Not that, your body's too close." Lily swore she could feel her temperature raise a little. Even little drops of sweat began to bud on her skin. No, this is wrong. She had no feelings about this. None.

Nicholas looked down and finally noticed that his body was right in between Lily's splayed legs. He simply shrugged his shoulders and got a band-aid out the medicine cabinet. "I won't make something out of it unless you do. Plus I'm fixing your finger. I'm not humping you on the bathroom sink. And how can you talk, Miss I'm-Only-Checking-Your-Heartbeat. So just sit there and be quiet." He finally wrapped the band aid over the cut and washed any blood stains off her other fingers.

"There. You're all done," he said. "All you need now is a kiss to make it better." He flashed her a playful smile as he bent down to kiss her bandaged finger. He kissed each finger tip on her hand before raising his head slightly.

But he lowered his head again and kissed the palm of her hand, and then her wrist. Lily's body slightly jerked as his lips placed a lasting kiss on her pulse.

"Nicholas?" Lily said quietly.

His lips made a journey gradually up her forearm. Each kiss becoming deeper than the last. Lily raised her other hand to push him away but his hands gripped her wrist and continued his journey up her arm. 

"Nicholas, let go." She tugged on her arm, but he only held it firmer. By the time he reached her shoulder, he was using his tongue to add to the already tingling sensation. He took his mouth away only for a second to blow lightly against the spot his hot mouth had touched. Goose bumps raised on her skin as he blew on it.

"Nicholas, I can't-" His hot mouth clamped over her neck, tonguing her pulse. Her mouth was formed in a big O as she felt enormous amounts of pleasure run through her veins. It was so good that she almost couldn't take it. She even lost thought of why she wanted him to stop. 

Adding to the already intense pleasure, he began rubbing himself in between her legs. His hand reached down and lifted her up enough to grab onto her ass to guide her closer into him. He nipped at her skin playfully before running the flat of his wet tongue along her neck. He guided it all the way up her chin. Her body was waiting for him to kiss her mouth but he purposefully ran his tongue around the outline of her mouth.

To her surprise, he pressed his lips to hers, caressing each and every part of her mouth. His bottom lip caressed hers while his tongue dominated over her tongue by pinning it down over and over. Lily could hear passionate moans ring out throughout the room until she realized it was her that was making them. He smiled against her lips as he began to suckle her bottom lip.

All of a sudden it stopped. He leaned toward her and whispered these words into her ear that made her eyes spring wide open.

"You are wanted, pure one."



The Wallflower Ch. 06



Hey, Everyone. You've noticed by now that posting my stories have become infrequent of late. I'm a college undergrad, so I don't get to post like I used to. But even though I get called away by classes and stuff, I will finish this story. I plan for this story to last probably for a good year. When I have time I will try to write more than one chapter a week. Check my Author's page for updates. If you email me also, I'll keep you updated about if I submitted the new chapter as well. This chapter is about how Lily looks because I didn't give much of a body description for her. Remember to comment/rate/message. Thanks -BlessingAndCurse 

***** 

Questions. Questions. And more questions. When we think we have found the answer to this mind boggling question and believe without a doubt that we now fully understand, the query rises again as if resurrected from the deepest recesses of the mind to remind us that finding the answer is never so simple. That we have only made one little step on the path towards the answer. And an even longer road to understanding. It is only the beginning. 

The moment when Nicholas breathed no louder than a whisper of the meaning of her name did Lily's whole foundation of understanding of Nicholas all reduced to rubble. Her whole body became rigid from the inner turmoil that was happening inside her. Her stiff, unmoving hands that she had not realized were wrapped around his back, gripped him in a tight hold in order to keep her supported. The pulse that had quickened in such excitement when laved with his hot tongue now raced with absolute fear of what she was. She was wrong 

The question that she had thought she had put to rest emerged to the forefront of her mind. The simple question had now turned into the most foreboding question to consume her thoughts. 

Who was Nicholas Yates? 

Lily continued to hold on to him. At this moment, she didn't know who she held in her hands. Neither did she want to find out. But there was no way to pull away from him without looking at his face. His body was lodged between her legs and his hands gripped her thighs. The only way for her to get out was if he moved first. 

But he had no intention of moving. His head stayed near her ear, unwavering from that spot. As if he was demanding that she move her head back to look at him. One thing was for sure -he wasn't going to move. 

Once Lily realized this, she hung even closer to his body. She didn't want to know who he was. Because if she looked, the rubble would then reduce to ashes reducing her mind to utter destruction. Nothing left could be salvaged. She would have to start all over to find the truth. 

She felt his mouth pull into a grin against her ear and could hear the faintest chuckle. The utter turmoil of her mind must have amused him. She was prolonging the inevitable. 

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she pressed against his chest to lean back and look at him. When she opened her eyes, she found that his curly black hair was blocking his eyes. 'Why must life play with me like this,' she thought exasperated and defeated. 'I just want it over with already.' 

She raised her hands and divided the curtain of black hair out of his sight. Peering into her eyes with the same intensity were those red luminous eyes that commanded her into attention every night. But in present day light, their luminosity was no more than a glimmer. His lips were arranged in a sly smile, happy for some reason. "Now you know." 

Lily swallowed a large lump in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but all she let out was a ragged breath. Every part of her breathing system seemed like it did not want to work. Her tongue was paralyzed into silence. Her lungs felt as if there was not enough oxygen to breathe. Her very throat felt like it was closing up. 

He guided his hand to her face and caressed the back of his hand against the side of her cheek which sent goose bumps down her body. The smile never left his face. "Aren't you glad to see me?" 

Lily pressed her hand firmly into the center of her chest and looked away from his eyes as she fought to regain her breath. As she began to take increasingly more languid breaths, her voice was no more than a squeak as she said, "Why are you here?" 

He leaned closer to her to a point where his lips were a breath away from kissing her. His red eyes captivating her in place as he said simply, "I just wanted to show you that you are desired." 

"I-I-I get that." Lily inhaled another shaky breath. "I mean why are YOU here right now?! It's not night." 

"You think that my comings and goings are dictated simply by the time of day?" He pulled his head away and gave her a pitiful look. "I come whenever I please. The mind is weak therefore the body is always willing to accept me. I just choose to make myself known at night. I make myself...a bit dramatic." 

"So... I'm so confused. What does this all mean?" 

"What do you think it means?" he countered. 

Lily slumped back in the sink aggravated about this whole guessing game. What does this mean? What does that mean? She managed to answer one question while she was here, but that whole theory crumbled and burned up in flames in a week! Why couldn't someone just tell her what was going on?! She looked back at him and folded her arms, unwilling to play along with this game any further. She had made all these steps toward the truth. It was someone else's turn. 

"Come on, Lily..." he said. "What does this all mean?" When his only answer was a defiant stare, he looked at her in boredom. "If you expect me to give you all the answers, you are sadly mistaken. You and I both know you're not stupid as you so often claim to be. What does me being here mean?" 

Lily looked at him as she mulled it over in her head. She knew the answer, but she knew good and well it wasn't the answer that would answer her main question. "I know what it means...It just doesn't answer the question that I want." 

"Sometimes, the answers to the questions that we want can be found by answering the smaller questions that we need. Now tell me." His hand reached up and held her chin in between his index finger and thumb. "Tell me, and I will let you know if you are on the right track." 

Lily stared at him hard with her lips pursed. "It means you can take control of Nicholas's body whenever you want." 

"Yes..." he crooned with a satisfied smile. "Like I've been doing ever since you've been here. Even during the day, without you knowing." 

Lily's eyes popped open with shock. Since when?! This was the first time she ever noticed the Spirit during the day, and it was only because of the red eyes. All she remembered seeing was Nicholas's gray lazy eyes. "Ho-" 

"Oh come now. Like it's really that hard to do it without your knowing." He rolled his eyes at her as if this was some common knowledge. "I've possessed this body for the last twenty-three years. I know his mannerisms and such to go about impersonating him. I'm able to control him without other people knowing. But you've noticed when I'm in control and when I'm not. You said so yourself. Think about what you said when you visited Nicholas at work." 

Lily frowned as she looked at him confused. She said it? She said nothing about the Spirit being in control. All she remembered was Nicholas getting into a hissy fit when she asked about the Spirit. And how he got pissed at her when she questioned his changing ...That was it. 

"His moods change when you take control." 

"Precisely." He said with a wide grin. "I love watching your face while you're in deep thought, pure one. It's so cute." He caught her off guard as he leaned his face towards her and gave her a small kiss while gripping her thighs, pressing her body against his. 

Unlike other times, Lily was too weirded out to get any pleasure from it. She let out a muffled sound of protest while kicking her legs frantically but it came to no avail. It actually spurred him on to deepen the kiss further. "Fighting.. .will do you...no good," he said in between kisses. "All you're doing...is turning me on." To emphasize his point, he grabbed her hips tightly and pushed her body into his hardened member. When she made contact with her first touch of...it, Lily began making loud squeaking noises against his lips as she twisted her body furiously to get free. The further struggling only caused a low rumble of laughter to escape from his throat. 

Not being able to take anymore, he released his mouth from hers as he continued to laugh while clutching his middle. Lily dragged her forearm across her mouth to rub away all traces of the taste of his lips. Seeing her do this caused him only to laugh harder, making him double over. Lily's face burned with embarrassment and anger as she glared at him. "You sadistic bastard!" she gritted out through her teeth. 

"You weren't calling me that earlier when I first kissed you," he said before wiping the tears from his eyes. 

"That's because I thought that..."Lily clamped her mouth shut before she said anything else. Whatever she told the Spirit, Nicholas would know as well. 

'Be careful, Lily. Think about what you say before you go running your mouth.' She tried searching for the correct words to say, but none of them were able to give an explanation without confessing her attraction to Nicholas. Confessing this nonsense was foolish anyway. It was best to just remain...well acquaintances, because they definitely weren't friends. 

"You've become quiet," he said bringing her out of her thoughts. His face was back to the usual intense authoritative demeanor. He stared straight into her eyes, not breaking contact for a second "You stopped right in the middle of your sentence at that. What were you about to say?" 

"I was about to say...that I thought that if I didn't comply...you would play more of your horrible tricks on me." Lily said. "That's the only reason why I let you kiss me." 

"If your definition of letting someone do something is kicking and screaming whilst there doing it, then I believe your definition is screwed. And what makes you think I was talking about this time? Or any kiss we had today?" 

Lily's eyes widened. "But you did only kiss me today." The statement came out more as a question than a fact. The luminous red eyes only gazed back at her, giving no sign that this statement was either correct or not. The intensity of his eyes grew as he stepped closer towards her. He encircled his arms around her, and ever so lightly grazed his hands over her back. The touch sent shivers up her body. She looked away from his eyes and down at her lap. "You only kissed me t-" 

"Think about it for a moment, Lily," he interrupted. His fingers grasped her chin and pulled her head up to gaze into those burning eyes. "Think about every time you were in an intense physical circumstance with Nicholas. Think about the night he cornered you when you walked out of the bathroom. Think about the how he was so close to you that you couldn't escape his hold." Lily's mind began to drift as she recounted that night. His body was so hot and near that it felt like she was suffocating. She hadn't had much experience with boys so her body felt like it was in shock that she was feeling this powerful attraction. His hands were molded against her body as he maneuvered his hands wherever he liked. 

"Think about that day when he had stolen your first kiss and how it had been so passionate and deep that it was almost the equivalency of making love. Both experiences giving you intense passion" The last few words he uttered came out as a whisper that ghosted across her face, causing goose bumps to raise across her skin. This experience as well caused her body to grow warm as she thought of his talented tongue caressing hers. 

"Now think of the intense encounters that we have had." He said putting all the stress in 'we'. Lily felt his hand underneath her chin once again. "Open your eyes, pure one. I want you to look into my eyes when I say this." Lily felt her face grow hot as she opened her eyes. She had no recollection that they were even closed in the first place. A small smirk came across his face before he continued to paint further images into her head. "Remember when you had angered me and I dragged you from your bed by your ankles as you screamed and begged for mercy. How about the time you swore that I was about to plunge my knife into your chest when-" 

"Please stop..." Lily interrupted. "I get it. Every time I've encountered you, you scare the crap out of me." 

"Precisely. Believe it or not, the sexual encounters you've had with Nicholas share a similarity with the frightening encounters with me." 

Lily looked at him as if he was insane. How the hell could experiencing attraction be linked with being scared nearly half to death by a sadistic spirit? And above all what does this all have to do with establishing when he kissed her first? Now that she thought of it, why the hell did it even matter? She had other things to worry about then thinking about when the spirit first kissed her. 

A knock on the bathroom door took her out of her thoughts. Lily tried to look around "Nicholas", but she couldn't see who it was. But when she actually thought about it, did she really want whoever it is to see her with her legs draped over this guy's hips? 

"Um...Lily?" 

'Oh...shit.' It was Vanessa! She forgot she promised to go shopping with her to get some clothes for the party tomorrow. 

An awkward silence reverberated throughout the room. The longer it lasted, the more heat Lily felt emanating from her body. Even though she couldn't see Vanessa's face, she knew good and well that her friend was staring at her with her jaw on the floor. 

"Um...you seem...busy. Do you want me to come back later?" 

Before she could say anything, he moved his body from in between her legs and gave Vanessa a devious smile. "It's OK. We weren't doing nothing anyway. Even though cowgirl over here has been trying to ride my dick since day one." 

'NICHOLAS!'Lily screamed in her head. Lily lifted her hand and gave him a loud smack across the back of his head. Nicholas groaned as he turned around to glare at Lily while grabbing the back of his head. 

"What the crap?! It's true!" he yelled, glaring at her with his blazing gray eyes. 

'Yep, this is Nicholas. Only asshole I know who doesn't care about the shit that comes out of his mouth.' 

"I checked his heart beat because compared to him, I might as well be a midget," Lily remarked as she tried to lift her body out of the sink. She strained her body forward, but her pants were snagged on the faucet. Lily silently cursed as she tried harder to get herself unhooked by leaning her body forward. Could this day get any more embarrassing? First she slit her finger, got caught checking out the knife by Nicholas, got caught by Vanessa with possessed Nicholas in between her legs, then real Nicholas chose to be an asshole, and now she can't get her ass out of the sink. Some day this turned out to be. 

She felt a firm hand on her ass as she felt a tug on her pants. "You are so accident prone. Who gets their ass stuck in a sink?" 

"Thick chicks," Vanessa said with her hands on her hips, daring Nicholas to say just one thing about thick girls. 

"Well...she's definitely thick. In a good way." He hurriedly said the last part as he noticed Vanessa beginning to glare at him."Like...shit...she has curves in the right places like boobs, hips, and ass. She doesn't have the smallest waist-" 

"Excuse me?" Lily said, turning around to glare at him. 

"No! I mean you're not fat. You're in the middle. It's in between." Both girls silently glared at him. Nicholas let out a loud sigh as he continued to work Lily's pants from the faucet. "It's small enough where it shows off your curves, but it's also soft and feminine and not all toned and hard, if that makes any sense." 

The room filled again with an awkward silence as he continued to try and pull her pants off the faucet. After a few minutes, Nicholas let out an audible "Thank God" when he finally freed her pants. 

Lily jumped off the sink and made a straight bee-line out the bathroom to go get her purse. With Vanessa right behind her, she turned to walk out the bedroom. But of course, Nicholas had to have the last smart ass remark. "What? No "you're welcome, Nicholas"?" she heard him yell behind her. 

Lily stopped in her tracks to look back at him. He had that mischievous perverted smile he usually had on when he was about to say something really smart assed. Part of her wanted to walk right out the door, but the other part just had to ask. She rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you mean "thank you"." 

"No." Nicholas crossed his arms and leaned his hips against the sink. "You're welcome, Nicholas for giving you a peek at my ass," he s said, mocking Lily's voice before giving her his full blown shit eating grin. 

"Screw you Nicholas!" 

"You came close to a few minutes ago!" 

With a frustrated groan, Lily slammed the door behind her and Vanessa. As she walked away, she swore she heard laughing behind the door. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"Well...that was...awkward." 

Lily let out a sigh as she walked with Vanessa into the mall. 'Thanks, Vanessa, for stating the obvious.' 

"Are you sure you aren't interested in him, hon? Because ya'll looked as if ya'll were about to go at it like rabbits." 

"No. Not even close. I am TOTALLY sure that I don't want him." Lily turned to look at Vanessa to see that she was giving Lily a look that said she didn't believe any of that. 

"Then how did you allow him to get so close?" 

"He was bandaging my finger." She held up her right hand and sported her bandage wrapped index finger. Vanessa still gave her a doubtful look. 

"So...let me get this straight. In order for him to bandage your finger, he has to basically grind you. And when you check his heart beat, you have to straddle his lap like he's a bronco." Vanessa sucked her teeth as she continued to think about it. "Sorry, cowgirl, but that don't make no sense." 

"Not you too," Lily groaned as they went into the department store. "Can we just not talk about him, please?" 

"OK... I'll let it fly this time." 

'Thannk God.' Lily looked over the store they entered into to see if she liked anything at first glance. The place definitely had a club kind of vibe to it. The walls were a darkish purple that were illuminated by various bright colored lights. In the background she heard Anaconda by Nicki Minaj playing as the shoppers looked around. She guessed that this would be played at a party. Lily didn't get out at all. She only went to three places, and that was home, work, and the grocery store. Even in high school, she refused to go to any social functions, dances or parties. Hell, she didn't even go to prom. She spent that night in her bed reading a romance novel. 

Vanessa looked beyond excited to go shopping as she hurried over to the first rack of clothes. Lily walked over, completely at a loss to look for. The dress that Vanessa was looking at had to be the shortest dress Lily had ever seen in her whole entire life. It was a dress that looked like it barely came down past a person's hips, let alone their thighs. It had a sparkly gold bodice that looked like it could mold to any form, showing all of a woman's curves. 

"Who are you getting dressed for at the party?" Lily said quirking her eyebrow. Vanessa stuck her tongue out at Lily as she draped the dress over her arm. 

"I just want to look cute." 

"Vanessa, that dress is beyond just cute." Lily feigned interest in some other clothes nearby. 




The Wallflower Ch. 06



"Uh huh. And what were you think of wearing, Ms. Cowgirl?" 

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. A simple T-shirt and jeans." 

"Dude...do not show up in that." 

"What's wrong with that? It's simple. It's not too boring and it's not too extravagant. Plus ...I could never even imagine myself looking good in that." 

Vanessa put her hands on her hip in her famous "No-nonsense" pose. "Honey, you have whined and cried to me ever since I've known you about how you think you're ugly and how guys don't think you're attractive. I've seen you bring yourself down time after time. You need to stop doing that. Step out of your cramped little box and stop filling your mind with these lies that people have put into your head. Try something new. And it begins here." Vanessa broke out into a smile. 

"What do you mean?" Lily looked at her not convinced at all. 

"Pick out an outfit that shows off your body. And don't you dare say 'what body?' like you don't have a clue what I'm talking about. You know what. Go inside the dressing room." 

Before she could say anything else, Vanessa dragged her by the hand to a store employee to open a dressing room door for her. Vanessa put her in the dressing room, asked her size, and went back out to go searching for some clothes. 

Lily sat in the changing room dumbfounded. The words Vanessa had said hadn't really sunk in yet. Then again when had Vanessa's encouraging words ever sunk into Lily's thick skulled stubbornness? But then again, Vanessa also never forced her into a changing room to make her think about what she just said. Had Lily been really that much of a downer for all these years? But all Lily was doing was stating facts. A day didn't go by in high school when she wasn't reminded by Brandon's words. At first, she didn't believe him, but then again she looked around her and noticed the way people would stare at her look st her and then whisper in the halls. Then there was the fact that she had never been flirted with by any guy, let alone ever had a boyfriend. Vanessa was her only friend. Except for Vanessa, no one would attempt to even talk to her. So what Brandon said about her had to be true. She was ugly and no one would want her. 

Changing clothes wouldn't change a thing. It would only be like changing the name of a cactus into a rose, but it wouldn't matter because no one would want it. 

Just as she came to that sad realization, Vanessa burst through the door and hung at least a dozen outfits on the hanger. "I want you to put these on, and when you have one on, come out here and model it for me," Vanessa said, bouncing from excitement. "If it doesn't fit, drape it over the door, so I can find another size." 

Lily took a quick glance over the outfits. They were all short, short, and super short. "Vanessa, I can't go out in this," Lily whined. "People will stare." 

"That's the point." With a look of finality, Vanessa closed the door behind her. 

Lily looked over at the outfits and decided to just go in order. The first one was a simple short dress with black, read, and white stripes on the top and a solid black skirt with high red heels. Lily changed into it quickly before turning around to look at herself in the mirror. The dress fitted snugly against her. Actually, a little too snug in the bottom area. When she turned around, she noticed that the seams were straining to keep her butt inside the dress. 

"Vanessa..." Lily called. 

"Yeah?" 

"I can't come out like this." 

"Hon, we've been over this." Vanessa exasperated. "Just let me look." 

"Vanessa, if I move, I'm probably going to break the dress." Lily heard Vanessa walk over to her dressing room before she opened the door. 

"Lily...you may be right," Vanessa said strongly but then tapered off as she saw Lily basically stuffed into the dress. She turned Lily around so she could see. "I need to find you some bottoms that will stretch. Damn, you have a ghetto booty." 

Lily rolled her eyes."Vanessa, you can be such a guy sometimes." 

Vanessa stuck her tongue out at her. "Only stating the obvious, hon. Just take that one off and try on the other ones." 

The same result went on for all the clothes Vanessa brought her. It was either it was too form fitting that it threatened to burst out of the clothes or Lily couldn't even put the clothes on because it wouldn't go past her thighs or hips. The cycle became so tedious after awhile that Lily begged Vanessa to give up and just go to another store. But of course Vanessa being hell bent on finding Lily a dress, she refused. Finally after an hour later, Vanessa found the dress. 

It was an apricot dress that had a stretchy black skirt attached. The top part of the dress was form fitted and had a hole in the middle where the navel should show through. The top wasn't too low, but was still low enough to show some cleavage. When Lily put it on, she could only gawk at herself. She looked...like a woman. She looked feminine. She looked beautiful. The dress showed off curves that she had no idea she had. The apricot color complimented her smooth dark chocolate skin as it brought attention to her small cleavage that led to a small waist. As her eyes slid further down, she noticed the hem of the dress rested at the bottom of her thick thighs.Thighs that she had kept hidden under unflattering clothes. She turned to the side and felt her body heat up as she noticed how her butt pushed out against the fabric, giving it a nice smooth rounded look. 

"Would you c'mon out here, girl," Vanessa yelled, banging on the fitting room door. Lily opened the door and slowly came out of the dressing room. Vanessa looked at her with an accomplished smile. "See, I told you I could find a dress that would make you look good. Now all we need are some shoes, makeup and accessories." 

Lily nearly groaned out loud from hearing that. It took them nearly an hour just to find the dress alone. It would be a long day of shopping before she got to go home. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Thank the Lord, I'm finished.' Lily thought as she walked into the house. Lily had never been so glad in her whole entire life to be home. She trudged up the stairs slowly with her load of shopping bags. They went to so many stores that Lily could go the rest of her life without setting foot in another store. And all just to find one outfit that she was probably going to wear once at some party. 

'If I have to go through all this trouble just for one party, I'd rather stay home.' She slowly trudged up the stairs and into her room. She dropped all the bags near her bed and flopped onto her bed. Her nice sweet soft bed. She closed her eyes peacefully as she marveled in its softness. 

"Hey cowgirl, what's in the bag?" 

'Well it was nice to enjoy the relaxation while it lasted'. 

"Not now, Nicholas," Lily groaned into her pillow. 

Lily heard the flicks of Nicholas's lighter going off. She turned her body around to see him at the foot of her bed, lighting a blunt. He took a long drag before looking back at her. His eyes drooped to half mast as he looked back at her. 

"Where have you been all day?" he asked puffing on his blunt. 

"Why do you care? 

"I don't. Just wondering." 

"I went shopping," 

"For what?" 

"Clothes." 

"Why?" 

"Nicholas, you're being a pain!" Lily exasperated, glaring straight into his eyes. He only looked back at her as if she hadn't just yelled at him. 

Nicholas shrugged lazily as he let out a fog of smoke from his nose. "Just trying to be friendly for once." 

Friendly? That word and Nicholas didn't go together unless he was being "friendly" with Anna Belle. Now that she thought about it, the friendliest thing he'd done so far is that he stayed true to his word and kept that chick away from the house. But other than that, Lily could never think of an instance where Nicholas tried to strike up a friendly conversation. 

Lily looked at him suspiciously as searched his eyes. It was hard to read them since his eyes were full of purple haze and seemed to be swimming in smoke. 'Hmm...' 

"Nicholas, what do you want?" Lily said bluntly. 

"Nothing. Well...actually I just want to go back to sense of normality." 

"Nicholas, you've been possessed by a spirit every day. You work in a tattoo parlor. And you're a pervert...Your life wasn't normal in the first place." 

"I'm a flirt. There's a difference. And it's my sense of normality that I'm talking about." He playfully stuck out his tongue while blowing smoke out of his mouth. "I was just thinking about what you said yesterday about not being ...physical with you. I just thought, we don't have to treat each other like we both don't exist, let alone live in the same room. I promise not to touch you or anything. But don't go thinking I won't say something flirty and that I won't stop saying what's on my mind." 

'So basically you're still going to be an asshole...' But Lily took what she could get. At least Nicholas wouldn't be feeling all over her. 

"But, I can't make any promises that HE won't touch you," Nicholas said, looking down at the ground as he continued to take a drag. All the hope that Lily had vanished instantly. 

"Can't you just repress him? I mean it's your body." 

Nicholas's eyes slowly darkened to an onyx color as his eyes gazed back up at her. Lily cringed as she shrunk away from him. His hands looked like they were beginning to twitch as he took the blunt away from his lips. 

"It's my body, but it's not in my control. Let me tell you something." A pause of silence followed him as he walked towards Lily. Each step resounding with ominosity. "This is not like one of those stupid possession movies or some Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde shit. You can't scrunch your face up really hard and concentrate then you can just -" he made a random dramatic motion with his blunt to signify the preposterousness of the whole idea. "Then you can just have complete control over your body. It doesn't work that way. I know because I have tried so many ways to be in control, but I fail time and time again. When your soul is locked in one body with someone else's...the dominant one has control." 

"So what am I supposed to do about him when he takes over?" 

A silence passed over them. 

"Just do what you've always been doing." 

And with that, he walked out of the room, leaving her lying on the bed. What she had always been doing? Lily sat up and thought about it for some time. The Spirit said something similar today. The only thing she could make out of it was what the Spirit already told her. Today wasn't the first time he had taken over Nicholas's body without her knowing. 

Now Nicholas was repeating the same obscurities. She couldn't ignore it this time. Now what were the clues the Spirit gave her? He talked about the times Nicholas had touched her. And then he talked about the times he sadistically played his "games" with her. The only way she could tell that Nicholas was possessed was the glowing red eyes. She remembered distinctly how he had forced her to look into his eyes as he stroke fear into her heart, reducing her to a hysterical mess. 

But that didn't happen when Nicholas had fondled and kissed her for the first time. It was intense and...well hot. Her whole body grew hot just from remembering. 'Stop thinking about it, you idiot. Focus!' What did these two have in common? And why was this all so important? 

She scrolled down the mental list of things it could possibly be. The room? No, the kiss was in the kitchen unlike the other clues. Nicholas's slack of sobriety? No, he was sober when he was forced to do those sadistic games. After awhile, she began grasping at any possibility. The time of day. The mood he was in. The subject they were talking about. If he had changed moods. She even thought of the clothes he wore because she was running out of possibilities. Whatever it was, it was so small that it went without detection. 

"What could it have been," she said to herself as she mentally replayed the scenes in her head. She analyzed every detail of her memory of these clues. There didn't seem to be any commonalities. 

But then it hit her. 

Analyze today's session with the Spirit. 

She played back the scene in her head. She knew it was Nicholas who bandaged her hand. She knew that because of the enraged fiery gray glare he gave her when he caught her holding the knife. His tone and mood was serious and lacked any of his usual playfulness. Even when given multiple chances to make a flirtatious joke, he shot all of them down by giving a serious response. But then when he was finished, that's when his attitude suddenly changed. He had asked to kiss her finger. That's when the Spirit took over. 

But Lily had simply passed it off as Nicholas disobeying her wishes and trying to test his limits. But changing moods didn't match up with the time he cornered her in the bathroom or when he kissed her for the first time. So there was something else she was missing. 

If the Spirit took over when he kissed her finger, then why didn't she notice the red eyes? He was too close for her to see anything, but even when he raised his head away from hers, his head wad tipped downward and his hair was concealing his eyes. And all the times Nicholas had touched her...she could never remember seeing his eyes. 

'That can't be right...I remember looking at his eyes when he touched..' But when she tried to dredge up the memory of how his eyes looked when he first touched her, all she could see was his black hair covering where his eyes should have been. But it was so dark, the red eyes should have been a dead giveaway. But then she remembered the bathroom door had been open and that the light was on. His red eyes wouldn't have shown. 

The time when he had kissed her, she also didn't remember seeing his eyes. She was so deep in thought that she didn't look into his eyes. He had just kissed her out of the blue. Yes, he had lifted her chin, but she never saw his eyes. 

Lily clutched at her chest as she began hyperventilating. 'Oh...my...God! WHAT THE HELL!?' 

The door closed. She looked up at the door, but all she could see was red. "Took you long enough, Lily. I knew you'd figure it out." 

"H-How long...-" 

"The whole time. Again you were so lost in your own thoughts and your own problems that you are negligent of what is happening in the world around you." He walked towards her bed and sat down beside her. "But I will say...that it is also your...weakness. Your eyes are opened but closed to the truth that you are so blinded to." He tried to slip his hand up Lily's leg, but she scrambled her way to the other side of the bed. 

"Why are you here?" she said through clenched teeth. 

"I was waiting till you finally got it," he said beginning to stalk up the bed towards her. His stance was predatory as he crawled on his arms and legs and his eyes narrowed keenly on her. The length of his body began to cover hers. Lily started to push against his chest, but it only encouraged him to get nearer. "Now tell me... what is it that you figured it out? I want to hear it out loud." 

"Nicholas...never...touched me. It was all you." A smirk crossed his lips. 

"Yes...I took control of him when I knew your guard was down, like it was a few minutes ago. But now,...I see no reason to hide behind this body anymore." 

"No...I refuse." 

"Are you sure, Lily? You haven't even heard what I was going to say." 

"I already know what you want from me. You want me to be your sex slave. And I refuse." She openly glared at him. 

"Why do you think that?" He looked back at her dumbfounded. For once his red eyes looked lost and confused. 

'If that isn't it, then why the hell are you making it sound like you're about to make me have sex with you! I mean you're on top of me and everything!' 

"Even if I were to ask that of you, you signed the contract to appease me." He cracked a wolfish smile as he gazed at her. The smile sent a shiver down her back. "But no, I just wish to have a companion. Someone to talk to." He lifted his body off of her and sat on the bed. 

"You mean a girlfriend." 

"No, a companion. As you would say, a friend." He got off her bed and walked towards his own. "But as a reminder, just because I wish you to be my friend, does not mean I will not severely punish you." 

'Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much better.' She turned her body over as she fell asleep. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Wow.' 

Lily looked at the woman in front of her. Everything about her was flawless. The woman's skin was that of smooth sweet dark chocolate that had a natural warm glow about her. Her face was feminine with her full pouty lips and her dark eyes. The make-up she wore illuminated her face as golden stardust was sprinkled around her bright eyes and her lips shimmered with clear gloss, making them look all the more kissable. Her waist- length hair was cascaded in ringlets , which framed her face as if it was a halo. Lily always wanted to look like that kind of woman. The kind that was perfect in every way. To be a true woman. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

"Lily, get out of the bathroom!" Nicholas yelled. "I've been out here for two hours waiting to go to the bathroom while you've been playing dress up!" 

"Leave me alone, Nicholas!" Lily yelled back. 

"I'll leave you alone when you get out of the bathroom!" 

Lily let out a sigh as she did another once over of herself. Although she was new to the whole "normal woman" thing, she did pretty well with her makeup. It was very minimal. All she really put on was some light foundation, eye shadow, and lip gloss. 

She stood back to look at the rest of herself. She wore the slightly revealing (who was she kidding, it revealed everything) dress that gave her small chest a full deep cleavage. To keep her boobs from being the main attraction of the whole dress, she bought a chained necklace with golden feathers that fell in the center of her chest. The dress led down to her small tight waist that revealed her navel. From there the bottom of the dress reached down to the bottom of her thigh. She still tugged at her dress, feeling like her dress would ride all the way up her butt at any moment. But when she turned her body to the side, it showcased her full butt snugly. Further down, her toned legs were newly waxed and soft to the touch due to the cocoa butter lotion. The golden high heels she bought finished the whole look and showed off her legs. 

Content with her appearance, she gave her hair one last fluff before turning around and opening the door. 

"It's about fucking-" Nicholas stopped short as he looked at Lily from head to toe. Lily felt her whole body heat up as he felt his gaze roam across her body. She looked down at her feet and crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for him to move. When she stood there for awhile, she raised her head and looked him in the eye. 

"I thought you had to pee," she said. 

"I did. Now, I don't feel like it," he said smiling. 

Lily scoffed as she went around him to get her purse. 

"What happened to your bookworm glasses?" Nicholas asked. 

"I got contacts." 

"Oh. Well...you look nice." Lily looked back at him behind her shoulder, and she swore Nicholas was blushing. It made her smile a little that big, old, asshole Nick was blushing. 

"I won't be back for awhile, so don't wait up for me," Lily said, placing the strap over her shoulder. 

"Whatever. " Nicholas moved towards the bathroom. "And I'm not the one you should be concerned about waiting up for you." With that, he closed the door behind him. 





The Wallflower Ch. 06



Lily rolled her eyes as she went down the stairs to wait for Vanessa to pick her up. Vanessa had mentioned something about a friend of hers picking her up in his car. Vanessa didn't tell her who, but she just went along with it anyway. It's not like it was anyone she would know. This night was about getting out of her shell anyway. So tonight, she was going to try something new for a change and not worry too much about what was going to happen. 

She heard a loud honking at the front door as a yellow Chevrolet Camaro rolled up in front of the house. Whoa, this friend had it made. He had to have a pretty good job if he was rolling around in a sports car. This was going to be so exciting! Lily excitedly opened the door and clopped down the steps. Vanessa rolled down the tinted passenger window and waved at Lily. "Hey, girl! You look so sexy!" she called out. 

Lily blushed as some of the people on the street looked her way. 'Oh, great. People are already staring.' 

"Would you be quiet?" Lily whispered. 

"I'm only stating the truth," Vanessa laughed. Lily hurriedly rushed to the backseat and closed the door behind her. Tonight was going to be awesome! Lily was so excited that she was nearly bouncing out of her seat. 

"Oh yeah, Lily," Vanessa shifted around in her seat. "This is my friend that's going to be coming with us to the party." 

When Vanessa's friend turned around, Lily felt all the excitement leave her body. Tonight was not going to be different. It was going to be horrible like everything else in her life. Because In the driver's seat was Brandon Atreides.



The Wallflower Ch. 07



Don't have much to say about this chapter. All I can say is I had a lot of fun writing this chapter :D I'm excited for all of ya'll to read it. Comment/ Rate/ Email me what you think. Your comments are useful, I do read all of them. It lets me know what your assumptions are and what your mind process of this story is. It also helps me figure out if there are some things I have not considered yet. Enjoy the read -BlessingAndCurse 

***** 

"Who are you trying to impress?" 

The words came from behind Lily as she was looking at the mirror in her locker, fluffing out her hair and tucking away any loose strands. She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly as she knew who it was already. Brandon Atreides. 

'Just ignore him and walk away. Don't say a word. Walk away.' She thought to herself as she inhaled deeply to quail the fear that was in her heart. She closed her locker door and turned to walk away without a glance towards him, but he wasn't going to let himself go unnoticed. He jerked her by her forearm and slammed her back into the lockers. Lily felt like her eyes were rolling as the back of her head crashed into the metallic doors. When her eyes refocused she saw an enraged Brandon. 

"I asked you a question," he bit out. "I want an answer." 

"Why does it matter to you?" Lily asked quietly. "It's not like it matters." 

"I don't care if it matters or not. I asked you a question." When she still refused to answer him, the pressure applied to her arm became sharp and painful. Lily began to yelp, but the look on his face told her to shut the hell up or else he would make it worse. 

"These are just my normal clothes. I like them." A glimmer of humor passed across his face as his lips twitched with obvious mirth. 

"Are you serious?" he asked, barely containing laughter. His gaze started at the bottom of her feet and came back up to look her in the eyes. She looked down at herself to see what could have possibly been wrong with her clothes. She wore a nice pair of cobalt blue flats with a dress to match. She had on a few additional golden accessories just to accentuate the look. Some of the girls at her school wore something similar, so she didn't see what the problem was. 

Brandon shook his head at her and looked back up at her. "You look like a slut." 

Those words hit her like a splash of freezing water. "I am not-" 

"Like I believe that shit. You have people thinking your all bougie and acting like you too good for them. But you walkin' around in a dress that hardly comes over your big ass while you're standing. As if you're begging to be fucked from behind." He leaned closer to her to whisper loudly, "And I bet you have let a nigga hit it from the back. I can imagine your legs spread open like a nasty slut." As he talked, he placed his hand flat against her stomach and eased it down to her thigh. All of a sudden, he shot his hand up between her thighs and began rubbing his fingers across her core. 

Lily tried twisting her arm and kicking her legs to get away, but all it did was make Brandon hold onto her other arm with the same amount of excruciating pressure. Tears began to fill her eyes as the pain was becoming too much. She bit her trembling lip to keep from crying out. "Just leave me alone. Stop touching me." 

"Why, when you like guys touching you. You like to tease them with that outfit. You trying to offer niggas what you got. Why you mad when they take what you're offering." The smile suddenly slipped from his face as he continued to look at her. "But sex is all you have to offer because all you good for is for guys who don't give a shit about you. Because you ain't nothin' but an ugly slut." With that, he released his hold on her and walked away. She let out a withering sigh as she combed her hand through her hair. She looked up and noticed the stares she got. Some were disgusted and looked down on her clothes. Others focused their eyes on the pushed up hem of her dress that now exposed her thighs with a look of humor. Others openly laughed at her. That's when the tears came. 

She rushed home from school and threw off her clothes as she entered her bathroom. All the way home, she couldn't shake this feeling of filth and grime all over her whole body. She just felt so dirty. The clothes made her feel dirty now. In her mind, it was the clothes' fault of what happened today because she certainly didn't ask for any of that to happen. 

As she took off her clothes, she looked up at the mirror. She stopped what she was doing and took another look. Bruises. There were bruises. Lily shifted her hair over to her shoulder as she saw the red imprints of Brandon's hands around her arms. When she turned around to see her back, she could actually see purple welts forming from where he had slammed her against the lockers. The worst yet were the bruises around her thighs. The tears returned as she stood there staring at her body. Disgusted.  

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"Hey, Lily!" Vanessa waved excitedly at her from their lunch table the next day. 

Lily plastered on a smile as she placed her tray across from Vanessa's. As Vanessa continued to look at Lily, the smile from her face began to slip. 

"Lily, what's wrong." 

"Nothing's wrong," Lily lied as she ate a spoonful of mashed potatoes. 

"Honey, you're wearing sweats." 

"And?" 

"It's August," Vanessa said bluntly. 

'Crap.' She was hoping out of all people that Vanessa didn't notice. 

"What happened to your usual clothes?" 

"There in the wash." 

"Lily, I know you have a tank top, some jeans...something! I have never seen you in a sweat suit ever since I've met you. You always wear something classy or something." 

Lily silently shrugged and continued to eat. How could she tell Vanessa that she gave away all those clothes to charity?. How could she tell her that she was molested and harassed by one of Vanessa's friends? How could she tell her that it was Brandon Atreides? 

It never was lost on Lily that Brandon treated people differently. Especially Vanessa and her. She would notice how he was a completely different person with Vanessa. He would be smiling and laughing with her and doing all kinds of nice things for her. He was a completely different person. But with Lily, he was also a completely different person. He made sure to humiliate her in front of an audience. He would always say the ugliest things and would always put his hands on her. This was who he really was. But that side of him was so completely different from the Brandon Vanessa knew, that Lily was afraid that her only friend wouldn't believe her and that she would not talk to her anymore. 

That's what held her back from reporting what Brandon did to her yesterday. She tried that once, but the school didn't do anything. They sat on their asses and did nothing. The word Nothing meant exactly what it meant. He didn't get expelled, suspended, or even get taken off any football games. He went to school as if he had done nothing wrong. Somehow it had gotten back to him about what she had done, and he threatened her about what would happen to her specifically if she tried the shit again. Even if they had believed her, the students would just stand up for Brandon, change the story and say that Lily deserved it. Lily had no other option but to give her clothes up for charity because if she didn't want Brandon to touch her again that was the sacrifice she had to make. 

"I just felt like being comfortable today," Lily said. Vanessa continued to stare at her as the continued to eat, but the topic was totally dropped. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

All those memories flooded back to the forefront of Lily's mind as she stared at Brandon in his Camaro. All those years. All those years and she never stood up to him. All she did was give up. Because the fact was Brandon had everyone on his side, including the one person who was supposed to be on hers. 

Lily felt jealousy and betrayal creeping up her brain. Why was Vanessa treated so much better than her? Because she was pretty, skinny, and tall? That was it?! Why was it so hard for people to treat anyone that didn't look like Vanessa like a human being. Yes, Lily was short. Yes, she was on the thick side. And yes she was ugly, but why did it have to keep people from treating her like everyone else. 

But as soon as those thoughts came, she felt them leave just as they came. That wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to be mad at Vanessa. Ever since Lily met her, all Vanessa did was try and be helpful and supportive. If she was on anybody's side it was Lily's. That was why Vanessa made her go to all those stores and to this party. She wanted to see Lily grow. It wasn't her fault that she was favored by Brandon and neither was it her fault for bringing him to the party. It was Lily's fault for not telling her who Brandon truly was in the first place 

Lily said a hollow hi as she leaned back in the seat. Vanessa looked at her with her eyebrow quirked as she continued to speak. 

"We're going to a frat house that he's pledging to. He asked me to go and said I could bring a friend, so...Ta-da!" Vanessa said with lackluster as the awkwardness began to fill the car and its occupants. 

Without another word, Brandon turned back around in his seat and started the car. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

No one talked on the drive to the frat house. Fortunately, it was a short drive, so they didn't have to feel awkward for long. As Lily stepped out of the car, the first thing that greeted her was the loud thumping music. With the memories forgotten, she felt the excitement bubble up inside her once again. Fuck Brandon, she was going to have a good time anyway. 

"C'mon, Lily," Vanessa yelled in her ear and grabbed her hand. Vanessa dragged Lily with her as Vanessa raced across the lawn. Lily was just as excited but her feet were too slow to keep up with Vanessa. Brandon was already at the door by the time they got there. When he opened the door, the music hit Lily full force. She looked inside in awe as she saw the floor lit up with neon colored lights and people were on the floor dancing closely with each other having a good time. 

"Hey Brandon, what's up?!" she heard as she focused back on the entrance of the house. A fellow frat guy in a letterman jacket greeted Brandon as they slapped each other on the back. As the guy stepped away, he began eying both Vanessa and her up and down. "Well I can see you brought some sexy ladies here with you," he said as he stared flirtatiously at Lily. Lily stood there dumbstruck as her face heated up. The guy even swiped his tongue over his bottom lip as he continued to look at her. 

'This has got to be some kind of parallel universe', Lily thought. Guys never hit on her. Especially not sexy ones. This guy was 6"1 with a nice lean muscular build. His glowing tan skin and raven black fohawk accentuated his Latino features. His eyes were a deep coffee brown and his lips were pouty and full. As much as Lily wanted to stay concentrated on his face, she kept looking down at his t-shirt clad chest. She guessed she must have been staring too long because he made a show of flexing his chest and giving her a smirk. Lily quickly looked away. She felt her cheeks erupt in flames in embarrassment. 

The guy stuck his hand out towards her and introduced himself, "My name's Louis." 

Lily smiled sheepishly at him and shook his hand, "My name is Lily." She heard Vanessa giggling beside her and nudged Vanessa in the ribs. 

"I brought her here to have a good time for once in her life," Vanessa yelled over the music. 

Louis smiled with his eyes still on Lily and said "Well we have more than enough beer here for everyone. The music is loud and booming. There's at least one guy around here to dance with." He gave Lily another smirk and wiggled his eyebrows at her devishly. Lily laughed at his openness and smiled back at him. 

Vanessa began to drag Lily towards the dance floor. "C'mon, girl. My favorite song is about to play." Vanessa began swaying to the rhythm of "I've Got A Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. After awhile, she started singing the words to the song and moving her hips as she danced. Lily stood there not knowing what to do. 

"Lily what are you doin?" Vanessa said smiling at her. 

"I don't know," Lily said nervously. "I don't know how to dance." 

"Try!" As Lily continued to still stand there, Vanessa began chanting, "Dance, Lily, Dance!" After awhile people started looking towards their direction which made Lily more nervous. 

"Lily if you don't dance, I'm gonna make you!" Vanessa yelled teasingly. Lily's eyes got wide at what Vanessa was inferring. Out of all the years they've been friends, Lily knew Vanessa played dirty if she wanted her to do something. 

As the next song "Yeah 3x" by Chris Brown began to come on, Vanessa spun Lily around with her back to hers and grabbed her arms and brought them over her head and made her begin to sway her hips to the song."Vanessa!" Lily cried out but couldn't help laughing as she moved around with Vanessa's help. As Chris Brown began to sing, Lily began to get in tune with the song as she began to bob her head lightly and moved her arms with Vanessa. Without realizing she began to move her hips to the beat and move her feet on her own accord. 

After awhile, Vanessa let her go and danced with her. They laughed and jumped to the chorus of the song. At one point, Vanessa grabbed Lily's hands and swung her around in circles as they laughed at the foolishness of the feeling of it. Lily laughed loudly when she felt lightheaded when Vanessa let go. The next song blasted a booming sound across the speakers. The bass was so strong, Lily though the speakers might explode. 

With adrenaline pumping, Lily crouched a little popping her ass to the beat. Vanessa followed suit and moved her hand alternately in front of her. When the music began to slow down slightly, Lily got up slowly as she still moved her ass from side to side. As she danced, she couldn't help but feel someone watching her. She turned her head to the left and saw Brandon staring right at her with a scowl. Lily smiled and began concentrating back on dancing as she popped her ass furiously while gradually crouching her body towards the floor. Her heels were killing her, but she didn't care. She was having fun. 

As the song came to an end, Vanessa yelled "Do you want to get something to drink?" 

"Sure!" Lily answered back. Vanessa pulled her off the dance floor as they went in search for the drinks. Lily noticed that her dress bunched up around the bottom of her ass. She pulled down on her dress and continued to follow Vanessa. When they finally found the coolers, they found Brandon talking to Louis with beers in their hands. Vanessa picked up a fruit cooler while Lily got a Coca-Cola. 

"Looks like you girls were having fun." Louis said grinning at them. 

Lily smiled at him but she could barely catch her breath as she pressed the cold can to her sweating forehead, then over her neck. When she was able to catch her breath she looked back at Louis, catching him staring at the droplet of water from the can dripping down her neck to her chest. "Yeah, it was more fun than I thought it would be," Lily said smiling up at him. 

"I bet it was. What would you usually be doing about now?" Louis asked moving towards her while Vanessa went over to hang out with Brandon. 

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. Fighting with my asshole roommate." 

Louis chuckled. "How is she an asshole?" 

"He and he always got something smart ass to say, he's always drunk and he brings his bitchy two-faced girlfriend over." 

Louis gave her a charming smile as he looked at her with a glint of humor. "Is she really two-faced or are you jealous?" 

"No, I mean it. She cussed me out because she thought I was messing around with him. The moment him and his mom came in, she acted pleasant as a peach pie to me." 

"Well if you look like this all the time, then she has reason to be suspicious." He took a swig of his beer slowly. "But I'm still not convinced you're not jealous of her. Maybe you could convince me by dancing with me." He took her hand and wrapped her arm around his neck. 

"Sure," she said smiling back at him. He smiled even wider as he led her back onto the dance floor. 

'Officially the greatest night of my life!' Lily thought as she was led by this sexy Latino man. Lily's mind was just swimming with happiness. 

A slow Adele song came over the speakers as he wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands wrapped around her waist as they swayed back and forth. They glided across the floor slowly and he rocked her slowly to the music. He slowly ground his pelvis into as they continued to dance and he bit his lip seductively. He twirled her and placed her back flush up against his front. His hand pressed against the hole in her dress for her navel. Louis snuggled against her neck as they continued to dance. Lily mentally smiled as she felt the warmth of his breath ghosting against her face. 

Once the song finished, he twirled her around and yelled above the music, "Do you have a number?" 

"Yeah! Do you have a pen?" 

He led her off the dance floor and went over to a set of table to pick up a pen. He gave it to her and took off his letterman jacket, so she could put her number on his arm. Once she finished, he smiled and promised to call her tomorrow. He went off somewhere else in the house. 'Probably to hang out with the other frat boys,' Lily concluded. 

Lily fought through the crowd of people to go get another soda. With her soda, she sat on a couch nearby. Lily sunk further onto the cool couch and took a few breaths. 'Oh my God, this couch feels so good,' she thought as she lay sprawled out on the couch. She felt the cushion next to her dip. Expecting it to be Louis, she straightened up and turned to look at him, but she froze in place. 

Sitting beside her was Brandon Atreides taking a swig of his beer. His body was hunched over with his feet spread apart. He said nothing to her and looked straight ahead at nothing in particular. After awhile, out of the corner of his eye his gaze fell on her face. His eye roamed down her body slowly, making an icy trail in its wake. She folded her hands over her chest and crossed her legs, hoping to disrupt his view. She turned her body as she looked away from him, 

'Focus on something else, Lily,' she thought to herself. 'Focus on something else. He'll leave you alone if you do.' She nearly smiled at her own thoughts. That didn't work in high school. How in the world that work now? He wasn't some kind of monster she could just ignore and he would go away. He was the kind of monster that wouldn't let her walk away. He was the kind of monster that didn't care if he was seen or not. He was the kind that made her nightmares come true no matter what she did. 

Lily sat there unsure of what to do. If she sat there, he would take his time to toy with her mind until he was ready to do what he wanted. If she stood up, he would make it worse for her. As the seconds ticked by, the decision and the waiting began to frustrate her. Lily had enough. She had had enough of Brandon, period. Fuck it if he got angry. 

She grabbed her soda and went to get up from her seat. As she expected, Brandon grabbed her wrist with an iron clad hold. What she didn't expect was the force he used to pull her back down on the couch with. It caused her to spill the soda down the front of her dress. Still in the same position, he said, "Who told your ass to get up?" 

Lily pulled her hand free and attempted to get up again, but Brandon was just as quick and grabbed at her wrists with both his hands. She got free again and attempted to push him away from her but he didn't even stumble. As he continued to restrain her, she fought just as hard to get out of his restraints. She finally made a mistake and turned around to leave. He grabbed her wrist and bent it to her back over her shoulder. Lily yelled out in pain, but the music was too loud for anyone to notice. He took her other arm and bent it behind her back as well. He pulled her onto his lap as he gasped for air, seething with anger. 




The Wallflower Ch. 07



"I'm tired of your shit, Brandon!" she yelled at him. Brandon laughed deep in his throat as he came closer to her ear. 

"Oh you think you're some hot shit that you can disrespect me now, bitch?" Brandon said. He continued to laugh but it began to die out. "You raise your hand to me again, I will beat the hell out of you. You hear me?" 

Silence passed between them. 

"Ahhh, so you think because you wearin' this short ass dress that you real woman now, huh? That you too good to talk to a dude like me? Shaking your ass at me like I can't have you? Trying to get with Puerto Rico over there, huh? Like he wants you? Please. Bitch, underneath all those clothes and makeup you still ugly as hell." He leaned back in his seat. She could feel her body became frozen against him. 

"You ain't too good for anyone. And I'm here to remind you. You finally feel good about getting with a guy. A guy finally noticed you, huh? Well any guy that high and loaded would think a skinny Precious like you would look like a Nicki Minaj. Especially a guy desperate in taking a girl home. You saw him drinking. Any man would have to get drunk before sleeping with you because you're dark... stupid... and ugly." He said this with a tone of finality as he laid back. 

Her body began to shake as the tears began to roll down her face. Lily tried to still her body, but the harder she tried, the more the tears fell down. She wanted to wipe away her tears before he could see her cry, but Brandon still restrained her. After awhile he let her go. Lily hurriedly moved her arms away from him and dabbed at her eyes to not mess up her makeup. 

"Go ahead. Cry. Ruin all that Cinderella magic so you can turn right back into an ordinary ugly bitch." 

"Fuck you, Brandon," she said under her breath. 

"What did you-" Brandon started, but Lily was tired of him talking. 

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, BRANDON ATREIDES!" She yelled loud enough over the music that several people looked in their direction. "I am tired of your shit! I'm too dark! I'm too stupid! I'm too ugly! I know that! I'm all of that, but when you do everything you can to remind me of that every day and you DARE to put your hands on me, then yeah..." She glared down at him. "I am too good for you." 

Brandon sat there dumbstruck, shocked at what she had just said. After awhile, he came to his senses and his body began to tense and his breathing became erratic as he literally looked as if he was seething his anger. Lily didn't care no more. She turned her back at him and picked up her soda. She turned back towards him and threw it in his face before throwing the empty can at his feet. As her heels clicked away, she said "Cool off, hot head." 

As she walked farther away, she heard Brandon bellowing threats at her. Lily rolled her eyes. One thing she did note was that Brandon was going to get her back for this offense. 

Lily went to the dance floor to go find Vanessa. When she found Vanessa, she was dancing with some guy. She went over and yelled, "I'm going to go home! I'll get a taxi!" 

"What's wrong?" Vanessa asked, openly worried. 

"Nothing! I just feel like going home! I'll see you later!" Vanessa gave Lily a quick hug before going back to dancing. Lily went outside and called a cab. When it finally came, she got in and gave him the address of her house. As she rode, Lily sank into the seat and closed her eyes. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Thank you dear Jesus for my bed,' she said as she slid out of her heels. Lily let out an audible sigh as she laid face first on her bed. It may not have been the softest bed, but it was soft enough to want to come back to everyday. 

As she was about to close her eyes, a faint blue light came through her peripheral vision, 'AGHH! I'm too tired!" But she no good and well the Spirit liked to pull sadistic pranks if she ignored him, and she had even little energy to deal with that. 

She sat up in her bed and looked at the wall. 

So how was your night? 

She heard the knife plop down her bed beside her, so she picked it up and went towards the wall. 

It was a little good. A little bad. Still had a good time. Why aren't you talking tonight? 

When The Spirit took the knife from her, she felt something like finger but the texture was ...was like tingly feathers. She had no other way to describe it. The feel of him caused a jolt to go down her spine...and it felt good. She heard a tap on the wall, drawing her attention back to it. 

Nicholas is more drunk than usual. When he got in he had to crawl up the stairs with the help of his mum. When I tried to take control, the room swirled and moved so fast that I thought I would throw up, so I let him be. If I used him, I wouldn't be intelligible and I may be affected to do something rash...What was bad about tonight? 

Lily sighed when she picked up the knife to respond. 

Just an asshole. I handled it. 

How was he an asshole, he wrote. 

He's an old bully. He hasn't gotten through his head yet that this isn't high school. 

A few seconds ticked by before The Spirit scribbled out the next message. 

Did he beat you? 

No, she wrote back. 

Then why are their bruises all down your arms? 

Lily took that chance to look down at her wrists 'Were they that noticeable?' She looked down to see purple fingerprints around her wrists. It would be hard not to see them. As she looked up her arms, she saw several other smaller marks on her skin but just as purple. 

We struggled. 

The Spirit snatched the knife out of her hand and carved the message slow and hard into the wall as if anger was beginning to bubble over. 

Struggling doing what? 

I was trying to get away from him. He just wanted to talk shit to me. 

And that involves putting his hands on you? 

Lily shifted on her feet and bit her lip. She didn't have to hear the scratching on the wall to tell that he was seething with fury. She didn't know how to explain it to him without causing him anymore anger. 

I handled it. She simply wrote. 

If "handling it" doesn't involve his hands being cut off and singed close so he can never touch you again, I don't believe what you're saying for one minute. 

I told him off and threw soda in his face. 

There was a complete moment of silence. 

Hold on. 

Another moment of silence, 

Your telling me that this guy has put his hands on you for God knows how long, has left bruises on your skin for years, and has verbally abused you. But all you did for all those years of mistreatment was cuss him out and pour your drink over his head? And you call this handling it? 

I threw it in his face. 

I DON'T CARE! The bastard is still breathing! 

Lily crossed her arms and stared daggers into the wall. 

I didn't ask for your commentary. I handled it the best way that I could. You don't know what this guy has done to me and you don't know my life. All I thought about was getting away. I didn't want to stay around to put his hands on me more than he usually does. I wasn't going to stay around and be abused more than I had to. You have no idea what it's like to be me. 

Lily felt the tears pouring down her face as she dropped the knife to the ground. She wiped the tears away, smearing the makeup on her face. She stood up to Brandon. After four years of her life, she had stood up to him. Now the Spirit was telling her that it wasn't enough. Screw him, then. She was proud of herself. 

Once her tears were cleared, she looked up at the dying light on the wall just when it was about to go out. 

I won't know what it's like to be you unless you tell me. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"Lily," a voice said above her. 

Lily tried opening her eyes but they were too heavy. 

"Lily, get up," the voice said again. 

Lily rolled over on her side and continued to sleep. 

"Ok, you made me do this." Lily felt her body become airborne and the next thing she knew, she felt herself drowning in freezing water. Lily eyes shot open and began gasping for air. She immediately began trying to swim for dear life, but soon noticed that she was swatting against the air. She finally got her eyes to focus clearly to see that she was staring at the bathroom ceiling. 

'What the-' her thoughts began. 

And when she laid still, she noticed that her back was lying on a slippery solid ground. She sat up and noticed that she was in the bathtub and when she turned her head, she found the person who put her in it. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Nicholas peered at her with his elbows on the side of the tub. 

"You asshole! You could have drowned me!" Lily screamed at him. 

"Aren't you over exaggerating just a little bit," Nicholas said looking at her bored. "The water only goes up to your ankles." 

Lily pushed her lip out at him. "Why in the world did you put me in a tub full of water?" 

"You were sleeping on the hardwood floor with your makeup smeared over your face. You hadn't even removed your clothes from last night. I thought you were drunk." 

"Aren't you supposed to be busy recovering from a hangover? In fact, I think you need this cold bath more than I do." With a devilish smile, Lily grabbed his forearm and pulled him in the tub with her, landing him beside her. 

"Dammit, Lily! I have to go to work in the next hour." He tried gripping the edge of the tub but ended up on top of Lily when he slipped. 

"Get off me, Nicholas!" Lily yelled flailing at him. 

"Not like I wanna be, cowgirl!" Nicholas growled back at her. 

"You're crushing me!" 

"Well you're the one who pulled me in this stupid bath tub!" 

"You're the one who put me in this tub in the first place! Now I'm all wet." 

"How's that different from your usual condition?" he smirked at her devishly. 

"Shut up!" With enough wriggling, she flipped herself on top of him and climbed out the bathtub. "Now get out so I can take a shower." 

"Why not just shower together?" he said giving her a flirtatious wink. "Save some water together." 

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. No red eyes to be seen. Just Nicholas being his usual. She went towards Nicholas and took a hold of his hair and lifted him and made him stand up to the height of Lily's short stature. As she guided him out the door she said, "Knowing you, you already had a shower. All you need to do is go change your clothes. So get out and change your clothes." Once she put him outside the door, she released his hair and closed the door. 

When she got out from taking her shower, she looked back at herself. The woman she saw last night was gone. She saw the ordinary girl looking back at her. She was just the ordinary dark skinned girl. Like she had always been. She sighed as she began to twist her hair to relieve her hair shrinkage. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

Lily walked down the stairs in a pair of shorts, tank top, and sneakers ready to enjoy her Saturday off. There was no work. No Nicholas. No Spirit. Just the perfect day to laze around and do whatever she wanted to do. 

Lily said good morning to Mrs. Yates as she retrieved her Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. She got a bowl and joined Mrs. Yates at the table. 

"So how's it going with you and my son?" Mrs. Yates said before sipping her coffee. 

"He's an asshole as usual," she said taking a spoonful of cereal. Mrs. Yates chuckled deep in her throat at Lily's honesty. Lily smiled as well. "But I'm getting used to it. I think he knows it though, so he tries to one up himself. Has he always been that way?" 

"He's been like that since the day he was able to talk. I'd be called by the principal office every week when he was in elementary school because he would either insult the teacher, make a girl cry, or got into a fight. When the principal asked him why he did it, he would shrug and say 'They wanted my opinion, and I was honest. If they don't like the truth, don't ask me for it'. To this day, you can always expect honesty out of him." Mrs. Yates laughed at the memory and flipped through the newspaper on the table. 

"Amazing," Lily heard Mrs. Yates mumbled. 

"What is?" Lily asked scooping another spoonful of cereal into her mouth. 

"Oh, it's just amazing the world we live in. People want honesty unless it hurts. That's how my husband was," Mts. Yates said thickly in her British accent. 

"Whatever did happen to Nicholas's dad?" 

"I divorced him. Don't know where he is and I don't care." 

"How old was Nicholas when you divorced him?" 

"I can't remember at the moment, dear. Nicholas wouldn't have liked him anyway." Mrs. Yates took a sip of her tea before she leaned back in her seat with a faraway look of remembrance in her gray eyes. "He was a man full of secrets. Always hiding something. Always lying while he smiled in your face. Nicholas wouldn't have liked his father much. He can't stand liars and he can't stand secrets. I guess that's why he treats me the way he does." She sighed. "He can't hide behind a mask and pretend he's the perfect son. He's flawed, but I love him. His father would never love a son so flawed." 

Lily saw Mrs. Yates looking pass the present and back to whatever had happened into her past. Once she was done, Mrs. Yates looked back over at Lily and gave her a faint smile. "Which makes me question why he hangs around trash like Anna Belle." Her face scrunched up as if her name alone brought a bad taste to her mouth. "You know when he comes home drunk, he's been out there with her, right?" 

"Oh?" 

"Of course, he's doesn't hang out with her alone. He hangs out with his friends from the tattoo parlor. Somehow she just manages to get to him." 

"Well in his right mind, he hates liars. When he's drunk, I guess he can't tell the difference. I guess she knew that in the first place and took advantage of him when he was drunk," Lily said, presenting that possibility. 

"Would explain a lot. Just wished he had a girl more like you," Mrs. Yates said giving her a teasing smile. 

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "Please. I'm not two-faced like Anna Belle, but I have my share of secrets as well." 

"As everyone does, but there are three kinds of people who keep secrets. There are good people who keep secrets to protect others. There are horrible people who keep secrets because they want to continue their selfish deeds. And there are scarred people who keep their secrets because they are hurt and they believe that if anyone else knew they would be viewed as ugly." Mrs. Yates looked directly into Lily's eyes, holding her in place with her knowing gray eyes. 

Lily broke eye contact with her and continued to eat her breakfast. "By the way, around noon could you take Nicholas's lunch to him. Boy keeps forgetting." 

Lily looked over at the clock and saw it was eight a.m. "Sure." 

"Well, I'll see you later. I'm going to my gardening class." Mrs. Yates pushed back her seat and got. Lily must have been looking at her strangely because she turned around and said, "What? I don't just sit around here while you and Nick go to work. I have a life too." She gave Lily a wink and went out the front door. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

The bell jingled as Lily entered inside the tattoo parlor. All eyes were on her as she came in. The male tattoo artists and patrons stared at her ass as she went up to the receptionist. Usually Lily wouldn't leave the house in shorts but right now, but she was too lazy to put on jeans and it was too hot for that anyway. 

"Hey, I'm here to give Nicholas his lunch," Lily told the bald man at the desk. She really should learn his name. 

"He's in the break room waiting for you," he answered. 

"Thanks," Lily said, smiling at him. 

"No problem, sweetheart." He reciprocated with a smile of his own. 

As she walked to the back to the break room, she spotted Anna Belle staring daggers into her. Lily had to stifle the urge to flip her off. After standing up to Brandon, she didn't feel threatened by anyone at this point. If Anna Belle wanted to act like a jealous little girl, let her. Lily wasn't going to stoop to her level 

When she went into the break room, Nicholas didn't even notice her. He was too busy with his head in a book. Lily took a look at the title. It was 1984 by George Orwell. "That's a good book," she commented. 

Nicholas nearly jumped out of his seat. He looked up at her in surprise. "Jesus, you scared the hell out of me," he said with a hand to his heart as he tried to catch his breath. 

Lily laughed at him as she watched him recovering from his mini heart attack. He wore a Rolling Stone tank top with the iconic red mouth with the tongue out. The shirt showed off the colorful tattoos that went down the entire length of his arms. He had his usual nose stud and red snakebites in his mouth. The newest addition was the chained ear cuff that connected to one of his snake bites. 'How the hell can he be so attractive with so many piercings?' she thought to herself. 

"Stop laughing at me, cowgirl," Nicholas said, beginning to sit straight up in his seat. 

"Well, you would've known I was here, if you took your nose out of the book," Lily said, sticking her tongue out at him. She sat the brown paper bag on the table. Nicholas snatched the bag away as soon as it touched the table. 

"It was at a good part." Nicholas took the overstuffed sandwich out of the Ziploc bag. 

Lily picked up the book and scanned over a few sentences in the book. "Nicholas...you were at one of the sex scenes." 

Nicholas turned a blush red before answering. "I'm not reading the book for the sex scenes, cowgirl, so you can stop looking at me with that dirty mind of yours." He took a large bite out of his sandwich and looked back up at her. 

Lily gave him a look that told him that she didn't believe it for a minute. "Then tell me what is so interesting about this book that is not a sex scene." 

Nicholas licked mayonnaise off his fingers before he answered. "That's easy. What's interesting is how they fear a man that does not exist and never did exist. The book describes this government as if it is a religion. The people directly in the Party act like mini gods that ensure everyone acts right or else they are tortured and punished. This Big Brother they talk about is no more than a false God they use and hide behind, so they can continue to deceive people that they are good." Nicholas made a disgusted snort in his throat. "Makes me sick. Thinking about living in a world where my rights and emotions, everything that makes me human, are considered an abomination when they themselves are an abomination from Satan himself." 

"Wow...I never thought of it that way. I just thought of it as a warning about what happens if we let the central government become too strong. Then they would be able to decide what is illegal right down to how I feel." 

"Isn't that what government is basically. When people don't believe in an actual God, they have physical entities take his place. But any organization made up of people has a possibility of being corrupted at any time. I mean our government doesn't even treat everyone in this country fairly, but yet we still expect it to treat us fairly. Like in the book, all the government wants is praise and loyalty to the party. That's why they don't want you to feel anything but loyalty and praise- even when the main character is fucking his wife. So in a way, isn't government like a god or a religion in some way?" 




The Wallflower Ch. 07



"Do you...believe in God?" 

Nicholas looked at her directly in her eyes. His dray eyes darkened with sincerity. "I've seen him. I've seen him through the memories of the Spirit. Well I see some God-like figure." Nicholas smirked to himself. "There is a life after death. If I'm not a living example then I don't know what is." He laughed a little before finishing his sandwich. 

Lily's phone suddenly went off. She took her phone out of her shorts' pocket and answered it. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey, beautiful. This is Louis," she heard over the phone. Lily visibly became more excited as a big smile spread over her face and she began to bounce slightly in her seat. Nicholas looked at her like she was crazy as he opened his big bag of Doritos. 

"Hey what's up?" 

"Nothing much. Just sitting here on the couch thinking about you. What about you?" 

"Sitting here with my friend as he stuffs his face full of Doritos." 

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I have a high metabolism, so I'm hungry as hell. Fuck off," Nicholas said while stuffing his face with more chips. 

"Was that him?" Louis asked, poorly hiding his chuckles. 

"Yeah, maybe if he laid off the weed then he wouldn't be so hungry," Lily said looking straight at Nicholas. Nicholas simply flipped her off as he crunched loudly. 

"Anyway, I was wondering would you like to go out with me on Monday?" 

Lily sat there for a minute. 'Did I just get asked out on a date?' she thought. 

"Hello?" Louis said. 

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. What did you say?" She pressed the phone more firmly to her ear. 

"I asked would you like to go on a date with me this Monday?" 

"Sure," she said a little too excited. 

"Awesome. I'll pick you up at eight. Is that alright?" 

"Yeah!" 

"Great. I guess I'll see you then. Bye." 

"Bye." She hung up the phone and sat there with the biggest goofiest grin on her face. Something waved in her face which caused her to jump. 

"Earth to cowgirl," Nicholas said waving his hand in her face while holding his Doritos in the other hand. "What's with the orgasmic smile you have on your face?" 

"I gotta daaa-aaattte. I gotta daaaaa-aaaattteee! Woo hoo! Woo hoo!" she said in a sing song voice waving her hands in the air. She began to happily bounce in her seat in excitement. Expecting to hear some wise crack from Nicholas, she looked up to see the most dead serious eyes she'd ever seen. His lips were thinned in seriousness. 

"What's wrong, Nicholas? You're bumming me out." 

"You can't go on that date." 

Lily looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Of course, I'm going on this date. This is my first date." 

"Lily, I would love to tease you about going on your first date, but I'm being serious as hell. The Spirit is not going to like this." 

"Oh hell no. I'm telling you right now the Spirit needs to back off. I have my own life outside of you and him." 

"Lily, you're different from other people. If it was any other day than today or any other person, then he wouldn't care about your date." 

"What's so special about today? What's so special about me?" Lily asked looking at him confused. 

"Well you told him what happened to you last night. He thinks you're too frail to protect yourself from people abusing you. I can kinda see what he means because Lily- look." He grabbed her wrist and extended her arm. The bruises were a lighter but they were still noticeable. "This guy has been abusing you for years, but you still let him abuse you until he decides he's done. Who's to say that this guy won't try anything? Are you just going to let him do it and get away with it like this other guy has been doing?" 

"Shut up! You and the Spirit don't know a damn thing about me." 

"We know enough to know that someone is being abused and harassed," Nicholas said with an edge to his voice. 

Lily glared at him as she pulled her wrist from Nicholas's hand and turned to walk out. 

As she walked away, Nicholas called out to her, "Lily, he will be watching, and if he finds anything out of place about this guy, it will be your first and your last date with him."



The Wallflower Ch. 08



Hey, everyone. Sorry this is so late. In fact, its 137 days late to be exact, according to my app. I know ya'll have been asking if I will finish this story, and the answer is yes. I'm on summer break now, so I should be posting regularly like when I first started writing my story. To make up for the time I haven't written, I wrote 20 pages, so hopefully it comes out as four pages on the site. These next few chapters will delve more into story and character development. Rate/ Comment/ Email me your opinions. Also if you really want to know when I'll post my next chapter, just email me. I've noticed how people want to know when the next one will be up, but they're always anonymous, so I can never give them an answer. Please email me with a respond email for information on how to get updates. Hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor :P 

***** 

"You excited about your date," Vanessa grinned at her like the Cheshire cat as Lily sat at the front desk of the library. It was a pretty slow Monday. The returned books as well as the new arrivals were all put on the shelves in order. At most, there were only five people in the library. With no work to do, they just sat in the front talking about nonsense. 

"Well...yeah," Lily said, stretching her stiff legs. "It is my first date." 

"And got yourself a sexy Puerto Rican at that." Vanessa poked her finger into Lily's side playfully. "Maybe if you're lucky you'll experience another first with him." 

"Uh unh, Nessa! That's nasty!" Lily punched Vanessa in the arm as Vanessa laughed and feigned an attempt to dodge the attack. 

"Lily, you can't be the Virgin Mary forever." She stuck her tongue out at Lily. "You can't say it hasn't crossed his mind. I saw how he was checking out your ass throughout the night. What are you going to wear anyway?" 

"Well he told me we were going to go to a restaurant and then a movie, so I'm wearing something classy yet casual. I bought me a new dress, some ankle boots, and some accessories. I'll send you a picture when I put it on tonight." 

"See? What I tell you? You come hang out with me and what happened? You got a sexy new outfit. Go to a party. Now you got a date with a sexy guy. And now you're even getting some confidence that I've never seen you have before. That makes me happy." Vanessa said quietly, almost to herself. Vanessa quiet for some time that Lily looked over at her friend to see what was wrong. 

Vanessa had this look of contentment on her face as she looked in front of her as if she was looking back on her life. More like a look of satisfaction of completing a goal. Lily never truly thought about how much Vanessa cared about her. Lily always thought that Vanessa was just being nice about building up her confidence. But that was so far from the truth. As the truth began to come to her eyes, Lily began to see the truth more clearly. Vanessa sincerely thought Lily was a beautiful person. Not just because she was Lily's friend. She would believe that if they were friends or not. 

Lily thought about the times she and Vanessa would get into fights just because she just didn't believe she was beautiful. It got so bad that she didn't believe that she should be treated as a person. That she deserved everything that was happening to her. Vanessa would get angry and looked as if she was in pain when Lily talked about herself like she was lower that a dog. As if she didn't deserve to be treated like a human being. Like she deserved to be treated like how her mom and Brandon had described. What made Lily almost break down crying was that she actually believed she deserved to be treated the way they described. And she still believed she deserved to be treated that way. Somewhat at least. 

That's why Vanessa was so angry with Lily when she talked down about herself. Her low self esteem was not just the usual. It was a disease that was eating her alive. This was a disease that Vanessa was trying to save Lily from for years. This one bit of confidence told Vanessa that her efforts were not in vain. 

Vanessa turned her head to look at Lily, and her eyes spoke of all the love she held for Lily. But after a while that flicker of love disappeared and was replaced by cold dark pupils. "Lily, I need to ask you something." 

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" 

"What happened Friday night?" 

'Why's she's asking about that?' Lily thought. But Lily didn't even had to really ask. This conversation stunk of Brandon. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Why did you leave the party early? Brandon would have taken you home." 

'Not after what I did to him.' 

"I just had to go is all." Lily reached her hands towards her water bottle and took a swig of water, all the while hoping that Vanessa didn't ask any more questions. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. 

Vanessa looked at Lily with a hard expression that stated that she didn't believe a word of it. 

"That's not what I was told," Vanessa said emotionless. 

Lily already knew who was the cause of the mess, but just to entertain the conversation she asked,"And who told you different?" 

"Brandon." 

Lily mentally rolled her eyes. Of fucking course. 'When will this guy ever give it a break? He must have nothing to do if all he has time to do is create drama in my life.' 

"What did he say was the reason?" Lily said with a sigh of boredom. 

"If it was really just nothing, Lily, then why does it matter what Brandon said?" Vanessa asked with a hint of annoyance. Lily took a glance at Vanessa and for once in her life Vanessa actually seemed to be mad at her. 

"Just tell me what it was, Nessa." 

"He said he tried to flirt with you, but you caught an attitude with him. That you were spouting all this stuff about how you were a bad bitch and being too good for pussies like him. After you told him off, you threw your drink at him in front of everyone and laughed at him. Look, Lily, it's awesome you gained some-" 

"You actually believe this bullshit?" Lily couldn't help but let out the chilling anger in her voice. 

A long silence came between them as they looked at each other. Lily's eyes were furrowed in hope that Vanessa was about to say no, but Vanessa's eyes gazed back in an unwavering hard gaze. 

"He was soaked in soda." 

Lily closed her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose. So this was how Brandon was going to play it. The last card he could play. Making the last person who cared about her choose between her and him. And right now, the odds looked more in his favor. 

"He's lying to you, Vanessa." 

"Really, Lily?" Vanessa's gaze began to harden as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Because so far, I have a complete story from him, witnesses, and proof. All I have from you is a vague excuse. I don't want to believe you did it, Lily, but so far you've given me anything but the truth." 

'Tell her the truth, you idiot!' Lily yelled at herself. She had one thing that Brandon didn't count on. The bruises. Today, she had made sure to wear a long sleeved shirt to cover the fading bruises. Her hand was at her sleeve ready to pull it up. She wanted to show her right there and right now what kind of monster Brandon really was. She wanted to tell her who was making her life hell for the past four years. Why she not only felt, but believed that she was worthless. 

Lily's mouth was open to confess it all. She was ready to tell her to stay away from him, before she learned the truth about him the hard way. Because then it would be too late. Vanessa would be stuck with this monster. But her mouth refused to speak the truth. 

She licked her lips and tried again. And again... And again 

But each time some unforeseen threat constricted around her heart like a clenched fist. Each time it squeezed harder, causing her to freeze in pain. Lily had released her mind from Brandon's hold. But her body was still captured in his grasp. He still had control over her. As long as that control was there, the truth would always be controlled. No matter how much courage she had to speak the truth. As long as the control was not hers, she could not tell. 

"I want to check out these books," Lily heard a familiar voice say. She turned around to find Nicholas's gray eyes staring back at her. 

'Oh yeah it is Monday,' she reminded herself. Nicholas, like last time, looked more drawn in than his usual self. His face was nearly bare of all piercings except for his snake bites. He was wearing an overly large black shirt and low riding jeans. His unruly black curly hair was contained in a skull cap. She wondered why she hadn't noticed him, especially since the library was pretty much vacant. Even though he was quiet today, his bright tattoos could be seen a mile away. 

"Hey," Lily said quietly, before clearing her throat. She took the books out of his hands and typed in the books to check them out. 

"Be careful, Nicholas. You may be too beneath her to talk to after awhile," Vanessa said coldly as she got up and left. 

Nicholas looked after her, before asking, "What's with her?" 

"I'll tell you later, Nicholas. I don't feel like talking about it right now. 

"Well do you wanna talk about it during your lunch break?" he asked, shifting his weight onto his other foot. 

"It's in another hour." She really didn't feel like repeating all of this crazy mess to him. 

"I can wait. I got nothing else to do. I read all day, remember?" He gave me a small smile, but Lily didn't return it. His smile faded into a line as he looked to be searching for the right words. He bent over and rested his elbows on the desktop. "Look, I'll make a deal with you. If you go out to lunch with me, I'll tell you whatever you want to know." 

Lily looked up into Nicholas's eyes and searched for any hesitancy. Last time she asked him a question about his life, she hit and nerve and he flipped out on her. "You promise not to get mad?" Lily asked, not breaking her gaze from his. 

"I won't get mad." 

Lily bit her lip while weighting her options in her head. She really did want some answers. 

"Fine," she said with a sigh. 

"Good, I'll read my books in the Non-Fiction section when you're ready" 

She gave him a simple ok before he gave her smile and went back to the Non-Fiction area. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"I'm done." Lily said, stepping towards an immersed Nicholas. She pulled a seat up next to Nicholas and waited for him to put the book down. 

Nicholas gave her a sideways glance and asked without putting the book down, "Why are you sitting down?" 

Lily looked at him as if he had asked "Why was she breathing?". 

"Well you wanted to talk." 

"Yeah, but not here. You can't talk in a library, cowgirl, and you know it." He stuck his tongue out at her as he closed his book and got up. "We're going to my hideout." 

"Aren't you too old to have a hideout?" she asked as they headed out the door. 

"Nah, a hideout is just a place to get away from people and think. Kinda like how women in the 50s and 60s go off somewhere and had themselves a drink after dealing with their bratty ass children and an unappreciative demanding husband." He laughed to himself as he took out one of his blunts and rolled it around in his fingers while he looked for his lighter. 

They passed by a few buildings as they walked. Each one, she hoped would be their stop. But after a while she noticed they were on a dirt path as they started down a forested trail route. 

"Nicholas, where are we going?" she asked as she maneuvered her feet through the dirt trail in her low heels. 

"I told you. My hideout." 

"Couldn't you have picked something...I don't know...less strenuous?" 

Nicholas let out a loud snort as he pushed away branches and plants. "If this is strenuous, I can tell you don't exercise much." 

"Excuse me?!" Lily tried to swat him on the back of the head, but realized she was too short, so she had to settle for his forearm. 'Damn him for being so freaking tall.' 

"It's just a light walk through the woods. Even little kids can do it. I should know because I've been coming here ever since I was five." 

"Well aren't you a real mountain man." Lily said sarcastically. 

"Well at least more than you'll ever be," he shot back. 

After some time of walking, he pushed apart some plants on the side and began walking off the trail. All Lily could do was stare off after him. The thought of his hideout being in the woods already creeped her out. The only comfort she got from it at all was that there was a trail that warded off the thought of getting lost. But that little security she felt now dissipated as the vastness of the wilderness stared back at her. 

It wasn't the woods that scared her. It was the vastness. The openness. The uncertainty. The forest was full of so many possibilities and held so many secrets, yet gave so few answers in return to unbeknownst travelers. Whatever answers it did give were sometimes best to be left unknown. 

A pair of snapping fingers brought her out of her reverie. "Lily?" Nicholas called as he continued to snap his fingers at her. 

"What?" 

"I've been calling you for a few minutes," Nicholas sighed as he pushed his hair out of his face. "Seriously, you were standing there like a statue. What's up with you?" 

"Nothing... it's just...do we have to go this way?" Lily asked. 

"Yeah, the hideout isn't on the trail. You'll be just fine." 

Lily looked back at him nervously. A million questions raced through her mind. What was in there? Are there wolves? Could she run fast enough? What if she lost sight of Nicholas and got lost? She'd never get out by herself. What if she touched something poisonous? What if she hit her head on a rock and- 

"Lily! You're doing it again!" Nicholas said, getting obviously annoyed. 

"Could we just stay here and talk?" she asked in a voice that was barely louder than a squeak. 

"Nope. My deal is I give you answers when we're at the hideout." 

Lily let out a loud sigh as she rolled her eyes and looked down at her shoes. Nicholas was going to be difficult as usual. 

"C'mon." Lily felt a warm touch underneath her chin as Nicholas tilted her head so she could look into his steel grey eyes. "The hideout is right through here. You don't need to worry about anything. I won't let anything harm you. I'll be right here." After he was done with what he had said. He grabbed her hand firmly and pushed the thick foliage out the way as he stepped through and encouraged her to do so as well. 

What Lily saw was not what she'd thought to see at all. She had thought of thick forest trees clouding her vision with gnarled roots poking through the soil in hopes to trip her. Instead, she found a small wide open space with a single tree near a small shallow pond. This simple space was not littered with roots, but with brightly colored flowers, so inviting, that it seemed as if they begged for someone to pick them. 

Nicholas took his hand away from hers as he walked over to the tree and sat down to lean against it. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply and let out what Lily could best describe as stress. His head lolled back against the tree while his shoulders visibly slumped downward in relaxation. His right elbow rested against his bent knee while the other leg laid flat against the ground. His chest rose up and down slowly as he continued to exhale all the stress from his body and dissipate into the air. Being here had immediately softened his stormy Monday personality. His blunt, long ago put out, didn't even relieve him as much as this scenery did. 

Even though Nicholas was becoming fully at peace, Lily couldn't help but think of the odd picture he made when in his present environment. In this bright environment, Nicholas was dressed in black from head to toe. Being as pale as he was, the black popped out boldly against his skin. It made her think that this is what it would look like if the grim reaper was relaxing in a field of flowers. 

Nicholas peaked out from beneath his hair and motioned for her to sit with him. Slowly. Lily sat down beside him near the base of the tree. She scrunched up her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees. She snuck a few quick glances at Nicholas while he let his body unwind and his moodiness dissipate. He no longer seemed stress but neither did his usual wild boy personality resurface either. Lily was seeing another side of Nicholas's complicated personality...And she liked this one the most. 

Unknowingly, Lily strained her neck to get a better look at him. His smoke filled eyes drifted downwards as he gazed out at the pond as it rippled in front of him. As she continued to look at him, she began to imagine a five year old Nicholas playing in this field. Probably running across the bright meadow like the wild boy he still is with his bushy head of curls flopping across his face. She smiled at the thought of it. 

"You really need to control your acts of voyeurism," Nicholas said unexpectedly as he turned his head and gazed up at her. 

Lily's face began to burn as she realized she had been caught, once again, staring for too long. "I was just imagining you playing in the fields as a kid is all," she admitted. 

His eyes hardened for a moment, but relaxed back into a peaceful haze. "I did not play in these fields. I mourned here." He picked up a small pebble and skipped it across the pond, watching the elliptical ripples he had made. 

"Mourn? What is there to mourn here?" She looked back at the enchanting meadow and wondered if Nicholas was blind. The scenery was so vivid and peaceful. It was a vast sea of pink, blue, and yellow flowers. The grass was so green that it rivaled the beauty of an emerald. The water was so clear and inviting that she wouldn't have minded going for a swim if she didn't have to work that day. What was there that would make anyone want to mourn? 

"I don't see it. This place looks like the opposite of mournful. It's blooming with life." 

"You may see a field of bouquet flowers, but all I saw was a field of funeral flowers with dried dead leaves." 

"Was it that different from what it looks like today?" Lily said, looking back at the field, trying to envision the somber scene he had painted. 

"No, it looks the same as it did when I found it." 

Lily finally turned her head to look at him confused. "Then what is it here that is so mournful?" 

Nicholas broke off his stare of the scenery and looked back at her. In a voice devoid of all emotion, he uttered, "He lost everything here. And it looked just as bright and cheerful the same day he lost it all." 

Lily sat back in silence as she absorbed what he was saying. Whatever cheerfulness she saw in this place, now had lost its luster as she could now finally feel the remorse that this place well hid. 

"What did he lose exactly?" Lily whispered, to not disturb any peace that this place held. 

"His life. Ironic, since this was his hideout to be free of the world's atrocities. He could be himself here. He could do things here and not be judged. He could run wild through the grass and enjoy himself. Be free. But he realized that his freedom was an illusion the day it was just as quickly taken away." 

A pause settled between them as the information dissolved into the air. 

"How was he killed?" 

"That knife back at the house...it was used to cut out his tongue. Leaving him to drown on his own blood as he laid in this same meadow." 

Lily turned her head and covered her mouth, resisting the urge to gag. She breathed in and out deeply trying to control it. 'What the fuck?!' she screamed in her head. 'What the fuck did he do that was so bad that he had to die that way?!' Lily wanted to ask more information, but her brain was unwilling to ask anymore question. She had learned enough information that she could possibly stomach. 




The Wallflower Ch. 08



"As you can probably tell with that tidbit of information, that's why the Spirit can not visibly talk in his spiritual form. The knife works as his severed tongue. It speaks for him. And the letters scribbled into the wall...is his blood." Lily looked at Nicholas as he furrowed his brow in distress. "The blood of the unheard and the unspoken. 

"Why do you come here...if it causes you so much distress?" 

"Do you think I want to be here?" he said heatedly. 

Lily thought about her answer before she said them aloud. "Yes. In some messed up way, yes. I see how this place changes you. You're not wild or depressed like you usually are. You are calm and at peace." 

"So are the dead," he remarked as he pulled out another blunt and lit it on fire before taking a drag. 

Lily leaned back onto the tree with a groan. There was no convincing him today. He was being a deep stick in the mud and there was nothing she could do about it. Every time she said something positive, he went and turned it into something dismal. She wasn't about to go after a lost cause, so screw it. If he wanted to think of this place as a vast graveyard then so be it. 

"Now that you've asked your questions, it's time that you answer mine." Nicholas said as he left out a ring of smoke. 

"What is it?" 

"Same question I asked at the library. What's up with you and Vanessa? Every time I see you two, ya'll are thicker than thieves. This one time I come and see you two, it looks like she's ready to burn you alive with her eyes." 

Lily sighed just thinking of the situation. She had just gotten free of one problem, just to get trapped in another. She wondered if freedom was just some illusion that people believe they deserved. It was just some cruel joke. Truth was as long as there was life, there was someone out there that will try and make her bow to their will. 

"I'm listening." 

"It's Brandon...again." 

"Is he putting his hands on you again?" Nicholas said as his body tensed up at the thought. 

"No...he's taking a more indirect way of ruining my life. He's trying to turn Vanessa against me." 

"How's he doing that?" 

"That incident that happened at the party. He turned it around in his favor to make it look like I was being irrational and starting shit. He has her believing that I've become overconfident and believing I'm too good for people." 

Nicholas nearly choked on his smoke as he let out a peal of laughter that soon became louder and more frenzied. He was so transfixed on laughing that he raised his blunt in the air so he could roll on his side. Lily just glared at him as she waited for his laughter to die down. She didn't see what was so hilarious about the whole situation and said so. 

He finally made an attempt to stop his laughter, so he could answer her question with a question. "She believes that you have become overconfident? If you're overconfident, Anna Belle must be the queen bitch of overconfidence. If your friend thinks you're becoming overconfident from this new small burst of confidence, she's either dumb or she's not your friend." 

"She is my friend, Nicholas!" Lily yelled, getting fed up with his new found pessimism. 

"Then why does she believe you're bully instead of you?" 

"She doesn't...She doesn't know the truth." 

Nicholas looked at her with a steely expression. He put out the blunt in the dirt and reached over to grab her hand. Already knowing what he was going to do, she jerked her hands back away from him. He looked up at her with an authoritative gaze and reached again for her hand. This time she let him hold her hand and use his other to push the long sleeve up her arm. She turn her head to the side so she wouldn't see the ugly bruises purpling her skin. 

"Lily." 

She didn't turn her head around. 

"Lily. Look at me." 

She still refused to turn her head. She knew what he was going to say. She knew he wouldn't understand. 

"Lily. Look at me now. Please." 

Lily looked down at the ground as she turned her head in his direction. She felt the warm tug that made her focus on his firm eyes, demanding answers from her. "Why doesn't she know? I want answers. You're not going to run away from me or throw a tantrum like you usually do so you can dodge questions. You're going to answer them." 

Lily shook her head and said, "You won't understand." 

"Why doesn't she know?" 

"Nicholas, leave me alone." 

"Why doesn't she know?" 

"Just leave it alone! God! I don't want her to know!" 

"Why doesn't she know?" 

"I don't want her to know!" 

"Why doesn't she-" 

"Because I'm scared! OK?!" 

It became so silent that she could hear crows cawing off into the distance. Lily felt some of the tears begin to well up in her eyes. She closed her eyes firmly to keep them at bay. When she felt like she had regained control, she looked back up into Nicholas's unwavering expression. 

"Why doesn't she know about this, Lily," he said, this time, raising her arm so she could see the fading purple bruises. 

"I don't want to lose the only friend I've got," she gritted out. 

Thy sat there looking in each other's eyes as her words drifted in the air. 

A warm kiss to her cheek broke the stare down between Lily and Nicholas. When Nicholas lifted his head back up, his expression had softened. He pulled in closer to wipe away a tear she did not know had even fallen. "She's not the only friend, you've got. If she decides to no longer be your friend when you tell her, I will still be your friend. I will still be your friend. I will talk to you even if you do not feel like talking. There will be times I will tell you things that you do not want to hear, but you need to here. This is one of those moments." 

He rolled her sleeve back down but still continued to hold her hand. Nicholas took in a breath before saying what needed to be said. "Lily, you're going to lose your friend either way. You will possibly lose her if you tell her the truth, but you will definitely lose her if you don't tell the truth. It's up to you to choose what's going to happen. But if you lose her to the lies, you lose her and Brandon will continue to wreak havoc on your life. If you want your freedom from him that bad, you're going to have to keep getting in his face like you did at that party. Understand?" 

Lily wiped her eyes and nodded. 

"Good," he stood up from the ground and helped her to her feet. He checked his phone and said, "It's almost time for you to get back to work. Let's go." 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Almost ...perfect.' 

Lily stared back at her reflection, seeing that same woman she saw Friday night. She again ditched her bookish thick rimmed glasses for contacts. Her hair was styled in thick spiral curls that flowed all the way to her waist. Her curvy figure was in a short floral dress that swished with every movement she made. Her short stature was boosted a bit by four inch pumps. Everything looked beautiful. 

Except for the bruises. 

"Damn him to hell," she muttered to herself as she unscrewed the top to a liquid concealer. With a few swipes of it, her skin looked just as flawless as the rest of her. Now everything was alright. 

She left the bathroom and retrieved her purse from her bed. She checked phone, seeing that she had received a text from Louis that said he was outside on the porch with Nicholas. 'Please dear God, don't let Nicholas say anything to ruin my date,' she thought as she rushed down the stairs. 

"Have a good night, Mrs. Yates," she yelled as she passed by the kitchen. 

'Have a good time with your hot date, sweetheart," she called back with a wink. 

Lily almost circled back to ask what she meant, but she was already at the door. She opened it to find Nicholas blowing out a stream of smoke from his nostrils as he sat in the middle of the stairs. He seemed back to his normal rowdy personality. She looked over to see Louis leaning against the staircase pretty much just hanging out. 

Seeing Louis again made Lily's heart beat faster as she stood there staring at him. His chiseled torso was encased in a green Polo shirt with short sleeves that showcased black geometric tattoos on his upper arms. The outfit was completed with a pair of jeans and some sneakers. His fohawk was just as nicely styled as it was at the party, but this time she noticed his had a tail that reached the back of his neck. Then she noticed...the devious white smile that told her she was just caught staring at him...again. 

'I really need to get rid of this habit,' she thought as she rolled her eyes and smiled back as she walked down the steps toward him. 

"I see that you're ready to go," Louis said as he did a quick onceover of Lily, getting stuck staring at her legs. 

"Yeah," Lily said shyly. She glanced back at Nicolas who continued to smoke, as he looked at the empty space in front of him, expressionless. He began to rise from the steps as he put out his blunt and head for the door. "Hey, Nicholas!" 

He didn't turn around as he continued towards the door. 

Hating to be ignored, she called out, "Don't wait up for me!" With that, she grabbed Louis's hand, breaking him out of his trance, and headed towards his car. When she got into the passenger seat, she looked back at Nicholas. He was just standing there, looking down at the ground. His face was covered by his hair, so she couldn't see his expression. 

At the moment she gave up looking at him, he rose his head and looked back at her. The smirk on his mouth was so twisted with black mirth that it trickled down to the rest of his body, causing it to shake with the hidden cause of his laughter. Just to contain it, he had to grit his teeth just to bare it. Lily would've thought he had succumbed to madness if she had not seen the tell-tale sign that it wasn't Nicholas who had gone mad. It was the Spirit going mad with all the dark and sadistic plans rotting in his head. 

One thing was for sure. The Spirit wouldn't only just be waiting up. 

He'd be attending the date himself. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"Are you ok?" 

Lily nearly jumped out of her skin when Louis asked her the question. For the most part the drive to the restaurant had been quiet. All the white, Lily was thinking of every possible way the Spirit could ruin tonight. She thought up everything she knew he could do. What if he could control Nicholas to come over to the restaurant and join them there? What if he thought ahead and set his plan in motion says before her date so all he had to do now was sit back and watch his plan unfurl? All the possibilities had turned her excitement to pure anxiety. 

"Lily?" 

Lily nearly screamed before she remembered that it was just Louis again. 

"Yeah." she answered. 

"You ok? You've been zoning out since we left your house?" 

"I'm just nervous," she answered back, giving him a weak smile. He flashed her a smile of his own as he reached his hand over and clasped her hand in his. 

"There's nothing to worry about. I know I'm sooo sexy that you can hardly stand it." 

She couldn't help but let out a giggle before saying, "No, that's not it." 

"Oh wow, my self confidence is totally bruised," he said feigning his wounded pride. 

"No, you're sexy, it's just... this is my first date." 

"Why? Any guy has to be blind not to ask you out." 

Lily could only shrug, even though she already knew the answer. "I guess to them I was just too dark and ugly. I don't look like the other girls, so...never got asked out." 

Louis scoffed in the back of his throat as he pulled into the restaurant parking lot and turned off the ignition. He turned in his seat and focused his warm chocolate brown eyes on her. "Lily, I really hope you don't believe that. Who told you that?" 

"People," she lied. 

"Well 'people' are stupid. You can be beautiful without being anorexic model thin and ghost pale. Most girls have to get surgery just to get a body like yours and go to a tanning salon to get their skin to glow like yours does. I do believe all women are beautiful, but I have a preference for girls who have curves and show them off like they aren't afraid to let the world know they have them." 

Lily could only stare back at him in...shock? Her curves were ok? Lily never saw anything ok with her curves. She always saw them as...well, a distraction. The media had always showcased curves as being something beautiful. But in her life, people looked at her curves as everything but beautiful. They saw her body as dirty. As something slutty. As something to hide. As something to be ashamed of. 

How were curves beautiful when everyone wanted her to hide them or downplay it like she didn't have any or else risk be accused of being a slut? Or else be treated like she was a slut? 

She felt something warm against her cheek and immediately jumped. Louis pulled back and looked at her, "Sorry, I didn't want to rush and kiss you, so I just kissed your cheek. It seemed like I needed to seal that message with a kiss." He gave her a guilty smile. 

"It's ok," Lily smiled. "You ready to go inside?" 

"Yeah, but you stay right there." He opened up his car door and came around to her ide and opened her door for her. She smiled as she thanked him and grabbed his hand to step out of the car and go into the restaurant. 

Inside the restaurant, everything was booming. The speakers were booming loudly with reggae music while waiters were rushing to fill orders. The customers were laughing at their booths or dancing on the dancefloor to the music. Lily could see why this place was so popular. It was like a miniature club with a Caribbean tropical vibe to it. It probably took people hours just to get in. 

Lily looked up at Louis, who just winked at her and strolled up to the hostess and stated he was here for reservations for two. She smiled up at him and retrieved two menus and guided them to a private reserved booth. Lily slid in next to him, still amazed that they got in. 

"Told you tonight is going to be perfect," Louis said. 

"How did you get a reservation," Lily asked while looking around at the place. "This place is supposed to be beyond awesome and you have to wait hours or days just to get in and months just to get a reservation. Plus this is like V.I.P seating." 

"I have connections." He shrugged and looked over his menu. 

Lily looked over at her own menu and decided to get a smoothie for her drink. 

Once the waiter came around and took their drink orders, Louis laid back and rested his arm on her shoulder. "I chose this spot because I liked watching you dance at that party last Friday, so I called in a favor. You looked like you were so in tune to the music." 

Lily's face heated up just thinking about the kind of dancing she did at that party. "Nah, I actually don't do a lot of dancing. I didn't go to any of the dances in high school. Not even prom." 

"Really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "It looked like you belonged out there." 

"I only went to the party because I wanted to forget and relax, so Vanessa dragged me along." 

"Well, how about I help you relax a little bit more by teaching you a new dance." Lily was instantly nervous when she saw the devilish grin on Louis's face as he pulled her out of the booth and headed towards the dancefloor. 

"What about our drinks?" 

"They'll just set it on the table. Now ,c'mon! The song that is coming up is the best song to do this dance to." 

Once they got to the dancefloor, he held her hips firmly. "The song coming on is like a line dance..sorta! Just watch me first!" He backed up and began to swish his hips abruptly to the Caribbean music. 

'Cent 

Five Cent 

Ten Cent 

Dolla 

She said she can't take the pace. 

We going too slow. 

So she want me to wake up the bass. 

And raise the tempo.' 

With each one, a strong beat rung out to move his hips in an abrupt way. He moved his hips left, right, back then front to the strong beat and repeated. When it passed, he said, "Right now just move your hips in a figure eight until it gets to the "one, cent, five cent" part." 

Lily moved her hips slightly the way he described, but Louis shook his head and held her hips and moved them the way he described. "You're getting it!" When the part finally came he jerked her hips in the way he did earlier. When the music began she began moving her hips to the music on her own accord. "There you go!" He let her go and began to jerk his hips in the same manner. When the song broke from the chorus, he grabbed her hand and twirled her around and brought her body firmly to his chest.  

Lily began to grow hot as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him lead her in the dance. She continued to swing her hips as he did the same with his hips. As the drums continued to beat in the song, he twirled her away from him and urged her to do a salsa like movement around him. She couldn't help but laugh when she came back around, catching him shimmying when she got back around. 

She continued to enjoy the music even when the song passed. Between moving her hips in a new way and Louis's antics, she was having a good time. She had forgotten all about the darkness that was watching her. 

Lily was in a fit of laughter when she returned to their private booth. She laid her head against Louis's shoulder who was also struggling for breath in between his laughter. She was having such a great time. 

"I told you, I'd be able to get you to unwind a bit," Louis said with a devious smile. 

"Where did you learn that dance?" Lily asked as she leaned over to take a sip of her strawberry smoothie. 

"I have a cousin who loves everything Caribbean. At first she was just looking at Puerto Rican culture, but then started to look at other countries there. She really liked the dancing, so she showed me how to dance to a few songs." 

"So you're Puerto Rican?" 

He drunk some of his smoothie before answering, "Yeah and I'm as sexy as they come." 

Louis hefted his arm around Lily once more and leaned in closed to her ear and whispered, "You don't have to play footsies to get my attention, hon." He kissed her cheek before leaning back up. 

Lily looked back at him confused. "I'm not playing footsies with you." 

"You're the only one here. Who else could it be?" 

'Oh no, where is he?' Lily looked around them to catch sight of anyone that looked like Nicholas. She didn't see any. When Louis wasn't looking, she did a quick check underneath the table. He wasn't there. 'Of course, you idiot. Who hides under a table in a private booth?' 

"A ghost," she answered herself. 

"What?" Louis asked. 

"Nothing." 

"I thought you said something about a flower?" 

"No, I've just been sitting here." 

He looked at her skeptically as they continued to sit and look over their menus. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Louis beginning to fidget in his seat. He glanced at her before looking at his menu again. After a few minutes of fidgeting and stealing glances at her, he set his menu down and looked over at the crowd. 

"Is there something wrong?" 

"Nothing. It's just... I keep hearing someone talking... here and there. I don't know. There's a lot of people hear, so it's probably just in my head." He directed a few glances over the restaurant before getting up. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick. Order for me if I'm not back when the waiter comes, just order for me." With that, he went off to the bathroom. 

'What is he up to?' The Spirit was definitely here, and it seemed like he was by himself tonight. 'Damn Spirit.' 

Louis still wasn't back when the waiter came, so she just placed her order and ordered him a steak. When he did come back, he seemed more collected as he sat down and draped his arm over her shoulder. 




The Wallflower Ch. 08



"So, what did you order me?" he asked with a teasing grin. 

"A porterhouse steak with something that has mangoes and chili peppers with it." 

"A woman after my own heart." He poked his tongue out at her. "But seriously, thanks. Last chick I let order for me, ordered a small salad for me and a lobster for her." Louis shook his head like the memory still hurt him. "After I dropped her of back home, I went to McDonald's and ate three Big Macs, large fry, and a milk shake." 

"So, I'm guessing no second date." 

"Didn't even consider e-" Louis grabbed at his neck as his eyes went wild. He quickly raised a napkin to his mouth and coughed violently. 

"You ok?" 

"Yeah, I just choked on something. I don't know bu-" He went off into a fit of coughing again. Lily couldn't help but rub his back as he continued to cough. Once he was done, he swallowed most of his smoothie before trying to talk again. 

"Ugh... I don't know where that came from. It seemed like I was choking on my tongue for a moment there. But yeah, we didn't go out again after that." 

Silence settled between them as they waited for their orders. The mood was no longer jovial. It had turned to be dark and ominous as the evening continued. Lily couldn't prove it at the moment, but she knew for a fact that the Spirit was here and was just now beginning to get to work. 

When their food arrived, her stomach gurgled loudly as she remembered all she had that day was cereal. She placed her napkin in her lap, but before she even got her utensils, she looked over at Louis and nearly screamed. Louis's eyes had gone completely red and strained that she could see the veins pulsing in his eyes. His tan skin was a deep russet red that made him look like he was burning him alive. Sweat was shooting from his skin like bullets, which caused his shirt to plaster to his body. Only thing she thought was 'Oh dear Jesus, he's going to kill him.' 

She got up out of her seat to call for help, but he grabbed her wrist desperately. He tried to speak but his mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish without any sound coming from him. "I need to get help Louis, you may be dying-" . His strength and desperation forced her to sit back down. Lily fought tears as she was trying to squelch the fear rising in her throat. 

Louis bean to point at something. Lily looked in the direction and saw he was pointing at her full glass of smoothie. She looked back at him confused. Then she understood. He wasn't dying. He was burning up from the spicy food he ate. She grabbed her smoothie and forced the drink to her lips. He swallowed gulp after gulp of the cool drink before pushing it away from him and letting out a deep breath. 

"Ask...Ask for the...check." Louis's voice was raspy and raw as he continued to gain his breath. Lily went out and caught their waiter outside, asking for a check and a doggie bag for her food. Once everything was paid for and bagged up, they headed back to the car. 

When they were in, she looked at Louis, making sure he was okay. She had to stop this before anything more drastic happens. "Louis, you can drop me off at home, ...if you don't feel up to doing anything." 

Louis pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled. "Nah, it's my fault." He turned his head towards her and she could see his eyes beginning to go back to normal, but she could see the exhaustion there from the last ordeal. "I know this date has been less than perfect, but I still want to at least save it with a movie. Then, if you want, I can take you home." 

Lily could see the sincerity in his eyes. He really wanted to please her. And the pranks were...well...not deathly severe. In the back of her head, she heard Nicholas's warning of this date being her last date with Louis. Lily looked back at Louis. The Spirit wouldn't kill him, would he? Louis was so nice to her and a total gentleman. But right now, she was playing with the possibility of Louis being left to live or to possibly die. 

Lily looked into his smoldering brown eyes, opening her mouth to give him an answer. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to say yes so bad. She really wanted to say yes. So she did. 

He smiled at her and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Great. You're gonna like the movie I picked out." He turned the ignition on and backed out of the parking space. 

Lily smiled at him weakly as her thoughts screamed at her. 'You're leading him to his death!' they screamed as if already in mourning. 'If the Spirit kills him there will be blood on your hands! The will drip and stain your soul like a brand burned into your chest. You will have to live the rest of your days burdened with this secret as if you were the one who plunged the dagger into him. Live with the decision you have chosen!' 

By the time her thoughts stopped screaming at her, they were at the movies. Lily put her doggy bag inside her purse as Louis came around to open her door. She took his hand and climbed out. Louis paid for the tickets and led her to the room where the movie would be playing. Lily recognized the movie title to be that new scary movie that just released. 

Lily kept glancing back and forth between Louis, the screen and her food. She didn't understand why shy brought the food at all, since the pranks and the suspense of future pranks killed any hunger she had felt. She felt a warm hand clasp her hand. Lily looked over at Louis who began to rub his thumb over her skin. 

"Relax, nothing else is going to go wrong I promise," Louis said. 

Before she could say anything, the lights began to darken. And everything went quiet. 

Lily couldn't help but take a big swallow of the fear burning inside her throat. She would look at Louis ever so often to check that he was okay, but he would just smile at her and give her a wink. 

When the movie finally started, Lily felt guards start to come down. But just as they had started to come down, the show began to start. Lily felt her date fidget next to her. She turned to him, and saw once again that he was looking about him...looking for the source of the voices again. She gripped his hand tightly to help ignore the voices. He looked at her and gave her weak sheepish grim before focusing his gaze back on the movie. It had worked...for awhile 

"Lily," Louis whispered to her. 

"Yes?" she asked not tearing her eyes away from the movie. 

"Do you see the writing?" 

Lily scrunched her eyes up at the screen. She didn't see any writing. "I don't see any writing." 

"Not on the screen. On the wall underneath the screen. It's a bright red." 

Lily ripped her eyes from the screen and looked underneath it. There was nothing there. "There's no writing, Louis. It's just your imagination." 

"No, it isn't. It's there as plain as day." Lily looked over at Louis. He was entirely focused on that part of the wall. "There's more writing. Someone's writing on the walls." 

"Louis just concentrate on the movie. There's no writing." She grabbed his chin and made him focus on the screen. Lily began to fidget in her seat and sweat was running down her face. She couldn't distract Louis for much longer. The vision would just get worse. 

As the movie progressed, she began watching Louis more than she was watching the actual movie. He continued to watch the movie, trying to ignore the vision that was beginning to grow like fire. But Lily noticed, after a while, his eyes were on the screen, but he was no longer watching. His eyes had turned an otherworldly misty blue as he continued to stare at what she could not see. For the Spirit did not let her see what he saw. Louis began to unfurl his hand from hers as he moved to press his hands to his ears. His upper body began to come towards his knees as he tried so hard to block out whatever he was experiencing. But whatever he did, his eyes continued to stay open. 

Louis's breath began to hiss in and of his mouth as if he was hyperventilating, but just as quickly as it started, it stopped. Only to be replaced by a hideous noise. 

He let out a gurgling scream like a dying man experiencing a painful death. His screams pierced the room, but they came out garbled as if he was choking on something that prevented him from fully screaming. His mouth was opened wide and his tongue was extended while his eyes bugged out from his face. 

"OH MY GOD! SHUT THE FUCK UP" 

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" 

"STOP SCREAMING, YOU WUSS!" 

Lily had had enough of tonight. She couldn't bear to put Louis through anymore of this and the taunting of others. She stood up and helped Louis to his feet. She covered his mouth so she could squelch as much of the screaming as she could. His whole body was quaking and trembling as she helped him down the stairs and out the room. 

"Ma'm," a voice said behind her, while in the lobby. 

Lily looked around and saw it was one of the people who worked there. 

"Someone complained about a disturbance in the room you just left." 

Lily came up with a quick lie to tell them. "I'm sorry, my date just suffered a bad anxiety attack. He has those sometimes. I guess the movie was just too much for him. I'm taking him home now so he can cal down." She gave the guy the sweetest smile she could muster up, hoping he would by it. 

He only gave her a stiff nod. "Have a good night then, ma'm." 

Lily said sure and went back to the task of dragging Louis out of the theatre. The screams had finally stopped, but he was still trembling. He began to help her a little bit by walking unsteadily on his feet. When they made it outside, he ran to where the gutters were in the parking lot and vomited into them. 

Lily waited by the car until he was done. 'Well, Lily, at least he's not dead,' she thought as optimistically as she could. But maybe Nicholas was right. This maybe the last date she will ever have if the Spirit continued to tag along and bully her dates with his sadistic pranks. 

Louis came back to the car and opened it for Lily before getting in the driver's seat. 

They sat there in an awkward silence before Louis broke the silence by breathing out a sigh of irritation. "I'm sorry, Lily. I'm pretty sure that your idea of a perfect date wasn't saving my ass two time tonight... I'll just take you home." He started the ignition and set the car in reverse. 

"What happened?" she sked. 

"What?" 

"What happened at the movies? It looked like you were in a trance." 

Louis's body slumped forward as if a ton of bricks had just toppled on top of his body. He glanced at her before returning the back to the road. "Lily," he said exhausted. "It doesn't matter." 

"It does to me. Just tell me what happened." She said, softening her voice. 

He said nothing and drove on. When they reached a red light, he sat back in his chair and rubbed a hand down his weary face before looking at her. "I heard the voice again. It was more clear and distinct this time. I looked around the room to see who it was, but everyone was just watching the movie. I did as you said and watched the movie, but his voice only got louder. It got loud enough to the point that I could actually hear what he was saying." He stopped so he could continue to drive pass the green light. 

"What did it say?" 

"It's a he. I couldn't see him at first. I could only hear his voice. He said the same thing over and over that I could recite it. He said, 'What are your intentions for this wall flower. Will you care and nurture her? Or will you pluck it from the wall? Enchanted and overcome by her silent and sweet overwhelming power. Only to drop her...trample her...crushing her body on the ground. Murdering her. Are you a murderer?' He would repeat that last part over and over while he said whole thing again louder. I tried to block it out, but it got too loud. On top of that, I heard scratching. Then I saw the writing that repeated exactly what he said. By that time, my head was full of his voice. I couldn't hear anything else. I could only hear him asking me over and over if I was a murderer." He swallowed the lump in his throat as he continued to drive. 

Silence passed over the car as he gathered his thoughts. 

"Then I saw him. I saw him underneath the screen. He was tall and pale as hell. He was skinny-" 

"That sounds like Nicholas," Lily said, through gritted teeth. 

"It wasn't. It's hard to describe. There were some characteristics that were the same, but they were different. He did not have tattoos or piercings and he was blonde. And he looked, no offense to Nicholas, but more mature. And then there were those red eyes...and his tongue. He opened his mouth and blood began to seep down his clothes. His tongue had been cut off, but it didn't stop him from speaking. Whenever he talked, the knife would write on the wall in that red color. The closer he got to me, the closer the knife got to me...When he finally did get to me..." Louis held his hand over his mouth, suppressing the need to vomit once more 

"He looked into my eyes and forced open my mouth with his hands and pressed the knife against my tongue. He asked me once again if I was murderer. I saw in his eyes that he found it funny that I was squirming and on the verge of panicking. The first scream was a no to his answer. Then the ones after were in pain. It felt like he had cut off my tongue and I began to panic because I thought I felt blood building up in my throat." 

He stopped the car when he pulled up in front of the townhouse. He sat there, looking ahead at nothing in particular with his hands on the steering wheel. He slowly turned his head towards Lily and looked at her. "Lily, I would never do anything to hurt you. I don't know what was about tonight, but I'm sorry this date came out so sucky. I think you're cool and everything and I hope we'll get to go out again and it not end in disaster." 

Lily gave him a smile and a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks for taking me out all the same." Not waiting for a response, she unlocked her door and went up the stairs. Before she could look for her keys. Nicholas already beat her to opening the door. 

Lily didn't feel much up to dealing with Nicholas. There was no point in yelling at him, since the ruined date wasn't his fault. She went into the house and remarked, "Aren't you supposed to be getting drunk right about now?" 

Nicholas shrugged his arms and said, "Usually...but tonight I had something a little more entertaining to do." 

Lily only rolled her eyes as she looked back at the very person who decided to tag along. 

"You didn't have to do that. He was a nice guy," she said as she pushed by him. A tug on her arm brought her around and face planted into his chest. 

"You only say that because of all the sickly sweet nothingness he whispered into your ear. You know nothing of love. And also you do not dismiss me. I dismiss you." He said the last part with an edge to his voice that revealed the anger he tried to hide. 

She looked up into his red eyes and glared back at him. "That's the point of dating! You're supposed to feel out the person and see if there is anything there with that person! And you are not my father! I can do as I please and how dare you ruin my date! You have no reason to be mad with me! It was MY date. YOU decided to come along and scare my date half to death!" She tried to pull her arms out of his grasp, but his hold was like iron. 

"That is the point of it, but you are too immature to know that not all love is good for you. Unfortunately, you go about attracting the most dangerous kind." 

"What are you talking about? Nobody loves me and at this rate, no one ever will," she spat back at him as she struggled in his hold. That was when the Spirit had had enough of her foolishness and got completely in her face. 

"Really now, Lily? Are you that blind? Everyone else can see what you can not. I can name all the people who love you, but you are so caught up in yourself that you can not see it. Only when you sit down and think about it, do you actually figure it out. Do not cry to me about being unloved until you look around at the people in your life. You are so caught up in being loved by someone that you can't even see the people who do love you." He backed his face away from her slightly but still enough to breathe the same air as she. His eyes crackled and popped with the angry fire stirring inside of him. Whatever she had said had hit a nerve. 

"I will not apologize for what I did. And I will not explain my actions. Good night." He let go of her and let her drop to the floor as he walked away from her. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

'Back again in my redundant, boring, everyday life,' Lily mused. She was back at her usual job in the library checking out books in her usual nerdy clothes. 'This must be how Clark Kent feels when he's not fighting crime.' She gazed at the clock on her desk. 11:30 a.m. 'Almost time for break.' 

The last person in line finally came up. She pasted on her professional smile but it broke the moment she saw who was smiling back at her. For the first time in her whole life, she witnessed Brandon Atreides smiling at her without mockery or cynical intent. She would've been fooled that it was genuine, if she had not known him for the past four years. 

"What do you want?" she asked in a monotone voice. 

"I'm just here to pick up Vanessa for lunch." He said not breaking the smile. 

"You can wait for her at the front." Lily went back to doing her work on the computer, but Brandon still stood there. Lily rolled her eyes and decided to ignore him. He cleared hi throat to get her attention, but sh just ignored him. 

"Lily?" 

'What does this guy want?!' 

She looked up from her computer monitor and looked at him. 

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I've treated you. I mean, I know the shit I've done wasn't cool, and I see that now." He licked his lips, thinking of what else to say. "I should've never made you feel less than you are. I apologize for all the things I've done and said to you recently. I apologize for what happened that night as well. I shouldn't have put my hands on you. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and we can move on from this." His eyes looked at her almost desperate for her forgiveness, but Lily was not at that part to forgive. She was furious and ready to call him out on all the bullshit he's done. But she was at work, and she couldn't do that here. 

"Brandon, I'm not forgive you because I don't believe you. You do not fool me for one minute. I'd sooner believe that I can win the lottery and then be struck by lightning twice in the same place and come back as a new person before I believe you would ever apologize to me because you actually feel sorry. So no, I do not accept it, and I'm done talking to you." She stood up from her desk and turned around to go look for something else to do when she caught sight of Vanessa casting a glare at her. She had heard everything, but Lily still turned out looking like the cold hearted bitch in the end. 

She watched as Vanessa go up to Brandon and kiss him before walking off with him to the front door. 

He opened the door for her as she walked out before he turned back around and gave her toothy smile. "Have a good evening, Lily." 

Then he walked out the door, leaving Lily with more broken pieces to clean up.



The Wallflower Ch. 09



//Hey Everyone. Some of ya'll are wondering when I will finish the series or how many chapters are left. I honestly don't know how many chapters are left. As I said, it's in novel format. So at least 20 or so more chapters full of secrets, thrills...and maybe kills ;P One thing I know for sure is that I want to finish this story by April 2016, so I can send it off to publishing. So...that's at least 2 chapters a month >_



'What am I going to do?'

As usual the never ending questions clouded Lily's mind. A stream of frustration flew from her mouth. Lily had decided to take a walk outside during her break. Usually, she'd eat in the break room, but the room was stifling and cramped. Adding in the heat of her furiousness just added more to her blazing rage.

At the moment, she didn't know what pissed her off more. Brandon's fake ass apology, being set up to look like a cold hearted bitch, or Vanessa believing that asshole over her. 

Or maybe it was the fucking kiss.

Lily bit down on her tongue till she could taste blood to calm her queasy stomach at the thought. They were just supposed to be friends. What had Brandon done in a week or two to get closer to Vanessa? Whatever he did, it caused his plans to accelerate exponentially.

It had been two weeks since Vanessa and her had gotten into it about Brandon. After that, Vanessa had just stopped talking to her. Lily would try her best to at least greet her, talk to her... hell, even work with her. But every time she tried to do anything that involved any interaction with Vanessa, Vanessa would give her a glance. A glance that would go straight through her. As if she didn't exist. As though she were invisible.

And then she would walk away.

But as the days went on, Vanessa could no longer ignore her existence. The see though glances turned into annoyed eye rolls. Into a disgusted wrinkled nose. And then into a black hatred that surrounded her lie a dense, ominous fog. To say she was different would be an understatement.

How was it possible that everyone Brandon came in contact with, he turned them into something hateful, and no one had a clue that they had been changed for the worst?

'You can not place all the blame on him,' she thought as she looked down at her wrists. Her wrists had return to its natural dark brown color. The marks were finally gone. Faded away by time. With it went Brandon's proof of guilt. Lily breathed out another labored sigh. 'What's wrong with me? Of course I'm losing her. She has Brandon in her ear, probably telling her how much of a bitch I am.'

A loud buzzing noise drew her out of her thoughts. Lily looked towards the source of the sound to find the tattooed Rosie the Riveter winking back at her. How the crap did she get here? Somehow her body took over and brought her to the steps of the alternatively styled tattoo parlor. Her body hadn't just brought her there, but it had actually stopped her right outside the door Lily shrugged before opening the door. Why not? It's not like she had any other friends at the moment.

The loud buzzing of tattoo machines whirled about her while people talked amongst themselves. People had gotten so used to seeing her at that point that they no longer stopped and stared at her. Of course there was one set of eyes that never failed to give her the evil eye when she came in. But Lily was either too tired or too used to her hostility.

"Hey, kid!" the tattooed receptionist greeted with a big smile on his face. Lily's own face lit up a little when seeing him. The jovial man's warm personality was infectious.

She went over to the reception table and lazily leaned her hear into her hand as she looked at the receptionist. Inside of her, she found enough energy to muster up a smile. "Is it some kind of thing for tattoo artists to give people nicknames?"

"Only to people we like, hon," he said giving her a wink. "Since we are on the subject of names, name's Sal." He stood up and reached out his hand to shake hers. Lily had to crane her neck backwards just to look at him. He had to be just shy of seven feet! She knew he had to be tall by how tall he already looked while sitting down, but she wouldn't have guessed he was this tall! 

Lily stuck out her hand and shook it while still gawking at him. His skin was naturally dark tan color and some qualities of his face gave him away as being Arabic. Like everyone else in the parlor, he had a mosaic of colorful tattoos flowing from the neck down. He had a sleeveless Jack Daniels shirt that helped show case the tattoos on his arm and on his torso. What shocked her the most was how ripped this guy was! Every muscle and fiber of him screamed strength! She noticed that his chest was beginning to rumble. Lily looked up at him and noticed his mouth was twisted up, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"Nicholas told me about your staring habit," he chuckled as he sat back in his seat.

Lily's face was on fire in embarrassment from being caught staring...again.

"And he told me how cute you look when you get caught." He gave her a playful grin as he looked to be doing some busy work at his desk.

"I'm sorry, you're just..."

"Huge?" Sal said with a small smirk.

"Well...Yeah," Lily admitted, giving up with trying to be obtuse about it.

"My body's not the only thing huge about me." He stuck his tongue out at her while Lily exaggerated a sigh from the cliché joke.

"That joke is so old and lame."

"Really? Usually girls will gladly play along with me."

"Well not me," Lily positioned herself back on the desk before continuing to say anymore. "Living with Nicholas twenty-four hours a day has made me immune to all sex jokes. Both cheesy and creative. I guess you could say he's like my birth control." 

'With the Spirit on his side, in more ways than one.'

"Oh well, a guy could try. So what's up with you? Nick forget his lunch again?"

"Nah, just came in to talk."

"Should I get you a drink to down your sorrows in while you talk?" 

Lily gave him a small smirk. "What sorrows?"

Sal took his eyes away from his work long enough to give her a knowing look. "You came into a tattoo parlor to talk. Need I say more?"

Pouting her lips slightly, Lily thought of a million different reasons why else would she be here. Only one possibility came up. "Maybe I wanted to hang out with Nicholas."

Sal let out a snort before going back to work. "Hon, I'm his friend and even I can only deal with him at small periods of time." Taking a quick look over his shoulder at the artists at work before turning back to her, Sal leaned towards her to whisper only loud enough for her to hear. "And between you and me, you'd have to be depressed if you came here just to talk with that she devil over there glaring you down." 

He checked behind him again. Lily's own eyes drifted back and saw Anna Belle sitting in her chair glaring back at her. "She really has it in for me," Lily said softly.

"Well yeah. You're the only chick she hasn't managed to scare off. Plus, according to her, you live in the same room with him." Sal's hazel eyes looked back at Lily as if asking if it was true or not.

'Nosy.'

"Yeah we do. But nothing happens." Lily could taste how rotten that lie was. Even Sal looked at her like he wouldn't believe that lie if Mother Theresa came back from the dead and said it herself. "Well, anymore. It wasn't even that bad. You know how Nicholas is."

"Just make sure crazy over there doesn't catch wind of it."

"Why doesn't she go get someone else?" Lily exasperated. "I mean they're not even together."

Sal chuckled as he was looking at the computer screen. "It sounds as if you want him."

"I do not!" Lily said a little too loudly, causing some people to stop their conversation to look at her. "We're just friends," she whispered in a lower voice. "My very annoying immature friend, but still he's just a friend. I'm just saying why doesn't she go and get someone else. It's not like she's not pretty enough."

Sal only shrugged as he typed something into the computer. "Beats me. I'm just glad I'm not the target of her affections." He turned in his chair and popped his aching bones. "I swear for some women, I think they are only pretty to cover up all the crazy."

"Then why does he mess around with her? Even Mrs. Yates doesn't understand why he fucks with her."

Sal only just gave her a small shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"For someone who gossips so much, one would think you would have more answers," Lily said with a playful pout.

"Says the gossiping to the gossiper," Sal said with a smirk.

"Touché."

Sal circled around in his seat to look at the artists again before turning back to her. "If you want to go talk to Nicholas, you can go do it now. He just finished his last client for today. He's in front with the rest of the artists today." Lily looked behind him and saw Nick laying on his back with the chair pulled all the way back.

"Ok. Thanks." Lily picked up her purse. "It was nice talking to you, Sal."

As Lily began to walk away, Sal stopped her and asked, "Hey Lily, why does Nicholas call you cowgirl?"

'That nasty ass bastard!' Lily thought as images of kneeing Nicholas flashed in her mind.

"I'll tell you later, Sal," Lily said as she began to hurry behind him, towards the tattoo parlor.

"But-"

"Later!" Lily called behind her. She looked back at Sal, catching a glimpse of a knowing smile on his face. If he knew Nicholas as well as he says he does...well hell, even if he was just an acquaintance, it would be easy to figure out that Nicholas was an endless flirt.

Talking about said flirt, Nicholas was lounging in a black leather chair while he talked to some skinny chick who was bent over slightly to show him the tits that didn't match the rest of her body. She laughed obsessively at his obvious cheesy flirtations and managed somehow to make her tits jump like bouncing bowling balls. Lily wouldn't have cared if her laughing wasn't so high pitched and ear bleeding. It just made Lily want to smother her with a pillow to just make it stop, Lord have mercy! What is Nicholas's deal with picking up shallow chicks?

Lily looked to the side of her eyes to see if Anna Belle's glare had taken the heat off of her and directed it at this chick. No such luck. It was still directed in the center of Lily's back like a bulls eye. Lily guessed that Anna Belle knew out of the two of them, who was the greater threat. She could easily take care of Ms. Everything-Is-Funny, but Lily was a whole different matter.

"Hey there cowgirl!" Nicholas yelled, breaking her out of her thoughts. He sat up in his chair and imitated swinging a lasso while adding on a loud yee-haw for good measure. Ms. Funny openly glared at her, seeing that she was no longer the main focus of his attention.

'Ok, I've been given the evil eye three times today. Anyone else wanna glare at me?' Lily thought to herself sarcastically while Nicholas continued on with his shenanigans. Which reminded her...

Lily grabbed Nicholas by his hair and yanked on it hard, causing Nicholas to stop and wince in pain. "By the way, for someone who is older than me, you do more gossiping than a teenage girl in high school. I swear this place is like a smaller version of it." 

Nicholas only stuck his tongue out at her playfully and said, "We try." Nicholas reached inside his pocket and pulled out a bag of weed and a roll of paper. "What else do you expect us to do?. We're in here for hours trying to do Leonardo Da Vinci work on people's skin. We have nothing else to do but talk and listen."

Lily rolled her eyes. She finally noticed that Ms. Funny went somewhere else. Lily only shrugged. She must have gotten the picture that Nicholas wasn't going to give her any more attention anytime soon. Coming back to the conversation with Nicholas, "But do you really have to bring me up in the conversation?"

Nicholas glanced up at her as he rolled his blunt. "Hey, I didn't bring you up. People started asking about the girl who brings me my lunch. 'Cuz Lily, you gotta admit. You stick out like a sore thumb. You have the girl next door look. Innocent. Pure. Good. Looks as if she hasn't done anything wrong in her life. Hell, you dress appropriately all the time. If I didn't live with you, I wouldn't know what kinda body you're hiding underneath all those clothes-"

"Nicholas!" Lily's face was so hot that she felt like at any moment it would burst into flames.

He only gave her a shrug, completely unashamed. "I'm just sayin' you're different. Of course they're gonna talk about the good little girl who comes in here. I don't even do much of the gossiping." Nicholas continued to make more blunts before saying. "Now that I'm thinking about it Ms. Cowgirl, how would you just now be learning about the gossiping here unless you've been gossiping?" 

Nicholas's devious smirk grew while Lily just gave him a grimacing pout. "This isn't about me."

"Of course it isn't." He tucked a few blunt behind his ear. He kept one in his hand as he got up and stretched. "Hey, it's time for my lunch break. Where you want to go?"

"Well...can we go to your hideout?" 

Nicholas stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. His lazy carefree gray eyes had turned into a blustery storm with lightening flashing in his eyes. Lily wanted to look away and cringe, but somehow she managed to stand up straight and look him dad in the eyes.

"Why do you want to go there," he said with a voice as cold as stone.

"I just want to get out of here is all."

"Lily I don't think that's a good idea." He gave her a stern expression that told her that he wasn't considering if it was a good idea or not. He wasn't going.

"I just wanted to go somewhere and talk is all," Lily began to plead. She didn't know what it was about that place, but she just needed to be there.

"No, Lily." With that, he began to walk back to the break room. Lily followed after him, oblivious to the audience watching them. 

"Nicholas –"

"I said no." He grabbed his lunch and turned around so fast that Lily couldn't stop herself from slamming face first into his chest. His arm shot out grabbed her by her shoulder to steady her. Once she was steadied, he held her shoulders more firmly. He leaned his head downwards so she could look him straight in his eyes. "Trust me, Lily. Whatever you want to talk about, we can talk about it at home. Just not there."

"Why? What is it that you're keeping from me, Nicholas?" Lily said, trying to shrug off his hold on her shoulders.

"Lily, for your own safety, I will not take you there."

Lily's body began to grow hot in anger. What was his problem?! She just had to deal with more of Brandon's bullshit today with that whole apology stunt. Then she finds out her best friend is turning on her for that douchebag! All she wanted to do was talk! Like friends are supposed to! She had talked to him there weeks ago. What was so dangerous about going to that clearing with him today? What really ticked her off, though, was he wouldn't tell her why he couldn't take her.

"You are so full of shit, Nicholas!" Lily yelled at him, knocking his hand from her shoulder.

"How am I full of shit, Lily?" he asked, taken aback by her newfound rage.

"You told me all that shit about how you're my friend and how you will tell me what I needed to hear!" Lily didn't understand why, but her fury began to turn into tears building up in the corner of her eyes before sliding down her face. "I simply ask you to take me to the clearing and you go ape shit on me and tell me we can't go. I ask you why and you only tell me that it's for my best interest that we don't go. If you were my friend you would tell me why!"

"Isn't what I'm telling you the same shit you tell Vanessa?"

The room went completely quiet as they stared at one another. Lily stared back at him, unbelieving of what he just said to her. Nicholas stared back at her without any remorse of what he had just said.

"You want me to be real with you, Lily? Fine." He stepped towards her and held onto the edge of the table behind her, lowering his gray eyes in full storm. He was too close. No matter where Lily looked, she couldn't escape his stormy eyes. She wouldn't be able to escape the cold hard truth he was about to expel.

" 'Don't listen to him, Vanessa' ,'He's lying to you, Vanesssa', 'Stay away from him, Vanessa'. Don't your very words sound similar to mine?" His voice was even and cool. Almost peaceful if the malice of his words were not apparent. "You know what the difference between you and me is? I say that shit to actually help you. Not to cover my own ass. Don't you ever think that the reason you never told her is because you're afraid." His voice began to turn bitter and the storm in his eyes became darker till it was almost like black. 

"Afraid that you have to relive every painful moment of living to be his victim. To be his punching bag. To be his entertainment. Because believe me, sick bastards like him love to have a woman they can play with and fuck with at their leisure. You swear up and down that you want to get away from him. Honey, to do that, you gotta start telling the truth and reliving every painful memory that goes along with it. Just like I have to."

He expelled a breath before leaning away from her. "You can say a lot of things about me, but don't you ever tell me I am full of shit." He stood back from her and leaned against the counter top while he put a blunt to his lips and lit it. The papers glowing fire grew as he closed his eyes and took a drag. As the fire in the paper dimmed as lids of his eyes opened. What was found in them was a violent lightning storm flashing and cracking with fire and dark gray smoke. There was no warmth or peace in his soul. Only a silent rage.

Lily continued to look at him until his fiery eyes were doused and blurred by the tears overflowing like rain. She was at first confused by the appearance of her tears, but succumbed to the gradual crush weight of his words. And the truth was that she was still afraid. So afraid. 

She tried her best to wipe the tears out of her eyes, but all that did was make the tears fall even faster.

'STOP IT! STOP CRYING, FOR GOD'S SAKE!' she screamed in her head, but that only made them fall like pelting rain on her cheeks. She tried to move away but found that her body was crushed by her inner despair. Lily stood there soaked like a woman standing out in the rain.

Lily's eyes were forced open as she felt something that felt as soft as cotton but hard like granite crushing her face. She raised her hands to push it away, but it stayed firm. "Dry your face," she heard Nicholas's voice rumble from his chest. "Don't want anymore gossip about you going around." Lily felt his warm arms wrap around her. The fire of his skin warmed her skin and spread throughout her body. Her tears were dried from his heat, neutralizing her body to just lay against his chest for a moment.

Once she was done, she stood back from him and rubbed her red rimmed eyes. She looked up at Nicholas to find that his hard eyes were still dark with gray smoke, but the storm had passed from his eyes. Without a word, he picked up his sack lunch and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the building.

As they walked out into the work area, Lily noticed most of the people were staring at them, but more importantly, they stared at their conjoined hands. She looked up at Nicholas and saw that he wasn't the least bit bothered by the stares. He just scratched his head and looked straight ahead.

Nicholas stopped at Sal's desk for a moment. He put his lunch bag down and took one of his blunts from behind his ear and put it between his lips. "Hey, Sal. I'm taking my break. I'll be back in an hour."




The Wallflower Ch. 09



"OK, dude. Just have your head clear by then." Sal responded. Nicholas nodded while he lit his blunt and took in a drag. "Also, I'll see you later than, little lady. Hopefully, next time I see you, you won't be here drowning in your sorrows." Sal gave Lily a wink and a smile before turning back to his work. Lily gave him a small smile back. 

As they turned around, Lily felt her sorrows and frustration return. Standing there like a statue was Anna Belle. And by the look of arctic blue eyes and thinned out lips, Anna Belle had reached her breaking point. This woman was there to do damage. 

Lily took a side glance at Nicholas and found that he looked straight through her as if he was bored.

"Where are we going Nicholas?" Anna Belle said with no emotion. "You promised me that we would go out to eat."

"Something came up," Nicholas said expelling the smoke through his nose.

"Oh really?" Anna Belle's voice became sugary sweet and deadly.

"Look, Anna Belle. I don't got time for this." Nicholas tugged on Lily's hand as he tried to walk around her. Anna Belle side stepped right in front of him. He tried once more to move around her, but she stepped back into his path. "Move."

"Oh no, honey. I'm not going anywhere." Anna Belle said, crossing her arms in front of her, getting comfortable in her spot. "If you have time to drop everything just to hang out with your tramp, then you got time to hear what I got to say." Nicholas's hand tightened around Lily's as he stood there dragging on his blunt. Lily looked up at Nicholas to see the return of the flecks of lightening returning to his eyes.

"I'm on my goddamn lunch break, woman. Whatever you have to say, you can tell me when I get back." He tried once more to go around her, but Anna Belle got in his way again and shoved Lily in the chest, sending her backwards. Nicholas quickly tugged her upwards to steady her.

"No! I'm gonna say this now so she can get this through her fucking head!" Anna Belle yelled louder. Her cold blue eyes shifted down on Lily as she changed her course of fire. "I told your bitch ass if you EVER came in here strutting as if Nick belongs to you, I'd knock your ass on the floor, but you think this is all just a fucking game, don't you?" Anna Belle stepped towards Lily to the point that she looked down on top of her. The sight was similar to David and Goliath. Lily' heart began to pound hard in her chest as she looked up at Anna Belle. He had never been in a fight in her life. What was about to happen could surely put her in the hospital.

Lily tried to tugged her hand out of Nicholas's, but he held it in an iron tight grip. Anna Belle's eyes shot down to where Nicholas's hand intertwined with Lily's. Anna Belle's face looked like it was about to split open in rage from the sight. "You can take your goddamn hands off him because he's not going to keep me beating your ass!" Anna Belle grabbed Lily's arm with such a force that Lily winced and nearly cried out from the pain. Lilt saw Anna Belle ball her fist and aimed towards her. Lily closed her eyes tightly and twisted her body to protect herself from the blow to her face that was surely about to come. Shrieks and yelling could be heard from outside the blackness of her eyelids. It was coming.

But nothing came.

Lily opened her eyes and saw what nearly made her scream. With his hand still intertwined with Lily's and a blunt still in his mouth, Nicholas held Anna Belle up by her throat and looked to be slowly constricting his hand around her throat. Anna Belle clawed at his hands to get him to put her down, but the struggle seemed to only cause him to further squeeze. The room was at a stand still as everyone stared at the scene unfolding. "You listen to me," Nicholas said in an even, low voice. "Keep your dirty cum crusted over hands off her, and I might just let you live."

He lowered her a little, but not enough for her feet to touch the floor. "I don't believe in putting my hands on a lady, but I have no problem with putting them on a hoe who's overstepped her boundaries and forgot who the fuck she was." Nicholas let out an exhale of smoke that caused Anna Belle's eyes to water. "And I'm here to remind you that you are nothing to me. And that you are pathetic. All you have to offer is a wet hole to fuck, because if there was anything between your ears maybe you would have had a chance. But as of now, I am done with you. And if you ever put your hands on my friend again, I will make sure that is the last mistake you will ever make. Take that as my promise to you."

With that, he dropped her on the floor to ball up on the floor and let out broken sobs in the middle of the tattoo parlor where everyone could see. Nicholas tugged on Lily's hand and stepped around her. "I'll be back in an hour, Sal," Nicholas called behind his back as he continued to smoke from his blunt and hold Lily's hand.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

All the way to the townhouse, Nicholas stayed quiet as the air around him was dark and stifling. He seemed calm, silent, and at ease. But that ease was betrayed by the dark gray smoke clouding his eyes as the rage in his heart grew with the help of the smoke in his lungs. The interruption of his smoke had turned the peaceful herb into a dynamite fuse slowly burning...waiting to go off.

Lily peeked at him from her peripheral vision, hoping that maybe he could go back to being the playful Nicholas he usually was. She only saw a emotionless face with emotion filled eyes. His mood started to become so stifling that she tried to tug her hand out of his. Nicholas abruptly stopped and looked towards her. When Lily looked into his eyes, she nearly let out a scream. What she saw was what she thought belonged only in hell.

His eyes...looked like a battle scene of spirits trying to take control of his body. She saw the cool gray of Nicholas's soul fighting and struggling with the ethereal red of the Spirit's. There were flecks of white that would flash like lightning that acted as a barrier between the two souls at war. But it would never stay long before one would break through and try to over power the other.

Lily shut her eyes to the violent war between the two spirits. To whichever one that was listening, she said, "I just want to go home." Lily hoped and prayed that her little request didn't set something off. She opened one eye to see what ...he was going to do. He had shifted his hair over his eyes and turned to look straight ahead. He squeezed her hand tighter as they continued to walk home.

When they got home, Nicholas staggered slowly over to an arm chair, dragging Lily along with him. With each step he took, Lily's heart pounded against her rib cage as if it was trying to break free of her body. 

'What is going on?' she thought to herself. This whole situation was just odd. He hadn't said a word since they left the parlor. Everything about him started to change. He looked straight ahead unblinking. His walking was robotic and slow. Even smoking seemed to be mechanic. It looked like he just simply inhaled the smoke and only exhaled if he had to. And the hold on her hand. It only got tighter and tighter to the point that it was almost excruciating, but Lily didn't dare pull away.

When Nicholas finally reached the chair, he plopped down on it with his entire weight. Then his whole body seemed to be in a war of relaxation and tension. His head was lolled back, revealing the war in his eyes. His mouth hung open with his smoke hanging on his lips. The rest of his body seemed to be relaxed, but the hand holding Lily's grew with pressure.

"Nicholas," she called out to him.

No answer.

"Nicholas?" she tried again, trying to shake him.

No answer.

She called his name once more, but he didn't answer.

He wasn't there.

Lily's eyes grew to the size of saucers. He wasn't being possessed. He was having a seizure! She immediately reached for the still burning blunt and put it out. Lily grabbed his head and moved it so that his head tilted downwards just in case there was any danger of him biting his tongue. She tried her best to release her hand from his, but whatever was still present of him still had a death grip on her wrist. 

'What else can I do?' Lily thought hard, but she had done all that she could do. She made sure he didn't present a danger to himself. She was there to make sure nothing happened. She couldn't move to get any help. The only thing she could do was wait for him to come out of it.

Minutes went by as she waited for Nicholas to regain consciousness. Lily's feet were beginning to ache so she decided to sit down. Lily looked up at his face to find that his eyes had stopped changing colors and settled back to its natural gray. She breathed a sigh of relief, thanking God that it was beginning to pass.

Over time she felt the tension in her hand lessen until his hand withdrew from hers all together. Lily looked up into his face to find his face lying in his palm with his eyes closed.

"Nicholas-"

He held up a hand to silence her. "Give me a minute," he whispered.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence. As the silence drew on, the questions in Lily's head grew.

'Funny how I'm getting more questions than answers these days,' Lily smirked to herself.

The flicking of Nicholas's lighter brought her out of her reverie as he tried to get another blunt going. "Nicholas?" Lily tried again.

"I don't want to talk about it Lily," Nicholas mumbled in a deep voice, agitation growing as he still continued to get the fire going. "I've already wasted three fucking perfectly good blunts just for my vibe to be ruined by that bitch. I just want to forget, if you don't mind."

Lily surged to her feet and plucked the rolled up paper from his lips just as he finally got the flame started. Nicholas dark glare focused on hers as she looked back at him with determination. Lily knew the easiest way to get hurt was to take a pothead's blunt –especially when he was in a bad mood. But that risk would've ran higher if she waited till he was already smoking just to remind him of the bullshit he was trying to forget.

"Lily, I don't got time for this," Nicholas gritted out.

"I'll give it back to you once you answer me...or else I'll ruin this one for you too," Lily countered without batting an eye. Nicholas continued to glare at her, but he didn't say anything else.

Lily let out a sigh before saying, "Why did you go off on her back there?"

"She pissed me off. Now give me my blunt." Nicholas lunged for the paper in her hand, but she put it behind her ear quickly. Nicholas's glare worsened into a glower as he sat back in his seat.

"But I've never seen you react so violently towards someone. Anna Belle was one of the last people I thought you'd do that to, since you were with her for so long."

Nicholas pushed back his hair out of his eyes as he seemed to struggle with looking for the right words to say. 

'What's with him today? He's acting so fidgety today? Even on Mondays he's not this bad.'

"I was never 'with' her and you know that. As I said, she was nothing but a wet hole that I'd fuck when I'm drunk." He reached behind his ear, but shot his hand back down when he remembered where his smoke was. He shot another glare at her before he continued. "And I know what you're thinking. If I can't stand bullshit then why do I fuck fake ass girls?" Nicholas pushed another frustrated hand through his hair. "Hell, Lily, I'm twenty-one! I'm not looking for a wife and two and a half kids! I'm living my life. And that includes fucking fake faceless females."

Nicholas looked into her eyes as he let out another sigh. "And Lily, I can detect fake a mile away. And the fake ones come up to me all the time, telling me that they want a real relationship, but the only thing real they want are a real man, a real fucking, and the real money that comes along with it. They expect you to give them what they want, but the only thing I guarantee is a real man to fuck and that's it. I told Anna Belle the same thing. I let her continue her pathetic antics of warding off one night stands away from me because it was convenient."

Nicholas let out another blow of air, which Lily realized that he was mimicking the way he would exhale smoke. "But Lily, if I ever found a real woman...I would make sure I'd find a way to be apart of her life in one way or another," he finished quietly, staring straight at her.

Lily's face grew warm as Nicholas continued to stare at her with eyes unwavering. She broke the stare by darting her eyes across the room. When she would glance back at him, she found that he would still be staring at her. Lily cleared her throat before saying, "Nicholas, you didn't answer my question. I asked you why did you lash out against Anna Belle?"

Still staring at her, Nicholas's cheeks turned a shocking shade of pink against his pale skin. The glower was fully gone from his face and the dark aura had dissipated into the air. "Because she tried to put her hand on one of the few real women I know."

A pause sat between them as the heat in the room began to become stifling.

"As your friend," he whispered, "I'm tired of people putting their hands on you. You come back to me with bruises all over your skin." He reached out to examine the skin on her forearms. He touched her wrist lightly as he ran his finger up her arms, marveling the even skin that used to be covered in purple bruises. "You just got done with healing from someone who couldn't keep his hands to himself. I'd be damned to be standing right next to you, holding your hand, letting some girl put their hands on you, just because she can't deal that you mean more to me... and you didn't even have to spread your legs." He gave her playful smile but it went back to being serious. "And then everything went black."

He sat back in his chair in deep thought, letting the hair fall back into his eyes. For a long moment he sat in his chair while Lily looked back at him, too speechless for words. Her eyes sprung wide open as she saw Nicholas reach his hand out towards her as if to caress her cheek. Lily's heart sped up the closer he got, waiting for his warm touch. She even closed her eyes, waiting to feel his skin against hers.

All she felt was him pulling the top of ear downwards to retrieve the blunt she had long forgotten she was holding hostage. Lily fought the urge to pout.

'Remember Lily, you told him that you were only friends? Told him and others on more than one occasion that nothing is going on and never will?' Lily reminded herself while rolling her eyes.

"Don't you have to go back to work in a few minutes?" Lily said, looking at the clock.

"I could ask you the same thing," he countered, putting the blunt behind his ear and getting up from his seat.

"I thought you were going to smoke?"

"I don't need to," he called from behind him as he went to the kitchen to have a quick lunch before going back to work.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

'I can't believe it's been a month since I've left home.' 

Lily looked over at the people, dressed in red, white and blue, crowding around the kitchen playing cards or talking about music, work, and other stuff. Mrs. Yates was especially enjoying herself as she slammed down her set of cards while everyone else groaned. Little kids were running in and out of the house, either chasing each other or racing to get in the kiddie pool. Lily looked down at the little girl sitting in her lap. He was cute with her curly pigtails, tank top, and shorts. The way the toddler looked up at Lily was so precious that she couldn't help but smile back at her.

The little girl, along with the other children, was a child or grand child of Mrs. Yates's gardening friends. Lily didn't mind them since she loved kids, and apparently, they all loved her back. The same went for Nicholas's co-workers who were piled up outside, soaking in the pool. Everyone gave her friendly smile when they arrived. Sal, in particular, gave her a big bear hug that lifted her off the ground and swung her around before putting her back down on her feet.

"Hey, Mrs. Yates," Sal had called, lumbering into the kitchen. "Where's the meat?"

Mrs. Yates had arched her eyebrow when looking up from her cards. "What makes you think I bought the meat? I don't have enough money to feed everybody and the Incredible Hulk." She gave Sal a pointed look when mentioning the superhuman green giant.

Sal dropped the bags of charcoal on the floor with a thud. He leaned over on the table and said, "Look old woman, we had a deal. You buy the meat every Fourth of the July, and I slave over a hot grill all day and on top of that I have to deal with your asshole of a son 365 days of the year." 

An intense glare down sparked between the two as one tried to will the other into submission. Lily had never seen either one of them this way and felt compelled to break them up. But the burst of laughter that erupted from both their mouths told Lily that this is just what these two did on the regular.

"You know where the freezer is, hon," Mrs. Yates said getting back to their game.

Lily laughed to herself and shook her head, thinking of the memory. She got up to go check on her macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, black eyed peas, and collard greens. Lily tried to put the little girl down, but the toddler immediately knew her intentions and began to fuss. 

"C'mon, hon. Don't do that." Lily reached into the cupboard and got a box of crackers while the child was propped up on her hip. Lily put the child down on the floor, and immediately gave her five crackers that she happily nibbled on.

'I won't be having kids anytime soon,' Lily thought to herself as she checked on her food.

"Something smells good, but I think I smell something that smells even better."

"Sal, you really need to come up with better pickup lines," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"Ouch. That really stung, Lily." In her peripheral vision, she saw Louis pout his full lips at her while he crossed his arms over his bare chest.

'God! Why is this guy so good looking?! Is this some crappy vampire movie and Louis is Jacob?' Lily thought as she looked at Jac- Louis! He was wearing only his swimming trunks, riding low on his hips with sunglasses perched on his gelled back hair. 'I am NOT going to stare at him.'

Lily receded back into her thoughts to escape the man candy that was standing right beside her. How come of late every sexy guy she met ended up just being her friend in the end. Louis was an awesome guy, but Lily didn't want him to have to suffer the spiritual baggage that came with dating her. So, she called him up one day and told him that they should just stay friends. He tried to talk her out of it, but in the end he accepted the fact that he had been friend zoned.

Like everyone else, Lily invited people over to the Fourth of July party. That was only Louis and Vanessa. Louis showed up, but Vanessa...Lily might as well have been dead to Vanessa. 

Lily had gone up to Vanessa and asked if she wanted to come to their party. Vanessa only looked at her with an emotionless expression, but Lily wasn't fooled. An anger, disgust, and hate was bubbling underneath her reddening skin. Lily inwardly sighed. Hate was a sickness that people loved to spread.

"Sure, as long as my boyfriend can come," Vanessa had answered while putting books back on the wall.

Lily had closed her eyes and let out a breath. She didn't really need to ask but for conversation's sake she did. "Who is your boyfriend?" Lily asked.

"You already know him," Vanessa had said cutting her eyes back at him. "The one you were on the verge of cussing out because he apologized to you."

Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes as she remembered the incident. At that moment, she didn't feel like fighting with her. "Then, no, 'Nessa. He can't come." Lily walked away from her, not turning back to hear what Vanessa had to say. She...she just wasn't in the mood for this.




The Wallflower Ch. 09



"Lily," Louis whistled at her, bringing her back to the present. "I think your food is done." Lily looked down to see her vegetables bubbling over and steam coming from the pot. Lily yelped as she immediately turned off the heat and moved the pots off the hot parts of the stove. She checked on the macaroni and cheese and sweet potatoes to pull it out just in time before the golden brown crust became a burnt black. 

The little girl looked up at her with crumbs on her chubby cheeks. She began to raise up her eyes and wiggle herself upwards, causing a fuss. "Seems like I'm not the only one vining for your attention," Louis remarked as he tried to pick the girl up, but she moved away from his hands and fussed even louder. He laughed as he raised his hands and moved away from her.

Lily laughed as she rolled her eyes at him. "It also looks like I'm not the only one who is immune to your charms," Lily remarked as she picked up the little girl. "You ready to go outside?" Lily cooed. The little girl just looked at her as if to say she didn't care as long as Lily was holding her.

"It's about time." Louis put his hands behind his head as he walked with them out the backdoor. "Ever since I've been here, you've been cooped up in the kitchen with the kid on your hip. I'm surprised you're not dripping in sweat."

Lily simply shrugged. "Well I like cooking just as much as everyone likes eating my food."

"I can see that." Louis looked ahead. Lily looked in his line of sight and saw Nicholas drinking a beer in the big adult pool set up from the box. "Nicholas looks like he packed on a few pounds since I last saw him, but he's still pretty skinny."

"He eats everything I make. There is no such thing as leftovers in this house because he makes sure he's polished it all off at the end of the day."

"Mmm, well I'll just have to see what the big deal is then-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU LITTLE CREETIN!"

Lily looked towards the direction of the outburst and found, none other than, Nicholas having a stare off against a seven year old boy.

"Oh, boy," Lily heard Sal mumble underneath his breath as he flipped over a burger on the grill.

"What's up with Nicholas?"

Sal shook his head, smirking to himself as he put some more meat on the grill. "Every year Nicholas gets into it with the same little boy."

"He doesn't like kids?"

"He likes them. Just not that one." Sal jerked his head towards brooding stare down. "The boy is like Nick in every way. Even a flirt like him." Sal rolled his eyes as he turned around and took a swig of his beer. 

"I told you, kid." Nicholas growled, "The kiddie pool is for kids. The adult pool is for adults."

"If it's for adults then why are you in it?" the little boy countered.

"Why wouldn't I be, Sherlock?"

"An adult wouldn't be wasting time arguing with a seven year old." The boy look at him bored as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Sal's chest rumbled with laughter as he looked on. "Nick walked right in to that one."

Nicholas looked as if he wanted to yell at him again, but he calmed down and even seemed relaxed. "Hey, kid. Ever heard of Adult Swim?"

"Yeah, so what?"

Nicholas shot his hands around the boy's waist and hoisted him over his shoulder. Nicholas rose up out of the pool and got up with the boy kicking and screaming. He walked over firmly to the kiddie pool and dropped the kid in, causing a giant splash and laughing children. "Well this is kiddie pool. Now stay in it." Nicholas went back over to the adult pool while the boy glared a hole in his back.

"Well that was entertaining," Louis snickered as he went towards the pool to hop in with Nicholas.

'Nicholas doesn't lose a fight. You may win the battle, but ultimately he wins the war.' Lily thought to herself as she walked the little girl in her arms towards the pool. The girl was reluctant to leave Lily when Lily lowered her into the pool, but soon got over it the moment her feet touched the cool water. She soon started to giggle and splash in the water, happily.

'Kids are so adorable!' Lily thought as she watched her play in the water. Something so simple can change a kid's mood to pure bliss. Too bad life couldn't be that way.

Lily turned around and walked towards the crowded pool, filled to the brim with Nicholas's tattooed coworkers. She walked in between the space Nicholas and Louis were occupying and rested her arms against the rim of the pool. 

Nicholas slid his sunglasses down and looked at her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm resting," Lily said, closing her eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you're trying to die of heat stroke. It's the fucking Fourth of July and you've been stuck in the kitchen since six o' clock yesterday morning. And for the last few hours you've been sharing body heat with a toddler. I'm sweaty just thinking about it." Nicholas stood up in the pool and reached for Lily. She stepped away from him.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. I can see you glistening from here." Nicholas got out of the pool and shook the water from his hair like a wet dog. "And you're wearing a hot dress on top of that."

Lily looked down at her clothes, remembering how she dressed quickly in a blur, so she could continue cooking. She had put on a swim suit, knowing that she wouldn't have time to put one on later, and a cool dress to go on top of it, so that she could still get in the pool without taking it off.

"It's not hot, Nicholas. It's to get in the pool with."

"Bull. What's the point of the swimsuit underneath?" Nicholas came towards her. "Take it off."

"Nicholas...get away from me." Lily annunciated each word as she backed up away from him. When Nicholas once again made a grab for her, she sprinted towards the other side of the backyard.

'Good thing this is a big backyard.' Lily slowed down to a trot as she bent over and tried to take a breath. For a moment, she glanced up to see Nicholas sidestepping children while barreling down the yard towards her. 'Damn it!' 

Before Lily could lift her feet, she felt Nicholas's hands circle around her waist and lift her off the ground. Net thing she felt was her dress come over her head, revealing her for fitting swimsuit.

"Nicholas you as- butt—" Lily's grumbling was cut off by a scream as Nicholas dropped her into the pool. She immediately began thrashing the moment the water began to enter her lungs and engulf her whole body. Lily felt a tug on her arm, bringing her out of the water. While coughing up the water in her lungs, she rubber her eyes to clear them of the burning chlorine. 

"Lily, you're only making it worse."

"Screw you, Nicholas!"

"Fine. What day and what time?"

A roar of laughter erupted around her as she still tried to wipe her eyes so she could see. 'Typical. They all have the same sense of humor.' 

Once she felt the burning sensation leave her eyes, she looked around to see that the world around her was still blurry. Lily touched the area on her face where her glasses should've been to discover that they weren't there.

"Lily, hon, if you come over here, I can give you your glasses," she heard Nicholas say behind here. Lily turned around and stretched her hand out.

"Give it here."

"Well if you stop being a drama queen, hon, I can put them on for you."

Lily let out a sigh and walked towards him. The moment the world became clearer, she glared at Nicholas, who looked back at her with a smirk. "You're an asshole," Lily said.

"Call me something that everyone hasn't called me already," he replied as she waded in between Louis and Nicholas. 

Lily took a chance to look at Nicholas's coworkers across from her. There were about six of them, excluding Sal. All of them dressed in a alternative pin up or punk style that helped show off the colorful tattoos on their bodies. For the most part, his coworkers were male. There were only two females out of all of them. Unlike Anna Belle, the women were open, friendly to talk to and didn't act like they wanted to rip Nicholas's pants off.

'I guess they're the other real women in his life,' Lily thought as she laid back against the rim. 'Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Anna Belle in the shop since Nicholas set her straight. Most likely got fired.'

"Hey, Nicholas?"

"What?"

"What happened to Anna Belle?"

Lily heard a ring of groans around the pool from his coworkers.

"Not this shit again."

"I'm tired of hearing her fucking name."

"Who's Anna Belle?" Louis asked, the only one out of the loop.

"She's a psychotic bitch," the coworker with the mohawk said. "Literally. Last I heard of her, she got taken away to the psychiatric ward."

"What happened?" Lily asked.

The mohawked man shrugged his shoulders as he took a drag of his beer. "I don't know too much, but what I've heard is that when her roommate found her, she couldn't speak. Heard that she looked like she just stepped out of horror movie. Eyes were ready to pop out of her skull. Dark circles were under her eyes. Flinched at every little thing." The man paused as he took another drag of his beer. "Couldn't have happened to a more manipulative whore."

"Remember when she first started working there," the woman with bold red lips, who Lily believe was named Samantha, said. "She made it known to me and Kelly here that Nicholas belong to her." The woman rolled her eyes just remembering that. "When she figured out that we were gay, she backed off."

"She is fired." Nicholas said simply.

"What did she do?" Louis questioned further.

"She caused a major disruption at work and tried to assault Lily."

Louis turned concerned eyes onto Lily, trying to find any marks or bruises on her skin. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Lily raised up her hands, signaling Louis to calm down, "I'm fine Louis. She was obsessed with Nicholas and hated the fact that I'm around him all the time." But something didn't make sense. Yeah, you'd have to be an idiot employer to keep Anna Belle around after what she attempted to do. But Nicholas caused the whole place to paus and stop what everyone was doing when he nearly choked Anna Belle half to death. He would have at least been suspended, or at worst be fired. On the other hand Anna Belle was known to be a nuisance for a long time. 

"Nicholas, why didn't you get fired?"

"He owns the place, hon," the mohawked man answered.

"WHAT?!" Louis and Lily yelled in unison.

"Yep. Owned the place for about...two years now?"

"Almost three," Nicholas confirmed.

"And Sal's been managing it for that long as well."

"But you're twenty-one," Lily said, staring at Nicholas. "And you're...you."

"Ouch," Nicholas said, sliding his sunglasses on top of his head. "Hard to believe that the party boy is actually a business man?"

"Yes," Lily admitted.

"Again, ouch!" Nicholas pouted his lips and crossed his arms. "I'll have you know I own the most successful tattoo shop in the state. And I started all this when I was nineteen."

"Yeah, and one of the campus's biggest losers," Sal said while walking towards them. "He was a skinny vampire kid who was majoring to be an artist. Believe it or not, he was moodier and a social recluse."

"Yeah and you walked around with a stick up your ass, dreaming of one day becoming an accountant for these big time companies," Nicholas quipped back at him. "Didn't have one tattoo on him. Had a head full of hair."

"Which I lost thanks to you." Sal touched his bald head and rubbed it as if remembering the good old days before Nicholas entered his life. 

"Well you still graduated didn't you? You get to be an accountant of the most popular tattoo shop in the state. You get paid well. And I have never gotten one thank you after all these years we've known each other. But you're welcome anyway." Nicholas sipped his beer while glancing at Sal.

"Wait how could you work on the shop while you were in school?" Lily asked.

"I got a business loan and dropped out." Nicholas answered with no remorse whatsoever. "It was an art degree. What the hell does that prove? That I'm licensed to be creative?"

"He does really well without it, too," the other woman named Kelly piped up. "He's the one people ask for when they want very complex designs done. He's even gotten some notoriety in magazines for his work."

"Oh ya'll are too kind," Nicholas said in a whimsical voice, feigning bashfulness.

"But that's how all that mess with Anna Belle started in the first place," The mohawked guy said, breaking the stream of Nicholas praising.

"You know what. Fuck you Mike." Nicholas gave the mohawked man the finger while everyone laughed at Nicholas's expense. "Fucking know-it-all prick ruining my moment of glory with some bull shit," Nicholas muttered as he brought his beer to his lips.

"How does Nicholas being a good tattoo artist have to do with Anna Belle?" Louis asked.

"I'll tell this one," Sal volunteered, getting into the pool. "It all started when Nicholas got the front cover of some tattoo magazine for sexiest inked bachelor. The qualification were, of course, to be sexy and single, but you also had to also have some notoriety as a tattoo artist like those artist on Inked the TV series. Nick only did for publicity to get some more customers. At that time the shop was only a year old."

"Really?" Lily asked, not believing one word of it. "That must have done something for his ego because he won't shut up about what a pretty boy he is."

"Shut up, cowgirl," Nicholas growled back at her. "Anyway we got the customers. Most were fangirls who wanted simple tattoos that I easily passed off to everyone else. The ones who actually wanted real work done by me, I personally did. Of course, being twenty at the time, I slept with the simple fangirls. Buuuttt....then I got bored aaand more fangirls were coming in just to try and flirt instead of actually getting tattoos. All they did was loiter around in the lobby."

"So he made this new rule that only people who have appointments could come sit in the lobby," Sal butted in. " That got rid of a few of them, but not a lot. The whole mess with Anna Belle actually started when some random chick came up to Nick to flirt with him. Nick told her, "Do not talk to me unless you work for me". The very next day the place was surrounded with fangirls trying to get a job there."

"We narrowed them down to those who were actually qualified and was at least a good tattoo artist," Nicholas said. "Out of all of them, Anna Belle was the best." He reached down to get a sip of his beer but found that his beer had been knocked over. "That mother-" Nicholas exhaled through his nose before continuing. "She was normal when she first started working there. Well at least around me she was. Fake, yeah. But no different from other fake girls. I didn't know she was a crazy fan girl until the day after I slept with her." 

Nicholas rolled his eyes at the memory and smoothed his hair out of his face. "I was young and stupid." He shrugged his shoulders and rolled them back before relaxing back into the pool. "I'm hungry. Is the food ready yet?"

"Yeah, I'll go get the meat laid out," Sal said getting out of the pool.

"I better get going too, then," Lily said reluctantly as she followed suit. 

"I'll help out, too," Louis said as he followed close on her heel. "I have a feeling you have food stashed somewhere."

And he was right. When Lily got to the kitchen, she handed him a big, deep trays of macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. She followed him back out with the trays of black eyed peas and green beans. They had to make four more trips back to the kitchen till they had finally arranged all the food on the table. In all there were about ten trays of food and six various cakes and pies.

Sal stared at her while holding his two trays of grilled meat. "Lily, you make me look like a chump," Sal pouted as he finally put the meat on the table.

"Well at least you made something," Lily said patting his back. "Everyone else just brought beer, junk food, and kids." Sal gave her a small smile as he stood back up.

"How can someone as small as you find so much energy to cook all of this?"

Lily put her hands on her hips and gave him a sassy look, saying right back to him, "How can someone as you big not find the energy to out cook someone as small as me?"

Sal's chest rumbled as he let out his infectious chuckle. "Touché."

The moment the barbecued meat hit the table, a long line of people crowded around the table to grab a plate. The kids went first, with the help of their parents and then everyone else crowded behind them. Lily smiled to herself as she saw the kids sitting down at their small tables eating everything on their plates. Obviously they were in love with what she made as she saw them running up to their parents or grandparents to eat stuff off their plates.

"Lily," Louis said with a mouth full of food. After a few chews, he took some more bites. Lily waited for him to continue, but he seemed to have forgotten that he had said anything at all to her. Finally after some minutes, Louis finally came up for air. "I need you to marry me and make me more food. And I will not take no for an answer."

"Louis, what would we live on?" Lily smiled, trying to hold back a laugh as she played along with his antics. "You're in school."

Louis looked up at the sky, continuing to chew, as he thought about it. "We can live on my undying love for your cooking."

Lily made a pinched face before saying, "Naaahhh, I already have enough cheapskates eating my meals for free."

"Hey!" Nicholas called from the line as he piled two plates full of food...for himself. "You live with me. And I do pay, for your information. Notice how your rent was cut in half."

"Yeah, yeah," Lily said as she made her way towards the line to get a plate of her own.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

"I told you that you should've gone easy on the peach cobbler," Lily said sitting on the grass next to a laid out Nicholas. The bright burning sun of the day had long descended underneath the horizon to bring forth the cool summer moon against the blue black sky. Most of the kids were in a huddle watching the fireworks burst with an excitement of colors. Its colors dissipating into the sky as it fell down like colored rain. A few others were running across the yard trying to capture the fireflies in their hands. They screamed in excitement when they successfully caught one and huddled together in silence as they peered down into the closed child's cupped palms.

As for Mrs. Yates and her friends, they continued to play cards while listening to the Elton John song "Philadelphia Freedom". Louis and the rest of them had caught the idis and were laid out on lawn chairs or the grass snoring soundly. Even Sal was down for the count, laying face down in the grass.

"Well it's your fault for making it taste so good," Nicholas mumbled, nearing sleep.

"I didn't force three large helpings down your throat and "sample" all the other cakes and pies." 

Nicholas only replied incoherently as he finally let himself fall into a deep sleep.

'The idis finally took him,' Lily thought smiling to herself. She brought her legs up to her chest and looked up at the dark blue sky, bursting with the colors of American freedom. Sighing to herself, she thought about her own freedom...and her own shortcomings. In the last month, she may have been thrown out of her house, but she was able to make decisions for herself. Do what she wanted to do. Say what she wanted to say. Be who she always wanted to be. As long as Brandon wasn't involved.

'Funny how the free are still not free from tyranny.' She was free to do what she wanted, but yet she would not free herself to tell the truth. In fear of humiliating herself if she ever outed Brandon. If people believed her or not, if she tried to take Brandon down, she would be taking herself down with him. Covered in the mud and filth he had imprinted on her. For all the world to see.




The Wallflower Ch. 10



This is not a very long chapter, just so you know. I promise the next chapter will be back to the usual 4 pages. Tune in on November 2015. I'll be joining in on the National Novel Writing Month. I'll be posting chapters of my new novel. It will be in the BDSM genre. 50,000 words, which is about five chapters plus two Wallflower chapters. So, rate/comment/email me. Hope you enjoy the chapter :D 

P..S Thanks for whoever spotted Nicholas's age discrepancy. I went back to look at my character profiles and realized he is in fact 23. I'll edit it when I do my final draft. 

***** 

'What am I going to do with my life...I can't spend it the way it is now.' 

Lily sighed as she looked at the fridge. One...two...three...four...five...six... It had been six weeks since she had graduated from high school. Other than her recent change in lifestyle, friends, and living situation, not much had changed. With the way things were going in her life, she'd be an old, forty-year old woman with nothing going on in her life, but a sadistic Spirit to keep her company. 

'Oh fun,' Lily thought, rolling her eyes as she flipped some of the bacon in the frying pan. When she placed the cooked bacon on plate, she looked back at the calendar. Her bland future was not the only thing that had Lily begrudging the coming days of her life. Next month was the first days of college. An experience that she wouldn't be able to get to be apart of. The bitter thoughts of the unfairness of it all clouded her brain and made its way down to the tip of her tongue. Lily didn't want to say it. She didn't want to add being a bitter old woman on top of her life sentence. But the words tickled her tongue, urging her to at least say it once. 

"All that hard work...and all I get is a dead end minimum wage job," Lily said aloud as she pushed the scrambled eggs around in the skillet. "No...because of some bitch who has the audacity to call herself a mom." Lily's temperature rose as her anger wanted to erupt with just thinking about her. 

She hadn't thought of her mom in weeks, and she liked it that way. The woman was apart of her past, and that is where Lily wanted her to stay. Her mom never called her to see if she was OK, sick, or even possibly dead, so Lily held the same attitude towards her. She didn't even entertain any wishes of misfortune on her either. Her mom couldn't do anything to hurt her anymore. Lily just had to pick up the pieces of her life and go on from there. The only piece that seemed to be in place was her job. 

'I mean I like my job, but...I can't waste my life away there. Only thing I can do is get an education.' 

And getting an education cost money. Money she was surprisingly able to save because of low rent and the few times she actually needed to use her car. But of course she didn't have the kind of money to be able to go to a university at the moment. Only a community college. Lily mentally sighed at the thought. She had been a straight A student who was apart of every honor society available and graduated top ten percent. Lily smirked to herself as she flipped over the pancakes. But there were so many other students who had backgrounds the same as hers, but only a select few got full scholarships. 

At first, she had protested the thought of not going to college. She had the grades, the awards, and the extra curricular activities. A school had to give her enough money to go there without paying a dime. That's when she realized reality was a real bitch. And that reality was no matter how good her grades were, unless she was some six-foot heavy bound football player with an impressive record no school was going to give her a full scholarship. And America is supposed to be supporting academics? Supporting academics her ass. 

At that point of her life, Lily thought community college was out of the question, but at this stage in her life, she had no choice. She had to apply to a community college, fill out FAFSA, and unfortunately, apply for a student loan that would take forever to pay off. But, hey, she had to do what she had to do. 

"What's with the long face, cowgirl," she heard Nicholas say behind her. Lily looked behind her to find Nicholas lumbering into the room with an extreme case of bed head and dressed in only his boxers. Lily no longer stared at him in his state of undress. This was now her normal to serve Nicholas breakfast in his underwear. 

"Nothing," she muttered. "Just thinking." 

"About what?" Nicholas asked as he looked into the fridge for his personal carton of orange juice. 

"About going to college." Lily reached into the cupboard and got a plate to put the pancakes on as they began to turn a golden brown. 

"You should go. You're smart. Where do you want to go?" Lily glanced out of the side of her eye to see Nicholas leaned onto the fridge, drinking his orange juice while staring at her through his hair. 

"The local community college." She flipped the pancakes onto the plate, but stopped as she heard Nicholas splutter and choke on his juice. She turned around and saw Nicholas was bent over and coughing while turning red. Lily quickly placed the plate on the counter top and hurried over to him to give him a couple of smacks on the back. 

"What in the blue devil is going on?" Mrs. Yates said, appearing in the doorway. 

"Nicholas just choked on some juice is all." Lily looked down at Nicholas, rubbing his back as his coughs subsided. Nicholas began to stand up while gasping for air. He wiped way the drool before fixating his eyes on Lily. 

"Are...are you...out of your...mind?" Nicholas asked while still gasping for breath. Lily stared at him confused. 

"What are you talking about?" 

Nicholas let out s final cough before straightening up. "Lily, you have to be out of your mind to go to community college." 

It felt like a weight fell on Lily's head. When being around Nicholas, this feeling became the usual. "You have got to be kidding me!" Lily raised up her arms in exasperation as she walked back to the stove to check on breakfast. "I think you're nearly choking to death, but what you're really doing is just being a drama queen!" 

"Did I miss something?" Mrs. Yates asked as she sat down at the table 

"Nicholas is having a drama queen moment," Lily murmured. 

"Well I just think that you're too smart to be going to community college." Nicholas interjected. It's for people who didn't do good in highschool, don't know what they want to do, or-" 

"Or what Nicholas?" Lily turned around and placed her hand on her hip. "Broke? Because that's what I am. I work a minimum wage job, have to room with you and a sadistic ghost for low rent, and end up only having enough to pay for groceries and maybe a few extra things. I don't have enough to pay for community college even when I get paid! I have to take out a student loan just for that!" 

"Why don't you just apply for a scholarship like everyone else?" 

"Scholarship month has already past. I have to use my own money to pay off the tuition, classes, and books." 

Nicholas and Lily stared off against each other. She, daring for him to say anything else, stared back with crackling fire in her eyes. He, trying to think of something to get her to abandon her thoughts of going to community college, scrunched his face but realized this was one battle he was going to lose. 

"You're eggs and bacon are done, hon," Mrs. Yates interrupted while sipping on coffee that Lily didn't even notice she had gotten during their exchange. Lily tore her eyes away from Nicholas to take the skillets off the heat and scrape them onto a plate. She sat each plate down before retrieving a plate for herself. 

When she turned back around, Lily saw Nicholas's back as he walked out of the kitchen. "Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" she yelled behind him. 

"I don't feel like eating," he called back, barely containing his anger as he trudged up the stairs. It took all the will Lily had to not slam the porcelain plate on the table as she sat across from Mrs. Yates. 

'That fucking, ungrateful, sonofa-' 

"He really can be insufferable," Mrs. Yates remarked before pressing her lips to her mug of coffee. Lily gave a small snort in response as she reached over to put a few stacks of pancakes on her plate. 

"More like bipolar. One moment he has this carefree attitude, the next he acts as if I pissed in his cereal." 

"Maybe it's because he likes you." 

Lily's face heated from the possibility but easily pushed it aside and put a piece of pancake in her mouth. "We're just friends." 

"I never inferred you were anything else, dearie. It's just obvious." Mrs. Yates got up from her seat as she fetched herself a plate. "If you never came to live here, he'd still have kept that woman around both here and at work. What happened at that shop was a disaster waiting to happen. Just too bad that you had to get caught up in all that." 

It was just Lily's luck, or Anna Belle's stupidity, that the unstable woman tried to attack her while Nicholas was right beside her. Now that Lily really thought about it, the incident was definitely due to Anna Belle's stupidity. Nicholas was Anna Belle's boss. How did the woman think she had the balls to get in his way, literally, cause a scene in front of everyone, and try to attack someone in HIS shop right in front of him? Lily rolled her eyes at the remembrance of the whole thing. 

'He really needs to pick his stalkers better,' Lily thought as she speared another piece of pancake to put in her mouth. 

At least Anna Belle would no longer be a problem. According to Nicholas's employees, the chick was in a mental hospital. Lily knew the chick was crazy, but not to that extent. But then again all Anna Belle really needed was a little "push" off the deep end. 

Lily's fork clattered onto her syrup laden plate as the thought flickered like a sparking lighter and then grew to consume her entire brain. When she was first told of Anna Belle's fate, she had chalked it up to the chick over reacting to Nicholas cutting any ties with her and as a result her obsession with him consumed her. But then again, what had caused Nicholas's epileptic attack after he left? It could have very well have been stress. But with the Spirit inside of him, Lily could not rule out that He caused Anna Belle's insanity. Whatever he did, it was worse than what he had done to Louis. The possibility of something worse than his "pranks" were unfathomable. Could the Spirit really be that cruel? 

But anything was possible when the Spirit was involved. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"What in the world did you do to Nick?" Sal asked the moment she walked through the door with his lunch. 

"What are you taking about?" Lily asked with a blank stare. 

"Ever since he got here this morning he's been acting like a total heel." Sal looked behind him, causing Lily's to follow along with him. He was right. Nicholas's hold demeanor was rigid and tight as he worked on a man's tattoo. It was so bad that it looked like he was glaring at his own creation before he was even finished. Nothing about him gave way the usual care free personality he had at his job. 

"He's just being a drama queen," Lily rolled her eyes. "And who says I did anything?" 

Sal turned around and gave her a look that said "It's so freaking obvious." 

"Never have I seen Nicholas come here with a moody expression like that until you started rooming with him. And he's only like that when you two get into a disagreement. It's like a raincloud hovering over him and unfortunately, for us, we get wet too. So spill it." 

'Are you serious?! What is Nicholas's deal? It's just community college for God's sake!' 

"I decided I wanted to go to college," Lily said. 

A pause in the conversation lingered between her and Sal. Sal look at her, expecting more. But when none came he tried to urge her for more information. 

"And yooooourrrree...moving out?" 

"Nope I'm staying where I'm at." 

"You're going to do something extreme to pay for it?" 

"No." 

"Then what's he so pissed about?" A tinge of annoyance was in his words as he crossed his arms. 

"He hates the fact that I'm going to apply for community college." 

Sal stared at her dumbstruck as he took the time to absorb the lunacy of the whole situation. "I'm going to kick his ass. He's been barking at us all day and a real stick in the mud because of something as small as that?" Sal let out an exasperated sigh as he rubbed his temple. "I've been friends with him for years and I wonder what has kept me from clocking him in the back of the head." 

"Because you work for me." Lily and Sal both jumped when Nicholas's cold voice came from behind her. Lily turned around and met with the hardened gray stare. She glanced back to see that even Sal had powered down the moxy he had just worked up a few seconds ago. It was almost comical to see the Goliath of a man yielding to the silent power of David. 

"And I would appreciate it if you would keep my personal life out of the shop," Nicholas said, interrupting her thoughts and brought her eyes back to him. He looked down at the bagged lunch in her hands and took it from her. He muttered a small thanks and went off to the back room. 

Sal and Lily stared off after him, ensuring that he had shut the door before going back to the conversation. "Where did he come from?" Sal whispered, not taking any chances that Nick would play another Houdini act. 

"I thought you would know," Lily whispered back, while looking behind her. "Maybe we were just too preoccupied to notice him." Lily gave a short shrug before turning her body towards the exit. "Well since he doesn't look like he wants to talk to me, I'll be going. I'll see you tomorrow, Sal." Lily gave Sal a wave before stepping out of the shop. 

She let in the humidified air into her lungs and let out the steam through her nostrils. Lily looked up at the sun beating down on her. God, today was hot. Had to be the hottest day of the summer. And she chose today to go back to her highschool to get her transcript which was on the other side of town. 

'It's not like I don't have gas in my car. I'll just drive over there.' Even the drive over there wouldn't even put much of a dent in her gas. Lily let out a sigh as she walked back to the townhouse. It was a pain to have to think about money. Living around it for so long, she was just so immune to it. But for the next part of her adult life she'll have to worry about paying her tuition, paying off student loans and working extra jobs to pay if off. Lily pushed the hair out of her face as the humidity plus the appending frustration weighed on top of her. 

By the time she got to her car, her body was dripping with sweat, which frustrated her further. 'C'mon, Lily. Stop stressing out. Don't stress out about it now. All you're doing is getting your transcript.' Lily let out a breath as she turned the ignition on and put the car in drive. 

But the more she kept telling herself to pull it together, the more her vision began to swim. The more her ears started to tune out the everyday noise of the streets. The more she could hear...something. It was whispery and faint but then grew to a dark and guttural laugh. The laugh was on the borderline of violent and sadistic but yet maintained its sanity. Knowing that its very existence, though only audible, crawled underneath her skin. When Lily felt the crawling of fingers climbing up her legs, she opened her eyes and screamed. 

Slamming on the brakes, she screeched to a halt just behind the stop line at the red light. Lily pushed back her hair and rested her head against the steering wheel while blinking rapidly to ensure that she was still awake. When did she black out in the first place? Maybe it was the stress. "Why would I be stressed out from going back to highschool?" Lily asked herself, annoyed at the fact that she nearly got into an accident because of some stress. 

Angry beeping from behind alerted her to the changing light. She pressed her foot on the accelerator as she headed towards her destination. Lily thanked the Lord that the school was only a few blocks away, but when she pulled up in front, she froze in her seat. Now she remembered why this place gave her anxiety. Of course there was Brandon and his sill relentless abuse. Abuse...yeah, that's what Nicholas called it. 

Lily shrugged off the ever-present Brandon drama and unbuckled her seatbelt. But no, the problem with this school was not only just Brandon. It was the crowds of nameless people that disturbed her. The students that either stared in enjoyment as if your life was an entertainment reality TV show, wondering what will be today's episode. Other students would join in with Brandon and hurl insults at her while they witnessed him physically abuse her as if she deserved it. And then there were the few that turned their heads to see what was going on and then turn their head as if they didn't care to get involved. There wasn't one person who ever came to her rescue. There was no hero in her story. 

'Suck it up, Lily,' she scolded herself as she felt the impending tears behind her eyes. 'It was in highschool. Get over it.' Even though she scolded herself, a small voice inside her said 'Yeah, but higschool was two months ago. And higschool lasted for four years...and so will college.' 

Before the smaller voice gained any more power, she launched herself out of her car and clomped across the parking lot. She pulled the door open to the front entrance of the school and made her way to the front office. It was now or never. 

Lily pushed open the door to see a familiar face. Miss Jolene. She was one of the counselors at the school that Lily was assigned to. Miss Jolene was one of the few counselors that took her job seriously. She wanted the students that were assigned to her to reach their maximum potential, whether it be trying to go to Stanford or go straight to work. And if she felt that a student was, as she said, "undervaluing themselves" then she would say so. Lily just imagined the look of disappointment on Miss Jolene's face when she tells her why she's here. 

"Hey, honey," Miss Jolene got up from her seat and held her arms out, welcoming Lily in for a hug. Lily accepted the hug as Miss Jolene rubbed her back with a warmness that spread throughout Lily. Miss Jolene patted her on the back and stepped back to sit back in front of the computer. "How's it goin', since you walked across that stage from all of this?" she said motioning about the building itself. 

"I'm fine," Lily said, putting on a weak smile. "I've been working and got myself an apartment." 

"What about school?" Miss Jolene turned from her computer with hands brought together and a searching stare that knew Lily was holding something back. 

Lily let out a small sigh and thought to herself 'Here we go.' 

"That's why I'm here. I need my transcript to apply...to community college. I know it's late but I need to do this or else I never will," Lily rushed out. 

Miss Jolene gave her an expressionless look before asking her next question. "Lily, I thought you wanted to go to the big university here. I know you'd do well in the classes." 

What was Lily to say? The truth was she didn't have the money for university. The truth was her mom basically forgot she had a daughter and kicked her out. The truth was she lived in a sinister apartment because she didn't have a place to go. None of it sounded good... so she lied. 

"I just want to get the general education courses out of the way before transferring to the university." 

"Lily...hon...please stop those lies." Miss Jolene looked her straight in the eye. The look that was as stern as iron and as sharp as a harpoon. "You and I both know your AP scores. If you went to community college for the reason you gave me, you would only be there for one semester as a part time student taking one or two classes. And honey, you will be bored." 




The Wallflower Ch. 10



A silent pause sat between them as the evidence to her blatant lie was revealed. 

"I'll print out the transcript for you, but know that I know when you're lying to me about school because I have all your grades and I know all your AP scores." Miss Jolene got up without another word and went to the printer to get her transcript. When she came back and handed Lily two envelopes, Lily looked at her confused. "Lily, I really think you should apply to that university, so I printed out two copies of your transcript if you do take my advice." 

Lily took the envelopes and gave a silent thank you before heading out the door and back to her car. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

Lily wanted to send the transcript immediately when she got back to work on Monday, but when it came, she was reluctant. She even came hours before her shift just so she wouldn't be scolded for doing non work related activities on her boss's dime. Miss. Jolene's words haunted her. What would she be going to community college for if she had pretty much passed all the necessary general education courses. She would be taking other courses that may not even count when she transferred. 

Or should she even transfer? 

Since her AP scores knocked out the reason to even go to community, then why even waste money, time and energy transferring? Because she wasn't ready to be on a larger version of highschool. Lily closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. The possibility of anything worse than what Brandon did to her made Lily want to lay down in a fetal position just thinking about it. It even made her reconsider going to college at all. 

Then the image of being a forty year old bag working at a library with nothing to look forward to in her life flashed before her eyes. Lily pushed away from the computers and went to ask her boss if she didn't mind her working early. 

For days it went on like that. Getting to work early to apply, having second thoughts, chickening out, then working early. At this point the question was what she was the least afraid of. Losing money, being harassed, or becoming an old maid? And on Friday, she concluded that she was the least afraid of losing money. So she went to her job early in the morning and this time she filled out the application, paid the admission fee, printed out the address to the community college and pasted it as the addressee. 

Satisfied, Lily sat back from her work and thought to herself, should she apply for the university. If she ever went to visit Miss Jolene again, Lily at least wanted to tell her that she tried. Lily shrugged her shoulders and searched for the school's address and printed it out. When Lily searched through her bag for the envelope...she couldn't find it. 'What the hell?' Lily thought. 

She searched through every compartment, pocket, and crease to find the envelope. When that didn't work, she pulled out every object in her bag out. Running out of ideas, she frantically looked to see if the letter was possibly hidden inside any of the objects. But no such luck. 

Lily returned her stuff to her bag and exhaled through her nose. 'I guess it wasn't meant to be,' Lily thought to herself. She got up and slung her bag onto her shoulder before exiting the library to send in her letter. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"Did you finally do it today?" 

Sal looked at her with expectant eyes as he leaned back in his seat. Lily had been talking to him about her decision all week. She even told him what kept her from wanting to go to university. Everything from the daily bullying to apathetic teachers and drama crazed classmates. Even Nicholas didn't know any of that. Lily supposed that it was because Sal was so easy to talk to and let her tell him instead of forcing it out of her. 

"Yeah, I did it," Lily said, giving him a large grin. 

One moment she was on her feet, smiling ear to ear and the next she found herself in the air giggling as Sal wrapped her into a bear hug. "You did it, hon! I'm so proud of you." 

Lily still continued to laugh as he set her back down on unsteady feet. She stopped laughing when her back his something hard like a brick wall. Hands held her shoulders and straightened her up. Before she could apologize, she was met with smoke filled gray eyes. 

"What's going on?" Nicholas asked less coldly than usual. 

"I finished the application for community college," Lily said matter of factly with two fists on her hips, readying herself to Nicholas's negativity and objections to the idea. He had become less cold as the days went on, but Lily knew he was only that way because she was deciding on whether to apply at all. Now that it was confirmed, Nicholas was going to, without a doubt, throw a fit. 

"Cool." Nicholas shrugged his shoulders and took his bagged lunch from her hands and headed back to the break room. 

'Cool?! No...wait...what the fuck?!' Lily looked after him more pissed off that he was so aloof with only a single word to say on the matter than the expected berating about how she was making a horrible decision and needed to reconsider. Lily knew it didn't make sense, but she had gotten immediately defensive, ready for whatever he was about to say. Except a single word that made all the preparation for not. It was like being ready to defuse a bomb, but instead figure out it wasn't even active in the first place. 

"Wow," Sal said, watching the situation unfurl. "Was not expecting that." 

"I wasn't either," Lily grumbled. "With the way he's been barking at ya'll of late, I was expecting an explosion." 

"And where the hell does he keep coming from," Sal looked behind her to see if there was some secret entrance behind her or something. "How does he keep managing to sneak up on us? Either I'm going blind or I'm too distracted to keep tabs on him." 

Lily gave Sal a shrug. "I don't now but I'm going to go back to work before Mr. Boss Man gets you for slacking off." 

"Ok, see ya later hon." 

Lily gave him a wave before heading out the jingling door. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"I don't know any of this crap," Lily muttered underneath her breath as she sat on the floor trying to do her FAFSA. The thing was annoying as mess! The first part was easy-well except for the 'are you a dependent or independent' question. In truth, she was independent but based on that question it asks about IRS questions based on being a dependent and all her papers are for when she stayed with her mom in the previous year. When she had that all figured out, after she called the people for help, then came the annoying part. 

Filling out the part that specifically asked how much her and her mom made last year. 

Lily pushed her curly hair out of her face and let out an exaggerated sigh and looked at the clock. She had been at this for three hours since she came home from work. There was no way she was going to answer those questions tonight. For one, she didn't have the IRS papers. And two because she was too damn tired. 

"Ahhh, I see you're doing FAFSA," Lily heard behind her. 

Lily nearly jumped out of her cross-legged position on the floor until she looked back to see it was only Mrs. Yates in the arm chair behind her. Mrs. Yates's lips twitched, trying not to smile, as she sipped her tea. 

'Like mother, like son,' Lily mumbled in her head. 

"Yeah," Lily said, as she turned back around to log out of the account. 

"Pain in the arse, isn't it?" Lily peaked back to see Mrs. Yates still sipping her tea. "I remember I had to do that for Nicholas. The people and the school had me going crazy trying to reach deadlines to get the stuff processed." 

"Why would you need to worry about FAFSA, Mrs. Yates? Seeing as how you and Nicholas live, it seems like y'all are pretty well off." 

Lily heard a withering breath from behind, which caused her to turn around. "It looks that way doesn't it. Well, Lily, I'm not one of those women who came over and...well made it into middle class. I'm one of those statistics of women who married a well off man, became housewife, and didn't have to work a day in my life. I was...kept." 

Lily saw Mrs. Yates hand tremble slightly as she looked down into her tea in deep thought. For once since Lily came to live with Mrs. Yates, she didn't just see a bold old woman who wasn't afraid to pop you with a couple of wise cracks. She saw a younger woman past the wrinkles and white hair. She saw a lifeless attractive black haired beauty with sad gray eyes. It was hardtop believe that this woman was...- 

"Yes, I was a gold digger," Mrs. Yates licked her lips nervously as she put her tea on the side table. "And Lord knows I'm paying for it everyday. I didn't like to admit it, but when I divorced my husband, I realized that I was a single mother with no skills, no degree, and only enough money to survive on for a good six months. Since Nicholas was nothing but a babe, I was a cleaning woman. So, like what you're doing now, I filled out loans, FAFSA and other annoying paperwork in order to put Nicholas through school." 

"Why didn't you ask your ex-husband for alimony ...or child support?" Lily asked. 

And there it was. The twisting grimace that began the contortion of what had been a lovely face. A grimace so foul and full of hate that it surely cursed anyone who saw it. Whatever her husband had done, Mrs. Yates was surely paying for it. 

RRRRING RRRRING! RRRRING RRRRING! 

Lily's brought her cell phone up to see who was calling. It was a number that she didn't recognize, but it was definitely a local number. Lily unlocked her phone and brought it up to her ear. 

"Hello?" 

"Is this Lily?" a chipper female voice said through the receiver. 

"Yes...who's this?" Lily replied, arching her eyebrow. 'How is anyone this perky at six o' clock at night?' 

"I'm from the admittance office from the University of Alabama. I just called to congratulate you on your excellent academic achievement and your acceptance into the university. I'm calling to let you know -" 

"Hold on. I didn't apply to the university." 

A pause sat between Lily and the admission officer. 

"Are you not Lily Bellamy, who graduated top ten percent of her class, and currently lives at 760 Meridian Street in Tuscaloosa?" 

"I'm her but... I don't recall sending it in." 

"Well someone sent in an application for you, and I'm calling to notify you that if you choose to come to the University of Alabama that your tuition, classes, and books are covered for by scholarship for the four years it takes to get your degree." 

Lily almost passed out when she just said covered. This was one of said schools where the only students that were "covered" were promising football players to lead the school to another SEC championship. That she got a scholarship at all this late in the game was startling as it was. But fullride?! 

"All you have to do now is confirm that you will be coming in the fall, sign up for a day to attend the necessary Bama Bound Orientation on campus, and sign in to your mybama account, which I have sent to you in an email with instructions. Have a good day." With that the woman hung up. 

Lily held the phone to her ear for a few moments longer before throwing up her hands, screaming "YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!" 

"I'm guessing that was good news," Mrs. Yates said, obviously startled. Lily looked behind her and saw that Mrs. Yates had her hand pressed against her chest, trying to still her racing heart. 

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Yates. I didn't mean to scream," Lily apologized. 

Mrs. Yates smiled as she waved away her apology. "Yes you did. Only a woman who has experienced a miracle shouts like that. Now tell me what happened?" 

"I got accepted into the university with a full ride scholarship," Lily squeaked unable to contain her excitement. Lily firmly shut her laptop closed. "No stupid loans and no stupid FAFSA!" 

"I thought you applied to the community college." 

"I did but somebody applied for me," Lily shrugged her arms as if it didn't make much of a difference to her. 

"Hon... doesn't this whole plan stink of, I don't know...Nicholas?" 

Lily stopped stone cold in her tracks as his name reverberated through her ears. She felt heat creep up her cheeks as she thought of the possibility. Possibility her ass. It stunk of Nicholas! Anyone could have known where she lived, but not everyone knew that she had two copies of her transcript and be close enough to search her bag for her information to answer the questions needed to apply. Only someone who specifically lived in the same house and the same room as her would be able to gather the information to send in her application. 

"Mrs. Yates, is the tattoo parlor still open?" 

"Yeah. He doesn't close the place down till ten pm." 

Lily got off the floor and stuffed her cellphone in her bag while getting her keys before stomping off to the front door. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

Inside the parlor, Lily heard boisterous laughing as she stepped carefully around the door to keep from setting off the bell. Lily stood at the front desk while looking at the employees joking about and trading gossip. All the tattoo artists and Sal were sitting around in booths while Nicholas was working on a guy's back. His eyes were knit in concentration as he worked on the intricate details. For once, Nicholas's hair was out of his eyes. The top part of his hair was pulled back into a short, curly ponytail. 

As if on cue, his eyes looked up and met hers. Lily's face immediately heated up, but she stomped it down as best as she could. But it was a losing fight the longer her he stared at her. 

"Ok, Matt, I've done a good portion on you today," Nicholas groaned as he pushed back the stray hairs. "One more session tomorrow and I'll be done, big guy." 

"Thanks, Nick," the giant of said back as he got his shirt in hand walked towards the exit. 

Once he was out, Nicholas cracked his back and turned his attention back to Lily. "Are you just going to lurk in the dark like a skulker, or am I going to have to drag you out myself." Nicholas rubbed his jaw slowly, waiting for him. 

Oh...she'd come alright. 

SMACK! 

Nicholas's cheek burned a bright red against his pale skin as he glared down at the woman who was a full foot shorter than him. She right back at him with her own unwavering glare. Her right hand in a firm, straight line was beginning to turn red as well. Her wrist was throbbing from impacting his hard jaw, but she didn't even shrink back in pain. 

Finding enough pain tolerance, Lily pointed her finger at him. "That...is for going through my personal stuff without my permission and undermining my plans by going behind my back to do whatever you wanted to manipulate my life!" 

SMACK! 

"That is for giving everyone a hard week just because you couldn't have it your way for once and barking at everyone for your sour mood over something that wasn't even a legit reason to be mad in the first place!" 

SMACK! 

"That was just for being an asshole! And above all-!" 

The room went quiet as everyone anticipated another resounding smack, but all was silent. 

In the middle of the tattoo parlor, Lily wrapped her arms around Nicholas's waist and snuggled her face against his chest. Tears running down her face she hugged him a little tighter. She sniffed a little, taking in some of his woodsy scent. "This... is for being my friend and not giving up on me." Lily let all the tension leave her body as she settled into his body. She felt warmth run across her back as she felt his has hand encircle hers and rest his chin on top of hers. 

They stood just like that for a few moments in time, neither moving to break the embrace. 

"Y'all are both such drama queens," Mike said, interrupting the peaceful moment between the two. 

"Then y'all must be the audience, because I didn't see none of my WELL PAID employees come to my defense while this crazy woman over here is slapping me upside the head," Nicholas countered while still holding onto Lily. 

"Maybe we think you deserve it for barking at us," Kelly shot back. 

"I don't care what y'all say, I ship them so much," Sal said while chuckling. "They're going to drive each other insane." 

"We're just friends, Sal," Lily and Nicholas both said in unison. 

"Friends who've been hugging for...five minutes?" 

"I'm cold," Lily lied. 

"It's July," 

"Maybe Anna Belle wasn't too far off," Mike snickered as he joined in on teasing them. "Last week it was holding hands, and this week it's hugging. I wonder what they'll do next week." 

"New rule," Nicholas interjected. "No one bring up that crazy bitch's name." Nicholas let go of Lily, taking all the warmth with him. When she turned to everyone else, she saw them trying as hard as they could to hide their smiles. 

"So what's the special event for season's beatings?" 

"I got into the university!" Lily announced. "And Nicholas is coming with me to orientation." 

"Say what?" Nicholas looked at her like she was out of her mind. But as Lily saw it, he got her into this, he was going to see it through with her. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"How big is this damn campus?!" Nicholas groaned behind her carrying a souvenir he got at the campus store. 

Lily would've turned around and called him a wimp if only he wasn't right. They had been walking since 8 o' clock in the morning for the orientation. It was now noon and her feet felt like lead and she was in dire need of a drink of water. She was so grateful that she was wearing shorts and a tank top. It was Alabama in July for God's sake! Where the temperature got no lower than seventy degrees and the humidity made the sweat from four hours ago stick to your skin like glue! 

"I don't know, Nicholas. The map sucks here," Lily groaned. 

"Where's the parking garage then? I want to be in the car and off this campus when I roll one." Nicholas wiped his hand across his brow as he eyed the police car rolling down the street. 

"Aren't you supposed to be checking out the college girls?" Lily got out the campus app that she was told to download to use the interactive map, which caused them to halt. "I mean they party, they're hot-" 

"Do not say hot." Nicholas bent over and clutched his knees. "And I've been to college already. Did my time. Got out because I was too fucking awesome." 

"You didn't get laid did you?" A smirk pulled on Lily's lips before it vanished. Lily inwardly cursed the map as she tried repeatedly to get it to tell her where the parking garage was, but all it did was tell her how to get from there to where they were. 'Out of all the football games the school wins, they couldn't buy a decent gps system for the campus?' 

Out of nowhere, Nicholas took the phone out of her hands. "Hey!" Lily protested. 

"Better question Lily is have you gotten laid yet?" Nicholas said while fiddling with her phone. 

A newfound heat scorched her already burning skin as it raced up her body to her face. "No." 

"Then stop asking me about my business, Ms. Nosy. And here you go." Nicholas handed her phone back to her and saw the directions as plain as day in Google Maps. 

"How..." 

"I used that same trick for when I went to college. Now let's go." 

"Lily?" A familiar voice came from behind them. Lily turned around as Nicholas groaned. Louis jogged up to them as he waved and smiled. "What are you doing here?" 

"Can we carry this conversation towards the car?" Nicholas interrupted. "I really need some air conditioning." 

"Fine," Lily said as he took his hand and lead Nicholas along as she turned back to talk to Louis. "I'm coming to school here in the fall." 

"Awesome that means we'll get to hang out and everything." Louis beamed at her. 




The Wallflower Ch. 10



"If you catch me at the campus library I guess." Lily shrugged. "I'm still going to be living with Nicholas and working in the city library." 

The conversation turned silent as they waited for the cars to pass, so they could cross the street. "Well what about football games? Everyone knows you're not a true Alabama student if you don't go to a football game. Plus, Brandon's on the team." 

Lily felt herself stiffen as Nicholas's hand tightly wrapped around hers. How could she forget that prick went here? The whole goddamn school had a huge celebration when the star football player was going to be on national TV playing for the University. Lily mentally rolled her eyes. But Louis didn't know there was bad blood between the two of them, but neither did she want him to opening his mouth to Brandon. 

Lily feigned a small smile as she rubbed Nicholas's back, but he shrugged it off and took his hand away. "Actually I'm not much of a football fan," she whispered to Louis, pretending she actually cared that she was surrounded by hardcore football fans. "I only watch on Thanksgiving really. But don't let him know that, it may break his heart. In fact don't let him know I'm even a student, so he doesn't look down at me with total disdain." She laughed as she put on a show of mock sadness. 

"OK, Will do," Louis laughed along with her. Only Nicholas didn't join in on the joke. "Will you at least come to the parties?" 

"Sure." 

"Mind if I come along, too?" Nicholas asked with a voice as cold as stone. 

"Um...sure." Louis answered. "If you don't mind partying with a bunch of kids." 

"As long as you provide me with booze and give me a place to smoke, I'm straight." 

"Cool." 

The rest of the way to the garage was in silence. When they arrived at their car, Nicholas took Lily's keys and got in, turning on the car to put the air conditioning on blast. Lily looked back at Louis apologetically as she gave Louis a quick hug and promised to see him later. When Louis started to jog away toward the exit, Lily slid into the driver's seat. 

Lily turned to look at Nicholas, but he simply sat back in his seat, staring straight ahead as he took a blunt from behind his ear and put it to his lips. Lily rolled down the windows as she put the car in drive and pulled out of the garage. The ride was in silence. Both knowing what needed to be said. 

Lily wished he would just say something because she knew a silent Nicholas was usually as dangerous as a lurking spirit. 

She pulled up to the curb in front of the townhouse and let out a sigh. Lily turned off the ignition. Looking straight ahead as she said. "Whatever you're going to say Nicholas, say it now." 

"If I am to say anything, I would say that was a spectacular performance out there," a deep, velvety voice spoke next to her as a slow lonely clap resounded inside the vehicle. 

Lily closed her eyes and rested her head against the top of the vehicle. She had avoided him for two weeks. He had laid dormant within Nicholas for so long watching and listening. And with his bit of news, he'd been less than pleased. 

A hand wrapped around her arm, causing a scream to emit from her body to only be caught in his rough hands. "Come on." Lily exited the car and let Him lead her to the townhouse. He opened the door and pulled her in. 

"Hey, Lily," Mrs. Yates greeted as she was coming down the stairs. "How was orienta..." Her sentence continued into nothing as she saw the red eyes glaring back at her. 

"Go," He said and nothing more. Mrs. Yates turned around and hastened up the stairs. He did not moved until a resounding click was heard from upstairs. 

They were alone. 

"Well, well, Ms. Lily," He crooned in her ear. "That was a grand performance out there today. To pretend that you are actually friends with this ...person." He let go of her arm and carefully began to walk in a circle around her lie a spotlight. And she was the star. 

"You are not to talk. This is not one of those times where I let you talk. Every time I give you the chance, you lie to me." The Spirit rolled his back as if getting used to being back in his body after so long. "You play with me as if I can be toyed with. You have lost your privilege to talk. You will be as silent as me." 

He made a few more thoughtful walks around her. The squeaking of his shoes on the hardwood floor was all that could be heard. 

"Such a lovely actress," He said, stopping in front of her to caress her cheek. He gazed into her eyes in mock longing. "Carefully wording your lines. Playing the right emotion at the right time. Hiding all the pain away. Behind lies and smile while you suffer in the one place you can not escape." 

His finger traced along the contour of her face. "And that is here." He touched her forehead lightly, but it felt like a lead in her gut. "The darkness of your mind where the dark truth resides." His face lost all mirth watching her squirm underneath her skin and turned into somewhat of a glower. 

"But know this, Lily. I'd advise you to stop pretending that there is no problem. That this man aims to ruin you. If you think he will stop by stooping to beating you, ostracizing you, and lying about you. Lily, if he hasn't stopped at your high school and in your adult life...when is he going to stop. Never. This man means to own your mind, body, and soul. Nicholas has told you something like this already. But you...don't...listen." 

He took another few step till he was directly behind her. She froze as she felt his hands wrap around her stomach and feel his weight on top of her. His face nestled against her cheek, making her feel Nicholas's lip ring nestle against her. "Know Lily...that I will be watching," He whispered into her ear. "I will be as close to you as I am now. Whenever that bastard dares to be even in the same room or hallway as you, I will be there." 

A silence descended upon the room as he let out a sigh. 

"You only brought this upon yourself, Lily. I was appeased for some time until your little stunt today. But now I can not trust you, so I will be staying for awhile." She felt a light kiss on her cheek as he stroked her curly tresses. "I will not let anything happen to my precious wallflower."



The Wallflower Ch. 11.5



Hey everybody. Sorry for the major delay. I left my idea book at home and I had nearly half written. I feel bad that I haven't put out another chapter for awhile, so I'm putting the first half out for you to read while I finish up. Also warning, there is a scene of attempted rape in this chapter. You have been advised..Rate/Comment/Email me. -BlessingAndCurse 

**** 

"Precious wallflower...precious wallflower...precious...wall...flower." 

Slowly letting in the sunlight, Lily's eyes peeked from under her eyelids. She closed her eyes to the harsh bright morning and tried to roll over to bury her head into her pillow. The upper part of her body was willing, but the lower half refused to cooperate. 

'Am I tangled in the sheets?' Lily grimaced as she pushed at the bundle of covers around her waist, but there was this big knot that refused to unfurl. 'Cmooon...' 

Lily immediately stilled as a warm hand passed over her shoulder and down her forearm to still her movements. The warmth was meant to bring comfort but all it caused Lily to do was shiver. Her body further stiffened as she felt his lips against her ear. "Why do you believe me to be so cold when I am showing you warmth?" 

Lily closed her eyes and shuddered. When did he slip into bed with her? And had he been holding her all night? What else had he taken upon himself to do? 

She felt his hands press against her eye lids and pressed her to open her eyes. "It is time to bloom my wallflower. The morning is young and the dew is fresh. Which brings another day for you to rise up and grow." Lily felt his hands wrap around her waist and hoist her off the bed and onto her feet. Daring to look back, she saw his tired red eyes looking back at her. Even though they were less threatening, his eyes were quick to become menacing and cruel. 

Without another glance, she hurried into the bathroom and locked it. Breathing as calmly as she could, Lily washed up, brushed her teeth and put her hair into twists. When Lily came out to change into some comfortable weekend clothes, a thought hit Lily right between the eyes. All night long He had lain spooning against her while she wore nothing more than a tank top and a thong. 

She looked back at her night clothes to see if there was any mistake. That maybe she had gotten it wrong. That maybe she had perhaps broken her typical night routines and wore less revealing bottoms to bed. But no such luck. All that was there were a tank top and a barely there thong. 

'Might as well go out there now,' Lily reasoned with herself as she held the towel against her more snugly. 'At least what you have on is less revealing than what he's already seen...or felt.' 

Lily opened the door to find him still laying in her bed, looking up at her as if he was waiting all this time for her. She looked away from his searching eyes as she looked through the closet and pulled out a pair of sweats and T-shirt and began to retreat back into the bathroom, but a tug on her arm kept her in place. 

"What's this stuff?" He said behind her as he caught the clothes into his hand and brought it up for his inspection. 

A period of silence passed between them as he looked at her clothes weirdly and she stood there tightening the hold on her towel. 

"I asked a question. A question that needs an answer." His eyes hardened as he looked over at her. 

Lily let out a sigh as she turned around and some of her own frustration seeped through her eyes. "I thought I wasn't allowed to talk. That I was forbidden?" 

"I'm glad you remembered, but let's just say you'll know when you're allowed to speak." He gazed into her eyes as he slipped a hand up her bare arm. Lily stiffened her body, but didn't dare to step away from his touch. His red irises burned brightly as his hand continued to sweep towards her collarbone. 

All of a sudden, Lily felt a dry, scratchy feeling in the back of her throat that crept along her neck and seized her vocal chords. Lily reached her hands upward to rub her throat, but his hand was already there, rubbing the pad of his thumb against her slender neck. Lily felt it only get worse as this strange feeling reached her mouth. Her tongue numbed so much to the point that it felt like dead weight in her mouth. 

'What the hell?!' Lily screamed inside her head as she began clawing at his fingers. He gazed at her as he lowered his eyes and peered down at her in slits. 'You fucking sick bastard!' Lily pulled frantically at his fingers, but his fingers continued to clasp around her neck like a choker. 

Gradually, she felt her tongue begin to loosen and the numbing feeling in her throat dissipated till she could finally swallow. Even when it was gone, his hand did not move. He took her chin and raised her head up to look into his eyes. "Try getting smart with me again, and I'll leave you like that for a whole week." He brought the pile of clothes up and asked her again, "What is this?" 

"Cloth-saaaaah!" Again the scratchy feeling began to tickle her throat. 

"Let's try this again. What is this?" 

"Sweats," she choked out. 

"Why are you wearing them? It's hot outside." 

"I'm just going to be in the house." 

"It's still summer. Why are you wearing it?" 

"To be comfortable." 

"You know what I think the real reason you wear these clothes, Lily?" 

"What?" Lily gritted out between her teeth. 

"Shame." He said, softening his gaze. "You are ashamed of your own body. Just because, whoever this Brandon is, makes you feel like its dirty. That because of the way you look, you somehow deserved whatever he did to you." He turned her head slowly from one side to another. "That hands were meant to be on your body one way...or another." 

Lily bit her bottom lip, keeping it from quivering. The memories of all the day after bruises marring her skin made her rub her skin to soothe the ache that wasn't there. The shaming taunts that were thrown her way just because she filled out her clothes more than the average girl in her high school. She was automatically a slut. She was automatically sleeping around. She was automatically shameful. Then there was the touching. 

She felt the hands creeping up her thighs, making her squeeze her legs together. "Who are you trying to impress?...You look like a slut... Why you mad when they take what you're offering?" Lily's stomach became queasy as she swore she could feel her frame being slammed up against a wall and someone trying to pry her legs open just so whoever it was could take what he thought was his. Lily tried to grasp onto the imaginary wall for support, but there was nothing. Lily looked up to see Brandon holding onto her and reaching towards her. 

Lily took big gulps of air until she let out a terrified scream. 

"Lily! Lily! Open your eyes!" 

She blinked back the tears, but turned her face away from him. She looked around her to find that she wasn't in highschool anymore. She was lying on the floor in her room that she shared with Nicholas and Him. She looked down at her arms and legs to find that there were no bruises or welts. When she finally found the guts, she looked up to find a guy with pale skin that contrasted against his black curly hair and his unearthly red eyes. She was with Him. 

"Lily, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset. I just wanted you to tell me the truth." He pushed back his hair and tried to help her up, but Lily shook him off. 

"Just let go of me," Lily whispered as she turned to lay on her side. He reluctantly let go of her as she curled up into a fetal position on the floor. 

'No more crying...No more crying goddamit!' Lily yelled at herself in mind as she willed the tears to go away. 'You're not in highschool anymore. There's no one here. You're fine.' 

Sniffing slightly, she raised her head off the floor and gathered the towel close to her body as she quickly grabbed the sweats and made a bee-line towards the bathroom. 

He got up and tried to halt her once more, but she side stepped him and closed the door behind her. "Lily," He said softly on the other side of the door. "I'm sorry." 

"I don't want to talk about it," Lily said loud enough to be faintly heard across the door as she fiddled with the clothes. After a while, she heard a resounding click on the other side of the door. Letting out a breath, she slumped forward against the tub and held her head in her hands. Closing her eyes shut, she willed herself to not cry anymore. That this was all bullshit and no more can be said or done. Her past was already set and all she wanted to do was walk away from it. 

Letting out another breath, she got up and finished dressing before unlocking the door and walking out the room and downstairs. She looked ahead to find him standing in front of the coffee machine, waiting for the pot to fill up. 'Even their choice of drink is different.' 

Lily made it down the rest of the stairs and reached under the cabinet to grab the pans for today's breakfast of the usual pancakes, eggs, and bacon. She stood by the stove shoulder to shoulder with him as she turned the stove on and poured the vegetable oil into the necessary pans. But of course, he was watching. Lily could feel his gaze on the side of her head. Lily wasn't about to explain herself especially after it hadn't been five minutes since it happened. 

The awkward silence passed between them as he stayed rooted in the same spot while he drank his coffee and she continued to cook at the stove. Each moment that passed, Lily became more aggravated as it continued like a red balloon ready to pop. 

Setting the bowl on the countertop, she was about to ask him what he wanted from her but he broke the silence first. 

"Good morning, Elizabeth." He said. 

'Elizabeth?' Lily turned around to find Mrs. Yates looking just as frightened as she did yesterday. Her hair was in more disarray than usual and her skin was so pale that the only description Lily could describe it was ghostly. Above all she looked tired. 

"Don't you look good today," He remarked. Lily looked towards him and was ready to question his eyesight, but everything was explained with his eyes. He laid his hip against the countertop as steam enveloped his face as he glared at Mrs. Yates with such malice that it caused her to cringe. 

Mrs. Yates said nothing as she walked slowly over to the table and sat down at the table, trying her best to push back her hair without her hands shaking. 'Poor Mrs. Yates,' Lily thought as she whisked the eggs together. 'She really needs her coffee if she's going to survive him.' 

But a side glance at Him crushed any idea of getting the hot drink for her. He simply stood there with his hip propped in front of the coffee machine holding the hot cup by the side. Immune to the scalding pain, his aquiline nose was scrunched as he wore a distasteful scowl so foul that it distorted his lips. 

Taking a sip of his coffee, he relaxed his face, but the dark hatred in his eyes remained. "So how's life been in my absence, Elizabeth?" He asked her before taking another sip of his coffee. "Easier, maybe?" 

Mrs. Yates said nothing as she still continued to push back her hair. 

"How's the gardening going? I know that you're having fun making friends, especially now that you're living off me and everything." 

"Why...are you here?" she finally choked out as she turned and gaze back at Him 

"Does it matter?" 

"You promised me." 

He looked back at her bored as the steam surrounded his face. "I promised a lot of things but at the end of the day you promised me and on top of that you owe me. You're deep in the hole, Elizabeth. About six feet under in fact. And even then the closed casket you lay in belongs to me. 

"I gave you what you wanted. Now leave me alone!" Mrs. Yates yelled as she threw up her hands in frustration. 

'What did she give him?' Lily thought as she looked over at him inconspicuously as she turned over the bacon. 'And what is all this mess about owing him?' 

"It's my body,... my house,... my rules...or have you forgotten who paid off your mortgage, bills, and loans. If you owed any more money, I'm sure you'd have to sell your body just like you did when you got married...but at a much cheaper price" 

Mrs. Yates's face was burning red as she clenched her fists together to release the building stress inside of her. Her glare shifted over to Lily as she got up from the table. "Lily, I need to speak with you." 

"Mrs. Yates, I'm-" 

"Let the damn thing burn for all I care! Now!" Mrs. Yates marched up the stairs s Lily turned off the heat before rushing up the stairs behind her. 

Once in the upstairs hallway, Mrs. Yates turned around and looked at her with a deep scowl chiseled into her face. "Why is he here?" she whispered. 

"Why are you whis-" 

"I don't have the patience to answer a question with a question Lily! You have one job around here and that's to keep him appeased! Now why is he still here?" 

"I displeased him yesterday," Lily admitted as she looked down at the ground and pushed back at her hair. 

A silence passed between them as Mrs. Yates shifted on her feet and pinched the bridge of her nose while looking as if she was counting to ten. 

"Lily, dear. I can not stress to you how important it is for you to appease him as quickly as possible. Not just for your sake but for mine. That man is a monster when he dares to come out during the day. That is a sign that he's not going away anytime soon. Our lives will be a nightmare both day and night" 

"I know," Lily replied quietly. "He's already told me." 

Mrs. Yates let out another sigh before saying, "Whatever you did, you need to handle it now." 

"It's out of my hands, Mrs. Yates." Lily said quietly. "I don't know how long he's going to be here, but I know he'll be he won't stop until...until...he's sure I can handle things on my own." Lily looked up to see Mrs. Yates become as pale as flour as she stepped away from Lily in disbelief. "He's going to monitor my every move and anyone who comes in contact with me." 

The air became polluted with the severity of the situation as it threatened to strangle them both. 

To try and clear the air of the dread, Lily said, "I'll try and speak to him about not bothering you. I doubt that he'll throw your past in your face everyday he's here. I don't know what you promised him but-" 

"I promised him you." 

"What?" Lily said quietly, not understanding. 

Mrs. Yates rubbed her forehead as her body slumped against the wall. With a struggling breath, she said it again. "I promised him you. Lily...I like you...I really do. And I hope the best for you. And I..." 

"Mrs. Yates tell me the truth. What do you mean you promised me to him?" 

Another sliver of life exhaled out of her body as he gave Lily a withering look. "I needed someone to take my place. I needed someone to take the haunting off of me. If I found someone willing to stay here with him,...he wouldn't bother me anymore. He'd leave me alone." 

A bucket of cold water doused Lily's body in shock that Lily was just...the replacement. She was only here to take the brunt of Mrs. Yates's suffering. 

"You haven't changed have you," Lily said emotionlessly. 

All Mrs. Yates did was look back at her with eyes that was full of apology. "Lily I've suffered so much." 

Lily shook her head. "You're still that young girl who needs someone to do the hard stuff for you. To take your hardships, your beatings, and your suffering. You don't care who it is. You're a curse, Mrs. Yates. You bring misfortune to everyone around you. I've already suffered. I'm still suffering. My suffering is thrown in my face every single day. I have my own demons to deal with. And you place your own on my back. To share your fate. I don't know why he hates you, but I am beginning to see some of the things he hates about you. " 

"Lily, I really had changed. But Lily, I'm fifty-nine years old. I've been haunted by him for the last forty-one years. I am a good person. But even good people make bad decisions." 

"Hear the sinners make excuses for the sins that they have committed, casting innocent people into hell and quoting the scripture that they are good Christians," a dark rhythmic voice said behind her. He sniffed as he looked at them. "Beautiful poem, isn't it? I made that one myself." He walked over to Lily and wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her body into his. Lily felt him place a warm kiss against her cheek as he looked back at Mrs. Yates. 

"Sweet old Mrs. Yates...really a woman keeps using others for her own personal gain. To make her life easier. Even sell you to the Devil himself to keep from paying for her sins." He turned his head to direct his red eyes at her. "And now you know the truth. And now you are mine in order to pay off her debt." 

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but was struck with the tightening feeling in her throat. 

"What did I say about talking?" 

Lily looks at him passively, as she loosened herself from his embrace and goes downstairs to finish making breakfast. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~ 

"I want Nicholas back," Lily whispered to herself as she sat in the stock room, taking note of the new arrival books that came into the library. 

It had been two weeks since the Spirit began occupying Nicholas's body full time. And everyday it was the same thing. She'd wake up with Him wrapped around her. Mrs. Yates now completely avoided him until He went to work. He would show up each day at her job and take her to the parlor to eat lunch with him there, which was usually a silent affair of her eating mechanically while he observed everything about her. For the most part he said nothing, while at the same time spending as much time with her as possible. Lily guessed it was to limit the number of episodes she'd have if he continuously brought up her past. 

Lily sighed as she rested her chin in her hand. That was one thing she missed about Nicholas. He would find ways to help her without crossing the line. He didn't care to know every single detail about her past, but he did care about the aspects that were hurting her presently. To him, she wasn't some person he needed to figure out. She was just a person he needed to make laugh or do something annoying to get her mind off things. He was just there to...help. 

Lily sighed as she lowered her head on the desk. She missed Nicholas. 

'I have work to do,' Lily thought to herself as she lifted her head off the table just as her supervisor walks in. Lily turned to get back to her work when she remember that she had something to tell her. "Susanne, I need to talk to you about my work hours." 

Her supervisor gave her a side glance before returning back to what she was doing. "Sure. What do you have to tell me." 

Before Lily could say anything, Vanessa came in without even giving her a glance, but Lily wasn't fooled. She saw how Vanessa tensed as she walked passed her and how her eyes were forced into hard concentration as she went to join the supervisor in finding books. It was Lily's luck that this week was when university students were rushing to check out books for their classes this semester. The place was so packed with students that even management was rushing to do employee work. 

Lily sighed as she focused her attention back on Susanne. "I have to cut back my hours to part time because I'm going to be a full time student this year." 

"I thought you weren't going to college," her advisor said skeptically while reaching for a book on the top shelf. 

"That's what I thought too until I got accepted and got a full scholarship." 

"Congrats." Susanne groaned as she lugged a heavy textbook off the shelf. "I'm guessing your going to be one of these Bama students, huh." 




The Wallflower Ch. 11.5



"Yeah." Lily smiled to herself with pride as she remembered that during orientation Nicholas trying to convince her to get some Bama clothes, so she could be a true Bama student. She mentally giggled as he told her that she was no fun and went to go find a unique Bama styled football to take home with him. 

A hand on her shoulder brought her out of her reverie, causing her to look back at Susanne. "Well, hon. I'm proud that you're not letting all that knowledge go to waste. You're a bright young lady and I wish you good luck. Also, Roll Tide." 

"Roll Tide," Lily laughed as Susanne walked out the door. Lily settled back into her chair and continued to open another box of new books to put in stock. 

"So who's dick did you have to suck to get into there?" 

Lily turned around to find Vanessa leaning against the book case as she crossed her arms in front of her. Lily couldn't be hearing her right. This had to be some kind of joke. Vanessa knew that she had never even touched a guy like that, let alone do...what? 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Who's dick did you have to suck?" Vanessa firmly pronounced every word as her high heels clomped closer towards her. Lily tried to find some trace of humor in her voice. Some kind of sarcasm or something to indicate that she wasn't being serious. 

There was none. 

"I can't believe that for all these years I couldn't see it," Vanessa laughed cruelly to herself. "I always hear the rumors that you were nothing but a hoe. Hell, you've even told me your own mom thought that you were a hoe. But I fell for the whole 'Woe is me, I'm so ugly' act. And you even changed the way you dressed to go along with it." 

"Vanessa, where are you getting all this bullshit from?" Lily looked at her bored. Whatever Vanessa had to say about her, couldn't be any different from what she already heard. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore." Lily bent over in her chair and unloaded the books onto the desk. 

"Oh my God, you're so fucking condescending! How did I not notice that?" 

Lily looked back at her with her eyebrows knitted together. Condescending? She didn't even have to guess who put that inside Vanessa's head. Lily let out a breath and fully turned around in her seat to look at Vanessa going red in the face from frustration and anger. Hell, she wasn't going to get any work done with her angry breathing down her neck. The faster she entertained this, the sooner she can get back to work. 

"Brandon told me everything. How you would purposefully flirted with him and wore these revealing outfits just so you could get his attention. But everytime he tried to make a move on you, you would shoot him down or cry that he was bullying you. Him? The star football player that everyone loved and knew. And you know what I think Lily? The reason why you're going to Alabama?" 

'This has got to be good," Lily thought almost amused. 

"You want him. You're only going to that school to prance around him and try to get him to even more trouble with your lies about him." 

"To say that is to infer that I've lied about him before," Lily said casually. Her inability to take this "issue" seriously just made Vanessa angrier. 

'Remember, Lily, the most violent people are the most ignorant people,' she reminded herself. Well Lily guessed that she was just playing with fire because all she saw was her so-called best friend become easily manipulated by some jerk just because he could fake his true personality and feed her these obvious lies. 

"You lied that he tried to rape you! In the middle of the hallway with a bunch of people looking!" 

Lily's bored expression gave way as she no longer found this conversation funny anymore. 

"I knew it, you lying bitch! You and I both know that's a goddamn lie! You tried to ruin his whole life just with that accusation. I can't believe women like you are so fucking shallow that you'll scream rape on a man and try to get him put in jail. You make me sick. Even if he did touch you, you deserved it. And that's what he said everyone else said. You were flirting with him in some overly tight dress and when he tried to touch you, you began acting weird and told the principal that you were acting weird. But if you ask me, if you dress like a slut, you get treated like a slut. 

"But you know what. I'm glad everyone could see that you were...some...triflin..." 

Lily began to fade her out as she remembered the first time he put his hands on her. She wore a long sleeved white dress that cinched at the waist with a golden belt. It flowed softly down to her knees as she walked out of the bathroom. 

She couldn't have been more than fourteen years old. A freshman in highschool. Like every other girl, she loved clothes. She loved to wear clothes that were stylish and fit her right, but she began noticing that she just couldn't fit the clothes that were meant for skinnier girls. Her thighs were thicker no matter how many mile she jogger. Her hips noticeably flared out from her small waist. And above all her butt was too big to fit in anything smaller than size 10 jeans from any company. To avoid the feeling of loathing for her body, she wore dresses that looked at least modest for her frame. 

Lily looked from side to side, hoping not to see him. She just wished he'd leave her alone. Today was another lunch she skipped in order to avoid him. Today was another day she spent in isolation in the bathroom. Today was another day that she looked in the bathroom mirror trying to see what caused everyone else to hate her. 

Seeing that the coast was clear, she clicked out of the bathroom to get to her class before the bell rang. 

"Where do you think you're goin'" she heard from behind her. Lily looked back to find him leaning against a shadowed locker that somehow concealed his huge frame. 

Even at that time, Lily had enough sense to run when there was danger lurking. She willed her feet to run in the opposite direction, but he already had a hold on her wrist. Lily winced at the excruciating pain running up her arm. "Get off me!" Lily screamed. 

"Shut up," he said in a hushed whisper. He looked around them, seeing if there was anyone there to witness it. Checking for students, teachers, and, worst of all, cameras. He tugged her into the lady's room as Lily struggled against him. 

Lily felt herself being slammed against the wall and bouncing off it as easily as a rubber ball and fell to the floor. She pushed herself off the floor just to feel him pull her up off the ground by her hair. Before she could let out another shriek, she felt his hand around her neck and pressing hard against her neck. 

"I told you to shut the fuck up, bitch. There is no one here to stop me." 

Lily took it as him pushing her around and hitting her again. But not today. Today was worse. 

"You are one ugly bitch, ya know that, right?" Brandon gave her a sneer as he pushed her up the wall higher. "And you know what? I'm going to be nice to you today." Lily began clawing at his hands wrapped around her throat. She felt lightheaded. 

All of a sudden, she felt his other hand on her thigh, positioning her legs around his waist. Lily began letting out garbled screams as she began to push against his chest, but that had no more effect than pushing against a brick wall. Tears ran down her face as she prayed to any god imaginable that could possibly hear her to not let this happen to her. 

"Shut up. I'm doin' you a favor and this is how you repay me, huh? Nobody want'chu and nobody ever will. You're stupid, ugly, and fat. Be glad I'm even doin' this for you." A loud ripping sound reached her ears as she realized that he had snatched off her panties. 

In her last efforts, she banged against his chest and kicked her legs while tears ran down her face. But he held on to her hip tightly, and even loosened his hold around her neck to catch her ankle and drapeit over his shoulder. 

And then she felt his weight on top of her. 

It was over. 

Everything happened in slow motion for her as she heard the slow tinkles of his belt loosening and the feeling of cotton against her nether regions. The only barrier in between him and her. She closed her eyes in dread as she willed herself to blackout or something. Because if it was going to happen, she didn't want to remember anything. 

But the tinkle of girls laughter resounded in the bathroom as they entered the bathroom which caused Brandon to halt. The laughing stopped as they took in the scene before them. Lily felt her cramping leg come down from his shoulder and the pain in her thigh release as he let her down. She kept her eyes closed until she felt his weight lift off of her. When she opened her eyes, she saw him smile down at her as he sniffed her panties in front of her and stuff it into his back pocket and licked his lips. He departed from the girl's bathroom, leaving her with five girls, looking at her disgustedly while she did her best to smooth down her dress and get out of the bathroom. 

As she left, she heard them whisper, "What a slut. Oh my god." 

"I can't believe I was actually friends with a slut!" Vanessa said red in the face. Lily looked back at her, blinking away the lone tears. She looked back at her to see that she had been ranting for some time as evident by the vein pulsing in her forehead. 

"Get this through your head. He is mine, now! And you will not take him away from me with your childish obsession with him. If I see you trying to play the same old shit with him, I will call you an ambulance for when I get done beating the shit out of you. Are we clear?"