Where The Lilies Bloom - Chapter 1

 

I remember my childhood as being generally happy and can recall experiencing some of the most carefree times of my life. But I can also remember, even more vividly, moments of being deeply frightened. As a child, I was brought holding a silver-spoon. I was the apple of my mother's eyes, my father's princess and the sole heiress of the family business until my mother met with an awful experience. On a rather inauspicious day, when I was overjoyed upon hearing the news of my mother's return from one of her business trips. 

That was until midday, when the news of my mother's flight accident fled through the reticent gates of our house. I wasn't supposed to know about it yet I accidently eavesdropped on my father's conversation with our head butler. Tears rolled unconditionally down my cheeks until I was tired and fell asleep much late at night. However, my old companions, my tears, again paid me a visit as the grief return the next morning.

My father completely caught in the painful vehemence of my mother's passing and often got drunk at night. I remember one of the scenes that completely petrified me was that when I once passed by his room during a dull night, I saw the whole room reeking of alcohol, bottles and being murky due to cigar smoke. A power cut had stopped all the activities in the city that night, as everybody searched for a source of light. I flung the candle which I had carried along with me from one end of the door to the other, trying to make out if there was any soul in the room. I called out his name repeatedly, yet there was not even a single movement. I was forbidden to enter his room, irrespective of any reason, since an early age.

At that time, our large pendulum clock had released a penetrating chime, its aim was to let the household people acknowledge the fact that midnight had loomed over the city. That was the first thing that cause an unknown trepidation to overcome my senses. The second instance of my fright was a tight stronghold that I felt on my shoulder. The hands felt soft so the first guess coming to my mind being that one of the women helping hands held my shoulder. Fear struck me as I turned my body only to see an empty hallway, not a single soul wandering around. "Henry...Gwen..." I remember calling out to my butler and my personal helping lady. I felt the same hold on the other shoulder as I glanced behind. My fingers and toes lost their temperature as a women came in my view. 

My mouth was wide open but it felt as if I lost my voice. A horrified expression moulded upon my face as I saw the sight in front of me. A lady stood behind me, her hands tightly grasping my shoulders. Her gaze was lifeless and cold. Her smile was tugged downwards in a terrifying snarl. Left - half portion of her face was burnt down to a black mess, a huge portion of her cheek fat also chipped off. Her eyes were multicoloured and wide open, the right one being a vibrant hazel and her let one being completely black. She slowly tilted her head to the left and looked at me with the same expression, the right portion of her face being covered by her ash blonde hair and her shoulder being covered by her completely charred brown hair.

Frighteningly, the right half of her face resembled my mother's, cause a crippling chill to run down my spine. "You'll never enter the room; do you understand what I mean?" She said to me, her voice being double, one being a clear tone while other being a garbled voice. I furiously nodded my head as I felt myself being quadriplegic. Tear pooled up in my eyes as I looked at the lady straight in her eyes. The prior expression on her face suddenly moulded into a different one. Her pair of eyes completed altered into a white colour, her snarl tugging upwards in a malicious smile. I felt myself being lift as my legs and hands finally break through their paralysed state and moved according to their own will. Panic rushed over my senses as I couldn't feel the ground underneath my feet. A huge headache hammered down my brain, all my sense also becoming exhausted as my eyesight blurred up. The women's grip was as tight as that of a boa constrictor.

She slowly moved us from my the threshold of my father's room, located on the left end of our mansion to the main staircase near the entrance. The entire time, I looked down for a potential opportunity to escape this awful situation. I felt strong painful sensations in my body as I felt my energy drain, until only a speck of it decided to reside in my body. That speck of energy helped me to at least make out my vicinity. On a peculiar contrary, the women paid no heed to other things and stared amusingly at me the entire time without moving a face muscle, as she kept tilting her head slowly from one side to other, each time, a portion of her face being covered.

When we reached at the top of the staircase, the women laughed menacingly, like a psychopath. The moon light glimmered through from the large glass windows, creating a canvas of lines painted in light shades of black. The women's lips parted away from each other as I shrieked and wept more at the sight in front of me. The women's right region of her teeth was shiny white while the left side was contaminated by black web like structures which rose from her lower jaw to the upper one. She joyously and slowly tilted her head backwards and swiftly brought it back to its original place as her hair all stood up straight in all directions. I felt her grip loosing on my left shoulder as her charred hand rested beside her legs which was hidden by a white cloth and soon, I felt the grasp on my right should also beginning to loose.

The gravity watched us intently, waiting for the moment it would be able to force me downwards. The women eyed me keenly as she finally let go of my shoulder. The stairs below welcomed me with open arms as I fell straight on them, an awful shriek escaping my lips as I finally found my voice. I rolled down the steps, each of them stabbing my body with their sharp edges. My body seemingly grew tired by the time, the last step had finished its business with me. I laid tiredly on the cold floor as my hands rested beside my head. I felt a warm liquid beside my hands and head, slowly creeping up in my hair. A metallic smell haunted the previous fresh air, as I turned my head to the right only to find a crimson liquid escaping from the palm of my hand. 

I glanced up the stairs with a dazed vision, only to find the lady standing on the wide landing, looking at me with pity laced eyes. Her left half of the face suddenly started blooming with colour as they tried to match the right half. Shock struck me as I saw my mother's complete face instead of the burnt one. She was wearing an elegant white business suit as she looked like a goddess, the moon's light shimmering on her to make her glow in the eternal darkness of the powerless night. 'Forgive me...but I am forced to do this...' she whispered as a black stained tear escaped her left eye, her face morphing into a sorrowful one. 'Forgive me Elli...' Those were the last words I heard when I saw her left hand holding a black power ball, exploding with electricity. She looked at me again as her expression again mobilized into its prior state. The women again gave me her terrifying smile as she flung the power ball harshly towards me. The power ball covered a curved path and increased in size as I it struck me. I went limp at the bottom of the stairs, a few meters away from the entrance doors. Darkness embraced me as I finally felt at peace.