Chapter One- [No Tears]

We are introduced to the character, Lily, and learn that she has lost her parents. Why? How? Read on to find out...

Chapter One

No Tears

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lily stared out the car window, looking anywhere, but at the Lady in the Suit. The woman had given up talking a few hours ago, when Lily had refused to say a word during the entire train ride. And now, with day having turned into night, Lily was still quiet as a mouse. She gave more attention to the man lighting the street lamps than to the woman in the seat right next to her. She felt kind of bad for the man, having to light all the lamps in the rain...

 

“We’re nearly there,” the woman said, as if Lily had never been to her grandparents’ house before. At ten years old, Lily knew a few things about adults. They love telling you things you already know. If there’s nothing to talk about, they talk about things that are obvious. It’s getting late. Or, that’s a pretty dress. And Lily’s favorite: It’s nice out today.

 

And even though it had been a few years since she’d seen her grandparents, she knew what the city looked like. With its cobblestone roads, streetlamps, and closely packed houses with shingled roofs. It was very different than her…her old house. Her house had been out in the country, with woods and fields and creeks. The only automobiles in her town were owned by the local doctor and the mayor. Here, vehicles were in every driveway, and every road was lined with street lamps that had to be lit every single night. Already, she missed her old house. At the thought, a terrible burning smell filled her nose and she…

 

The car sputtered to a sudden stop, breaking her thoughts.

 

“Here we are, Lily,” the Lady in the Suit said, gesturing for the door. Lily looked out the window at the house in front of her. There was barely any space between it and the building next to it. It was a brick thing, flat at the front with a few windows and a little sign over the front door. Through the rain, she couldn’t read what it said. The Lady in the Suit got out of the car, the hushing haze of rain overpowering what the woman said next. A second later, Lily’s door opened and she climbed out, under the protection of the woman’s umbrella.

 

They paused just in front of the door. Before knocking, the woman turned to look at Lily. She had sharp, angular features that could either be very pretty or very stern. Eyebrows that were too perfect sat above gray eyes, which bore on Lily just as they had the whole trip. This time, they demanded her attention.

 

“Are you alright, Lily?” the Lady in the Suit asked. Lily knew what the woman was expecting. She wanted her to cry. For the entire trip, the woman had been waiting for the tears she knew were supposed to come. Lily met the woman’s grey eyes with her own green ones. Then she leaned forward, lifted her hand, and knocked on the door. The Lady swallowed, biting her lip before rising up and straightening her suit.

 

Lights came on inside the house. Footsteps resounded on the other side of the door. When the door swung open, it revealed two people standing on the other side, sleepy eyed. They were both dressed in Pajamas, hair in a mess. They looked right away at Lily, at first without any recognition. Then there was a light in their eyes. A light, that the second they looked at the Lady in the Suit, was snuffed out quicker than a candle between wet fingers.

 

Lily hated when grown-ups didn’t let you hear them talk. She had been left to sit on the couch, her head rested on her fist while the Lady in the Suit spoke to her grandparents. Lily stared out the window, watching the rain pat-pat-pat against the glass. For hours now the three grown-ups had been talking in the kitchen. Lily remembered hearing Grammy cry.

 

The Lady in the Suit had told her The News.

 

Lily hadn’t cried when she heard The News. She tried to. And she knew she was supposed to. She even wanted to. After all, why wouldn’t she? But it’s as if she didn’t have the tears to cry. Lily could tell that the Lady in the Suit (who had introduced her name, but Lily couldn’t remember it), thought it odd that she wasn’t crying, too. For the entire drive here she’d watched her as if trying to catch a tear.

 

But she didn’t cry.

 

Lily looked away from the window as she heard the sound of chairs sliding back in the kitchen. Moments later the three walked into the living room. The Lady in the Suit, straightening out her jacket; Grandpa, dressed in his striped PJ’s, coffee cup in one hand and cigarette in another; and Grammy, in a purple nightgown with her graying brown hair and bright green eyes, still wet with tears. Lily thought Mom had looked just like Grammy, only younger, of course.

 

“Alright, Lily, I’m leaving now. I’ll be dropping by every few weeks or so to check in on you, okay?” The Lady in the Suit said. Lily didn’t say anything back. The woman looked at the two other grown-ups. “I’ll let you try and get some rest. Once again, I’m sorry for your loss.” They didn’t say anything either. There was a painful silence in the room, just the pat-pat-pat of the rain against the glass. Finally, the Lady in the Suit nodded and left. Lily’s grandparents escorted her to the front door, returning seconds later and sitting down on the armchair across from her, her Grandpa sitting in the seat and Grammy on the arm. The two of them stared at her as if she were a sick puppy.

 

“I bet you probably don’t remember us, do you?” Grammy asked, trying to smile.

 

“Sure I do,” Lily said. Her memories were vague, but she could remember sitting at the kitchen table while Grandpa read the newspaper and Grammy cooked breakfast.

 

“It’s been a few years. Why, you were only four the last time we saw you, which would make you nine, right?” Grammy asked. Lily shook her head.

 

“I’m ten now,” Lily corrected. “It was my birthday last week.”

 

There was silence again. She knew what they were thinking this time. Happy Birthday. But the words were too hard to say and Lily knew it. Grammy nodded, choking back on some tears and clearing her throat. “Well…we have a room set up for you. It...it was your mother’s room when she was a child. You can sleep there. It’s your room now.” Grammy nodded her head and looked at her husband, who nodded back to her. At that Grammy stood up and walked over to Lily, kneeling down in front of where she sat. She looked Lily deep in the eyes for a moment. Her bright green eyes locked with Lily’s, she thought they looked like a pair of emeralds at the bottom of a pool. Once again Lily knew that she was supposed to cry. That Grammy was waiting to see Lily’s emerald eyes fall inside the pool and disappear the same as her’s.

 

But Lily couldn’t cry.

 

She felt a chill as Grammy reached up and brushed the side of her cheek. Then suddenly Lily was pulled into a tight hug, the older woman’s arms wrapped around Lily’s whole body and squeezing the air out of her. The old woman shook for a moment, before finally pulling back and kissing Lily on the forehead. And with that, her grandmother stood up and walked out of the room. Lily turned her attention to her Grandpa, who was still smoking his cigarette even though it had gone all the way down to the bottom. They both watched each other without saying a word. Eventually, her Grandpa stomped the cigarette out in an ashtray and led her upstairs to her mother’s room. He asked her if she needed anything before bed, and when she said “no”, he turned off the light and closed the door, leaving her to lay alone in the room.

 

The small nightlight, in the shape of a lighthouse, cast an orange glow around the room. Lily sat up in the bed, staring around her. It was odd to think of her Mom having grown up here. It meant that she’d been a little girl once, too. The dresser was covered in brushes and cheap jewelry. In the corner was one of those things you stand canvas’ up on to paint. She couldn’t remember what it was called. The closet door was shut, and for a moment Lily considered getting up and looking through it. Maybe she could find more things of her mother’s in there. But even though she didn’t want to sleep, she could feel how tired she really was.

 

Lily thought of her mom lying in this bed when she was a kid. Waking up and sitting at the kitchen table downstairs and watching her dad read the newspaper while her mom made breakfast. She thought of her mom painting things on big pieces of canvas and wondered what kinds of things she painted. She thought of her mom in this room. She thought about her mom as a child. She thought of her mom alive. Then she slid under the covers, she curled up...and she cried.

Author's Note

Constructive criticism is always welcome, as is just general comments. Be sure to let me know what you think.

Reviews

[Sacha Davison]

Be sure to keep me posted with updates on this piece! Absolutely beautiful. It tugs at the readers heart with the raw intensity of the situation, yet the subtlelty of the young, traumatized girl. Many paths could be taken with this literature, i am interested to see where this goes!

[MachinaWriter]

Yeah, I'm actually about to put up the second chapter in a few minutes. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The story is a young adults fantasy novel. After all, the novel is called Lily and the Magic Book. But it is largely character driven, so I try and focus on that more than other things.

[Sacha Davison]

I'll be sure to read that second chapter today! It's great so far!

[Anonymous Girl]

Looks like I've read it somewhere...
But I like it... Nice going ^^

[Hester Vane]

Such a sad chapter but told beautifully through the innocent eyes of a child. I love your style of prose, its quite classic but so clear and your dialouge is great.

[MachinaWriter]

Thank you, that means a lot. I've been trying to work on my writing skills, which is why I started doing poetry. I hope to be able to transfer some of my poetic stylings to prose, with time and practice.