Page 4 of Lilies from Hell

I glanced at the different books until I noticed one in particular. I did not enjoy cartoons, but the cover had caught my attention because of the color of the main character’s hair. My mind went to the red-haired girl. I was becoming impatient. That stupid curiosity about her was something I couldn’t stand another day with. I wanted to forget about her, and I couldn’t do that if she continued to breathe in the same world as me.

“Which one are you going to choose?” I asked the girl without paying too much attention to whatever she was going to say.

Her name was likely Pauline. She curled up on the sofa, pulling her knees up and burying her head in the hole while hugging her legs, resuming her crying from before.

I let out a snort as I sat down on the other end of the sofa and started reading the book. At first, it seemed completely stupid and nonsensical to me, but I clung to the idea of mermaids’ existence to justify my curiosity about the red-haired girl. I took my smartphone out of my pocket and started looking for information about mermaids. What I read was not convincing to me either, but part of me wanted to continue believing that it was true and that maybe she was one. Otherwise, I couldn’t find an explanation for everything that was happening to me.

My brow furrowed slightly as I continued to listen to the girl’s sobs. Then I watched her, this time wondering what it was about that red-haired girl or what weapons she was fighting with to defeat me. I had found her pretty, yes, but she wasn’t the only pretty girl I had seen in my short life. I knew how to distinguish between beautiful people and ugly people. Ugly, like the girl who was crying in front of me.

“Stop crying!” I barked angrily at the blonde girl, who cried even harder, probably frightened by me.

My fingers gripped the bird’s body as I held its head with my other hand, then twisted it until I heard it separate from the body with a crunch. My eyes were now fixed on the blood spurting from its neck, wondering if it tasted the same as human blood.

“Hello.” I pursed my lips in a pout when I heard that voice. It was the most irritating person I had ever met. After the red-haired girl.

I was spending more and more hours doing the stupid training my father put us through, and when night fell, I was so tired that I did not even want to go back to her house, much less smell her again. I regretted not getting rid of her as soon as I had the chance, as my father had taught me to do whenever something was a nuisance. And she definitely was.

“What do you want?” I asked, forgetting about the silly redhead.

“Your father says to come eat,” she whispered.

Her eyes were wider than usual, fixed on the bird’s body lying on the grass next to the other three and the gun I had used moments ago to shoot them down from the sky. My aim was improving, which was good.

“Tell him I’ll be there in five minutes,” I said, smearing my finger with the thick liquid oozing from the bird’s head. Then I brought it to my tongue, the taste of iron being all I could focus on at that moment. Until I heard a gasp behind me.

The girl was still there.

“You don’t have to wait for me. You can go on ahead,” I hissed irritably, wiping my finger on the fabric of my pants. Why did she have to follow me everywhere?

During the meal, no one said anything. The room resounded only with cutlery striking plates and diners swallowing meals. It wasn’t until the end that my father’s voice saying goodbye to us broke the silence.

As my brother and my father’s other trusted men left, I kept turning my food around, holding my cutlery tightly to hide how much it was shaking.

“Don’t play with your food,” muttered the girl next to me, frowning. “My mother says it’s bad to play with your food.” I looked up at her angrily. I almost preferred her crying to talking nonsense like she had been doing these days.

“Your mother is dead. Her body is rotting in the trash while you are here having your stupid dinner, so it doesn’t matter what she said anymore,” I said, dropping my fork on the plate.

Seeing her lips purse and her eyes fill with tears, I clicked my tongue and got up from the chair with the plate in my hands. Before she burst into tears, I went to the kitchen and put the plate in the sink. Normally, I wouldn’t have had to do that, but I wanted to get out of the dining room. The lingering smell of food in the room was starting to disgust me.

“I made your favorite cake. Would you like a slice?” Anna asked behind me. I shook my head.

“Babush,” I called her by the nickname I had given her in a low whisper. She stopped washing something in the sink and dried her hands with a cloth, turning around.

“Tell me, dear.”

“Do you think mermaids exist?” Seeing her smile widen made me regret asking the question.

“Why do you ask?” I pressed my lips together. My cheeks turned red. “Come on, tell me. You have nothing to fear with me,” she encouraged me, stroking my black hair.

I knew I could trust her. She became a mother figure to the three of us, and all these years, she had been my lifeline against my father’s punishments and beatings. I was worried she would judge me and think I was becoming unhinged.

“I… It’s just that. Well. There’s someone who makes me feel strange. And I don’t like it.”

“Things? What things? What do you mean?” Her expression turned serious, which only made my face turn red.

“It makes me sick to my stomach and keeps me awake at night. She won’t leave me alone,” I muttered through clenched teeth. Anna let out a soft giggle, causing me to furrow my brow in confusion.

“And do you find her pretty?”