AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For a moment, I contemplate taking the lily print throw blanket I’d draped over Michelle, but that seems mean.
What is it you’re doing here, Lil?Mal asks.
“I’m not sure. But I think I’m making room for who I really am,” I say it aloud so it sticks.
“Who are you talking to?” Michelle asks, startling the crap out of me.
“Hey! I didn’t know you were awake. I would have kept that to myself.”
Michelle lets out a single, uncomfortable “ha” and looks around the condo. “What are you doing? And why am I even here? What the hell happened at the Richie Rich party?”
Crap! I haven’t thought about what to say to Michelle yet!“I just took your advice on the lily-motif,” I say, stalling.
“OK. But why am I here? Did something happen?”
Just make something up,Malphas offers. But what do you make up to explain a demonic possession?
“Lily, I’m getting worried,” Michelle stands, still wobbly and foggy.
I know the feeling well, girl.
“There was a big accident at the party. Huge explosion. Lots of people died, actually.”
She’s telling the friend the truth,Barbas says to Mal.
I didn’t expect that, but it makes sense. The friend will find out that much when she sees the news.
Michelle’s brow furrows as she shakes her head, trying to clear out the haze. “But we’re OK?”
“Yeah. The docs gave you some pretty good sedatives at the hospital. Knocked you out real good.”
Ooh, ten points for that lie,Malphas adds, and I have to keep myself from giggling.
Not to be outdone, Barbas raises.I give her twenty.
Thirty.
Stop it!
“Um, are you OK, Lil? You’re acting kinda weird.” She nods toward the lily junk grave taking up a full three quarters of my entryway.
I smile at her and pull her into a hug. “I’m OK, Michelle. Let’s get you home so you can sleep off the rest of those meds in the comfort of your own bed.”
She stiffens in my arms. “Um, yeah. OK.”
I keep saying it to Michelle, and to Mal and Barb, but I’m not.
I am not OK.
Not as long as my demons and I are still worlds apart. I can’t expect them to be here in my mind every waking hour of every day, though they’d surely try. And sooner or later, something new will happen to take them away. For a long or short time, it doesn’t matter. Any amount of time without them is too much.
But I aim to fix that.
Chapter30
Lily
The second I drop Michelle off, I call Claudia.
