#eililithe

she  stumbles  through  the  fresh  forest,  foot  catching  on  a  root  until  she  is  half   -   dragged  into  slick  mud.   it  cakes  her  tongue,   threatens  to  choke  her  into  nothing,   but  she  presses  on       (      no  one  knows  survival  as  deeply  as  pretty  girls       ).   a  house  emerges,   a  flickering  flame,     and  it  is  strangely  familiar     -     everything  else  is  distant,   vague,    but  the  house   .   .   .    a  knock,   hands  curling  around  her  shivering  body,    eyes  blown  wide.    ❛❛   lilith?   ❜❜     @eililithe​

he does his best to come across as a normal guy, tries to seem well put together, but things slip through the cracks. moments like these, little things sending him back to the life he used to live. paranoia builds at the slightest thing, small triggers that push him into a fragile state. it had been sudden, a switch flipped in his head that sent him into a panic in the middle of the mall, running off to hide in a corner somewhere. curled up, refusing to speak. he thought he'd lost her, but she found him. scared, crying, curled up in a ball. her questions go unanswered, grip around himself tightening.        ❝  i c— i can't.   ❞        not now, not like this. his past is a long story, something rough and difficult that shouldnt - couldn't - be quickly explained in the corner of a mall. he makes a sound akin to a whimper, wipes at his eyes in a weak attempt to seem fine.        ❝  no—not here.   ❞

❝  im alright.   ❞        quietly spoken, heartrate slowly going down.        ❝  i’m okay.   ❞

THE  CHILD  IN  FRONT  OF  THEM  IS  DISTINCTLY  UNHOLY.    if  the  devil  were real,   he  would  be  a  child  aged  eight  to  fourteen.   with  his  sticky  hands  and  his  penchant  for  trouble!   he’d  stuck  bubblegum  into  jessica’s  hair  earlier  and  she’d  just  gotten  it  out   (   she  was  worth  only  her  looks,    an  identity  formed  from  beauty   ;   a  small  stick  of  gum  could  have  ruined  her  fucking  career   ).     ❝   i  didn’t  lose  him   (   ...    )   i  just  have  no  idea  where  he  is.    ❞ 

He hasn’t cared much for holidays in what felt like a lifetime - he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d used them as anything more than an excuse to drink on someone else’s dime by showing up to a holiday party. And this was no different - he was more than a few drinks in, though there was mostly a lack of any sort of interest in the more festive things happening around him. His shoulder leaned against the doorframe lazily as he lifted the glass to his lips and took a sip, gaze blank as he stared out over the people in the party, but then she was pausing next to him, making one of his eyebrows quirk up in silent question. He was more used to being ignored than anything else, after all, so someone actually stopping was odd, as far as he was concerned. “What?” he hummed, before his eyes flicked up, narrowing in on the bundle of green hanging above the door. “I forgot about that.”

“  but  my  whole  life  is  there  !  “   a  life  of  cruelty  &  bruises ,    any  lingering  love  had  been  given  away  with  her  hand  to  marriage  ,   yet  still  she  persists ;   still  her  grip  is  with  white  knuckles  on  what  modicum  of  home  she  had .

/   /   /   /   @eililithe​