Chapter 12: Lilith's Fall.
879 Words
Lilith had always believed that moving away would save her.
She packed her bags with trembling hands, whispering to herself,
“Maybe all I need is a new place… maybe it was the town that was cursed… not me.”
She didn’t even look back when she left.
Sometimes, turning around hurts more than walking forward.
After Wendy’s death…
After her aunt’s slow fading…
After her uncle’s last broken scream before he threw himself off that building…
Lilith felt like death had learned her name.
So she ran.
---
A New Town… A New Breath
The new town felt peaceful in a way that made her suspicious.
No rotten smells.
No nightmares.
No shadows whispering her name at night.
She thought she had escaped.
She found a new job.
New friends.
And somehow… even a new man.
A man who loved her gently.
Who held her hand like it wasn’t a weapon.
Who looked into her eyes and didn’t see curses or ghosts — he only saw “Lilith.”
For the first time in so long, she laughed without guilt.
Her nights were quiet.
Her mornings warm.
And then… she visited her parents.
A simple weekend trip.
She kissed her mother’s cheek.
Hugged her father tightly.
Laughed until tears came out during dinner.
She didn’t know that would be the last time.
---
Death Follows Her Like a Shadow
When she returned to her town, the call came.
“Lilith… your parents…
They’re gone.”
Just like that.
Like death was tracing her footprints.
Lilith dropped the phone.
Her knees gave way.
She felt the world pulling her under.
Her lungs refused to work as she whispered:
“Why… why is it always the people I love?”
She smashed things.
Screamed until her throat tore.
Pulled her hair.
Hit her chest as if trying to break her own heart.
For the first time—
She wanted to die.
“I’m the problem,” she sobbed.
“If I disappear… maybe everyone else will live.”
---
And Then Her New Love Fell Too
Death didn’t stop.
It seeped into her boyfriend’s world too.
His mother died.
His brother died.
His father collapsed from heartbreak soon after.
And the boy —
her sweet, gentle boy —
he couldn’t take it anymore.
He held her hand one evening and whispered,
“Lilith… I can’t breathe anymore.
Everything is dying around me…
I’m scared of you…
but I love you.”
Those were the last words he spoke before taking his life.
Lilith didn’t even have enough tears left.
It felt like someone was squeezing her soul until it cracked.
---
The Temple
When death touched someone she loved again, she knew.
“It’s me.
Whatever this is… it’s because of me.”
So she went to the temple.
Her footsteps felt like they were carrying a thousand ghosts with her.
The priest looked at her once — only once — and stepped back like he had seen a corpse walking.
“My child…” he whispered, voice trembling,
“…you are carrying a bloody curse.”
Lilith froze.
“It feeds on the lives connected to your heart.
Those you love…
Those you touch…
Those you protect…”
She felt herself fall to the floor, choking on air.
“No… no please… tell me what to do…
Tell me how to stop it!”
The priest shook his head slowly.
“We do not know the cure.
You were marked by something dark… something not human.”
She sobbed, clutching his robe like a drowning woman.
He finally gave her a small charm.
“This can protect the people you love… but only temporarily.
You… you cannot escape it.”
Lilith looked at the charm like it was her last breath.
---
Henry
Lilith told Henry everything — from Peter to Wendy to her aunt to the deaths that followed her new life.
Henry stood speechless, eyes red, fists trembling.
He whispered,
“So all this time… you’ve been carrying this alone?”
Lilith nodded slowly, tears slipping down.
He covered his mouth, stepping back as the weight hit him.
“Lilith… you should have told me… I—”
His voice broke.
At night, he almost jumped from his building too.
Nearly followed the others.
But he remembered Lilith’s face.
Her loneliness.
Her fear.
So he chose to fight.
For both of them.
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The Final Revelation
Months passed.
Lilith searched temples, priests, healers — no answer, no cure.
She tried love.
She tried running.
She tried isolation.
Every path led to death.
One evening, as she was walking home, a street priest — an old blind man — called out to her:
“You… the girl with the bleeding curse.”
Lilith froze.
She whispered, “Please… tell me how to break it…”
The old priest tilted his head.
“Child… only death ends a cycle like yours.”
Lilith’s world stopped.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Her eyes stung.
Her breath left her.
“Y–You mean my death…?”
The priest nodded gently.
“Your suffering…
ends only when you do.”
Lilith closed her eyes as tears fell silently.
For once…
she wondered if dying would finally give peace to the people she loved.
- Writer
