The Potter and His Clay.

A Drunk Aunt.

Lilian watched Mr. Noel grip onto the bars, he slowly moved his left foot forward with ease, "you're almost there Adam, one more push" she motivated

he grunted as he took another step and finally reached the end of the bars, she clapped her hands happily and tapped his back gently "great job!" 

he rolled his eyes "yeah, yeah" he mutters, she chuckled, bringing over the wheelchair and placing it beside him, she helped him sit into it and grabbed her clip board from a table and wrote down his improvement "we keep moving like this, you'll be set in three more months" 

"that's too long" he snapped frustrated 

she sighed, "Adam, in order to get your legs walking on its own again, we're going to need time in order for your muscles to heal and gain much strength to hold your weight" 

Mr. Noel turned his head and looked out of the glass wall where other patients sat in the indoor garden space, he lets out a deep breathe and finally nods, looking back at her "alright" he says,  she smiles and places the board beneath her arm as she goes behind his chair and pushed him out of the gym.

Lilian made her way exhaustedly to the front desk to sign out for the night, Beth White, the receptionist hands over the board with a pen "long day Lili?" she asked with a smile, Lilian lets out a small sigh with a small smile  "another day, another night" she simply replies, Doris Henderson, resident nurse, happily skips over to the back of the desk and goes through the files on the desk, 

"someone's in a good mood" Beth chimed, Doris giggled waving her away "no" she answers sheepishly.

Beth took her arm and shook it a bit "tell me" she urged 

Doris shook her head with a blushful smile "no"

"Tell me!" Beth whined almost in desperation, taking her hands, Lilian sighed exhaustedly and puts the pen down, "goodnight ladies" she says suppressing a yawn 

Beth and Doris said their "goodnights" and continued on with their conversation, Lilian walked away with her hands in her pockets, 

"Fine!" she heard Doris exclaimed "I'm going on a date with my high school crush!" 

Beth gasped, "your high school crush?" 

Lilian paused for a moment and looked over her shoulder towards the ladies at the desk, she stared at how Doris beamed excitedly like a light in the darkness, she sighed and turned around again, making her way to the exit. She made her way to her white sedan, getting into the drivers seat, she pushes the keys into the keyhole, she stops for a moment and stares out to the open parking lot in front of her. 

"Lili?"

she lets out a muffled yell as she hits the wheel angrily, remembering the sound of his voice, she punches the dash board only to hurt her knuckles "s**t!" she cursed gripping onto her right wrist, she smacked the dash board in anger "you stupid piece of s**t!" she screams at it. Tears begin to fall down her cheeks, as she leaned back into her seat and sobbed uncontrollably, wrenching her hand to her chest. 

***

"We're moving back to New Orleans" 

Seventeen years old Lilian Thompson's eyes wide, she stared at Seth Bennett as he continued " Mum's talked to Principal Carson and this week is my last week"

Lilian's mind was filling up with questions and a whole lot of confusion, she watched his mouth continue to move endlessly, she shut her eyes and shook her head "sssh" she snapped, he immediately shut his mouth and watched her carefully, "you're leaving me and you're telling me this now?" she asked anger slowly seeping in,

"I didn't know how to tell you Lil"  he looked to his feet "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" he whispers, not meeting her eyes

"no" she snapped again "why are you saying that as if you're about to break up with me?" 

he looked up at her with sad eyes, her lips began to quiver as she realized she was right. He took her hand and pressed it to his chest "you know I love you" he reassured

she shook her head as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes "don't say that" she mumbled

"I don't want you to wait on me" he pleaded "I don't want you to miss me like hell and not see me everyday" 

Lilian pulls her hand away "and what if I want to?!" she yelled "what if I want to miss you more than my heart can bear and wait on you even if it takes a billion years!" 

"Lili" he says, looking down, she stares at him with confusion and bewilderment, she felt her entire body go up in flames, 

"you don't love me anymore" she whispers, her voice breaking, Seth looks up at her confusingly "what? no"

Lilian turned her back and walked away, "Lili!" he cried, following her down the empty halls of West Chester High.

***

Eliza pulled her hoodie over her head and walked over to her bed, she sat down, tucking her feet beneath her, she smiled as she thought about the night's events. Jonathan's apology seemed to replay over and over again within her mind, she lets out a chuckle as tied her hair up in a bun and looked out the window, a crescent moon slowly moved from behind the clouds, letting it's light shine radiantly in the night sky. 

"Father, it's such a beautiful night" she thought, she gets off her bed and kneels down by her bed, she cups her hands together "Dear Lord, I just want to thank You for tonight, thank You for bringing Jonathan here even if I did had a few doubts that he'd show up " she paused "thank You also, for giving me the courage to invite him even if we did have a bit of a falling out. But that's okay now, I think we're going to be friends now" she lets out giggle at the thought "whatever plans You have in store for this new found friendship, I pray that You will take control and lead us. Also, could you please protect us throughout the night? Keep away all evil people and evil spirits, I pray in no other name but in Jesus' s mighty name. Amen" 

she opens her eyes and gets back onto her bed, she suddenly sees a flash of light from outside and goes over to her window. She looks out and sees Aunt Lilian stumble out of her car, she stumbled towards the sidewalk and grabbed a hold of the mail box, she straightens her back and walks towards the porch only to trip on her own two feet and fall face first onto the grass. 

"What the-" Eliza quickly rushes out of the room, tip toes past her Grandparents room who were now in bed and snoring lightly into deep sleep, she silently runs to Ethan's room and knocked once, before opening the door, "Ethan!" she hissed, he looked up from his phone "what?" 

"Aunt Lili needs our help!" she cried softly, he frowned "what are you talking about?", she groans annoyingly and runs down the hallway, he got off his bed and follows her out. She pulls the front door open and runs out to the lawn 

"aunty Lili!" she whispered aloud in a sharp tone

Lilian turned to her side and looks up at her niece "Lizzy!" she cried happily, stretching her arms towards her, Eliza stared in shock "are you drunk?" 

Lilian laughed "no" she lied mischievously, Eliza gagged at the smell of alcohol and pulled her up, Ethan laughed as he approached them "no way!" he exclaimed "is she drunk?" 

"Ethie!" Lilian chimed, reaching out for him, Ethan took her other arm and throws it over his shoulder, they helped her in and placed her on the couch, Ethan went to the kitchen and brought back a bottle of water from the fridge, he handed it over to her and she gulped it down in two takes. Eliza stared in awe "Wow she's thirsty" she whispered 

"it's the alcohol" Ethan replied taking the empty bottle from Lilian, "alright, come on", he took her in his  arms and carried her up the stairs. Eliza opened the door for them and stepped aside to let them in, Ethan laid her on her bed and stepped away, bending over to relief his back pains, Eliza grabbed a blanket and covered her. 

"Wait" Ethan said, he pulled her carefully to her side and grabbed the trash can by the door and sat it by her bed 

"what are you doing?" Eliza asked 

"she's going to puke during the night" he answered 

she nodded "oh okay". They tucked her in good and left her to rest. They quietly made their way to their bedrooms "what do you think made her drink?" Eliza whispered 

he shook his head "I don't know" he answered "whatever it is, it must be bad" 

she sighs worriedly, "I hope she'll be okay", 

"she's going to be fine" he assured, they reach his room and said their goodnight's before she made her own way back to the bedroom.