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Lily's Choice
Lily sat at the foot of her bed, looking at the walls.
Shapes appeared, floating from the false wood grain;
scary faces and funny faces. She blinked. The faces
leered. She blinked again. They smiled.
Running along the dark paneling was a three foot strip
of pink wallpaper, dotted in yellow butterflies.
Lily's eyes moved from the wicked faces and traversed
the pink expanse of wrinkled paper.
An eyeball peeked sometimes behind a peeling sliver in
the rosy field, but Lily ignored it. It was easy to do
because in the torn places, butterflies seemed to flap
their wings on the slight breeze lent by a ceiling fan
that hummed overhead.
Lily reached a pale hand to rub away goose pimples
that prickled in the crease of her neck. The movement
accidentally loosed dark hair that fell around her
face, silken chocolate threads. She welcomed the dark
curtain over her eyes. Resting a pointy chin on her
knees, she hugged her legs closer to her chest.
She was cold.
She tried not to notice. Her eyes, watching through
the wispy veil that parted at her nose, followed the
butterflies' flight. Her eyelids fluttered with
butterfly wings until thick lashes swept softly on her
cheek.
It was dark in the place behind Lily's eyes. Colors
floated by but did not stay to paint the scenery. A
monster grew out of the dark, he was blacker than
black. A body-shaped hole in in her nightmare. The
monster lifted beefy arms and roared.
Lily snapped awake.
She was so cold.
Lily was naked. The linoleum floor beneath her, stuck
to her skin in places, but never seemed to warm. She
turned her body and peeked over the foot of the bed. A
large bulk stirred slightly under her thick, pink
comforter. How she longed to wrap the blanket around
her!
A loud roar rang in her ears, and Lily ducked back
beneath the foot board. She covered her mouth to keep
from making a sound.
She realized that the roar was only a very loud snore.
If she were careful and very, very quiet, she could,
perhaps, creep to the closet and find some clothes and
curl beneath them.
He had locked her bedroom door, but the closet was
opened slightly.
She began to crawl slowly. Slowly. A soft spot on the
floor creaked beneath her knee, and Lily froze. Her
body shook in cold now. She couldn't stay still.
Another squeak gave her away as she adjusted herself.
The roars ceased, and the bulk in the bed moved.
"I know you're cold, Lilliputian. Come to bed and
snuggle with me."
She didn't want to. Six hours ago, she thought she'd
rather be cold forever than to climb into that bed.
Now her legs were splotched, violet flowers beneath
her skin opening their petals. She had no warm place
to go. The light outside was growing dim behind the
shaded windows, already frosted in ice.
He would never come and get her. He told her always
that she didn't have to come to him. She had a choice.
But he would wait as long as it took. She knew that.
"C'mon, Silly-Lily. Why would you want to crawl around
on that cold floor when you could be nice and cozy
here?"
He patted the bed, inviting her.
Lily crawled to the side of the bed. He smiled and
opened the covers. She crawled quickly inside.
Enveloped in warmth, she sighed with pleasure.
He pulled her to him and whispered in her ear.
"I've been waiting for you."
Lily had made her choice.
