by Tony C. Skye
“Why follow me to the water and then refuse?”, Lilith's smoky voice questions innocently, “Is that not a waste of your time to do so?”
Julianna nods with no good argument in mind.
“Fear can empower you, young one. Or it can consume you,” Lilith speaks, “But you do not get to choose when fear will appear itself to you. It is only in how you choose to face it outwardly that will govern its outcome within you.”
Julianna listens carefully. Lilith remains silent as the visitor reasons out her words. Finally, Julianna nods.
“I understand...I think,” the teen answers honestly while her green eyes lock gazes with the woman.
Lilith smiles comfortingly. Julianna takes a deep breath and closes the distance between them. The woman's left hand reaches up non-threateningly and wipes away the mucous from her nose and lips. The girl's eyes widen.
Lilith's touch fills Julianna with a surge of warm goose bumps. The tingling sensation flows up her spine to the top of her head. The girl grins with delight as the surge of electrical energy envelopes her entire being.
“You loved this Johnathan very much,” Lilith speaks while removing her hand from the girl's face.
Julianna stops smiling. Her brows narrow.
“Why would you say that to me?”, Julianna's eyes begin stinging. They quickly water as her mind races with the images of the car wreck.
Lilith dips her hand into the black ocean water. She stands up and uses both hands to wipe away the girl's new tears. Julianna's eyes widen as the surge of energy races through her once more. The longer the woman's hands touch her, the longer she finds herself desiring that they would stay. Lilith bends down and dips both of her hands back into the water.
“Do you know what I am doing, young one?”, the beautiful woman inquires as she stands upright.
Julianna feels like she has been doped up by some serious medication. She grins awkwardly, “You are taking away my sssadness.”
Lilith stares intently. The girl's words have a slight slurring to them. The woman, however, chooses to ignore the oddity.
“No, young one,” Lilith corrects, “You are giving me your sadness. I do not take.”
The teen points at the woman's face.
“How did you do that?”, Julianna questions why Lilith's face no longer exhibits tears or mucous without being cleaned.
“I experience what you give me,” Lilith explains, “Your face is clean. Is it not?”
“Hmm,” Julianna accepts the strange explanation by lowering her hand to her side.
“How is your grief now?”, Lilith questions.
Julianna thinks about the crash. Her head retreats in thought. She runs over the imagery of the funeral. She shakes her head in disbelief.
“I don't want to kill myself if that's what you're asking.”
Lilith grins at the stubborn-headed girl. She begins walking towards the wall. Julianna closely follows.
“Was Johnathan kind like you?”, Lilith's compassionate tone reflects her desire to free Julianna of all sadness.
Julianna complies by speaking freely and honestly about everything concerning her boyfriend. This time she does not allow her pride to hinder whenever her nose drips. The least she can do for this marvelous woman is to allow her the small favor of experiencing the whole enchilada. Gross or not.
* * *
Lady Lanecia sways and dances to the beating drum beats. She calls out to the oldest woman of them all, Lilith.
The woman of many braids was punished for refusing to blindly accept the reality where she was not allowed to speak her own mind. Punished because someone else told her this was how it was going to be no matter what she thought about it, and she refused. Punished because she sought after the truth. Punished because she challenged the reasoning behind the rules and regulations forced upon her.
Martha watches the priestess pray with the rooster pulled next to her floral print dress. The time is nearing when her friend will drop to her knees, throw chicken bones into a bowl within the chalked circle, and cut that nasty bird's throat.
The woman walks over to the sink and runs some hot water over a washcloth. She wrings it out and turns to wipe her granddaughter's face clean.
That's odd.
Julianna's face is void of her tears and nasal drainage. Martha's brows narrow as she walks over to check the girl's hands. They do not appear to have moved at all and are clean. The woman with red hair examines the tarp-blanket, her granddaughter's arms and upper body, and then her hair dangling off of the table's edge. She steps back and stares at Julianna.
You must have pulled a fast one on your old grams, dear.
* * *
Lilith dips her teary-covered hands into the blackness of the seawater. She stands upright and smiles lovingly, “Your mother would have been proud of you.”
She strolls back across the beach and stops about ten feet from the wall's facing. Julianna, routinely, follows her closely. This time, it is the teen's pain of growing up without a mother that has just been freely given away – released into Lilith's loving touch. The woman scans the wall's surface and grins.
“It is this way,” the beautiful tan woman indicates while walking to her right. They both walk together for what feels like an hour of complete silence before Lilith, finally, stops. She subtly tilts her head to the right while scrutinizing the markings on the wall.
“Ah, here we go,” Lilith declares with certainty, “This wall is my family history.” She turns her head to lock gazes with the girl behind her, “This is your family history.”
Julianna looks over at the wall with a new admiration. She vaguely notices Lilith grinning while she points to a collection of sequencing triangles, rectangles, circles with crossing lines through them, and wavy horizontal lines. The teen sees the same phrase from her library's floor among them: Gariatu Estidium Merné.
Lilith points at the familiar words, “This is the announcement of change. It carries many meanings. In this case, an announcement of the Collection's guardianship has changed hands.”
The woman points to some symbols just underneath the words, “This is when your mother took over the Collection. It says she was fourteen when your grandmother handed it over to her. That's impressive. Martha is not one to hand it over so easily. However, your mother was really intelligent.”
Lilith pauses and turns to face her newly captivated audience of one, “But even your mother did not know the sea's hidden nature. You are the first ever to do so. And from the way I understand it, you have yet to read a single book from the Collection.”
Julianna looks away ashamed for not trying harder. Lilith ignores the girl's feelings coursing through her body. She extends her right arm to point down the wall's surface.
“That is the announcement of her pregnancy when she conceived you,” the woman's seductive voice redirects the visitor's attention.
Julianna walks further to her right to gain a better view. The same familiar phrase heads a paragraph of weird symbols. The girl looks further to her right and sees another similar grouping.
“Is that my birth?”, the girl points questioningly.
Lilith smiles proudly. She winks her right eye.
“And she's never even read a single book,” the woman of many braids states adoringly.
Julianna lowers her arm with a partial smile. Her blue-black hair blows carelessly in the gentle breeze while she walks further to her right. Whenever she notices another set of symbols under the same phrase, she stops. She reaches up and traces the first symbol with her fingers. Its design is a single triangle inside of a wavy circle.
“This is the day I took over the library,” Julianna states with absolute certainty. The girl notices a slight difference between her triangle and her mother's triangle. She turns and catches Lilith admiring her from a distance. The woman's deep green gaze causes Julianna's heartbeat to speed up. She hadn't realized until this moment that she actually cares what Lilith thinks of her.
“U
m,” Julianna points to the lines surrounding her triangle, “Why is my circle wavy?” A sharp pain sears through her belly. It is followed by rumbling sounds. The girl's right hand grabs at her belly as she doubles over.
“Ow!”, the teen yells out as a second wave of sharp pains burns within her. She looks up to Lilith for help, but the woman isn't moving.
“Oh crap this hurts. Something's wrong,” the girl panics while searching for answers. Another wave of pain sears its way through her stomach. Grumbling follows. Julianna wraps both of her arms around her gut as she drops to her knees. Fear consumes her thoughts. She looks upward with a bowed head.
“What's wrong with me?!”, she pleas with Lilith. The girl's face reveals the agony within her body. Her pain levels begin to cross over her tolerance threshold.
“Lilith!”, the teenager yells while staring into the white sand, “Please do something!”
A calm voice speaks through the growing fog of Julianna's excruciating torment, “I can't.”
Julianna rolls over into a fetal position upon her right side. She cries out within her pain. She partially opens her clinching eyes. Lilith has seated herself by her head.
“It is from your physical body,” Lilith speaks while running her fingers through the girl's beautiful hair, “I cannot take away your physical pain.”
The older woman softly runs her right hand over Julianna's sweating forehead, “You must learn to accept the pain and turn it into an emotion. Emotions are shared by your spirit. This is why you can give them to me. I am of this spiritual plane.”
“Ow!”, Julianna reacts to her next wave of pain. Her breathing is accompanied by rapid and short bursts of air.
“I-I,” the girl groans before speaking more words, “Don't understand!” She screams as she is sent over the cliff of her tolerance.
Lilith lowers her lips to the child's left ear, “Embrace the pain first.” Her smoky voice whispers, “Take it in. Make it into something else.”
Another rush of pain causes Julianna's sore belly to contract. Only this time, she grunts instead of letting out a panicky scream. Again, pain sears its way through her. Her previous grunt is now replaced with a quite moan. She reaches out to take hold of Lilith's right hand. Julianna squeezes hard during her next round of gut-pain. Lilith moans.
Each time the girl's pain courses through her body, Julianna bridles it within her. As soon as it subsides, she releases her trapped emotions in order to overcome the insanity of her situation.
Julianna sighs as she releases. Lilith moans. The girl giggles. Lilith moans. Julianna laughs. Lilith moans longer and with more enthusiasm. The teen grins with a new understanding. She can feel Lilith halfheartedly attempting to pull away from her.
Julianna sits up and re-grips Lilith's hand with both of hers. The pain comes crashing in. The girl throws her head back to allow its intrusive nature to dissipate from its point of attack. She mentally invites it to fulfill her entire body. The latest round of pain lasts for what seems to be fifteen to twenty seconds before it is gone. Julianna knowingly grins as she stares into Lilith's shocked eyes.
“Is this what you mean?”, Julianna's arched brows reflects her newly found ability to overcome. Lilith's eyes look upward. She cries out with sounds of pleasure as Julianna releases the emotion she has created.
Whenever Lilith is finally able to regain her composure, she notices Julianna portraying facial expressions of disgust. The nauseated teen releases Lilith's hand, leans to the right, and expels the representation of her breakfast. Lilith sits quietly while holding the girl's hair back until she finishes.
“Adrenaline,” Lilith flatly states as Julianna looks at her.
“Grams,” the girl corrects.
Lilith smiles, “Yes. The woman does like her mixtures a little potent.”
The woman of many braids offers Julianna her left hand as she stands, “Come now. Let us go to the water.”
Julianna takes hold of Lilith's hand.
* * *
“Yurself be on yur own, Mrs. Martha,” Lady Lanecia yells over the screams of the girl lying upon the metal table, “I can't be stoppin' in da middle of this.”
The Lady Lanecia's attempt at professionalism strikes more fear into Martha's worrisome blue eyes. She uses the table's brown leather straps to secure Julianna down.
One strap for each of the girl's ankles; then, two more for the girl's wrists – straps never needed for a cleansing ritual.
What is happening?
Martha's tears flow down her face. She has never seen anyone ever react this way before. Her experience tells her that it can't be a reaction to the cleansing blend. But her calculating brain keeps attempting to convince her otherwise.
Julianna screams out before relaxing again. Martha opens the child's eyelids to check for any signs of lucidity. Her dilated pupils produce the opposite answer. The girl is slipping away and Martha has no idea why.
* * *
The two ladies walk down to the water's edge. The short trek through the white sand is spent without words. Lilith's latest encounter with Julianna has initiated a distant memory. A memory associated to a life which was, but is now gone. It was a time whenever she knew love – a time when her love knew her. But then he was torn away from her. Stolen away because he dared to freely give his heart, mind, and soul to her. Stolen away by…Him.
“No don't!”, Lilith panics. The woman's momentary distraction has caused a serious problem. Julianna glances over with her head tilted back as she gargles. She leans forward and spits out the water.
“What?”, Julianna innocently responds.
* * *
“Lady Lanecia!”, Martha hollers out. The woman's sudden outburst causes the voodoo priestess to halt her slicing of the rooster's throat. The dark woman moves her scanning eyes from the rooster, over to Martha, and then to the teen. Julianna's mouth chokes out solid black liquid.
“Dat not be good,” the priestess observes. She droops her head as she turns and walks towards the tape player.
Click.
The room's musical barrage of rhythmic beats ceases. The voodoo priestess snaps the rooster's neck. The bird falls limply within her hands.
“I'd be feedin' the gators with this one,” Lady Lanecia informs. She dishearteningly strolls in the direction of the room's entrance. She opens the door and steps into the hallway. Her eyes cannot look upon her life-long friend.
“No,” Martha's trembling voice pleas as her mind begins understanding the truth of what is occurring. She looks down at her granddaughter and uses her shaky thumbs to peel back each of Julianna's closed eyelids.
The girl's eyes fill with erratic lines of blackness. The helpless woman watches as Julianna's left eye loses the last of its beautiful emerald color. Her right eye immediately follows suit. The blackness quickly consumes the whites of her eyes before Martha is able to close them.
Martha leans down and kisses Julianna on her forehead, “I am so sorry, baby.” The woman nervously caresses the girl's left cheek which is speedily filling with veins of blackness. Martha coughs out a sob as her granddaughter' pale white skin begins losing the little coloring they have. She watches in horror as the black veins of blackness spider webs their way throughout Julianna's body.
“It-it is okay, baby,” Martha lies. She jerks as the girl coughs up more black substance. Julianna's breathing changes to short and shallow breaths. Martha strangles back the audible sounds of her sorrow for her granddaughter's sake.
“Shh...”, Martha whispers, “There - there, Julia.”
Julianna begins hyperventilating.
“I-I love you so much,” Martha soothes.
Julianna tenses. She exhales a long and steady breath. The teen relaxes. Martha begins unstrapping Julianna’s lifeless body within her confusion. The grief-stricken woman pulls her granddaughter into her desperate arms. Martha screams out inside of her despair.
* * *
Lady Lanecia and Martha washes Julianna's body. They remain s
ilent – void of any conversation. The voodoo priestess sadly watches her best friend work as she washes the child's hair. She, herself, uses a warm washcloth to wash away the last of Julianna's cleansing beneath her lower body. When they finish, Frank is invited in. He gently lifts his granddaughter’s body from the table and places her onto the bed-cot he brought in earlier.
Martha covers Julianna with a thick blanket up to her neckline. She leans in and kisses the teen on her lifeless black lips. Frank, helplessly, watches his wife break into another fit of tears.
* * *
Lilith holds Julianna in her lap. Away from the shoreline, the woman of many braids runs her right hand through the girl's red side-bangs. She tenderly tucks them over her ears.
“Anguisette,” Lilith's smoky voice quietly utters, “Even I did not see that coming.”
The teen's breathing becomes more rapid with each breath. Lilith runs her right index finger around the outside of the girl's blackening lips.
“Thank you,” Lilith adores, “You gave me a gift I thought impossible.”
Julianna partially opens her eyes and grins before giving back into her shallow breathing. She struggles between each one as she tries to speak.
“I-I... guess... I... messed... up... r-real... good.” Julianna smiles again before her eyes force themselves upward. Her body begins shaking violently.
“No living creature can touch the water,” Lilith sadly explains.
Julianna closes her eyes while her breath rate increases itself. She fights back as she forces her now solid black eyes to open once again. She looks into Lilith's inviting gaze. The beautiful woman calms her.