Lily swallowed, staring at the dirt on her fingers. “If you’d grown up with my mother, you’d want to do more than get your hands dirty,” she said, as the moon broke free from the clouds, painting her a specter against the darkness. White hair. White skin. White teeth. “You’d want to bury her alive.”

4 Callous Lily

In the light Lily had withered, but in the darkness she bloomed. Hidden away in this gated place, she’d eaten to her heart’s content, never worrying about who was looking over her shoulder. No fingernails dug into her arm. No voice whispered in her ear to play the game a little longer, do as she was told, be a good girl.

Lily was not a good girl.

Being good led to obedience, and obedience led to being hurt. For the past three years, Lily had lived free of rules and free of pain. Well, there were some rules in the Rose Hollow Wellness Facility, but they were centered around not hurting people, and Lily was fine with that. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, didn’t want to lie or deceive.

But sometimes she didn’t have a choice. Like this evening, for example. Lily was sitting on the lip of a fountain, waiting for Jack to arrive at the facility. Jack had been calling her all day, but places like this restricted cell phone usage, so Lily had pretended to be unavailable for most of that time. Her phone had lit up at one o’clock. Three o’clock. Five. Finally, at seven thirty, Lily had answered.

Then she’d gone to wait in the courtyard.

Now she trailed her fingers through the water of the fountain’s pool, twirling the water lilies that floated on the surface. This courtyard had been her solace over the past few years. She’d come out here as often as possible, tending to the flowers or letting the coolness of the water soothe her skin.

It was unfortunate that she’d had to leave it behind.

There was a tinkling sound to her left, as someone pushed through the back door of the facility. Lily turned in time to see Jack approaching. Her old friend was hesitant, worry lining her face.

Or was it fear?

Lily pushed to her feet, racing toward her. Before Jack could even react, Lily had ambushed her with a crushing embrace. Jack’s auburn curls were wild and they tickled Lily’s face. Those curls took on a tinge of gold in the summer, and a tinge of red in the autumn. The sight of them was so familiar, tears welled in Lily’s eyes.