Chapter 4
Dark Days


I was waiting in the dining room for everyone to show up. They were late again. I wondered if we would ever eat our meals right on time. I checked the stairs for existence of any thoughts but nothing new just the old staircase.  I checked the kitchen, Margaret was thinking about the dinner. It was indeed a little early to wonder about the dinner. She was planning to boil some vegetables. I decided to tell her to cook chicken. John liked chicken. In times like these it was better to serve your beloved ones with their favorite meal.
Times were getting harder. The discussion in the council had grown. Counselors were arguing with each other instead of making a move. The approaches to the problem were wrong. Everyone considered their race as the perfect race and tried to protect their race. Creatures beyond the line were getting anxious. They weren’t going to wait too long. They wanted one thing and they would kill if they believed it would make a change. My family wasn’t going to fight no matter what. That wasn’t even a topic of discussion but we had to defend ourselves if there was a need. Thought of a possible war was torturing me. What if John or Lilith got hurt? What would I do then? No fighting wasn’t an option. We would run if we needed to. Eleanor and Edwin wanted to fight. They believed it was better to attack than to wait for an attack. Eleanor had described it as a torturing silence. They didn’t have anyone to worry about so it was easy for them to decide whether to fight or flee. They were powerful and smart enough to overcome a few weak creatures. I had a family to think about, I couldn’t just condemn my family to death.
Eleanor entered the dining room, as I was weighing the options.
-Good morning Elizabeth.
-Good morning Eleanor. Did you sleep well?
-Yes, I had a perfect sleep. How about you?
-Nothing new, I was just thinking.
-I saw you thinking about the options. You should let it go you know. Perhaps it is better to just see how the things go.
-I am not sure they will turn out good Eleanor. I won’t have a chance to take my choice back if something goes wrong, so I have to weigh each option.
-Fine, whatever you wish. Edwin and I are going to fight. We are actually thinking about leaving soon. We are going to find the council and wait with them. Others who want to fight and stop the creatures behind the line are gathering. We strongly believe we should be supporting our kind.
-We are not going anywhere. We will wait. If anything goes wrong, we will flee.
-As I told you before, I wish you would come with us but you don’t want to leave your family so I can’t do anything else.
-Thank you Eleanor. When are you leaving exactly?
-We are leaving tomorrow night.
Edwin had come to the room. He took his seat and showed me each single detail of their trip. He had planned it all, they were going to gather a few more of their friends and together they would wait near the witch councilors for the final verdict upon the case. They were planning to attack first and keep the advantage.
-Good morning to you too Edwin.
-Ooh, right. Good morning Elizabeth. Where is John?
-He went for a walk in the garden he will be back soon.
-What about Lilith? Where is she? She must be angry about yesterday.
-She didn’t wake up yet. I think I should go and check her.
I left them in the dining room and went upstairs. I knocked on the door but no one answered, so I opened the door and entered the room. She was in bed her eyes were half closed she wasn’t sleeping I could hear her thoughts. I saw her pain. She was suffering.
I raced across the room and stood near her bed. She looked as white as marble. She was shivering. There were dark circles under her eyes. Her lips were white. Her black hair had lost its glow. She looked like she was dying.
-What is wrong? Lilith what happened?
She didn’t answer. I checked for her thoughts again. She didn’t know anything. She had been lying in her bed since she woke up. Her mind was tired. My only daughter was suffering.
I went downstairs and brought back some sheirup. I made her drink. She couldn’t even oppose this time. This unknown thing was taking over her.
Eleanor came in with a cold look on her face. She was worried. She checked Lilith’s pulse.
-Her pulse is too slow for her age. I think we must call a doctor.
-A doctor? Yes, yes we should definitely call a doctor.
I found John’s mind in the library he had already started to search for the symptoms. I told him to find a doctor. He obeyed quietly.
Eleanor sat by the bed. She was checking Lilith’s pulse every 5 minutes. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t even move. I was trying to find a proper definition for the state Lilith was in. She was shivering, her eyes were half closed, she looked pale, and she was in pain.
-What is this? What is wrong with her? Eleanor?
-I don’t know, Elizabeth. Calm down you are not helping her.
-You are right I am not helping her.
I opened the curtains and went to bring another blanket for her.
I couldn’t give up now. Not when Lilith needed me. What kind of a mother would break down when her only daughter was waiting for her to find a cure? I brought a brown blanket and laid it over her. Edwin entered the room. He looked sad.
-John came back. He brought a doctor with him.
-At last! What took him so long?
-Calm down Elizabeth, it’s only been an hour.
-An hour of tremendous pain for her!
-I understand but it will not help any of us if you loose your temper!
-You are right. Where are they now?
John and an old man entered room. The man was carrying a small bag. He had snow white hair. Was this the man? His mind was pure and innocent. He had been a good man all his life. He had done his best in his job. His thoughts changed as he got closer to Lilith’s bed. He was thinking whether to ask the age of the girl or not. His thoughts started to change so quickly that it was hard for me to catch every thought. At last he stopped, he didn’t know what was wrong with her but he was sure she wouldn’t last long.
-What is wrong with her?
-This is my wife Elizabeth Tremortan. Doctor Frank was visiting another patient and I asked him to come urgently.
-It is a pleasure to meet with you Doctor. What is wrong with her?
-I am not sure Mrs. Tremortan. I haven’t seen anything like this before. I should make a more detailed examination.
-Please Doctor. Do you need anything?
-No, I have got everything I need with me.
We watched the doctor as he checked Lilith’s pulse. Then he put his hand on his forehead and waited for a while. He shook his head slowly, he wasn’t thinking about a specific thing but he was trying to come up with an explanation.
-Has she been like this before?
-No.
John answered the doctor with a harsh voice; he didn’t ask anything else for 10 minutes, but just listened to her breathing. Eleanor wasn’t happy with the doctor. “Old fool” she kept repeating in her head. Her thoughts didn’t help any of us. I was getting anxious. He hadn’t made a proper explanation yet. John wasn’t any different, he was thinking whether to ask the doctor about his verdict or not.
Edwin moved closer to his sister. Eleanor was getting angrier. I started to get afraid. I tried to think how bad it would be if Eleanor lost her temper. It didn’t work she wasn’t even listening. She was focused on the doctor.
-Mr. Tremortan, young girl is sick. She is suffering a bad illness that is obvious, but I can’t name her illness. Her symptoms match with an old man, an old man dying would be the exact comparison, but she isn’t old. She is hardly 20.
-She is about 19.
-That is what I mean. I can prepare a treat for her; it should help her breath easier. Other than that I can not do anything right now. I will search for such an illness in my books.
-Thank you doctor.
John took the doctor to his office. He had read Eleanor and he didn’t want to test her patience. I was calmer than Eleanor. I knew the doctor wasn’t lying and he didn’t mean any harm.
-Calm down Eleanor. That is it. He did his best.
I was ordering her to stop. That always worked. She listened to me and I would use that.
Eleanor and Edwin left the room. They would leave tomorrow night, it would be better if they started packing. It had been long since the night they arrived.
I pulled a chair next to Lilith’s bed; I couldn’t stand it, watching her die was too hard to bear. I took her hand in mine. Her hands were cold like ice. She started to tremble. I held her hand and whispered her to calm, everything would get better. I didn’t ask myself if I believed that myself, something in me said, I wouldn’t like the answer.
-Ma….Mother…
-I am here Lilith. Darling, I am here with you.
-It…. It….s……….
-What is it Lilith? What do you need?
-Ove………r…
-No nothing is over. Don’t say that. You should never tell that. Do you understand me?
It was too late.  Her hand slipped from my hands and fell to the cover. Her eyes were closed. Her body relaxed, she was gone! My only daughter, my darling, my Lilith was gone. She was gone. I froze, and then I heard an awful cry. I realized it was me. I screamed all the pain out. It didn’t work, she was gone. Door opened John and Edwin tried to pull me away, I was trying to embrace my only daughter’s body.
-Elizabeth, don’t. You should calm down. You are going to destroy us all. Remember Margaret; she is in the kitchen, Claire and there is the doctor. You are going to kill them all!
Eleanor was telling the truth but I didn’t care. She was gone, I couldn’t help her. Lilith’s mirror shattered into a thousand pieces, and then her windows exploded. One by one every chair in the room crashed into the wall. Her bed rose in the air, I didn’t want to do anything bad, I tried to stop it, but my mind didn’t want to listen. Eleanor was trying to stop me; she pulled the bed back to its place. Then I lit all the candles around the room, they started fly around the room. Flames got bigger and bigger I burned all the candles at once. Eleanor took them away from me; she crushed them into a round wax ball. Edwin and John were still holding me. I flied them into the side walls. Eleanor caught them both before hitting the wall. I crushed the paintings. I tore down the curtains. Eleanor tried to catch up my twisted thoughts but I wasn’t going to let her. I held her in the air; she flied Lilith’s body out the room. I shut the doors when Lilith was out. I crushed the stairs too. No one was getting upstairs.
I let Eleanor down. Edwin wrapped me with the bed sheets. I couldn’t move my arms but I didn’t need them. My thoughts twisted around the sheets, I could tear them apart, but did I really want to fight against my family and friends. I let my guard down, Eleanor and Edwin held me up in the air. I was done, over. My point of life was gone. My daughter, my beloved baby was gone. I watched myself from John’s mind. He was sad but not scared. He expected such a response. He well knew what I would do if something happened to Lilith. He was suffering as much as me.
We had lost our daughter that day. She was gone forever. We couldn’t help her…