Dring! Dring! Dring!
Lilith opened her eyes, a lazy groan escaping her sore throat. Waking up will always be one of her most hated bodily functions. Those lying motivation influencers must suffer in hell for trying to convince her otherwise.
Tap!
She tapped on her alarm and turned it off. She would've considered staying in bed for five more minutes if she had heard another beep of that annoying thing.
"Ugh! I should've slept earlier yesterday..."
Didn't you say it the day before, and the day before that as well?
She yanked her poor cover to the corner of the room and threw herself out of bed; the demon inhabiting it would've whispered temptations of prolonged blissful sleep if she hadn't.
Her falling path was well calculated; she fell parallel to the bed, the carpet softening the impact slightly. She avoided paying the bills of a hospital she couldn't afford as her head missed her nightstand by a few inches. Great.
She stood up slowly, softening the hems of her black pajama. Her shoulder-length raven-black hair was in disarray. She pressed with both of her hands on her lower spine and arched her back, determined to hear the familiar sound.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Lilith groaned in satisfaction like a drug addict, her mood improving a little.
"I wonder when I will get paralyzed for cracking my joints... Will that even happen? Anybody can make a study these days, who is to trust?... Might as well act like it won't."
Lilith grumbled to herself as she made her way to the toilet. For a person living alone, talking to oneself is a method of survival. It definitely isn't related to any mental illnesses, not at all...
She turned on the light and closed the wooden door. Who knows? Maybe a burglar will try to break in just when she decides to have her morning time in the toilet—she has to close it. At least she would have a few moments to get herself in shape before confronting them...
Lilith exited after having her sweet rendez-vous with the toilet, the sound of flushing marking her departure. There was a satisfied grin on her face; there would be no surprise attacks by her stomach this day.
As she was humming a song she hated but still clung to her head, Lilith approached the red curtains that were in her bedroom and parted them.
"Ugh!"
She was a bit taken aback by the rays of the rising sun, her ghostly-blue eyes offered practically no natural protection against them. Nevertheless, they quickly adjusted to the glare since she used the light of the toilet as a warm-up.
She pushed the window aside and entered the balcony, warm air playing with her hair. Thankfully, it was almost summer. So the morning wasn't that cold.
Lilith approached the edge of the balcony and gazed at the scenery. What met her was a city that had just started waking up. Under the reflected sunlight of the high-rise buildings and the shadows of the green trees, people were moving.
Some just took walks, some hurried to their bus stops, and others drove their cars. The cacophony of noises started rumbling up, the police sirens, the ambulances, the loud motors...
"Alright, let's get this over with."
She went to a mat that was on the side and started doing her daily exercise. Twenty push-ups, twenty sit-ups, fifty squats, and two minutes of plank.
"Ugh, that's good."
She stood up and headed to the bathroom. She was only doing this workout because it helped clear her mind and gather her thoughts, not for any athletic purpose. She was already in shape, and she controlled her appetite well, even her metabolism was on her side. Her single heart only thumped somewhat faster than usual.
Lilith washed herself and was now standing in her changing room, a towel on her hair and body. Her pale skin was flushed slightly from the shower.
"Hmm... Let's see... I don't have an important meeting for today, so I'll just wear whatever I'm comfortable with..."
She changed into a black suit with black pants that hugged her bountiful curves softly, it was far from provoking or revealing in any way. In fact, her barely showing any skin had a charm of its own. Sometimes less is more.
She decided against wearing high heels since she was already slightly taller than the average man in the city, and she wasn't meeting or negotiating with any competing company that day. So, intimidating some representatives of other companies with her towering height wasn't on her schedule.
She went back to the bathroom since it had better lighting than her bedroom, and started applying her makeup. She didn't put on much, but she was a bit more extravagant using her eyeliner and mascara, as they highlighted her contrasting features even further. After getting done with her red lipstick, she grabbed her black bag and headed outside.
After stepping out, she wore her usual mask of indifference. The target of her steady steps was the elevator. She walked by other men and women in the corridor, and they offered their greetings, she responded with a silent nod of acknowledgment that they've grown to be familiar with.
After stepping inside the elevator and starting it, she pulled out her phone from her bag and started scrolling through it.
She tried to find some important news amidst the usual stupidity that flooded the social media platform that she was using, but she didn't find any. Since no news reached this polluted app, it means that there's nothing of notice.
Ding!
The soft chime of the door rang as it opened and two teenage girls stepped into the elevator, the taller one having long black hair and green eyes, the shorter one having darker skin, long brown hair, and hazel eyes. They quickly stopped whatever conversation they had as they stared at her with shock.
"Ms. Dvane?!"
The taller one shouted enthusiastically, while the shorter one hid behind her shyly and tried to whisper to her companion not to make a fool of themselves.
Lilith lifted her head up from her phone, a bit confused about what the girl had said. There was no other person in the elevator, and her surname was Etherea. Definitely not Dvane.
Before she could voice out her confusion, the taller girl spoke again:
"I can't believe that you actually live here! I thought that Maria was joking when she said that your apartment is in the same building as hers!"
The shorter girl—probably Maria—was practically begging her.
"Stop it! She will think of us as weirdos! How will I walk peacefully to my home knowing that you acted this way in front of her?!"
Oblivious to her friend's peril—or simply ignoring her—the taller one continued:
"Your book 'Fifteen Ways To Kill Yourself' was amazing! I couldn't sleep that night after I had read it! Can you sign my notebook for me?! I'll do anything you say for it!"
The green eyes of the taller girl were glowing like pure emerald as she pulled out a notebook and a pencil from her bag and offered them to Lilith. Her friend, Maria, was practically glued to her back and tried to disappear into her shadow.
"This can't be happening... Oh no... Revy, you've just destroyed my social life... Curse you... I will never forgive you..."
Lilith was just as confused about their attitude as she was confused about their naming choice. Sure, she had written 'Fifteen Ways To Kill Yourself', but her surname wasn't Dvane. They must've made a mistake about it or something. She didn't want to make this moment awkward, so she just nodded silently and took the notebook and pencil from Revy and signed it with the initial 'D'.
Despite the name, the book 'Fifteen Ways To Kill Yourself' was the direct opposite of its title. In a nutshell, it was about staying alive no matter what happens. She was still not sure why the publishers didn't have any issue with the problematic title.
Revy's face beamed with joy as she received her pencil and signed notebook from Lilith. She made small jumps that shook the elevator lightly.
"I can't believe it! Thank you! Maria, aren't you going to ask for her autograph as well?! Do you want me to ask for you?!"
Maria was still mumbling incoherently in despair as Revy simply yanked her bag from her—which prompted the former to yelp—and took out another pencil and notebook.
"Please sign this as well! I'll be so, so, so grateful!"
Lilith silently did the same to this notebook with her indifferent expression staying the same. But she was getting a little overwhelmed by the taller girl's energy.
After receiving back her notebook, Maria's despairing face regained some of its color. She blushed heavily, clearly not comfortable with talking to new people, as her voice came with both gratitude and nervousness.
"Th-thank you, Ms. Dvane. I-I'm not going to lose this notebook ever..."
Ding!
The elevator reached the ground floor, which felt way longer than the countless other times that Lilith used it. She looked at the girls, one trying to blend into the background and the other examining the autograph like an item in a museum.
"You said that you'll do anything if you receive my autograph..."
Both girls perked their heads up. Confusion and curiosity on their faces. They hadn't expected that she would try to initiate a conversation with them. Her reputation as someone with few words didn't escape their ears.
Lilith reached Revy's forehead with her hand and flicked it with her fingers. The girl yelped in shock as a small red mark alongside a stinging feeling appeared.
"Ouch!"
Lilith stepped out of the elevator and left them.
"Don't be hard on your friend."
They both stood in the elevator, taken aback by Lilith's actions. After a few seconds, however, Maria looked at Revy with a gloating expression and pushed her tongue out in a mocking gesture.
"Eh?! Why are you laughing at me?! Is this how you treat me after everything we've been through?! Give me your autograph as well then!"
Revy shouted in a dramatic and somewhat betrayed tone. How had she turned into the villain? She fought verbally with Maria but there was no real heat to her words.
Lilith, not bothering to stay near them, headed to the parking lot. Although she didn't show it, she was a little pleased to meet with someone who had enjoyed her work. This day wasn't so bad it seemed...
But, something still gnawed at her mind. Who's Ms. Dvane? I'll search that up later...
She reached her black car and started fumbling with her keys. Her car wasn't a new model, so she had to use her physical keys to open it.
Even though she could get a new one, she was too lazy to go to a car dealership and do that. But she soon started to regret her decision as she struggled to get the keys in.
Click.
"Come on..."
Click. Click.
"Seriously?"
Click. Click. Click.
"Oh for fuck sake! Should I have had a coffee instead of going raw this morning?"
Click! Click! Click!
Shug!
"Ahh!"
Lilith screamed as she felt a blinding pain shoot through her whole body. Her pain receptors were forcing clarity, fear, and decisiveness into her mind.
She was pressed by an unknown weight on her car, her escape denied. Instinctively, she suddenly twisted her body and elbowed back with all of her might. She felt something give in to her attack and break. The weight disappeared as well, but the pain remained.
Bam!
Thud!
She had already turned and what she saw was what she already suspected happened to her. A man was thrown on the floor, clutching his broken nose in pain. He wasn't much younger than her, just in his early twenties. But what made her equal parts confused, as she was terrified by the situation, was that the man had a horrified expression when he looked at her.
Shit! Why is this happening?! Is this for money? Did I offend a company too much? Did he do it because of a personal motive?! Shit! It hurts!
Lilith couldn't turn around and see for herself, but the searing pain that she felt in her kidney confirmed that she had been stabbed in the back with a knife. The blade was still clinging to her flesh, as well.
Seeing that she was still standing—although barely—the man ignored his bleeding nose and stood up. He charged at Lilith with the same horrified expression.
Lilith defended herself with her hand as he tried to choke her. She was slightly taller than he, and he was skinny. So she should've had a minor physical advantage if not for the fact that she was stabbed.
"S-stop! Just go away! We don't have to fight!"
She pleaded, trying to reason with him. But her words fell on deaf ears, the man now managed grip her neck and started choking the life out of her.
Lilith, instead of panicking more, felt her mind go into absolute focus. Ignoring the pain she felt when the blade went deeper due to being pressed against the car, she didn't resist his hands and started searching her bag instead.
After finding what she looked for, she spat at the man's eyes and blinded him momentarily. She used that moment to her advantage and slashed his neck with the box-cutting knife that she managed to take out of her bag.
Thud!
Thud!
Both of them fell on the ground. The man lay on the asphalt, his gushing blood getting devoured by the dry material. He died rather quickly, his horrified expression not changing at all.
Lilith was leaning back on her vehicle as she sat. Her bloody handprints marked her struggle on the window.
When she was freed from his grip, instead of feeling relieved, she felt more helpless. She breathed like air was her life force, though it felt like oxygen couldn't fill the emptiness she was experiencing.
Her vision blurred, and her mind dazed. She struggled to stay awake as sweat was dripping only less fervently than her blood.
She was dying.
"Ms. Dvane!"
"Ms. Dvane?!"
The two girls from earlier rushed to the scene, their screams of terror soon catching the attention of other people.
Revy screamed her name and Maria tried to stop the bleeding with flooding tears. It wasn't enough.
Though, even in that horrifying situation...
Who the fuck is Ms. Dvane?! I'm Etherea!
It was weird to get hung up in such detail in her last moments, but Lilith couldn't help it. It just pissed her off that much for some reason.
Lilith's vision went dark, and she faintly felt people carrying her body.
But it was futile.
Lilith died.