Burn The Stars ψ Michael Langdon

ψ tredecim ψ

As a grey, Lillith was subjected to countless chores and tasks. She didn't understand why she was a grey, since Rebecca and John, her adopted parents, had paid for her spot, all of their money went to her safety. They sacrificed themselves for her. Her adopted mother's last words, "God has a plan for you" rang in Lillith's ears every day as she scrubbed the floors.
Why would God want her to be a grey? That's all Lillith could wonder, but she would always proceed to shake her head and scrub harder. God had a plan for her, she just had to serve others for now until she was ready to rise rank. She would find paradise and be saved.

"I feel so bad for her," Lillith heard one of the purples' voices from around the corner. Callia Maine, a super nice - but sassy - girl who tended to give Lillith a pitiful look every time they encountered each other. "She deserves to be a purple too, Ethan. I heard about her background, her ticket was the most expensive one of all of ours, paid by her adopted parents, who were in some fancy rich church."
"This place is strangely divided up," Ethan, another purple, spoke. Lillith never talked to either of them, but she occasionally heard them talk about her. They were both kind from what she assumed, since they never talked horribly about the greys, unlike Coco, a purple with an obnoxious attitude. "There's nothing we can do though."
"Maybe we can talk to Venable?" Callia asked. There was silence before Lillith heard her sigh. "Yeah, that's probably not the best idea."
"Let's go, Callia, they're expecting us in the cocktail room."

    Lillith had to help serve the meals - well it wasn't really a meal, since it was just a nutrition cube. She brought out the trays as Venable announced they were cutting back to one meal a day. There was an outbreak within the purples as they refused to allow themselves to starve.
    "What is the point of all of this? Starving, killing each other, getting shot? All we're doing is waiting around to find out how we die." Coco declared. "I say we take our chances outside." There were voices of agreeance going around until Venable demanded that no one was going to leave.
"What are you gonna do?! Shoot us all? Huh?! What are you gonna do?" Gallant stood up, raising his arms. As soon as he said that, the alarms sounded, causing Lillith to wince in pain. A headache made its way through her head, causing her to put her hands to her temples. She suddenly felt a familiar presence, which confused her. How was she able to sense someone? Also, why did they feel familiar? She did not understand.
    "Perimeter alert, there's been a breach." Miriam Mead, one of Venable's helpers, announced. They were ushered away to go back to their living quarters. The greys shared rooms, other than Lillith, who was allowed her own room. It was part of her ticket, though she still did not deserve to be a grey. Lillith supposed maybe they did not have any more purple clothes for her.
    Lillith lied down in her bed, thinking about how life was before the end of times. She closed her eyes, remembering it all.
    She didn't remember much from before going to live with the Petersons; it had been declared she had some sort of selective amnesia. The Petersons had taken her in to foster her after she was unclaimed in a hospital after some sort of freak accident at age twelve; then they adopted her a few years later; a year before the apocalypse. She never really bonded with them, despite their attempts to become her parents emotionally. She just couldn't feel it, and she didn't understand why not. But, they loved her unconditionally, and showed that through their presents and their weekly visits to their pristine church to worship their Holy God.
    Lillith was an outcast at her boarding school, since she didn't even attempt to make friends. She felt like there was no use, like they wouldn't even last - and she was right. The day the world was finally scheduled to end, before the explosions went off, her adopted parents told her what they had done.

    "There's an airplane scheduled to leave in an hour and you're going to be on it," John told her.
    "Why? Where am I going?" Lillith had asked.
    "The world is ending, it's not a hoax or a joke, Lillith. We bought you a ticket to a place that will keep you safe." Rebecca explained. Lillith furrowed her eyebrows and looked between the two. "The prophesied End of Time is here, and we want you to be safe."
    "What about you?" She asked them, they shook their heads and John pulled Rebecca into his arms, a loving embrace.
    "We want the best for you, Lillith. It's our time to be with the Lord." John responded. She just could not understand why they would choose to pay for her to go and not themselves. John looked at his watch as they heard a car pull up. "It's time, Lillith. Be safe, we love you."
    "God has a plan for you," Rebecca told Lillith as she got into the car. And the car took her away to an airport. As Lillith got on the airplane, she was all alone. She watched people run around outside as the airplane took off, and then she was in the air.
    When she arrived to the outpost, she was introduced to everyone there, then she was assigned as a grey. Right away everyone knew that was a mistake, since she had been the only one to arrive in a private jet all alone and to herself. Plus, they had heard of her, of her adopted parents. She was rich, and most of the money for the outposts came from her ticket.
    Lillith was an outcast there too, she always was. She didn't make friends with any of the other greys, feeling the same feeling of it not being worth her time. She just scrubbed and scrubbed, then served the purples. Really, the only grey she even knew their name was Mallory, who - just like her - should not have been a grey. She felt a sense of familiarity to her, and Coco, but she ignored it. No sense in investigating.
Honestly, she just couldn't understand the point of her being there. Her adopted parents said God had plans, but she was just being induced to a lifetime of serving until it was safe to leave the Outpost - if it ever would be safe. She recalled what Ms. Venable announced about the food supply and how scarce it was becoming. If the outside continued to stay dangerous and inhabitable, they would all starve to death. She was going to starve to death in a bunker surrounded by people she did not know or care for. Where was God when she needed him?

Later that day, Lillith heard whispers of snakes being discovered across the Outpost. Some servants were assigned to help cook the snakes into dinner for that night. Along with the snake gossip was talk of the alarms from in the morning and the presence of an outsider. Lillith listened as best as she could but no one knew anything.
She was instructed to serve dinner that night, like usual. As she did her chore, she listened to the conversations from the Purples.
"I have a rule against eating things with no legs or too many legs," Coco grimaced as the snake meal was uncovered.
"Oh, right, but you're fine eating something with two legs." Andre snapped, making Coco look at me.
"For the last time," she began. "We didn't eat your boyfriend."
Lillith recalled the first time they ever got something other than the cubes. It was after Gallant and Stu had been flagged for radioactive material and were taken to be examined. Gallant returned; Stu did not. Soon after, they had a dinner of stu- apparently with chicken. But, those bones looked awfully humanlike. Lillith was glad she didn't eat that night, or else she would never be forgiven for the sin of cannibalism. Her adopted parents would never forgive her either.
"So, who's in your office?" Lillith focuses her attention away from her thoughts and back to the conversation.
"I beg your pardon," Ms. Venable responded.
Lillith listened closely to see if Ms. Venable would answer the Purples' questions about the intruder, but she didn't.
"All questions will be answered in due course," was all she said before she ordered them to eat. As they lifted their covers on their bowls, snakes slithered out of the bowls, causing them to scream. Lillith froze, unsure how that was possible. She felt something in her core, a fire that somehow chilled her spine instead of warming it. The Purples began to discuss the living snakes and how they were alive, but some continued to talk about the intruder.
As the chatter continued, Lillith felt the fiery chill ignite her spine and core again. She felt the familiar presence get closer and closer until she heard a gasp and saw the Purples looking at her. She was confused until she felt a tickle on her neck from someone's breath. Someone was behind her - no, the intruder was behind her.