Chapter 28 - Lily

Based on the song Lily, by Alan Walker. Please listen to the original artwork.

Lily was a little girl. She grew up next to a deep, dark forest, always being told to stay away. She had everything she ever wanted. Except one thing - Freedom. The huge walls were her horizon. It was taboo to talk about anything "outside". They were "inside". Safe. From what? No one told her. It was "outside". Why would she want to go there? She had everything. Except freedom. So she took it. She was afraid when she set foot on the ground outside. But she needed to know. So she went further. Something pulled her into the forest. Something creeping, leeching. It called her. Lily saw mountains, higher than clouds, wide green meadows, beautiful sunsets and the vast, endless ocean. She had achieved freedom.

A little voice, coming from nowhere, whispered, lured her - Do you want that? Lily swirled around, and found herself lost in the middle of the black, dark forest, not remembering the way she got there.

Do you want that? The voice crept closer. I can give it to you. Just let me in. Let me in, Lily. I can lead you to freedom. To places you've never seen. Just let me in, Lily.

She let out a little shriek and ran. She had seen the face of the voice. She crashed thorugh the woods, scraping her knees and ripping her lovely dress. Behind her she heard the creature following her.

Don't you want to see the sea? See the mountains? Do you want to stay in this cage, a slave of fear, forever? Just let me in, Lily. I am your freedom. Don't run from the truth.

Her feet slowed. Her chest heaved air into her lungs. Freedom. That was what she had come here for. So why was she running? Tge walls were everything she had ever known. The "inside". Hadn't she been held captive the whole time? Every question blocked in the thought? Father and mother she had never known, replaced by servants. Who was she, anyways? A girl, everyone telling her not to question anything. Not to go "outside". Maybe that was the place she belonged. Why should she return to her home, where she was not even being treated as a girl. By servants who were being replaced every few months, not speaking a single word with her. Why would she want to go back into the nest of lies. To be caged like a bird? No.

Lily turned around.

"I want freedom!"