Touch

Lilith doesn't like to be ignored; her antics forging an imperishable pledge forsaking the young lass afar from the embrace of rest, the phantom lurking its ethereal presence in the room fond of mischievous miseries to weary her rotten soul. 

The sun rises and sets, each passing day sinking her deeper into an entrapment complex of unrest aqueous a haunting pall ensnared by the eerie tendrils of the woman's existence, unwavering demand for attention. 

"You think you can ignore me forever," she pondered aloud, words prancing around the room. " That is not how this works," with a flick of her wrist cold winds kvell inside as the windows flung open. " But I can tell you since I'm not entirely selfish, " Eliena offers a glance. Lilith lowers her voice to a greedy childish whisper. " You're tethered to me everything you are, everything you'll be is mine." 

The torment continues.

Nighttime the scant drowse the student manages to steal is swiftly snatched away from her grasp by the persistent her sweet siesta moment becomes fragile heaven as she drifts into the realm of nightmares the suffocating grip of vigilance clutches her windpipes for air in oppressive stillness golden eyes loom at the foot of her bed penetrating the darkness each gasp of huffs for breaths capture in a thorny disguise of dream ever-growing thinner in reality. 

There's no escape. 

She began to feel like a ghost harrowing the echoing halls crowded wistful pupils of the library her lousy walks stroll with an empty stomach dark circles cast shadows beneath her eyes mirroring the vividness of exhaust and weight of hectic nights aimlessly she promenaded among the towering sleeves of the book searching in vain for any mention of Lilith turning pages and pages with hopes to find rational explanations for the inexplicable connection between living and dead.

Her efforts yield nothing but whines of unanswered questions. At some point, the boundaries of logic for the other peak possibility to pursue fantasy beyond the confines of reason. She rethought again. All she wanted was to get away and break the bond. 

Lilith seemed to peek at her ideas as the woman found new ways to keep Eliena away from the library and anyone else.

Like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings, new tasks crumple to keep her busy as the woman's relentless schemes entrap a web in her vulnerable facade of composure. 

During the cacophony of ongoing classes, the woman will onslaught venomous taunts about the professors, humorous screeches of insult in their lectures, whisper of mischief tease against her ears, Or force her to answer wrong earning another writing task for the same subjects. Ms. Veronica enjoyed that and so did Lilith. 

She stopped answering in classes, but for how long? If this keeps going, her academics will go low.

In the History lesson, she decided to talk with someone. She thought about Sofia. That girl could believe her and help her out since Eliena had caught Sofia gaping at her more often in classes as if she could see Lilith behind her or suspect something was amiss, but she had a hard time imagining Sofia Collins judging her of how easy it is to fool someone. 

No. Not her. 

Then Isabelle came to her mind at the lunch table where they sat together with others. Her friend will probably crack jokes about believing. So far the tons of conversations she pays attention to mostly end with her friend's love life. If she tells Isabelle Aylin will know too. Too much risk. Eliena shook her head. 

One afternoon, she was going to detention when the wicked woman made her mislead a step, forcing her to crash into the unforgiving instructor, leaving his important papers flying everywhere in the corridor. An earful lecture wasn't enough and she was sent to the class. 

Another chance was wasted going to the library, as she thought, but seeing Jasper alone in the room writing something, her brows frowned. She bowed to the teacher and sat next to him. " How did you get detention?" she asks, pulling his attention away from the pages. 

He waves his hand dismissively, a warm smile offering the notes he was working on. " You didn't come to the library, so here I am." 

" You write my notes," Eliena said with a small tease in her tone pretending to discredit him. " Is that a way?" 

Jasper rolled his eyes in mock exasperation, delight glimmering in his dark orbs. " It's called returning the favor," head leaned to look at her as he propped his chin. "So what's keeping you so busy lately?" he inquired. 

Amber eyes burned hotter in the back of her skin even though Eliena couldn't see the woman. She could feel her presence inside somewhere taking hold of the notes she avoided his gaze. 

How could she tell him? Maybe she could convince him. Her mind pondered excuses but lips refused to utter the lies. 

With a sigh, she mused words. "There's something," pads of her fingers softly brushed over his neat handwriting. " I was looking for some answers," curiosity piqued in his eyes as their gaze met. " Have you ever read anything like a bond between living and death?" 

Jasper took his moment to nod thoughtfully. "Yes, I did." 

Eliena took a breath and shifted in her seat, teeth nibbling against her bottom lips in uncertainty. If there was someone good in fiction Jasper knows to get information. " Can you get me the book?" she breathed. 

What she predicted was confusion with tons of queries but the radiant smile that blossomed across Jasper's features eased the tangle of doubts in her heart. "Of course," he assured with eagerness. " Waverly probably has the book now," he explained. " I will ask for it," 

For the first time since this all began, she doesn't feel so hopeless in the dark. " Thanks," she smiled, eyes almost welled up with tears, heart warmth upon a testament to profound solace in his company without any need for justification of acts and wants. "I'm so glad to have you." 

Blushes adored his cheeks, a faint delicate flush that reflected rosy hues of ardency, eyes endured over her face.

Founding his gaze lingered upon her untamed locks she enquired playfully to keep his suspicion away. "I look devastated don't I?" 

He gently shook his head with a solemn smile, feigning a grin to preserve the balance to keep the mood light. Though questions dwelt on his mind he knew asking them was not the right choice, not now. "We both are Elie, you and me." He mumbled. 

Ten cadence beats of her heart in silence curiosity glide an absence hampered more abstrusely than any presence. 

No burning gaze held her, no watchful eyes tethered her in the room. She glanced around, and her eyes fell upon the teacher, who was busy on his laptop. 

Jasper was saying something again. His voice's unclear murmur pulled at her consciousness. She nodded spontaneously, yet her attention roamed, seeking phantom calls of the missing chord of her being. 

Past the window pane, her gaze forayed looking for something that held the key for unspoken longing. 

And there it was beneath the cherry blossom trees Lilith. Strolling, admiring the delicate petals that fell through her as Eliena watched, an upsurge of emotion rinsed a swell of astonishment and endearment crashing against the shores of her soul. 

It felt oddly good. Her once timid heartbeat with a foreign rhythm of its own, not in fear but in unfamiliar comfort, the quiet allure and magnetic presence is woven into its existence tracing indelible paths in her spirit. 

The world began to fade, eyelids slowly heavy, a vision flashing on the back of her memories, someone's laughs. Feminine, gentle chattering serenades.

"Elie?" Jasper called cutting through the silence and jerking her back. 

Her head snapped to him, eyes momentarily distant before focusing. " Yes," 

"Should we add more concepts?" he asked 

"Oh right," She looked through the notes and murmured. " This'll do," 

He nodded before writing something back. 

Again, she quickly peeked at the window, but there was no Lilith.

When she looked back at the teacher, she found the woman leaning behind the man, watching the laptop with a soft frown, curiousness almost glinting in those spellbinding amber eyes.

Unknowingly Eliena smiled like a devoted worshipper. 

The torment had taken a new emotion. 

The moment her body flops on the bed and she drifts into slumber, the warm blanket ripped off, she curls up into a ball to reattempt her sleep. That's when her other subconscious self feels a cold chill drawing over her cheeks and down to her bare arms like someone is dragging ice cubes across her skin. 

Slyly, Lilith let her sleep throughout the night, slowly dropping the temperature lower and lower by dawn. Eliena's skin is pale as white snow lips tainted with blue hues. No different from a corpse.

Until the hot water burns down, restoring her body temperature to normal. Something was different. 

Her birthmark has expanded patterns down her shoulder blades forming new curves as if someone has used her skin as a canvas to paint their incomplete illustration. 

That wasn't the only thing. She realized something else: it wasn't just her lifeless face.

Walking out of the bathroom covering herself with the towel, and damp hair cascaded down her back." Were you...uh, did I feel your touch in my sleep?" She breaks the ignorance, half-naked in the middle, eyes drafting the contours of the woman's form, searching for any hint of an answer.

However, an awkward, hounded silence grew uneasy feeling in her chest knots sensing the pointlessness of her inquiry. She shrugs. " Never mind," she had guessed the woman was not going to answer anyway. 

"I don't know, did you?" initiated Lilith closer to the bed unmoving, unblinking. 

Hesitating Eliena for a beat, conflicting with emotions, her steps found their purpose; heels softly tapping, carrying her toward the woman.

Each stride dissolved, and the distanced gaze locked as she stood before Lilith. " Touch me now; I want to see," words fall past her lips, bold, demanding statements taken aback by the newfound assertiveness.

 Since when did she become demanding? 

Succulent edges of delish lips curved into a low crony chuckle. "Desperate," her impish demeanor slicing vexing the air laced with fake amusement. 

Eliena's nose wrinkled in annoyance and disgust. The nerve of this wicked woman is illogical. " I only want to see if things are changing your connection with me," she retorted. Lilith's head-tilted expression was unreadable. " But if you're not interested there's no point." Dismissed the student before she could step back.

"Who said I'm not interested," the voice tugged an invisible thread to her gut. " Anything My Precious Darling wants always captured my interest," the response was barren of mischievous words, mien weights of sincerity, absence of jest laying bare at her feet, and raw honesty in declarations resonating with affection. 

A sensation fluttered inside her belly, a new feeling she had added to her list whenever the woman used those confectionary terms Eliena would rather end up being speechless the barriers she had provoked in her heart weirdly began to crumble divulging a newfound willingness to explore the depths of their relation but her mind always yanked her back reminding her this woman is not human she had used her body used her as a source for...for something.

Hate her. Break the connection. She told herself. 

Golden brown pools softened their gaze in a silent plea as if those inner thoughts had been heeded and hurt the revenant.

 A hand reaches out in a second. Eliena felt something running along her right forearm, the same as in the shower. Chill gripped the back of her neck; it wasn't quite a touch, more like drips of cold water. 

"Should I stop?" a question raise

"No," quell the answer in an insistence.

Breath caught in the throat, heart quickening its peace, her body temperature is lowering stomach churns when she feels Lilith at her other arm slithering up smoothly over her skin. 

Questions prickling she can't seem to get them all. 

Lilith, a dead, a bodiless spirit bound to her by her reaching from beyond, and Eliena can feel her.

Why? She was just a human, a girl without parents and family surviving her college life to get her degree. She had planned everything so far to settle before this woman came. 

She should be terrified but even so, Lilith's hands slid further up until they clasped around her throat Eliena gasped lips parted the hold wasn't hard enough to choke her one hand rested upon her thrumming pulse pleasingly feeling thrills other one brushed like freezing air tricking along the mole on her collarbone tracing up her jawline. 

"I recall our first meeting on a veiled night, a clever, stupid, little girl determined to protect a weak soul risking her own. Do you remember? I know you do," whispers the woman, her melodic voice forcing deep. Under her spell, Eliena leans into the faint cold touches. "For you, it's another life. For me, it was another day," she spokes dryly.

Shivers run down with erect breaths stuck in place. " You're different now. Not so holy. Filled with sinful thoughts I'm glad to be the reason for… it makes me want to play with you more." 

A breathy laugh reverberated, eyes glazed in wonderment. " Play?" 

The woman hummed. " Most of the time your restless doze makes me think about the myriad ways I could steal your sleep" 

" And you choose to wake me up," 

Soft chuckles drifted through the air, passing the gap they had. Eliena's fingers itched to contact the white fabric of the woman's dress against her bare skin. 

The hand that once traced paths over her jaw now crawled through the silken strands of her wet hair inching closer and closer to the birthmark of her nape. " I don't find my joy in your misery, Eliena," she whispers coldly exhaling upon her lips. "But seeing breathless burns my desires all the things I'd do more than mere touches,"

The corner of Lilith's mouth seductively curves into a mesmerizing smirk, a subtle enjoyment playing across her lips as she acknowledges the delicate interplay between desire and restraint. 

Unaware of the depth of her lust, Eliena leans in with quivering lips seeking hearten against the haze of her mind and whirlwind thoughts yearning to bridge the gap between them. 

Sensing the tumult beliefs of the fragile boundary the woman stopped her movements with a tender commanding touch preserving a breath's distance between them as if there were ethereal bounds that shouldn't be dared to breach an unspoken intuition that the student drawn by the intricate desires of the forbidden allure and fully defenestrate herself to be consumed by the irresistible pull risking everything just to taste the depths that bind them in. 

Just one kiss won't do any harm. A devilish whisper cooed. Lost in a daze of desire, her hands lifted, but before she could grasp.

"Strange it is. Since the day I followed your path, I could never turn back," Lilith said. 

Eliena shook her head and balled her hands into fists to concentrate on her senses. Everything was cold, even her breathing except her birthmark. It was pleasingly throbbing, hotly burning, and bothering.

Something flickers in her mind. If she puts all the pieces of questions together she resembles an answer not precisely but still. " Did you follow me from that exploring tour?" she inquired, beetle-browed, as Lilith smiled before disappearing. 

She's gone? 

"This is not fair," as her fingers released their grip on the towel, a sudden gust of wind swept inside the room, icy winds biting her skin, a reminder of her misfortune.

An acrid chuckle escaped her lips, tinged with sarcasm. "Not find joy in your misery," cursing under her breath she scoffed. " Lying bitch!"