Our package.

"Arrrghhh!" Lilith Raziel let out a thundering scream as her eyes shot open with terror.

Her heart rate rose and fell as she felt the softness of her bed underneath her. "It... it was just a dream," Lilith mumbled to herself, horror seizing her, making her skin crawl.

She placed her palms on her chest and breathed, attempting to calm her racing heart.

"Boom!" A loud banging was heard coming from the door as if someone was attempting to force their way into the room.

Lilith leapt out of bed in terror as she quickly grabbed her cane stick and stretched it forward to prepare for whatever lay beyond the door.

With a crusty, unsettling sound, the old basement door suddenly opened.

As the door slowly opened, the footsteps of an elderly lady could be heard, causing Lilith's shoulder to relax in relief.

She knew from the footstep that the person who had just opened the door was her aunt.

"Are you trying to fight me with the cane?" Mrs Kathy, who was known as Lilith's aunt, questioned her as she walked towards Lilith with a frown on her face.

Lilith pushed her saliva down her throat, nervously shaking her head sideways. "I'm sorry for stretching out my cane stick," Lilith stated as she started to apologize. "It's just that I have a nightmare, Aunt Kathy. A nightmare which was worse than any other night..."

"Do I look as if I care?" Mrs Kathy said coldly as he stopped Lilith from finishing her statement.

Lilith bit her bottom lips while shaking her head. "Sorry for trying to explain," Lilith muttered as she pulled herself out of bed.

Mrs. Kathy was already upset with Lilith, so she rolled her eyes while smacking her lips.

Lilith Raziel was born with Retinopathy of Prematurity, a condition that left her blind from birth.

Tragically, her parents were killed in a car accident when Lilith was only two years old.

Having no visual memory of her parents, Lilith could only rely on the memories shared by those who knew them. It was often said that Lilith was a miracle child, the sole survivor of the crash that claimed the lives of her loved ones.

Life as an orphan proved to be a living nightmare for Lilith.

Her aunt, Kathy, adopted her out of familial duty, but the arrangement was fraught with friction.

Mrs Kathy saw Lilith not as a niece, but as a painful reminder of her deceased sister.

Lilith became the embodiment of Mrs Kathy's resentment and unprocessed grief, causing her to treat Lilith with disdain and cruelty.

For Kathy, Lilith was a cursed child, a living manifestation of all that had gone wrong in her life.

"I need you to make dinner. We have a guest who will arrive in thirty minutes." Kathy spoke coldly and definitively.

Lilith wanted to ask Kathy what she could prepare for a guest who would arrive in thirty minutes, but she kept her questions to herself since she knew asking them aloud would upset her aunt.

Lilith took a big breath, stood tall with her cane stick beside her, and began making her way out of the basement.

Despite the circumstances of her living arrangement, she was grateful to have her own space, a small basement bedroom that she could call her own.

Over time, Lilith learned to accept her blindness and make the best of her situation.

Cooking was a skill she'd painstakingly acquired, relying on her other senses to guide her.

After enduring years of her aunt's cruelty, she'd decided that self-sufficiency was the key to her survival.

Now, Lilith was capable of preparing a variety of dishes.

With her cane, Lilith navigated the basement steps and entered the kitchen, her footsteps measured and sure.

With time against her, she recognized that a pasta dish was her best bet, capable of being prepared within the allotted half-hour.

She knew exactly where the pasta was kept, and quickly began assembling the ingredients.

"What should we do?" Kathy whispered to her husband, a guarded tension in her voice. "We can't keep hiding it from them."

Kathy was whispering to her husband as they both discussed while being seated in the sitting room.

The sitting room wasn't far from the kitchen, but with the tone that Mrs Kathy had used in whispering, one would have guessed that someone from the kitchen wouldn't be able to capture her words... but that was different for Lilith.

She was able to hear the words of her Aunt, and from Kathy's tone, Lilith could tell that her Aunt was trying to hide something.

'What could it be that they are hiding?' Lilith pondered within herself

A flood of questions surged in Lilith's mind, as she worked through the pasta preparation with meticulous care, her attention divided between the task at hand and the hushed exchange in the sitting room.

"Do we have a choice?" Mr. Andrew asked, his voice laced with hesitation. "If word gets out, we'll be in deeper trouble."

"We can't keep living like this," Kathy insisted, her voice rising slightly, yet still veiled by the cloak of secrecy. "Others would begin to question our motives? Can we keep the truth from them?" She added, her voice laced with fear.

"We can." Mr. Andrew spat with full confidence. "Putting on a show shouldn't be a waste of time and most importantly, we don't owe anyone any explanation," Mr. Andrew added as he tried to reassure his wife despite being aware of the danger at hand.

Lilith who was eavesdropping suddenly became extremely curious as once more, she questioned herself. 'Who are they trying to hide things from?'

Just as Lilith was fully engaged in the conversation, she heard a knock on the sitting door.

The knock prompted the two couples who were secretly discussing to gaze at the door with full intensity. "Who's there?" Mr Andrew asked, his voice calmed but was laced with fear.

"Open up Mr. Andrew. We are here to take the package." The person from the other end of the door spat, his voice cold with venom laced with acid.

A void silence followed suit as the two couples gazed at each other, forcing their saliva down their throat.

Mrs Kathy grabbed her husband's hand as she shoved a folded piece of paper into his left hand.

"Come in!" Mrs Kathy and Mr Andrew both uttered at the same time, their voice low but audible to the ears.

The door of the sitting room slowly opened, and a man who happened to be in his late fifties waddled inside the room. He had a pot belly and he was extremely chubby.

Behind him were two tall hefty men.

The two men were dressed in black long sleeves-and pants, and their eyes were adored by an individual pair of black shades.

They carried a dangerous aura that caused cold dimples to creep onto the bodies of all those who were present inside the house.

The old man who seemed to be in his late fifties smiled warmly as he stepped inside the sitting room, his eyes glooming at every corner as he observed things that were around him.

"For someone who is supposedly broke, your house is rather well-kept," Felix observed, his narrowed eyes scrutinizing the surroundings.

"It's a pleasure to welcome you, Mr Felix," Andrew said, mustering a forced smile as he rose to greet the visitor. "I hope your trip here was comfortable." Andrew's politeness masked the unease that gripped him, a subtle tension that Felix seemed to detect.

He walked up to the old man and extended his hands for a handshake.

The elderly man ignored him. "Where's the girl?" He asked in a monotone tone, leaving no room for verbal banter.

Mr Andrew sighs and scratches his head, forcing saliva from his mouth down to his throat. "I'll be right back." He whispered.

"Lilith, please can you offer me a glass of water," Andrew stated as he bowed slightly to the old man before making his approach towards Lilith.

"Uncle, is everything alright?" Lilith inquired because she had overheard the entire exchange between the visitor and her uncle.

Mr. Andrew responded to Lilith's question with a nod, his lips curving into a fraudulent smile as he placed his hands on Lilith's shoulder, before patting it. "Why don't you go inside your room and grab those torn clothes so that we can give our visitor."

Lilith scoffed at her uncle's remarks and turned off the gas cooker. "Why would our visitor need my torn clothes, Uncle?" Lilith demanded as she grabbed her cane stick and placed it beside herself. "Is there something you aren't telling me?" Lilith added as she questioned her Uncle.

He shakes his head sideways and awkwardly smiles. "We have something important to do, and that's why I'm sending you away."

"So you don't need me to bring my torn clothes right?" Lilith couldn't help but question her uncle.

Lilith had overheard the open debate between her Aunt and Uncle, and she had a strong suspicion that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Mr. Andrew swiftly changed the subject, choosing to ignore Lilith's prior presence. "Please excuse me, Lilith. I'll have to ask you to leave for now. I'll call you when the time is right."

Lilith's face contorted into a frown as she left the kitchen, her shoulders tensed with annoyance.

Without a word, she retreated to her basement bedroom, the slam of the door echoing through the house like a statement of protest.

On the other hand, Mr. Andrew, who stood in the kitchen, served a plate of pasta to his visitor, who remained standing despite the empty couch beckoning him to sit.

Mr Andrew returned to the kitchen and retrieved an empty mug cup, which he filled with clean water.

Once the cup was filled with water, Andrew's gaze drifted to the piece of paper clutched in his hand.

The slip of paper was given to him by his wife and with a few practiced movements, Mr Andrew emptied the paper's contents—a fine white powder—into the cup of water, the liquid soon becoming murky as the powder dissolved.

He wiped his hands on his pants with an erroneous smile, then took the mug cup to the living room and took his seat.

"Mr Felix, I've given considerable thought to your previous request," Mr Andrew began, the strained smile still pasted on his face. "I must say, I'm a little hesitant," he added, before drifting his gaze towards his wife who was smiling warmly at him.

"And why hesitate now?" Mr. Felix asked, the words more of a challenge than a question. "We've come too far to turn back now, wouldn't you agree?" His tone was smooth, but it held a subtle edge that hinted at his impatience.

Lilith entered the sitting room shortly after the old man's statement, guided by her cane stick.

She had gone to the basement to sleep, but her wandering mind kept her awake.

Lilith was intrigued as to why the so-called visitor had come to talk with her uncle, so she went directly to the sitting room.

As the old man fixed his focus on Lilith, he grinned enthusiastically, revealing his yellow teeth.

"You must be Lilith." He whispered, reaching out his hands to her. "Please take your seat." He said, his voice tinged with a wicked smirk.

Lilith disregarded the man since his tone indicated that he had a bad reputation.

"Lilith, you need to sit down. I and your uncle would like to discuss something with you." Mrs. Kathy spoke softly.

Lilith took a deep breath as she found the couch and took her seat. "Aunt Kathy," Lilith called out to her aunt. "Is everything alright?" Lilith questioned.

"Hmm," Kathy spoke softly, looking up at her husband nervously.

"Lilith. I want you to know that we love you and that you mean everything to us." Mr Andrew began, pausing for a moment as he noticed Lilith's puzzled expression.

This was the first time that Mr Andrew was telling her that he 'loves' her and she couldn't believe her ears.

'Something is definitely going wrong.' She pondered within herself.

Mr Andrew takes a big breath and continues with his statement. "I and your Aunt have decided that it's best if you get married," Andrew spoke, and his words were like a bomb to Lilith's ears.

"H-huh?" She mumbled and fluttered her lashes, unsure if she had heard right.

"You are getting married Lilith Raziel." The old man stated with a chilly tone. "And you are getting married to me." He added, an evil smirk spreading across his lips.

Lilith scoffed at the elderly man's statements, which caused her to swallow her saliva wrongly.

*Cough Cough*

Lilith held her hands above her chest as she coughed, and Mrs Kathy swiftly grabbed the mug cup and passed it over to Lilith, who drank the entire water in one gulp in an attempt to clear her throat.

Lilith choked on her saliva since she hadn't expected the old guy to voice such terrible comments with complete confidence.

Lilith took a deep breath after gulping the water.

"Aunt Kathy... What's all this about?" She inquired, not looking at anyone in particular because it would be pointless since she was already blind. "Why should I get married to an old hag?"

"Pfft!" The old man scoffed and robbed his pot belly in a circular motion. "Did you just call me an old hag?" He inquired, frustration coursing through his veins.

Lilith rose from the couch, nodding confidently.

Lilith had no idea what her Aunt and Uncle had discussed with the elderly guy, but she was certain that she could not marry such an old man.

"I will not marry a man I barely know, and I certainly won't marry someone twice my age! I'm underage and you should reconsider your decision," Lilith declared, her voice quivering but resolute.

Silence followed suit.

"Aunt Kathy, why aren't you saying anythi…"

Before she could complete her statement, she began to feel nauseous, the icy tiles beneath her started to give way.

Her already dimmed vision plunged into inky blackness and before Lilith could comprehend what was happening, she crumpled to the floor, her body limp and her consciousness slipping into oblivion.