Greetings fellow fanfictioners, I am new to this whole fanfiction ordeal so I hope you don't get frustrated if you find something wrong with my stories. Let me know and I will happily fix the problem. This story is purely fiction. Some things I came up with, and I got somethings from this book that I am reading with the same situation. This story and that book are in no way related. I am curious though, you will read about a solar powered stove in this chapter. Is there such a thing? Let me know because I'd have to bring it to my local Bed, Bath and Beyond's attention because that is way beyond anything that I have heard of. Anyway, out of everyone that I could have picked to be the third person in their special trio, instead of picking the obvious person who would be Oliver. I picked Sarah. She is attractive, sweet, and funny in this story. They potray her to be a wacko on the real show however, which I don't really understand. If you didn't like Sarah then don't worry cause you'll like her after you're done reading this. I like adding a little humor to my stories, just an FYI. Oh yea, and in this chapter Lilly may seem a little suicidal, but don't worry, she isn't. I just had to set the mood, and i thought that maybe using the most attractive woman on the show ( Not calling Miley ugly because she is anything but that, but it's my opinion.)would set the mood mighty fine. Anyway, On with the story;).
A/N: I do not own any of the Hannah Montana related characters and/or quotes that may come from that show. I do however, if I find out that it is non-existent, own their solar powered stove =). I also own something else that will later come into the plot of the story. Owning something really makes you cocky and self-absorbed. I hope you enjoy my first attempt at a story, but don't worry I know you will because this is a great story made by the wonderful me. ;) I rock! Read, Review, Repeat!
The turns you had to take still keep you awake/ Down come the walls where you once stood from constant changes you have made/ You'll keep inside 'till you have a say/ We change as we get older, we're not to stay/ The days we walked are over/ Now we just drive away - There for Tomorrow
The trees on our side of the hill were swaying slightly. The birds have long since chirped, making the morning a dull and unrealistic experience. The air was no longer soothing for the lungs; the ground was not as rich and glorified as it used to be. I hear a creak as the door to my rustic home opens.
"We're running low on wood." Lilly seemed distracted, distant. She zipped her jacket up and grabbed the miniature ax by the side of the house. She started to walk toward the town, looking for anything wooden or flammable.
" Want some help." I said to her back. She stopped and turned her head slightly to the left, her face covered by her blonde locks.
" Stay here with Sarah." She walked down the hill in front of our home and disappeared in to the town. I got off the chair on our porch and I went inside. I was greeted by Sarah cooking something in the kitchen that smelled rather scrumptious. I sat down on the couch and I looked at the pile of wood in the corner of the room. My calm features were replaced with those of perplexity.
As I opened my mouth to make a comment about the wood, I met Sarah's eyes from across the room and I understood the delicacy of the situation. Lilly was out on a rampage. She does that annually to appear calm in our presence. She walks around the woods and the town, letting her emotions roam free. Sarah went back to her cooking, and I stood up to look for my blonde companion, not trusting her solitude in such a silent and dreadful place.
I walked down our hill and I walked towards the town. I stopped by the small movie theatre and I relished in all the memories that we had here. I continued to walk until I heard sharp noises coming from a store across the street. The sound of glass shattering and striking the cement can be heard from a mile away. I ran across the street towards the store only to find Lilly sitting with her back against the door of the beauty parlor. She was holding her left hand in her right tightly, blood visibly oozing out from where the glass had come in contact with her skin. Lilly looked up at me blankly, staring past me as if I wasn't there. I bent down to help her up, but she reacted quickly and was on her feet, looking down at me from her tall and sturdy frame. I grabbed her left hand in mine and intertwined our fingers, her blood spreading against my own palm. No need to question the action because we were not disturbed by it. It was rather calming for the both of us.
We walked hand in hand all the way to our house, hands releasing one another only after we walked through the front door. Sarah looked up and immediately went to Lilly's side to clean her hand and close the wounds to prevent an infection. They sat in the chairs surrounding the table in the corner of the living room, to the right of the kitchen. As Sarah was cleansing her wounds, I was intently focused on Lilly. Her sapphire eyes cast downward as she was consumed by her thoughts. Her golden hair which was always healthy and wavy on her scalp, reminded me of a golden waterfall cascading down a mountainside. Her arms which had grown considerably in strength and definition ever since the accident, because of all the work needed to be done to ensure our survival. Her broad shoulders that made her look like someone you shouldn't mess with. Her hands, the square palms and long sturdy fingers, strong hands that bring relaxation to the touch.
I glanced up at Lilly's face to find her looking back at me, returning my intense gaze. I stared into her eyes and I could see the sadness in them, something that she usually keeps to herself. Her eyes are the only things that have changed considerably. What used to be a spark of energy and happiness is now replaced by a vast nothingness that I can only come to imagine. She is very mature for her twenty years of age, in attitude and appearance. All the mayhem has turned us into fully developed humans, with fully developed minds and ways of thinking.
"Breakfast is ready." Exclaimed Sarah from the kitchen. Lilly looked at me for a bit longer before standing to get a plate of food. I followed suit.
We all sat down at the table with our plates full of the pasta that Sarah made from the solar powered stove. We all ate silently, the tension unbearable.
Today was the two year anniversary of the day the Earth became silent. The war between America and Korea was finally reaching its breaking point. The war had been going on for four years but no one had done anything violent. Korea was the first country to react, and their reaction literally left us speechless. They had killed everyone with their nuclear bomb, including themselves. Luckily, Lilly, Sarah, and I were staying at our barn on Witson Hill. Our parents had called us the day the war broke loose and let us know that they were on their way to us. But they didn't make it, no one did. We had a radio that we would listen to every day. There would be people talking on local radio stations, even stations that were states away. But they all went off the air one by one, every week. It had not happened because of bad connection, but simply because they had not been able to survive without safe food to eat or a healthy supply of water.
There was a pond behind the barn that had clean water with fish eagerly swimming past. Unlike the other ponds that were made up of dead fish and dingy water. We had supposed that the water was coming from underground and was not affected by the war. We do not question what we have, we are simply thankful for it and we work hard to keep it in good condition. We get our food from the Wells Market in Barkley, the town down the hill. We live on canned food and eggs that the chickens lay. We have kept all the animals well fed, keep them stuffed and ready for us to eat when ready, Lilly would say. We have cows, chickens, a pond full of fish, pigs; we had a dog but he ran away and probably died deep in the town. We have a fireplace in the house where we can stay warm during the winter, the smoke rises through the chimney.
The table jiggles slightly as Lilly helps herself up and walks to place the dirty plates in the kitchen. We would later wash them in the pond and dry them by hand. I was the last one to get up, grabbing my jacket and starting toward the door. I grabbed a trash bag, I needed somewhere to place all the canned food and other necessities that we were running low on. Lilly saw what I was doing and she also grabbed a bag and headed towards the door.
" We're running low on soap." Sarah exclaimed from up the stairs. Another thing added to the list, I nodded and walked towards the door, Lilly behind me.
As we entered Wells Market to gather our things, Lilly started to speak in the canned foods isle.
" I saw them today." She said it softly and huskily, slightly above a whisper. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
" Who?" I knew who she was talking about, but I just wanted her to open up to me. Her wall goes up at around this time of year; sometimes it's just relaxing to know that she won't stay hidden behind that wall forever. So I let her talk.
" My mom and Oliver." I bit my lip and lowered my head. I knew what she had seen because the same thing happened to me recently. I had seen my father with his arms wide open, calling me in for a hug. I ran right through him, merely a piece in this twisted game. I had cried myself to sleep that night.
" I followed Oliver, and he went in the beauty parlor." She continued solemnly.
" I had looked through the window and I found nothing. I was mad and…" She stopped at the hand and her left hand twitched, almost as if she was reliving what happened earlier today.
" I don't know what to say." I said sadly. I had wanted to make her feel better, but when something as scarring as that happens; there is just nothing that can be said to make it better. The rest of the time spent in the market was spent in silence.
...
We were headed towards the exit and towards our hill, the only place where we were all at ease. It was a sanctuary, a place of safety, filled with woman who had lost their place in the world. When we got home I handed Sarah her soap and she went out toward the pond to get some water for a shower.
As she closed the door behind her, Lilly sat at the table in the corner while I sat on the couch closer to the door. She looked distant again and I decided that sometimes it's better to regret saying something, than to regret saying nothing at all. She beat me to it though.
" We don't have to keep living this life you know." That sentence alone sent a chill through my entire body. I shook my head while she continued.
" There's nothing to live for anymore."
" Don't think like that." I said harshly, upon seeing the pensive look on Lilly's face.
" Sometimes I wish that…" She stopped midsentence. I knew what she wished for, because I have found myself wishing for the same thing at times.
" The outcome would have been worse if that wish was granted. You would have blended into the nothingness that has become this planet. Do you really want that?" She shook her head, her eyes meeting mine with a passion.
" I wouldn't want to live without you with me." She had said it barely above a whisper, but I heard it as if she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Sarah suddenly burst into the door, her hair damp. She looked at us then lowered her head. But I had seen the smirk on her face and the gleam in her eye. She knew more about us than we did.
" Lilly I think you left something out there." Sarah said nonchalantly while she was brushing her hair. Lilly looked confused for a moment but stood up regardless and headed toward the door. Sarah continued to brush her hair, her back toward me.
" Nice weather out." I said lamely. She turned around with a smirk on her face.
"Yeah, It is real hot out there." She jerked her head in the direction where Lilly had gone. I decided to become an innocent girl right then and there.
" The sun is unbearable." Sarah scoffed.
" I can think of a few things that are unbearable at the moment." She said sarcastically.
" It's now or never Miley." She said softly. She shrugged her shoulders.
" Go for it. There's nothing to lose." I rolled my eyes at the horribly worded sentence.
" If things don't work out, I'll have a million things to lose, the most important one being her." Sarah was my best friend, but there were moments when she acted like a brother to me.
"Grow a pair why don't you?" She said as she walked upstairs. I had to chuckle at that. She had a point though; there was a connection between me and Lilly that was unexplainable. But if something goes wrong we would both be heartbroken, and Sarah would be stuck in the middle having to deal with the both of us. I couldn't risk anything until I knew that it was true. I was never a patient person, but I'd wait forever for Lilly.
...
According to my watch it was seven twenty-three and there was still no sign of Lilly. Sarah was upstairs sleeping, and I decided that waking her would only make her worry, so I decided against it. I stepped outside and I was welcomed by a nice breeze. I walked around the house to find Lilly sitting in front of a handmade fire. She was sitting on a log with a stick in between her hands, staring into the fire. Her eyes were dark, hooded; the fire was reflecting off her irises. I leaned up against the side of the house.
"If you're trying to burn a hole through that fire, you might have a hard time." She wore a fraction of a grin on her face, indistinguishable if you weren't looking for it. She stood up and walked toward me, engulfing me in her sturdy arms. She put her chin on my head, as she usually does when she is thinking.
"Thanks for being there for me." She said sincerely, her hands moving from their position on my hips up to my shoulders. She squeezed me gently and smiled affectionately before going back home with her hands in her pocket. I gazed at the fire that Lilly had made and a came to a conclusion.
Lilly was just like a fire. You had to keep replacing the wood because it would all eventually get shriveled and dissolve into nothing. You had to add new wood to keep the fire going.
I am Lilly's wood; I keep her going. But unlike actual wood, you cannot replace me. When I shrivel up and become a part of the Earth there is no turning back. The fire will eventually give up without wood, it will be no more.
Lilly would be no more.
And as I stand here looking into the dark, into Barkley, I realize that I don't just live for myself, but that I live for two people. Standing here on this hill I know that I won't let Lilly down, I will stay with her until the end. If only I could imagine the places where we would be living now, or if we would be living at all.
We will always be safe here.
Here, on Witson Hill.
Next chapter will replay a little of what happened on that dreadful day.
About that stove?