One day can change everything

Lilly was having a hard time these past few years. What with her dad leaving and her mother dying in a fire in her nursery when she was 6 months old. Lilly had a younger brother, Mark, he was the only reason she stayed. Lilly was quite a stereotypical teenage girl, she liked makeup and gossip, but recently, she hasn't had the chance to be a teenager. At 15 years of age, Lilly was a parent to Mark, a cleaner, a shopper, a chef and a GCSE student. The pressure has been on! Especially since Lilly has developed a new 'skill' lately.

Lilly discovered her 'mind-reading' on her 13th birthday. She didn't know what it meant, just that it helped her a lot when it came to school. Lilly didn't like reading her friends minds to gain the answers in lessons and tests, but she knew that it was one less thing on her shoulders.

Lilly was 12 and Mark was 7 when their dad, Nick, left. He was an alcoholic and an abusive man since Lilly's mum had died. He blamed it on her. On the 29th of June, he packed then left, leaving only a note.

Lilly and Mark,
I am leaving for good. Don't expect me back. I'm not sorry, the only thing I am sorry about is that you, Lilly, were born. Your mother and I were happy before you! I hope you suffer for what you did to her!
Nick

Lilly didn't know how to tell a 7 year old boy that his daddy was gone forever, so she told him that his father was sick. He didn't know how to take care of Mark, which was true. Nick was sick because you have to be in order to abuse your child. You know something is wrong when your eldest child willingly takes a beating when your youngest does something naughty.

Lilly didn't really know how to cope. She didn't want to go into foster care but she couldn't do everything herself.

"Will you read me a story?" Mark begged. "A really good one, like Captain Underpants or... Or..."
"But we read Captain Underpants every night!"
"Make one up then."
"I don't know if I'll be any good."
"You'll be great. Pleeeeaaasssseee!"
"Alright then. Get comfortable." Mark moved over on his bed to let Lilly squeeze in. "There was once a little boy, his name was Arthur. Arthur was a very sad little boy who didn't have a mummy or a daddy. He had an older sister though, she was nice. She made him cookies and milk and took care of him. One day Arthur's sister went missing. He searched and he searched until he had looked all over the kingdom. He became so sad and so upset that he started crying. He cried until he heard a voice. It was his sister, she walked over to him and put her arm around him. She soothed him until he asked where she was all day. She said that she was making him more cookies because the kitchens had run out of cookie dough. She handed him the plate with the cookies on and he smiled at her as the sun set in the horizon."
"That was beautiful. But, what does it mean?" Mark asked sleepily.
"It means that even if sometimes it looks like I'm not there for you, I will always return. No matter how long it takes, I will always get back to you. I will always be there for you."
"With cookies too?"
"Yes, with cookies too!" Mark fell asleep in her arms whilst Lilly lay there thinking about what she had said. "Unlike dad." She whispered before she too fell asleep.

"Wakey wakey. Time for school." Lilly said as she gently shook Mark.
"What time is it?"
"It is eight o'clock."
"Can you make me breakfast while I get dressed?" 'Pancakes would be awesome' he thought.
"A plate of pancakes are all ready for you on the table downstairs. Now, get dressed or we'll be late."
'I love her. I also love pancakes!' Mark thought. Lilly left her brothers room with a smile on her face.

"So, can anyone tell me what the first four names of alkanes are? Lilly, you haven't answered a question in a while. Give it a shot." 'Methane Ethane Propane and Butane.' Mrs Walsh, Lilly's science teacher, thought.
"That would be Methane, Ethane, Propane and Butane."
"Correct. Well done Lilly."
"Now..." As Mrs Walsh went onto a rant about not confusing alkanes and alkenes, Lilly searched people's minds out of sheer boredom.
'I really wish I didn't get a manicure yesterday, if Mrs Walsh -' BORING
'I wonder if Brad likes me -' BORING
'I really need a tutor, I really don't get this stuff -' BORING
'I'm curious, how many watts would you need to electrocute the whole school? To kill everybody?' Hmmm... What a question! Lilly looked over to where the signal was the strongest to find the ominous Lucifer Novak. Lucifer was the embodiment of pure sexual desire, however he was pretty sick when it came to his thoughts. Lilly had a miniature crush on Lucifer, but didn't everybody? But not everybody could read people's thoughts, now could they? Lilly had been waiting to ask him out for a while but today she didn't have to.

"Hey know-it-all! Lilly!" Lucifer called.
"What's up?" Lilly barely said it without stuttering.
"I was sorta wondering whether you would like to come round my house for dinner tonight?"
"I would love to. But, my little brother, he would be on his own. It's not fair."
"Couldn't your mum or dad look after him?"
"Long story short, no. Sorry."
"Well, he can come too. I have a little brother as well, little Cassie. He's eleven." 'Please say yes!' He thought, very loudly.
"Mark's ten. You have a brother called Cassie?"
"It's a nickname. Castiel. Cas, but I call him Cassie. I would really love it if you could come!"
"Yeah that would be... great!"
"Awesome, I'll see you at six." He blushed. "Wear something... pretty." He flashed one of those grins he was so good at as he ran off.

"So, let me get this straight. I have to go to a strangers house and play with a boy whose name is Cassie, all because you have a date?"
"His name is Castiel. Cassie is just his nickname. But yeah!"
'Good Lord.' He thought.

DING DONG DING DONG
A shifty looking eighteen year old opened the door. "Okay, if you're here about the disturbances I'm really sorry but -"
"I'm Lilly."
"Ohhh. You're Lucifer's date! You're a pretty little one, aren't you? You kids have fun now. I'm going out so it will only be you three and Cas but I'm sure Cas and your little brother here will play upstairs if you ask nicely! Goodbye now!" The boy slinked past the door and got into a black Ferrari. He waved at Lilly and winked as she stepped through the door.

"Hello? Lucifer?" Lilly called out, still clutching Mark's hand.
"I'm in the kitchen." He called. As Lilly and Mark walked into the kitchen, Lilly couldn't believe her eyes as Lucifer was standing at the oven in a fushia apron. "Ahhh... yes. I can explain this. It was my mothers. I'm making Spaghetti alla Carbonara. It's an Italian delicacy you know!"
"And it smells absolutely delicious!"
"Thank you. It's a family recipe. If you want, you can see Mark upstairs, second floor, first door on the left. It's the games room. Cassie'll be in there. They can play until dinner's ready."
"Okay. I'll be back in a few."

As Lilly walked upstairs, she ran through the rules with Mark. The usual, he can scream or shout if he needs help, if he wants to leave, all he has to do is text her and she'll make excuses. But once Mark saw the game room, he was won over. He wanted to stay forever. Then he noticed the black haired boy in the corner.
"Hello." Mark said.
"Hi." The other boy replied shyly.
"Are you Cassie?"
"Yes, but only my brother, Lucifer, calls me that."
"I'm Mark. Nice to meet you, Cas!"
"You can call me Cassie if you want to. Do you want to play this with me?"
"Sure." Once the boys settled down, Lilly decided to go downstairs again.

"So, Lilly, what's the story you didn't want to share earlier?"
"Well, my mother died when I was only six months old. And my dad left, three years ago. It has just been me and Mark since I was twelve."
"That must be hard."
"Yeah, technically Mark and I are only half brother and sister as he had a different mum. A whore, a slut. Dad went to a prostitute about four and a half years after mum died. They didn't wear protection and so, after the woman gave birth, she handed dad the baby and said look after it. He looked after Mark for the first year or so, but then he started drinking again. He started hitting me again. My bruises had just healed up, then they were worse than before. He blamed me for everything. I'm sorry that I'm telling you all this. I just needed someone to talk to."
"It's fine. I'm always here if you need me. How did the boys settle in?"
"They're fine. I'm sorta wondering how many siblings you have."
"Loads. There are ten of us. In age order it goes; Uriel, 29, Metatron, 26, Balthazar, 25, Anna, 22, Michael, 21, Raphael, 19, Gabriel, 18, me - Lucifer, 15, Zachariah, 14, Castiel, 11. Only Gabriel, Zachariah, Cassie and I live here with dad. The other lot have their own houses and apartments. Dad was what you call a wild child back in the day."
"Let me guess, you don't all have the same mum?"
"Nope. Joy was Uriel, Metatron and Balthazar's mum. Carrie was Anna, Michael, Raphael and Gabriel's mum. Lisa was mine and Zachariah's mum, Cassie's mum is Zoë, she's really nice. She lives here on weekends."
"Why did you refer the others in past tense?"
"They're gone. Gone means done, it's the past. Makes sense."
"Yeah. I guess."
"Dinner's almost ready."

"But, Lilly I don't wanna go home! I wanna stay here with Cassie!" Mark whined.
"No, it's past your bedtime and Lucifer's been more than kind. We really have to go now."
"You don't if you don't want to. We can have a big sleepover!" Lucifer said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'll go get some sleeping bags we can camp out in the living room. It's the biggest."
"Okay. Thanks, do you need any help?"
"No, I'll be back in a minute."

"Look at the pair of them, they're inseparable. They're even holding hands, it's so sweet." Lilly whispered to Lucifer. It was about one in the morning and the boys had only just got to sleep because they were talking about games and movies.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't find two single bags." 'Who am I kidding? I searched for ages to find a double.' Lucifer thought to himself.
"It's fine." Lilly said as she rolled to face him. "It's kinda nice!" She smiled sweetly.

As they finally drifted off to sleep, their hands gravitated towards each other.

"Lilly! Lilly! Can you make us pancakes? Pleeeeaaaasssseee?" Mark woke Lilly up. She realised where she was. She was the little spoon and her and Lucifer were holding hands under the covers.
"Hey, Cas? Do you know what time your brother usually wakes up at?" Lilly turned to face Castiel.
"Yeah, usually very late. Ten if you're lucky." Lilly looked at her watch, it was half past nine in the morning. She would normally have lectures but today was a Saturday so she was fine.
'I wonder if Lilly's a better cook than Lucifer.' Cas thought.
"Liiiiillllllyyyyy!" Mark whined.
"What... Oh pancakes, right. Cas, do you know where everything is?"
"Of course."
"Well, you two can be my little helpers then." As they set to work making pancakes, Lilly had an idea. "Cas, would you find me some cutters, special shapes if you have them."
"We have a teddy bear, a tree, a smiley face and a cloud. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's perfect. Thanks honey." Cas beamed. Lilly smiled back.

When the pancakes were all done, Lilly let the boys pick a cutter and cut out two pancakes into shapes. Both Mark and Cas went for the cloud and a smiley face, and when Lilly asked them why they both said because they were the biggest. They all started giggling as Cas practically drowned his in Golden Syrup.

Lucifer stood at the door watching Lilly and her brother, Mark, and little Cassie make pancakes. Lilly had put on some music and her hips were swaying to the beat.
"Don't tease me like that." He said as he danced over to her and pulled her into a waltz. The boys started giggling again. But Lilly loved every second of it.

When Lucifer stopped dancing and had bowed Lilly said "Did you have a good nights sleep?"
"Yes, it did indeed. Thank you. And yourself?"
"Yeah, I had some much needed rest. How do you want your pancakes?"
"Two smiley faces, and drown it in golden syrup. I'll get the table set, because drowning pancakes in syrup gets very messy!" He left the room.
"Lilly, will you stay and meet Zachariah? He should be home in about an hour. Pleeeeaaaasssseee?" Cas asked.
"You sound like Mark! We'll stay if your brother says it's okay. Is that fair?"
"Yes." He came up to Lilly and hugged her. "Thank you."
"What for honey?"
"For everything. The pancakes especially. Lucifer never cooks at home, it's nearly always Gabriel because he's the oldest. But Gabriel doesn't really know how to cook!"

They all sat at the table and started eating the very sweet and soggy pancakes.
"Lucifer? Can they stay until Zachariah gets back? Pleeeeaaaasssseee?"
"Well, I'm sure that Lilly has exams to study for. We shouldn't keep them if they don't want to stay." 'Please stay.' He added silently.
"Yes, Lucifer's right. I have exams to study for. Maybe next time, Hun."
"But Lilly, I don't wanna go!"
"Not this again. I'm sure they have had enough of us. We'll come back and see them soon okay?" She smoothed down Mark's hair on his forehead.
"Okay."

Following the pancakes, Lilly told Mark to gather up his stuff whilst she talked to Lucifer.
"So, I had a great time last night. It was really fun."
"Don't talk." He leant in and kissed her. At first it was a massive shock, but then she realised she sort of liked it, so she leant in. "Goodbye Lilly. I will see you in our Monday lecture." He said as Mark hobbled into view.
"C'mon Mark. Say bye to Cas."
"Bye Cassie." The boys walked up to one another and had a massive bear hug. And a very manly one at that.

"Good morning sleepy head. Today is going to be a beautiful day."
"It's Monday morning. What are you on about, beautiful? Is it because you're seeing Lucifer today?"
"Partly, but the four of us are coming here overnight. If that's okay with you?"
"Yep."
"Great. We can all stay in here if you want."
"Sure."
"I'll pick you up normal time then. Now get dressed, I put some toast and marmite on the table for you."
"Thanks Lilly."

"Morning, I was wondering if you knew how to get -" Lilly turned around to find a smirking Lucifer. "Hiya, are you all right?"
"Yeah I'm fine. I don't think Mark can wait for tonight though." They linked hands and walked towards their Ancient Mythology lecture together.
"So, how is Mark?"
"He can't stop talking about Cas."
"Oh good, for a moment there I thought it was just Cassie who was going nuts." They laughed for a while until they stood outside the lecture door. "After you." Lilly walked In and chose a pair of seats close enough to hear but far away enough not to be heard. "Good choice." Lucifer grinned.

"I'll see you at about five then. Gabriel said he'd give me a lift on his way to whichever party he's going to tonight."
"Okay cool." 'Kiss me please.' He thought. Lilly wanted it too so she leant in. Lucifer seemed to catch the drift so he leant in too and they met in the middle.
"Novak, I need to speak to you." One of the teachers said.
"I'll see you tonight. Wear something... pretty." Lilly said as they parted.
"Don't worry I will!" He jogged towards Mrs Walsh.

"Hey Lilly, I can't wait to see Cassie again." Mark was jumping around as he was so excited.
"Has he been like this all day?" Lilly said to his teacher.
"Yes, I'm afraid he has."
"Sorry about that. We have some friends coming over tonight and he's just so excited."
"Don't forget to send him to bed at a suitable time tonight then, very few parents remember now a days."
"I won't. I'll tell my dad straight away."

DING DONG DING DONG
Lilly ran downstairs. "Hello." She said as she opened the door. "Oh, it's you two. You're a bit early."
"Yeah, sorry about that Gabriel had to leave at half past four to be there at five." Lucifer explained.
"That's cool. Mark and I were upstairs. Let me show you where to put your things." Lilly walked up the stairs and pointed to Mark's room. "Now I think about it. Mark's room is rather small. Would you mind terribly sleeping in my room with me?"
"No, how far away is it?"
"Just next door."
"Could we leave the doors open, because of Cassie?"
"Sure. Cas, Mark's just in there. Do you wanna put your stuff down in there?"
"Okay."
"We'll just be next door, okay Cassie?"
"Okay." He walked through the door to be greeted by a very enthusiastic Mark. "Hey Mark."
"Hey Cassie."

"You can just put your stuff down on the bed or on the floor, whichever." Lilly said to a rather amused Lucifer.
"Okay. Aren't you ever scared that your dad would come back here?"
"He left not us. He said in his note not to expect him back and that he's leaving for good. The way he was, it was very final."
"What did you tell Mark?"
"The truth. He was sick."
"But he wasn't."
"You have to be sick in the head to abuse your children."
"Well, that's true. What else?"
"That he didn't know how to be a parent. He was upset with himself because he couldn't love us properly, so he left. It's the truth."
"No, you just made him sound pitiable. He's not though. He's a monster. Normal human beings feel even a slight bit of remorse if they do something wrong. How you described him to me sounds like he doesn't even have that."
"You're right I guess."
"You know I'm right."

The boys had been asleep since nine as it was a weekday and Lucifer and Lilly were laying on Lilly's bed just talking when Lucifer said something that shocked Lilly.
"I think I love you."
"What?" Lilly was shocked and confused at the same time. It wasn't a good mix.
"I said I think I love you."
"No, you don't. No one can ever love me."
"Mark does. Cassie does. I do."
"Yes because an eleven year old boy who I only met three days ago could love me, or anyone in that amount of time for that matter."
"He does. And so do I. End of discussion."
"Okay." Lilly leant into his chest and soon fell asleep.

"Morning." Lucifer said to the very sleepy Lilly who was lying on his chest.
"I've just realised something."
"And what's that?"
"I love you."
"Took you long enough. Now let's see if the boys are up. We can go to the park."
"I know I don't have any classes today. But what about the rest of your education and the boy's?"
"Mark and Cassie both have an insect day today and I only have lectures which are recorded so I can listen to them on the website later."
"Okay, the park sounds good."
"It's January so wrap up well!"

"This is so much better than going to a lecture."
"Yeah, it is!" Lilly and Lucifer were pushing Mark and Castiel on the swings. "I want to go ice skating."
"But, Lilly, you don't have any boots."
"Doesn't matter, there's ice over there and you can't stop me." She giggled as she ran over to the ice. "Watch me Lucifer." She shouted so he could hear her.

Not in a million years did Lucifer ever think that the ice would break. And it did. The ice was covering a pond, a very deep pond. But the ice wasn't that thick. So when Lilly stepped onto it, she fell through.
"Nooooooo!" Lucifer screamed but he was too late. Lilly was sinking in the ice cold water. The water filled her lungs as she tried to breathe. The burning sensation was just too much for her. Just when she hit the bottom of the pond, her luck ceased. The last breath left her body. The ambulance came too late. By the time they got there, she was dead.

One day can change everything. In one day Lilly's mum died. In one day her dad left her. In one day she met her true love. In one day she died. In one day she lost everything. One day can change everything.