Scrambled eggs and bacon didn't please her appetite. She just threw up in the toilet and tried to keep herself together. She didn't want to come out of her room.
Lillian just had showered and put on a neat dress. Eugene's parents were coming in an hour and Lillian wasn't planning on putting on any makeup. The left side of her face turned blue overnight and Hannibal had to put her nose back in it's place at breakfast. Now she wore a silly bandage and 'squeezers' to keep her nose together until she could go to a doctor with required tools. Lillian put on perfume to hide the smell of vomit. She left her room and walked to the living room, sat down at her dad's desk and drank the cup of tea he got her. She prepared herself for the stream of disgust that was probably coming, about how she was a rancid whore who shouldn't walk away at night. Like her step dad alway told her when she went away to see her friends. Always when Lillian came home he told her what a bitch she was, and how she dressed the wrong way, and acted the wrong way. Her mom was almost never home, she's got 'work' or 'friends' she had to meet or do.
Hannibal sat down in the chair in the middle of his room where he had his sessions. Lillian played with a pen out of the little basket next to the laptop on the desk. She removed her fake nails had painted her nails over with a nail hardener and nothing more.
"Lillian," He sighed, "I know it is hard adapting your new life here, but this is not the way you handle things here."
Lillian stared at the pen spinning between her fingers.
"I know."
"You don't sneak out at night to have a party with people who you barely know."
"I'm sorry."
"You don't like speaking to people when you know they are angry, do you?"
"No, but who would."
"I am happy you stood up for yourself."
Rain clattered on the big windows, a rainy autumn gave this room character, for Lillian it had been a feel of coziness. She let out a breath, no one would hit her now, no one would shout at her, they were both adults.
"Eugene is in coma now." he told her,"Don't feel bad about it."
"I don't." she put the pencil back in the basket. "He was…"
"A bad person." finished Hannibal. " you're grounded for a month, but not because you strangled him."
It was not like Lillian was planning to go out of the house this month. She nodded softly.
"What exactly happened at the party?"
A sigh escaped her breath,
"He tried to assault me, so I assaulted him."
"I can see, how do you feel about it?"
"I feel like he's the problem, he thought he could do everything with a drunk girl." she looked up from her hands, "He has to be grateful I didn't push through."
"Were you scared of him?"
"Yes I was." she looked down again, it didn't feel good talking about it. She didn't want to. Lillian had always been this way, trying to ignore her problems, pretending nothing happened.
"I get why,"
The doorbell rang, Eugene's parents.
Lillian still felt dizzy in her head. Hannibal helped her out of her chair and they walked to the front door. Lillian mentioned the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen.
"Welcome," Hannibal said and shook the hands mister and miss Argall. Lillian did the same, a smile, a hand and a nod. Ms. Argall couldn't keep her eyes of Lillian's face, she tried to ignore it.
"Thank you, mister Lecter." said sir Argall. Hannibal closed the door and took their coats. Lillian was significantly taller than Eugene's parents. It made her feel more adult.
"I have already made lunch," he lead the parents to the kitchen, "Take a seat."
"Very generous of you, Lecter." said miss with a posh accent and took the seat next to her husband. Lillian sat in front of miss Argall, she tried not to make eye contact but Argall stared constantly. Hannibal served lunch, french bread with homemade Paté, duck liver. Surprisingly, he took the place next to Lillian, instead of at the head of the table.
"We have come here to apologise for Eugene's acts," said mister Argall. "He can't apologise himself for a while, and I feel like your act was a bit too harsh, miss Lecter."
Lillian took a bite of her bread, her acting was right, she wouldn't let someone tell her otherwise. God knows what Eugene could have done more.
"I don't." she said.
Mr. Argell gave her a death stare. "Why not. Lecter."
Ms. Argell glanced at her husband to make him stop, but he only seemed to get upset.
"Can't you see her face dear." Ms, said.
"I can, but can't you see our son?" he said stern, "Lying in the hospital, he's in a goddamn coma."
"For a reason, you don't take advantage of drunk girls." said Hannibal calmly.
Mr Argall had a face of disgust, of course his son was sain Jesus himself and could -of course not- do anything wrong, only because he came from a rich family. Lillian could see it in his face, too much pride for the work he had never done. Too much pride for his inheritance and his big house.
"You don't strangle boys into coma's" he stared at her. She felt anger, like she switched in a completely different mood. Her hands were shaking and she put her fork down.
"Not for no reason, no, but would you rather see your son in a hospital than in a prison?" Lillian stated, "Only the lord knows what he could have done, and i'd rather not know."
"You wouldn't sue him would you?" Ms. said shocked.
"I wouldn't call it sueing," Lillian said, "But I think he learned his lesson. If you go to court with this I'll make sure I win it."
Ms nodded and ate the last piece of bread. Mr Argell stared empty at his plate.
"I am sorry, it's hard for both of us, for you Lillian, but for us as Eugene's parents too." he sat with his hands in his hair, Hannibal watched slightly amused, "We won't go to court, just had surgery, a risky one, something happened to his lungs, it's not entirely related to the fight."
"I am sorry to hear." Lillian said, stone cold.
"He's alive now, but dangling at the edge of being alive." ms Argall bit her lip when her husband spoke. "We wanted to apologise for him before he dies, if he does, probably not."
Mister Ardall didn't seem sure of his words. "Don't worry he added."
Lillian was on the edge of saying "we won't." But kept her mouth shut and let Hannibal do the word. She felt remorse for his parents, not for him.
"We are extremely sorry to hear." Hannibal spoke, it didn't feel genuine in Lillian's ears.
A loud bip came from Mr. Argalls pocket.
"If you would like to excuse us." he said while reading the text he got. He signed his wife to come with him. Hannibal stood up to lead them to the hall but they were gone already. He sat down again and they heard the closing of the door and the clicking of Ms. Argall running with heels.
"Is there any more of this Paté?" Lillian asked.

She didn't feel responsible for his death. It was a mistake made by the doctors, not her. Lillian tried to play piano, Kast learned her to play accordion and the instruments felt similar. Hannibal, however, could not listen without physically cringing and fastly left the room once she started playing. She found it quite funny, he was always well behaved around other people, but didn't have the manners to hear his daughter play piano. Lillian thought about London while carelessly playing chords. She probably wouldn't have reacted that way there, but that was because she barely got drunk in public. Only at home in the weary evenings. She hated it when people blamed stuff like this on being drunk, guys could get drunk and have fun and everything was ok, girl who got drunk were suddenly responsible for everything someone else did to them. She just didn't get it.
Lillian played the first chords of 'Maybe', she always liked the song, Julia Stone had a very different voice than other artists.
"She's got this kind of hope," Lillian sang "Maybe she got it where she came from."
She didn't remember the rest of the lyrics and put the cover back on the piano keys. It was already twelve at night, the pain in her nose and the dizziness were cleared up for a bit after the doctor's visit. He gave her some strong medicine and told her to sleep well, the doctor also put her nose back in its normal place.
Lillian's feet sounded dull on the hardwood in the halls. She walked to her bedroom, changed into her pyjamas and jumped into bed. Lillian fished her teddy dog 'Summer' from under her pillows. She found it to be embarrassing to still sleep with one. She thought about her mom back in the Netherlands. Would she be worried about her? Probably. Lillian just couldn't imagine how her mom would feel and she hoped that she knew her daughter was safe. How would her mom have responded to this? Really outraged, she thought. At Eugene at least.
Hannibal seemed to have a different kind of rage, a calm one that would sneak up to you without knowing. Would he ever snap when angry like she did? Lillian hoped he never did. She wrapped her blankets around her and held Summer tightly. She felt sorry for Eugene's parents, he was their only child and they were devastated to hear he had passed. Lillian just didn't know how to feel about him, she didn't feel fully responsible, maybe that would come when she grew up. They say a teenagers brain feels less, so maybe that was her problem. She just didn't took Ibuprofen and fell asleep at three.