1 The Life and Death of Lily

Have you ever named your future kids before you've met your future husband? Picked out your future house before you got your first real-world job? Life as we lead it, follows a comfortable social order, but every now and then, something miraculous happens. Fate decides to shakes things up just for laughs, sending your whole world in chaos with a rude, obnoxious...

*CRAA-SHHHHHHHHHKKKK*

The sound of a broken glass cut the silence in the room, and in that split second, the drooping eyelids darted over to the source of all the commotion.

"Of course," sighed Lily, as she sluggishly put down the tap and turned around with sullen shoulders.

She dragged her feet down to the end of the long counter, then casually grabbed the dustpan and brush from the lower cabinet. Without even bothering with the people screaming names of drinks at her, she started to complain to herself, 'What Saturday night would be complete without-"

"WAH-HEEYYYYYYYYYY!!!" cheered the sea of university guys in the bar.

Six months into adult life has frankly made Lily a little lost, a little hardened, and very out of pocket. Now that all her new step-sisters were occupying her mum's house, this little town was her 'home', which was actually quite nice. Lily was glad to finally be able to escape the nest, but after what happened in her first semester, that man forced her to drop out from the future she dreamed for herself...

Trudging her chunky black boots to the far end of the room, she reached the outer wall of beer-bearing young men, screaming at the UFC on the big screen.

Lily brazenly strode over, dipping and diving with her small frame through the bumping bodies until she saw it - the heap of glass scattered all over the floor. Armed with her dustpan and brush, Lily bent down to try clean it up.

Then, out of nowhere, she heard another wave of deep voices cheering, followed by three maybe four knees to her back and her neck.

The last memory of that bar was the sticky floor beneath her temple and the soft prick of a large shard of glass to her skull.

"Ha…" scoffed Lily, with the last drop of energy she could muster before she died.

...

"NEEEEXXXTTTT!!!"

Lily tightened her brows, then immediately relaxed when her eyes shot open.

Blue was the first thing she saw; a man, an ox, or a man-ox with blue skin. Something that didn't quite scare her, shock her, or confuse her at all. Then, she realised that she'd forgotten how to question.

A warm force willed Lily forward to what looked like a short rustic wooden bridge. Standing emotionlessly at the front of it was a short old lady with silver hair, holding out a golden bowl in her fragile hands.

The closer Lily drew to the old lady, the hoarser her throat felt. Without rhyme or reason, the urge to drink whatever was in that bowl had taken over her. Lily reached her arms out and carefully carried the bowl.

That's when she saw it, popping out of the soup...

Lily's lips curved swiftly into a wide smile, as she raised her nose over it, and pointed at the set of dentures floating on the surface!

For a second there, the old lady felt a warmth in her cheeks and saw the refreshing sense of humanity in Lily's arched eyes. Then, she did something she hadn't done in a long time - the old lady smiled! A toothless, cheerful smile.

Neither of them said a word but respectfully bowed at each other, when all of sudden, Lily passed the soup back.

A shocked expression flashed across the old lady's face, but quickly softened back to her affectionate smile. Their brief yet silent exchange seemed to have startled the ox-man fellow, as they both heard a loud gasp escape his man-ox mouth.

Just as Lily was about to turn her head and look back at the blue figure, she felt a hard push from the smiling old lady in front of her. Then, in an instant, Lily's whole consciousness was thrusted miles back into the thick wall of fog she emerged from.

Before she knew it, a thundering voice startled every cell of her body...

...

"Get up."

With a violent slam, she found the speed of her beating heart and the harsh push of air in her lungs.

'W-what?' she silently asked herself. 'Where am I? and- AAARRRGHH!!' she screamed inside, as a steady stream of tears rolled down her face.

"Peony, get up." repeated the deep, calm voice.

Her eyelashes slowly fluttered free, as her pupils adjusted to the light. She wasn't able to keep her eyes open, as the burning from the acidic tears, blurred her vision and sealed them shut again.

Lily sluggishly raised her right arm and wiped her eyes.

That's when she saw him - a tall, dark haired man dressed in a grey hoodie and jeans. "Peony," he repeated again with a hint of impatience in his voice.

Peony? But my name's Lily… She looked up at the towering man above her at a complete loss for words.

Seeing as she was taking too long to reply, the man furrowed his brows and moved in closer, revealing his elusive face from under the hood.

Flawless smooth skin and the smell of mint on his breath. "Peony, get up." he whispered with a deep seductive voice...