"The best secrets are the most twisted."   

- Sara Shepard - 

"How was your first day, Lilith?" my mom asked me as I walked into the kitchen. She was standing by the sink, her hands submerged in soapy water as she washed the dishes. 

I dropped my bag down on one of the kitchen chairs and sat down on another. "Fine," I muttered. 

The spicy aroma of the kitchen filled my nostrils as tonight's chicken cooked in the oven. The kitchen table wasn't set yet; my younger brother, Seth, and I were expected to do that before dinner was served. 

"Just fine?" she asked, as she wiped her hands on a cloth and turned around to look at me. 

Seth and I never inherited my mom's fair hair; we were both dark, like my dad. I think she always hoped for a blonde beauty of a child, but she never got one. She carefully pulled her hair tie out of her hair, letting it cascade down her back in golden waves. I tried not to envy my mom's beauty, but it was difficult not too. 

"Is Seth home yet?" I murmured. Seth was sixteen; two years younger than me. It was his first day at Oaksten today, too. 

"He's upstairs," she answered. She pulled on oven gloves and took out the chicken, placing it carefully on the kitchen counter. "You can go and get him, actually. Dinner's almost ready." 

I stood up, winced at the sharp sound of chair squeaking against the kitchen tiles, and walked out of the kitchen. Our house was fairly big, but it was old and worn. That was eminent from the frayed white wallpaper in the hallway; a piece of it was peeling back at the top of the wall. The carpeted stairs were fading, the once bright scarlet color now a dull red, and the carpet was matted like a cat's fur. They squeaked with each step as I ascended up them. 

Seth's bedroom was the first room on the left. I could hear the soft resonating sounds of Mozart coming from inside his room. I knocked twice, so he knew it was me. The music stopped, and then the door clicked open. Seth stood there, his black hair disheveled and purple bruises covering the space underneath his dark chocolate eyes. He was always the shorter one, but in this past year he grew significantly; he was now tall and gangly, and I came up to his shoulders. His pale lips pulled up into a small smile, and I returned it. 

"Dinner's almost ready," I said. He closed his door behind him and we walked down the stairs together in silence. I wanted to ask him how his first day was, but I already knew the answer; his first day was the same as mine. 

We set the table without conversing; the silence was filled with the tinkling of cutlery being set down on the table. As mom brought out the spicy chicken and steamed vegetables, the front door slammed shut. Seth gave me a look which I was all too familiar with; Dad was home. He walked into the kitchen, his tie undone and his hair tangled. He collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs, and a sigh of exhaustion escaped from his lips. 

Seth looked exactly like my dad. In fact, from the pictures I saw of my dad as a young boy, Seth was a younger replicate of him. 

"Hi, Dad," I said, sitting across from him. 

He gave me a tired smile. "Hi, Lilith. How was school?"

"It was alright," I answered, sipping my water. Seth dropped into the chair beside me. We all waited for my mom to come in from the kitchen. When she finally did, she planted a kiss on my dad's pasty-white forehead and sat at the head of the table, where she usually sat. 

"Let's eat," she said, with a smile, and we all tucked into the meal. And, like always, we ate in complete silence. 

After dinner, I pulled out my homework. I mostly had Calculus homework, but the Religious Studies teacher, Mrs. Bishop, had asked us to read the first couple of pages from the Bible. Most of the students had groaned and said they knew the whole book off by heart, but I had never even opened a Bible. I was apprehensive at what might be written in there. I sighed and opened the first page. 

"What is that?" I heard a whisper from behind me. My mom walked up the table, her hazel eyes wide with fear. 

"What?" I asked, confused. 

"Where did you get that?" she hissed. 

"I...it's from school. Religious Studies, Mom -"

"Put it away! Now!" she screamed. 

I grabbed it and shoved it back into my homework bag. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and her face was screwed up with anger. 

"I never want to see that...that thing in the house. Ever again. Do you understand me, Lilith?" she whispered. 

"But -"

"Do you understand me?" she said, louder this time, her voice forcibly calm. I nodded, slowly, but not understanding her at all. Was it yet another arcane secret that this family was hiding?

When she left the room, I stared at the table, feeling shocked and confused. Why did she freak out like that? What was the matter with me bringing a Bible in the house? I stood up and started pacing the kitchen, unanswered questions racing around in my brain. I walked out of the kitchen, into the eerily silent hallway, and I could hear quiet sobbing somewhere. Frowning, I walked down the hallway, trying to figure out where the sobbing was coming from. I stopped at the small, broom cupboard at the end of the hallway, and the sobbing was louder now; the sounds were reverberations, echoes. 

Inhaling slowly, I opened the broom cupboard door. Dust fell from the top of the door as I peered in. The sobbing was even louder now, but there was nobody in the cupboard. There were only unwanted objects that my mom and dad no longer had a use for; old lightbulbs, children's books covered in layers of dust and cobwebs, board games that were the living memory of a happy family that we once were. 

The cupboard was dimly lit, but I could faintly see a small door on one of the walls. I hadn't been in here since I was about five years old when my mom locked me in here after drawing on one of the walls with a permanent marker. I still remember banging on the door, sobbing and yelling for someone to let me out, and the darkness that engulfed me. I shivered just thinking about it. 

I opened the small door and climbed inside. There was a wooden staircase leading down into what seemed like a basement. I never even knew we had a basement in this house. There was a musty, old smell, like mothballs and dust. I could faintly smell candles burning, too. As I descended the stairs, the air grew bitterly cold, and the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck raised as goosebumps started to form. The basement was dimly lit, so I could see the faint outline of more unwanted objects; they were bigger than the ones in the broom cupboard. I followed the sound of sobbing around the staircase, to where I found my mom kneeling, her back facing me. She was surrounded by burning candles, and she was kneeling in what looked like a circle of some sort of powder; it looked like salt. In between her racking sobs, she was muttering a language I didn't understand. 

"Mom?" I whispered, my throat tight. I was terrified, confused and anxious at the same time. 

She turned around; her face was stained with tears. 

That's when I saw what was permanently engraved into the wall in front of her. 

A/N

So I decided to surprise you guys and give you the second chapter on Halloween. I thought it was pretty fitting, seeing as this is a horror.

I hope you guys enjoyed this Halloween Special (*cue deranged cackling*)

- Olivia Clarke - 

GIF: Lili (Lilith) Ayres - Crystal  Reed

© Olivia Clarke 2016

The Devil's Daughter