Lilith's Awakening

"I've waited a long time for this day," I said as I held out the card.

"It's not too late to change your mind, Lilith!" My mother snatched the card from my hand and placed it back into its envelope. "You can still give it to him tomorrow."

"No, Mere," I replied, taking the envelope from her hands. "I'm doing this tonight."

My mother sighed as she sat down on the armrest of my couch. "All you have to do is wait until morning, I promise he'll still be there in the morning."

"I know that, Mere," I smiled at her as I stood up from the couch. "I just want to do this now."

"Well, you could have just told me that earlier," she grumbled as she got off the couch. "Now I have to go home and get ready again."

"It's only early, Mere," I said to her as she walked out of my apartment. "You don't have to dress up or anything."

"But it's rude to show up to a party without any makeup on," she called out to me as she went through the front door of my apartment building. "I'll see you there."

My mother was right about one thing; my brother was still downstairs when we got there. It was past midnight by then and most of my friends were already drunk. Various couples were making out in the living room while others slowly wandered around the house looking for food or some other form of entertainment. My brother was leaning against the wall by the kitchen talking with some blonde girl that looked barely older than eighteen. He didn't notice me at first but his eyes immediately shifted towards me once he noticed his parents walking towards him. I had never seen him look so startled before; it almost made him look like a deer caught in headlights. But his expression quickly changed as he saw me walking towards him with a big smile on my face. He couldn't hold back his smile either when he saw us walking towards him and being separated from his friend by two middle-aged people wasn't enough to spoil his mood either because he pulled me into a tight hug even after we reached him. His arms wrapped around me tightly and it felt like an eternity before he let go of me again. This time, however, it was because he wanted to say something to me since he had been unable to speak for nearly a minute upon seeing us again.

"Why did you come?" He finally asked after regaining his composure. "I told you that you didn't have to."

"How can you say that?" My father asked him angrily after overhearing our conversation. "She came all this way just for your birthday party and you're telling her not to?"

My brother laughed awkwardly after hearing my father's words before standing up straight again and looking at both of us with a gentle smile on his face. He took both our hands into his before saying: "Thank you so much for coming all this way! It means so much to me!"

He looked genuinely happy but I knew that wasn't true because he always looked unhappy whenever we were together; both in person and over video chat. It wasn't easy getting over what happened between us but it also wasn't easy leaving New Zealand either because we had been too close for too long for either of us to just walk away from each other so easily anymore. But despite everything, we managed somehow and neither one of us wanted our relationship ruined by what happened all those years ago so instead we tried our best to keep things normal between us like nothing ever happened between us at all. At least, that's what we did until that night when it was just the two of us alone in my apartment where we often used to spend time together as kids when our parents weren't home yet because they didn't want us growing too close together in case something ever would happen between us later on in life which made things worse than they really were between us now or so they thought so we never got along very well before everything happened anyway unless they were watching us closely but they weren't always home so they couldn't always keep an eye on us anymore or at least not all of them at once like they used to do once upon a time which meant that sometimes we ended up spending more time with each other than we were supposed too which made things worse for them in the end because we had grown too close for their liking although I don't know why because even if we hadn't grown close together at all I doubt anything would have happened between us later on anyway not like they thought anyway since nothing ever happened between us later on much less sooner although maybe if nothing ever happened between us sooner then nothing would have ever happened between us later on either which would have been better for everyone involved probably especially for them since otherwise none of this would have ever happened which wouldn't be good for anyone since all of this started with them assuming something wrong about their son which turned out bad for them in the end but even worse for their son who had gotten hurt too badly by everything that happened between them especially considering how close he had gotten to his sister in spite of everything which was very bad news indeed considering what might have happened between them if they hadn't stopped it beforehand although maybe they should have let certain things happen regardless because maybe some things are worth risking no matter what happens afterwards even if it ends up hurting someone else in the process perhaps especially if it ends up hurting someone else regardless because otherwise nothing ever happens anywhere anyway no matter where you live or how old you are or who your family is or how long you've spent together already which means that everything is worth risking no matter how much pain it might cause someone else eventually anyway even if things might end up hurting everyone along the way including yourself eventually no matter what happens between anyone else eventually no matter how hard people try not to lose anyone else eventually no matter how hard people try not to make a mistake somewhere along the way eventually no matter what happens along the way eventually which means that most things are worth taking risks over eventually because otherwise nothing would get done eventually which means that most problems aren't worth worrying about anymore especially not those involving family members who've grown too close together anyway because otherwise nothing gets solved except those involving family members who don't get along anyway especially if they're siblings who grew too close together sometime during childhood which isn't good news considering how often siblings grow too close together during childhood these days especially given how much longer humans are living nowadays thanks mostly due largely thanks largely due largely thanks largely due largely thanks largely due largely thanks largely due largely thanks largely due largely thanks largely due largely thanks largely due large...