Lillies by Alina

Her mother stood in front of her

— I killed them so they can live.

— But why not me?

— You are too clever.

Sally tried to sleep again but couldn’t; Gwen had already gone to the land of dreams. Her small baby was her only reason to live and imagine a better life. It was hard to survive on this island. After they escaped all the terror of the mainland, she couldn’t forget the men whom she had deceived. Sometimes she wanted to take Joy again, but she understood that she couldn't—not if she wanted to avoid harming her daughter or eating a rat instead of the fruits she had saved. Who knew? Maybe they were poisonous. She had imagined that living in nature in the outer world would be easier, but now it seemed even harder. No one was here. Just silence.

Voices.

— Look for any survivors and tell them about our settlement. — Sally? I hoped so much that it was you. You finally escaped!

A man with childish eyes and brown hair suddenly appeared in front of her.

— We have a settlement! It holds all the people who managed to cross the bridge.

Ten years flew by so fast.

A perfect family: Gwen, Arthur, and Sally. Sally now had a new laboratory—not very high-tech, but she could make remedies there. Their smell reminded her of her teenage years, when she and Arthur swung on the swing. He had always helped her gather flowers and herbs for her treehouse, where she had set up the dining room of "Doctor Sally Boyle." His cheeks flushed and his eyes watered every time he stepped inside from the strong smell of antiseptic that appeared God knows where in the little house. It was their secret alone.

The day her mom poisoned the whole family, Sally spent it here. They listened to frogs croaking and played after doing extremely dull homework—at least, Archie thought so. Sally couldn't get rid of the tingling in her chest, as if it were the best day ever.

— It's not fair that you do everything so fast! — he screamed, tilting his head. — Chemistry is so illogical! — It's only illogical to your boyish brain. — Yes, you are right. Thank you for the help with it, Miss of Hydrogen Bonds.

She suddenly felt the urge to kiss him, and it was not in her nature to resist, so she did. He turned as red as a foxglove. Sally wondered if they were always so red. He mumbled something about a very urgent matter he had forgotten about and rushed out of the shack. She hadn't wanted to go home then, but wanted to lock herself inside her room instead. But fate prepared another scenario.

That was a long time ago. Now she had Gwen, her little girl who took up all of her heart. Lately, Archie had also occupied her thoughts, but always through memories, not the present.

She mixed night-blooming nonsuch with lily bulb and coal, making a blood toxin. Lately, he would come home and she would see his dilated pupils and weirdly wide smile. Last time, he brought home some rats and now mumbled that it wasn't his fault. It seemed that at any moment, someone could find out that he was taking Joy and throw her out of the settlement. But her Gwen needed to have a home and friends.

So, when she drugged him and he stopped breathing, she found an old shovel and thought that digging up swamp lilies had, after all, provided great knowledge.