Plot Twist

The young couple finally met in person at a quaint Korean restaurant halfway between their homes. They shared some delicious bulgogi and kimbap, giggling while failing miserably with chopsticks. They swapped stories of growing up together, yet apart, within the 8 years of their online friendship. Every email, every Instant Message all led to that first date. Hours went by like minutes as they shared their dreams of the future.

Rey opened his eyes, wincing at the smell of the heavily bleached pillowcase on Lilith’s hospital bed. As he rested his head, memories of the 24 years they had together filled his mind. The love of his life lay next to him, unconscious and postpartum. As tears streamed down sideways across his face, Rey held their newborn daughter to Lilith’s bare bosom so mother and baby could bond.

Shifting his weight, Rey gently pushed his wife’s prized journal out of the way. Before this tragedy befell their family, Lilith was at the height of her writing career. It afforded them everything they ever wanted, including the world’s best medical team for her high-risk pregnancy. Ever since she was 12 years old, Lilith took a refillable writing journal and fountain pen everywhere she went. Rey wanted his wife to have everything she loved in this world, right here in this bed—if she ever woke up again.

Rey pulled himself higher on the bed to snuggle his bare chest closer to his wife and child. He propped himself up right next to Lilith’s face. “I’m not giving up on you, Lili. We need you.” He whispered love and encouragement into her ear as his eyes grew heavy. The sweet symphony of their baby’s slumber lured Rey’s cheek back to the tear-soaked pillow.

“Stop this, please! This is torture!” Lilith’s voice screamed in her mind—in her prison. She could hear her husband’s voice and feel her daughter on her skin, but she couldn’t speak or even open her eyes. “There must be some other way! I’ll give anything to make this madness stop!” Lilith pleaded to the universe, or God, or anyone who’d hear her.

“Anything?” A haunting, yet familiar voice called to Lilith.

Lilith’s eyes shot open as she let out a loud gasp, startling her husband awake. Before any celebration could start, Lilith and Rey both froze, realizing their two-day-old baby was fully latched and ravenously breastfeeding. Rey and Lilith looked back up and instantly grabbed each other’s hand, forming a protective structure over their hungry infant. They began to silently cry together—the way loving parents hide their heaviest emotions, just so they don’t inconvenience their children.

Neither Lilith or Rey could explain the miracle bestowed upon them, but they didn’t care. Lilith and Rey were together again and the couple finally had the blessing of a healthy baby. They’d endured so much loss just to get to this moment. Nothing else mattered to Lilith as she used her own breast to give her child life.

“What did you name her?” Lilith whispered weakly as she stared adoringly at her sweet baby girl.

Just then, the nurse and Rey’s family came rushing in. Everyone gasped loudly in unison and quieted themselves immediately when they noticed Lilith’s finger over her lips, shushing the crowd.

“Come, everyone!” Lilith’s husband whispered as he waved them all inside.

Lilith watched as her husband could barely contain his excitement. The couple had long agreed to wait and meet their daughter first before naming her. They feared the already failed practice of prematurely naming their child before it could survive the birth. But also, they both felt her name should fit her for who she is. This was their first hospital birth, and it truly seemed as though their luck had finally changed.

“Honey, please—tell me her name?” Lilith struggled once again.

“Tell her!” Everyone whispered sharply.

“Okay, okay!” Rey chuckled. “Everyone, meet our beautiful daughter… Fausta!” He quietly exclaimed with pride. “It means ‘fortunate one,’ because we’re all so fortunate she made it through…” His voice dwindled as he began to choke back tears. “Well, she’s here now. We’re all here now.”

Lilith’s face went pale as her ears seemingly went deaf. She had never heard that name before, all she knew was there was something very wrong. Before her mind could catch up, her arm dropped and let go of her baby.

“Lili! Catch her!” Her husband cried out as he dove for his infant daughter. Grabbing her just in time, Rey cradled little Fausta as he reached for his wife. Lilith cowered away in terror as Fausta’s tiny cries morphed into something chilling.

“Wah wahh… ahh ahaha… Muahahahaha!” A haunting, yet familiar voice taunted Lilith.

Lilith stared in horror as her precious little baby’s face turned gray and veined, and black-as-ink blood filled her eye sockets.

“Get that demon away from me!” Lilith screamed in disgust. “That’s not my baby! Get it away from my husband!”

Nurses and doctors rushed into the hospital room as Rey’s family held Lilith down, prying the sharp fountain pen from her hand with which she tried to stab her two-day-old infant.

“This isn’t real. That’s not my daughter. This isn’t real...” Lilith chanted over and over as the doctor injected Haloperidol into her arm.

“I’ve given your wife an antipsychotic that will calm her down, but I have to place her on an emergency psychiatric hold due to severe Postpartum Psychosis.” The doctor explained as the nurses strapped Lilith’s limbs to the hospital bed.

“Oh, my darling Lili!” Rey cried out in despair. He looked down upon his daughter, a baby so innocent and fragile. “I will never let anyone hurt you!” He promised. The family gathered to form a protective circle around little Fausta and her father.

Lilith’s already weak body went limp from the sedative, but her mind was still racing. She was determined to make things right. She had to save her husband from that demon pretending to be his daughter. There was only one way to stop this madness. Only one way to undo all her mistakes.

Just before the sedative pulled her eyes closed, Lilith saw only Rey’s back. The love of her life never hesitated as he fled the hospital room with his baby. Lilith pushed her cheek against the tear-soaked spot her husband left on the heavily bleached pillowcase. As she rested her head, memories of the 24 years they had together filled her mind.

The day that young couple sat in a quaint Korean restaurant on their first date, Lilith had a deadly secret. That was the day she should’ve told Rey everything when he asked about her writing.

Lilith should’ve told him how the darkness from her mind bleeds into the black ink of her fountain pen. She should’ve told him that the pages of her journal are cursed by an unbreakable contract. Lilith never told Rey what she sacrificed to have everything she ever wanted. She’d give anything to go back in time and make things right…

“Anything?” Mephistopheles whispered.