The Girl in White

That girl was wearing a sweet smile on her pretty face when a knife was lodged into her chest.

A sharp knife. A pale hand.

Lily’s knife. Lily’s hand.

And lying on the ground, Lily’s best friend.

A red lily appeared on the girl’s pristine white dress, blooming wildly.

Lily glanced at the flower, her expression blank.

A drop of liquid fell from her cheek, onto the body.

The smile on the girl’s lips did not vanished. Even in death.

She had been smiling at Lily like that for years.

A morning twenty years ago, Lily woke up to see a girl standing by her bed. About the same age as her, the girl looked like a beautiful angel in a pristine white dress. To Lily’s surprise, the girl smiled and held out her hand: “Let’s be friends from now on.”

From that moment on, they had been friends. Good friends.

Many a time Lily asked her to join her family for dinner or to play with her in the yard like other friends, to which the girl only shook her head and smiled her usual smile: “I’ll just watch you.”

Thus, the girl in white had been watching Lily for years, never leaving her side. While Lily entered adulthood, the girl stayed the same as the day Lily had just met her, young, pretty and ever smiling.

Perhaps it was because she stayed the child that she never noticed the smile Lily wore on her face every morning was no longer a true smile.

Unlike her, Lily had changed. All humans are bound to change.

One night, as Lily was about to leave, she saw the girl in white standing at the corridor. Her usual sweet smile was gone and she was wearing a ghastly expression on her face.

“Don’t go!”, she pled and grabbed Lily by the hand.

The girl’s hand was small and weak. Lily broke free from her easily.

“You don’t understand.” Lily replied coolly.

The girl didn’t understand. That was why she could wear that pristine white dress of her in this ugly, filthy world.

But even that dress would one day be stained.

…

Years later and Lily’s memory of the girl in white mostly faded.

Still, every time she passed the corridor, Lily would take a look at the empty spot where the girl had been and smile.

“I’m leaving for work. See you later, Lily.”