Lilith

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Eventually, they forgot about Lilith, but how could they? She was someone to remember, a tall, intense girl with dark hair and eyes a little too far apart that could nail you, burn you and do things to you that were, well, unforgettable. There were wild rumours about her. They said that she used to be a demon, she stole souls, that she could kill people by snapping her fingers. It wasn’t hard to believe, but there was never any evidence of this. In fact, when you knew her, when you talked to her, after you’d pass beyond the dark coals of her eyes, something became quickly obvious. She was a nice girl, and too clever for her time.

How she had ended up with Adam is still a mystery. The man was a loner, from the very beginning. He was nothing remarkable, apart the fact that he was naked, stood up, was unable to fly or even run or swim properly. He didn’t talk much and worked hard. He had much to do of course. Some people said he had everything to do, which was a little blasphemous because after all much of it was already there when he came. But Adam always wanted you to feel that he was important, the Man, in charge of the whole thing, and that if he hadn’t been there to name things they just wouldn’t exist. But perhaps it was just his loneliness who made him a workalcoholic, so we weren’t so surprised to see him one day, talking with this beautiful girl just out of nowhere. She was his match or so he thought. He took her for a tour of the garden, showing her everything he knew about, and showing off a lot. She nodded in return, and flashed him a quizzical, enticing smile. Perhaps she was trying to be nice. Perhaps she was careful of not ruining their relationship immediately. After all, there weren’t so many men available. So they got along pretty well, for a while, and they seemed to settle into a man-and-wife routine. You could see Adam was happy. He had a real relationship, with a real biped, a real person. We have to grant him that : for someone whose previous social life had been close to nil, he really did his best. So it lasted as long as it could, and longer anyone thought it would last.

But how long can a relationship last with a person as spoiled as this one ? He reverted to his own self. He thought he could boss her, as if she was another of these dumb, and still unnamed, animals. But she already had a name. And Lilith... didn’t like that at all. She was the boss in the place she came from. She already knew all the things Adam proudly pointed to her. No way a simple creature would try to get the upper hand on her. That she was attracted to him didn’t change anything. One day, Adam woke up and found a couple of asses looking at him like they would have looked to their next of kin. He told the gentle asses to get lost. A quick look at the garden told him she was gone. Her felt despair during a good five minutes, and then thought that a solution was probably on its way. Why bother ? For once he wasn’t wrong. You know the rest.

And Lilith ? There is as much confusion about where she went as there is about where she came from. Adam’s supporters said she retired in a cave with a tribe of demon lovers, of whom she had many monstrous children. But other people reported that she had become a full-time scholar, and that

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