Smile
Title: Smile
Author: Amata le Fay
Story: Omni
Flavor(s): Flavor of the Day (waif: a person, especially a child, who has no home or friends), Pomegranate 9 (condolences).
Toppings: Whipped Cream (Lilah and Delia are 17)
Extras: None
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 470
Notes: Lilah, as seen through the eyes of Delia Day. Metaphorical cookies for anyone who spots the pattern of the first words of each sentences. Concrit very much welcome.
Anyone at Winnipick High School could tell you all about Lilah Ellerby, but Delia Sinclair Day could tell you something... a bit different from the others.
Being a friend of Lilah's was tough; there was an ever-growing list of things you weren't allowed to talk about. Correction: you were allowed, you just didn't. Delia knew all too well the sadness in Lilah's eyes that would magnify itself ten times if you crossed a line, and it was a sadness that people tended to try to avoid causing. Even an apology from Lilah herself-and she gave many-would not stop those hazel eyes from piercing through your heart.
For a long time, Delia had thought that one day, a smile or a friendly comment-maybe from Delia herself!-would suddenly change the course of Lilah's thoughts and pull her out of whatever phase of depression she was in. Granted, Lilah's personality had always been a quiet one, but that didn't mean she had to be depressed all the time. Happiness was clearly within reach for Delia and Rosemary and Isabella; why shouldn't it be for Lilah? Inara had broken her heart, true, but that wasn't worth crying about for months on end. Just be nice to her and she'll get better, Delia kept telling herself. Kindness, friendliness, encouragement-it should have made some kind of impact. Laughter was the best medicine, after all, right?
(Many months later, she would regret any complaints she had made about too much angst, but not until something worse happened than a lover's quarrel.)
Nervous that Lilah's melancholy would become contagious, Delia began spending more and more time with Colin and less and less with Lilah. Only a spare sympathetic glance in History class was reserved for the solemn, silent girl in the green skirt. Perhaps it was for the best; after all, if Delia's cheering wasn't what Lilah needed to get better, then why continue pretending they were closer than they actually were?
(Quietly, on her own, Lilah herself tried to push her awareness of her own constant fragility out of her mind, if only so she'd be able to make it through another day. Rarely did it work.)
Suddenly, in December, Anna Ellerby was declared missing inside of the Omniscience. That's when everything changed.
Unbelievably, tragedy had struck the same person twice-sweet, innocent, always-lonely Lilah Ellerby. Very, very guilty, Delia called herself to be Lilah's new best friend, smiling all the time, desperately hoping that it would make things better. What else was she supposed to do?
XOXO - thinking of you and your sister, she would write on scraps of paper and put in Lilah's locker. You can always count on me.
(Zombie-like in her daze of mourning, Lilah drifted from place to place, more of a waif than ever despite the best efforts of her half-best-friend.)