Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Lillian Kane was a very special girl.
She was sweet, adorable, but unfortunately more-than-slightly awkward.
Not only that, though, she was an empath. She could feel the radiation of other's emotions only when she was within a few feet of them. It could be very overwhelming sometimes. She hated crowded rooms, she hated crowded streets, (New York was a nightmare), she hated supermarkets or any store for that matter, and in general, she didn't really like to be around people. The consequence of her isolation from society was severely timid interactions on her end when she was required to venture out of the comforts of her home. Living in Bucharest, Romania, a busy and, as Lily liked to say, "aggressive" city didn't help her anxiety at all.
Lillian grew up with normal parents and an older sister in Băile Herculane, Romania. When Lily was 15, her older sister died in a car crash on her way home from college for the holidays.
They didn't celebrate Christmas that year.
Her father was different after that. He threw himself into his work, and rarely spent time at home. By no means did he become a bad father, he just didn't know how to move on and Lily couldn't exactly blame him for that. Her mother, however, tried to become as close as possible with Lily. It was uncomfortable as almost unbearable, because she could feel the pain underneath the calm and collected exterior her mother kept up. She respected her mother for keeping the family together after that but, even then, all things must come to an end.
Her mother fell ill when Lily was 17 years old. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. Lily knew there was something wrong for months, but her mother always waved it off and blamed it on "old age". Her mother was only 46 when she died on November 24th. The day Lily turned 18 years old.
Her father was a shell of the man he once was and the two rarely saw each other. Lily avoided him at all costs. Maybe he was hurting just as much as she was, but her mother was gone and she resented him. She resented him for not being there for her. He was her dad. He was supposed to care about her.
When Lily's father died at age 47, only 3 months after her mother died, Lily couldn't stay there anymore. She stayed for the funeral and felt everything all at once. Everyone's pain and grieving and a sharp ache in her chest told her that her pain was worst of all. She had no one left. No father, no mother, no sister. Just her and her lonely self. The next day, she took a bus to Romania and 8 years later, there she was in her small and dark apartment. She worked as a website designer from home. It was the only job she could find that didn't require her to interact with people more than she already needed to.
Losing her family and being on her own for so long made her scared to connect with anyone. She had herself and only herself. Maybe that was enough for her for a while, but that changed. She couldn't help but crave a relationship. Someone to talk to and listen to. She couldn't help but dream of loving someone with her whole heart, something she hadn't done in a long time.
