I was recently invited to take part in the love letter challenge by Em Shotwell. The challenge was to write a love letter from one of your characters to another. I thought about writing a letter from Azariah to Estelle, but decided to let you have a rare glimpse into Lilith's head.
This letter was written by 17 year old Lilith, alone, desperate and pining for the man she loved.
My Dear Kaimi
It’s been four months since I last saw you. Four months since our night together. I remember it well. There was a full moon, and it lit the beach in its shimmering glow as we walked hand in hand through the soft tumbling waves.
I miss you, I can’t tell you how much, because every time I think of you my heart breaks even more.
Where are you?
Why have you never come back since that night? Have you been hurt . . . killed even? I fear for you, for what the ocean could do.
My father refuses to believe you exist. He wants to move me away from Ravenscar. He’s ashamed of me, seventeen and pregnant. He blames each and every boy he sees for the situation I’m in. But you are the father of the child I’m carrying. You may be a man from the sea, but your child grows within me, and I know I will love him, or her, as much as I love you. And I still love you. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you, of the tender way you held me, of the softness in your voice as you whispered my name. It doesn’t matter that you’re not human, it doesn’t matter that you’re older than me. None of it matters. I just want you back.
Where are you?
Are you scared of my father? You didn’t seem scared of anything when we met. The month I knew you was the best month of my life. You made me feel alive in a way I’d never experienced before.
Do you still love me like you said you did? I still have the shell—the one you gave me. It’s on a cord, I made it into a necklace. I never remove it. Every night I go to sleep hoping that you’ll speak to me in my dreams, just like you always did. I have the shell, so why don’t you come? Why isn’t it working?
Our child grows within me. And I want you to know that when the baby’s born, I will never part with it. I will love it forever, and when it’s old enough I will tell it all about you. I hope the baby looks like you, I just know it will have striking blue eyes—just like yours. Our child is the most important thing in my life and always will be. But I need you to be here with me. I want you to see your child grow up.
Where are you?
I go to the beach every day. I wait for you. Every ripple in the water lifts my heart, only for it to come crashing down when there’s nothing there. The restless ocean teases me. But I wait. I’ll keep waiting.
I’ll always love you. Always. There will never, ever, be anyone else who I will love as much as you.
Please, come back,
Lil xxx
