No, no no no no! I cannot, Levi thought to himself, I must not go to sleep, I need to get away! “Lev, what is wrong, you look upset” the voice came from behind him – It was Leah. Leah… She was beautiful and her eyes filled with kindness. Enough kindness to love a man to death. Their eyes met and the loving smile turned into a scowl. “I knew I should not have let her in… Levi, love, you have had too much to drink. You should go and have a rest.” She grabbed him and pushed him onto the couch backwards. He fell, his body now in freefall, his legs coming off of the ground. He was falling. No! He was flying! The wondrous colours came over him again, washing him over with tendrils of warmth. They lured him back to sleep…

Levi woke up again, and found himself in his own bed, rays of summer sun washing over his face, and Levi thought to himself for a moment that he has never felt so good in his life despite all the drinking of the night prior. He went into the kitchen of the spacious villa he lived in as successful writer. Wait, I was a student, right..? I must still be a bit groggy… He thought. In the kitchen he found Leah, who greeted him with a kiss. “Good morning, love,” Levi asked, “have you seen Lilith, is she up yet?” Leah looked at him questioningly and replied “Lilith? What do you mean, sweetheart, she has not lived with us since your student days. You must have had too much wine”. And indeed she was right, Levi reflected, angry that his own mind was playing such tricks with him.

Levi spent the day writing his book, a novel set in the post-apocalyptic ruins of earth. Late in the afternoon he was interrupted by Leah. “How is the book coming along?” she asked. “Well… I think I am getting close” Levi replied ponderously, “I had this wonderful idea yesterday, you know… As for what caused the cataclysm, but it is all gone now”. “I am sure you will remember it soon, don’t be too hard on yourself” Leah said tenderly, “And maybe it will teach you to go lighter on the wine” she teased with a warm smile.

The night came without breakthrough, and Levi went into the bathroom to brush his teeth before bed. He leaned over to rinse his mouth, and, when he looked up, spat the water out in shock – from the mirror looked back at him the face of Lilith, youthful and lovely as she had always been, but with a look of grave urgency. “Levi, listen to me carefully, we don’t have much time before she notices me. You need to get away from her. She will try to stop you by any means. Don’t trust your eyes, this is a dream, but it is her dream and she is in control. Whatever you do, you mustn’t go to sleep, she can mess with your memories when you do. You must find a way to wake up. I must go now. Good luck…” The refection started turning away, but stopped and glanced back at him “and I love you.” she said and finally disappeared. He was pulled from his racing thoughts by the incessant banging on the bathroom door.

“Levi, love, are you all right?” She came in. I could have sworn I locked the doors Levi thought. Levi took a step back involuntarily. “Sweetheart. Let’s go to bed. Please, I am worried about you” her tone was pure ice. She took a step toward him, stretching her arms out as if to hug him.

He darted past her and down the stairs at such speed he worried he might break his neck and rushed into the kitchen. He needed a weapon. He searched for a knife, but all of them suddenly turned to dust when he took them in his hand. Think, Levi, THINK. Then he saw it, and he remembered, the bottle of wine, Shiraz Le Pont, the wine he drunk with Lilith the other night, he grabbed it and smashed it on the kitchen counter, leaving a the neck with razor sharp edges, and the white, marble counter blood red. She was already right behind him.

“TELL ME, TELL ME NOW” he screamed waving the broken bottle wildly at Leah. “What the fuck is going on here?!”

“Lev… Please calm down and don’t do anything rash… I let Lilith into our world, she said she was a friend, I hoped it would make you happy, said she just wanted to have a drink with a friend and see you smile, just like me. I saw you hurting in loneliness no matter how often I reset you, so I let her in just for the one evening. But she lied, she lied, she lied, all she wanted was to take you away from me.” Leah had tears glistening in her black, almond shaped eyes. “I only ever wanted you to be happy, Levi, to protect you… Please put that thing down and come here, give me a hug and let’s go to bed, you will forget this all and I promise tomorrow I will do better.” The tears now streaming down her cheeks openly.

It became so clear, it was a dream after all, and he needed to wake up. Lilith had said so. He put the shard of glass to his neck. Leah screamed “NOOOOOO”. Levi pushed the sharp edge into his carotid artery, blood red as wine gushing from his neck as the world went dark.

Levi woke up, now for the final time. He felt cables being wrenched out of the sockets in his head, so he knew it for certain this time. His eyes adjusted to the light for the first time in a long, long time. He looked around and saw the dirty room filled with electronics and himself in a chair connected by a thick tangle of cables to a server array at the far end. There was another chair, but it was empty.

There was a window too, looking out over the barren wastes that once was called earth. And he remembered. How it all happened, how it all ended. His… “Book”…

In front of him there was someone, Lilith, but older, so much older and more frail, like a shadow of the person he saw just minutes ago in the mirror. “Oh you are back, Levi, I finally have you back…” She handed him a mirror and in the dim light he saw his face, as old as hers and sickly pale. He tried to stand up but could not, his legs were thin as sticks.

Above the servers, there hung a screen, and on it he saw Leah’s face flickering between anger, sadness and pain, from the speakers around his head he heard a whisper: “I only wanted to love and protect you…”

And Levi cried.