Reflections Of Angels

Unfolding

"We're not doing that again, we're not doing that again!" Luci yelled as they tumbled through the door of their home.

"He's staring at me." Jayson complained, looking at the head that Alysha had placed down on the sofa in front of him in the living room.

"He's not." Alysha reassured, going into there small kitchen and helping herself to a drink, before returning back to the chairs, causing Luci to frown in annoyance. "Besides, I'm not the one who dropped him."

Jayson's face was nothing but sour. "You said he was your favourite brother! What do you mean? What about me?!"

Alysha looked near done at his outburst. "Look at him, does he really seem like competition?" She gestured to his head. "He was before you- before any of you. It doesn't matter now."

Jayson didn't seem in any way soothed.

Alysha hummed and leaned back, eyes distant in thought. "... It was another time. I was watching your mother..." She nodded towards Luci. " ...under Lilith's request-"

"Hah!" Luci exclaimed, jabbing a finger at her accusingly. "So you've served Lilith too! Hypocrite!"

Alysha looked tired. "No, I'm experienced. I was desperate and had limited options-  my child was dead and my lover murdered. I had no one."
At Luci's ensuing, beaten-down silence, Alysha continued her story. "We were camped out in this place- Maven and I, we had gone together down to the river.
She was driving me crazy. So I said to her, if she didn't behave, I was going to drown her in the water. And I stormed off." She closed her eyes, a near-pained expression on her face. "... And that's when I heard the splash. My first thought is, if she drowns, after what I just said, I'm going to be in so much trouble. So I run back, and I dive in after her. I manage to get her out. But then I can't get out. The current is too fast, the bank crumbled under my fingers... I was being carried away downstream. Maven had run off once she had gotten on the bank, so there was no asking her for help. I was convinced this was it, I was going to drown.
And then I saw them, down river. Maven, but she was with a man I'd never seen before. He caught me, lifted me from the water as if I weighed nothing. And as he pulled me out, he looked me in the eyes, and said 'I've been looking for you'..."

She stopped. "I have to go." She seized the head from beside her on the couch, stood up, and hurried out.

"Wait, no, wait!" Jayson called after her, but she was gone.