A Haunted Dream; BOS 6

Saving An Eagle

Alex watched Lillian with narrowed eyes as he sipped his coffee. She lay flicking through movies on the TV while laying stretched out on the couch. Everyone had left for work but Alex stayed to keep an eye on Lillian and make sure she was safe.
She stops on the movie 'Insanity Always Wins' and Alex raises his eyebrows in shock. It's a horror full of the most explicit scenes you could imagine. "You sure you wanna watch that?" He asks.
Lillian sits up and rests her arms on the back of the couch. She shrugs. "I've seen it before."
"You have?" Alex almost drops his drink.
"Yeah. My aunt was in it. She's the crazy witch with the bloody hair. Also I dated the actor who played Vladimir while it was in release so I went to the premiere with him and saw it." Lillian says simply and Alex clenches his jaw unhappily before drinking the rest of his coffee.
"I'll be upstairs if you need anything." He turns to go upstairs when Lillian calls his name.
"Alex wait. Do you want to watch it with me?" She asks and he turns to face her again.
She looked at him expectantly and he sighs. "Fine." Alex walks over and sits on the couch. Lillian shuffles over and sits beside him, she leans her head on his shoulder and wraps her arms loosely around him before pressing play.
Alex puts an arm around her shoulder with a small smile.
Throughout the movie Lillian would flinch or hide away in Alex's chest. Basically half way through the sound of a car driving over the gravel makes Alex pause the film and stand up. Lillian follows him and they look out the window. It was a black car with silver stripes over the top.
"It's just Coraline." Alex says and walls to the door.
Lillian follows slowly. She watches as Alex opens the door and two young boys come racing in laughing. They stop in front of her and crane their heads to look up at her curiously. "Who are you?" The oldest one asks.
She crouches down and smiles. "My names Lillian Morgan. What are your names?" Lillian asks.
"I'm Nathan and this is my little brother Baron." The oldest says proudly and puffs out his chest. Lillian smiles even more.
"Well its very nice to meet you." She says and stands up. The two boys go racing into the kitchen.
"Boys be careful." A woman yells who Lillian assumes is their mother Coraline.
"It's nice to meet you Lillian. I'm a big fan of your movies. You're a brilliant actor." She says as she walks over and smiles.
Lillian returns it. "It's nice to meet you too. You're a good friend of Crystal and Maddison aren't you?" She asks and Alex walks over curiously.
"Nobody ever told you that." He says and Lillian shrugs.
"Every broken float away needs a solid anchor to the ground. Coraline looks to be a very solid anchor. I should know. I've both been an anchor and I've had many of my own. Plus I hear both Crystal and Maddison talking to a Coraline over the phone. I can only presume it's this Coraline." She says and Coraline smiles.
"Glad to know someone semi normal is around here. These guys need anchors like us. They won't survive otherwise." She says and Lillian nods.
"Its hard to be an anchor when your also a lone float away." She walks towards the lounge and turns the movie off completely. Coraline eyes widen and walks to stand in the doorway.
"You a lone float away?" Coraline snorts and Lillian looks at her sadly.
"I've always been different. I also happen to be the one who arrested my own sister. Just because it looks like my life is perfect it doesn't necessarily mean it's true." Lillian sits down and rubs her forehead.
"Just because it's what you see doesn't mean it's what happened. Or at least what's happening. Ashley and Shannon use that quote often." Alex says and Lillian nods.
"Yeah. You cou..." Lillian doesn't finish before there's a loud crash from upstairs. She leaps to her feet and races upstairs.
Alex closely follows while Coraline hurries to her sons in the kitchen. Lillian runs out onto the balcony of the room she's staying in and turns to look up onto the roof. There was a large bird tangled in wires and vines flapping around.
"Holy shit. Alex do you see that?" She gasps.
"Is that a... Bald Eagle?" He asks in shock, his eyes wide in shock.
"We have to help it." Lillian says seriously. "Help me up." She turns and faces Alex who shakes his head.
"You could fall and kill yourself or it will attack you and could kill you. They're birds of prey and have very sharp talons." He says but Lillian glares at him.
"Either you help me up or I climb up. Which would you prefer?" She snapped.
Sighing in defeat he cups his hands as a step and crouches down. Lillian places her foot on his hands and he boosts her up. She scrambles onto the roof and the eagle squawks loudly. "Shhhh. It's alright. I'm going to help you." Lillian says in a soothing tone and to her surprise the bird stops squawks and watches her with sharp gold eyes.
"What are you doing here anyway? We don't normally find you guys around here." Lillian continues as she reaches the bird.
Slowly she begins to untangle the vines. "Alex. He's beautiful." Lillian calls down to Alex.
"How do you know it's a he?" He calls back and the bald eagle squawks in a high, shrill tone.
"That's how. Males have a higher pitch." Lillian snorts. The eagles feathers were slightly damaged in some places and were indeed very beautiful.
When she untangled the last wire the bird got to his feet and ruffled his feathers. He squawks and spreads his wings before taking off into the air. As he few away Lillian cranes her neck to watch him fly away.
She let's out a scream as her foot slips and she skids down the roof and topples over the edge.