Reflections of Light

Fox Hole

Nyx slept until noon the next day; dragging herself upstairs after he'd snuck out at dawn, to collapse exhausted into her comfortable bed.
The night had been long and arduous, and now the adrenalin had drained away, her limbs hung as heavy as lead and her eyes had barely stayed open long enough to get her up the stairs.

The midday sun gently roused her awake, pouring around her curtains in a warm glow.
A small breeze from the half-opened window fluttered the curtains, bringing with it the scent of damp earth caused by the day's earlier drizzle.

Stretching languidly, Nyx rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, sliding herself out of bed and stumbling to finally get ready for the day- or at least, what remained of it.

Returning from a rejuvenating shower, she quickly dressed; her damp curls clinging to her forehead and tangling together in chaotic fashion, like she were some strange wild thing.

Tugging a brush through the curls in an almost redundant attempt to tame them, she settled for a hairband instead, tying it back in an unruly ponytail.
Going to exit her room, she shot a quick glance at the mirror to check the bags under her eyes weren't too prevelent, then carried on to the door.

Then paused. And backpedalled to the mirror; squinting suspiciously at it as she tilted her head.

"If you really must know, you look an absolute mess. But I figured after last night, you wouldn't want to hear it."

"I knew it!" Nyx accused, crossing her arms.

"Oh, I don't know, I had you for a second." Alysha cackled, extracting herself from the mirror with careful precision to stand in front of Nyx.

"I... Haven't seen you in a while." Nyx said carefully.

"It's been difficult." Alysha admitted. "Getting my bearings. That, and a certain intruder was here on my territory all times of the day and night.
But, he's not here now, so us little creatures can come out to play!" She grinned, playfully tapping Nyx's nose.

Nyx looked unimpressed. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I forgot to say that bit!" Alysha giggled. "That's no good, is it? Well, I'll tell you now.
I've come to invite you out for breakfast. Or is it more like lunch now? Brunch? That's a word, isn't it?
Food. It's definitely going to be food."

Despite herself, Nyx couldn't help but stifle the small chuckle that escaped.

Catching her amusement, Alysha grinned widely. "I know somewhere I can get free pancakes."

"Free pancakes, or stolen pancakes?"

"Free pancakes as in Declan gets free pancakes from this place, and I stole a piece of paper with his signature on it and the cafe owner doesn't question it at all."

"Uh huh." Nyx replied sceptically. "And why should I trust you?"

"Well, if this isn't a face you can trust, then you've got a big problem, Sweetie.
Also, I'm extending the olive branch. It's only polite to at least consider coming."

"You're not going to pull any weird shit this time?" Nyx said cautiously.

"Your definition of weird is a lot broader than mine.
But my plan is just pancakes, then maybe some shopping? Come on, I wanna hang out with you! But I think I might have weirded you out before."

"Just a tiny bit." Nyx agreed.

"Well, now we can make it all better! Come on! It'll be fun! I have something to tell you..."

"What?"

"Later! Come oooon, let's go already! Before something disasterous happens to stop us!"

Nyx was ready to kick herself over the obvious bad judgement of what came out of her mouth next.
"Alright, fine. Just let me get my purse and phone."

Alysha clapped her hands excitedly, jumping on the spot. "Yay!"

"But I'm driving."

Alysha scrunched up her nose. "We're not driving there."

"Oh, we're walking then? Okay."

"Yeah. Come on!" Alysha said, grabbing Nyx's wrist and pulling her not towards the bedroom door as one would expect, but towards the bedroom mirror.

"Wait, are we going through there?!" Nyx exclaimed, suddenly more reluctant than ever; the leaden feeling in her stomach telling her that this was a really bad idea.

"Yeah, course we're going through there. I know a way."

"Wait, where are we going?!"

"You'll see! Come on, have some faith!"
Nyx tried to tug her arm out of Alysha's grip; but Alysha kept ahold, gently tugging Nyx towards the mirror. "It'll be fun! It's an adventure."

"Bloody hell!" Nyx swore as Alysha yanked her forwards into the mirror. "You're fucking persistent!"

"You coming, or not?" Alysha sing-songed, releasing Nyx and skipping ahead, into the edge of the swirling grey.
Now Alysha had let go, Nyx suddenly had the fear she was going to leave her behind, to be lost in this indecernable landscape; and in a panic, she hurried to catch up.

Grinning, Alysha slung her arm around Nyx's shoulders. "We're going to be good, you and I. Here in our fox hole, we can slip around unseen; through the cracks and the between spaces, everywhere and anywhere."

"And where are we going now?" Nyx said, covering the strange tingling in her body with a voice of sharp frustration.

"Uh..." Alysha spun away from Nyx, giggling as she pirouetted distracted, before looking around in the fog and pointing a decisive finger. "That way!"

"That way? Are... Are you sure?" Nyx said with a raised eyebrow. "That way is no different from the other ways."

"Yes it is." Alysha said, tilting her head curiously. "It's the right way."

Striding over to Nyx, squinted at her, drawing close her face to look into her eyes.
Then tapped her on the nose, and laughed.

"Aww, you're adorable. Don't worry, little one, you'll learn."