Gift of a Miracle

Chapter 2

The next morning Iliana studied Mother when she entered the kitchen. She seemed her normal jovial self, and for someone who had a demanding job as a top lawyer, Iliana found her character inspiring. She dismissed her suspicions on Mother from her mind. However, she couldn't shift let alone deny the feeling that something or someone with a formidable presence was there last night.

"Good morning Cherry...!" Mother chirped, beaming from ear to ear. She swooped down and planted a big kiss on Iliana's cheek.

'Cherry' was the first part of a nickname Mother always called her. The second was what Father called her. Iliana wiped her cheek with the back of her hand the smudge of deep red lipstick marked her skin.

"Oh, thanks Mother..." She groaned, rubbing the rest of it off her cheek. "Good morning to you too."

Mother chuckled as she bent down to Yuki who sat by the foot of Iliana's stool. She raised her head and allowed Mother to tickle her under the chin.

"And good morning to you Yuki!"

Yuki's friendly reaction proved Mother's normality, her furry friend's senses of the Unknown were much stronger than her own.

"Did you... err... sleep well last night Cherry?" Mother asked awkwardly when she stood up. She leant her hip onto the island unit Iliana was eating breakfast at.

"Um... quite well actually!" Iliana lied, spooning the cornflakes and milk more carefully than one would normally need to.

"W-why?" She continued.

"Oh... there was a little... incident by the river very late last night, which your Father and I were involved in. It was rather boisterous... I thought you might had heard something!"

"I slept like a baby... I didn't hear anything. Are you and Father alright?"

"We're fine, nothing happened to us... but there was a young man who was in trouble. Your Father attended to him before the ambulance and police arrived. It was rather strange how the lad had no memory of what had happened to him that night."

'They never do.'

Through the years Iliana realised there were levels in which a human soul progresses, until they were completely possessed by their inner Demon. She hadn't quite worked out what those levels were... nevertheless, she knew the human mind becomes fragile and erratic and to the point where their memory escapes them thereafter.

"I'm glad... it was lucky that both of you were around then!" Lying like this had become an undesired habit. To her relief... Father walked in.

"Morning Blossom...!" He blew Iliana a kiss.

"Morning Father!"

"Cherry somehow slept through the drama we had last night." Mother informed, sliding an arm around his waist.

"Alright for some aye!"

"Well you know... one cannot play hero every day." Iliana joked.

Father chuckled. "Every hero needs their beauty sleep." He turned to Mother. "Have you told Blossom yet?"

"Told me what?" Iliana asked, sitting upright.

"Obviously you haven't!"

Mother took a moment before answering. "I've... decided to take the job at Bayle City instead of Edinburgh."

Iliana raised both eyebrows in surprise. "Your final decision couldn't have been made anymore last minute than that... the removal van will be here soon!" Her eyes glanced at the pile of boxes stacked in the kitchen.