Reflections of Light

Actions And Reactions

"... So that's fucking shit." Dec said, throwing his keys angrily down on the side table as he walked into the house, Travis and Nyx following behind him.

"Language, Daddy!" Lila scolded, coming down the stairs to the hallway, on her way to the kitchen with an empty drinking glass.

"I'm older, so it's allowed." Dec replied flatly, angrily undoing his jacket and jamming it on the hook. "That was my goddamn bar! Bloody son of a f... Lila, can you please go on your way?"

Lila had stayed standing in front of them, observing her father's frustration; successfully putting the breaks on the diatribe of foul language he couldn't justify letting forth on front of a young child.

"Billy's still upset."

"Oh dear." Dec muttered dryly. "Poor Billy, how ever will he get over it?"

"... He slammed a door in my face. And in Mina's face. And then he ran across the landing to the bathroom and slammed that door too." Lila said.

"Joy. Not a moment of peace, is there?" Dec turned towards the stairs, calling out as he climbed up the steps. "Billy?! Can you come here please? You don't slam doors, you could hurt someone."

"Lila's a tattle-tale!" Billy yelled from somewhere across the landing, quickly punctuating the sentence with a loud door slam.

Travis furrowed his brow in confusion. "What's Billy doing here?"

"Don't look at me like I'm supposed to know." Nyx chuckled, distracted looking round the lavishly decorated hallway.

"Um, Billy's mummy couldn't find the hotel in the night time, so Daddy let them stay." Lila informed them. "Ooh, gotta change the cup for a clean one. Nearly forgot." She said, looking at the water glass in her hands and scurrying off.

"So... Luci's upstairs." Travis said, raising his eyebrows pointedly. "That's unexpected."

"It's Dec. It's not that unusual... Unless he's actually secretly all talk and no action."

"No." Travis said, rolling his eyes. "He... Gets plenty of action, he just doesn't usually invite them home. He keeps a division between his hookups and his family- Oh, hey Lila." Travis said awkwardly, as the little girl pushed past him to go upstairs.

Nyx suppressed a laugh. "She has excellent timing, she does."

Travis Chuckled despite himself. "Oh, I swear she does it on purpose."

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs announced Dec's return. "Well, he's sulking. Can I offer you both a drink?"

***

Having been successful in her delivery of the clean tumbler, Lila scurried back to her room, to dig around in one of the storage boxes under her bed.

Lila's bedroom was every little girl's dream. The walls were pale pink, decorated with painted lilac-coloured flowers, just touched with a dab of glitter so they shimmered slightly in the light. The carpet was a soft baby pink, and the bedclothes too; the blanket criss-crossed with thin threads of gold embroidery, and the pillow trimmed in gold brocade. A practical zoo off stuffed animals sat on the mattress, framed by gossamer curtains around the head of the bed.

A white wooden wardrobe and dressing table took up one wall of the huge room; the furniture painted around the edges with colourful flowers and intricately-veined leaves, swirling vines and natural shapes. Across from them, not one, but two doll houses- one styled as an elegant victorian manor, and the other a gorgeous fairytale castle.

Besides these, in the corner of the room, sat a bespoke-painted rocking horse, pink in colour and decorated with little daisies in a rainbow of colours, scattered through the horses mane and tail, and across it's painted brown saddle. A pair of red jewels glinted in the wooden creature's eye-sockets; watching the room.
On either side of the saddle, two names were painted in flowing gold calligraphy; Lila, and Cynthia.

Finally succeeding in pulling the plastic storage box out from under her bed, she slid off the lid and pulled out a beautifully soft, white woollen blanket embroidered with ribbon flowers.
Happily, she bundled the blanket up in her arms and scurried to the door, before pulling a u-turn and running back to snatch a plush rabbit off her bed.

Hurrying into the hallway, she nearly ran into Billy, skidding short to stop herself running into him as he exited his room.

"... Wot you doing?" Billy said moodily. "Why you so happy?"

"I'm takin' this blanket and toy to Luci for the baby!" Lila chimed happily.

"No you're not." Billy said in a nasty tone, before snatching at the blanket. Lila shrieked, yanking it back; both grabbing an end and pulling it back in a tug of war.
Suddenly, Lila let go; caught off guard Billy fell backwards onto his bottom with a splat. Reaching forwards, Lila took the blanket from his hands. "Now, stop being mean. It's not nice."

And taking off at speed, she raced to Luci's guest room, barging through the door and past a surprised Mina who'd been helping the ill-feeling Luci get ready for bed.
Bounding up on the bed beside Luci, Lila pushed the baby blanket under the bedsheets, giggling as she did so, and tucking the rabbit into the bed between them.

"... What's going on?" Luci asked, intrigued by Luci's manner.

"I got my old baby blanket Grandma gave me, and a rabbit toy, for you to have for the babies. But Billy tried to steal it, so I'm hiding it." Lila grinned.

"Ohh, isn't that sweet?" Luci cooed, picking up the toy rabbit and stroking its fur, fiddling with the pink ribbon around its neck. "It reminds me of some of the toys I used to have. Oh, and look..." She said, lifting up the bedclothes to peek at the blanket. "Look at the embroidery on this! Your Grandma gave you this? My, it looks very precious."

"She made it." Lila beamed. "Well, she did the sewing-flowers bit, whilst I was still in mummy's tummy. She buyed the blanket from a different lady who made it."

"Oh, are you sure you want me to borrow it-"

"Mummy!" Billy yelled, walking into the room. "Lila pushed me and it hurted!"

"Did not! You just fell!"

"You made me fall!"

Luci let out a noise part-groan, part-sob, laying her head back on the pillow.

"Right then!" Mina barked sharply, causing everyone to automatically snap to attention. "Miss Lucia needs her rest, and you two causing a raucous isn't helpful. You two are coming downstairs with me, and you're going to be quiet and play nicely."

"But we can't go down there." Lila exclaimed. "Daddy's yellin' bad words coz he's angry!"

"Wait, he's angry?" Luci said, sitting up, looking around in confusion. "What's happened? Why's he angry?" She peeled back the covers, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Miss..." Mina objected. "Don't get up, you're not well. It'll just worry the master."

"But something is clearly wrong!"

"Lie back down." Mina said firmly, easing Luci back with a hand on her shoulder. "I'll ask the master to come up to see you."

Nodding in agreement, Luci lay back on the bed.

"Now, you two look after her, and be sensible about it." Mina bid the children with a wagging finger, heading for the door and down the stairs towards the lounge.

"... The fucking cheek of it!" Dec yelled, slamming his hand down on the table. "This was bloody malicious, that's what it fucking was... Hey, Mina." He smiled sheepishly, wilting under the stern gaze of the housekeeper. "Yeah... Lila warned me about the language..." He took a long draught of his drink. "But I feel justified, goddammit!"