Reflections of Light

A Pair Of Rascals

Billy and Lila were sitting under a table in the empty hotel dining room, hidden by the long, draping table cloth; giggling quietly at their naughtiness as people came in and out at intervals.

"Do you think my Daddy will be looking for us?" Lila whispered, scribbling felt tip into a scrapbook spread out on the floor in front of her. She was sat dressed in  full blue Cinderella regalia, down to glittery silver pumps; whilst Billy wore a mismatched outfit of a graphic comic book t-shirt and green Peter Pan cap. He was playing with the green snake; the serpent winding its way up his arm as it stretched from one hand to another.

"My Mummy might be." Billy said. "She worry 'bout me, but she knows I like ta e'splore."

Lila giggled. "I like your Mummy. She's nice and pretty and kind and fun."

"I know!" Billy said happily. "An' your Daddy's the coolest. An' the funniest!" He added, laughing.

"And, they're having a baby!" Lila cheered.

Billy grew quiet, pouting and looking down. "Okay."

"What's wrong?" Lila asked.

"It's not fair; I'm da likkle baby! Don't want some uvver likkle baby stealin' all da 'tension!"

"But being the oldest is fun!" Lila said. "I'm the oldest of all my friends, and I'm in charge!"

"I'm not da oldest of my frwiends, but I'm in charge." Billy argued. "Coz I have da best ideas."

"Well, you can still be in charge over the baby, coz babies don't have very clever ideas." Lila said.

"Maybe... I can teach da baby fings." Billy mused, thinking it over. "An' then, make dem my minion!"

Giggling, Lila asked. "What would you need a minion for?"

"To do my biddin'." Billy replied simply. "Coz, when I'm growed-up, I'm gonna be a Warlord, an' have a big sword, an' a frone, an' drink fruit deuce out of da skulls of my enemies."

"Fruit juice?" Lila laughed.

"Yeah, coz I'm not 'llowed to drink wine." Billy said seriously.

"You can't be a Warlord!"

"I can!" Billy insisted. "Gwandma said I could."

"Your Grandma's a snake and can't talk." Lila said matter-of-factly.

Billy looked annoyed. "She can! Anyway, wot do you want to be? I bet it's stupid!"

"I'm gonna be a Wedding designer." Lila said smugly.

"That's dumb." Billy said automatically; not really caring what she'd said, he'd already made his mind up about making the score even. "What are you drawing?"

"Wedding dresses." Lila said, selecting another colour. "All sorts of ones. I'm going to show them to Luci."

Billy furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"Because she might want to get married at some point." Lila said, like it was obvious.

"Why?"

"Because she's havin' a baby, and you're supposed to get married then."

"You don't have to. My Mummy didn't marwy my Daddy when dey woz havin' me."

"My Mummy and Daddy was married, even before I was borned." Lila told him, clicking the lid onto her pen. "And then Mummy didn't want to be married anymore."

"Why?" Billy said, wrinkling his nose.

Lila shrugged. "I think Mummy was very silly when she decided that."

Billy laughed. "Your Mummy's silly, an' mine is not!" He teased.

Frowning, Lila grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled it, hard.

"Ow! Wot wos dat for!"

"For bein' mean!" Lila glared, putting her hands on her hips.

Billy was about to ask how he was being mean when the sound of the door opening cast them into silence. Footsteps echoed around them as someone walked through the mostly deserted dining hall.
Quietly hunkered down under the table, they waited until the sounds of the man faded out again; Billy peeping out from under the table cloth to watch him go.

"Et's dat man. Loretta's nef-you, Michael."

"He almost catched us!" Lila giggled.

Laughing, Billy sat up, turning back to her. "So you fink my Mummy an' your Daddy should get marwied?"

"If they want to." Lila replied coyly.

"Well, I don't know." Billy said, stroking his hand down the back of the snake. "Wot do you fink, Grandma? Should dey get marwied?"

Lila pulled a dismissive face. "Your Grandma doesn't know, she's a snake."

"Nuh uh, she's a person! I've seen it! Uh... But I wasn't 'posed to tell anyone." Billy looked bashful, fidgeting on his crossed-legs; as the snake jabbed him in the face with her nose, making him jump reflexively.

Lila rolled her eyes, clearly believing him to be making it up. "Silly Billy."

"I'm not silly!"

The door flew open with a bang. "I know you're in here."

"Quick, run!" Billy yelled, tipping over the table as he stood up; both children turning tail and running for the patio doors at the other end of the hall.

***

"Burnt down?" Luci exclaimed, surprise in her voice although she gave away no other emotion in either the positive or the negative.

"Yeah." Dec said, expression serious. "Some of my people drove by this morning- you know, keeping an eye on it as we usually do- and it's just... Gone. One day it was there, fine and whole, and this morning it's just cinders."

"And it's all gone? Nothing left?"

"Well, nobody exactly stuck around to explore." Dec said. "A place like that going up, it's going to draw attention from certain people. No one wants to be at the scene of the crime when that happens."

"So, somebody torched it?" Luci asked.

Dec shrugged. "I don't know. The place was practically abandoned; could have been something as simple as faulty electrics."

It could have been; but it also could not have been. And if it wasn't, then there was the question as to what it was supposed to be; a sign, a message, or just the pure destruction of the place. There were too many options of who and why.

"This is going to be so bad." Luci decided. "I just know it."

Suddenly, the door flew open, making them both jump; as two little scamps ran into the room, red-faced and giggling.

"We got away." Billy laughed. "We runned faster than he did."

"Erm, have you two been causing trouble?" Dec said, crossing his arms.

"No." Billy chuckled, blatantly nodding yes.

"We thought you two might want some time alone." Lila said with a broad and cheeky grin. "Maybe... To talk about some important things?"

Dec chuckled. "You two are a right pair of rascals, you know that?"

So, originally I was going to do a continuation of Nyx at the house and everything after that; but I couldn't solidly decide on one idea. So I thought I'd break it up by checking in on these guys and give myself a week to think about it XD

Hope you liked it!