And then I make the mistake.
I've been noticing changes in me for a while now. The sprites complain about my sullen attitude and wild mood swings. For me, I'm just trying to battle the longing. Every second I'm away from her, it becomes more acute, more painful. I fear for her. What if she tripped and fell, and cut herself? What if someone hurt her? What if she needed me?
I flee to her world more and more, to lose myself in her. She is a drug to me, and I am an addict. I can't keep away.
It's storming when I arrive, raindrops pelting my wings. She stands on the other side of the door, watched through the window at the raging storm. Her hair curls softly around her ears and spills down to her shoulders. The curls are starting to smooth away, like Alison's did, but for the moment they're still there. A reminder of her youth and innocence.
Alyssa Gardner. You will be a beauty when you grow up.
I flutter to the window and twitch my antennae at her. She beams with joy and recognition. Her moth friend, come to play with her. She unlatches the door and springs out, into the rain. It soaks into her hair and plasters it to her head.
I dance ahead of her, teasing her. She shrieks with delight and tries to capture me in her tiny hands. The longing falls away from me, leaving a sense of pure ecstasy behind.
And then I hear Alison Gardner scream.
She's seen us, her darling daughter skipping after a very familiar moth in a rainstorm. She charges out of the house, her blue eyes alight with a murderous fury, armed with a pair of very deadly metal shears.
She's intent on me, intent on silencing me forever. Fear courses through me and I fly as high and fast as I can, trying to escape the snapping blades.
Alyssa cries out. "Mommy! No!"
The darling child runs behind her mother as the shears get closer to me. Alyssa, in a final attempt to save me, leaps in front of the blades and throws her hands in the path of the shears.
I hear the snipping, the sound of flesh opening, the oozing of blood. I hear Alyssa fall to the ground, hear Alison scream with fear and horror and sorrow. I should stop, go back, make sure Alyssa's okay.
But I don't. I'm too swallowed with fear as to what Alison will do to me. I fly high, up and up and up.
It doesn't matter how high I go. I can't seem to escape Alison's heartbroken sobs. I can't escape the blood.
