Wings Of Fire As Humans ~ 3 ~ {GLORYBRINGER}

[16] Stalker

~Glory~

"Jade, sweetie," I said with a slight sigh as I made my way over to her. I sat down beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. Tears stained her face as she pulled her legs up close to her chest. "You got me worried. You could've just told us to leave you alone and we wouldn't have opened the door." I looked up at Deathbringer, who had horror written all over his face.

"Deathbringer?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

He blinked, snapping out of it as he shook his head. "Sorry. I thought I.... saw something else."

I frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He walked over and sat down beside Jade, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "Jade? Are you still upset about what happened? Why didn't you tell us?"

I stared at Deathbringer for a brief moment before focusing my attention on Jade again.

"I knew you guys would freak out," Jade said softly. "And you guys were already dealing with so much. What was happening to me could hardly compare to the shit you guys had to put up with every day. The babies were one thing, and then Mom went into cardiac arrest, and then the whole thing with Dad drinking, his past, and him not taking his antidepressant... My problems weren't as important."

"It is just as important," I said. "Your happiness is a necessity to me, and if you're having problems, I want to help you solve them."

"I'm sorry if I made you feel as though you couldn't talk to me," Deathbringer said apologetically. "I've... I've been a shitty dad, I know, but I do care."

"You can cover my dinner," Jade said, pulling away from Deathbringer and walking toward her bed. "I'm not hungry tonight." She pulled the covers over her head and ended the conversation at that. I sighed, standing up and flicking off her lamp. I stood there, staring down at her for a moment, wondering if I should try to have a mother-daughter moment with her, but before I could, Deathbringer took ahold of my wrist.

"We need to talk," he said, pulling me out of the room. I followed, scrunching up my face in confusion as Deathbringer closed the door behind us. "She was just dead."

I blinked at him. "I know," I said. "Clearsight killed them all. Aren't we past this?"

"No, like, a second ago," Deathbringer pushed. "When I got the door unlocked. She was dead."

I stared at him. "Deathbringer, this isn't funny."

"I'm not joking, Glory," he said. "I swear. And then I blinked and she was alright, but I know what I saw." I searched his face, but I could tell he was telling the truth.

"Well, she seemed pretty fine to me," I slowly said. "More or less. Look, we'll talk about this after dinner. The kids are probably still waiting for us." Deathbringer looked torn. He glanced at Jade's door and then back at me.

"Alright," he said hesitantly. We both headed for the stairs.

"*"

I walked around the aisle, tipping a box of cereal into my cart before I started walking again. My mind was whirling.

This seriously can't be happening.

"Turns out you were right," Lynx had said that night previous after she had come home from the hospital. "There is something wrong with Lilly."

Not my daughter.

But of course it was my daughter because God forbid there ever be a day where everything was just normal.