Darkness swirled with the light as Skyla came to, groaning quietly. A splitting headache welcomed her back to the conscious world, 'Ugh. I feel so...' Her thoughts quickly changed as she lifted her groggy head. She thought she had just woken from a terrible, awkward dream but now her headache pulsed harder. Around Skyla was the fine hard wood of her dining table... only it was broke, almost in half and she lay between the two halves. The chairs seemed to have been thrown across the room, only one, thankfully, had been broken in... Skyla stopped looking around and pulled herself up, 'I don't understand...'
"Skyla." There he was. Alex. The voice to bring back the memories of their argument and Skyla responded first with a groan, then, "Alex."
"Sky," A deep concern laced his tone as he spoke slow and soft, "You have to breathe. It's going to be okay."
"OKAY?!" Her trigger had snapped, fury worsening her headache. She was too angry to bother with that at the moment. Her hand moved towards the half of the table at her left side, as if she was showcasing the destruction of her table and the broken chair beside it. Her eyes caught a large, charred indent in the table, almost the size of one of her hands, "I'm laying here in the remnants of what WAS my dining table."
Alex seemed to wince for a moment before softly replying, "You blacked out." What on Earth was he talking about?! Skyla groaned for a moment from the pain in her head before feeling the pain now all through her back. She was extremely sore for some unknown reason. Alex knelt down and kept going softly, "Let's talk while you come to. How about we talk about birds."
Skyla crossed her arms and gave him a glare that would kill if looks could. He smiled, currently annoying Skyla, "My favorite thing about birds. I don't know if I ever told you. My favorite thing is their wingspan. Their bodies typically have to be light in weight when compared to their wings to even get off the ground! Imagine what a human would look like with wings... Some say it would be a wingspan of over 20 feet!"
Before he could keep rambling, Skyla reached up and grabbed tightly onto the collar of Alex's shirt, pulling him down a bit to look her in the eyes, striking fear in his, "This. Is NOT. One of my panic attacks. You can't just talk me through something and expect me to calm down."
"W-what about science?" Alex stuttered quietly, clearly afraid, "You like science... Did you know that some materials are able to shape shift under certain temperatures and still turn back to their normal form once cooled down?"
Skyla now gave him an irritated yet almost blank stare, "You are really that dense, huh? What did you do to me? Did you push me over?! Why is the table charred?!" Questions swirled in her head but at least her headache was subsiding. Her heart rate had to be through the roof, though.
"I didn't do anything to you, Sky," He seemed sheepish in his quiet response, "I was going to try and explain this all while your head cleared up but... Let's stand up."
He went first, offering a hand to her. Skyla stared at his hand for a moment before glaring at him and standing on her own. She brushed what was practically sawdust on her pants off and crossed her arms again, "Alright. What now?"
"This is getting painful enough so just..." Alex fell silent for a moment before moving his arm up and touching his hand to the back of his shoulder, "To make this quicker, just look behind you."
Skyla copied his moments for a moment, feeling the fabric of her shirt torn at the back. Skin. While staring at Alex she moved her other arm to reach behind her and feel her lower back. Her shirt seemed to be missing the entire back. Nervous, Skyla finally gave in and looked behind her, slowly. Soft, comfy looking down pillowed at the base of her shoulder blades. She followed the arch of the wings with her eyes before studying every feather she could see. Coal black wings, about the same color as her hair, has somehow found themselves on her back. She yelped and turned her head back to Alex, horrified, "WHAT IN THE FUCK?!"
But before Alex could even think of how to explain her current situation, three light but audible knocks at the sliding back doors could be heard. Both Alex and Skyla fell silent for a moment, though Skyla wanted to scream and wake up from this confusing dream already. Thankfully, Alex was the first to speak up, though it was almost a whisper, "Are you... expecting company?"
"No," Skyla groaned quietly, "Who the hell would be here this late other than you? And why at the back door, at that?"
While she was whispering, Alex had caught a glimpse of red hair, though it was dark and the back porch light had yet to be turned on. His shoulders slumped a bit and he turned to face the back door, "I think I might know." He walked to the back door and slid a panel over to confirm his suspicions. Quickly, he opened the slider, "V?! What are you doing here? You've never been to Chicago until now and I never even gave you her address."
Skyla stood still, not looking towards the door. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "What on Earth is your sister doing here?" Alex slid the door and blinds open. Vilivia had her back turned to them but her head was looking behind her. She was gripping herself as if she was scared... Though on could easily think she was cold based on how little she wore.
"It's hard to explain," Vilivia spoke loud enough for Skyla to hear her but quiet enough to respect the neighbors. She scanned the back yard a few times, took a few breaths and stated clearly, "I came to help."