Missing Iris: Part Two

It was hard to stand up on my injured leg, but I somehow managed to get up and brush the dust off myself. I was still a little disoriented having fallen from the sky only moments earlier. No, it wasn’t from the sky, but I had fallen from somewhere. I had been somewhere else; the place where Iris had been for 20 years. There were so many questions running through my head as I stumbled through the back gate into my parent’s backyard. There was also one certainty: if Iris was still there, I had to go back. 

I limped through the backyard and in through the backdoor. When I made it into the kitchen, I fell into one of the rickety dining chairs that had been sitting around a small breakfast table ever since I was a little kid. We sat and waited to hear from the police at this table the night Iris disappeared. I cursed under my breath as I leaned out of the chair to grab a dish towel off the countertop. I pressed the towel to the bloody meat of my leg and let it start absorbing the leaking crimson blood. The towel began to change from a robin's egg blue to a brown and rusty red. I would have to buy mom a new set of towels for Christmas. I tried to stand and hobbled over to the sink and ran the towel under hot water. The pink water circled the drain as I wrung out the cloth over and over again. 

“Oh my god, Ash. What the hell happened to you,” someone said, and I swung around. 

My older brother, Layne, was standing in the doorway. He had been a Sophomore in high school when Iris disappeared and had helped me search for her for hours. Now he was in his late thirties, married to a woman I didn’t like, and had three kids and a plumbing business. He never got out of this small town and I felt bad for him, but I think he felt bad for me because I didn’t live close. When my parents died, he would move his family into this house and play pretend like they were us; relive his glory days. Until then, he was living in a small house on the edge of town, but visited my parents frequently. I should have assumed I would see him while I was in town, but I hadn’t thought of it. As soon as I entered this town again, my mind went straight to Iris. 

“Don’t ask questions yet, just help,” I demanded, with eyes that must have been pleading, because he jumped to help right away. He grabbed more towels out of the drawer and helped me back into the chair. 

“This looks bad. You might need to go to the hospital,” Layne said, sitting on the floor, staring at my leg. 

“No hospital, let’s just get it covered up and call it good. Do Mom and Dad keep bandages in this house?” I asked. 

Layne chuckled, “Maybe little ones with cartoon characters for the kids, but not any that would conceal a war wound. What the hell happened to you? Weren’t you at the memorial service?”. 

“I was, then I wasn’t. I don’t want to discuss it,” I said shortly, as I wrapped a towel around my leg, anxious to forget about the injury and start moving forward with my plan. 

“You know Mom is going to want to know why there is blood all over her kitchen,” he teased. He was trying to pry, I knew that. When we were younger, he always tried to draw information out of me. We were adults now though, and it wasn’t going to happen that way this time. 

“Then I’ll tell her that it’s also none of her business because I’m an adult now. If I say it’s none of your business then it’s none of your business,” I spit. 

Layne dropped the towel in his hand on the floor, “Fine, it’s clear you don’t want my help. Bleed out for all I care,”. 

The blood was still gushing and the towel I’d been holding in place was heavy with the absorbed blood. It was becoming increasingly obvious that I was going to need help. Medical help, for sure, but maybe just help in general. I didn’t know the first thing about going to a strange and dangerous world to rescue a friend. It’s unclear if Layne had any knowledge on how to go about such a dangerous endeavor, but maybe he would know something. 

“Wait, stop,” I said. Layne was already halfway out of the house, but I heard his boots stop and start walking back into the kitchen. He stood in the entryway, tall like a statue and waiting. “I’ll tell you what happened, but I’m going to warn you that it’s going to sound crazy,”. 

Layne smiled, “Like how crazy?”. 

*** 

Layne carried me to his truck and put me in the passenger seat. He had promised not to take me to the hospital pending an explanation of what was so crazy I didn’t want to tell a doctor. He was taking me to the general store down the street instead where we could buy bandages and antibiotic ointment.

On the way there I told him everything. I reminded him of what I saw 20 years ago and explained everything that happened after the memorial. His eyes stayed on the road; he didn’t look at me once, didn’t say a word. Then we pulled into the parking lot of the general store. He pulled into a spot near the door and turned the truck off. Then he turned and looked me in the eyes, “Do you know how crazy that all sounds. People don’t just disappear into different worlds, it just doesn’t happen,” he said. Then he faced forward again and laid his forehead on the steering wheel, “Why is this happening?” he groaned to himself. 

I turned to look forward again too. A young woman and a child were walking out of the general store with a few bags. The little girl had a doll held under her arm. “Great question, I’m not sure. You don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to be. We can just buy the bandages, then we never have to talk about it again,” I said. 

“But you’re going back,” he stated; it wasn’t a question in either of our minds. 

“I have to. She was my best friend,” I said, feeling small and helpless like I did when I was thirteen. 

“But she’s been gone for 20 years. If you’re telling the truth, which I have no reason to think you aren’t, then this place is fucking dangerous. Are you really going to risk your life for someone you haven’t even seen or spoken to in 20 years?” he asked. 

My heart started racing. “I mean, look at your leg, Ash. They already got you. That’s real shit. They hurt you. You want to go back for someone who may not even be alive? How can you be sure they’ve kept her alive this long? Why would they do that?” Layne continued. I could feel tears brimming my eyes, threatening to overflow. 

There was a silence in the truck for a moment, then I turned to look at Layne. He had tears in his eyes as well. “I’m scared, Layne. I really am. This is way bigger and crazier than I ever thought it could be. This all might sound mad, I know it does, so maybe my reasons for going back are equally as insane. I can’t say for sure if Iris will still be alive when I get back there, but I am not going to leave her there if she is. I’ve been thinking my best friend has been dead for 20 years, and if she’s not then I’m going to go get her. End of story,” I said.

Layne sat there silently for a moment, “I’ll go in and get your supplies now,” he said, and I thanked him as he went. While he was in the store, I thought through my plan. I would need to take supplies with me: food, water, weapons, the essentials. I’d have to be quick about getting from the tree to wherever they were keeping her; wherever that was. God, I didn’t even know where I was going. I would need a flashlight. Iris had said she’d only seen night happen there once before, but I didn’t think I could trust someone who immediately attacked me as soon as it was dark.

As I was going through the mental list of supplies I’d need, Layne walked out of the store with a plastic bag. He opened the driver side door and slid in, handing me the sack of medical supplies. “I got a big box of those little cotton pad things too, but you’re probably going to need to use all of them to do any good. I don’t really think the general store has the kind of medical supplies you’re needing,” he said. 

“This will be fine, thank you,” I responded, looking down into the bag of wrap bandages, cotton pads, antibiotic spray, and bandage tape.

We sat there for a moment, the truck still off and only the sound of ripping packages as I opened the bandages. “I’m coming with you. I hope you know that,” he said, suddenly. 

“No, Layne, you can’t. You don’t need to bother yourself with this,” I groaned. 

“Ash, shut up, and listen,” he demanded. There was something about the stiff way he was sitting and his serious tone that took me back for a moment. If we were still kids, I might have smacked him or made a snarky comment, but we were adults now and we were dealing with something serious. “I know you feel like you need to go and save your friend and be a hero. I wouldn’t do it myself, but I understand that you are doing this no matter what I think. I can’t let you go back there alone. You’re already injured for Christ’s sake,” he said, gesturing at my leg. 

“They caught me by surprise. I can handle it, really. You have kids and a wife. You can’t be risking your life just because your dumb little sister got herself into a mess,” I sighed, starting to stick the cotton pads to the wound. Immediately they started soaking up the blood and turned the pure white pads a devilish red. 

“And I can’t let my dumb little sister fight her battles alone. I’m the only other person who knows the truth, which means I’m involved now. I’m going with you or you’re not going,” he said, sounding more like my dad than my brother.

There’s a cold silence between us as I start unraveling the gauze, “What if we don’t come back? What if something goes wrong? What about your family?” I asked. 

Layne thought for a moment. He looked like a man getting ready to make a life changing decision, and he was. “We both have plenty to live for here. You’re my family and you need help. I can’t knowingly let you go somewhere where you will die alone. I just hope that if I don’t make it back, my wife and kids know I died bravely and that I loved them. That’s all anyone can hope when they die,” he said. I wasn’t sure I agreed, but pressing the issue further wouldn’t do any good. Layne was going to be coming with me and I couldn’t change his mind. 

On the way back to our parents house, I bandaged my leg and filled Layne in on my plan thus far. “I don’t think we can trust anything not-Iris said to me while I was there. I think there has to be something out there, somewhere where they’re holding her,” I explained. 

“Do you know which direction?” Layne asked, staring at the road ahead of him. 

“What do I look like? A fucking compass?” I answered sarcastically. 

“Well, do you at least think you could point us in the right direction?” he asked. 

I nodded; I knew I could get us to where that scream was coming from. It didn’t sound too far from the wisteria tree at all. The plan was to get there, grab Iris, and get out before anyone, or anything, knew we were there. It was a long shot, but that’s why we made a quick stop at Layne’s house before heading back to our parents. 

Layne parked his truck in the driveway, but didn’t bother killing the engine. “I’m just going to run in there real quick. It should only be a minute,” he said, then he jumped out of the truck and ran into the little house. The house was small and older; it needed a fresh coat of paint and the bushes out front needed trimmed. Plastic playthings were scattered around the yard, almost like a giant neon sign saying: “Kids live here”. I hadn’t seen my nephews in a long time. Two Christmases had gone by since I’d seen them or any of my family for that matter. I couldn’t think of a reason I hadn’t come home for Christmas and had chosen instead to spend Christmas with ex’s families or friends. I didn’t dislike my family, but I had somehow completely avoided them over the years.

After a moment, Layne came out of the house, his arms full of rifles and ammo. His wife, Becca, a girl we grew up with, was standing in the doorway with her hair piled up in a knot on her head. She wore a shirt that was too big, most likely it was Layne’s, and biker shorts. She looked exhausted, but I couldn’t blame her, having to raise two sons and my older brother on her own. “Layne, please tell me where you’re going and why you need all these guns. You’re scaring me,” she said, her eyes pleading. 

Layne put the guns in the back of his pick-up and turned to her, “Baby, please, I’ll tell you everything as soon as I get back, I promise,” he said. 

Becca peeked through the front windshield and gave me a searching look. “Is that Ash?” she asked. Layne looked through the window at me, and I raised my hand at Becca in a half wave. She made the same gesture back, then looked back at her husband. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. Layne walked up to her and put his hands on her face and pressed his forehead against hers. He said something I couldn’t hear and kissed her before turning and walking back to the truck. Becca looked helpless and I imagined what would happen to her and her sons if my brother didn’t make it back to them. I promised myself silently that I wouldn’t let that happen.

Layne got back in the truck and immediately threw it into reverse. The headlights swept across the front of his house as we pulled into the street and neither one of us said a single word until we pulled back into my parent’s driveway. “My old backpack is still up in my bedroom, so I’ll go up and get it so we can fill it with supplies. You need to go through mom’s pantry and take whatever you can get your hands on that she won’t miss,” he said, going into action mode. 

“That’s going to be impossible. She practically takes inventory of that pantry,” I said, teasing. 

“It’s better than starving,” Layne shrugged. 

We parted ways once we walked across the threshold. Layne headed upstairs to grab his old backpack and I went into the kitchen. When I lived with my mom, her pantry was always well stocked with canned veggies and fruits; there were never any snacks to enjoy, just ingredients for the various recipes she would be cooking and never anything a child would hope to eat. Now there were different kinds of chips, crackers, and snack cakes lining the shelves. Their grandkids must be eating better than when we were as kids. I grab a couple of things and spread them out on the table. In my haul, there are a couple of canned veggies, some zebra cakes, and a couple of sleeves of ritz crackers. I also decided to make a few peanut butter sandwiches and put them in a gallon sized ziplock baggie. I was in the middle of making the sandwiches when Layne came back downstairs with a black, ratty backpack. He had carried that same backpack all through high school and somehow it had stuck it out through four years of being tossed around and carried to every single football practice or adventure Layne went on. It seemed only right to bring it along for this particular adventure. 

I packed the food, mom’s hand can opener, and a big butcher knife in the bag and slung it over my shoulder. Layne and I gave each other a look that said “We’re really doing this”, then we started walking back out the front door. 

“Layne? Ash? Is that you guys?” mom’s voice said from the top of the stairs. It was a tired voice that was marked with sleep. It was possible she wasn’t even fully awake yet, but had heard either Layne rustling around in his old room or had sensed the thievery of her pantry. 

Layne and I looked at each other as though we were teenagers caught sneaking out of the house. We were caught and an excuse would have to be made; telling mom that we were on a dangerous mission to an alternate universe was simply not an option. “Yeah, it’s us,” Layne said, coolly. 

“What are you guys doing? It’s the middle of the night,” Mom griped, taking a step down the stairs toward us. 

“Sorry mom, we’re just hanging out and stopped by to grab some things. We’re on our way out, so we shouldn’t wake you again,” Layne excused. I let the golden boy talk, it would do more good than any contribution I could make. 

“Go home. Nothing good happens this late and you two don’t need to be getting yourselves into trouble,” she nagged. 

“Yes ma’am. We’re heading back to my place right now,” Layne said, and that felt like the end of the conversation. Mom didn’t say anything in response, but she mumbled complaints to herself as she stumbled back to bed. That was it, the last obstacle in our way. There was no one to stop us anymore, we were going back to the strange place where Iris had been trapped for 20 years and we were going to risk our lives to find her. 

Layne and I got in his truck and pulled it into the empty lot behind our parent’s house. The truck’s headlights lit up the tree and I could feel myself shivering. I was scared, but I had never been more certain of anything in my whole life. We got out of the truck; I slung the backpack over my shoulder and Layne grabbed the rifles out of the bed. I walked with my head held high right to the point where I had started my run just a few hours earlier. Layne stood next to me casting a big shadow beside my own. I looked up at him, wondering if we were making a mistake, hoping that we weren’t. “Are you ready?” I asked. 

“As I’ll ever be,” he said. Then I got into the running stance: left foot in front of the right, arms ready to pump, head bent, but eyes forward. I looked over to see Layne doing the same.

“You have to run on the right side of the tree. If you run to the left, nothing will happen,” I cautioned. He nodded in response. Then I took one more big breath. “Ready? Set. Go,” I said, and we began to sprint. It was like I was racing Iris again, only the stakes of our race were much higher. My legs carried me faster and faster, once again I felt out of control. My muscles felt hot and I closed my eyes again as the tree quickly approached. I could distantly hear Layne next to me yelling something, maybe he wasn’t even yelling words. Then I felt my body stiffen and come to a complete stop. I opened my eyes and the dead tree was once again alive with purple blossoms. The blue grass swayed and a gentle tune played in time with the breeze.

“Woah,” Layne said, staring out at the landscape with a look of wonder in his eyes. 

“I know. It’s beautiful,” I said, looking out at the horizon where his eyes were set. “But it’s a trap,”. 

“Most beautiful things are,” Layne sighed.

We started walking toward where I’d heard the scream. I knew it wouldn’t be too far, because the scream had sounded so close when I’d heard it. We walked a little ways, less than a mile if I had to guess, then we found the hole. 

The hole was rather large, but if I hadn’t been looking, I could have easily fallen in. The hole was wide, at least eight feet in diameter. Then there was a ten foot drop to the bottom where bones rested, broken with their sharp edges pointed toward the purple sky. I searched the perimeter of the hole with my eyes and spotted a passageway carved into the wall of the hole. Immediately, I knew we’d found our way to her. 

“There,” I pointed at the hole. “That’s where she is,” I said, confidently. Something inside of me was going off like an alarm; I knew Iris was just through that passage. She was so close, I could feel it. 

“Down there? Ash, you’ve got to be kidding me. From what I can tell, those are human bones down there. There’s no way she’s still alive,” Layne replied. 

“She’s down there. We need to get down in the hole,” I declared. 

Layne massaged between his eyes with his fingertips, “Okay, fine. You said it was going to be dangerous, I guess. I don’t know how we’re going to get down there though,”. 

I looked around us, inspecting my surroundings for something that could get me down in the hole. Then my eyes locked onto the wisteria tree. “The vines,” I muttered, more to myself than Layne, but he turned his head and looked back at the tree. 

“That could work,” he said, then we both ran back to the tree together. 

When we got back to the tree, I shrugged off the backpack and pulled the butcher's knife out. “Be careful,” Layne warned, as I began to quickly climb the branches, being careful not to go too high; I couldn’t leave Layne in that strange place alone. I sawed at the vines and watched them fall one by one down to the blue grass. Layne gathered them as they fell and started tying them together end-to-end, creating one long vine of purple flowers. “That’s enough, come down,” Layne demanded, when he’d gotten a strand long enough to lower down into the hole. 

We walked back, careful to watch where we were stepping. When we got to the hole, I slung the backpack off my back and set it down on the ground next to Layne’s feet. “Take this,” I commanded. I still had the knife in my hand, but I stuck it into the waistband of my pants. The blade cut the side of my leg slightly as it slid in, but I knew it would be dangerous to go without it. Layne held onto one end of the vine and lowered the other into the hole. I held onto the vine and took slow, crouched steps down the side until I could step down into the pile of bones.

“I’ll be right here waiting,” Layne said. I didn’t like that we were having to split up, but there was no way we could both get down in the hole. I would need Layne to be there to pull me back up. 

“Don’t wait any longer than 20 minutes for me, and if it starts getting dark out, I don’t care if I’m not out yet, you run for the wisteria tree and don’t look back,” I said. 

“I promise,” Layne answered, and I knew he was telling the truth. 

“Can you toss me the flashlight?” I asked. Layne unzipped the bag and dropped the flashlight down to me.

The path leading away from the hole was dark and moist. It reminded me of when Iris and I went camping with my family and stumbled upon a cave in the woods. We had spent 30 minutes daring one another to go in, but both of us were too scared to take a single step closer. I would have to face this cave on my own. 

I stumbled through the bones, being careful to avoid the ones with sharp edges. I pointed my flashlight at the passageway and turned it on. The beam illuminated the dark passage, but the inky blackness was engulfing; it was like a void, like there was nothing to see at all but the blackness. I took a deep breath and started walking into the darkness. 

The passageway was quiet, eerily so. It felt like there was something watching me, lurking around every corner just waiting for the chance to pounce. Then I heard someone crying. It was a sorrowful, frightened cry, the kind that physically hurts just to hear. I quickened my pace, and I was almost running by the time I made it to the clearing. I shone my flashlight around the little chamber and saw hundreds of little red and black creatures that looked like big,fuzzy slugs lying face down on the ground. They were all surrounding a little girl, chained to the wall by her wrists. The swimsuit she was wearing under ripped denim shorts was terribly faded and had holes in it. The girl was the one who was crying, her dark hair hung in her face, which was streaked red. Her arms and legs were cut up, her bare feet had bleeding sores on them. It was Iris, the real Iris, I had never been so sure.

“Iris” I whispered. Her name created a hiss that echoed throughout the chamber. The crying girl looked up at me, tears still streaming down her face. She didn’t recognize me, I know she didn’t, but she looked almost relieved for a moment. Then that relief was replaced again with horror.

“Don’t wake them up,” she warned in a nearly silent whisper. “They will eat you,”.

I looked around at the creatures, spread out and fast asleep. I wondered how such small creatures could become so dangerous, but I knew what they were capable of. Waking the sleeping beasts was not an event I wanted to occur; it would most certainly be life or death for both me and Iris. 

“I’m going to get you out of here. Where’s the key to your chains?” I whispered across the room, careful to be as quiet as possible. 

Iris didn’t say a word, but looked across the room to where a single key hung on a rusty nail. The creatures laid head to tail in several layers along the floor, guarding the key even as they slept. I looked back at Iris and she had become a crying puddle on the floor again. I had come all this way, I couldn’t fail her now. I thought I could stretch my body across the creatures, grab the key, then push myself back up to my feet. I stared at the key, my target in sight. Then I let my body tense and fall toward the ground where the creatures slept. I stuck my arms up high above my head and caught myself on the wall. Dirt crumbled under my hands and trickled onto the creature’s backs; I prayed to God they wouldn’t stir. My core tightened, holding me up and keeping my body stiff and stable. The key was a little above my head, so I had to move my hands. Any movement felt like a full body workout and a sweat broke on my forehead as my right hand inched further up the wall. I felt the nail with my hand and grasped the key in my sweaty fist. My arm screamed as I struggled to ease the key off the nail. 

Iris quit crying, and if I were capable of looking at anything other than the creatures sleeping below my stretched body, I would see her lift her head to watch me. My hand moved slowly back down the wall, the keys pinched between my fingers. Then it was time to push myself upright again. I had to balance, if I didn’t, I would either fall forward onto the sleeping creatures or stumble backward into more sleeping creatures. I had to be stable. I inhaled a deep breath and pushed against the wall with all my might. My core burned as the force brought me to a standing position. I had pushed myself a little too hard and had to take a bracing step back to keep from falling. There wasn’t a creature beneath my foot, so I had retrieved the key without a single stir of the monsters. 

Everything was falling into place, but Iris was still chained to the wall so there was no time to celebrate. Iris’ eyes followed me as I tiptoed between sleeping monsters. I was scared; I had no plan if things went sideways and I’m no hero. I’m just a woman who never learned to walk away from her childhood friend. I had gotten myself into an incredibly dangerous situation and it was just then occurring to me how stupid it was to be balancing between monsters who would kill me without question if I made one wrong move. My heart began to beat quickly as I snaked through the creatures to Iris. She was looking at me in awe and I was for a moment embarrassed of how far I’d come just for her.

I put the key in the lock and the shackles around her wrists loosened. “Aren’t you afraid?” she whispered helplessly. 

“Terrified,” I responded, then I knelt down. “Get on my back,” I demanded, and she did what I said. Tip toeing around the creatures was more difficult with Iris’ weight on my back. “Tell me how these things work,” I said. 

Iris was quiet for a moment and I was worried she had passed out, but then I heard her inhale deeply, “They are parasites. They have been using me to go out in the daytime, because they can’t stand sunlight. They can get in there and tap into everything. I feel them sometimes in my memories and hear them laughing. They use me as a weapon, I don’t know how, but they’re somehow able to use me to hurt others,” she said, and it almost sounded like she was crying again. 

I bounced her up higher on my back between steps, “So that’s why they’ve kept you alive for so long,” I said, more to myself than to her. 

“I’m not sure how long it’s been, but it’s felt like a long time,” she said through her tears.

My heart sank, I didn’t want to tell her. I’d already told her once, but I knew she wasn’t the receiver of that information. “We’ll talk later. Let’s just get out of here,” I said quickly, stumbling around. I handed Iris the flashlight and had her point it in front of us so I could see better.; the light made it easier to creep around the creatures. 

We were almost out of the cave and back into the passageway that would lead to our freedom, then I heard a low growl behind me. “They’re waking up,” Iris whispered in my ear. I turned around to look at them all, crowding together in one big mass. They’re teeth were bared, but there were no eyes to look into. Their red and black fur stood on edge. As I swung the flashlight around on them, they hissed and cowered, but the flashlight wouldn’t be enough to hold them off. We’d need sunlight to get rid of them. 

I set Iris down on the ground and grabbed her hand. “I know you like to run,” I said, and Iris’ head immediately snapped to look up at me. “I need you to run as fast as you can toward the light down there,” I pointed to the end of the passageway where the sunlight was barely peeking through. 

Iris turned and took off in a sprint. Her legs wobbled as she started but then she ran straight down the corridor. Before I turned back toward the monsters, they were on me. They were crawling up my legs and somehow jumping off the ground onto my waist. They were biting at me and I tried to kick them off, but there were too many of them. I felt like I was drowning in them as I slashed at them with the knife. Iris said they would eat me, yet none of their bites were deep enough to consume much of my flesh. They were piling up higher and higher, going inside my clothes. They were trying to weigh me down and I worried they were trying to use me as their host. The only way to fight them off was to get them in the sunlight. As worried about my brother and Iris’s safety as I was, the only way to stay alive would be to bring the monsters to them. 

I kept slashing at the creatures with my knife as I began to take steps down the path. Some of them would cry out in pain and fall away as I stabbed at them, but others would hang onto my skin like leeches. I wanted to give up; my body ached from the bites and weight of the monsters. I was scared, more scared than I had ever been. But I had to keep going, I couldn’t give up. It was clear to me then, more than it had ever been before, that I needed to live. Not because I’d brought my brother here and put him in danger, not because I wanted to see Iris make it back home, but because I wanted to be alive. I wanted to go home and start living again. I’d been going through the motions back home. I’d been living life just because I had to. Ever since Iris had disappeared, I’d been on autopilot, but I wanted to live.

My brain forced my body to keep moving despite the weight and the biting. Step by step, closer to the light. I fought off a few more creatures as I stepped into the sunlight. From what I could see through the creatures, Iris was climbing up the vines. Layne had his fists tightly around the other end, pulling her up to safety. 

As soon as I burst through the entry of the hole, all eyes were on me. “Ashlyn!” Layne screamed, and I worried he would drop Iris and the vines, but he didn’t. I felt the sunshine hit what skin on my face was left exposed, just a small space around my eyes and nose at that point. One of the monsters was in my mouth, trying to make their way down my throat. I was choking on him when the sun hit, then everything stopped. One by one the monsters began to fall, they shriveled up on the ground and sizzled in the light. I spit the one in my mouth out on the ground and watched its body convulse and shiver. The ones that didn’t fall from the sun, I pulled off with my hands. They were too weak to cling on anymore and their bites were no longer breaking the skin. 

“Ash, are you okay?” Layne called down into the hole.

I was trying to catch my breath. I felt like I had just ran a whole marathon and my heart was slamming against my chest. But I was okay. I can’t remember if I told him that or not, but Iris was safe, we were safe, so I was okay. 

*** 

We filled Iris in on our walk back to the Wisteria tree. She took the loss of twenty years pretty hard as I had expected. When we climbed up the tree and made it back to our own world, all I felt was tired. Tired because my body ached, tired because there was still so much to do. 

Layne, Iris, and I sat around my mother’s kitchen table and called Pam. My mom almost had a heart attack when she saw Iris’ familiar, young face sitting in her home again. Pam passed out almost as soon as she saw her daughter’s face. It was a reaction I couldn’t blame her for in the slightest.

We all had quite the story to tell that night. Pam and my parents sat around the kitchen with us as we all told our individual stories. Iris talked about her years of imprisonment, years that went by for her far too quickly. I told them all about how I found her and about the tree that had held the secret of her location for years. Layne filled them in on the rest, he told them about my leg and the monsters he saw die in the sunlight. My parents were speechless and Pam was inconsolable. For them, life had changed completely in a matter of seconds. Life for Iris would change significantly, but it would eventually begin to feel normal again, and for that I was happy. 

“Thank you, Ash. For never forgetting me and saving my life,” Iris said, standing to go home with her mother. 

I looked at her then, knowing we would never be friends again. The years that separated us mentally and emotionally were too great. As a woman in my thirties, I couldn’t imagine remaining close friends with a thirteen year old, especially one I hadn’t seen in twenty years. It was almost as if she really had died  when she disappeared. I had held onto my friendship with Iris so tightly, I had put my life on the line for it, but things would never go back to the way they were before. It was time to let go of the past and move on.