Pearl Cove

26 | Iris

The soundest sleep I found was two nights later. It was barely three hours after I'd closed my eyes that I was awoken again, this time by a feeling.

For obvious reasons, Dodge wasn't particularly inclined to sleep in his apartment following the accident, so it was the three of us, Kit and me included, clinging to one another in Warner's full-sized bed two nights in a row. Warner graciously took the couch without hesitation, but we all knew there wasn't much sleeping happening anyways.

I'd been in the middle, my left shoulder occasionally soaked by Kit's hourly bout of tears, my right arm wrapped around Dodge's. While Kit, beside me like a magnet, was feeling everything, I was feeling nothing. It wasn't the good kind of nothing. It was the dark kind, the kind that only happened because every emotion and color and movement inside of me was ripped out, again and again, every time I opened my eyes.

So, when I awoke this time, feeling an intense emotion that I couldn't identify, I knew something was wrong. Immediately, I felt the absence on my left shoulder. It was too cold, too dry.

I shot up, the jerk of my body causing Dodge to stir. My eyes scanned every inch of Warner's characteristically brown and untidy room before I found myself in the bathroom, the hallway, the kitchen, the kitchen, my own room, looking for Kit. I reverted back to Warner's room when I didn't find her.

"Dodge," I said, neglecting to whisper. "Dodge."

Through the dark, I watched Dodge's eyes open. As soon as they met mine, he was sitting up, shaking the sleep away.

"What's wrong?" his voice was breathless, sleepy. It might've been cute if it weren't that day.

"I don't know where Kit is."

Within a moment, we were in the kitchen, the lights on, Warner having joined us at the table. Though I was standing with two men, one fully grown and one close, we were all wearing nearly the same outfits: boxer shorts and t-shirts. It wasn't the time to be embarrassed.

"Would she go out by herself though?" Warner was saying, his voice nearly a hum in my ears.

"No," I said. "She hates when I do it."

"Maybe she just needed some air," Dodge suggested hopefully.

"I swear I was only asleep for ten minutes," Warner told us, his deep voice heavier than usual. "I don't know how she made it out."

"We have to go look for her," I said, my shaky voice directed toward Dodge. "Or- or I'll go look for her and you guys can stay here in case she comes-"

"No," Dodge said immediately. "You're not going alone. Not now."

I nodded. It was a stupid idea in the first place.

Then, the intrusive thoughts began to creep in.

"What if she's-" I started, shaking it. I tried not to keep going, but my brain had other plans. "What if she's hurt or what- what if she did something-"

Dodge nodded his head toward the door. "Iris."

When I turned, the door was opening, a blue glove attached to its knob. And in walked Kit, innocent as ever with her flushed face, looking like she'd just gone out for a morning stroll.

"What the fuck?" I barked, nearly flying to Kit. When I reached her, my hands were on her forearms, holding onto her like I would never let go. I wasn't sure I would. "Where were you?"

"Out," Kit replied, closing the door.

Up until then, Kit was reacting to everything just the way anyone would've expected her to, though there couldn't be any blame placed if she'd chosen to go absolutely nuts. This, however, was foreign to me. The look in her eyes, the softness of her cheeks when I knew they were holding so much pain. I was scared.