The Return

Chapter Twenty Six

Tuesday April 25th 2021.

Holly surveyed the row of houses and picked out the one Iris lived on. It was a narrow two-story apartment building in the off-color grey. It was compact and functional. Holly couldn't forget her first visit. Iris had taken jabs at the color and called it dull and lifeless. And this was despite the manicured lawn.

Her stomach was a holding cell of rattled nerves.

Iris didn't live in the best neighborhood. With more kidnappings and assaults reported from the street alone, women and children were advised against walking unaccompanied at night. It was the reason Iris's parents made her adhere to her curfew. Holly didn't plan to stay any longer than necessary.

Her fizzy legs led her to the door. She knocked and waited. She wondered fleetingly if Iris would peek through the peephole and refuse to open up. She shook the thought out of her head quickly.

The door pulled open. Mrs. Burton seemed exhausted and startled. "Holly!" The woman peeked over her shoulder. "Honey, go fetch Iris, It's Holly!" The woman's cheeks were sunken with hefty bags beneath her eyes.

She looked like Holly felt. Tired. Holly barely slept. She was having a hard time holding back the budding sense of panic as the night turned slowly into the day.

She cleared her throat. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Burton," She felt out of place.

"Cut the formalities, Dear, call me Miranda." She ushered Holly inside. The apartment's spacious hallway was lined with pictures. "Iris has been in a slump since you left. It's getting harder and harder to get her out of that room." Her lips were set in a thin line.

That room had everything Iris needed; she could easily camp out there for days at a time. With a stocked mini-fridge tucked beneath her bunk bed, a television mounted to the wall a desk, a computer, and an Alexa, Iris's room was easily Holly's second home.

Holly's shoulders fell, worry lines forming along her forehead. The guilt was creeping up on her like a stomach ache.

"That bad?" Holly asked trying to make conversation and cut through the strain. She was the reason Miranda had aged a decade in weeks. She was the reason Iris was a shell of her former self. Her decisions had a butterfly effect. When was she going to learn that?

"It was as if she was grieving and I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't budge."

Holly glanced over at the mirror over the living room couch and noticed she was still biting her lower lip.

Iris's father, Gerald Burton had been dead a year the day Iris and Holly met. She wondered if her disappearance bobbed the memory to the surface.

"She doesn't believe me," Spencer took the stairs two at a time and leaped off the last two steps. He landed on his feet with a thud. The seven-year-old's resemblance to his sister wasn't uncanny.

"Head on up," Miranda's lips curled up into a smile, but her eyes were cold.

She hesitated. The room was suddenly cold from the air conditioning. Her hands felt powder dry.

"Holly?"

She glanced up to see a tall, tanned girl with a sad smile. She had a sudden wrenching feeling standing there at the foot of the stairs. She suppressed the feeling instantly.

Iris's grey eyes welled. Her light brown hair sat in a messy bun.

Holly shot a quick glance at Miranda. "What are you doing, go talk to her," The woman didn't attempt to hide the pleasure from her voice.

"Get the hell out of my house, you self-centered bitch!"

Holly grimaced. She expected that.

"We need to talk," Holly lunged up the stairs.

"I have nothing to say to you until you're ready to act like the world doesn't revolve around you!"

A sharp right and she was face to face with a door slammed in her face.

"If you want me to go, I will but you're going to have to open this door and say it to my goddamn face. If not, I'm sitting right here and I'm going to wait."

And she did.

Back pressed against the dry paint wall, she untangled her earphones and plugged one ear. She needed the guilt Hell by Heaven brought with it. It was the only thing that was going to get her through these three days.