It was a cloudy Saturday. Tiny raindrops descended from the sky while lonely rays of sunshine pierced the clouds as if they wanted to witness their journey towards the ground.
For most of the students it was a lazy day. But not for the Aquantiens in the school. For one of us, the day was a potential life changer.
I led somewhat confused Doctor Kasian towards the door with a silver plate that said S. A. August, headmaster. Behind that door, Aq53 was waiting for him. I knocked three times. After a male voice said "Enter", I opened the door.
The headmaster walked up to Doctor Kasian and shook his hand. "Welcome," he said. "We have been expecting you."
It seemed as though Doctor Kasian had trouble focusing on the man that greeted him. His eyes were searching for something. Someone. He froze when he noticed someone sitting in the burgundy armchair. Its tall backrest was very effective at obstructing the Doctor's view, allowing him to see only the dark hair on Ms. Cyan's head.
I wondered what was going through her mind at that moment, and when Doctor Kasian quietly asked, "Is that her?" I noticed that she shuddered.
She released a sigh of apprehension and stood up, ever so slowly. She took a moment before she turned around.
"Professor Cyan?" Doctor Kasian's eyes widened with surprise. "You're the Aq53?"
Those words seemed to be more than she was able to handle. With one hand across her chest, she breathed in like a person that just got saved from drowning. Mr. August approached her and placed his hand under her arm, hoping it could pour some courage into her.
"This was a bad idea," she whispered.
"No, it was a good idea!" I opposed.
"Azora, remember what we talked about," Mr. August said, scolding me with his eyes.
I remembered. After the near disaster with Mathias and the full Moon, he made it very clear that nothing that happened in his school gets passed him. Mathias, Opal, Ardea and I were called to his office again after we 'ambushed' Professor Cyan.
In normal circumstances, when I'd run into our headmaster, he seemed so friendly. His long, wavy hair tied at the back of his neck, his warm brown eyes and a bright smile made him very approachable. But that time, when the four of us were in his office, his eyes felt like daggers. We found ourselves compelled to tell the truth about everything.
It wasn't until we reached the part when I mentioned Ardea's father, that he admitted he already knew all the details. It seemed that Professor Cyan shared her secret after all. Our headmaster knew everything. It was he who suggested that Ms. Cyan and Doctor Kasian speak in his office.
And there we were, Ms. Cyan with her doubts, Doctor Kasian with his amazement, Mr. August and I.
"I still have trouble believing this," the Doctor said. "I suppose it slipped my mind the amount of time that had passed since those pictures were first taken. Somehow, I expected to see a young girl. Instead, I'm face to face with a grown woman. My daughter's teacher, what's more." He shook his head. "I simply cannot believe."
His eyes were looking at Ms. Cyan as if they saw her for the very first time. They were observing her dark hair that framed her fearful face, the gray marble effect silk scarf that hugged her neck, the black shirt, dark grey long pants and black gloves that covered her hands and the scars on them.
"How is this possible?" he asked further. "How did you escape? Where did you go? How did you get here?"
That was what I had hoped to ask her myself.
Professor Cyan lifted her chin and replied with her own questions. "Will you take the information to them? To those who did this to me?"
"No," he answered. "They are no longer alive. None of them. When I've been doing the research for the book I worked on, I learnt that two of those doctors died from natural causes, one of them was killed in a car accident, and one committed suicide after he found out he suffered from a terminal disease."
Professor Cyan looked at Mr. August. She exhaled like she had been holding in that breath for many years. I could understand her. The men she feared for so long, could no longer hurt her.
"It's all right, Iris," the headmaster said to comfort her. "You are free."
"Exactly," Doctor Kasian confirmed. "I promised Azora I would keep this information to myself and now I'm promising you the same."
"What is said in this office, stays in this office," I added.
Ms. Cyan exchanged another look with Mr. August. He nodded just once but it was enough to give her the courage she lacked.
"They forgot to lock the door," she commenced without looking at any of our faces. "That one time, someone left the door of my prison unlocked. I waited until the footsteps outside were no longer heard. It had gotten so quiet. It took me forever to actually open the door. I was afraid that they would appear the moment my eyes would catch sight of the world outside my cell. But they didn't come. I stood at the doorstep, with the door only half-way open, waiting. Nobody came.
"I dared to step outside. At that point, all I wanted was an up-close view of the iris field I used to look at from the only window of my cell. I ran. My feet carried me towards the blue flowers. They seemed so beautiful from afar, but up-close, their beauty left me breathless. I dropped to my knees and feasted my eyes on their beauty, remembering my underwater home. Suddenly, fear washed over me. I would never see my home again, they wouldn't let me."
She went silent. Remembering her past must have caused all the bad feelings to surface again. She sat on the burgundy armchair and wrapped her arms around herself. Mr. August placed his palm on her shoulder. When she looked at him, her eyes were filled with tears.
I witnessed too many sad moments in her recent life. I sincerely hoped Doctor Kasian did not come here in vain. It was about time to bring some light to her gloomy existence.
She blinked several times and looked at Doctor Kasian before she continued, "I turned around to see the world outside of the ocean. My small concrete prison stood alone. In the distance, I spotted city lights. I had no desire to see those up-close. I had no desire to see any of the people who imprisoned me either.
"On the other side of the iris field was a forest. Never before have I seen the upright trees. Sometimes a piece of wood would drift on the waves, but those pieces were dead. Living trees were a mystery to me. I ran, saying sorry to the flower whose heads I broke on my way. The forest embraced me. It didn't matter who I was, which race I belonged to or how I got there.
"I kept running. I was exhausted, hungry and thirsty, but I just kept running. The desire to get away was stronger. It was already dark when they found me. Someone's palm covered my mouth and a firm grip on my arm made escape impossible. I was prepared for the worst. One might think it was death, but not in my case. For me, the worst thing I could think of were more experiments with me as the test subject."
She shuddered. Her head bowed and her gloved hand covered her mouth. Remembering the scars I saw on her, it became quite clear why those memories had such a strong impact on her.
"Maye you should take a break," I suggested, trying to save her from further pain.
"No. I need to finish. While I still have an ounce of courage," she said and, for the first time, she looked straight into Doctor Kasian's eyes. She sighed and continued. "There were others like me. Not Aquantiens, other races. Individuals that have been taken in the name of science. They all looked humanlike, yet none of them was a human. They were survivors.
"They took me far away from that cursed place. They gave me a place to live. They became my teachers, my other family in a way. They taught me skills that made it possible for me to become a member of the human world, and when I was ready, they gave me a new identity. I became Iris Cyan, a teacher at a school for the hidden races. For more than three decades, I avoided the ocean. I tried so hard to forget that once my home was under the waves."
She paused. Her watery eyes met mine. "It is because of you I remembered it again."
Thank you for reading.
Feel free to leave a comment, tell me what you think.
If you liked it, please consider giving it a vote.
💙