Death-Defying, Part 1

At first, I didn't know what to say… and after looping back what she had just said to me a fair few times in my head, I still didn't know what to say. 

The cat's out of the bag, and the most open secret out of all secrets was finally revealed, and surprise, surprise: Irene was trying to wake up our dearly departed slumbering phoenix. 

Shocker, I know. 

Yet she just had to tack on that added detail, that little twist to the whole thing that went and turned what before was a mystery so obvious from a mile away into something I had tripped face-first into the curb onto.

That I was a vital necessity, the final piece of the puzzle to said mystery itself.

Felt more like a punchline than an actual twist. She had to be joking, right? A final, 'gotcha, prank ya', to end the year on? Maybe if I laughed hard enough, it would be. 

Sadly, Irene didn't seem to be telling a funny joke here.