Test of Strength (2)

Back at home, Iris forced herself to open the tablet and log into her email. There were plenty of unopened letters, many of them with discount offers, but a number were different.

Opening them was a touch daunting, so Iris first opened her aunt's letter. The single 'okay' landed a punch to her gut once more, but this time she didn't let herself cry. It wasn't important that her aunt didn't bat an eye at her disappearance as long as she sent a random letter about being fine.

When Iris thought about it, there was little wonder why she had acted the way she did. Who'd send their family an email telling impossible to believe lies and expect them to believe them? Only she could, and only her aunt could accept them with a straight face and not ask a question.

[Aunt Maddie, how are you? I might be returning some time soon…]

After writing this much, Iris didn't have an idea what to say next. Should she enquire more about the current situation? But Aunt Maddie wouldn't like that. Should she ask about what happened to her rented room and all her things? It was likely that aunt knew nothing about it. Her focus of interest barely extended to Iris, so her things were simply out of the question.

In the end, Iris just sent those two sentences. They were as obscure as obscure got, but she didn't know what else to say. It had always been like that with her aunt.

Next came the letters from friends. Iris opened them one by one, and her heart ached at the words she read. While she had forgotten about those people, they actually worried about her.

Shadi and Luca even sent five emails to her, each one more frightened than the previous one. The two girls were asking her if she was okay, if something happened, if she needed help. They wished that she'd write them at least a single word 'fine' so they could know that she was still alive.

Later, they even went to the other city to her Aunt Maddie and asked about it. Luca wrote how they were told that Iris took a break and left abroad, but the girls couldn't believe that. They asked Iris to reply to them, to say something that it was really so. It wouldn't destroy her calm just to reply to them…

The last emails were sent a month ago and just pleaded for Iris to say a single word, just prove that she was alive. They wanted to call a missing person search, but it was impossible without family's agreement, since the aunt kept on stubbornly saying that she knew where Iris was, but wasn't going to share it since her girl needed private time.

When Iris read through everything, a heavy guilt monster had made its nest in her heart. She had been cruel, hadn't she? Thinking only about herself, but not those around her. So what if Luca and Shadi weren't her soul mates, they were all still good friends and her disappearance had affected them.

"Heartless…"

For a while, Iris just wanted to bash herself over the head. Who acts like she did?

With a deep sigh, she opened a new email and started writing. There was no way she could tell all the truth, but she could tell some of it. Yes, she had suffered from a mental breakdown and ran away from her life as far as she could, which happened to be USA. She didn't emphasize on how she got there and instead focused on how threatened she felt by the exams and the fact that after them she'd have to go and find a job, pretend to be a real adult.

It hadn't been the case in truth, but it had been something Iris had felt at the time. She detested the idea of becoming an adult with great passion, so she didn't mind her change that much. Being a pet and taken care of for the rest of her short fox life had sounded quite alluring.

And so she wrote about that, about trying to escape her life and failing. She finished her letter by saying that she was really sorry for disappearing like that, but she had needed that. As unconventional as it was, it had given her a new perspective. After the summer away, she had come to terms with reality and expectations put on her by the society.

The email was over a page long, but Iris didn't think to change it. There were a lot of things for her to apologize for, even if her friends never forgave her.

Sending it out, she leaned back against the sofa and exhaled a deep breath. The task had been hard and taken her most of the morning. It was only eleven o'clock when she was finished, but she already felt exhausted.

After patting Lucy, she left the house to go to Caron's and help her with lunch. It was a good way to learn to cook, and she wouldn't have to stay home alone the whole day. A win-win situation.

Around five, when Iris was back at home, her phone rang. "Miss Jane has come to see Mr. Hemming," a familiar voice of the guard said.

Iris blinked a few times, stunned. She had talked to them just that morning, and Jane was already back to cause trouble? That woman sure didn't waste time!

"He's still at the office, so please show her the way out." There was some muffled conversation on the other side, and the guard spoke to her again. "She says she wants to wait for him at your place. Would that be acceptable?"

"What? Of course not! Did you think I went to complain about her in the morning because I liked her too much?" Iris was beyond furious. Did those two have any brains? Who would want to spend a moment with that barb-tongued witch! "I don't want to see her anywhere near my house. Ever."

"Missis…"

"No!" Iris gave him no ground. It was easier to do so on the phone when she couldn't see their faces and expressions. "Do not let her in, or I'll be going to complain to those above you. Do I live in this area or she? What's with the preferential treatment?"

Soon, she heard the guards apologizing to someone and a muffled huff. Then, the guards told her that there wouldn't be anymore interruptions.

Putting down the phone, Iris collected Lucy into her hands. Although she had won that round, she didn't feel happy. That Jane was sure a nasty creature. She wanted to come right before Kyro returned to wait for him and probably create some kind of contrast.

If Iris was to guess, the woman would pretend to have some kind of business offer and engage Kyro in the special jargon so Iris would be left out of the conversation and could only flit about in the background like a decorative bird.

Iris' face twisted with disgust at the image. No way was she letting something like that to happen in her home. Over her dead body.

She hugged the fluffy cat in her hold, then placed him on the sofa and went to prepare dinner. Maybe she should make a photo of the homemade dinner when she placed it on the table with a message 'Kyro's about to return home' and send it to Jane?

No, that would be too vicious. She wasn't as horrible as that Jane character.

And it was totally not because she didn't have the other's number that she didn't do it.