Of course, he had heard her sudden cry. From where he was, the scientist had stopped walking. He leaned against a lamppost, staring down the darkened streets and sighing as the wind blew by. He started to record something… the atmosphere was perfect for it after all.
“You say, ‘What if I go crazy?’
I say, ‘That ain't gonna happen’
You say, ‘What if I get lost?’
I say, ‘You'll just find your way back’
And you say, ‘What if someone breaks my heart?’
I'll put it back together like I do
You say, ‘What if I don't catch the dreams
That I've been out there chasing?’
‘What if when my fears show up, I'm too afraid to face them?’
Well, I can't fight your battles
But I sure can hold your hand and promise you
That the sky will still be up there
And the sun will always shine
The stars will keep on fallin'
For the ones who wish at night
The mountains won't start moving
And the rivers won't run dry
The world will always be there…”
The scientist laughed softly and surprisingly warmly…
“…And so will I,”
He hesitated, but ended up sending her the file. God, what was he even doing anymore. He started making his way down the streets, his earphones plugged in and waiting for a response from the girl.
[Song used : So Will I — Ben Platt]
Iris frowned upon receiving the message, and wiped her tears before opening and listening to the recording. She hadn’t expected what she had heard, and simply stared at the moon like before with a sad smile on her lips. The sad smile became slightly brighter before she covered her face and started crying again, this time a lot harder and for a lot longer. “Damn you… Don’t say such sweet things. I don’t understand them, I don’t understand positive emotions anymore so don’t you dare make me feel them you sweet man!”
Hearing those words from the woman, the scientist just smiled and continued walking away. It was weird how she wasn’t the kind of person he would expect to find in a project like this one and that she shouldn’t have agreed to it in the first place but… a pair of imperfections make up perfection sometimes. Maybe this was one of those times.
After a while of silence from the scientist, an email came. It was a picture and a voice file. The picture was of what can only be assumed to be Aki’s hand. He was wearing leather black gloves which fit his slim hands. He was making a peace sign towards the sky, where the moon was.
The voice file, on the other hand—
“Sometimes you fall deep in a hole you dug up yourself. You find yourself again, lost and looking for a place to call ‘home’. Some people take years to find that ‘home’. Some take minutes or hours to find the reality that they feel as if they don’t deserve a ‘home’. Sometimes you think you have nothing left… that’s only because you haven’t met something you can’t lose. It’s only a matter of time. For someone like you, I don’t think a month is too long to find something or… someone, to live for—“ the file abruptly ended there.
From there it was silence. The clock ticked every new second that came, but the phone gave no new notification.
The woman continued crying until she felt like she was about to pass out. For a moment she sat in silence, before choking out a whisper. “Damn you…”
After calming down, she took the back gate around to the front door. The coffee was waiting for her there, a subtle reminder that she had more emotion than what she liked to admit, so she hesitantly took them inside and locked the gate behind her.
Once reaching her room, she took her phone out of her pocket and left the device with the earphones on her desk. That was enough emotion for one night…
The clock eventually reached six, and that was when Iris decided to have a shower and get dressed. Only one other person was awake, somehow, but with the excuse that she was going out for coffee, Iris was able to leave the house without much question. Why was she doing this again? Why was she following the trail left by a random scientist who was giving her something to do with her boring existence? Well that was exactly why.
She reached the coffee shop before the sun had started to rise and entered with a tired smile as she approached the barista. “I was told to pick up something from here? Were you left anything last night?”
The barista nodded to Iris and went to the back of the shop. He then came back out holding a suitcase which looked like the one Iris was given on the first day. “The man who brought this in didn’t tell me anything. He just said that I needed to give this to the next person who came and asked for the thing. A pretty strange man, honestly,” the barista spoke with a small nervous laugh. “Can I get you anything else?”
“He is a strange man, but I guess that’s his charm.” Iris shook her head with a soft chuckle. Her stomach growled loudly as the scent of fresh pastries, both sweet and savoury, filled the air. Despite this, she shook her head and merely took the suitcase. “No, thank you. Have a good day now.”
With that she waved and left the building, letting out a heavy breath as the door closed behind her. “Right then, what’s the deal with this one?”
It took a while, but an email eventually came.
Being Aki, he might’ve been a bit too generous as he was sending voice files instead of text emails now. It was all in favor of Iris after all.
“Head down to the public park. I know that there are two, but head down to the one with the pond of ducks. There’s a bench not too far away from the pond and it’s honestly a nice view there… anyways, head there, and we’ll talk,”
With a firm nod, she started making her way to the required destination.
It was still rather early in the day so not many individuals roamed the chilly streets. The crisp wind caused Iris to shake and shiver, and the frost bite at her nose and cheeks— so much so that she wished she’d worn more than just a pair of leggings and a t-shirt.
Eventually she reached the park and found the bench Aki had mentioned. She sat down and stared at the pond, sighing softly as she watched what few ducks there were just glide around. Surely the water must have been ice cold, but apparently it didn’t bother those that weren’t human. Humans were strange like that…
“Okay,” she spoke, shaking her head to clear away the arising tangent. “I’m here.”
After a long time of silence, nothing came. Well, not from her phone, that was. A pair of gloved hands wrapped a scarf around Iris’ neck from behind, gently patting her shoulder.
“Don’t turn around,” the voice, one all too familiar, spoke from behind her as the man behind her set a jacket her size next to her. He was wearing a face mask, a hoodie with his hood up, as he placed the coat beside her so that she wouldn’t see his face if she had taken a glance. He returned to standing straight behind her, his hands on her shoulders.
“This time of day, no one is here but us,” he claimed with a gentle sigh. He then turned to get the beanie he’d bought, putting it on her. It was a regular black and white beanie, nothing too fancy. “Is it too much to ask that we stay here for a bit?”
The temptation to turn around was too strong now that the mysterious Aki was stood behind her, so Iris closed her eyes and didn’t move a muscle. “Why are you here? I told you that you wouldn’t like me in person and—“ her hand and neck twitched. “I thought I said that it was enough emotion for one day? Did I even say that say out loud…?”
“You didn’t say that. But if that’s the case, I’ll take my leave if I have to,” he reached forward and gently placed his index finger on her lips. “And don’t say I wouldn’t like you in person. You’re underestimating yourself like that,” he claimed, gently pulling his hand back to himself. “You can look, honestly. It’s not like you can see my face or anything anyways,” with that, he moved to her side and sat down beside her on the side opposite of the coat’s. He was wearing fully covering clothes, even his eyes were blocked by sunglasses. “Should I leave you be?”
Iris slowly opened her eyes, clenching her fists on her lap as if she was trying to stop herself. If that was the case then she clearly didn’t succeed. As her eyes opened, she turned her head to face him and froze. Then, in a sudden moment, she smiled brightly and started laughing. “Oh you are exactly what I pictured! It’s funny, a little voice inside me said ‘but what if he isn’t hiding himself?’ Well I've never really liked that voice, it’s always wrong.”
The voice inside her didn’t exist, but she didn’t know that; she didn’t know that the voice inside her was the one that she usually spoke to out loud when actually talking to herself.
She collected herself and shook her head, sighing as she looked back out at the pond. “In answer to your question… I don’t like being alone.”
“So you don’t mind me being here?” He asked, turning to face her for a moment before yawning softly. He stood up and went to her other side, picking up the coat and actually going behind her to help her put on the coat. “Don’t get a cold, it’s not worth it,” he spoke with a soft laugh as he went to sit beside her again but was clearly closer to her than earlier. He smiled under his mask and took off his sunglasses to reveal a pair of unnaturally translucent grey eyes. “I didn’t need that,” with that, he kept the sunglasses in his hoodie’s pocket and turned back to the pond. “Let’s take a break. I’m not sure for how long, but I think you deserve a break,”
“Why do you say that?” She asked, almost fearfully. Was he assuming something? What did he know? “Calm down, you’re overthinking again.” Iris whispered to herself as she pulled the folds of the coat around her and buried the lower half of her face in the scarf. Why was he being so kind to her when she had done nothing to deserve it? That’s the main thing she couldn’t understand.
She hadn’t seen him remove the sunglasses and so was completely unaware that his eyes were visible.
The scientist took a moment to think of something to say before smiling and turning to Iris. He gently tapped her shoulder.
“Iris, look at me,” he said, waiting for her to turn to him. He stared straight into her eyes in a comfortable and warm way.
“I know you’ve been through a lot with no one to help you carry the weight on your shoulders. It takes someone who’s been through the same pain, more or less, to pull you out from where you are right now. You can tell me a thousand times that you’re fine and that there’s nothing to worry about, but I wouldn’t believe you until you’re able to say it with genuineness in your eyes and your tone. I know that we’ll be able to communicate for thirty… well, twenty nine days now, but I want to see if I can help you through it. Tough times… I know,”
“Don’t you dare pretend to know what I’ve been through.” She spoke firmly but quietly, staring into his eyes. “I know you scientist people, you always think you are able to read someone just because you have the brains. You all think you know how someone is feeling, what their life is like, what their past was, just by studying them. Well you don’t, and I’m tired of saying it to you people.”
Her eyes suddenly softened and she covered her mouth, quickly averting her gaze. “Wow that didn’t mean to come out… I’m an idiot.” Why had she said something like that to someone who was only trying to be nice to her? Perhaps it was for that very reason— he was being nice to her. In Iris’ experience, people were only nice if they wanted something in return. Like that woman…
Surprisingly, Aki was unfazed by what Iris had just said. He just shook his head gently. “I don’t know what you’ve been through. At least not as clearly as I say I do. But I know you’ve been through a lot. I know you’re tired. Let me and this little project between us be your escape if you want,” the scientist spoke with a smile under the mask he dared not pull down. “Call me stupid for trying but that’s the point of this ‘project’ after all,” with that, he took his phone out and sent her something via email.
It was an image, one taken from the top of a cliff. From first glance there would be nothing interesting in the photo. But of course, there was more than meets the eye. Zooming closer to below the ledge was a body which had most likely fallen from the cliff the photo was taken.
He then quickly kept his phone and turned back to Iris. “Like my hints and clues I give, I’m much more than what meets the eye,” he spoke, hesitantly reaching forward to take Iris’ hand.
Her entire body jolted as he touched her hand, and she pulled it back out of instinct. Doing so made her feel a little guilty…
“Either you’ll hurt me or I’ll hurt you,” she muttered, reaching into her pocket for her phone. “I’m not your average insane person, hell I didn’t even know I was insane until two years ago.”
She opened the email and clicked on the picture. At first she thought nothing of it, until she zoomed in and saw the body. “Poor guy, was he chasing a butterfly or something?”
The scientist shook his head. “He was chasing dragonflies,” he corrected. He then turned his attention back to what she said before she talked about the image.
“I won’t hurt you, and I don’t mind if you hurt me. I’m not human after all,” as he said that, his eyes flickered softly. “Insane or not, again, I don’t mind. I live and eat with a talking statue, you’re not someone who surprises me too much,” he added with a grin under his mask. “Is there something you want to do while we’re here?”
“Not human… That sounds nice.” She whispered, looking dreamily at the sky. “Human…”
She sat in silence for a moment before she twitched. Funny, those didn’t usually happen when she was calm. “What did you ask me? Sorry, I’ve completely forgotten.” When she turned to look at Aki, her eyes seemed to be a lot darker than they usually were; even the whites didn’t look right. They looked almost bloodshot, but it wasn’t as if Iris was aware of all this. “Oh, you asked what I wanted to do… I have no idea. No one’s ever asked what I want before.”
Aki had taken mental notes of her sudden changes and nodded to himself before sighing at her claim. “That’s really sad to think about but I hope that can change,” he mentioned with a small smile, again, under his mask. He stared at the pond for a long moment before tapping Iris’ shoulder again. “I’ll be going now,”
Her heart sunk; well it was either her heart or her stomach, both were aching and one was growling from starvation. “Will I see you again?” No that’s not what she meant to say! Though really she didn’t know what she had wanted to say. She just didn’t want him to go.
“What about the suitcase? You’ve mentioned nothing about it…”
The scientist stood up from the bench and gently ruffled her hair. “The next spot to go to, as in, your first hint to the password, is just down the road. There’s a tailor shop near here. Head there and look for the promotional clothes. One of them is different from the rest, and you’ll see then as to why,” with that, the man slowly walked away, his hands tucked in his hoodies.
You’re not ready yet… I can’t let you wake up like this. Everything will repeat itself.
“Don’t leave…” she whispered, her eyes wide as he walked away. She sat in silence for a good ten minutes after he left, wondering what on Earth she had gotten herself into. Not because of the fucked up nature of the things she was being given and told, but more because she was actually feeling emotionally connected to someone for once. It was a strange feeling, and it hurt, but she wanted to know why she felt like this. Perhaps she would find out one day, right?
With a heavy sigh, she picked up the suitcase and made her way to the tailors. In complete silence, she looked around the racks and shelves of clothing to try and find the one that stood out.
As Iris reached the tailors, a lot of the clothes hanged there were normal as they should. One of them though, a simple red shirt, had a tag on it which looked like it had been added after the shirt was already hanged there ready to be purchased. It would seem like the owner was unaware of this as well as they were still setting up the shop for the day. The tag had a golden color and something written on it.
After finding the shirt, she leaned in and squinted to read the writing on the tag.
The tag had a number on it, it being the number ‘5’ and as for the text written—
”This shirt shouldn’t be here. It reeks of blood. If father hadn’t killed me. This shirt would’ve been the white it should’ve been.” It was true… the redness on this shirt seemed darker and more messy than the others.
The owner of the tailor was a man in his late forties and had noticed Iris looking at the red shirts and had came to her with a smile. “Looking through our simplest collection, sweetheart?”
“Sweetheart?” Iris asked, looking over at the man with a confused expression. “Uh… Yeah, I’m looking around.” She moved so that her form was somewhat covering the shirt she had been looking at. Was the owner aware that the shirt was part of the ‘collection’?
The owner smiled brightly at Iris before his eyes fell on the shirt she was looking at. “Ah! You’re looking at the special shirt we have. It’s one of a kind that one. My own son told me he wanted one and I gave him one but he said he didn’t like it and decided that he wouldn’t wear it and so here it is. It is a darker shade than the others since it’s made to order,” the owner claimed with more than innocent grin. “Interested I assume?”
Iris slowly nodded, keeping her guard up in case he—or something else—decided to attack. Why was that smile on his face so unsettling? It was a smile that Iris herself had seen so many times in her nightmares that it should have been normal…
“Yeah… Would I be able to buy it?”
