Experimentation
Chapter 14

Dear Diary

I can’t believe I’m writing again, after my year in Malignant Asylum I never thought I would have the courage to pick this up. Even the slight chance of looking at the past scares me. Than Mona decided to buy me a new one for Christmas because she heard how much I loved to express myself when no one is around. The times I used to write down my emotions that had taken over this side that was foreign to me but now apart of me. I don’t know how I would be if I didn’t have a diary with me. My old diary had been burned with the building and I knew that I can’t keep these emotions in, Trina taught me that throughout the time I knew her. This journal is a bit nicer than the one Trina gave me, that one was just an ordinary notebook. I’ve been missing out on this feeling of the complete stress reliever of knowing that all my thoughts were released onto a piece of paper instead of circling my head. Although, it is also a risk because if someone decides to read this then they’ll know everything. I had to clear my conscience and I wrote down everything that happened from after I had tried to …. until the days before I came home.

My sister is still mad at me for skipping out on the Christmas party, I didn’t know what came over me, I still don’t. I’m trying my best to explain but without telling her the truth about what happened to me, I don’t think she ever could understand. I ran deep into the woods, cutting my arms and legs in the process. Even ended up with a gash in the side of my neck, bleeding slightly before it had healed. I scooped up snow smuggling it onto my neck to wash off the blood, trying to get the sticky feeling to go away. I kept wondering further into the woods until I came onto the road, I recognized the beauty parlor I ended up behind. My feet kept pushing through the snow, ending up at a bench placed next to a dumpster.

I ended up staying there for an hour I believe, I didn’t remember the amount of time Sarah said I was gone. All I know is that I was gone for the entire party. I guess my panic attacks haven’t gone away just like that, they’ll just have to be a part of me.

Why does life have to keep beating me down? I’ve had gone through more than half of the kids at my school, but they still feel entitled to receive pity over not receiving the new iPhone for their birthday. They swear their parents out, calling them abusive assholes but they don’t know abuse. Their parents are just being sensible, giving the kids more of what they need than want. Just like Jayde, all I can hear from her is this constant whining about the most stupid of shit. She just needs to grow up and realize the world doesn’t fucking revolve around her. I begin to spark just thinking about the ways she disrespects her family like the way she does. I would kill to be in her place, mother and father beside her. Just being there with me as I make my way through life, but I don’t have that. I have two dead parents rotting in graves, a sister who has to become the parent. I have a brother who is scared about me leaving again than death itself and I had fucking scars from an abusive doctor who I was supposed to trust to fix me.

I just can’t handle this life right now, before my mind melts again.

I’ll talk later, Irisa Farren.

Ugh, my mind clouds with anger as I throw my journal against my bedroom floor. I need to join a boxing ring to get out all of this pent up anger I have for my life before I start turning into a crazed maniac. Flinging the covers off of my body, I abruptly stand up off of my bed, feeling my head pound slightly as the blood rushes up. Letting the room spin slightly as my vision focus on my phone lighting up, I finally see that Mona’s calling me?

She never calls me at this time of day, hell she doesn’t like being awake at this time of day. I pull my phone off of the dresser pressing the accept button, “Hello?” My voice comes out groggy, sleep still in my voice. “Hey, can you come outside? I’m in the front yard, I just need to talk to someone.” Her voice cracks, she’s been crying. I end the call, rushing to pull my robe on. I fling my feet into a pair of slippers and begin running down the stair, reaching the bottom. I trip over Anthony’s school bag, “Hey Anthony, can you please move your bag into your room?” I shout while picking myself off of the ground, kicking his bag to the side.

I fling open the front door to see Mona sitting on our porch swing, kicking her feet back and forth. Her cheeks flustered with tear marks running down her face, a tear falls out of the corner of her eye falling onto her shoulder. My instincts tell me to just ask her what's wrong but I just go besides her and pull her in my arms, she needs a friend first. Her sobs get louder as she sinks into my arms, her tears soaking my shirt but it doesn’t seem to matter. I know she needs me that is all that truly matters.

She picks her head off of my shoulder, sitting up away from me. “I’m sorry, I know it’s early but I just needed to let go of all this emotion I’ve had to keep in.” A small number of tears start to fall, I grab the edge of my sleeve and whip her tears off of her face. “Don’t feel sorry, don’t you ever feel sorry for how you feel and what you do about it. I’m here for you Mona, don’t forget that. Now, can you tell me what happened?” She moves her face upwards slightly, watching the wind blow the leaves back into the trees, hitting the branches along the way. “My dad wants us to move, to a town called like Burnsville. I didn’t really pay attention after that, he’s saying that it would be a great place for a fresh start. He says it’s going to be great for the whole family, but really it will be great for the wicked bitch that he calls his wife. I know she has family out there but I just can’t believe that he is choosing to make her happy over me. I am his only fucking child, I don’t understand how fake boobs are the source of his happiness. I just don’t know anymore, I just don’t.” Mona’s eyes shut slowly, exhaust must’ve hit her. I rub circles onto her back, letting her relax into my arms. She’s my best friend, like a twin I’ve wanted to have when growing up. I know that in the short time of knowing her, I know that I don’t want to live without her. She is truly family and the only one I’ve told the most about my time in Malignant.

I don’t know if I could tell anyone the full truth, about the things done to and by me. My survival was one of the only true things on my mind, now that I’m free, I thought I lost my way fully. I guess Mona helped me get my life on track, she’s been my rock. She helps me with mood stability so I don’t shock my teacher when they try to call me out on an action I didn’t do. She’s been helping me train a bit and she allows this science nerd hibernating inside of her come out. She believes my powers was manifested with a chemical imbalance and a little shock of electricity, I didn’t want to tell her the truth.

God, does anyone realize how stupid I sound? I feel like the hero in a comic book, Mona is like the sidekick, the one behind the com and gives me missions. I feel like I am a member of the Justice League. I could be like the Flash mixed with Wonder Woman, a badass girl with lightning powers. My powers are so cheesy! So, I was tortured with electricity and injected with an unknown chemical, doesn’t mean I should logically get the ability to manifest electricity now. Whatever Edwin put into me was the art of fucked up chemical engineering and I wasn’t the only victim. Just imagine how much the government would pay for someone like me! Sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m real, I feel like I’m being written in the bedroom of a comic fan. She probably will make me sacrifice my powers at the end of her story to save Mona or something, a classic hero story. God, maybe I truly am insane to be thinking I’m a book character. Especially with Mona feeling upset with everything she’s going through, I just need to take a nap. I push my head against the top of hers, closing my eyes, falling asleep.

“Irisa? Wake up!” Sarah’s voice explodes into my eardrums, I shot off of the porch swing onto the ground in front of me. “What is it? Are you okay?” Mona stands next to Anthony as they watch me on the ground. Sarah groans, walking to me and offering a hand, pulling up to a standing position. “I came out here to see if you want breakfast before I head to work, you were passed out and Mona was sitting on the steps on the phone with her dad. I’ve gotta head out but there are M&M pancakes on the counter for you and Mona if she’d like any. I’ll see you tonight.” Sarah quickly walks to her car, Mona’s being pulled next to hers on the grass. I turn my head towards Anthony as his mouth is filled with pancakes, syrup dripping down sideways. Mona rushes inside to the plates set on the counter and she starts to unload a can of whipped cream on top of them. Anthony invites me to join next to them, having a fork in his hand and pancakes being shoveled in. How can I ignore this any longer?

That day was simple, a happy day, but that day isn’t today. I hate today because today is suicide awareness day at our school. Everyone stares at me, their eyes follow my moves. They turn towards each other to whisper, I know I can’t hide this from Mona as she watches them watching me. “Why are they looking at you? Is it the day you got locked up or something?” I lean against my locker, keeping my head away from her eyes. “I was locked up because I tried to kill myself, Mona. I didn’t tell you because I rather let you think I was crazy than sad. Today is suicide awareness day, they will be watching me all day.” Mona’s face dropped slightly, I guess the shock of how I would tell her about my “superpowers” and not about the fact that I tried to kill myself at the end of my sophomore year. “Oh, okay.” Mona’s voice whispers softly, I knew the shock would be much for her. “Why did you think they were whispering about me the first day back? I was the girl who couldn’t complete a suicide right, now I’m just the girl who had tried to commit suicide.”

The day continues on normally until the 4th bell rang, letting us know to arrive at the gym for the assembly. I always hated this assembly, but now I hate it for a different reason. The assembly makes you feel bad if you don’t smile at someone one day, and then they die the next. That isn’t how it works for me, it was a constant bad thing in my life that made me want to die. I lost hope, I’m not sure how I haven’t lost hope yet now. I’m surprised that I haven’t given up on my life now, maybe I have something to live for now.

“Students, settle down. The chatter stops now, put all electronic devices away.” Mona plops into the seat next to me, looking annoyed as hell as she shoves her phone into her bag. “What are we going to do? Vlog about how we want to die?” Mona whispers to me and a teacher walks by us. I gently twist my hand around her upper arm, you are going to be fine Irisa.

“Boom” a gunshot erupts through the room, silencing everyone. This is different than the years before, what’s going on? Principle Bing walks to the mic with her shoulders slump forward, like she has been struck a great deal of grief. Her eyes remain towards the floor, piercing into the ground. “Good morning students, I have news to inform you. One of your fellow students was found dead this morning, Jasmine Grease. She had taken a handful of sleeping aids, she also was found with a gunshot wound to the stomach. How can a girl shoot herself and no one hear it? How can someone experience so much pain but not share a single word? Not give a single sign?” She grabs the microphone off its stand, pacing slowly across the stage. Her hands gripped tightly, turning her knuckles white. Her steps pounded against the stage, walking harshly at her slow pace. She lifts the microphone back to her mouth, puffing her cheeks out. “She left a note and sent it to her friends before she passed. A student placed it under my door, and I want to share it. I contacted the family for permission and they agree, say that they don’t want this to happen to anyone else.” She reaches into her pocket, pulling out a folded up paper. “Hey guys, I can’t believe that I am doing this. I remember being happy, being alive. I just lost a part of myself as the days gone along, I kept hearing these words in my head, these awful things. Names, awful names, I can’t tell if they are real or not. People have been staring at me, they know I’m this freak. I’m this monstrous thing, but they hurt people like me. I never had the courage to talk to her, but the people at my school, hurt her too. She tried to escape them but failed. I’m not going to fail, I can’t.”

Mrs. Bing stops for a minute, my heart yearns for this girl. The people at this school are awful, they hurt Mona. I’m just happy that she isn’t in the same predicament.

“The letter contains personal things after that, I did read and don’t feel comfortable sharing. In the end, she left a message. “People are cruel, but my mind is evil. People can contribute to the evil of the mind, breaking it down further. A part of us will always fight the other, an instinct that kills us. My hero is in pain, I’m in pain. I just want it to end, I’m sorry if it hurts you. I just need to no longer feel pain. Sorry.” Principle Bing places the letter on top of the podium in the middle of the stage. The room is just silent, tears streaming down peoples faces. Pain and guilt in the eyes of everyone, I know they all hurt. They are human, we are human. We make mistakes that have huge, but we must learn from them. “I am ashamed of you all because I know you can be better. This is the second suicide attempt in the last 3 years. Sadly, this one worked. Are you all proud of yourselves?” Principle Bing yells at the students, most of them jump at the sudden outburst. Her face puffed red with anger, eyes bloodshot. Vice principal Tony rushes her off of the stage and into a back room, leaving the mice behind.

The auditorium is silent, most people with tears streaming down their faces. All I can do is remember a time where I was in her place, how dark those emotions are. They draw you in, making you think that the only path of happiness is death. She was alone in her mind, and she died. She lost the preciousness of life that once glowed off of her skin, the light drained out of her eyes. She became a shadow of who she once was, but is it really everyone’s fault here? The pain she felt was real, but was the people in this school all at fault? Maybe, if someone said hi to her, they possibly could have saved her. If someone asked about her day, it could’ve possibly saved her. Or, nothing could’ve saved her. When I was in her place, I had people asking about my day. I lied to them and continue on with the feelings. I know how dark those feelings can get, and I know the pain she felt. I understand the darkness inside of her, and it won.

After the teachers let us go, almost everyone was in a funk. They felt like they lost a part of themselves, even though some of the people only saw her in the hallways. The few people who weren’t were making jokes like always. They acted like she was stupid, attention wanting whore, and that she might have deserved to die. Jayde and her squad keep laugh at the poor girl, it is rude to disrespect the dead. I didn’t know what came over me, I’ve been trying to fly under the radar today but I can’t stand someone talking like that. I march my feet over to their group and slam Jayde’s head against the locker. “How dare you act like this? Act like she was nothing, making fun of her problems? You guys were the ones who caused this issue,” I wrap my hands around her hair, pushing her to the ground. “You were the ones who made things worse.” I pulled her head back while stepping harshly on her back, holding myself back from repeatedly slamming her face into the ground. “You are nothing but a low life whore who needs to learn the keep her mouth shut.” I slam her head against the ground, kicking her back. No one in the hallway moved to help her or to stop me, I just let go of her and started to walk away. No one recorded the incident surprisingly, I don’t understand. My back begins to tingle, somethings going to happen.

A scream erupts behind me, I turn swiftly to see Jayde charging her body at me. I allow my mind to slow time around me, I have to be smart about this. When I was walking away, I saw the principal and vice walking towards the crowd. If I let her push me, she might finally get in trouble for something. If no one says anything, I’ll get justice for Jasmine… And Mona. I have to let her hurt me, I’ll heal. Her hands make contact with my shoulders and I go flying down the stairs, hitting my knee, shifting my leg out of place with a snap. I wrap my arms around my head and land on my stomach with my leg twisted sideways. I can’t feel pain, as long as I keep my leg stationary. “Jayde, what have you done? Tony, called for Officer Lee. She assaulted a student and needs to be dealt with.” Jayde tries to move away from the stairs but the students block her. They hate her just as much as I do. I shift my body to be on my back but my left leg stings. I sit up in my position and see a dark bruise surrounding my knee, yep. It’s broken. “Miss Farren, please lay back down. You may have a concussion, we will get an ambulance on the way here.” I shake my head, staying in my seated position. “I am fine Principle Bing, I just want to go home. I am not majorly hurt, my knee just slammed too hard against the ground.” Like shattering my knee hard. Mona comes rushing down the stairs, grabbing the jacket I left on the ground. “I can take her to urgent care, she is too stubborn to ride in an ambulance.” I feel hands around my lower back and left thigh, I turn my head to the source to see Cade. “What are you doing?” I try to twist away but my leg restricts me from doing so. “You can’t walk and won’t let the school call the police. I am going with Mona and you, Mona doesn’t have the body strength to carry you home or to the hospital, which I am sure your sister will want us to go.” Cade than proceeds to pick me up in his arms, keeping me secured to his chest.

I feel everyone’s eyes following me, just face Cade’s chest and ignore the prying eyes. The shock of the event must’ve just hit them, I was hurt by one of their classmates. My classmate. I wish I was more surprised by how this all went down, but not much happens in this school. Everything here is so anticlimactic, but with me coming back, it turned the school into a hotspot for drama and ‘incidents’. I need to stop this childish act with Jayde, I can hurt her if I’m not careful. I know that I am going to be walking out of her less hurt than she is, this goes on her record. She will still be in charge of a lot, this school can’t afford another student body president for the seniors. I just don’t know how this can possibly end well if we keep bashing heads, I don’t care for this but I still act as I do. I need to stop this, I just need to be done with all of this drama.

The cold breeze hits my skin, piles of snow surround the school from the recent snow storm. I try to shift around in Cade’s arms but my leg makes a popping sound, the pain suddenly rushing through me again. “Ahh”, I face my head towards the sky, but my eyes meet Cade’s. The eyes are the window to the soul and his eyes are swirling with emotion. Regret, sadness, pain, and yearning. His goodness is still there inside of him, Jayde just blocks it from coming out, or the crowd of people that worships his ever move blocks this side of him. The side I grew up with, the side I would turn to with almost any problem, almost.

I did this to him, I was the one who broke him. After my incident, he turned against me, but I made him do it. I left him in the dark after everything we went through, he was by my side at my mom’s funeral.

I don’t even think of her much anymore, there are days where she slips my mind and once I remember her, I feel guilty for forgetting. What daughter am I to forget her? I remember the first time I really knew that she was one of the best, I was only 7 but the memory will always follow me. I decided on the day to go into the woods and explore the forest that surrounds my home, this was before Cade and I had found the tree. I found this path a tree grew around and I had to explore it, it was like a mystery and I was going through this Nancy Drew phase and I wanted to follow in her footsteps. I even got a little detective kit for my birthday that year and carried it everywhere with me. Anyways, I pushed through the branches and started following the path, thinking that I could solve the mystery surrounding this hidden pathway. Little did I know, my mom saw me leaving the house and decided to follow me outside with Anthony on her hip. She didn’t want me to get lost but she knew I was in adventure mode and need to explore. Things didn’t turn out how I planned it, I managed to fall in a covered-up hole. I remember feeling so free, I was on an adventure in a lifetime, then it was taken away from me. Falling was like losing this sense of freedom, I felt so hopeless at the moment. I was looking up at the sky and just started crying, softly, I was barely making a whimper. I thought that this was it, no more adventures for the great detective I.R.I.S (International Remarkable Incredible Spy). I was broken.

Then, the light at the top of the whole was covered and my mom was screaming my name. She put Anthony down on the ground and told me to stand, I never moved faster in my life. I realize now that the hole wasn’t that deep that I could’ve climbed out if I just tried, but my mom realized I needed the help. I needed her. She was my hero, but a drunk driver wipes her off of the road and the world loses a hero. I needed her to rescue me from myself, but she couldn’t, I fell into the grips of the ultimate villain, myself. Only to be thrown into one more powerful and damaging than any monster I could conjure in my head, buts that's the past, not now.

6 Weeks Later

“Miss Farren, I am happy to say that your leg is almost fully healed. Just wear this boot and knee brace for the following week and check up with me one last time. If you feel any additional pain, use the crutch or have your sister bring you to me again. ” Dr. Matthews gives me a bright smile, helping me hope down from the exam table. A small pain fills through my leg, but I just let it pass. I grab my crutches laying on the side of the table, holding them in my hand as I walk down the hallway slowly. Turns out, my bones don’t heal as fast as my skin, but having a shattered leg heal within 6 weeks at almost brand new quality is pretty well.

I think I needed this, it made me realize how human I am, even with my super healing, god I feel like the Flash at times. I can still die, even after all the things I have done in my life, I haven’t died. I’m still fighting this battle of life, and I know I can do this.

“Irisa, how did it go?” Sarah looks up from the waiting room chair after she mutters those words. I know she wishes that I pressed charges against Jayde, but I didn’t want to be around a courtroom. I don’t need any more people poking into my past, especially not police officers with contacts to the government that might want to dissect me. “All good Sis. I’ll meet you in the car.” She just gets up and walks out of the building, wow, she’s moody. I give the lady at the desk my paperwork and she just waves my goodbye, finally, no more appointments. I’m just happy that the x-ray machine went ‘down’ the day I needed to get a scan, they just put a cast on me and sent me on my way for the first week into my injury. I know my body enough to stop the accelerated healing process, just make sure I have enough energy to keep me awake but not enough to send sparks from my hand. With Mona’s help, I have been able to get rid of my energy more efficiently. It has made me far more relaxed than I used to be, I haven’t had many nightmares since then. I guess the extra energy has been keeping part of my mind awake that I never needed.

The car ride home was peaceful, luckily it was the weekend and Sarah has plans with her boyfriend Wayne, they met online recently and had hit it off pretty well. Anthony has a camping trip with his friend Trevor, therefore, I have the house to myself tonight and I plan to enjoy it. I’m snuggling up in fluffy pj’s and just binge watch a show, I’m thinking Friends, I got into it recently because of Mona, she is a big fan of Joey. Sarah pulls in front of the house and parks the car, she turns to face me, locking the door before I get out. “Yes?”, I place my hand on the door handle, keeping my head facing forward. “Call me if anything happens, I will come right home. Anthony has your number and will call you if he has any issues, feel free to check on him okay?” I nod my head once the concern in her voice becomes evident. She is still scared to lose me, I don’t think she will ever get over it. I wish I didn’t understand that pain but we lost too many people to ever forget it. Some we lost with death, but others we’ve lost because of our actions and theirs. I realized it makes you angrier, but still the same amount of pain.

Knock

I jump back as the sound echoes through my house. It was a sudden normal knock, why did it scare me so much?

Knock

Knock

Okay, at least I’m not hearing things. I quickly move off of my couch and shuffle towards the door. My leg is still restricted a bit, but at least I can move it without pain. “Hello?” I stop in front of the door, I’m curious about why someone is here at this time, but I don’t place my hand on the knob. “Irisa? Can we talk?” Cade? I slowly wrap my hand around the doorknob and pull the door open softly. Cade stands outside looking shriveled, his hair messy, his clothes all wrinkly. “Why are you here Cade?” Cade pushes past me into the house, his eyes filled with a sense of guilt and longing. “I’ve missed this place, I remember how it used to smell like chocolate every time I came here.” His eyes fall onto my mom’s urn, sitting in the glass case we bought for her. “She was cremated?” Cade quickly walks over to the glass and puts his hands softly on it. Mom’s urn is this light pink small box, with white flowers that Sarah painted on when she wanted to be an artist. “Yeah, she knew that visiting a grave would be too hard for us. We still got her a gravestone, but we don’t see it much. If we want to talk to her, she is right here. Sarah and I agreed that once Anthony graduates high school than we are going to spread her ashes over her grave a bit, then in her favorite places.” I sit in the chair next to her case, we got a matching pink colored chair, wanting to feel as close to her as possible. “You guys going to spread some here right? I remember that she said there is no place like home.” Cade sits down on the floor in front of me, looking up at the urn and me. “She did steal that from Wizard of Oz, but yes, we are spreading some in her garden in the back. Anthony has sworn to take care of it for the rest of his life. I don’t know how much of that will be true, but I know that she will be her happiest there.” I quickly stand up but my leg wasn’t ready, I trip over myself falling onto Cade. We make eye contact, but I couldn’t feel more awkward. I am incapable of getting up from this situation but Cade is frozen in shock. His hand is on my waist as I roll off of him. “Sorry for that, my leg couldn’t support me for a minute there. Can you help me up?” Cade quickly pushes himself off of the floor and grabs my left hand, pulling me up next to him. “Shouldn’t you be resting? Do you want to end up back in the hospital?” Cade quickly pulls my arm over his shoulder, and remind you that he is a good 6 inches taller than me, and he starts to pull me towards the couch. “I can get there by myself.” I try to pull my hand away from his shoulder but his hand keeps my wrist restraint, leaving my whole arm restrained. “God, I forgot just how stubborn you could be.” Cade drops me softly on the couch, grabbing a pillow from behind me to elevate my leg onto the coffee table in front of me. He grabs my leg from behind my knee and my ankle and gently places it on the table. Looking down on him now, I see the Cade from before. Before my return to school, before my time at Malignant, before my mom died, I see my old best friend.

The best friend that every Saturday we would plan to do something new, even if it was little and boring, or huge and disgusting. We once ate squid because Cade wanted to see if the tentacles will get suck to his throat, only we found out that he is allergic to squid. We spent the night in the hospital with his mom and mine, my mom felt so bad about the whole thing, but luckily she was a nurse, so she was able to take care of him while I call the hospital. I stayed by his side for the entire night, holding his hand after scrubbing them clean of squid for a solid 30 minutes. He laughed about the entire thing afterward, he isn’t even that allergic. His face will swell up slightly and his skin will get all itchy, but my mom wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to die. That was the first time I cried for him, I used to cry about stupid stuff to him all the time. When was I going to get a boyfriend? Why did my face have pimples and every other girl was clear? Why did my dad have to leave? He hated every time I cried, but he started crying when he saw me. He didn’t want to leave me like my dad did, even though it wasn’t his fault. My dad died serving our country, what was a more honorable way to die? It wouldn’t have been Cade’s fault either, he didn’t know that the squid would kill him, how could he? I slept beside him that night, it wasn’t the first time we shared a bed, but this was an important time. It was the time I realized I loved him, and I didn’t want to lose him.

“Iris? Are you there?” Cade’s waving hand pulls me out of memory lane, a tear threatens to fall from my eye. “Are you okay Iris? Did I hurt your leg?” Cade reaches for the table pulling it closer to the couch. “No, I’m fine Cade. What did you want to say to me? I am a very busy person as of late.” Cade settles on the couch next to me, taking his shoes off and resting his feet on the table. “I miss this, our friendship. I didn’t realize how much until I saw you get hurt. It reminded me of my calamari incident.” Cade stares at my leg, guilt is shining through his eyes. Does he remember that night? We were only 10 when it happened, 8 years later and we have never been more apart. “Yeah, I remember that. You thought you could defeat Evil Squidward, but he ended up putting you in the hospital. I wonder what your team would think if they heard of a cartoon creature beating you up.” Before I knew it a pillow comes smacking into my face. I face Cade with his hands clutching the pillow, “You are not to tell anyone, besides, people know I have a weird allergy with squids. I just don’t tell them how I found out.” He did not just trigger a war, my eyes meet him as I begin slowly moving my hand towards a throw pillow. “Well, I’m sorry for suggesting it.” My hand is only a few inches from the pillow, I almost have it. “Yeah, so anyway. I miss this. Our friendship, how you’d listen and be carefree with-” I slam the pillow against his face, causing him to fall back onto the couch. I lean down to whisper into his ear, “Karma is a bitch.” I meet his eyes, seeing the mischievous glint in his eyes, I quickly move the pillow to guard my face from his wrath. “Iris, I swear to god.” I feel the rushing of wind coming my way, this is war.