Iris

Chapter 22- Michael

We stood there like dumbasses. There was nothing. Well, nothing that we could see anyways. Yet that “I'm being watched” feeling was strong and potent in the air. Joshua looked very pale and was bleeding all over Paul’s shirt. Iris was so cold I felt like I was carrying a block of ice on my shoulders. A very light block of ice. They haven’t fed her. Fuckers. Her hands would occasionally touch my wings, and it tingled all through my body.

“We need a way out besides the door,” Thomas said. “Look for cracked ice that may be a secret exit or entrance or something along that nature.” We all walked around listening for creaks, looking for cracks or cuts in the never ending ice.

“Why don’t we leave through the door?” Said Paul, “We could possibly just sneak out this entire place unnoticed.” I shook my head.

“There’s too much of a risk. Iris and Joshua are both injured, and I can’t risk these two lives any more than they are already in. I still have yet to feel Iris breathe.” Which terrified the living shit out of me. For personal reasons I can’t explain.

“There is obviously no way out of here unless you just want to break all their shit and fly through the ceilings.” Instinctively we all looked up. “If you think about it we wouldn’t really need to go as far as the sidewalk. We really just need to get to the stairs in the train station. Or even one of the train tracks. From there we could just fly home.” I mulled it over thinking it was our best plan. “Hey where did Bonnie go?”

“She must have left.” I said distracted. I think I felt Iris breathe. Or it’s my imagination. I shifted her body so I had my right arm wrapped around her thighs. I had one of my knives in my left hand that was wrapped around her left ankle for extra support. “Were just sitting here waiting for death. Paul, you good to do this?”

“Josh is gonna have a massive bruise and so will Iris but yeah. Maybe Athena can help. Their wounds when we get back.” Thomas and I nodded.

“Okay, lets do this quickly. This girl has died more times than I would like to say.” We all crouched to the ground. Gaining leverage. Our wings tipped back just a little bit so the air won’t stop us, but help us accelerate so we can smash through who knows how many layers of the underworld. Thomas shot in the air first with massive turbulence. He may have went halfway to the top. Paul went through the hole in the ceiling after, and broke through a few more layers.

When I flew up to meet them, I saw grass everywhere. “What the hell?”

Thomas yelled as loud as he could. “Michael get the fuck out of here this is Illusio! Get out!” It was beautiful. It was my homeland in Ireland. The cottage, the sea, the cattle. It was my old house. I dropped Iris on the floor and walked to the front door. “Michael this is not real! Get Iris and get out now!” I ignored the distant voices and looked for my mother. She was always in the kitchen making delicious foods. Especially the cakes. Dear god I can smell them in the air. A small voice in the back of my head told me to leave. I heard people around me talking and I heard a big bang and saw concrete falling from the sky. Then I saw my mother. Her long curly red hair and bright green eyes. Her pale skin and freckles. I felt the tears fill my eyes and knew I needed to leave. I know this wasn’t real but I just wanted to hug my mom one more time. She got closer and I could tell she was baking. She smelled like sweet foods and beef stew.

“Michael! GET OUT NOW!” Thomas yelled again. Her soft gentle hands touched my cheek, and I fell to my knees. I held on to her legs like I was a four year old child and not a grown man. I cried into her brown worn skirts as she gently stroked my hair. Suddenly she jerked my head back and I felt a burn across my cheek. I brought my hand up to my face and felt a warm wetness. I saw that there was blood on my hands. I looked to my mother and saw that she wasn’t my mother anymore. She was a demon who didn’t look like her anymore.

“Michael please get out! It’s not her!” I looked back at Thomas and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw I was back to normal. I looked back to my “home” and saw that it was not just a black room with nothingness. I scooped Iris up and put her over my shoulder like before. The anger and hurt gave me extra strength. I pounded through the last layers of Hell. Each one slowed me down but not by much. Eight layers. I flew through eight layers like superman. We broke the surface, didn’t even stop at the trains.

We were okay.

Hello everybody! So I know it has been like…… over a month since I have updated and I’m sorry, but things just got really busy really fast. In 69 days I will be a high school graduate. I’m so very excited. This story is not over…… nowhere near. There’s still secrets that need to be exposed and one huge shocker that may change the meaning of the whole story. I hope everybody is enjoying so far!!! Next chapter will be Iris’s POV!