ENDS

Chapter 60- Deserved to end

Iris p.o.v.

Blankness...

That was all I could use to describe what I was feeling at this point.

Cause no nouns, no adjectives nor verb could describe what was going on with me.

Not just with me, but with everyone else.

The entire room was silent while the Judge prepared his verdict in the back room, the only voices you could hear was the muttering of a policewoman to Dylan trying to congratulate him with her words.

"You did the right thing."

Her words sounded more like a consolation than an appraisal.

Everyone knew it was the right thing, so why did it feel so wrong to me? Its been years and I never thought a day like this would actually ever come.

Flashbacks from nights before kept re-occurring in my head, like possibly it was all a dream and someone would come wake me to ask "Are you okay?"

But it seemed like everyone was also lost in the dream, in desperate need of someone to wake them up too.

"there's someone who wants to talk to you." My mom said as she stops me in front of a door and passes me a smile. "I'll be right down the hallway if you need me" then she pats me on the back and walks away.

After a few seconds I open the door and a woman smiles at me.

"You must be Iris, come in... have a seat" she said still grinning and gestures to the chair opposite her table.

The room was a dimly lit small area with a lot of curtains and shelves filled with books.

I gently walked into the space and took the seat she had requested me to.

She spent a few seconds tapping away on her laptop before shutting it close and looking at me.

Staring at me for a few seconds with a smile that made me wonder why exactly I was brought in here.

"It's been a rough few years, hasn't it?" her fingers intertwining like she was finally about to focus on what mattered more.

"Yeahh..." that was all I could say, what else would she expect from me anyways.

"And how do you feel?"

Me? I feel relieved. I feel overwhelmed.

If words permitted me, I feel overjoyed.

At the same time, I feel so torn.

I have lost so much within such a short period that I wasn't so sure I was myself anymore.

"Conflicted."

It seemed like my answer wasn't one she was expected because it made her left brow raise a little.

"If you were asked, what do you want to happen right now... what would be your request?" she asked again.

"I'll take back the clock to the day Louisa went missing, maybe this time I would take her along with me to the kitchen."

The lady released a sigh, licked her lips like she was bracing herself up.

"Ma'am, have you ever heard of Stockholm syndrome?"

"Stockholm s-syndrome?" I asked back with a little confusion.

I was familiar with the word; I think we also played around with it quite a few times as teenagers but I never took out the time to figure out what it actually means.