The new Rainbow Squads Book 1

Chapter 10 The Enthusasim

Iris woke up to the sound of Josh snoring loudly, which made her realize why Jane had brought ear plugs. She sat up in bed and looked around the living room. Josh was lying on Lila fast asleep with some drool coming out of his open mouth. Erick and Jane were sleeping on a mattress next to each other. Jake and Hannah were on the couch; Jake had his hand over Hannah and Paccia was sleeping on Jake's head. Ed was sleeping on the other side of the couch; however, Jenny was sleeping next to him but she wasn't there any more.

So she got up and looked around for Jenny as she was curious to know where she was. As she explored the house she saw more photos of Lollie and another man standing next to her. Some of the photos also had Josh, Lila, their mother, and step-father in them.

'Hun I wonder who that other man is?' Iris asking herself.

She then heard Lollie's voice coming from the next room, so she took a look inside and saw Lollie praying at an altar that had a photo of the man in the center of it along with other items in front of it.

"Um Lollie what are you doing?" Iris asked.

"Oh Iris I didn't hear you come in, but I was just praying to my late husband." Lollie explained.

"Oh really, who is he?" Iris asked.

"His name was Fern and he was the sweetest, unfortunately God took him too soon. A few years ago he got diagnosed with cancer and he didn't make it," Lollie explained sadly.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that," Iris said, feeling sorry for Lollie.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault, it was just bad luck that he got sick. Oh and if you're looking for Jenny she's in the kitchen making breakfast with my sister and brother-in-law," Lollie explained.

"Oh okay thank you Lollie," Iris thanked before leaving.

'Hmm I wonder which one of the plants Fern became after he passed? I should go looking for him after breakfast.' Iris thought to herself.

Later after having breakfast, Iris was out on the cherry farm knocking on different cherry trees, then calling out Fern's name; however, Josh and Apollo soon came outside and saw what she was doing.

"Iris, what are you doing?" Josh asked.

"Oh I'm just looking for your uncle to get to know him more," Iris explained.

At the mention of his uncle, Josh's face changed to sadness and he took his hoodie off and walked to a nearby tree and sat under it.

"Iris, can I talk to you for a moment?" Apollo asked.

"Um sure?" Iris said, confused while following Apollo a bit away from Josh.

"Iris when a human in this world passes away they don't become a plant that allows us to talk to them from the afterlife. Things here don't work the same way as they do at home. When a human here passes on they are gone for good and there's nothing that can be done about it," Apollo explained.

"Oh right, different worlds have different laws. Sorry, it's just that I really miss home and I keep on thinking things here work the same way as they do at home," Iris said while looking down.

"I miss home as well, Iris and I understand your grief, but you need to remember that this is earth and things here are different," Apollo explained.

"Yeah you're right... I need to talk to Josh," Iris said before getting off her knees and walking up to him. When she got there she saw that his face was drenched in tears and he was looking at the tag in the back of his hoodie.

"Hey Josh, you okay?" Iris asked.

"Yeah it's just that I just can't get over losing Uncle Fern. He was like a second father to me and a best friend," Josh explained.