Welcome to: 7 Iris

2.

"Mum?" I shout in through the open door.

Silence.

"Dad?"

Nothing.

Whats going on?

I step over the threshold of the house, allowing myself to properly look in, and thats when i see it. The mess. Pictures on the floor, furniture tipped over, our whole lives ripped apart and strewn across the house. 

I call for my parents again, running upstairs this time. Still no response. The destruction continues upstairs; mattresses' ripped, wardrobes empty. 

My heartbeat is starting to quicken as I start to bite my cheek. Where could they be? I run back downstairs remembering the door is open. Attempting to shut it only resulted in it swinging back open. Its broken- fuck.

Leaning against the door, my shaky hands reach into my pocket, retrieving my phone. Surfing through the notifications I spot a missed call from mum, I eagerly tap on the voicemail until it finally starts to play.

At first I don't hear anything, so I put it on speaker, then I hear it. Someone talking- a man talking. Now there's multiple voices but I cant work out what any of them are saying. Mum and dad are shouting back now. The other voices are getting louder, they're accusing them of having something? A document? What document? There's bangs and sounds of struggle now, are they fighting or just destroying the house?

Mums shouting now, I cant tell what she's on about until she screams "VALA RUN!".

A shiver brushes over my skin as goose bumps trickle down my arms. 

"Check upstairs" One of the voices say before the voicemail ends. 

I stand from my spot on the hard wood floor, to be honest with you I hadn't even realised I was sitting, and put my phone into my back pocket. Shuffling to the sink I turn on the tap, scooping water in my hands and drinking half of it before throwing the other half over my face. 

"right Vala, what now?" I say out loud. 

Where can I run to? 

Clambering up the stairs that are littered with broken family photos and memories, I head to my room to change out of my uniform and into something less noticeable. Stuffing a few items of clothing into a bag I turn to leave my room before getting sucked into my reflection in the mirror. My blue eyes meet mine in the reflection and allow myself to scan my details. The fiery red hair I got from my mum, the freckles too. I see a lot of my mum in my appearance, apart from the striking blue eyes I got from my father. A family picture of the 3 of us out for the day on my 18th birthday remains stuck to the mirror. Pulling it away from the glass I look at my parents and how they're looking at me. I have to find them.

I stuff the photo into my pocket and with one more glance to the girl standing in the mirror I leave. Leave the house, attempting to shut the door behind me as I go. I don't look around when I get to the bottom of the steps, instead I just join the small line of people and start walking. Head down.

I shortly make it to my best friends house. Ringing the doorbell I wait. Nothing. Come on let me in. I ring it again but no one answers, the longer I stand here the longer people will become suspicious. Turning on my heels I start to pick up the pace as I head towards green. 

Following the steady flow of people making their way home from work towards green is putting me on edge. I stick out like a sore thumb in my jeans and hoodie around everyone in uniforms, just keep your head down.