Iris ↠ l.h.

when everything's made to be broken...

"Luke?"

Luke looked up at his group of friends, them all looking up at them with the same expression on their face. That God damn look of pity.

Why were they looking at him with pity?

He wasn't the one who jumped off a bridge.

Iris was.

Albeit, Luke didn't expect this to be his reaction and neither did his friends.

Nobody would've expected Luke's reaction to be angry.

Because Luke was rarely ever angry.

"Yeah?" he asked, staring back at his friends, trying to challenge them a bit. Pity was the last thing he wanted from them.

"We know that you liked Iris a lot, and we're worried," Calum said, letting out a big breath.

Luke let out a loud burst of laughter, leaning his head back as he yearned for the sky behind the ceiling.

His laughter wasn't the cheerful one he'd usually share with the world.

It was a laughter that gave someone chills.

It was the laughter that you could only hear in a scary movie, coming from the villain.

But how could laughter be so cold?

"Guys could you leave us alone for a second?" he heard Calum ask as the rest of them cleared the already empty library.

"Can you please cut the bullshit, Luke? You liked this girl, I'm not totally oblivious. You can't just feel nothing," he said, finally losing that look and staring at Luke with his eyebrows knit together.

"You want to know how I feel, Calum? I'm pissed off that the love of my life just left. She's gone and I'm pissed off at her because she left me here," he hissed, leaning in towards Calum.

"You can't be angry," he scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well I am, I wasted my time trying to help her and she just threw it all out," He said tugging at the ends of his hair. "I'm allowed to be mad because I wasted my time on a girl who knew she was just going to end. Who knew that while I was falling for her she literally wanted to fall. While I tried to be there for her, ignoring you guys to spend all my time with her, trying to take pictures, for Christ sake telling her my life story, she didn't think that maybe hey Luke might care about me after all, maybe I should try to let him help me and live so I can be happy," Luke explained, getting up from his chair and pacing in front of Calum. "I wasted all my time trying to make her happy, I wasted my time just trying to get her to fucking smile or talk when I could've been trying to make myself happy. When I could've been enjoying my senior year. When I could've been getting myself help. But no. I wasted it on a girl who was using me. So yes, Calum, I can be fucking angry because I am."

"Luke, that's not true. You know it isn't. Iris cared for you," Calum said quietly, looking down at the carpeted floors as he still pondered everything Luke said.

"This is pathetic, even more time I'm wasting telling you of all people how I feel about the mutes fucking suicide," Luke snapped, shaking his head in anger as he took his seat.

"Luke-"

"No, I'm done with this conversation. I'm done giving a shit about anyone or anything I'm done. I'm sick and tired of feeling this way and being used."

"Luke," Calum got up to take a seat next to him. "You need to calm down, mate."

"You don't get to tell me what to do," he said, shaking his head repeatedly. "I'm done with everything. Iris ruined everythin-"

"Luke!" Calum yelled, placing both hands firmly on his shoulders and turning him forcefully to face him. "She is dead, Luke. She killed herself. Can you stop for just one second and maybe think or just consider what kind of pain she had to go through to actually have to jump off a bridge and end her life? She killed herself, Luke, she is never coming back."

Luke stopped, staring at Calum.

And that was it.

Everything Luke wanted to say collapsed, along with his lungs. The world felt as if it had stopped turning and like he couldn't breathe. Everything finally came crashing down on him.

Iris was dead.

Iris was really dead.

There will never be any more pictures.

There will never be any more meet ups at their little tree during lunch.

There will never be any more chances to hold her.

There will never be any more chances to kiss her.

There will never be Iris.

Because she is gone for good.

Luke felt his head start to spin as he began to try and catch his breath, not being able to stop the tears from running down his face.

"She can't be gone," he sobbed, throwing his face into his hands. "She's not, she can't."

"Luke, I'm sorry."

"It can't end like this. W-we were fighting and, I didn't get to tell her everything. I was gonna...I was going to talk to her today. No. She can't be dead," he cried harder as he shook his head in his hands.

"Luke," Calum said quietly, rubbing his back.

"She's never going to live out her future, she's never going to live. She's dead. She's actually dead," Luke sniffed, taking deep breaths only to break down again. "She's dead."

He couldn't understand, and at this point he wasn't sure on whether he lost his mind or he was just lost in it.

His thoughts consumed him as his mind could only begin to think of all the reasons as to why Iris did this to herself.

But maybe what Luke didn't realize is that this entire time while he convinced himself he was this broken puzzle, he never noticed that Iris was the one falling apart.