"and I remember when I met him, it was so clear that he was the only one for me...
we both knew it, right away" —— Thomas and Iris sprung apart as the pub door flew open. It was Fleur. She could hardly stand upright due to her intoxication and she had a look that everyone in Birmingham knew all too well. The look of a Salt woman when she was looking for a fight. Granted, it was usually Iris who had gone after trouble, but she had learned from the best. Fleur's kick offs were usually a sight to behold, and Iris knew tonight would be no exception.
"Mother, do you want me to walk you home?" Iris asked carefully. Perhaps if she tried to sweet-talk her mother, it could diffuse the anger dancing in her eyes.
"Piss off." Fleur spat, her lip curled in disgust.
Iris sighed.
"Who the fuck are you houghing at? It better not be me, or I'll smack you silly."
"I'm not, mum. Come on, let me get you home."
"Should have been you. Ungrateful cunt." Fleur sneered.
The words that Fleur had mumbled earlier echoed in Iris' head then. Wrong fucking one. She had been saying it was the wrong daughter who died. Despite her indifference to her mother, Iris' heart panged with sadness as she pieced it all together. "You fucking what?"
"I wish it was you we buried today. You insolent twat. Martha was a good daughter, but you were always a harlot, ever since birth."
Thomas glanced nervously at the mother and daughter. Even he didn't know how to handle this, and he had been in some tricky situations. He placed a hand on Iris' wrist. "Come on, Iy. Let's just go inside, eh?"
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Iris shook him off. "No! Let the woman speak."
Fleur began spouting insults at her daughter, squaring right up to her until their noses touched. Iris couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. She stunk of vodka and vomit.
"Don't turn your nose up at me." Fleur hissed. Without any notice, she boxed Iris right in the mouth, sending her stumbling backwards into Thomas. He grabbed Iris and shoved her out of the path of her raging mother before turning to Fleur and restraining her.
It didn't take long before people came outside to see what the commotion was. Polly was at the forefront of the crowd, instantly running over and helping Thomas handle Fleur.
"Fucking mad woman." Iris muttered as she pushed her way through the growing crowd, her lip bleeding all the while. —— After an hour of searching, Thomas finally found Iris sat in the abandoned warehouse they used to play in as kids, with her legs dangling from a ledge. She was staring into the cut and almost jumped out the building from fright when Thomas spoke: "You alright?"
