Beyond the Iris

Epilogue: Impossible

I don’t know how long I was in the lab. It felt like years, years I couldn’t remember clearly.

I do remember the things I did. 

I broke people’s minds. I tortured them psychologically for answers to questions I didn’t even know. I called and commanded the Irises at the compound. I fought, killed, and trained. I became a weapon.

It’s blurry, in the place between worlds. I don’t remember how I was rescued, I just know I was. Others were rescued along with me. I remember people screaming, bullets flying, and a warm hand in mine. I don’t remember who, though. Who came to save me.

Everyone was staring at me. I don’t recognize any of them. Not even the girl staring at me, her wings out and her dark brown eyes glowing with aquamarine pupils. I don’t recognize the man beside her, with his black hair and blue eyes, his gentle hand on my shoulder.

I ran. I don’t know where. I just ran, my feet moving over sticks and stones. I heard them running after me, the people I don’t know.

Even while blind, I could maneuver through the thick forest. In my mind, I saw a red wolf the size of a horse. I saw his blue eyes going wide as he heard my voice in his head. I saw him running, running, running through the trees. 

Other images flashed before my eyes. The stern face of my father, reflected in a mirror. A man with black hair and blue eyes, laughing as he looks at a sketch pad. A small girl in a dark room, with hair the color of starlight and eyes the color of midnight.

I screamed, folding down to my knees. Momentum carried me forward, causing me to tumble down a hill. All the while, I screamed, trying to pull the alien images, memories, emotions out of my head. 

I was a warrior, a fighter, a killer. I would not be consumed by thoughts that weren’t mine. But they all felt so real, like age-old photos done in black-and-white.

A voice called out to me. I tried to get to my feet, but I couldn’t. More faces flashed behind my eyelids: a red-haired girl, a silent boy, a baby with green eyes. I screamed out, all of my rage, fear, and pain fueled into one sound.

Someone dropped down beside me. I didn’t look up; couldn’t, not with the images in my head weighing me down. Arms went around my shaking body, skillful hands stroked my hair, a kind voice whispered my name over and over and over.

I realized I was crying, but I didn’t try to stop my flow of tears. I let everything drain away, the length of my life dissolving into the words the man was saying to me. The name he kept repeating. 

“Karlee, Karlee, Karlee. Dear God, Karlee. You’re here. You’re safe. You’re with me. You’re here, Karlee,” the man rattled, like he couldn’t stop saying my name. Like if he did, then he would combust.

I gripped the man’s arm, hard enough to bruise. He didn’t make a sound as he leaned back, at least far enough to look into my sightless eyes. Even though all I saw was black, I could still imagine the man, every detail of his angular face, every inch of his wavy black hair, every shade of blue in his bottomless ocean eyes. 

“Trevor,” I whispered, the single name causing my voice to break. I don’t even remember the last time I spoke with my mouth. Trevor crushed me to his chest again, tears pouring in rapids down his face. I turned my face into him, breathing in his apple and cinnamon scent. I let my tears come, all of the things I’ve kept inside coming out. 

It took awhile for the tears to stop. When they did, I asked the one burning question on my mind: “How long?”

Trevor’s arms constricted even tighter around me, and he whispered, “Four and a half years, Karlee. Four and a half years.” I shuddered, moving closer to my friend. A thousand questions were in my mind, but I didn’t speak any of them. Instead, I just stared up at Trevor, hope filling my chest.

I was trapped there, in that other place whose name I couldn’t remember. Trevor and the others had rescued me, had recognized that I was in an invisible prison. They had seen that I was alone, afraid, and too weak to fight back. 

In my head, I saw a group of people with blazing blue pupils, power flowing all around them. I knew that what I saw was impossible; my missions for my mother and father had proved that.

But then again, people aren’t supposed to have blue pupils and superpowers, so what do I know about impossible?