The cellphone chimed with two text messages and a call that rang once before the caller hung up. Iris checked the phone call first and dialed the unfamiliar number back.
“Hello?” Iris asked.
“This is a recording. We're trying to reach you regarding your mortgage account ending in XXXX, due tomorrow.” A mechanical, automated voice recited with impersonal coldness. “Please be advised that a late fee will be added to your account if payment is not received. Thank you. Goodbye.”
The call disconnected before Iris could properly organize her thoughts. She had forgotten about the mortgage due date and sighed in appreciation for the automated reminder.
Fortunately, she had already received her paycheck as a direct deposit, which she signed up for to avoid making extra trips to the bank. Iris couldn’t trust Lily to pay important bills unsupervised after her little sister spent some of the mortgage money on a guitar, so she’d need to do it herself.
It should be okay to go out for lunch to pay the mortgage, right? Iris pondered at her desk.
Khazmine told me that weird man who attacked us was taken care of, so there shouldn’t be a problem…
The text messages popped up again on her phone screen, and Iris ducked into the kitchenette to read the messages in secret. The first was from Lily, who reminded Iris about the mortgage being due, and asked if she could borrow the difference she still owed on her new guitar.
“I’m sorry, Lily. I just don’t have it.” Iris replied. She waited a minute before checking the second message, hoping to hear a word from her sister. When none came, Iris opened the text from an unknown number.
“Greetings, mistress. This is Cassandra. I have a new phone. Please save this contact in your device and acknowledge.”
Iris was wary and suspicious of texts from unfamiliar numbers, but this message was so very Khazmine that she had little doubt about its authenticity. Erring on the side of caution, Iris requested confirmation.
“Who has the other phone?” She typed.
A message came through in an instant, like a secret password. “Byxx.” No doubt about it, Khazmine had secured a phone for herself.
Good for her. Iris smiled at her phone and saved the number as “Cassandra Asteras” in her contacts. They’re all adapting to Earth so well…
“Who’s Cassandra?” Evelyn asked politely as she popped up behind Iris, giving her a startle. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No worries. She’s my roommate.” Iris still had a grin plastered on her face as she spoke. “She got a new number, so I wanted to save it.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize you had roommates.” Evelyn parked herself on the kitchenette sofa and offered Iris a stick of gum from her jumbo pack. “Does your boyfriend live with you, too?”
Iris shook her head “no” so suddenly that she made herself dizzy. She sat beside Evelyn and grabbed two sticks of gum for later. “No, no boyfriend. Just my roommates.”
“That sounds awfully plural.” Evelyn tilted her head. “How many do you have?”
“Three right now.” Iris leaned back on the sofa. “There’s Cassie, Zayne, and Bi—I mean, Vincent. We share a two-bedroom place off the highway.”
“How does that work?” Evelyn leaned in with interest. She didn’t know Iris had such a different home life from her own. “Do you do two-and-two for the bedrooms?”
This line of questioning was getting a little personal for Iris, but Evelyn’s manner and expression gave Iris the impression that it was friendly curiosity and nothing more. Iris explained the living situation as best as she could, and that “Vincent” and Zayne shared the common area, and she and “Cassie” each had their own spaces away from the boys. Evelyn’s head drooped once she understood the arrangement.
“So, no boyfriend, and you had to get roommates?” Evelyn asked loudly enough to draw the attention of Javier and Mr. Cavendish as they were passing through on their way to the lobby. “Is money that tight?”
Mr. Cavendish motioned for Javier to continue without him and wait by the elevator. Iris and Evelyn sat with their backs to the entryway, and Iris replied, unaware of the office manager’s presence.
“We’re struggling.” Iris confessed. “Things are tough, and I’m trying to get enough hours to make up the difference. I’ve been fortunate that GC&S has been willing to allow overtime.”
A deep breath from Mr. Cavendish preceded his gentle announcement that he’d entered the kitchenette. His dapper shoes clicked gently on the luxury vinyl flooring, causing both ladies to turn their heads to meet his gaze. Iris couldn’t be sure how much he’d heard, but Mr. Cavendish’s expression gave the impression that he was unaware of what they were speaking about, much to her relief.
“Good morning, ladies.” He nodded and reached for a polystyrene cup for coffee.
Evelyn trembled where she sat, clearly more afraid of him than Iris was, and shot up to excuse herself from the kitchenette. “Yes, good morning to you, too, sir.” Iris barely had time to wave to Evee before she vanished, leaving the two of them alone in the cozy dining space.
“She’s in quite the hurry.” Mr. Cavendish smirked to hide his apprehension. If he wanted an excuse to spend more time together, it was now or never. “Must be eager for lunch. Can’t say I blame her; they have Chinese food down in the cafeteria today. Would you like to join me for some?”
Iris checked her body for familiar sensations to ground herself and validate her reality. Was Mr. Cavendish asking her out on a lunch date? Did he want to work through lunch with her, or was this a social visit? Either way, she would have to turn him down, as Iris needed to pay her bank a visit to make her mortgage payment on her lunch break.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I need to head out on my break today for an errand.” It stung to have to turn him down, but Iris had little choice in the matter. “The bank’s only open until four, and lunch is my only chance to make it before then.”
“I’ll go with you, if you’d like.” Mr. Cavendish offered. “We can take—”
“Mr. Cavendish, sir?” Lane poked his stumpy head in from the hallway. “There’s an urgent call for you from RET, and I don’t think we can stall it. Can you take it?”
Air rushed from Mr. Cavendish’s chest in defeat. He swore that his competitors had devised some fiendish plot to keep him from having a moment’s peace, which dashed his hopes of spending more time with Iris. He shook his head imperceptibly and nodded at Iris before following Lane back to the office. “Another time, Ms. Alcazar.”
The elevator ride down to the ground floor felt lonelier and more harrowing than Iris remembered. It had been several weeks since she left the office during the lunch break, and she’d forgotten how much she disliked being crammed into small spaces with so many noisy people. She managed to set a timer on her phone and began navigating towards the bank a few streets away, only to have an unsettling feeling creep up on her.
There it was again. A cold shiver, like someone just walked over her grave, and an eerie odor that reminded her of stormy, tempestuous nights long ago. It was identical to the sensations she felt when Khazmine rescued her from the bus shelter three weeks ago, she was sure of it.
A quick turn of her head only confused Iris further, as she couldn’t distinguish any distinct faces from the mob outside. The flow of foot traffic pushed Iris further down the sidewalk, until she felt the forceful grasp of someone’s hand clasp onto her left arm.
“Keep walking, and don’t look back.” Ryan Dämmerung urged with a hushed voice in her ear. His grip remained firm, but not painful, and he nudged Iris to keep pace with him as the crowd dispersed around them. “You’re being followed. Shh—no, don’t talk, just listen. There’s a man in a trench coat who’s been following you for three blocks now.”
Iris stared at Ryan with eyes widened by fear. Tremors shook her tiny body and travelled to his hand where he grasped onto her. She kept pace with him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to control her panic as it threatened to shorten her breaths and start another fit of spasms. As if reading her mind, Ryan loosened his grip while continuing to urge her to move.
“And just so you know, I wasn’t following you.” Ryan insisted as they passed a familiar restaurant and clothing store. “I was out for a walk and a cigarette in the smoking area when I saw him get closer to you. You have shockingly low situational awareness, d’you know that? Wait, here.”
Ryan pushed against Iris, and they turned to the right at a crossroads in hopes of losing their pursuer. He was still a fair distance behind them, and this was their only chance to make a clean getaway. Ryan opened the door of a nearby taxi waiting at a cab stand and they both ducked into the yellow vehicle with checkerboard markings.
“Drive on. Take us to Gingko and Fairway.” Ryan barked instructions at the taxi driver. He glanced back through the rearview mirror to see a brief flicker of the strange man before they sped away. “There now. He’s long gone.”
This observation was a miserably insufficient comfort to Iris, who descended into tears in terror. Ryan hadn’t seen her so frightened since, well, since he’d been the one to scare her. Her entire body quaked, and she sobbed silently in the backseat of the cab, fearful that some outside force would hear her and do her harm. Ryan tried his best to comfort Iris with a gentle pat from his unbandaged hand but had no luck in calming her.
D*mmit, please, don’t cry…
“M-Mr. Cavendish…” Iris mumbled between gasps for air. “Please, call him.”
“What should I say?” Ryan asked.
“Please!” Iris begged.
As fearful as Ryan was that morning, Iris’s distress outmatched his by magnitudes. He dutifully dialed the number and waited for his supervisor to pick up the phone. No sooner had Mr. Cavendish answered with a brief, curt greeting than Iris clung to Ryan’s hands, and she begged into the receiver.
“Mr. Cavendish, please. The trench coat man is back.” Iris struggled to speak clearly. Her head throbbed from strain and anxiety. “H-he’s f—he’s f-following me again. Please help.”
“Where are you?” Mr. Cavendish tried to remain calm on the other end of the line, but his concern could be heard, nonetheless. “I’ll get security downstairs right away. Are you safe?”
“Yes, sir. She’s with me.” Ryan coaxed his hand from Iris’s and relayed their location to Mr. Cavendish. After a brief exchange, Ryan was up to speed on what was going on. “All right, I’ll do that. You can count on me, sir.”
Iris was so terrified that she grasped for anyone or anything that could offer protection in the moment. In this case, the only person available was Ryan, who jolted in surprise at the urgency of Iris’s unexpected hug. He was surely the last man on Earth who she wanted to be near, yet she clung tenaciously to his torso.
“S-scared… scared…” Iris whispered repeatedly while rocking back and forth in her seat, still hugging onto Ryan. “Please help.”
Tears glistened and wetted his shirt as Iris shivered for comfort. Not knowing what else to do, Ryan requested a new destination for their cabbie.
“Driver, please take us to Maple Street, off the highway. Best speed.”
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