IRIS

Red, this… this is red…

     Staring deeply, we all surrounded it tentatively. The look of bewilderment had painted itself thick onto our bodies as we gathered around like subjects or worship. We were all drawn to something so strongly that we understood so little of…

     Uzume then slowly walked down the center of us, breaking; for a moment, the hold this… color had over us.

I held my light on her face as I awaited her next move. Her intentions.

     Before she could budge, Agent Yamanaka stretched her hand forward, and like a reflex I swiftly clenched on to her wrist… “Don’t touch it,” I warned. As she looked me in the eye we could feel each other’s concern.

     Officer Shiro then surprisingly chided Agent Yamanaka. “Are you stupid or are you stupid?” she aggressively stabbed at the agent. Unfortunately, I didn’t hold the same sway over the other accompanying officer as Officer Kuro invited himself to do whatever it was that he wanted.

     He reached down, stretching his hand out. Officer Shiro clasped his forearm and gave him a deranged look, but her efforts were fruitless. Carefully, he placed the tips of his fingers into the… ‘red’ substance, dragging them back towards himself. It was liquid, but with a consistency of like some sort of fluid. He caressed it between his fingers before taking a light whiff of it.

“It’s blood,” he mentioned.

Uzume backed away in a panic, muttering to herself, “No… no… this isn’t right. This isn’t right.”

     Her face soured with fear and disbelief. Her eyes grew dim, and her voice crackled as she struggled to speak. As I reached out to grab hold of her the startling sound of tires skidding across asphalt caught my attention, only to then have my vision taken from me by a bright flash as I nearly stumbled over my own feet. In the last few seconds, I could vaguely see Uzume collapse to the floor as if her body was being mashed together and collapsing to pieces.

Why did this scene feel so familiar?

     As my eyes adjusted to the bright lights of the hall, I dropped my head and faced the door before me.

Holding Room #999

     I peered down at the situation report trying to grasp the person on the other side of the door as much as possible. I then dipped my hand into my pocket; one last double check to make sure the letter was there, before heading inside.

Friday, March 26th

     “Good evening. I am the Head Situation Analyst covering your case. I would introduce myself, but it seems you’re already well aware of who I am.”

     I stepped in front of the table, standing directly across from the young girl. She peered in my direction, before glancing to the side of me.

     “You’re a bit late.” The girl stated. Although her words were candid, her voice was rather tranquil.

     “Excuse me?”

     “You’re late,” she repeated once more. “Well… later than you’re supposed to be… and she’s not here.

     I was taken aback by her odd response. For a moment, I was stuck without a reaction. This girl really did come off as peculiar to me. I glanced at her momentarily before asking, “Would you prefer another analyst accompany me?” but the girl simply shook her head and responded, “I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

     As I pulled the chair out to take a seat a cold sweat glazed over my palms, and I held myself still. Suddenly an odd sensation wafted into the room like an ominous whisper. I couldn’t help but think to myself, why am I remembering this scene differently?

     My eyes began to gloss over, and my vision cloaked in a white haze.

     As I refocused my mind, I found myself once again staring down into the peculiar “red” substance before us. My body began to crawl in a sense. I could feel it on the surface of my skin. Holding my flashlight up I panned my eyes to the right, turning myself away from the rest of the group. It was as if the walls began to squeeze in closer with a feeling of confinement slowly taking over. We weren’t in the holding room. There were no flashes of light. No sudden sounds. Stopping myself as I landed on Uzume, who was safely in one piece, I stared deep into her eyes. And I noticed something was different.

I could see it now… her eyes.

Her red eyes…

And I knew I’d seen them before.