The Chronicles of Verspania pt.4

The next morning, Iris visited Time to return one of her books she had borrowed. It was called The Flight of The Purple Doves and it was about a group of rebels who overthrow a tyrant in a magical world. It wasn’t the type of book Iris usually enjoyed but it was Time’s favourite so Iris finally gave in and read it. Through the meadow and past the blackberry thickets, Iris made her way to the cottage. She pushed open the garden gate and knocked twice on the unlocked door to announce herself. Unlike normal, she couldn’t hear Time busy in the kitchen or fiddling around with her clocks. The cottage was ghostly quiet and Time was nowhere to be seen. Iris heard a quiet sobbing coming from Time’s bedroom. It was a small room, which was painted a periwinkle blue and was covered in bookshelves and it had a small wardrobe and desk in the left hand corner. The desk chair was facing the bed and Time was curled up in a small ball on it. She had tears streaming down her face and her sleeves were soggy from wiping her tears away. Iris dropped the book and ran over to her. Time didn’t acknowledge Iris’ arrival until she sat on the bed opposite her. She pulled her close and held her in her arms like a small child. Helpless with nowhere to go to. Time let herself be held in Iris’ arms. It felt odd as Iris was so much younger yet so mature. When Iris asked what was wrong, Time slowly pointed to a crumpled photograph on the bedside table.

“I remember,” she clutched hold of Iris’ hand tightly, “I remember them.” Iris leaned over to reach the photograph. In the photograph was Time but she was a lot younger and two other women. One had startling red hair and ashen skin, she was smiling widely and the other had deep brown skin and bright blue eyes. Iris knew that face.

She was her mother.

Iris’ disappointment began to rise in her. Time had known her mother all this time and hadn’t ever thought to tell her. She felt betrayed.

“You knew my mother.” She said, distancing herself from Time, who still had silent tears falling down her cheeks. “You knew her and you never thought to tell me.”

All along she knew that it had been a mistake to trust Time and that she would leave her just like her mother had. She felt tears rush to her eyes.

“She ran away from us and I knew she was never coming back so why did you know her?” Iris’s voice cracked and Time became nervous in her seat. She had never seen Iris cry before and hugged her awkwardly. Iris got up and shrugged off Time’s gestures, leaving her in a crumpled heap.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Iris shouted from the other room, “Why?”

She stumbled towards Time with sadness and fear in her eyes and a hole in her heart, her tears falling down her face. Time reached out her hands and held Iris tight. She stroked her hair and whispered reassuring words in her ear. The roles had reversed now, they cared for each other. Each with a hole in their heart of words they hadn’t said. You could feel the atmosphere shift as the emotions began to click. They felt each other's sadness and fear of the unknown. The air around them began to ripple and began to freeze. Iris stopped in her tracks and grabbed onto Time’s hand. Time’s eyes glowed white and her body began to levitate, pulling Iris up with her.

“Time? What are you doing? What’s going on?” Iris had never seen Time like this, and it scared her more than ever. They began to spin and Iris’ head felt like it might explode. Their bodies began to propel around the room at extraordinary speeds. A bright light was expelled from Time’s chest and connected itself to Iris’ skin right above her heart. Then it all went blank.

Bang!

The unusual pair had fallen into a rather large theatre ; Iris was sure she wasn’t dreaming. This had really happened. It was all real. They were centre stage and the hot light from the spotlights rained down on them. From this position they could see the entire audience. They all wore formal gowns and dinner jackets and white, grim looking faces that looked down on them with disapproval.

Silence fell in the theatre. Time was barely awake and Iris hadn’t truly realised the depth of her situation. The air felt strange ; there was a sort of sharpness to it and they felt like they were floating on thin air, Iris didn’t like it.

“What on earth are you playing at?” hissed one of the actors, “Get out of here!”

The audience applauded them with hushed comments and side eyed glances. Iris surveyed the scene, her brain was full of confusion about what had happened but she knew that they had to get out of there. The pair crawled awkwardly to the front of the stage and dogged a scrunched up piece of paper someone had through at them. By now, the whispers had turned into shouts and insults. People had begun to grab them again and again and again. Iris felt like the world was crashing in on her, their shouts echoed around the theatre and people pulled on her hair wanting to get a better hit. Time held onto Iris tight, still dazed from the time jump. Her eyes red and her skin pale and sickly. Iris felt a hand on her arm pulling her out of the scrum. She followed the arm blind. She didn’t care who it was, she just wanted to get out. The crowd shouted and screamed and Time was doing her best to drown them out by pressing her hand over her ears and scrunched up her eyes so she didn’t feel as overwhelmed.

. . .

Iris felt the cold air against her face and the quiet noise of a sleeping town in her ears. She opened her eyes to reveal their saviour, a short girl of 17 dressed in worn out finery.

“This way.” She led them through the alley next to the theatre and up some steps. The alley was dark and greasy and barren from all life save from the rats who crowded the corners. Time flinched away when one ran over her foot. The girl led them up the steps and to a peeling green door that matched the grimy window sills. She produced a large key from her pockets and turned it in the stiff lock.

“After you.” The girl opened the door and closed it firmly behind them with a slam. She led them into the kitchen, which was a room with little life left in it, with a slanted table and chairs that were clearly homemade. She introduced herself as Miss Sadie Dubois and offered them a chair.