Both Iris and Morgan stared at her after she had finished her explanation. It wasn’t much of an explanation in actuality, and definitely not the one they deserved, but she couldn’t say anything else. It also meant that it took a while to convey the exact nature of her situation across to them, but Morgan caught on pretty quick due to their shared experience and soon managed to explain the rest to Iris. That was in the past. In the present they were both staring at her. Both concerned, but Morgan was the first to break the silence.
“So… Wow. Um. When you asked me about the value of a human life, was it hypothetical?”
“Partially.” Keira didn’t want to say fully, as she had left out one extremely vital detail when talking to him. Such as the fact that it was very likely that the human race would get wiped out alongside her poor victim. Though she would hesitate to call Archer a poor victim. And she was trying to work around it anyway.
“Can you explain what you mean by partially?”
“Nope.” A silence descended between them, “is that seriously all you wanted to ask me?”
“I mean, yeah? You’ve made it clear that whatever lawyer you’ve met really doesn’t want you talking, and you’re also about as clueless as we are in the general circumstances. I expect more answers after that NDA is up though.”
“Yes. Gladly.”
“I’m not done with the questions.” Keira turned her eyes towards Iris, who had stopped leaning back on her chair and was now looking Keira straight in the eyes. “I want to hear more about this encounter you had at Archer’s place.”
“What about it?”
“Whatever made you think that this was… supernatural?” Keira couldn’t really say that she had a magic detector on her wrist. And even if she could, she couldn’t really prove it.
“Well the duplicate person was the first thing, there’s also the fact that she made no sound getting in and out of the car and her conversation with Archer was incredibly strange.”
“And? Be realistic here Keira. None of that sounds like something out of the ordinary. Twins exist, and they can work the same job if they want to. Or maybe they were just too people who looked similar, that can happen you know. Especially if it was in the dark. And you know what? Their faces probably didn’t need to be similar either. Same hair colour and style in the dark? Yeah, you could mistake the two, particularly if one of the people you’re looking at never left the van.”
“Oh really? What about everything else?”
“Everything else? What everything else? The fact that the two women looked similar was the best thing you had and it’s incredibly flimsy.”
“The conversation? The fact that she disappeared?!” Keira raised her voice a little too much on her last question and it shattered the comfortable silence in the café. Those around her sent silent glares. She took in a deep breath and sat back down.
“Yes, Keira.” She noticed that Iris had taken a gentler tone as well, “the conversation is easily the most normal part of your encounter.”
“So you admit that it’s strange?”
“Keira! I am not your enemy here! Stop trying to catch me out in a gotcha moment.” Iris sighed again and took a moment. “Though, I will admit, it is a little out of the ordinary.”
“You say you’re not my enemy but you’re not listening to me Iris.”
“I am. Keira… I am. I just. It’s delusional, and I don’t want to fuel that.” Keira tried to hide the hurt that she felt. She could truly understand that, but this… wasn’t just her.
“Morgan saw her disappear too.”
“It was early morning. You aren’t getting enough sleep anyway and Morgan is prone to conspiracy theories. Of course he’d take the first excuse to say that something exciting is happening here.”
“Hey…” Morgan’s vaguely offended voice tuned in from the side. Neither of them paid him any mind.
“I’m just saying, you might have missed when she entered and exited the car. That maybe you weren’t in the right head space to notice the small details like that. I get that it’s been stressful for you, but you don’t need to obsess over this anymore. It’s doing you some serious harm. Just get some sleep, relax, me and Morgan will help with your work and whatever else comes up.”
“I won’t.” Morgan tuned in from the side again. Once again, he went ignored.
“I care about you Keira. I just want what’s best for you.”
“I know… I appreciate it…” Iris didn’t want to help them with anything it seemed. It was fine, Keira knew that it wasn’t malicious, and it was a slightly enviable position. Not being deep enough in the situation to be able to deny the reality of it. A silence came over the conversation, one which Morgan broke by clearing his throat to catch their attention.
“I’m going to go and get a milkshake. Do you guys want anymore?” Keira nodded along with Iris and they watched as he stood up to go and get refills. Then the two of them sat in more silence. The longer it went on, the more awkward it got, and the more Keira realised how little they had talked with each other recently. Her eyes drifted to the door of the café which wasn’t hard as Keira had sat on a chair facing it. It also gave her a nice view of the outside as the café front also sported a very nice, large window. After a moment it seemed that the quietness got too much for Iris as she pulled out her phone and began to scroll. Before too much time passed however, she straightened up slightly and cracked a smile.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Hey Keira. You know that shitty Desert Gifts company that we were studying in geography?”
“Um… Yeah? What about it?”
“Well their financial woes have now been fixed.”
“Isn’t that bad news?”
“Nope! Because the way it was fixed was by being bought out by an up and coming competitor called Lucien Magri. And, get this, he was born in a small town in Cascano. It’s pretty inspiring if you think about it.”
“Oh joy. You’ve replaced one snake with another.”
“You do not get to disrespect Lucien like that! He-“ Iris began scrolling through her phone at a rapid pace before stopping and blinking in surprise. “He’s donated thousands to environmental preservation charities and takes extra care when moving the product, taking far more safety measures than necessary-“ Iris continued to read from a list that was on her phone, and Keira couldn’t help but sigh.
“Okay. He’s a good guy, you can stop now.” Iris glared at her and continued to read until something stopped her again.
“Good looking one too.” She then showed Keira a photo. A pretty generic tanned man with black hair and stubble along his jawline. She shrugged.
“Objectively speaking.” Iris rolled her eyes and continued to scroll and continued to do so even when Morgan came back with their drinks. He shared a look with Keira and she paused briefly before offering a shrug. He gave her a tight smile and sat down opposite Keira, putting them on the table. Since he was sitting down opposite Keira, he had his back to the door, as did Iris, so neither of them really noticed who walked in next. Amelie Cross still had atrocious taste in fashion, as far as Keira was concerned. She was still sporting that leather skirt and had a zebra striped shirt tucked into it. Though even if it seemed like her fashion taste had stayed the same, that mean look in her eyes had somehow gotten worse. Amelie's gaze landed on them almost immediately and instead of walking to the counter she walked over to their table instead.
"'Sup bitches. You been having fun while I've been away?" Even though the statement had been said to the group at large, Amelie was looking straight at Iris. This was made clearer when she put her back to Keira, her hand on the table and leaned on it. Forming a sort of wall between them.
"More than you could imagine." This statement was said with enough dryness to rival a desert. She was almost impressed with her friend. Keira decided to stay out of it for now. It didn’t seem like Amelie was too interested in her yet, and one quick look at Morgan told her that he was thinking the same thing.
"Well that's a shame. I was hoping to swing in here and rescue you from that boring life she-" Amelie nodded towards Keira, "seems to like so much." Amelie smirked a little and fully turned to face Keira. “Unless you’ve suddenly sprouted a little rebellious streak.”
“I once stayed up half an hour past my bedtime.” Keira’s response had the smug look fade from Amelie’s mouth a little. She then huffed and turned her attention back to Iris.
“So, what do you say? Come hang out with me for a bit? I’ll even introduce you to my new boyfriend. I’m sure you’ll get along great.”
“No thanks. I’ve heard Archer’s a bit underwhelming, and I don’t want to do anything you class as fun anymore.”
“Ugh. Seriously? It’s only been about ten weeks since we stopped doing stuff together. I hadn’t realised Keira’s stuck upness was so contagious.” She emphasised her point by edging away from Keira slightly, causing Morgan to look mildly amused. He was probably glad that he was being completely left out of this. Iris looked like she was about to interject, but then Amelie raised her eyebrows as if something had just hit her. “Me and Archer are not dating.”
“Oh don’t try to deny it. Everyone knows you and Archer have been skipping around town, arm in arm. Besides I was friends with Keira long before I was friends with you.”
“Oh really? The way I remember it you completely abandoned her to be friends with me very quickly, but hey, I don’t blame the act. I’d be embarrassed too if I kept ditching my friends for these two, only to find out that they kind of suck all over again. That’s what happened with Imogen after all, and it’s what you’re doing with me.” Morgan’s vaguely entertained expression fell. Keira wanted to smirk at the sudden change in Morgan’s demeanour, but the strike that Amelie had gone for was low. She didn’t need to feign her offence as she glared at Amelie. She carried on talking though, either ignorant to the stares around her or not caring about them. “I mean seriously out of all the replacements you chose her?"
“She’s not your replacement. That’s not how friends work, believe it or not.”
“All I’m saying is that I think you’re a little too good to be sitting with this idiot. You’re smarter, better looking and have far superior hobbies. Like that cross-country running club you go to. Say, isn’t it on tomorrow evening? How about we go there tomorrow, like old times?”
“The only reason I went to those things was because you did and I wanted you to like me. I don’t need to do that anymore because I’ve realised how much of a raging bitch you are.” Amelie’s face contorted into something resembling rage, before she smoothed it down again.
“Yeah right. I bet you’re only scared because it’ll be the four-week anniversary of Keira getting attacked.”
“Go away Amelie. I’m tired of dealing with you, much like everyone else here.”
“Sure. Believe what you want. I’ll always be there for you when you get bored of these… people.” Keira was almost impressed with the disdain that Amelie managed to refer to them with, but she stopped leaning on the table and went to the counter to get two sandwiches to go. When she received them Keira noticed that she scrunched up her nose when she looked in the bag, however she still left once she got it.
“What a piece of work.” Muttered Iris.
“Yep. Can’t believe that you put up with her, no matter how short the friendship was.” She nodded in response to Keira.
“I can’t believe it myself…” Iris’ gaze followed Amelie before she turned it back to Keira. “Look. About what I said earlier, this… supernatural thing you’ve got going on. I won’t say that I believe you about it, but I am here for you if you want to talk about it. I won’t say anything else negative about it, I’ll even help with research if it’ll make you feel better. We could even talk more about it tomorrow!”
“Aha. I appreciate it, but I’m busy tomorrow. I have this fundraiser on that lasts the whole day. On my feet too.”
“Oh… sounds fun?” Keira hoped that the dead look she gave Iris conveyed her opinion. “Well, we could talk about it the day after. Before school? Or we could talk about it in a couple of weeks on the geography trip. The journey there is going to be pretty long. Plenty of talking time.”
“…Geography trip?”
“You forgot, didn’t you?”
“I’ve been busy! Besides. It’s not like I have to remember much. Maybe to wear appropriate shoes for pebble beaches.” The look that Iris gave her was incredibly flat. In the end though she sighed.
“I don’t blame you for being tired and forgetting. Let’s just talk about something else for now. Like how you said you once stayed up half and hour past your bed time.”
“Oh, are you going to tell me off.”
“Yes, how dare you lie. You stay up at least an hour past it consistently.”
“Okay. Let’s move on to something a little more bearable please.” Keira felt herself relax when the table laughed around her, and ended up smiling as well. While Iris didn’t seem to believe her, at least she had the support of her friends, and that made her happy.