• WATTYS 2022 WINNER •
When Iris Monet married millionaire Jared Darling, she had only one rule - that he could cheat on her with anyone except the household staff. This arrangement of theirs would have gone on quite happily if she hadn't caught him...
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iris👁
I must be dreaming.
It's the only explanation I can give, because here I am standing in front of my old house. Father's house. And oh – there's Mother. I can see her. But when I wave and call out, she doesn't seem to hear.
Mother isn't alone though. There's a little girl. Me, I think. I remember this memory. Five years old, on a Wednesday afternoon, sitting on the front lawn with Mother. Talking and laughing. Having teatime over a pink princess tea set. And now there's Heather, joining us.
I smile, and my feet are just starting to walk forward – when suddenly the house door bangs open. Out comes Father, face dark like a thundercloud. He's yelling something at Mother, and now they've gone into a full-blown row. I start to cry. Heather grabs me and pulls me into her arms.
Akai steps into sight. I stumble backwards, alarmed and bewildered. Why is he here? He doesn't belong here.
"Please wake up," he whispers. "I miss you."
The scene fades.
£
I'm in the barn. With Moona Lisa. And – ah – the wronged chicken family. My nemesis. I cringe as I make eye contact with the mother hen. I wonder if she's forgiven me yet?
No – wait.
Didn't I resign?
"You're late," comes a familiar voice. "Why are you always late, Miss Iris?"
I turn around. Akai is standing there, shrouded in some sort of a golden glow. He's also shirtless. Upper torso completely unclothed and uncovered.
"That's hardly appropriate farm attire," I hear myself say.
"It's morning now. Time to get up and go to work. Stop sleeping so much."
"I didn't mean to oversleep, did I?" I retort. "Besides, I'm here now."
I blink, and in that nanosecond of having my eyes closed, I feel the slightest pressure on my forehead. As if someone had kissed me there. I open my eyes again.
Akai is smiling, incredibly sad. Are those tears on his cheeks?
The glow grows. The yellow light spills out from behind him, like angel wings. I shade my eyes, and still the light keeps growing. Incandescent. Turning into fire. Eventually, it engulfs me entirely.
"Wake up, Iris," the voice says, sounding further and further away. "Wake up."
£
There are whorls of light in my vision, and I feel disoriented. Briefly, like a butterfly whisper, I think I hear someone calling my name.
