Discovery

by E A Foley

A melodic chord progression droned from her right. Iris rolled over to turn her alarm off and crashed to the floor. It was like one of those old cartoons where the character was able to run on air until they realized they were no longer on solid ground and then they fell.

  “What . . . the . . . hell!”

  Iris gaped at her bed from where she landed on the floor. Her alarm continued to remind her it was time to get up and start the day. She stared at her bed for a few more seconds before her brain kicked into gear.

  “If you don’t turn that thing off, Mom is going to bang on the door and demand you get up.” Iris followed her own words with action and tried to regain her grasp on reality. “Okay. Take a breath. There is no way you were hovering over your bed. No. That’s not possible. You, you were still sleeping. That’s it. Sleeping.”

  Then explain falling to the floor again.

  “I was acting out my dreams. I bent my knees and jumped, and that caused me to fall out of bed.”

  And you really believe that?

  “Of course I . . . Oh god! I’m going crazy,” Iris lamented and started pacing her small room. “That’s what’s happening. I’m talking to myself.”

  You always talk to yourself.

  “True, but you don’t generally answer yourself. Okay, you do, but only when you’re . . . shit! I’m still doing it. But . . .” she stopped pacing. “This is me. Talking to myself. What the hell was that other voice?”

  Chapter 4

  Iris took a breath. She focused on the dream and events of the morning. Analyzed the way it felt like she was physically carrying out the activities in her dream. But it wasn’t quite sleeping. It was more like twilight consciousness. And there was something guiding her through the actions. But what was it?

  That would be me. A distinct voice drifted out from the recesses of her mind.

  “Yup, definitely going crazy. Welp, I’ll deal with that one later. Right now I need to shower and get to school or face the wrath of Mr. Wright.”

  Iris pulled clothes from her dresser and quick-stepped down the hall to take a shower. She was out of the house in twenty-five minutes and made it to marching practice with a few minutes to spare. Concentrating on playing and marching during the double period kept Iris from thinking about that morning’s rude awakening. The second she joined her group of friends at morning break, it all came crashing back in on her.

  “You have any more of that dream, Iris?” Aerianna asked casually. Violet must have told her that it kept cropping up.

  “No,” Iris lied and looked down to avert her now burning eyes. She really needed to get a lighter pair of sunglasses for foggy mornings.

  “That’s a big yes,” Rozlynd said.

  Iris stared at the ground. Her breath came in short spurts.

  “Iris?” Violet put a hand on her shoulder.

  Iris shrugged it off and crossed her arms. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” she said to no one in particular. The stinging in her eyes was starting to annoy her. It didn’t help that she couldn’t work out her emotions.

  “All right, then how are your college applications going? Would you rather talk about those?” Morrigan asked.

  “No!” Iris threw her arms out and dropped them to her sides. “What are you, my Mom? Just . . .”

  “So, what are we doing to celebrate Halloween this year?” Aerianna asked out of the blue.

  “I thought we were going to head to Bate’s Nut Farm to pick up some pumpkins and then carve them at my place. That still sound good to everyone?” Zarina took the conversation suggestion and went with it. She wasn’t a fan of tension or conflict.

  Iris was grateful to both of them. Focus shifted away from her and she was able to hunch in on herself once more.

  You are acting like a child. The voice in the back of her mind chided her. It was stronger now than it had been that morning. It made Iris feel even worse. Maybe her friends would leave her because she was such a jerk. Her eyes stopped hurting. The brown shades of depression were always a place they liked to settle. It wasn’t the first time she’d let negative thoughts get the better of her. And today they seemed to be in top form.

  She imagined showing up to the group one day and finding no one there. They would have moved to a new location and not told her. It’d be easy for them to plan it before school since she almost never got to campus in time to join the group before classes started. When she arrived and was all alone, she’d try to call them one by one and no one would answer because they’d all blocked her number. In class, they would ignore her presence. Much like many of her classmates already did.

  If they didn’t move spots, then they’d simply close ranks on her and not let her into the circle. Images of her tear-soaked face and charcoal eyes brought a lump to Iris’s throat and a quiver to her lower lip.

  Oh please. You are being so overdramatic. Knock it off. The voice chastised her.

  The bell rang. Iris flinched. Violet’s face tilted down to catch her eye.

  “You all right?”

  Iris shook her head.

  “I’m here if you want to talk. We all are. Remember that, all right? We’re your friends.”

  Iris took a deep breath and released it. She closed her eyes, nodded, and said thanks before getting up to follow Aerianna to class. She managed to take a few notes on the day’s topic—the judiciary branch and the nine Supreme Court justices—but not enough to have anything concrete. She’d have to ask Aerianna if she could borrow her notes again.

  She kept her mouth shut through lunch and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. Iris knew her internal voice was right. She’d been a jerk and would have to apologize later. Thankfully no one asked about her dream again. They could tell it bothered her, even if they didn’t know why.

  Violet was right. They were her friends. Good friends that she was thankful for. Violet refrained from badgering her in the slightest on the way to English and instead talked about her own latest dream. Something about a pegasus and flying. Iris wasn’t quite following—which wasn’t an uncommon thing during stories from Violet—as there was something tickling the back of her neck and she couldn’t figure out what it was.

  Darkness met them as they entered their classroom. It suited Iris’s mood. She followed Violet to the beanbags, stared at her best friend for a few seconds as she settled into the first beanbag, sighed, and acquiesced to taking the one next to hers. Staying awake would be impossible, but she’d try all the same.

  Mr. McLain pressed play and Iris focused on the movie. The manner house reminded her of the one in her dream. It got her mind spinning. “Just let it go,” she whispered to herself. It worked a bit, but not quite the way she hoped it would. She leaned over to talk to Violet, but her best friend was asleep.

  Iris settled back into her beanbag chair. A tingling sensation began at the nape of her neck. She tried to find the culprit⎯or culprits, probably stray hairs⎯but they were all neatly pulled into her ponytail. She went back to watching the movie. Fields of golden grass brought up images of the tall grains in her dream. The tickling came back. Iris swatted at the back of her neck, thinking there was a bug or something. Her leg bumped Violet’s who woke up enough to look at her.

  “Sorry,” Iris mouthed.

  Violet settled back into her beanbag and fell asleep. Iris’s concentration remained on the movie until it ended. The annoying tickling sensation didn’t return. She woke Violet just before Mr. McLain turned the lights on.

  “So, class, what did you think?” He waited long enough to receive several murmured responses in the positive before moving on. “Good. I’m glad you liked it. That one was rather popular when I was in . . . never mind. The point of showing you this version of the Cinderella story was to show you that there are many different ways to work within the basic plot structure of the story.

  “I want you all to break up into groups of four or five and discuss what the standard plot points are in a Cinderella story. Remember, you’re looking for things that make a
story a Cinderella story, not just any old story.”

  The class did as they were told, and Iris and Violet joined two other girls on the assigned discussion topic. Ten minutes before the bell was scheduled to ring for the end of the day, Mr. McLain called the class back to order. They reviewed the story elements as a whole for a few minutes before he gave them an assignment that Iris actually looked forward to.

  “I want you all to write your own Cinderella story. Think outside the box and have fun with this one. Just remember, you must include all the elements and plot points we discussed today. Otherwise, be as creative as you want!”

  The bell rang, and everyone scrambled to pack up the rest of their things.

  “Have a nice nap?” Iris asked Violet as they left class.

  “Yeah, it was great! I was a pegasus and I was flying through the sky . . . well, it was more like running and gliding. You know? Anyway, I think I’m going to use it as inspiration for my Cinderella story. Do you know what you’re going to write about?”

  “My life. Well, parts of it. I mean, my dad is still alive and I only have one sister. I could always draw inspiration from the jerks in elementary school. They’re evil enough to rival both stepsisters.”

  By the time the pair of them parted and Iris was headed to her car, she felt more like herself. Especially since she had to dig in her backpack for her car keys, which she’d misplaced again.

  “I’ve had a shitty day and would really appreciate it if my keys would show up already,” she grumbled. A second later, her hand landed on them. “Thank you.” She unlocked her car door and climbed in.

  Iris sighed and placed her head on the steering wheel. She took several moments to gather herself. Thoughts about going for a drive were dismissed when she remembered how much homework she had. With another sigh, she sat upright and told the 4Runner, “Let’s go home.”

  Iris received a day of peace on Thursday. She hadn’t dreamt about the mansion Wednesday night and woke up firmly in her bed Thursday morning. No one mentioned her dream at school. She was more relaxed than she’d been all week, which meant she kept the talking to herself to a minimum. A few standard mutters of encouragement and phrases to jog her memory were all she needed. Whatever that secondary voice at the back of her head was, it didn’t surface all day.

  She got home earlier than usual for a Thursday and decided to tackle some homework and hydrate before evening marching practice. She filled a glass with water from the fridge and headed toward her bedroom. Setting her glass down on her dresser, Iris picked up her remote and turned on her TV before plopping herself down on her bed and pulling out her math and physics notes and books.

  “Let’s tackle math first, shall we,” she said to herself and rummaged through the loose papers in her backpack for the one she’d written all of her assigned problems on. “Now what did I do with my water this time?” She wondered out loud and glanced around the room.

  “Oh well. Perhaps it will be nice enough to appear by my side. And now to homework,” Iris told herself. She refocused on the pile of school items strewn about her bed and realized she didn’t have a pencil. Iris reached toward her backpack to grab one and almost knocked over her water glass.

  Chapter 5

  Iris’s breathing doubled in pace. She started hyperventilating. She definitely had not set her water glass on the floor next to her bed. But here it was. Sitting next to her backpack moments after she wondered if it would appear by her side.

  “What the hell is going on? Oh god, I was right, I am going crazy . . . I must be. I know I didn’t put my water there. No. I came into my room, wandered past my dresser to grab the remote, and sat down. I think that’s where I left the glass. On my dresser. But . . . then why is it here?”

  If you eliminate all that you know did not happen, then what remains is the truth. Even if you don’t believe it. The voice in her mind was back.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Iris demanded of her empty room. “Oh god. I’m even crazier than I thought! I’m having a conversation with a voice in the back of my mind. Great. Just great.”

  You’re not crazy. Figure it out. Be logical.

  “Logical my ass. All I can think of is magic. There’s no way I moved the glass next to me mentally. No way I can do magic. It isn’t possible, so you can take your logic and shove it up your ass!”

  That’s not very nice.

  Iris couldn’t take it anymore. She’d already engaged, so she might as well figure out what was going on. “All right, who the hell are you? I’ve been trying to ignore you for days now, but obviously I can’t. So who the bloody hell are you?” She demanded as she paced her awkwardly shaped eight-by-eleven room. When had she gotten up?

  Me? I’m you. Well, a part of you. I’m the you you’re slowly unlocking and will become. I am the you linked to the essence of the Earth and the power that runs through it; what you refer to as magic. I’m here to teach you how to unlock the rest of yourself and your powers and to help others follow in your footsteps.

  Iris stopped pacing. Emptiness expanded outward from her core. She shook her head and forced her brain back into action. “I’m sorry, you’re what? What do you mean power? You think I can do magic? This cannot be happening. I’m really losing it. Or . . . or . . . I’m asleep. That’s it. This is one of my reality-like dreams, isn’t it? I’m going to wake up in a few minutes and this will all be over.”

  But I thought your reality-like dreams always came true.

  “Shit! You’re ri⎯ how did you know that?”

  I already told you. I’m you. I know everything about you. Occupational hazard of being part of you.

  “I know what this is. This is stress. Yes. Stress. I’ve taken on too much. I knew it.”

  Iris . . .

  “Four to five academic classes a semester. Summer school every year so that I can take marching band in the fall . . .”

  Iris!

  “Marching practices after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Football games on Fridays and staying after the halftime show to be a part of the pep-band. Not to mention the competitions on Saturdays . . .”

  IRIS! the voice in her head screamed.

  Iris clamped her mouth shut. Her heart tried to pound a hole through her ribs. Her lungs heaved as though she’d just sprinted up a hill. Neither were anything compared to her mind as it reeled with concepts and ideas she’d only dreamt of her whole life. The logical half of her mind would not accept⎯could not accept anything that had happened in the last few minutes.

  Are you quite finished? the voice asked. When Iris didn’t respond, it continued. Now, like I was trying to tell you. You have some extraordinary powers that, until recently, have been dormant within you. I’m here to help you unlock those powers and teach you how to control them. It’s time you acknowledge that you’ve been flying, well, hovering the last few mornings and that you were able to move your glass of water next to you. So, are you ready to listen to me?

  Though her breathing deepened a bit, Iris’s heart still pounded a heavy tattoo in her chest. “Okay” was all she could get out.

  Good. Now, sit down before you give yourself a heart attack. And take a deep breath. You’re straining your body. Thank you.

  The voice paused for a few minutes. Iris took several more large breaths. She could feel her heartbeat slow to a more normal pace.

  I think we got started on the wrong foot. I’m an ancient part of you that until a few days ago was locked up in a corner of your mind. Trapped with no way to get out. The timing wasn’t quite right until recently. For one, you were much too young and immature, then there was the fact that you had no friends or confidence.

  “You think I have confidence? How kind of you.”

  Some, yes. Enough? No. But, I couldn’t wait any longer. There are other individuals you will meet whom you will need later, but for now, I need you to concentrate on learning how to access and control your powers. Recently something changed and I was able to start trying to com
municate with you through your dreams. Unfortunately, you weren’t figuring it out . . .”

  “Perhaps because I rarely remember my dreams,” Iris interrupted.

  Or you simply weren’t remembering any of your dreams, the voice conceded. The point is, I needed to talk to you and the only means I had were your dreams. So I tried manipulating them. I found one that affected you greatly and helped it to repeat often. It was rather difficult, I must admit, and it took me a while to get the hang of. But it worked, so that’s all that matters.

  Once you remembered and started to focus on the dream, the lock on my, well, we’ll call it a prison, broke and I was able to communicate with you in earnest. I wanted to keep it simple in the beginning. Just a few words here and there as though you were answering your own questions and doubts about what was being unlocked within you, but I’ve grown tired of your attempts to rationalize away what is right in front of your face. The voice sounded very frustrated at Iris’s attempts to ignore the obvious.

  Even so, Iris’s mind raced as it continued to search for a rational explanation to what was happening. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Besides, she was no one. And a nobody like her didn’t deserve to have her greatest desire of having powers come true. A large part of her desperately wanted it to be true, and it was that part that prompted her to keep the conversation going.

  “You say you’re a part of me, but you’ve been locked away in some kind of room in my own mind? How’s that possible? It just sounds like the crazy rantings of some depressed teenager who wants something more in life. I’m not a Disney character, you know. If you want me to believe this stuff you’re going to have to prove it. Right now I’m inclined to believe I’ve finally cracked and this is a conversation between a crazy person and herself.”

  The voice sighed in her head. Very well, I’ll prove it to you, but you’re going to need to follow along. I can show you how, but you have to be the one to perform the feat.

  “Yeah, right,” Iris said skeptically.