Fox Life

"Do you know what had happened to my father?" Iris asked after a while. She was in the kitchen, preparing the fish she'd bought while her aunt sat in the living room with her notebook and was doodling something. It might have been a sketch for some project, but Iris could not make heads or tails of it.     

"He never spoke of it," Aunt Maddie answered without even raising her head. "Not that I was eager to know. I've met him twice, maybe thrice. We hated each other on sight."     

"Why though?" Iris asked, peeking through the doorway. "Did he do something?"     

Her aunt snorted, giving her a chilling stare from over the rims of her glasses. "Do? He stole and endangered my sister, what else do you want? He was an animal, both literally and figuratively."     

After that, Iris decided that she'd heard enough. She returned to the kitchen and focused on the fish. Or tried to anyway. Her mind kept returning to the faint image of her parents she had in her head. It wasn't a real memory, but one constructed of her seeing her mom's photo once and simply imagining a tall, handsome man to be her husband.     

The faint image was fracturing at that moment, losing its idyllic colors. Her mother was an amazing woman, but her father… Would she become like him one day? Paranoid and always on the lookout? Pushing people away before they could even think of getting close?     

When the food was done and Iris served it, she saw her aunt turning to put away her notebook. The woman froze mid-action, a grimace flashing through her face before she could hide it.     

No longer the inattentive child from before, Iris instantly rushed to her side. "What happened?" she asked. Her aunt waved her away, but Iris didn't let herself be dismissed. She touched her aunt's side, and the woman bit her lip almost to blood to hold back from shouting out.     

"Is that your loving touch? Get your claws off me!"     

It was too late though. Iris had lifted her aunt's shirt a fraction and seen the disgusting bruise underneath. It was bluish green and all over the side of her waist.     

Iris pulled away, afraid to cause any more pain. "What happened?" she asked in a soft voice once more.     

"I fell, badly. Now shut up and get me a plate. It hurts more if I think about it."     

After that, Aunt Maddie didn't speak about anything anymore and Iris fell back in the familiar rhythm of her home. While her aunt worked, she cleaned up the dishes and took care of some of the clutter. When finished, she went to her room and fell asleep in her old bed.     

It was nice waking up at home, but also foreign. She hadn't lived at her aunt's for many years even before her life was turned upside down. Since she had left for college, she hadn't returned for more than a day's visit.     

The clock showed five in the morning, and when Iris took care of herself, she found that her aunt was still at her table in the study. With single-minded attention, she was drawing a majestic city, layer after layer.     

After drinking her morning tea, Iris broke her aunt from her stasis and ordered her to go to bed. The older woman grumbled, but allowed herself to be tucked in. When Iris said her goodbyes, Aunt Maddie just took off her glasses and closed her eyes to sleep.     

"Don't make the wrong choice," she said when Iris was by the door.     

'Wrong choice?' Iris smiled wryly and closed the door behind herself. Who could tell her which choice was the right one? It was simple to say that it would be safer to hide away and never see Kyro again, but would a lifetime like that really be better than a few years with a person she loved?     

At that moment, she realized that she was on the verge of making the same mistake as her mother, even when knowing its consequences. 'Seems like we're not that different…'     

Iris wasn't certain how that knowledge made her feel. She felt closer to her mother than ever before, and yet… How can one be close to a person they've never even met in their life? It wasn't factually true, but as far as Iris' memory went back, there had never been any parents in her life.     

It was sad, but also a reminder to her—if she didn't want to end up like them, she had to be smarter about her actions. Or more daring. She had to create a future for herself with her own two hands, a future in which she didn't need to hide like a criminal every day of her life.     

One thought led to another, and Iris soon had an idea of what to do next. The most obvious problem was Tyler, so she should first take care of him. But to do that she had to find out why he was so interested in her. There was no way he was stalking her for no reason, or just because he liked her.     

Somehow, he had known who she was at first glance. It was unnatural, and he was way past the point of being late with his answers.     

Since Iris was in the neighborhood in which she had grown up, the surrounding area was her playground. It took her no more than five minutes to find a house abandoned mid-construction and enter it through the back. After making sure that there was nobody around, she changed, and a little fennec fox popped its head out the empty doorway.     

With excitement shining in her black beady eyes, Iris darted outside and into the many streets of Bristol. If nobody wanted to tell her anything, than she was going to snoop around and see if they were more forthcoming when speaking among themselves. There was no way anyone would expect her as a fox when they thought that changing at will was as impossible as learning to fly.