Fox Life

While knocking on the door, Iris wondered what she was doing. She knew she wasn't supposed to come close to any place that was familiar to her and yet here she was, banging on her aunt's door. It was stupid, dangerous, and thoughtless, but she just needed someone to speak to for a second.     

The longer she sat in the taxi as it drove through the city, thinking about Tyler, the more creepy his actions seemed. He never mentioned how he had known that she was a human from her fox form, he was there when she needed help to escape the officers, and the moment she didn't see him for a couple days, he popped up in her area right as she left her house.     

Was he following her right then as well? She looked around, listening, but even her sensitive hearing couldn't catch anything. There was movement in some of the other apartments on the floor, but none of them sounded out of the ordinary.     

When the door opened, Iris rushed in to hug her aunt. She didn't care that the older woman wouldn't like it. At that moment, Iris was desperate enough to even take a false sense of security when real one wasn't up for offer.     

"Iris?" Aunt Maddie asked, watching her with arms raised up in the air. She was stiff like a log, but Iris didn't care, she just held onto the only person around she could always trust to have her best interests in mind. "Did something happen?"     

Iris wanted to say no, to not worry her aunt, but as she was about to smile, tears spilled out from her eyes. They ran in rivulets, drowning out her face and voice. She couldn't even open her mouth without a soft cry escaping against her will.     

They stood in the doorway like that for a moment, then Aunt Maddie pulled Iris in and closed the door behind her. She then patted Iris' head, her cold eyes behind the black-rimmed glasses softening a little.     

"What happened?"     

A million things and nothing. Iris wanted to name each and every one of them, but what did it matter really? All of them came down to one single thing. "Why is this happening to me?" she asked with tear-clouded vision. Trough the haze, she could barely even see her surrogate mother. "Auntie, what did I do wrong? Why can't I just have a normal life? With normal problems?"     

"Because your crime is your mere existence," Aunt Maddie said, and Iris snapped her head up. She felt like she'd been punched in the gut, and the ground beneath her feet became unstable. 'So even she thinks…' "Or that's what I told Julia when I learned you were born." Aunt Maddie lowered her head to kiss Iris on the forehead. "And I never regretted anything more in my life."     

While Iris stood in shock, her aunt pulled away. She brought her to the sofa which was almost hidden under the clutter once more and made calming tea for her. Iris clutched it with her trembling fingers. She tried to understand what was going through her aunt's head, but could not grasp it.     

In the end, she decided to prod her. "What was my mother like?"     

"Strong, independent, and certain of what's right and wrong. Oh, and stubborn, so very stubborn," Aunt Madie said, a flicker of a smile on her face. But it was gone as soon as it had come. "You inherited her looks, but in personality, you two have little in common. She was always on the move, never resting a moment."     

A warmth spread through Iris. The tea probably had something to do with it, but also hearing about her mom for the first time. Never before had Aunt Maddie talked about her so openly.     

It was a risk, but Iris wanted to know more. "Then what about my father? Am I more like him?"     

"He…" Aunt Maddie hesitated. Her expression soured as she recalled past events, and she shook her head, then her eyes met Iris' pleading gaze, and she spoke up once more. "He was someone pushed past his breaking point. I don't know what kind of person he might have been, but the one I saw was but a shadow of one. His paranoia was overwhelming. If he wasn't looking over his shoulder for someone following him, he was staring to the sides, listening to something no one else could hear."     

"That's…" Iris didn't know what to say. Was that why her aunt had never talked to her about him when she was younger? To protect her from the reality of her father not being totally normal? "Why did my mom marry him then?"     

The question seemed to bring physical pain to Aunt Maddie. She looked away, pain evident on her face. In a while though, she still answered. "Because beneath his madness, he was a charming young man. He was kind, attentive, and understanding, even if all of that was done in extreme awkwardness without any idea for social norms.     

"She found him injured on the street, and being a vet, she knew first aid and patched him up. When she was about to call the hospital though, he woke up and saw her. Julia said that his expression twisted at that moment as if he'd seen a ghost, and he changed into a fennec. It was too injured to run away, so she just picked it up and brought it home, where she cared for it and earned its trust."     

"My mother sounds amazing…" Iris murmured, wanting to smile but not finding it in herself. What had happened to her father? She could guess that he changed from terror, but why was he so injured? And the paranoia? The constant sense of being watched and having to run away?     

Iris had an uncomfortable sensation that she might soon understand him better than she would have ever wanted. Chased in whichever country she went, people stalking her even when they didn't seem to have any reason for that.     

Aunt Maddie took two huge mouthfuls of her own tea and finished it. "She was, but she was also stupid. If not for getting involved with that man, she might still be alive. Don't be like her. Live."     

"What do you mean?" Iris asked, her voice coming out a bit shaky. She had a feeling she knew what her aunt was implying, but she didn't want to accept it.     

"Leave him. He's always on the news, always in the spotlight. You need to hide, to live quietly somewhere, not advertise yourself for all to see. Can't you see that?"     

The problem WAS that Iris could see it. She wanted to refute her aunt's words, but she couldn't. There was truth to the fact that her life had gotten worse the moment she got on the news, but…     

Could she really leave Kyro? Lucifer? And all that a life with them entailed? She wasn't certain if Kyro would come back for her after the week of silence, but could she refuse him if he did?     

'I don't think I'm that strong…'