Fox Life

When breakfast came to the room, Iris was still half-asleep, but she thanked the staff and stumbled into the bathroom to take a shower and wake up. By the time she returned, the little girl was already up and running around the breakfast trolley, trying to get up it.     

"Gimme a sec," Iris murmured, going to dry her hair. Once she was ready, she came back to the food and lifted Mila up.     

The girl ran around all the plates before noticing a slice of cake. She was about to dive face first into it when Iris caught her and lifted her up. "Sweets are for dessert at the end."     

There was some disagreement on that between the two of them on that, and Iris had to let go of the girl or face the threat of being bitten. But her opponent was a little weasel which could fit into her palm with space to spare. Without another word, she picked up the slice of cake and put it on the table nearby where Mila couldn't get up.     

She was rewarded with a lot of raspy screeching which was very unlike her own fennec noises. 'This has no potential to drive someone mad,' Iris ascertained, just a little proud about her own animal form's speech.     

"Hey, if you eat first, I'll share the cake with you, but if you don't eat..." Iris mimicked eating the whole cake herself.     

The baby weasel jumped into the air in indignation, then began running around like crazy for a reason Iris couldn't grasp. She tried talking to the girl again, but she wasn't listening.     

At her wit's end, Iris picked a plate with eggs and ham and placed it on the ground. She wasn't certain how much the little weasel had to eat, but if it took at least a few bites, she was ready to give it the cake.     

"Hey, hey! Eat this and you'll get cake. I promise."     

As she said that, Mila popped out from under the dresser and looked at her with dark eyes. Then, in a flash, she appeared next to the plate on the ground and sniffed it. The smell had to have been satisfactory for she started devouring the ham.     

It was such an adorable sight that Iris forgot to eat her own portion. By the time she recalled that she was hungry too, it was cold and a bit dry.     

When she started to eat, her phone rang. It was an unknown number, and Iris hesitated if she should answer. 'No one should know it, right?' No one but Gale and Kyro, and hadn't she just called Elise the day before to get in contact with them?     

"Who is this?" she asked upon picking up the call.     

"Your charming knight in shining armor," a familiar voice answered in a mocking tone.     

Iris rolled her eyes. "More like his page. Why is it you?"     

"Disappointed?" Gale asked with a laugh. "Don't worry, he's working day and night to see his princess again. I have a few questions though."     

"What questions?"     

It was true that Iris was a little disappointed, but at the same time she was quite relieved. If Gale contacted her, it meant that Kyro hadn't forgotten about her. He was simply busy, not tired of the problems that she brought with her mere existence.     

"Three years ago, what did you do?"     

'Three years…' Iris tried to recall when it was, and a shiver ran her back. Wasn't it… Yes, it was. "You mean before starting my studies?" There was an affirmative noise from Gale. "I was in a hospital for a year," she said, feeling the room go chilly with the memories.     

"No, you weren't," Gale said, his voice growing serious. "There's no record in any hospital. No matter where my people look, there's nothing. It's like you stopped existing for a year."     

"That's nonsense." Iris could clearly remember the sickbed and the hospital room. "I was hospitalized a couple weeks before I was to start my studies."     

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then a shuffle of papers. "No, again. You didn't apply for any university after high school."     

"You're joking, right?" Iris asked in disbelief, feeling like the ground was slipping from beneath her feet. "Tell me you're just joking."     

But she already knew that Gale had no reason to lie. If he wasn't certain his data was correct, he wouldn't have called her about it.     

Animal fear spread through Iris, and she began trembling like a leaf in the wind. What did that mean? Why were there no records of her applying for university? And her whole year of sickness? Where HAD she been then?     

At that time, she had just gotten weak one day. Her skin grew pale, her energy levels decreased, and she began fainting at random. When she was hospitalized, she never left the bed. Her mind was always in a haze, and even raising her head nauseated her.     

All she could do at that time was watch TV and think about dying. In her heart, there had been no doubt that she was going to depart sooner rather than later. It was especially so because doctors and nurses never dared to say what was wrong with her in her face.     

They would speak in whispered voices, acting around her like she was already one leg through death's door. No one visited her, either, besides her aunt. At that time, she thought it was for the better that no classmates of hers saw her miserable situation, but now… she wondered why none of them had ever showed up.     

Pain suddenly bloomed in her finger, and Iris looked down to see the baby weasel standing on its haunches with a very disgruntled expression. Upon noticing her attention, it ran to the table, then back to her, and again.     

Mindlessly, Iris took down the slice of cake and mid-action realized that someone was calling her. She looked down and saw that Gale was still on the line.     

"Sorry," she murmured into the phone, her mind scrambling around to push away the darkness threatening to drown her out. She told herself that those days were over, that she was fine, but her insides were still churning at the memory of being unable to keep in any food, finding everything nauseating.     

"What happened?" Gale asked, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.     

"Nothing. I just… just remembered something. That year… I was hospitalized. Really. But that's all I know. I was too sick to leave the sickbed, and no one spoke to me." Another shiver racked her body, and she shut her eyes with force to get rid of the image. It didn't help. "When I left, I spent a year to forget all about it… The time there…"     

"That's okay, you don't need to say more. I think I got the picture." There was a coldness in Gale's voice, but Iris wasn't certain at whom it was aimed. Not that she had the energy to try and figure it out. "Take a rest now and I'll call you later to speak about other things."     

Relief washed over Iris. She wasn't certain she could understand anything else he might say at that moment. They said their goodbyes and she lay down on the bed, curling up into as small a ball as she could. Tears collected in her eyes, but she didn't cry. She didn't want to give into the misery of those days.     

They were in the past, and she was stronger. She was no longer the girl who didn't have the energy to even lift her hand to feed herself or pull the remote controller over to change the channel.     

As she tried to convince herself that it wouldn't repeat, she heard footsteps stop by her room. She thought it was hotel staff, but then there was the click of the lock and the door began to open up.     

A chill permeated Iris' heart, and she closed her eyes for a fraction of a second before moving toward the bedstand to grab the lamp on it.