Page 103 of Echoes
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know how it works, Daphne. Can you lie in our bed next to me?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve been standing up since I got here.”
“What about on the floor? You’re standing on the floor right now. That means you can touch it, right?”
“I think I’m hovering a little.” Daphne looked down at her feet. “That’s how it feels.”
“So, I can’t even just lie down next to my wife?”
Daphne smiled wide, and Iris realized what she’d just said.
“You would have said yes?”
“To everything,” Iris replied definitively.
“I want to lie down next to you again, my love. Please let me tell you what we need right now before I’m pulled away again.”
Three Days Later
Iris joined the pancake breakfast despite not wanting to leave the small apartment. They’d gone to this event one time before and had enjoyed socializing with some of the parents and even the kids. Not being able to have children of their own, they’d decided to try to join events where children might be to at least be around them when they could. The event was just as busy as it was the last time, which was a good thing, and Iris joined the line for pancakes. She carried her plate over to a table and sat by herself, not wanting to draw any attention. She took a few bites and stood, making her way down the hall to the bathroom, where she went by the door and continued down the main hallway.
She didn’t know the layout of the school, so she had to check the doors to find some kind of science lab. The list of things she needed was tucked safely in her coat pocket. She pushed open door after door as she moved down the hall, going from the door on the left to the door on the right until she hit the end of the hall and turned right down another one. Finally, she found a room that looked like it fit the bill. Iris walked inside, closed the door behind her, and began searching. There were only four things on her list, and she found them with relative ease, thanks to Daphne’s instructions. That was how she knew this was real.
Things like the ring and the money, even, she might have been able to explain away, but the hardware store and the science lab couldn’t be explained at all. Iris hadn’t known that Daphne had gone to that store to place an order, and she wouldn’t know what these items, that were currently in her pocket, were. Opening the door, she made her way down the side hallway until she found two doors that led outside. Once free from the building, she hurried down the sidewalk back to her apartment, where she pulled the items out of her pocket and sat on the sofa. She had no idea what to do next.
“Iris.”
She looked up and saw the love of her life standing there, but this time, Daphne looked different. The previous times Iris had seen her, Daphne looked as if she’d been alive. The only difference between alive Daphne and this version of her had been that she couldn’t feel or touch anything. This time, though, she looked faded somehow.Iris couldn’t exactly see through her, but there was something different about her.
“What’s wrong?” Iris asked.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You look different,” Iris replied and stood to approach her, wishing so much that she could reach out and touch her, feel Daphne’s skin on her own.
“Different?”
“Like you’re not all here.”
“Oh. I don’t know. It’s taking me more and more energy to get you to see me.”
Iris met her eyes and tried not to worry.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Daphne told her, seeing that worry she’d been trying to hide. “I’m here now. Did you get what I need?”
“I think so.”
“Then, it’s time to get to work. I’ll stay as long as I can, but I can’t write anything down or touch anything, so we have to do this together. I’ll tell you what to do. You do it.”
“Okay. You’re sure this will work?”
“We won’t know until we try,” Daphne replied.
“You said it took a lot of energy.”
“It did. And when you go to the cold storage to find my body, I’ll show you what you need to connect.”