The Glass Room Five years passed. The mental health facility became Iris’s home. Not a prison — a home. The walls that had once felt like a cage slowly transformed into something softer, something safer. She had her own room now, with a window that looked out onto a small garden. She had a routine … Read more
The Final Choice Iris was sent to solitary confinement after the incident. The guards didn’t believe her story. They didn’t believe that she had resisted the urge to kill. They only knew that she had been out of her cell in the middle of the night, standing outside another inmate’s door, her hands raised, her … Read more
The Prison The first night was the longest. Iris lay on the thin mattress, staring at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the prison. Somewhere down the hall, a woman was crying. Somewhere else, someone was laughing — a high, hollow sound that echoed off the concrete walls. The lights flickered. The vents hummed. … Read more
The Sentence The courtroom fell silent. The judge, a woman in her sixties with steel-gray hair and eyes that had seen too much, stared down at Iris from behind the bench. Her expression was unreadable. She had presided over hundreds of cases — murders, robberies, assaults — but something about this one was different. She … Read more
The Doctor’s Secret Dr. Sterling helped Iris to her feet. The cell felt smaller now, the walls closer, the air thicker. Iris’s head was pounding, her vision blurry at the edges. The white room had taken something from her — something she couldn’t name. But she had also taken something from it. She had taken … Read more
The Father The white room stretched endlessly in every direction. No walls, no floor, no ceiling — just light. Pure, blinding, suffocating light. Iris stood at the threshold, her bare feet on nothing, her body suspended in the glow. Her father stood a few feet away. He looked exactly as she remembered him from the … Read more
The Children of the Basement The words hung in the air like smoke. The children of the basement. The survivors of the dark. Iris stared at Dr. Sterling, her heart pounding, her mind racing. The woman’s face was earnest, open, unguarded. But Iris had seen faces shift before. She had seen a stranger turn into … Read more
The Evaluation Dr. Sterling sat across from Iris on the metal bench, her posture relaxed, her hands folded in her lap. She was younger than Iris had expected — maybe late thirties — with sharp cheekbones and eyes that seemed to see more than they should. She didn’t carry a notebook or a recorder. She … Read more
The Blood on Her Hands Iris stared at her hands. The blood was still wet, still warm, still spreading across her palms like crimson paint. She didn’t remember doing anything. She didn’t remember the lights going out. She didn’t remember the scream. But the blood was there. And Detective Walsh was gone. “Iris? Iris, can … Read more
The Station The police station was exactly as Iris remembered it from her previous visit — gray walls, fluorescent lights, the smell of coffee and fear. But this time, she wasn’t sitting across from Detective Walsh in an interview room. This time, she was being led through the booking area in handcuffs, her wrists already … Read more
