Chapter 4: 10 long years
"Why did you hurry home just to burn that plant in the incense pot? What was it called?....Rose Root?" he asked curiously.
"I have.....anxiety problems, Rose Root helps treat it.... I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack so that's why I ran back home."
The man looked over some papers with his expression remaining blank.
"It says at age 17 when you entered the colony you where diagnosed with PTSD along with social anxiety" he said as he looked up from the paper to look at her.
Her expression never changed but her hands that were in her lap made a slight twitch.
"To be diagnosed with both of those at such a young age.....you must been through much hardship."
She gripped her hands tightly together.
"It also say they tried to give you medication to help with your diagnosis....but you strongly refused it, why?"he asked he put the paper down to look at her.
"I have bad exprience with drugs and I went through hell trying to get off them...I didn't want to go through that again....that's why I use Rose Root and tea."
"Why did you start using drugs in the first place?" he asked as he rested his arms on the table.
"I didn't really have choice in matter.....they forced them on me....easier to control us I guess" she practically growled.
He looked at her deep in thought for a few seconds before he said something.
"Do you still have nightmares Iris?" he asked straightforwardly.
She looked at him dead in the eye.
"I always have nightmares, even when I'm awake..."
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Muir Park, 3 years ago
When she woke up she realized she had fallen asleep the place where she sat down when she got home yesterday, she had cried herself to sleep.
"Great...just great...." she said irritatedly as she rubbed the sleepiness out her eyes.
Bruce who had slept next to her woke up as well and started to lick her in the face.
"It's ok buddy, I'm ok now" she said reassuring him with a smile while petting him.
Wanting some fresh air and to get rid of her sleepiness, she decided to go for a walk.
"You want to go for a walk?"she asked as him as she got off the floor and started to stretch.
He barked and wagged his tail happily in response.
"Aright let's go" she said as she opened the door and went outside with him following closely behind her.
Wanting fresh air wasn't the only reason she wanted to go out for a walk, she had to go to see if Malcolm found out anything after she left in the middle of the situation that they had yesterday, she knew she shouldn't have done that but she wasn't really thinking straight yesterday.
She didn't know if she was going to find him because he probably might not be in the same spot anymore and she was banned from the colony so there was no way they were going to let her in, her only other option was to use one her pigeons to send a message to him.
She had began to walk in the woods when she then felt someone following her, Bruce began to notice too and turned around to growl at the stalker. She stopped walking but didn't turn around, she already knew who it was.
"Bruce heel"she demanded.
He immediately listend to her and sat down.
She closed her eyes and took a deep sigh.
"How did you know where I live?"she asked softly.
"It...wasn't...hard...to...track...you"
She finally turned around to finally look at Caesar, she also noticed that his good friend Maurice was with him as well.
"It's been a long time" she said queitly, looking at him with tired eyes.
"10...years" he replied, his face showing no emotion.
She turned her gaze to the other ape.
"Hello Maurice "She signed to him.
Maurice grunted in acknowledgement.
She then her gaze back to Caesar.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"Can...we...talk?"
They stared at each other for a couple seconds in silence until she took another deep sigh and then gestured them to follow her.
She had lead them to part of the river which had a rocky water front. She sat down near the water and Caesar say down right next to her. Bruce who was next to Iris growled quietly at Caesar and Caesar in returned glared at him, he never really liked dogs. Wanting to distract the German Shepard Iris grabbed a random stick and threw it in the opposite direction and he chased after it. Maurice was off to side to give them space but was still close by.
They just stared at the river not yet looking at each other.
"How...long...have...you...lived...out...here?"
"About 5 years now."
He was a little surprised at this.
"You...shouldn't...be...out...here...by...yourself...It's...not...safe."
She gripped her hands tightly.
"I'm not a little girl anymore, I can take care of myself" she said as turned her head to slightly to look at him.
He looked at her seriously.
"Apes...now...know...you...live...out...here...They...feel...threatened..."
She done a good job keeping under the radar for the last 5 years by staying out the apes territory and not drawing to much attention to herself but after the incident yesterday it was out the bag now.
"What are you trying to say Caesar?" she asked him getting annoyed.
Bruce came back with the stick and She threw it again.
"I've...told...them...to...leave...you...alone...but...I...don't...know...if...some...won't...listen"
She scoffed.
"Not...mention...there's...a...killer...out...here...you...need...to...go...the...human...colony-
"They kicked me out me out Caesar!" she snapped at him.
He was shocked by this revelation.
"They kicked me out 5 years ago!That's why I live out here!" she yelled.
She ran a hand through hair in fustration.
"Why...did...they...do...that?" he asked.
She gripped her hands tighter and took a deep breath.
"For the 8 months I lived there, most of colonist treated me like shit and one night...3 guys took it too far....they jumped me when I was walking back to my apartment and they beat me...I tried to defend myself and I ended giving one of the guys a concussion...It didn't matter to them that they attacked me first or that they left me black and blue with a broken wrist...they just used it as excuse to finally get rid of me...to leave a teenage girl alone to defend herself..." She said while trying not to choke up.
He looked at her sadly.
"Why-
"Why do they hate me?" she cut him curtly.
She was now staring directly at him.
"Do you really have to ask that? Do you not remember what our father created, what started all the death and chaos" she said quietly.
She started to remember things that she didn't want to remember.
"The man everyone hated was no longer here, so they used his daughter as scapegoat for their hate." she told him depressingly, tears threatening to fall.
"What...do...you...mean...father...is...no...longer...here?" he asked but dreaded the response.
Tears then began to fall from her eyes.
"Dad's dead Caesar...he dead a year after you left..."
Anguish and disbelief fell on his face upon her revelation.
"How?..." he asked.
"He was murdered...."her words trembled as she said them.
She could see a tear come out of one his eyes.
"And...Caroline?" he asked hoping she was still alive.
"I- I don't know...she dissapered shortly before dad died" she said queitly as she quickly wiped her eyes with her thumb.
"I need to go" she said as she stood up and started to walking away.
"Iris..wait" he said as he got up and grabbed her arm.
She turned around to glare at him.
"Don't tell me how to live my life, when I never once told you how to live yours" she spat at him.
She then leaned in closer to him.
"I'm not the same person you once knew Caesar, I've been through things in last 10 years that no child should ever gone through so trust me when I say this, who ever they are vengeful apes or physco humans, I'll fight them like hell if they try to go at me"she promised him.
She could tell he believed her when he looked into her eyes.
"Why do you care anyways...you haven't for the last 10 years" she said as she yanked her arm his grip.
He tried to protest but she cut him off before he could.
"Let's just go on to pretend the other one doesn't exist, that should make everybody happy right, you been doing a good job of it so far" she said as she turned around started to walk off and this time he didn't try to stop her.
"Bruce Com'on!" She yelled for him to follow her.
Bruce who was chewing on the stick quickly got up as soon as she called for him and followed after her. Leaving the two apes alone at the water front.
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Blue Eyes POV
His father and Maurice had been gone for awhile now, they have been acting strange since they saw Malcolm and that woman with the dead humans yesterday. Of course anyone wouldn't act normal after finding mutiple dead bodies but he thought it had more to do with the woman. They seemed to know each other very well and it bothered him he was kept in the dark.
He had been sitting by a fire he made, cooking meat from the hunt that day when he noticed his father and Maurice had finally come back.
"Father where have you been?" he signed.
Caesar didn't respond and walked right past him to strait up to their home where Corneila greeted him.
Blue saw his solemn expression and knew something had happened. He turned to Maurice for answers.
"What's wrong with father?What happened?" he signed to Maurice worriedly.
Maurice sighed and sat down right next to him.
"Your father found out some things today that deeply affected him" he signed.
"Was is because of that woman? Did she so something to him?" he growled angrily as he signed.
"It has more to do what was done to her and another person they loved very much" he signed grimly.
Blue Eyes raised a eyebrow in confusion.
"How does father know this woman?"
Maurice knew he was dieing for answers while knew he shouldn't be the one too tell him he believed he had the right to know.
"She's your father's sister Blue Eyes, your aunt."
Blue eyes face fell to shock at this discovery.
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Iris was burning the Rose Root again, it no surprise with everything that happen today. After she got home a hour ago she attatched a message to one of her pigeons to send to Malcolm. She couldn't deal with family drama right now not with the serious situation at hand. If the army fully takes over it wasn't going to be pretty for ethier species.
She sat at the table with one her hands holding her head while her elbow rested in the table.
She looked out the window to notice it was raining.
Flashback 15 years ago
She felt tug on her arm which woke her from sleep she turned to see a scared Caesar.
"Caesar what are you doing up so late?" she asked with concern."
Just then lightning stuck causing him to screech and hide under the covers of her bed straight into her arms trembling.
"You don't like the lightning do you?"
She could feel his head shake vigorously.
"It's ok it'll pass" she said trying to reassure him while stroking his head.
He flinched and hugged her tighter when the lightning struck another time.
She gently sushed him, their father was working late and so it was just them and their gandfather that where home but he hasn't feeling well lately so Iris was helping out her father a lot more with both Caesar and him.
" Do you want to sleep with me tonight"
He quickly nodded.
She tucked him in, wrapped her arms around him, kissed his head, and started to sing to him, they fell asleep a couple minutes later.
End of Flashback
She snapped out her thoughts when she heard Bruce growling. She looked to see he was growling at the door, there was someone outside.
She quickly the knife on top of the dresser behind her and made her way over to the door.
She opened the door to step outside but not leaving the patio. She looked around to notice anyone but didn't see anyone.
"Who's out there! If your planning on trying something I should warn you you'regoing to end up in a world of hurt" She yelled.
There was no response.
"Caesar if that you I'm really not in-
She cut herself off when She saw someone walk out of the woods and into the light.
It was a ape with blue eyes.
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