Chapter 29 -Iris
As I left the building I kept walking as if nothing had happened. Reality is the story we choose to believe, is it not? If one walks with a leisurely pace and trusts the day to be an ordinary one, why would things be any different from what one makes-believe? This is what I told myself as I walked to the library, to the rare book section of course, as I would have in any other day. The book would be there now, I knew it. What would it tell me today? I cringed as I asked myself the question, but then I stopped wondering, and I walked forward, empty headed, simply focusing on the act of walking. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. It seemed as a new task, strange and complex, one that required dedication. Somebody opened the library’s door for me. Somebody asked me if I needed help finding a book. No, I knew where the book was. I opened it, and saw my face.
My picture was besides Otto Hermes portrait. The images were blurred, we were wearing clothing from another century, but it was us. I stared at the page, mesmerized. ‘Iryssa Celata and Ricco Ermete’, read the caption.
I began reading the text frantically.
The premature death of Cesar Mercury was a loss for humanity as a whole, and for the chemical sciences to which this ingenious man gave such great contributions!
I skipped some lines.
Ricco Ermete astutely and treacherously induced his lover, Iryssa Celata, to commit the bloody crime which ended the life of Cesar Mercury. Ricco Ermete, an impostor and a murderer, handed Iryssa mercury cyanide and convinced her it was a magic potion to erase the love of her from Cersar’s heart. Realizing the fraud, Iryssa Celata denounced herself, praying to receive the same death she gave to Cesar Mercury. Iryssa Celata was however spared because ignorance, rather than cruel intents, had driven her actions. Iryssa Celata was secluded in an insane asylum, which resounded day and night with her gruesome curses and her hateful promises of eternal revenge against Ricco Ermete. Sometimes she would look into emptiness as she walked aimlessly in the hallways, and she would smile at invisible ghosts, her face beautiful for a moment, her lips blossoming with words of love and her delicate hands caressing empty space. ‘Our love has no boundaries’, her whispers echoed in the desolate whiteness of the rooms.
I felt I could not move, but my eyes kept sliding along the lines.
Oh reader, you to whom this book is speaking, do you know these people? Through you they can live again, you own their life and death.
Oh reader, was it you who wrote their story or were you part of a plot that always was and always will be?
My body felt heavy, sank by its own weight before turning thin, inconsistent, as if I never existed. Then all fell into darkness.
“Miss, are you all right?”, I heard a female voice ask
“Oh, but did we just give you an empty volume?”, she asked after a pause
I began leafing through the pages. They were blank, every single one of them.
“Sorry about this”, the voice spoke again.
I collected my belongings and walked to the police station.