That Night

I ris was all alone. She was sitting in the car that they'd bought together. Daphne had paid the largest portion because she made more money than Iris, and she'd put it in both of their names, which meant that when Daphne's parents had come to take everything, they hadn't been able to take the car. She sat there and thought about how she couldn't do this on her own. She couldn't do this without Daphne being right beside her, encouraging her and instructing her. Yes, Daphne had told her exactly what to do, and Iris had the instructions written out in her pocket as well. She'd managed to get the keys without anyone noticing her, and now, all she had to do was go inside the building and bring the love of her life back from the dead. Iris laughed a little because she still couldn't believe this was happening.

"You can do this, my love," Daphne told her.

Iris couldn't see her, though.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Look outside the car," Daphne said, and Iris realized that Daphne had yelled it.

She turned to see Daphne standing outside the vehicle, and she looked even lighter than earlier, meaning they only had two more visits, if they were lucky, and that she could disappear at any minute, leaving Iris alone without her again, never being able to move on. Iris got out of the car and held up the box with the device inside it.

"I have it."

"We should get you inside before someone sees you. We need to do this as quickly as possible, okay?"

"Okay," she said.

"Remember where the other pieces are?"

"Yes," she replied as she walked toward the building.

Daphne more floated than walked with her until they got to the building and Iris pulled out the key. She unlocked the door and held it open for Daphne, who gave her a look that told Iris that it wasn't necessary. Iris nodded and went inside. She had to be quick, finding the other parts, because there was security patrolling this part of the building.

"In there," Daphne said, and she pointed with a faded finger toward a metal cabinet.

Iris hurried, opened it, and found a small square of metal that didn't look like much. There was a wire sticking out of the top, but that was it.

"And in there," Daphne added, trying to keep Iris on task.

Iris opened the other cabinet and pulled out two more metal pieces.

"You need to put the two ends on first. Then, the core."

"I remember," she said.

"Of course, you do," Daphne replied, sounding proud.

Iris pulled the unfinished device out of the box and twisted the metal ends into position. Then, she lifted the core and used the small screwdriver she'd brought in her pocket to unlock the door.

"Now, connect the core by twisting the wires together. There's just one more step after that."

"Okay." Iris quickly twisted the wires together and set the core in place before she screwed the metal door back on. Then, she held up the device, which rested in both her hands, and said, "Got it."

"The cord needs to be plugged directly into the breaker box," Daphne told her.

"Where's that?" she asked, feeling like she'd forgotten everything Daphne had said to her earlier that day.

"In here." Daphne pointed to a door to another room. "The cold storage is in there."

Iris froze and said, "Your body is in there…"

"Yes," Daphne replied.

"I don't know that I can see your body. I didn't because your parents identified you and told me I didn't need to see you. Then, the casket was closed, and… I guess you weren't even in it."

"I don't know what I'll look like, Iris, but I remember the accident. The car hit me, and I remember ending up on the ground. I know there had to be blood, but I don't know what I'll look like in there."

"I can't do this, Daphne."

"My love, this is it. This is all I will ever ask of you. I need to be with you. I don't care about anything else. I don't care about this job, this project, my parents who don't accept me, or all the men who told me I'd never make it. This whole world could fall away, and if I have you, I will be the happiest woman because I'm with you."

"We only got a year."

"No, sweetheart, we had four amazing years together. They just didn't look like the beginning others get to have, but we've had four years, and we can have many more. You just need to open that door and finish this."

Iris walked to the door, turned the knob, and entered the room she'd been avoiding. She found the breaker box on the wall and opened the metal door. She remembered that Daphne had instructed her to use a port that her team had made and labeled ‘Port-17: Do Not Use . ' That was supposed to put anyone else off from using it if they happened upon this box.

"Plug it in, my love. It needs the charge. Ten seconds. That's all."

Iris plugged the cord into the open port, and nothing happened.

"Shouldn't it power on?"

"No, not yet. You'll do that."

The lights in the room flickered, and Iris nearly pulled the device out of the port.

"Iris, hold on. Almost there," Daphne told her.

"Security could be on their way," Iris countered.

"Yes, so you need to be fast. You can pull it out now," Daphne said.

Iris removed the cord and turned around.

"What now?"

"Now, hopefully, they put me in one of these drawers." Daphne motioned to the wall of body drawers.

That was what Iris called them anyway. She knew they had bodies in them, and that those bodies were frozen, but she still wasn't sure that she could see Daphne like that.

"Iris, you have to pull them out one by one. Quickly, sweetheart. I don't know if security saw the lights. If they did, they'd check all the rooms."

Iris nodded, trying to give herself some courage, and pulled open the bottom left drawer. Nothing. Bottom middle one. Nothing. Bottom right. Nothing. She went to the middle row next and yelped when she saw a male body in the left middle drawer.

"Sweetheart, next one."

"Is he… You're experimenting?"

"We didn't have cadavers then. The government must have given the team this one to test. They kept the project going even after we destroyed the device. We told them it burned up during a test. Iris, please. Next one."

Iris pulled open the second middle drawer and saw no one. She closed it and looked up at Daphne just as she was about to pull open the third drawer in the middle row, but Daphne was gone.

"No," Iris whispered. "No, I need you here. I need you to tell me what to do. Come back, Daphne!"

She pulled out the drawer without even realizing what she was doing, and there she was.

"Oh, my God!"

The love of her life was lying there stiff as a board and frozen. She had a cut on her forehead and had a white sheet over her body, so Iris couldn't see any of her other wounds.

"No…" she let out.

Iris cried then. She set the device down next to Daphne's body, reached her arms over her, and pressed her face to Daphne's chest. She sobbed as she held on to her, feeling the cold begin to seep into her own body and missing Daphne's warmth. God, she missed how Daphne used to come home and envelop her in her arms, hold her for several minutes while she kissed her cheek, her neck, and her lips. She wanted that back, and she needed to do this for them. She needed to pull herself together and do this for Daphne.

"Stop right there!"

Iris jumped and saw a security guard standing in the open doorway, holding a gun at her.

"Hands up!"

"I can explain," she said, wondering how on earth she'd be able to explain this .

"You're trespassing. This is government property. I'm calling the police. Do not move!"

"I just need a minute. I know her," Iris told him and pointed at Daphne's body. "I mean, I knew her. I was just saying goodbye."

"You're going to stand right there, with your hands up, and I'm going to call the police to take you away."

"Please, I'm begging you… Just give me one minute to… say goodbye."

"How did you get in here?"

"With a key," she answered honestly. "I can show you."

She reached for the key in her pocket.

"No! Hands up! Follow me down the hall to a phone. Now!" He yelled.

"I can't," she said mostly to herself.

She looked down at Daphne before her eyes went to the device that sat there .

"I can't, or I'll never see her again. We only have one visit left. Maybe none. I don't know."

"What are you talking about?" the security guard asked. "Follow me! Now." He reached for the walkie-talkie on his hip, likely about to call for another security guard.

She used that as her chance and grabbed the device, pressing the single button that she'd built with Daphne's instruction. Right before she could press it to Daphne's body, though, she heard a loud sound. Her hand let go of the device, which clamored against the metal of the open drawer but didn't discharge. Then, she felt herself moving backward.

"Ah, hell," the man said. "I told you not to move."

"What?" she asked before she looked down and saw red on her brown coat, a coat that Daphne had bought her the previous winter. "Oh," she said.

"I've got to call an ambulance. Stay here," he ordered.

Iris couldn't exactly go anywhere. She fell to her knees first and then to the floor, where she lay down on the cold concrete, feeling a sense of calm come over her. There wasn't any pain from the bullet. That probably wasn't good, she reasoned. Then, she heard it.

"No!"

It was Daphne's voice. No, it was Daphne's scream. Iris looked up and saw Daphne standing in front of her now.

"No, we only… have one more… I can barely… see you."

"I'm here, Iris. I'm here. You need to pick it up."

"Pick up?"

"Sweetheart, I need you to pick it up." Daphne's hand was going through the device over and over as if she was trying to grab it herself, but she couldn't. "Iris, please. Get up, love. Get the device."

"But I'm… alive. It won't work on me."

"It should fix you." Daphne continued to try to grasp the device. "Iris!"

"I can't," she said. "I can't move anymore."

"No, this isn't how it ends."

"He'll come back. I'll tell him… to use it on you."

"It only works once."

Iris's eyes refocused just enough to see Daphne kneeling down next to her now.

"You're kneeling?"

"I need you to get it, sweetheart. "

"It only works… once?"

"The device we made will only work once. I didn't have all the parts from the government vendors to make it exactly the same."

"It's not the same?"

"It has enough charge to work once. Then, it'll burn up. Iris, get the device. Use it on yourself."

"I'll make another one for you," she stated, but Daphne looked sad as something passed over her features. "Don't lie to me…" Iris added.

"It's already been too long," Daphne confessed. "I've been here for too long. I didn't know for sure that it would work tonight. I tried to keep coming back to you as fast as I could because I don't know that it will work for much longer."

"It might not work?"

"I don't know, my love. It could. It could work. Maybe we can try again. I just need you to use the device on yourself right now or make a lot of noise and get the guard to come back. Tell him to use it on you if you–"

"I can barely see you." Iris coughed up blood. "You're fading. You… won't be able… to help." She coughed again.

"You know what to do now. You can do this. Please, love. Please."

"No," Iris replied and looked into what she could see of Daphne's eyes. "No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"Did you mean it? What you… said before about… only needing me?"

"Yes, of course. I only need you."

"And do you think when I die, I'll… be where you are?"

"No, Iris… Don't do this. Please get the device."

"Do you think that?" she asked again, coughing once more.

"I have to think that because if I don't, I have nothing left."

Iris nodded a little and said, "Then, you'll be… holding me… soon."

"No! Iris! Please… Please try for me."

"If I do, and I can't make… it work to bring… you back, nothing else… matters." Iris closed her eyes. "I love you. And if the whole… world fades away, but I have you, I will be happy." She opened her eyes once more before closing them for the final time.