Chapter 5 – Iris: The amulet

“I’m Iris I’ll see you tomorrow!” I shout, oh my god “eeeeee” I can’t help an excited inward squeal. The guy is gorgeous, smart funny everything you could ever want. “Johnny…” I say his name out loud to myself, it feels like a dream. It has to be. He is literally the definition of tall dark and handsome, not just handsome godly handsome. I can’t describe the feeling his touch gives me, when he fell on top of me it felt like the world stopped and I could see into his soul. His eyes were burning with desire. I could feel my body yearning for him. So desperate to touch him, to kiss him even. When he brushed my hair away from my face I felt myself melt inside. The walls protecting my heart and soul shook. His touch released a calm wave through me. It felt so natural to talk and just be near him, the moment I realised I had to go meet Rae a part of me felt a little lost and sad that I had to go, but knowing I was hopefully going to see him again tomorrow gave me an exhilarating feeling. Of course I’ve been in love before and dated men since being married, but no one not even my ex-husband sparked these kind of feelings within me. My head was worried for my heart and my heart was nervous at being broken again. But my body and soul that was an entirely different story. My body and soul had a will of its own. It wanted this man, yearned for him even, and I was afraid they would win. My head was saying “I don’t live here I shouldn’t be involved with someone I just met…” but I AM a grown ass woman, who says I can’t enjoy myself whilst I’m away. I always put everyone else first why not myself for a change….. I don’t have to become too attached… how hard can it be? With my bag on my back and my skates swinging from my shoulder I practically skipped the rest of the way to the museum.

The museum was easy to spot. It was huge, art deco in style with incredible detailing everywhere. I imagine at some point large parties and jazz bands could be heard from inside this place long ago, every inch of detailing the windows, the sills, the bannisters along the stairs up to doors, all oozed with sophistication. I couldn’t wait to get a look inside. As I walk in I see the reception desk is over to the left along the back wall. It is just as opulent. It has that vintage musty smell that all museums have. It actually smells similar to my grand-parents manor, the museum has more of a lively fuller feeling, and the manor is more calming. The ceiling where once chandeliers hung, now had banners and information hanging from them. The walls still had the original wall lights and wood panelling. There’s a group of school children and teachers over to the right, and a small queue of people waiting in the ticket aisle. I head straight over to the information desk in the middle.

“Hello how can I help you?” a tall platinum blonde woman sharply asks, she’s wearing a really tight dress that doesn’t leave much to the imagination you can see every curve even the shape of her nipples through the dress…I inwardly roll my eyes, well that’s slightly inappropriate dress for a museum I think to myself. I feel the air chill slightly like someone had opened the freezer door and the cool air rushed towards me. Strange. I shake the feeling away and smile “Hi I have an appointment here to see Rae Garcia please”

“And who shall I say is asking?” she asks looking me up and down like I was trash off the street.

“Iris Davis don’t worry she is expecting me.” I smile again but I can’t help dislike this woman. I’m not sure why at all, but that weird feeling maybe even just pure instincts tell me I don’t like or trust her, and I’m usually never wrong. The woman picks up the phone and makes a call, she gives me what is clearly a fake smile and puts the phone down.

“Mrs Garcia will be with you shortly”

“Thank you” I smile again and stand over to the side looking around. I can see her out the corner of my eyes looking me up and down smirking. Only adding to my first opinion of her.

I Hear heels quickly tapping towards me and see a smartly dressed woman in a designer suit, dark hair in a neat bun, and designer glasses framing her face. She looked like a model she was gorgeous, she ran with her arms out running towards me. I immediately know its Rae. We embrace each other like we have always been friends.

“I can’t believe you’re finally here! Come let’s go grab a drink and head over to my work area, how was your walk…err roller skates?”

“Haha yes you see correctly I bought my roller skates on holiday with me like the big grown up child that I am” we laugh as she walks me over to the museums restaurant, we both grab drinks a couple of snacks and sit at a table chatting away. I have a huge chocolate chip cookie and a strawberry frappe, Rae has an iced tea with a chocolate muffin, we laugh and talk about anything and everything. When we are done she leads me to the room where artefacts and exhibits are carefully cleaned and taken care of. This she calls her work room. The room is filled wall to wall with shelves and boxes. A beautiful window is opposite the door. Boxes are labelled with all kinds of treasures from all over the world. 4 large tables are pushed together in the middle of the room, and a desk to the side in front of a wall of shelves. The desk is piled high with paperwork. I remove my jacket and place it on top of my roller skates under the table, and take the photograph out of my bag. Rae goes over to what I assume is her desk and takes a loupe out of the drawer, which is a magnifying glass jewellers use. She turns on a desk light on the table I’m standing next too. I hand her the photograph and she takes a good long look at it.

“It does look identical to the amulet in the picture, I wish it was in colour” she smiles we both laugh knowing full well colour pictures at that time were none existent. “I think the only way to really tell is to get it and compare it to the picture, it’s a real shame we aren’t able to see its twin at the same time either but I guess we can’t have everything.”  She walks back over to her desk pulling a key out her trouser pocket and unlocks the top drawer in the desk. Pulling out a box and reaching up to grab two pairs of white cotton gloves off the shelf above her desk. She places the box on the table and hands me a pair of gloves. Once Rae has her gloves on she opens the box and lifts out the amulet. I fiddle around trying to get my gloves on, when I finally have my gloves on I hand her the Loupe and place the photograph in front of her. We spend a good 15 minutes in silence while she looks over them both comparing and analysing between the photo and the amulet.

“It does look identical Iris, the size is definitely the same. The only thing I’m still unsure of is the stone itself in the centre.”

“May I take a look?” I ask, she nods and I hold out my gloved hand for her to place the amulet in. As soon as the amulet touches my glove, my hand slams down to the table and I scream at the top of my lungs in pain gasping for air.

“arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”

“Iris!!!!!  What’s wrong?!”

I try to remove the amulet from my hand but my hand won’t go near it, the closest I can get to it is my wrist, I can’t help but scream and claw at my wrist. I drop to my knees. A strange burning sensation starts to fill my eyes and I’m frozen in place unable to move. My vision tints purple and I can feel warm tears streaming down my face. The amulet now feels like it’s trying to push through my hand wanting to break every bone in it. Then the sensation starts to burn, either it’s my imagination or something else but I see waves shimmering down my arm to the amulet. The same kind of wave you see on a hot day rippling above the tarmac. It feels like my very life and soul is being pulled out of my body. Rae is trying everything she can to take the amulet off my hand, but she’s having no luck. I start to see stars and my vision blurs, I try to scream for help but it comes out as a whisper. I hear a loud crash and everything goes black.