The Choice of Suffering

Iris's emotions are conflicted, but they are all together to escape the doors and make the enemies pay for their mistake of letting her leave.

"For the first set, you will have to survive ten arrows all directly aimed at your forehead." The being extended his hand, creating an imaginary bow.

Iris feels sweat rolling down her face; she takes a deep breath and begins running to try and find a key.

The first arrow is aimed; he extends his hands as much as his anatomy allows; he closes an eye.

Iris is on the ground trying to find the key with little success; she looks back and sees the man release the arrow.

Swoosh!

Iris flinched but didn't move, only closing her eyes, which saved her life as the arrow was aimed at her after she flinched and moved to the left.

Iris looks back, her body trembling. She sees how the hollow arrow is deeply stuck inside the dirt.

Iris stands up; without a second thought, she runs to where she believes the key might be located. 

She looks back and sees the being extending his hands again. She, as a last resort, decides to fall on the ground.

Swoosh

Iris' quick thinking saved her again as it nearly hit her. On the floor, Iris begins rolling around, extending her hands and legs as much as her small extremities allow to try and cover the most area to find the key.

Clap, Clap, Clap

"Great thinking, I never thought you would be able to make decisions under such stress and extend your limbs to find the key. You are very gifted."

Iris ignored the words and continued rolling around until she finally hit something hard, something different aside from the flowers.

Iris looked up at the being and saw how its hands were now concealed in the fog, which now didn't allow her to see when the next attack might happen.

Iris sits up as fast as she can to diminish the chances of being caught off guard, but no arrows are being shot.

Her brain created a plan to combat what the being's next movement would be. She positioned herself in a squat position and extended her hands to try and pick up the key.

Iris feels something is wrong and, as a last-minute decision, jumps backward. 

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

Her intuition was correct; the being was saving its arrows to try and catch Iris off guard, but Iris, now feeling invincible, jumped on the key, which transformed into a rolling motion.

Swoosh

"Wow! That was smart. I am surprised. I want to see more."

Iris, now with the key, stood up with the confidence that there were only two arrows left. 

She runs and arrives at the doors; she carefully inserts the key inside the left door.

Swoosh, Swoosh

Iris hadn't moved, and the arrows, she trusted herself and managed to evade certain death as the arrows passed her exact evading movement.

She finds the correct door and enters.

…

Iris finds herself with now four doors located around her in each direction. She doesn't find the being; only the doors are present.

How did I survive the past one? My heart is racing. What am I supposed to do now?

Iris begins looking around and is surprised to see the key brightly shining. She feels that there will be another catch, so she begins approaching it carefully. 

When she reaches the key, she jumps back to try and evade any projectiles, but nothing wrong is happening.

Is everything fine? She grabs the key quickly and sees how nothing is happening.

Swoosh

Iris now finds herself in her old home.

She begins looking around with an intense amount of fear; she feels that there is something wrong, but she can't remember where she is or remember why she has a key.

"Iris! The food is ready! I made your favorite!!" 

A familiar voice called for Iris; uncontrollably and inexplicably, tears began rolling down.

Iris has no idea why she is crying, but she feels she has something she has wished for so long. She drops the key and begins walking to the dinner table.

The more she looked around, the calmer she became; she began noticing the beautiful trees and nature around her house. The smell of a blossom tree was a staple in her house.

Iris saw her mother and, without even thinking, ran and hugged her. Tears and sobs were all her mother heard.

"Iris, what is wrong?" Iris always wanted to hear the soft voice of her mother.

"Mom!! I thought you died!!" Iris takes her head out of her mother's wet apron, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Mom!! Please don't go!! I was so scared!!"

"Don't worry, I am always here for you; no matter what, your mother will always be here." Her mother squatted to level herself with Iris and began wiping her tears.

"Will you leave me!!"

"I will never leave you because I love you. You are my entire world and the best daughter I could ask for—now eat before it gets too cold."

Iris, wiping her tears and sucking her boogers, sat down, preparing to eat.

Boom

The heart pendant had released a small explosion, which began to clear the illusion.

Iris looked back at her mother as she smiled and disappeared.

Iris fell to the ground, her mind destroyed, her sense of happiness now reversed by the reality of her world.

Iris began ripping the flower out of desperation. Her sobbing increased; she wanted to do nothing but see her mother again. That moment of happiness caused her more pain than if she had stayed back.

"How did you get out!" 

Iris looked up, her face completely covered in tears.

Her face transformed into that of pure anger after hearing that voice and the reminder that they killed the person she cared the most about.

Out of anger, Iris grabbed their key and went to open the doors; she was one hundred percent confident that she would kill him. She will make all of her suffering appear like a small cut compared to what she will do to those beings of pure evil. 

Iris chooses the correct door on her first attempt and enters it without a second thought.

…

She now finds herself on the edge of a cliff with the bottom having the key and eight doors.

Iris, without hesitation, launched herself at the cliff.

Iris lands, but there is no sound of her impact; she grabs the key and begins to open the doors.

On her second try, she finds the correct door. 

She entered the door, her emotions completely blinded by hatred and determination.

However, the scene before she caused her heart to ache. 

She was standing in a dimly lit room, the walls made of cold, pure stone, with only a flickering candle casting the shadow of figures whose bodies were completely covered, strapped to a chair, aside from them appeared to be cutting utensils.

The being appeared behind them, his voice cold. "You will now choose," he said, unmasking the figure with a sadistic grin.

Iris' body trembled, her legs gave up, and she recoiled back, covering her mouth in fear.

She saw the mutilated people. The man's eyes hung from their sockets, only connected by the thin strand of optic nerve. The woman's nose dangles grotesquely, their faces full of fear and pain. 

"Who of these real people keeps their extremity or loses it?" The being's sadistic voice echoed through the cold room. "Choose wisely, little Iris. Who seems like a better person? Remember they will remember that you could have prevented this."

Iris felt so distraught that she ran to one of the corners and began profusely throwing up. She had never been so stressed and disgusted in her entire life. She tried looking away, but the fear prevented her from looking away for too long.

The weight of the decision is too much for Iris to try and make it without risking her sanity.

As she continued looking at the victims with uncontrollable fear and disgust, the woman managed to whisper.

"Please save me, Iris." The voice is weak but familiar.

Her heart stopped. She recognized that voice.