26 Bad Vibes

He watched the man that he hired and Monette entered the hotel. He waited for them to get on the elevator before moving to the driver's seat, leaving Iris in the backseat.

"Will you be okay over there or would you like to move here next to me?"

Iris didn't move. She was still slouched in the backseat, staring blankly ahead.

Calixto stared at the girl from the rearview mirror for a few beats before starting the car engine and driving back where they came from. He had a lot of questions that needed an answer and he could not wait to have them, especially now with what was happening with Iris.

The drive back to the Stocker Corporation was uneventful. He wasn't expecting things to happen other than to know what happened to Iris in that place that turned her into what she was right now. She wasn't a weak girl, to begin with, thus, for her to be under some kind of hypnosis was something unusual.

"We are here, Fleur," he said, pulling over to the same place they were parked. He had no idea why she called Iris Fleur but it felt right.

He waited for Iris to move or show any indication that she heard him but he just got frustrated after a while because Iris remained passive like a lifeless doll.

"Fleur if it is you, please let me know."

He stared at Iris and heaved a deep sigh. "So, it's not you. If you are not Fleur trying to take over Iris's body, who are you?" His anger seeped into his tone of voice. He was losing his patience.

"Iris!" He snapped his fingers in front of her face and exhaled a relieved sigh when Iris blinked and squinted her eyes on him, confused.

"What?" She asked.

"Huh! You're back." He said, shaking his head, hiding the relief in his face by masking it with his usual sarcasm.

"And where will I go?" Iris replied with the usual snarl in her voice.

Calixto smirked. It was indeed Iris. He had no idea what happened but he was just glad that she was back to her old self. He unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned forward to the backseat, grabbing Iris's left wrist and slapping it thrice.

"Ouch! What the hell!" She pulled her hand that reddened.

"It was necessary." He said mysteriously, returning to his seat and staring outside. The place was dark and if someone would see them parking at this hour, they would be questioned. And being seen parked illegally in this place wasn't the problem.

The place has CCTV cameras pointed in their direction. They were seen, more likely being watched but no one was making a move. He still could not understand a lot of things in this new world, hence, he didn't want to approach his family. He had no idea what became of them. Did they become stronger through the years? Is he going to be welcome back to the fold? Or his father would try to kill him again?

Those questions were just a few of the reasons why he wasn't making a move.

"Why are we still here? Where is Monette and what are you doing in the driver seat?"

Iris's confusion pulled him away from his thoughts. He looked at her from the rearview mirror. It was clear that she had no idea that they had left the place and just drove back. She was gone for quite a while and it worries him more than he would care to admit.

Calixto didn't answer her. He kept his eyes on the camera that was situated right above the fence that was focused on them. He had observed that it wasn't there before. He smirked inwardly thinking that whoever was watching them, was expecting him to come back. He wondered if it was why he or she tapped on Iris's consciousness to make sure that he would return.

"Where is Monette?" Iris asked again.

"At the hotel," he replied to her question without taking his eyes off the CCTV camera in front of the car. He slowly opened the window on his side and put his arm out, he waved and watched the camera zoom in. He almost laughed out loud. He had an idea who was watching him. If he was going to know what happened to his family, he was the last person he was going to ask but then, right now he had not much of a choice.

"Hotel? What hotel? If she is in a hotel, why are we still here?" She cocked her head to the side. Calixto was acting odder than usual. "Did you drive?" She asked when she realized that Calixto was behind the wheel and there were just two of them inside the car.

She bent down and squinted her eyes in the dark, looking outside at why Calixto was waving his hand at a camera hanging on the electric fence like crazy.

She had a bad feeling about being here and she wanted to leave.

"Why are we here?"

"I want to know something." He knitted his brows with the incessant questions from Iris. Why did she decide to be talkative right now? When he wanted her to talk, she usually kept her lips glued together and she would just stare at him as though he wasn't seeing him.

"If you want to know something, can you do it on your own? Why do you have to take me with you?" She asked, hugging herself and rubbing her arms. The car temperature suddenly felt chilly. She wasn't sure if it was because of the car air conditioner or the driver's window that was rolled down. Whatever the reason was, she just wanted to leave this creepy place.

When they were in when it wasn't dark, the place looked imposing and cold. Now that it was dark, the place was nothing but a creepy place and Calixto smirking and waving at the CCTV camera wasn't helping with her nerves.