Re: [No. 3: Iris & Sam]
If Sam had known, had said anything like it was her own fault that Iris' health had faltered in the past months, she would have argued it. It wasn't Sam that was the problem. It was history and guilt and the things she'd done and other people's reactions to them and a town that had gotten more crowded and more strange over the past months. She would never ever have said that the fault lay with her sister. And whether Sam had forgiven Iris or not, no one else (including herself) had. She knew that, knew the conversations and feelings she'd seen and heard from other people, the ones she wished she could stop knowing, but couldn't. Knew it in the part of herself that had learned in hindsight how awful things had been.
She was glad that the one kick had worked, because she was near-certain that she didn't have it in her to do it again. Not the strength nor the desperation. She was glad for the distance and for Sam being there to pull her along again, because she was very quickly feeling her mind starting to wrap cotton around itself for protection from whatever this entire situation was. Hand in Sam's she followed quickly and close, and slipped into the trailer right behind her sister, huddling down into that dank corner and pulling skinned knees up to her chest, folding her arms over her head as she curled up as small as possible. The trailer practically rocked for a moment with the crowd outside, but the sound of them spread past their hiding spot, betraying that the didn't know exactly where the two had gone.
She couldn't see Sam's face, still curled in on herself, but the tone was obvious, that shocked confusion. And it made Iris laugh. An ugly laugh full of hysteria and disbelief. She'd gone shocky with their close call, still with the panicked racing of her heart as it knew that they weren't yet fully out of danger. But the laughing shook her body, hitching on her uneven breath, especially when she tried to stay as quiet as possible, not wanting any errant sound to draw the mob's attention. But her whole body trembled with it. "Justice." She didn't even know how she got the word hissed out around the uneven breathing and sobbing laughter. "He's dead. Someone... needs to pay. I'm... what's... left."