▌Chapter 5 ─ Messed Up ▌

      ━━━━━ IRIS WALKED OUT of the room, her eyes fell onto Marta who picked herself up from the chair. Iris watched Marta walk into the room leaving her behind, Marta walked into the room sitting down in the same chair that everyone before her had been sitting in.

"Miss Cabrera, um... We kept you waiting all afternoon, because I wanted to hear from you last. I needed an entire picture of the evening in my head, and your piece of it is at its very center. So, please take your time. You took Mr. Thrombey upstairs at 11:30 and left at midnight. Think very carefully and with as much detail as possible. Tell us what happened in that half hour?" Benoit said, staring at her as he flipped his coin up.

Marta remembered back to that night, she and Iris were following behind Harlan. "Up, up, up, I got it." Harlan said, moving into the steps.

"Yeah, you got it?" Marta questioned him, a smile resting on her face.

He continued to repeat himself while Marta began to walk towards his room, Iris stood near the first set of steps, a bright smile resting on her lips as she watched the two interact with each other. Iris followed behind her grandfather, while Marta walked into his room grabbing his medical bag.

"No, second thoughts." Harlan said as he walked into the room setting up the Go board. Marta stomped up the steps with the medical bag in her hands.

"No. No, no, no, no." Marta told him.

"Get up here!" Harlan told her.

"I had a glass of champagne. Harlan, listen to me." Marta said, closing the door with her elbow. Iris chuckled softly, pulling a chair over and sitting in it.

"We are..." Iris looked back and forth between the two as they playfully argued with each other. "It's late. I had..." Iris placed her eyes on Marta giving her a soft but stern look.

"You've only had one glass." Iris reminded her.

"Exactly. A glass of champagne. Why are you encouraging him? I don't..." Marta went on to explain, she placed the medical bag on one of the tables that rested in the attic room.

"We are not breaking tradition on my birthday! Tell her Ris." Harlan said, looking between Marta and his granddaughter.

"Can you just take your goddamn medicine and go to bed?" Marta asked him.

"If you're gonna put that vile shit in me, you have to earn it. On my birthday. Eighty-fifth birthday." Harlan said, Marta lifted her hands up.

"Oh, god. Fine. Jesus!" Marta said walking over to Iris, she sat down in the chair pulling it closer to the board game.

"I'm so old." Harlan spoke, moving himself around in his chair.

"You really love drama, huh?" Marta questioned him.

"Oh, Marta." Harlan briefly looked at his granddaughter who still had a bright smile plastered on her face.

"Okay, let's do this. Nine-by-nine. Iris, you keep an eye on the board." Marta said, looking at the brunette. Iris nodded her head, placing her hand underneath her chin she looked closely at the Go board.

"Right." Harlan spoke, Marta picked up her pieces holding them in her hand.

"You ready?"

"I'll whip your ass." Iris couldn't help but laugh at his comment.

"Are you sure?" Marta asked, making sure that was his final answer.

"Yeah." Harlan simply replied, a smirk resting on his face. Marta chuckled, holding a piece in her hand.

"How dare you." She placed the piece down on the board. Harlan followed behind her, placing his piece on the board. "I know how this is gonna end." Marta said, her eyes moved off of Harlan and onto Iris who stared at the Go board watching them place their piece's down. Harlan sighed, placing down another piece. "What is that?" Marta asked him, clearly confused.

"Why can't I beat you at this game?" Harlan asked, looking at the piece's on the board.

"Because I'm not playing to beat you. I'm playing to build a beautiful pattern." Marta informed him.

"That's elder abuse. I'm gonna call the AARP." Harlan said, Iris lowered her head.

"Don't make me get the belt, abuelo." Marta told him, placing another piece on the board.

"It's basically over. My only hope is that an earthquake will strike. But what are the chances?" Harlan asked. Soon enough the board slowly started to shake.

"Grandpa." Iris said, looking at him.

"Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Get under a door frame! Yes!" Harlan said.

He picked the small table up, knocking the Go board, and pieces off the table, the medicine falling off as well. Harlan dropped the table back onto the floor and leaned back into his chair laughing. Marta and Iris stared at him as he continued to laugh.

"Such a bad loser you are! Meds, then bed." Marta said, placing her remaining pieces on the table. She leaned over picking the medicine off the ground. "I'm done with you." Marta said, Iris picked herself up from the chair placing it back where she got it from.

"That's fair." Harlan said, laughing just a little. Iris turned around watching her grandfather roll up his sleeve. "Walt is smoking that filthy cigar out there on the porch. Dead and nasty things." Harlan said.

"How was tonight?" Marta questioned him.

"Tonight was, uh, good." Harlan informed the two women, Iris shook her head, not really believing him.

"Oh, yeah?" Marta asked, shaking her head slightly. "I know you weren't looking forward to it." Marta added, briefly looking down at the fluid entering into Harlan's bloodstream.

"No. But I did it. I cut the line on all four of 'em. Yeah. Wasn't easy. Mmm. This goddamn fortune. You know, sometimes I think that everything I've given my family, I've done maybe without knowing or maybe to keep them beneath me. I certainly should have... I don't know, encouraged Walt to write his own stories, not just be a caretaker of mine. Like you said I should. Iris was of course right about all of them." Iris placed her hand on her grandfather's shoulder giving him a comforting squeeze.

"And then be a father and not just a provider for Joni, like you also said. And I could have been kinder to Linda and Ransom..." Harlan sighed heavily. "Jesus! Ransom. Oh, there's so much of me in that kid. Confident. Stupid. I don't know, protected. Playing life like a game, without consequence."

Harlan picked up the knife that rested next to him. Iris walked away from her grandfather looking at Marta. He pulled the knife out of the casing, holding the case in his other hand.

"Until you can't tell the difference between a stage prop and a real knife." Harlan switched the case with the knife, lifting the knife up he slammed it down onto the table. Iris tilted her head slightly, not sure what was really happening.

"You know, I don't fear death. But, oh, God, I'd like to fix some of this before I go. Close the book with a flourish. I guess we'll see. Hmm?" Harlan questioned looking at Marta and then at Iris. "I guess we will." Marta said silence filled the room. "Hey. You had a long day. You wanna do drugs?" Marta asked him, shaking the bottle.

"You mean the good stuff?" Harlan asked her in return. Iris smiled, seeing how happy her grandfather was. "Yeah?" Harlan chuckled, and soon Marta did too. "Oh, come on, send me to la-la land." Harlan said, excitement running through his voice.

"Just a tiny bit, okay?" Harlan leaned back into his chair.

"Why did I wait till my mid-age to become a morphine user? What a schmuck." Harlan rambled. "What a nudnik. This... This stuff is the best." Harlan said, Iris looked away from her grandfather for a brief moment.

Her eyes fell onto Marta, as she looked at the bottle that was in her hand. Then she picked up the other one getting a closer look. Iris could see the tears forming at the brim of her eyes as she looked at the medicine bottles.

"Oh, my God." Marta breathed out, still looking at the bottles.

"Is there a problem?" Harlan asked her, while Iris still looked at Marta.

"This is what I just gave you 100 milligrams of. I messed up." Marta said.

Iris soon realized what was going on. But she knew that there was no way something like this could have happened, as Marta knew what she was doing.