1 | Trouble in Paradise
IRIS WOKE UP on the broken mattress, rubbing the sleep and last night's terrible nightmare from her eyes. Streams of sunlight filtered in from the window to her right, casting light on the dim shadows inside. The place smelled of damp, a scent she was well accustomed to.
She sat up, kneading her back with her knuckles to send the faithful ache away. The abandoned apartment - visible from the fairly makeshift bed placed at the furthest corner - was silent; the kitchen was messy, just as she had left it the night before. There was a pile of unwashed dishes in the sink and empty food packets strewn lazily along the wooden table tops: a feat which Iris knew she'd have to tackle sooner or later. The small TV was across the room, a layer of dust coating what was once a shiny new appliance. A old couch, layered with blankets to cover the holes and dents, had been placed in front of it. Everything looked like it hadn't been touched in a while. That was the way it was supposed to be. That way, she had a significantly lower chance of getting found.
The lamps were off again. Iris reminded herself that she'd have to check the circuit box when she came back from school. Her digital watch sat atop a crooked table next to the bed. She picked it up, reading the time. Wednesday, April 6th. Half past seven in the morning.
She swung her thin legs off the side of the double bed she was very lucky to have, even though its springs were broken and it was not very comfortable. She stretched her arms in the air - arms she couldn't see because they were still invisible. The familiar shiver ran down her spine as her pale skin faded into visibility. Iris stared at where her spindly fingers were supposed to be until they reappeared. She walked to the bathroom, the only room that was enclosed from the rest of the apartment by a wall.
The cold water attacked her body as she showered, but she didn't curse nor complain. Any running water at all was a luxury. Many places she had stayed at were completely run down; abandoned with no heating, electricity or running water. This apartment was in the middle of a large complex and seemed to be vacated recently. Iris suspected that the previous owner died far away from their home. So she willingly took up the opportunity of a vacant property, most likely unregistered by anybody, and moved in. It had been a few months since she had got to stay anywhere for more than a week or two, so she cherished every second under the roof over her head.
She left the cold shower quickly, afraid of catching a cold and wrapped herself in a towel. She hopped from foot to foot towards her messenger bag, trying to get some warmth through the movement of her limbs. Pulling out clothes, the nimble girl slipped into them: a pair of fraying jeans and a T-shirt. She tugged on her faded leather jacket, pulling her hood up and stepping into her dirty, tattered sneakers. She checked the time again. She had ten minutes until she ha-
"MSPD! Open the door!" A rugged male voice followed by a loud banging echoed throughout the apartment. The voice was strained but stern: the man obviously here with a clear definite purpose. "We know someone's in here! Just open the door and we can sort this all out."
Iris froze. Her heart beat quickened tenfold as the policeman pounded on the front door again. Each forceful thud sent shockwaves throughout the apartment and the walls seemed to shake with the strength and vibrancy of the officer's growls. "If you do not open the door, we will be forced to break it down!"
Iris had seen some police officers on her adventures around Marston Springs. She was never one to even try to do anything that would cause any police department to cross her path. When her circumstances changed, Iris' awareness of law enforcement heightened. Without thinking twice about it she grabbed onto her bag with all of her things. She never bothered to unpack anything more than food in case she had to up and go in a rush. This was one of those unfortunate times.
She bolted around the room in a panic at unnaturally fast speeds - faster than any human could ever possibly try to move. Her dashes lifted a thin cloud of dust as her survival instinct kicked in and she snatched her old messenger bag from the floor, grabbing her sole possessions and stuffing them inside.
Her school bag lay on the floor and she picked it up, flinging it up onto her shoulder. She flashed to the window, realising that she had done all of her preparation in mere seconds. Her legs and spine quaked with fear as her skin faded into transparency. She pulled the window open while she adjusted her bags to prepare for the jump.
Iris snapped her head back to the door. The policeman had already started to smash the door in and slowly, the once sturdy front door was starting to give way. She looked back out of the window. It was a long way down - around about 60 feet. If she fell and didn't start running in time, she would tumble to her untimely death. She willed herself to continue and sat on the window ledge, throwing down the bag she held in her hand and watching it land and roll in the dry grass. A deep breath filled her lungs as she leaned forward and walked her feet down the wall. She held onto the sides of the window for dear life, trying to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to do.
Iris was hanging out of a window - something she never thought she would have to do. Her heart was pounding in time with the banging on the door. Her hands were becoming slippery with sweat and she would soon have lost her grip. She had to do it.
One.
Two.
Iris released her hold on the window and started to run as fast as she could, thanking the Gods for her unnatural powers. She found herself speeding down the wall and as if time stopped, she discovered she was running upright, approaching the ground at a more humane speed. She was sprinting down a vertical wall, an event she'd only ever witnessed in unrealistic childhood movies.
A rush of adrenaline filled the small, white-haired girl and she let out a squeal of surprise. Iris almost forgot that she was about to run face first into the dirt - almost. When she was a close enough distance from the ground, she jumped, but her misestimating meant that she landed on the ground off balance.
Iris hit the grass, but a wave of pain shot up from her ankle on impact. She fell onto her side with a hiss of pain. Grabbing her ankle, she tried to figure out where she was hurt most. She poked and prodded at the bone and a stabbing pain throbbed in her ankle, making her foot spasm. She remembered that she was on the run and struggled to stand up.
A soft breeze blew outside. One Iris was happy to feel because it began to cool her down, to calm her down. She managed to stand up, limping on her left leg. She could get it checked out at school; she'd tell the nurse she tripped up.
Iris picked up the stray duffel and began to limp down the familiar road to West Marshall High School. She looked back every now and again to make sure that she didn't have any cops following her.
She arrived at school, knowing immediately that she was late for her first class. In her painful journey to the nurse's office, Iris had stuffed all her clothes in her locker and strapped her watch onto her hand. Her flat stomach rumbled when she remembered that in the rush to leave, she didn't have breakfast. She glanced at the watch on her wrist; there was about two hours until the first break. Four hours until lunch. Iris wasn't too late, but her visit to the nurse's office would make her even tardier.
She soon arrived at the quaint, little nurse's office in one piece and walked to the desk. A list of names that had been in here was in the sign book and the injuries they had suffered. Iris flicked to the nearest available page and picked up the attached pen before scribbling her name down, the date and her incident.
2/7/13 - Iris Collins - Tripped and hurt ankle.
Feeling that her lie was viable, Iris sat down in the waiting room patiently to be attended to. The room was empty, accept for the desk and a few chairs placed in a line along the wall. Old posters on drug abuse, sex education and basic first aid hang about the walls. Iris cringed at the scent of antiseptic and sweat mixing together in the air. The only sound was the ticking of the clock and the faint mumbling of a young male and Mrs Prescott, the school nurse, in the other room.
Iris looked to her feet at her old worn sneakers, remembering the exact the day she got them with ease.
It had been her first week in Marston Springs. Iris had just found the apartment and gotten a job at Payton's coffee shop. She was so excited when Payton gave her the first pay check. She went to the mall, just window shopping, when she saw the brand new pair of sneakers, on sale for $35. She bought them straight away and wore them on her first day of school. After a few months of wearing them non-stop everywhere she went, they became tattered and tired. But they held a sort of sentimental value that always made her resist the urge to get rid of them.
The clicking of a door brought Iris out of her reminiscent state. The mysterious boy walked out through the door, giving the pale girl an unnecessarily stern glare. In the short moment that he passed by her, Iris examined this stranger. He was tall and had fairly contorted features. He looked like had been in a lot of fights, like the one he happened to be in today. His eye was darkening and turning a slight purple. He'd definitely been in a fight and it would be evident to anybody who would look at his face for the next few days. Iris turned away first, becoming uncomfortable with his hateful stare.
"Iris Collins?" Mrs Prescott called cheerily to Iris, standing at the desk, and looking at her with raised eyebrows. At first, Iris wondered how Mrs Prescott knew her name since she had never been here before. But then Iris recognized the book she had written in minutes earlier in Mrs Prescott's chubby hands.
Iris nodded to Mrs Prescott and used her hands to push herself out of the waiting room chair. Limping into the room after the nurse, Iris surveyed her surroundings. The floor was rough linoleum and the walls were painted a dull peach color. A medical table was placed on the far wall of the room, a first aid kit on the wall adjacent to it. There was another desk in this room with a computer and a number of different medical kits that Iris never thought to educate herself on. She took a seat on the medical table and Mrs Prescott sat down in a big desk chair across the room.
"So you tripped over, Iris?" Mrs Prescott asked her with a smooth, collected voice. Her presence was warming; like metaphoric honey, her voice was smooth and gloopy. The nurse reminded Iris of sunshine and rainbows and overall happiness. Despite this, her smile was sickly sweet and Iris could tell that Mrs Prescott didn't believe her story. That wasn't going to make Iris tell her anything though, so she continued with her lie.
"Yes, Mrs Prescott. On my way to school," Iris confirmed, nodding with a small smile. It was partially true.
"Okay, well it's obviously not broken because you made it here without shedding so much as a tear," she chortled. Iris gave her a small crooked smile to appease the middle-aged woman. She couldn't afford to be rude and keep her face completely blank in response to the horrible sense of humour.
"If you could just take off your shoes so I could see if there is any swelling, honey," Mrs Prescott said, moving her chair closer to Iris. She did as instructed and showed Mrs Prescott her horribly pale but blackening foot. Her ankle had grown considerably bigger. She wouldn't be able to walk properly on that for at least the next two days and maybe even the day after.
"That does look pretty bad," Mrs Prescott said, scribbling something down on a notebook back at her desk. "I'm going to have to wrap that in a bandage for support. It'll limit your movement but it'll give it a chance to heal quicker. It won't be as painful, is that okay, Iris?"
Iris nodded with another half-hearted smile. Mrs Prescott picked up a roll of bandages from the first aid kit and began to gently and methodically wind the soft bandage around the swollen ankle. When she was finished, Iris pulled on her sock and her shoe, which barely fit on with the swelling and the bandages.
Hopping off the bed, Iris paced the room, testing her new temporary foot. Mrs Prescott watched on with a smile, proud of her marvellous handiwork.
At least I can walk, Iris thought.
Iris thanked Mrs Prescott and left the nurse's office, still walking with a noticeable limp. She wasn't worried though, nobody noticed her most of the time. She checked her watch; there was ten minutes until her second class. Iris had unknowingly wasted nearly an hour of her morning.
She decided to take her time, go to her locker and get all her books sorted out for the rest of her classes. It would have taken her a while longer to get to her locker due to her limited movement, and organising herself for the rest of the day would save her having to do it between classes.
As she limped down the silent hallway, Iris pondered on her incident that morning. What if she couldn't get back into the apartment? Would she have to look for another place to stay? She knew it would be easy to skip town without too many people noticing, but she liked it here. Marston Springs was a calm and peaceful town. It was small and cosy. Everybody was related to everybody in some way. Iris wanted to be a part of the family. She was beginning to see this place as home. She just hoped that she would be accepted sooner rather than later.
Iris reached her locker with around 5 minutes to spare before the crowds of students would come out of their classes. Twisting in the combination, Iris pulled it open, re-reading the schedule stuck up on the door. She had Economics next, followed by Calculus and Art after break and Chemistry before everybody went home.
She pulled out her dog-eared Economics textbook, a Calculus textbook, and some loose sheets needed for Chemistry. Nestling the books in the crook of her arm, Iris slammed the locker shut and began to dawdle to her next class. It wasn't far, which was convenient for her especially today.
Half way to her Economics classroom, the bell echoed through the hallways and the soft clattering of books and chairs became louder and louder. The noise of chatter and slamming became deafening compared to the previous silence. The doors all around her flung open as students ranging from seniors to freshmen flooded out through them. The once empty hall, in a matter of seconds, was filled up and barely manoeuvrable.
Iris waded through the crowds of teenagers, her sore ankle feeling like it was about to explode from all the pushing and prodding of other people. She soon got to the classroom behind another student - who pushed through the door and let it fly back in her face. Stopping it with her hand before it did any damage, Iris slipped inside, hopefully unharmed enough to live another day.
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Thank you guys for reading. If you liked it, share it with your friends. Vote for it and comment on what you though was good, what you thought was rubbish, what you had for lunch yesterday. I don't care. Well I do, we might have had the same thing. Anyway, the beautiful cover was made by appetence, so dedication to her.
- Bianca x