Iris covered her eyes with one hand, pulling her trolley with the other one. The sun was terribly bright and - to Iris' dismay- right in front of her.
Her arm soon got numb from holding it up so long and she let it down again. Silently, Iris wished her parents would have brought her and dropped her off there. Then she could have at least told them proper goodbye. But they were in a rush.
As from what Iris knew, her father's flight to New Zealand had been put one week earlier than planned. Now he was sitting in a plane and she was on the way from the bus stop to her new home. It was called "The Rainbow Home", as it was a home for teenagers with disabilities.
Iris was okay with that. She liked it at home, but there was never room for her. Not at school, not at any free time activities, sometimes not even at home.
Still, Iris liked being there. Where everything was familiar.
She was a little bit concerned about her new home. Would the people be nice to her? She wouldn't butt into their lives just like that, would she? They wouldn't mind having her there, would they? The Rainbow Home accepted the application her parents wrote for Iris but still, Iris couldn't get the troubles out of her head.
She checked the map on her phone to see if she walked the right way. She didn't. Iris sighed as she turned around to look for the right alley to turn in. She stood in an alley called the Redwood Alley, but she was supposed to turn into Oaktree Lawn.
Street names were complicated. To her. Iris carefully brushed her bright red hair out of her sight and walked down the street. While doing so, she quietly mumbled the street name to herself. "Oaktree Lawn".
Iris liked oaks. She loved the way the leaves were shaped, the little acorns that fell down from the oaks. When she was younger, she always used to collect them and tried to open them. Once she tried eating them, but realized pretty early that they tasted awful. She always thought they were edible. They weren't.
As Iris continued walking towards the next road, she realized that the sun was now in her back, much more comfortable. She raised one hand and touched the back of her neck. It was covered by her sweater. That was good. Iris was afraid she might get sunburnt, since gingers like her were more sensitive to the sun.
Reassured she turned left into the Main Street again and immediately saw the sign showing to the Oaktree Lawn. How could she have overseen it before?
Iris walked towards the sign, pulling her dark grey trolley with scarlet colour sprinkles behind her.
Something stuck on the sign caught her attention: There was a rainbow coloured scarf wrapped around the sign. It was already a little bit muddy and dark, probably due to the weather. Carefully, Iris touched the scarf. It was soaked by water. Iris figured that it must have rained before, since there were some small puddles on the street. Still, Iris liked the texture.
She pulled her hand back and left the scarf hanging on the sign. Maybe it was there for a reason.
Iris turned right into Oaktree Lawn and looked around, hoping to find the Rainbow Home. She expected it to be quite obvious, since it was something special. But she was wrong. All the houses were more or less looking pretty normal. But most of them had doorsteps. Iris was pretty sure the Rainbow Home wouldn't have any, as they posed quite a problem for some, especially physically disabled, persons.
But while walking down the lawn, Iris quickly scoped a rainbow coloured entrance gate. That had to be it. She pulled her trolley towards the gate and opened it. Behind it, there was a small garden, with a lot of flowers and bushes. Also there was a big oaktree in the middle, with a swing hanging down a branch. The house itself was of a blue-grayish colour with a red painted door. As Iris expected, no doorsteps. And the way to the door was wide and flat enough for a wheelchair to roll over.
Iris could peek inside the rooms a little bit. One had rainbow curtains that were closed, so Iris was unable to see inside of the room. But there was a black dream catcher hanging in the window. In another one she recognized some posters of punk bands she had heard of somewhere. Iris liked punk. Especially post punk. Maybe she could ask the person living in that room about the bands, if they wanted. Also there was quiet music in the room, as Iris could hear. She listened to the song for a few seconds. It sounded familiar. Iris liked that. Familiar things were good. She started rocking a little bit. What band was it? Sounded a little bit like Green Day or blink-182.
Iris stood there for a minute, rocking slowly to the music. Then she realized she should probably go inside and made her way to the front door.
There was a doorbell on the wall. Iris loved pressing doorbells. As a little kid, she would always push the button multiple times because it felt nice, but later she realized that people would be disturbed by long ringing and so she stopped.
Iris pressed the doorbell once. It really felt nice. Happily, Iris started rocking again. Then the door opened. Iris stopped rocking and stared at the person in front of her. A young person, whose gender Iris couldn't quite make out. She just referred to them as "they". That was probably the best.
The person wore a red T-shirt with the neurodiversity emblem on it. Their hair was curled into dreadlocks, going fine with their dark skin. Iris also saw that the person's shoe laces were rainbow coloured. Then the person's olive green eyes wandered over to Iris' trolley
"Oh hello!" They said, with a friendly voice. It wasn't too loud and didn't hurt in the ears. Iris liked that. The person held out a hand. "You must be the new flatmate, eh? We've been expecting you."
They spoke with a slight Canadian accent. Iris stared at the persons hand, not sure if she should take it or not. But she did like the bracelets around the persons wrist, so she just gazed at them delightfully.
The person realized that Iris wasn't going to take their hand so they pulled it back. "Sorry, you don't have to take it. I'm Anouk, I'll be taking care of you here."
Iris nodded. "The name is Iris. I like your style, it's really pretty." Anouk smiled. "That sounded like a genuine compliment. Thank you!" They held the door aside. "Why don't you come in, so I can show you around, eh?" Iris stepped in and scoped the area.
It smelt like tea, some kind of fruit tea. Iris liked tea, but she hardly ever drank it because it was too hot. Also she could smell a strong scent of coffee, which Iris never tasted before. But she liked the scent anyway.
She continued looking around and saw pictures attached to the walls. They were nicely drawn, in a variety of styles. Cartoon, realism, anime, abstract, and so on. Iris wasn't very familiar with arts but she did recognize these styles. Also, the punk music was no longer hearable. Iris didn't worry too much about it and touched the mintgreen walls carefully. Surprised, she realized they were of some kind of foam.
Anouk seemed to notice Iris' surprised reaction and quickly explained: "The walls are covered with foam, for sound isolation. We know some have issues with loud noises. Also, in case someone falls down, their fall is softened a bit. You know, epilepsy, narcolepsy, that stuff." Iris nodded understandingly.
"That's very thoughtful." Anouk led her into an open room, probably the kitchen, as there was some kitchen interior. One girl stood near the coffee machine and held a cup of coffee in her hand. Her hair was short and black, while her skin was pretty pale, with dark circles beneath her dark grey eyes. Iris noticed cat ears on the hood of the girl's sweater.
[Image description: A black haired girl stands in front of a coffee machine (it was pretty damn hard drawing that thing, I needed a reference for it) and holds a coffee to-go cup. Her eyes look sleepy and she dreamily glares into the air. Please zoom in on her eyes! I'm really proud of how they turned out! Even though my lineart still needs work. It's not that smooth... meh. I'm better at colouring.]
The girl stared at Iris and Anouk and took a sip from her cup. "You're... uh... you're new?" She said. She spoke slowly and a little sloppy. Her voice was very soft and deep, for a girl at least. Iris nodded. The girl put down her cup. "That's, uh... I... yeah. Cool. Guess you're... my... uh... my new... my room neighbour." Iris nodded again. "I'm Iris." The girl nodded too. "I know... uh... Clover." Iris didn't understand. What did she mean with Clover? "Clover?" "My name." She didn't seem very talkative.
Clover took another sip from her coffee. Then Anouk started talking. "Where is Connor, Clover? Wasn't he with you before?" Clover shook her head. "He... uh... he got his period cramps and uh, he... yeah, went to his room. Probably he, um... needs his rest... now." He? Period cramps? Iris was confused for a second but then figured he was probably born in a girl's body. "Will he be okay?" She asked, worried. Clover nodded.
"Yeah. He'll sure... um, he'll be over it in, uh... a few days... or so." She started drinking her coffee again and stared into the air. "I'll introduce you to the others, then." Said Anouk, smiling. Iris nodded and followed her.
"So, Connor lives upstairs, with Ruby and Alex. Downstairs we have Clover, Mike and a free room, which is going to be your bedroom." Iris bounced a little bit. "May I bring my trolley inside?" She asked. Her arm already got pretty numb from pulling the trolley around. Anouk nodded. "Of course!"
They went down the hallway and Iris followed them to a locked door. Anouk pulled a key out of their pocket and unlocked the door. "Here you go. We did put in the basic furniture, but you'll have to decorate it individually. That's hopefully okay with you, eh?" Iris nodded, happily. At home, she never got to do that.
"Can I draw on the walls?" She asked while placing her trolley in the corner of the room. Anouk nodded. "Sure! We like it to have memories, since a lot of kids that move here have to leave when they go to university or when they want to live on their own."
Iris wasn't sure about herself. Would she move out one day too? She kind of felt comfortable already, also she was never really able to imagine living on her own. There were too many things she should be able to do at her age, but couldn't do yet for some reasons. Like, riding a bike or brushing her hair. Not to mention, cooking and taking showers. Plus, her handwriting was mostly unreadable. Iris had got to hear that from her mother often enough.
But anyways, she was happy that they allowed her to draw on the walls. She touched them carefully. Foam as well. Iris liked the way the foam felt on her hands. Anouk seemed to notice that. "You like it?" Iris nodded. "Yeah." Anouk smiled. "Is there some other kind of material you like?" Yes, yes there was. There were.
Iris liked a ton of materials, but she also disliked a lot of them. "I like wood. Especially Mahagoni and Hazel. Also I like sand, the soft kind you find at the beach. And a lot of textils. Corduroy, wool, fleece, fur. But fur only when it's still on the animal or when it's artificial." Anouk's expression darkened. "Yeah, real pelt is cruel. I read about what they do to the animals to get the pelt." Iris had read about that too. It terrified her.
She stood up and walked to the door. "You wanted to introduce me to the others." She said, excited. Anouk nodded. "Exactly. You've already met Clover, down here there's also Mike. He's in a wheelchair, as he can't move his legs for some reason. The doctors suppose it's more of a psychological thing than a physical paraplegy. Just as some autistics' brains can't correspond with their mouths, his brain can't correspond to his legs, even though there's nothing physically wrong with him. They believe he can learn moving his legs with the right therapy." Iris nodded, thoughtfully. "So that's why you made the house wheelchair friendly." Anouk agreed. "Amongst others. We also regarded the possibility of someone who might struggle over stair steps. Like Clover."
Clover. Why was she there in the first place? Iris asked. "What brings Clover here?" "Narcolepsy." Anouk replied. "She has an unbalanced sleep rythm, accompanied by insomnia and night terror, which isn't her fault, but that causes her to be sleepy over the day. She sometimes dozes off in the middle of an action or gets sudden cataplexy." "Cata-what?" "Cataplexy. That means her body falls asleep but her mind doesn't. She might just collapse then or the words will confuse in her mouth and just become a weird mumbling you can't quite figure out. And she might drop what she's currently holding."
Iris thought for a second. "Then, that is why she drank coffee before." Anouk confirmed that. "She sometimes replaces meals with coffee. It's like her lifeblood, she drinks it all the time because she hates her medicaments." That made sense.
Anouk led Iris to a black painted door and knocked. "Mike, you in there?" "Come in." A boy's voice responded. Anouk opened the door and entered the room. "The new girl has arrived. Would you like to meet her?" Iris sneaked in the room, trying to make as few noise as possible.
This room was the one with the rainbow curtains she had seen from the outside. "I like your curtains!" She said with a gasp. "Thank you." The boy answered unsure. He leant against the wall and held a guitar in his hands. His hair was brown, with blue coloured bangs. An interesting colour combination, as Iris thought. He wore comfortable clothing that was way too big for his body, but Iris liked that. She preferred oversized clothing too, as it was more comfortable and didn't itch on the skin. Also, he had a piercing on his right ear.
[Image description: A boy lays on a bed, holding a guitar. He looks up with a curious look on his face. He wears a black T-Shirt with the emblem of a "Game of Thrones" - Family (House Targaryen) on it. Slightly rainbow coloured sunrays shine on his head. The wall is full of photos. On the picture's edge you can see a window with rainbow curtains.]
"Hi there." Mike said, smiling, with his mouth uneven. "So you're moving in with us." Iris nodded and swayed back and forth. "Yes! My name is Iris!" The words came out of her mouth quite shaky, due to the swaying. "Nice name." Mike said.
"Kind of fits your new home." Iris stopped swaying. "Why?" "Didn't you know? Iris was the name of the ancient greek goddess of rainbows." Iris now got it. "Then it actually does fit." She liked that meaning. Rainbows stood for peace, for acceptance, for variety...Not to mention, the LGBTQ+ Community Iris was also part of. "Well then", Mike said. "Anything else?" Anouk shook their head. "We won't bother you any lon-" "What were you just playing on that guitar?" Iris interrupted. Mike looked down quickly and then up again. "Wonderwall by Oasis. It's a pretty well known song." Iris thought for a second. "Song names don't really tell me much. I mostly recognize songs when they're played because I can't really remember names that good."
Street names, song names, her classmates' names... the flaws were endless. Mike started playing some soft chords on the guitar and hummed a little bit. "You recognize it?" Iris nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I think I heard it on the radio before." She started swaying again.
For a while Iris enjoyed the soft guitar music and rocked in delight.
Then Mike suddenly stopped playing. "Oh, I forgot. You wanted to meet the others, right? Sorry, I got carried away. I must have held you up." Iris shook her head. "No it's fine. I'd like to listen to your music again one time." Mike smiled again. "Thanks. But I think you should really get going now, before it's dinnertime. You know Alex gets pretty nitpicky when it's not on time." Anouk let out a slight laughter. "Oh right. We'll be on our way then."
Iris walked out of the room and Anouk closed the door again. They made a gesture with their hand, showing Iris to follow them upstairs. Iris noticed a stairlift on the wall, probably for Mike.
She carefully brushed over it with her hand. It was very smooth. Iris liked smooth stuff. She followed Anouk upstairs and then arrived on the first floor. Anouk showed Iris some of the rooms. "Here we have Sarah's and my room. Sarah is helping me taking care of everyone here. My wife, by the way." They added. Iris shrieked in delight. "Can I meet her?" "If she isn't currently helping Connor, sure." Anouk opened the door and looked around. "Nope. Not in here." They walked over and knocked on another door. "Honey, you in there?" A woman's voice responded: "Yes, but Connor would prefer to have no more people in his room! You can visit him later!"
Anouk smiled and responded: "Then I'll see you at dinner! Just wanted to let you know that Iris arrived!" For some seconds, there was no response, then the door opened. A woman with dark brown hair and slightly tanned skin stepped out and closed the door behind her back. "Why didn't you say that sooner?" She smiled. "Hello Iris. I am Sarah. Anouk already introduced you to everyone?"
"Not everyone." Anouk answered quickly, kissing their wife on the cheek. "We've only visited Clover and Mike yet." Sarah smiled at them and then looked at Iris. "That's nice. I hope you can wait for Connor a little bit, he's really not feeling well right now."
Iris nodded quickly. "Of course I can wait! I can understand if he's not okay right now."
Sarah glanced at her, grinning. "Thanks for your understanding. I'll take care of him a little more. Is Clover preparing dinner right now?" "Yes, she should be." Anouk replied. "Should I send Mike, in case she gets cataplexy or dozes off?" Sarah nodded. "That might be a good idea." Anouk looked at Iris. "You can look around yourself a little bit. Just remember to knock on the doors before going inside, eh?"
Having said that, they walked downstairs again. Sarah smiled at Iris one more time and then went into Connor's room again. Iris was left standing alone in the hallway.
She took a look at her surroundings. Pastel purple walls, again with some paintings. She wondered who made them. They were really pretty.
On one Iris saw a flower, probably a lily, standing in a vase. A butterfly fluttered around it and it almost looked as if it was moving. Iris started walking around on the hallway. She figured she'd better not go into Anouk's and Sarah's room, so she walked down the other way. Again, foamed walls.
Iris knocked at one door. As no one answered, she opened. Iris peeked inside of the room. A bathroom, probably. There was a shower, a sink, a toilet, a bathtub and towels. Some toothbrushes stood around the sink. Iris closed the door again. One thing cleared. She walked over to another room and knocked again. This time, a voice answered.
"Who's there?" "I'm Iris. New here." Iris responded. "You can come in." Iris entered the room and found herself in a galaxy. The walls were covered in Stars, even the ceiling. So was the blanket on the mattress lying in a corner. The floor was rug, a mix of purple and blue. Also there was a slant of the roof with a skylight. A telescope stood below the skylight. In the middle of the room, there was a boy, busy with solving a puzzle. Iris saw the package lying next to him. 10 000 Parts, it said. Now that was a challenge.
The boy looked up shortly and scanned her. "Sarah told me about you. She said you were autistic too, is that right?" Iris nodded. "Yes. My mum says it's atypical autism." The boy sighed. "Atypical, Aspergers, who cares. My name is Alexander Hamilton." Iris took a moment. "No, it's not." She responded, confused.
The boy swayed back and forth. "I know. But it's fun to say that. Do you know the musical?" Iris shook her head. "No, but we once discussed the American revolution in history class." The boy shrugged.
"That works as well. I'm Alexander but you can call me Alex. Everyone does that." Iris nodded. "Sounds good." For a while they both stayed silent.
Iris broke the silence. "You like the American revolution?" Alex nodded. "It's really fascinating. Also I'm into astronomy." Iris nodded. "Yeah, I figured that. You're making it quite obvious." "I'm not MAKING it obvious. It just is obvious because I wanted my whole room to be like that. Not because I wanted everyone to know." Alex responded.
"Alright. Is there anything you'd like to know about me, then?" Iris asked. Alex remained silent for a while, then responded: "Your age, gender, interest and dislikes. That would be enough." He chuckled at his last sentence. (Only Hamilton fans unterstand that.)
"I'm seventeen", Iris started (for some reason Alex seemed to be amused by that as well) "and genderflux. My interest is mainly music, even though I can't play any instruments. I can sing and I'm interested in music theory but I can't play instruments. I don't have the necessary motorical abilities." Iris paused for a second. "I can't stand cruelty, whether it's against animals or humans or plants. Also I don't like loud noises, names and sour food." "Me neither. But Ruby lives for sour things."
Ruby? Anouk had mentioned that name before. Iris yet had to pay her a visit. "Right, Ruby. I haven't met her yet. I'll go visit her now, then." She turned around and left the room. Behind her, she heard a muffled "hey, wait-" but she ignored it and closed the door. She would just talk to Alex later.
Iris walked over ro the last room she hadn't checked yet (besides the room of Anouk and Sarah) and knocked at the door. There was no response. Iris decided to knock again, this time louder. Again, no response.
Carefully, she opened the door and saw a girl (probably Ruby) sitting at a table, drawing. Why hadn't she reacted to Iris' knocking? Cautiously, Iris took a few steps towards her. Still, no reaction. Iris touched Ruby's shoulder.
Immediately, Ruby looked up and her eyes widened in surprise. She shrieked quietly. Iris quickly pulled back her hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you!" She apologized. "I'm Iris, new here."
Ruby stared at her confused and made some gestures with her hands while moving her mouth to it. Iris couldn't quite understand what she wanted. Ruby seemed to notice that. She pointed to herself, then to her ears and shook her head. Iris still didn't get it. What was it Ruby couldn't tell her? Both of them remained silent, until Ruby grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started scribbling on it. She passed the paper to Iris, who read it carefully.
[Image description: A hand holds a piece of paper that says: "I'm Ruby. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier. I can't hear and I communicate through sign language. If you want to talk to me, write it on a piece of paper or try gesturing it."]
Iris read the message. So that was it! Now she understood everything. She scribbled her own message and passed it to Ruby. "I apologize for not noticing that! I'm Iris and I'll be living here from today on." It took Ruby quite long to read the message, probably due to Iris' miserable handwriting, but when she finished reading it, she waved her hand a bit and smiled.
Iris peeked over Ruby's shoulder and took a look at the drawings on Ruby's table. They were beautiful! Iris bounced a little and pointed to them. Ruby turned her head and blushed. "I jew jem!" She said happily.
Iris thought for a moment. She hadn't quite understood Ruby but if you listened closely, it might have meant "I drew them".
Iris wrote "They're beautiful." on the piece of paper she and Ruby had used before. Ruby blushed even more and smiled shyly. "Shangs". She said (probably trying to pronounce "thanks"). Iris took a piece of paper. "I'll head to my room then. It was interesting meeting you!" Ruby read what stood on the paper and scribbled another response. "Okay then. See you at dinner!^w^"
Iris didn't know what the emoji at the end meant but she kept the message, gave Ruby one last smile and headed downstairs to her room.
Huff, this chapter got longer than intended. But I guess that's normal for the introduction chapters I write. They always get pretty long. Next one is in progress! Is the length okay this way or would you prefer shorter chapters?
Pictures were drawn (or taken) by me, I used the program ClipStudio and my phone camera. If you find something I could improve in, feel free to tell me about it! I can take criticism better than compliments (don't ask. I don't know why).
Also, the cover is just a placeholder for now. I will be drawing it yet but until then, I'll have this one.
Character Art is to come! You'll soon see pictures of Connor, Ruby, Alex, Iris, Sarah and Anouk. Probably some in the third chapter!
If you also want to draw something, please! I'd really love to see your art.
Another thing you might need to know: I might or might not be able to get on Wattpad for the next two days because we're going on a class trip *sigh* and I'm not sure how strong the WiFi is over there. Also I don't know how much time I'll have for myself. So, sorry in advance.