Chapter 1 - The One with the Lime Green Eyes.
A high-pitched scream reverberated through the hospital's plain halls as nurses and doctors rushed around to find the source of the noise. A woman's heavy breathing was also herd, along with her quiet sobs of pure joy. She was laying there in the white hospital bed as the doctors worked on her lower region. She looked around with a smile, asking repeatedly to hold her newborn child. One of the many nurses in her room quickly washed off the infant before placing her in the mother's arms.
"It's a girl, Congratulations." She announced as the woman looked to the nurse with a huge smile. She then looked down at the pale infant in her own embrace, staring into the child's barely-open eyes.
"Iris..." She mumbled to herself with a smile only a mother could give to her child, "Iris Atropine Woods." Another nurse in the room quickly jotted the name down on a certificate of birth.
"It's a beautiful name, dear." The father of the newborn girl beamed, smiling down at the woman as he wrapped his one arm around her shoulders carefully. He leaned down and kisses his wife's head. The couple smile to each other happily before looking back to their daughter. The infant had just opened her eyes to reveal bright lime green eyes. The newborn blinked a few times before looking up to her parent's confused faces. Their beaming smiles faded slightly, looking to each other in confusion before letting out nervous laughs. Why did their child have such an unnatural eye color? They laughed it off and continued on with their lives.
It has been a year and a half since Iris was born, and she still had bright lime green eyes. Her parents were starting to become paranoid about it. They had read online that it only took six to twelve months for a child's eyes to change color. It has been eighteen months since Iris was born but her eyes were still the same. She also had very dark, almost black hair. Her parents grew to be very anxious of the subject. What if other parents shunned them for having such a strange daughter? They wouldn't be having it.
Instead of dropping her off at a daycare center, Iris's mother quit her day job and stayed home with her daughter. She didn't want anyone to look at her in a strange way when she went to pick Iris up or drop the girl off. The young child continued to stay home, barely exposed to the outside world. The only time Iris was able to get out of the house was when her mother had to go shopping, since anyone knows you can't just leave a baby at home alone. They would often go late night shopping, seeing how there was usually less people out. It bothered them that they couldn't go out and be a normally family, and it was all because of Iris.
It has been two years since Iris was born, and she continued to have lime green eyes. Her hair was also a strange black color, it almost had a purple tint to it. The girl's parents were starting to get a bit touchy, mad even. Their child still had unnatural eyes, and she was starting to get dark circles around her eyes, too. Why? Why did this have to happen to them? They just wanted to have a normal life, but they just had to get cursed with this child.
Their time was running low. They only had a few months until she had to start preschool. They didn't know what to do about Iris. They knew this was coming, though. She had to start getting out of the house sometime. She was talking by now, and she would often ask to go outside. They always refused for her to have any contact with the outside world. It often upset them that she wanted to go out so much. They don't know how she learned to ask to go outside, but they still said no.
That's another slight problem Iris had, she couldn't speak properly. Her parents knew that no two year old could fully construct sentences yet, but Iris was barely able to say many words. They always heard other children around her age talking or at least mumbling something, but then there was Iris. The quiet two year old that wanted nothing more than to go outside. Iris's speech problem is what really set her parents off. They thought she was stupid because of it. The last thing they wanted was a "special" child. Every time she would ask them "Outside?", they would scream at her to stay away from the door and to go upstairs.
Yes, they had become rather violent with her. In their defense, it's rather difficult having a daily reminder of their failure of a child. Sometimes they would stay out longer because they just didn't want to see her. Alas, she was a child, their child, so that meant they had to take care of her.
They had two more children, though. Jeffery and Liu. Iris normally stayed away from the boys and just sat in the corner by the window. Sometimes they would wonder over to Iris and try to play with her. Their parents would often pick them up and carry them to another room of the house. They didn't want their perfect children to be near the little monster.
They decided to keep their children split up for now. Jeff and Liu would go to a completely different school district than Iris. A special place for Iris, they decided, was going to be a preschool a while out of town, where there weren't as many people around. They tried to be as discreet about her as possible.
