"So what's it like being a blind girl in school?"

"You think I'm the only one?" Iris said with a laugh.

"Well, you never mentioned otherwise." Reid said indignantly.

"True." Iris said as she splashed red paint on the canvas. "Well, these are the dorms of the Helen Keller school for physically challenged youth. Each floor's for a different disability. First and second are for deaf. Third and fourth the mute. Fifth and sixth the blind. The actual school is across campus."

"That's pretty cool. Must be nice and peaceful."

Iris snorted.

"Right. 'Cause were all disabled we come together as one big happy family, right?"

"Wrong?"

"So wrong." She wiped the brush on a rag and proceeded to paint over the red with some yellow. "There's this constant 'battle of the senses' going on. Whether vision, voice or hearing is the best sense… it's really dumb, but some people take it really seriously. Its about the equivalent of the battle between the blondes, brunettes, or redheads."

"No popularity then?"

"Popularity is even worse here. Each group -blind, deaf, mute- have the designated 'populars'. Then, there are the typical social classes. Lackeys, jocks, cool artists, cool stoners, dumb stoners, dumb artists, activists, nerds, geeks, and total losers."

"Where are you situated in this… hierarchy?"

"I don't even know anymore." Iris said absent-mindedly. "I don't even bother socializing with people anymore. I think I've got a new level just for myself. Loner, moron, nerd and weirdo all rolled into one. And its somewhere beneath dust bunnies and goldfish, pyramid-wise."

"How can you be a moron and a nerd all in one?"

"They found a way." Iris said. "Something about me painting. And then the fact that I'm apparently a total genius."

"Apparently?"

"Yeah. Apparently." She said.

"I dunno, I think I agree with whoever stuck you in that spot. You are a genius." At this Iris smiled mockingly. "And totally weird. And hey, you gotta admit, goldfish are pretty freakin' cool."

"Of course." Iris said sarcastically, waving her paintbrush in the air. "It is so vain of me to think that maybe, just maybe, I could be cooler than the goldfishes." Droplets of paint started flying. "I mean really. I deserve hell for that."

"Most definitely." Reid agreed, stopping the drops in mid air. "Hell, you wont even have to go to purgatory. Straight to the fiery bowels of hell, you will." With a wave of his hand and a blink of his eye the droplets all assembled into one marble-sized droplet of floating yellow paint. He spun it around and collected drops from the open jar of blue and spun the two colours around and around until a small planet earth was rotating slowly. "And they said I failed astronomy." He said out loud.

"What?"

"Nothing." Reid said. The paint separated and floated back into its separate containers. "Talking to myself. But back to the point. You're going to hell."

"Then you're coming with me."

"I disagree."

"Oh?" Iris raised an eyebrow. "Funny, you didn't seem the angelic type."

"Well, I wouldn't say angelic, but what can I say, I'm a good boy."

Iris snorted.

"I am. I haven't performed any of the seven deadly sins in a long time."

"Do you even know what the seven deadly sins are?" Without even waiting for Reid to reply she continued. "Lust. Ok, so you're a virgin, but you still pretend to sleep with all girls, which not only counts as lust but lying as well. Wrath. You have a mighty temper, from what I've seen, what with almost telling me off at the park and storming in here like you were about to rip someone's head off. Gluttony. You're a teenage boy, you automatically eat a lot."

"Now come on, that shouldn't count-"

"Sloth. You would rather sit here all day and pose than go do active stuff. Hell, you wont even stand. Pride. You model."

"Oh come on!"

"Envy. You envy your friends for their ease at life. You envy others for having a specific place in society. You envy almost everyone for everything. Greed. Um…"

"Ha!" Reid said in triumph. "You can't find anything for greed!" Iris shrugged.

"Six out of seven sins. That's still hell, honey. And not to mention your lacking of the seven heavenly virtues."

"The what?"

"Seven heavenly virtues. Whereas the sins get you into hell, the virtues get you into heaven. Truth. You lie, a lot, all the time, you even admitted to it. Wisdom. Ha!" she just laughed. "Creativity. You don't act, paint, draw, play any instrument, write, or anything. Tolerance. You're pretty closed minded. Courage. Well, this one I'm puzzled about, since I've never seen you in a situation that requires courage. Freedom. You said it yourself, you feel trapped and restrained by your friends and your school and etc. Love. You-"

"Ok, I get it. I'm going to hell. Six out of seven sins. One out of seven virtues…"

"Hm. Where did that one come from?"

"Love. I might be a lustful, temperamental, hungry, lazy, envious, lying, non-creative, intolerant, wimpy, restrained jerk, but I love. That much I know."

"Good." Iris said with a smile.


I added the character visual for Iris on my profile page. Just image her with sunglasses. Feel free to comment, or say your own suggestions for the character (i would actually like that alot, it could be fun!!) and keep reviewing!

Note: the seven virtues mentionned are just one version of them. Almost every theological ideology has a different set, and these are as widely acceptable as the next. The sins however are the immovable kind that everyone says. (Just thought i would mention that.)