I Am Iris

Chapter Six: Brain Eaters and Pants Wetters

"I'm back, Mom!"

With an exasperated groan, I tugged my red boots off of my feet and flung them, causing a spur of sharp color to rebound off the floral wallpaper.

I began to trudge towards Moth's room, then stopped at the answering machine. A flashing one indicated a new message. No one ever calls, let alone leaves a message. Not anymore.

"Who called?"

I decided playing the message would give me a better answer to my question than silent Moth. So, that's what I did.

A voice suddenly sprung from the machine, a woman's. "Hello, this is Ms. K. I'd really like to talk to you, Mrs. Mai. Miss? Mister? No, miss. Something. Iris's grades are falling. Again. The tutor doesn't seem to be of much help, and I th-"

Delete, delete, delete! I urgently pushed a few buttons, hoping one of them would be the right one. When the voice still continued, I thrust the phone's stand away from it's wiring and threw it across the room. It crashed to the floor in pieces almost directly next to my boots.

"I think the phone's out of batteries!" I called in Moth's direction.

Within seconds I had jumped onto her bed. I crawled under her blanket and tapped her shoulder.

"Yeah?" she mumbled, almost inaudibly.

I scurried farther down the bed, peeking my head out of the sea of cloth just enough to see that Moth had opened her eyes and directed them towards me. Under them were immensely large, unflatteringly purple bags of loose skin.

"Oh, well, there's not much food in the house, and even less money to buy some with. Are you... getting a job soon? You'll have to eventually, so why-?" I began to bumble on, desperately.

"No, I don't!" Moth shot at me. I managed to keep my jaw attached, despite the difficulty. This was the longest sentence she had spoken in days, and the only emotion or expression she had shown, for sure. Unfortunately it was anger, however subtle.

"But, you have to! What are we supposed to do? What about you? You have a life to live, and you're not living it."

"It's my life, and it's better without the stress, the worries-" Moth spat.

"Responsibilities? Reality?"

Moth buried her face in her pillow.

"Me?" I choked, but the only response I got was Moth's snoring. Sleeping was sadly her ownly true talent.

I kissed Moth on the forehead, and then left the room. I didn't see her face. I didn't need to. I knew it was blank. Uncaring. Maybe I should just let her be, let her be happy. I'm not going to stand in her way anymore of her idea of a perfect life.

* * * * *

As I had expected, Ms. K. practically ambushed me as I walked into math class.

As soon as I took a step into the room, Ms. K rushed over. When I kept walking, ignoring her, she tightly gripped my shoulder.

"Did your mother get my message?" she demanded with suspicion with her eyebrows pulling down over her eyes.

I shrugged, making my way towards my seat, still avoiding eye contact.

"Iris!" Annoyance couldn't be anymore evident in her tone.

"Yes, no... maybe so?" I faked a smile, but it didn't feel right. That's a change. I loved wise mouthing Ms. K. and throwing smirks at her throughout the process.

By this point, the classroom was full. Some were staring. And by some, I mean pretty much everyone.

"Can I see you in the hallway?"