The Monster In His Eyes

One

IRIS

"Iris, come on. We've got to go!" I heard my 18 year old brother, Nash, yell downstairs; his voice echoing throughout the house.

Quickly putting on my black sandals coupled with the boring school uniform (which is basically a white blouse with black skirt/suit pants), I make sure that the dark circles housing themselves underneath my eyes are perfectly concealed.

Rushing downstairs I almost trip over the last few stairs, hearing a loud, "Careful." From my sister, Tessa who, along with a cup of tea watches me cautiously.

Let me give you a brief description of my life so everything make a little bit of sense.

I'm Iris, 16 years old.
I live with my mom, Stacy and dad, David.

I have 5 older brothers and a sister. Yes, we are a big clan. However, the same fact makes it a hundred times harder if we lose one of ours.

I had a twin brother, Hansel. I still find it hard to believe that he is no longer with us.

Hansel passed away suddenly. He simply went to sleep and never woke up. It was so sudden that neither of us were able to grasp at the situation which is why our dad had us move temporarily to a vacation home.

We still had to keep up with our homework but it wasn't of priority. My eldest brother Ryan and Sam went off to their universities, drowning themselves in work instead.

It's been 6 months till then.

Back to reality, I quickly made my way into the car before Nash had another chance to tell at me.

Not that I blame him since I almost made us late.

Saying a quick bye, we both made our way to our classes. Ignoring the stares of all the kids, sympathetic or curious, was the hardest part.

I did reply to all of the "Hi, how are you doing, Iris?" But the hardest part was when someone did say "He went away too young, what happened?" Sure, people were curious but I don't think I'd have the guts to ask someone that. Just that sentence, brought tears to my eyes that I had wanted to suppress.

I just wanted to get through school without having a emotional break down.

My first class was English with Mrs. Harrison, which I was immensely thankful for since she was one of the teachers who'd, hopefully, not point out anything about Hansel's death.

I make my way over to the third seat to the left most corner of the class. The same seat I had been assigned, hoping that it wasn't occupied by someone else, although we never did have a permanent seating arrangement.

Soon enough, my friend Laura joined me, concealing me from the unneeded stares of my fellow classmates.

"How 're you holding up?" She asked with a sad smile plastered over her face.

I pursed my lips and gave her a thumbs up.

Getting the point that I didn't want to talk, she let the matter go. I thanked the heavens above for granting me a friend like her. Who understood me completely.

Soon, the teacher came with loud voices accompanying her.

"Ma'am, kindly look at the time. We still have one minute to spare. Which shows that we are not really late, you know. The bell system is rigged, I tell you." Harry Baker's infamous voice, of course.

Harry was one of Hansel's friends. Harry, Hansel, Zedd, Carter were those kinds of friends who were always "joined at the hip", occasionally with Riley and Zara joining them.

Harry, Hansel and Zedd were friends from back in kindergarten.

And of course, Carter King.

Carter joined those three back in fourth grade, however him and Hansel kicked it off soon afterwards and those two became inseparable. You know those best friends kind of friendships that you see, in a group full of friends, yeah these two were that.

It was these four guys who used to or even are  pranksters of the school. You know those cliche non-study related teacher-favorite kids, who make jokes and somehow become teacher and student favorites because of their ability to lighten up the room? Yeah, those kind of students.

I wanted to check in with them, see how they were all holding up after Hansel's death but I never did get in contact. Never knowing what I'd say or talk about over the phone without breaking down myself.

Hearing Harry being his usually goofy self did bring both, contentment and sorrow to my heart. Contentment with the fact that he didn't lose himself over Hansel and sorrow regarding the disturbing thoughts I got at the very moment, thinking if he was even affected by it. However, the fading eyebags told me more than I needed to know. However, it was Him and Zedd, who entered the class.

"Is Carter not attending the class, again?" Mrs. Harrison asked as she put the folder she was holding over the desk.

"Well, you know how kids are. He's in his rebellious zone." Harry and Zedd shared a look while the class snickered.

"We'll see about that when I inform this to the principal."

Zedd tried talking sweet to the teacher about letting it go this time but she was not ready to hear it.

Mrs. Harrison is one of the teachers who let's student off sometimes. However, this made me think about just how many times has Carter been absent.

And, whether he's okay or not?

Alas, him and Hansel were always, as the saying goes, two peas in a pod.

Authors Note:

Hello!
Mizha here 🍂
I'm back to writing.
It's been so long and I've had a lot of ideas regarding various stories and I want to write them all! But alas, I get really lazy trying to put in the right words, and thus, there might be a lot of things that you would find boring, cliche and so on but please remember that I'm trying my best.
If you have any suggestions, any typos or grammar mistakes you'd like to point out or any constructive criticism, I'd gladly like to hear it 🍁

Ps, I think of Louis Portridge as Carter but you can picture anyone you'd like.

Also, the book name, I got it through one of suggestions book on wattpad, I'll be sure to tag the author once I find them again.

Thank you for checking out "The Monster In His Eyes".
I hope you stick around for this journey ahead of us.

Bye!