fade to black | james hetfield [1]

prelude

All of her life, Iris lived in a ghost town. Or at least that's what it felt like.

Life wasn't so bad for the first couple of years. Everyone knew everyone, she had a couple of friends, and it was a small town where nothing could seemingly go wrong.

But as she became older, the friends she once had disappeared, moving away or finding a new group of friends without her. Out of nothing, everyone around her was beginning to leave her behind and ostracize her.

The faces she once recognized as people she could trust were now looking back at her like she was a nuisance. Everywhere she went, she heard a little whisper or giggle that made it obvious they were judging her in secret.

She wondered if there was an inside joke going around to make her feel this way on purpose. Sometimes she thought that maybe she was dead and living in the afterlife without realizing it.

It wouldn't take long before she became depressed, wanting to run away and explore what was outside of the confines of her environment. But as much as she contemplated running away from it all, she was also afraid of the unknown.

And so Iris accepted her fate long ago. She would live and die in this place, no matter how much she felt trapped in it.

(i don't have a face claim for iris, and i am not going to give her one. you can picture her however you want!)