Pink Iris

CHAPTER 1

THE MOMENT EVERYTHING STOPPED

Time stopped the first time I got angry.

Not slowed. Not blurred.

Stopped.

A punch hung in the air. A shout froze mid-word. A tray of food floated between falling and crashing.

And I stood there, breathing, while the world held its breath.

I didn’t understand it yet.

But I would.

My name is Lucy Pevens. I was seventeen when my life stopped being normal.

---

We lived in a small house that always felt colder than it should.

My mother, Alice Pevens, kept it running. She worked, studied, and pushed through the grief of losing my father five years earlier.

She never complained. Not once.

“You’re going to do better than me,” she told me one morning.

“I’ll try,” I said.

“No,” she said. “You will.”

That was the day she drove me to Washington Academy University.

---

The campus looked perfect. Too perfect.

Clean stone paths. Tall buildings. Students who looked like they already belonged somewhere important.

I didn’t.

My mother parked and turned to me.

“Head up,” she said. “You earned this.”

“I won’t mess it up.”

“You won’t.”

I stepped out of the car and into a different world.

---

No one spoke to me.

I walked through the halls, past groups that didn’t look twice. I went to the principal’s office, then to class.

The teacher paused when I entered.

“You’re late.”

“New,” I said.

She studied me, then nodded. “Take a seat.”

I introduced myself. No reaction.

I sat next to a quiet boy.

“Hi,” I whispered. “I’m Lucy.”

No answer.

“Your name?”

He kept writing. Then, low, “Josh.”

“Josh what?”

“Beckford.”

I froze.

“As in the Vice President?”

He glanced at me. “Yes.”

I expected arrogance. I got silence.

---

Break came fast.

“Come on,” he said, standing. “You’ll get lost.”

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

I followed him anyway.

We grabbed breakfast and sat in the far corner of the hall.

“You don’t talk much,” I said.

“You talk enough for both of us.”

“That’s rude.”

“That’s accurate.”

I almost smiled.

---

Then the noise started.

Chairs scraped. Someone yelled.

A group of boys circled another student. They shoved him. Laughed.

Josh stood.

“Sit down,” I said.

“No.”

He walked over.

“Leave him,” Josh said.

One of them turned. “Or what?”

“Or you stop embarrassing yourselves.”

They laughed.

“You think you’re better than us?” one said.

“I think you’re making a choice you’ll regret.”

Wrong thing to say.

The punch came fast.

Josh hit the floor.

---

Something inside me snapped.

Not fear. Not panic.

Anger.

Hot. Sharp. Clear.

I stood up.

Everything slowed.

Then—

Stopped.

A fist hung inches from Josh’s face. A shout froze in someone’s throat. Even the air felt still.

I looked around.

No movement. No sound.

“...What?” I whispered.

No answer.

I stepped forward. My footsteps made no sound.

I moved Josh slightly. Turned his shoulders. Shifted the angle of the punch.

My hands shook.

“Move,” I told myself.

I stepped back.

Time slammed forward.

The punch missed. The attacker stumbled into his own friend.

Chaos broke out.

Josh rolled, stood, and fought back.

He was good.

The group backed off.

“Next time,” one of them said.

“There won’t be one,” Josh replied.

They left.

--

I couldn’t breathe.

I turned and walked fast. Then faster.

The bathroom door slammed behind me.

I gripped the sink and looked up.

My eyes—

Pink.

Bright. Glowing. Wrong.

“No,” I said.

I blinked. They stayed.

I splashed water on my face. Nothing changed.

“What is happening to me?”

No answer.

---

“Lucy.”

I flinched.

Josh stood in the doorway.

“You left fast,” he said. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said too quickly. “I just don’t like fights.”

“You didn’t look scared.”

“I was.”

He watched me.

“You helped me,” he said.

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

I forced a smile. “You’re welcome, then.”

He almost smiled back.

---

We walked back to class.

Eyes followed us this time.

Whispers started.

“Who is she?”

“Why is she with him?”

“Did you see that?”

I kept walking.

“Get used to it,” Josh said.

“To what?”

“Being watched.”

I didn’t answer.

I was thinking about the frozen moment. The silence. The control.

And my eyes.

---

That was the first time.

The first time I stopped the world.

The first time I realized something inside me wasn’t normal.

It wouldn’t be the last.