Mick

You had heterochromia. No one liked your eyes. Your right eye was gray-blue, and your left was a deep green. Everyone thought you were hideous, disgusting, and ugly. People avoided you.

Naturally, there was a notorious bully at school. Mick. He was the biggest bully. He was always teasing you and calling you a freak, a weirdo, and other offensive names.

You might ask, what's the problem with buying contacts and wearing them? The thing is, your mother forbade you from buying them, not because they were a waste of money, but because she loved your eyes. She saw everything alive in them, that spark of joy at a cool new thing, the fire of anger. No matter how much you tried to persuade her, the answer was always the same: "No. "

As usual, the school day began with insults and kicks in the back. During recess, you were walking down the hallway, but your shoelace came undone. You crouched around the corner, so no one could see you. As luck would have it, Mick stopped near the corner, but he was coming from the other direction, so he didn't notice you.

You overheard him talking to his friends. They were talking about eye color. That's right, they were talking about his favorite eye color.

Friend 1: I like brown eyes! They look like coffee.

Friend 2: I like the blue ones. So clear, just like the sky.

Then you heard Mick's gentle voice, which was unlike him. His voice was usually harsh and rough, but now it was clear, gentle, and a little slow.

Mick: And I... I like eyes where the right eye is gray-blue like the sky with clouds, and the left is green, rich, just like grass...