She is an angel. An angel that fell from heaven and landed in my neighborhood, no less.

I remember the first time I saw her, that girl named Iris.

Kindergarten. She had danced by me singing a song.

"When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the pla-anet, and love will steer the stars! This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, the age of Aquarius"
Her high-pitched child's voice ran through my ears, and I turned to see who it was. Curls of blonde hair swirled around her head, green eyes dancing with her song, a blue pinafore dress swaying with her as she hopped around, imitating a rabbit. We had both been five at the time, and attending Ms. Foster's Kindergarten class. We both watched movies and napped and glued pictures so close together, but I never talked to her, because I was afraid. A girl so beautiful and angelic as she, I felt unworthy compared to her. Most boys that age were in that "I hate girls" stage, but how anyone could hate that heavenly being known as Iris, I have no idea. Just the air around her was intoxicating.

And so we grew up together, and every day I learned more about this girl named Iris.

I also learned about her love of dolls. She was a doll collector. So finally, one day in Middle school, (eighth grade to be exact), I asked her about it.
I remember it was so tough. I felt frozen, when I saw her in the hall that day. She looked so beautiful. She was wearing a tight-fitting pink top with long flared sleeves and flared jeans with flower patches sewn onto them, the words "FLOWER POWER" written on the leg in permanent marker, her long bangs parted and a pink band showing underneath. She looked like a 60's goddess. I took a deep breath, and swallowed my fear, then approached her. "Um, hi Iris"
"Oh, hey...uh.... Michael? Was that your name?" She turned and looked at me, a bit confused; I guess on account of that I had never talked to her before. But the tone of cheerfulness in her voice rubbed off on me and made me a bit happy, if but on the inside, at least. "No...it's Marshall." I sighed. We had been so close together all this time, but she didn't even remember my name.
"Oh.. sorry," she said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "Its just that, you never"
"Its alright," I said. "I just wanted to ask you about your doll collection"
"Oh that," she said, and giggled a bit. "Yeah, I have tons! All kinds! Barbies, Yue Sai dolls, Cabbage patch, generic ripoffs of all of the above... but porcelain dolls are my favorite. The more lifelike, the better!" I enjoyed seeing her eyes light up with excitement as she described her doll collection to me.
"Iris..! Iris...!" Iris's friend Michelle's voice ripped through the air, tearing Iris away from me. "Come on"
"Oh, sorry... I have to go now," Iris said, and waved to me. "Let's talk again sometime Marshall, don't be shy!" Then she hopped off to join Michelle, I standing there smiling like a fool. Then I heard Michelle say, "Don't hang around Marshall.. he's weird. Don't you know his father works at a funeral home"
I couldn't hear Iris's reply, but I turned and left.

Surely the angel would have better sense than to listen to that demon.

But the next time I saw Iris, she seemed reluctant to speak with me. It was the demon, I knew. I had to liberate the angel Iris from the demon Michelle.

Through my extensive research, which I had fine tuned over the years with Iris, I found that Michelle had a crush on my brother, Steve. When I found out that fact, it made me wonder why she told Iris not to hang around me, yet she liked Steve. Through secretly following her all day and listening to her conversations, I found that she was a paranoid girl that feared Iris talking to me would lead to Iris stealing away Steve. A true demon indeed. Only a true demon would think so lowly of an angel like Iris.

I had to liberate Iris from the beast known as Michelle, but how...but how..?

It all came to me while I was thinking of Iris's love of lifelike dolls and I was channel surfing that night.

"The mummy of communist idealist Marx's body is so well preserved, that looking at him now would be exactly like looking at him all those years when he was alive."

My eyes widened and I leaned forward in my seat. Yes, it looked as though he was sleeping. It looked like a lifelike doll.
Iris's voice echoed in my mind. "The more lifelike, the better!" Yes, Iris. The more lifelike...the better.

I got up and took the house keys. Time to take a trip to dad's funeral home.

The next night, while Steve was out with some friends and dad was working, I picked up the phone and dialed Michelle's number. Stalking has its perks.

Michelle's voice greeted me with a wavering, "Hello?" "Michelle? Can you come over right now"
"Who is this?" She paused a moment, then an excited voice squealed, "Steve"
"Yes.." I smirked to myself. Everyone always said that Steve and I sound identical on the phone.
"I'll be right over," she said, and hung up.

I didn't have to wait long when Michelle came knocking on my door.

She looked disappointed when I opened the door.

"Hi, Marshall," she said flatly. "Where's Steve? He asked me to come over"
"He's waiting for you upstairs," I said. "Follow me."

We walked up the stairs, then I headed down the hall, pointing to a door. "In here."

"Uh..ok." She opened the door and headed inside. "Hey! This is the bathroom! Is this some kind of stupid joke, Marshall?!? Eww...gross...what's that smell? Smells like.. formaldehyde."

"That's because it is formaldehyde."

"What?"

I shoved her roughly forwards, making her fall forward, past the shower curtain, into a bathtub filled with formaldehyde. She started screaming and tried to sit upwards, while I put on some gloves. Then I pushed her down in the water and started to drown her in the tub full of formaldehyde. She thrashed and thrashed in the chemical, until she finally went limp, her eyes rolling back into her head. And that's when the hard part started.

The next day, everyone was looking for Michelle, but no one knew where to find her. Only I did, but I wasn't telling.

I approached Iris that day. "Hey, Iris"
"Marshall.. did you hear about Michelle"
"Yeah.. its pretty sad, I hope you're handling it well," I said earnestly. "But I got something that I think will cheer you up. I just got a porcelain marionette.. I think its just got to be the most lifelike doll there is." Iris looked genuinely excited. "After school, can I go to your house with you and see it"
"Sure!" I said.
So after school we met up by the flagpole and headed to my house.

"Its in my room," I said. "Its really a beautiful doll. The workmanship is exquisite." "I'll take your word for it," she said. "Where did you get it from"
"Uh.. well just see the doll and then maybe you can guess where I got it from"
I opened the door to my room.

"What's that awful smell," Iris said, then looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry.. I don't mean to be rude. It just smells strongly of formaldehyde."

"Its alright," I said, then turned on the light and stepped into my room. I walked over and picked up the wooden sticks with strings attached used to control the limbs of the marionette. "Isn't she so lifelike? I call her... Michelle!"

Iris's eyes bulged as she examined the marionette, breathing heavily. I looked at the doll too. Indeed it was a well preserved Michelle, dressed in a fluffy pink dress and white gloves. Life size too, well of course it would be. I used the sticks to make Michelle stand upright and wave to Iris.
"Hi Iris," I said, in a high pitched ventriloquist voice. "What's up?" Then I said, using a regular voice, "Isn't it so lifelike? It should be.. I had to use a real body. It was all for you, Iris. I had to liberate you from the demon of paranoia, but also I wanted to give you a present. Its all for you, Iris. All for you."

Iris started screaming, and screaming.

I guess the doll was lifelike enough!