Everyone went back inside and the teacher noticed that Elizabeth's dress had a few cuts and holes that it didn't have before, though she just ignored it. Elizabeth sat down and her classes continued. After school was over Mark picked her up. "Why do people think I lied?" Elizabeth asked her father.
"People, especially children around your age are susceptible to suggestion... They often just repeat what they heard or saw an authority figure do..." Mark responded.
"One kid said something, it made no sense... He said that adults are never wrong, and teachers doubly so because they are supposed to teach us facts... I know this isn't true because I've corrected you before, I've corrected uncle Henry, I've corrected so many adults, so it can't be true." Elizabeth said.
"Well, most children don't think like you. Your brain is wired in a special way and only a small percentage of the population thinks like you." Mark said in a warm tone.
"I can't tell if special refers to stupidity or intelligence." Elizabeth said.
"Let me ask you, the equations you did in class, were they hard?" Mark asked.
"No, they were simple addition and subtraction." Elizabeth responded.
"Okay, did it look like the other students were having a hard time with it?" Mark asked as he motioned for her to understand something. Elizabeth thought back for a moment.
"Well, yeah, now that I think about it..." Elizabeth said as she continued to think about it. "Wait, am I supposed to have as much difficulty as them?!" Elizabeth asked in surprise. Mark nodded as he chuckled.
"See, you're smart, much smarter than your class, plus you already know English, so it'll be easy for you to speak it, and you learned some basic writing portions of English as well." Mark said.
"Do you mean that other children can only speak Japanese?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not quite, it's just that you are one of the few children that know multiple languages at your age. How many can you speak again?" Mark asked.
"Erm, I think mom said I can fluently say words in Chinese, Japanese, English, French, and Russian, but what does that have to do with anything?" Elizabeth asked in response.
"That's five, most children can only speak one language, and maybe one or two words in a different language, likely with an accent though." Mark said as they pulled into their driveway.
"Accent?" Elizabeth asked. Mark got out of the car and opened Elizabeth's door.
"An accent is a certain way of saying your syllables, one example of an accent would be the word your, often Americans and British English speakers will pronounce it similarly, but in some parts of Scotland they say yer instead." Mark explained as he picked up Elizabeth.
"So it's like how sometimes I'll say no one way and then say it another way later." Elizabeth said as they walked inside. Mark nodded.
"Yes, you see, you grew up in a family that is originally from the U.K. and grew up around Americans, so sometimes you'll say something with a British accent and other times with an American accent." Mark said as he set Elizabeth down and headed to the kitchen. "I'll have to fix your dress later..." Mark mumbled to himself.
Elizabeth went and changed into pajamas, considering her dress was all messed up. She folded her dress neatly and half an hour later left her room to eat. After she finished eating, she went to her room and went to sleep.
In the morning, Elizabeth started her usual routine and noticed something strange in the mirror as she got dressed. She looked closely at her hair and noticed the roots have started to change color. "Father!" Elizabeth yelled. Soon after Mark came running in.
"What's wrong?" Mark asked after seeing Elizabeth is fine. Elizabeth pointed to her hair. Mark looked closely and noticed her hair had changed. "Your hair is becoming purple...?" Mark mumbled with a confused tone.
"Why is part of my hair purple, it was brown yesterday!" Elizabeth asked as she freaked out. Mark looked at her hair a bit longer and concluded his investigation.
"I have no idea why your hair color is changing..." Mark said. Elizabeth looked up.
"A-are you sure? What if it is something dangerous, or a warning sign?" She asked.
"I'll ask the doctor about it, don't worry, you'll be fine." Mark said with a reassuring tone of voice. Mark left the room and Elizabeth, who was just about finished getting dressed, began to brush her hair with a worrisome expression.
After ten minutes Elizabeth left her room and headed to the table, where she sat and ate her food. Mark looked at Elizabeth. "The doctor said that in all documented cased of your condition, after progressing to the third stage your hair will begin to change color." Mark said. Elizabeth looked at Mark with a confused expression.
"But, aren't I only in the second stage?" Elizabeth asked.
"The first stage stunts your growth, the second causes a burning sensation on your skin, the third causes the same sensation to seep into your bones." Mark said.
"I, um... I did feel a sensation similar to what happens beneath my skin." Elizabeth said as she fidgeted a little. "I forgot to, um... Tell you..." Elizabeth said.
"Well... A lot happened, didn't have the chance to tell me, probably forgot to, don't worry." Mark said as he finished his food. After Elizabeth and Mark finished eating they headed to the car. The car ride was mostly in silence as Elizabeth seemed lost in thought.
When Elizabeth left the car Mark mumbled something to himself, though Elizabeth couldn't hear it. Elizabeth walked up to the school and reluctantly opened the doors and headed to her class. Elizabeth sat down and saw no one else was in class yet. She looked at the clock and saw that she was, in fact, twenty minutes early.