Burn the Flower

Burn The Flower - Short Story

The air is damp and wet as the rain falls on the ruins of the building that used to stand there, lightning strikes the floor and it collapses leaving a gaping hole below. A girl is standing on a bridge, looking over the wreckage. She still looks dry despite the torrential rain pouring down onto the ground around her, extinguishing the fire burning at the ends of the bridge. The girl is holding a flower, it glistens in the moonlight as she steps towards the edge and drops the flower off. A boy walks up behind her and she turns to look at him, he holds out his hand and she takes it, they glance at each other once more before silently falling off the bridge. The world seems to go in slow motion, the boy and the girl look up at the moons above them, before disappearing into the dark abyss below.

Oh! Sorry let me tell the story from the beginning, it all started with me, or maybe I wasn't the one it started with, maybe I was just the first to notice. I woke up on Monday morning, it was late, of course, I swiftly got out of bed and dug through my drawers picking out a plain black shirt and blue jean shorts. "Tesha! I'm going to work! Don't forget to do the washing and empty the dishwasher before you go to school!" my mum called out "Ok mum!" I sat down at my desk and packed my bag, I hissed in pain, when I accidentally cut my finger on the zipper on the bag, bringing my finger up to my face holding it with my hand and looking at it. "Weird" I mumbled, it almost looked...orange... I shrugged "Must be the lighting...". I walked into the bathroom down the hall and pulled a band aid out of the cupboard, sticking it on my finger. I finished getting ready for school and ran down stairs for breakfast, I quickly poured myself some cereal and milk before grabbing my glasses and walked outside. I know what you're thinking; Tesha, what about your school bag? I just told the school system to pull it through. I decided to walk to school that day, my first mistake of the day. On my way to school I helped an elderly lady cross the road, and she gave me a flower that she picked I thanked her and put the flower behind my ear. When I arrived at school I went to my classes as usual, but when I started walking to my third period class a loud bang rang across the school block I was in, it was L block if I remember correctly. I looked around worried and heard a cry, it sounded like "Cain!" I shouted, dropping my things and running towards the sound. Everyone was looking at me, but I didn't care, my usual social anxiety dropping away. I ran down a corridor and saw Cain, my best friend leaning against the wall with his hand over his stomach. "Cain?" I repeated quietly, he looked up at me, his face contorted in pain. I sat down next to him and wrapped my arms around him "It's ok" he looked at me and leaned his head against my shoulder, "...It's ok..." I said again. Cain nodded and his eyes began to close as I hugged him, a single tear rolling down my cheek, I wiped it away not wanting to cry in front of him. "Night Cain..." I whispered "See you in the morning Tesha" he said back, his voice was raspy "...yeah...see you then" at some point Cain's body relaxed but I continued holding him. About half an hour later a boy walked up to us and sat next to me, looking at the wall across from us "The Police are here, we should probably go" he said, I looked at him "I'm Eclipse" he said holding a hand out, I looked at it, before removing my arm from Cain's body and shaking Eclipse's hand "Tesha". We both sat with Cain for what felt like hours, when the stench of smoke filled my nostrils, and my back and head started stinging in immense pain. It felt as though a spear was digging it's self out of my shoulder blades, I saw the same thing was happening to Eclipse. The last thing I saw, was a huge fire building it way up the walls of the hallway.

Fire, Chaos, Cain, and...Eclipse? I blinked and my eyes forced themselves open, I was still in my school hallway. The fire was burning everything, I looked around for Cain and Eclipse, and saw Eclipse stirring while Cain lay limp on the floor. I sighed, a tear rolling down my face walking over to Eclipse and shook him awake "Eclipse" I hissed before coughing my lungs trying to get all the smoke out. I suddenly jumped back when Eclipse moved, there were two things sticking out of his back, I looked around and noticed that I had them too. I tried to move them, and they opened, I gasped "They're...wings?" but they weren't those angelic bird wings you see in stories; those are stupid, really impossible. No, they were bat-like, they had crimson scales running along the 'stem' I guess you could call it, the main wing part, that would allow me to be air born, was and even darker colour, but it seemed to be mixed with a pinkish colour. I felt a sharp pain on my leg and looked down to see the fire was spreading, and quickly. I ran over to Eclipse and pulled him up, he immediately bolted awake. He went wide eyed when he saw me but I held a finger up and pointed at the fire. He nodded and we ran away from the fire as its flames licked our feet. After we had run for a few minutes I saw the bridge that led to the city and we ran towards it. The school was below the bridge so we had to get up there somehow. I looked behind me panicked, but I saw my wings and looked up and the bridge and pointed to Eclipse, he nodded and I flexed my wings. Everything felt weird and new, but I knew I had to try. I opened my wings and jumped in the air pushing them down, and it worked! I pulled them back up and down again. I didn't have time to marvel in this though, I managed to fly up to the bridge and landed on the top. I became aware that it was raining, but the water evaporated before it hit my skin. I took the flower the lady had given me, out of my hair and held it in my hands looking over the burning school. The floor underneath the school suddenly collapsed and the whole block of land disappeared into the land below, but for some reason, I wasn't surprised at all. The flower started to shrivel in my hands and I stepped towards the edge and dropped the Pink hibiscus over the edge, watching in slow motion as it fell down into the Land Below, glistening in the light of the moons. Yes, the moons.

The girl turned to the boy, "So Eclipse, are you ready?" she asked him, unlike her, the boy was soaked, the scales across his cheeks shining in the rain. The scales across the girl's face were a crimson/pink colour, she smiled at the boy and he looked at her silently and held his hand out. The girl took it and they stepped to the edge.

This isn't the end of the world, we're resilient. This isn't the apocalypse, that only happens in stories. This is the Transition, the changing of worlds and species. You're strong, never forget that.

-Tesha Nox

Word count: 1330 

A/N

Heyy guys! So I had to write this for my english class, but I ended up really liking it, so I wrote the whole thing. Sorry it isn't proof read :/ and I had a word limit so the end is a bit rushed, sorry :/ I hope you enjoyed it anyway though! :3 and I'll see you later! Byyyyeeeeeeeee

-Indigo