Thorns

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A young boy with golden brown hair and two lips like rose petals, a shade of pink painted over them, skips down the hallway. A sunflower perched on his ear as a bright radiance seems to beam off of him. His eyes blue like the rivers shimmering in the sun. He says hello to almost everyone he passes.

His future is as big as his heart. For he, Simon, is the direct son of Mother Nature and will one day take her place as, Father Nature.

Simon skips all the way to his friend, JJ. Today Simon wants to be brave and confront Josh with a gift. Josh, for those who don't know, is the direct son of Death. He arose out of the flames from the fiery pits of hell. 

Meaning, Josh, is a literal devil child. Everyone fears the ghostly Josh. He threatens them at every chance in order to remain alone. He wears all black. A hood is constantly covering his face. His hands are covered with a mysterious blackness.

Simon approaches his slightly younger friend.

"Hi, JJ!" Simon waves.

"Hey, Simon! Who's that for?" JJ points to the flower crown in his hand. Simon's favorite part about nature are the flowers. The boy and flowers have so much in common. Besides the fact he literally blossomed from one of Mother Nature's personal flowers.

"Josh." Simon replies simply. JJ's smile turns to a frown. He squints his starry eyes.

"Why? He's not exactly the friendliest." JJ crosses his arms.

"That doesn't mean I can't be friendly to him. Besides he's intriguing, I'd like to know more about him." Simon answers. Josh is the complete opposite of Simon's persona, and Simon is a curious cat. Well, flower.

"I don't think his ideal gift is a bunch of flowers. He could rip you apart as easily as those flowers." JJ warns.

"But they're carnations. On Earth they're used during funerals so I'm sure he'll like them. Plus they're kind of the color of blood." Simon always puts a lot a thought into making flower crowns. "If you're so sure he won't like it, then maybe you should sink into his dreams and tell me what he likes."

"I can't just walk into his dreams. Besides he probably doesn't even have dreams, just nightmares. I deal with regular happy, crazy dreams." JJ is one of the Sandman's children.

"Very well. Now watch me make another new friend, Jide." Simon strides away full of confidence. He enters Josh's classroom and found him sitting in a chair with his legs crossed on the desk.

"Excuse me, Josh?" Simon taps his shoulder. The dark figure turns revealing it's face. Pale skin with piercing red eyes and black shadows underneath.

"What?" Josh responds sharply but with a tired tone.

"I made you a flower crown." Simon holds out a ring of dull red flowers. A nervous smile, twitching at the corners, of Simon's face. "It's made of carnations."

Josh rested his elbow on the chair and opened his hand. Simon placed his gift in the half-dead boy's hand. Josh glared at it suspiciously before looking back up at Simon.

"Flowers aren't really my thing," Josh says, setting the crown on fire as it quickly turning it to ashes that he blew into the air. "So I would run if I were you, flower boy." he spat.

"Uh, okay. Sure thing." Simon keeps a smile. His eyes dart back and forth as he slowly backs away. After a few steps he turns around and rushes back to JJ who had watched the whole thing.

"Told you it wouldn't work." JJ scoffs. Simon lets out a sigh, slouching slightly. The young boy just wants to be Josh's friend. He doesn't understand why being the embodiment of death means you can't have a pal.
~
Fingers, a rich caramel colour, gently touch the broken leaf of his tiny bonsai tree. Part of the left side had broken off somehow, leaving the edge to rot a dirt brown. As he pressed two fingertips to the leaf, the empty space was soon filled back up with a vibrant green. As if the leaf had never broke.

Vik often gets bored. Especially when his friend, Tobi, decides to show up late. So Vik will do things like find dead parts of his plants and heal them. Healing is his gift after all. Might as well put it to good use.

"Vik I'm sorry I'm late!" Tobi busts into the room. Vik raises an eyebrow at him wanting an explanation. "I forgot my pass at my room and had to go all the way back." he explains.

The virtues each have their own dorm section and each student needs a pass in order to go from one dorm section to another.

"I've been very forgetful lately since tomorrow's our special day." Tobi says giddily. He's so excited for tomorrow because together they turn sixteen, and will be assigned a human to watch over.

"You seem really excited for something that could make or break your life. If you don't pass this you're gonna be stuck here forever." Vik reminds.

"Well, I'm definitely gonna pass. I was made to build friendships. I mean, look at ours!" Tobi exclaims, hugging Vik. "Are you not excited?"

"I am. I'm just afraid I might get some trash kid with evil values." Vik pouts, sitting on his couch.

"Aw, don't worry Vikky. I'm sure they won't give you someone like that. Unless it's something small you have to fix like a broken leg." Tobi reassures.

"Thanks, Tobi." Vik rests his head on his friend's shoulder. After tomorrow, they probably won't see each other as often. They'll be to busy working on their future.