"What the hell happened to your eyes Carrie?!"
Moments after Carrie swung open the door, this is what greeted her.
"I don't know," Carrie mumbled as Odessa pushed in."It was like this when I got up." She explained. Carrie stared at the box Odessa had placed on the granite countertop. It was covered in shiny paper and tied with a neat ribbon. "What's this for?" Carrie smiled, remembering how great of a gift giver her bff was. "I swear Carrie, you'd lose your head if it wasn't on your shoulders." Odessa said warmly, while putting her sandy blonde hair in a messy bun. Carrie looked at her, trying to remember the date. " Your birthday, weirdo!" Odessa shoved the gift in Carrie's hands.
Carrie stared at the necklace in her hands. A silver chain with a single charm dangling. It was her mother's; Odessa had found it last year,while going through an old box of treasures the girls had hid back when they were 9. Carrie remembered how mad her mom was when Carrie lost it. Deanna had insisted she was saving it for Carrie's twentieth birthday. Remembering her wishes, Odessa kept it until Carrie turned twenty.
Carrie held the pendant to her heart. It was a rose, simple but beautiful. Also it was a family heirloom. No one was sure how old it was but, when Odessa had gone to get her earrings cleaned, she had it looked at." The guy said it was over 200 years old, but he couldn't tell her where it came from by style." Odessa had told Carrie it must be very strong to be in such good condition, but refused to give it to a museum when the jeweler recommended it.
"So?" Odessa asked, her brown eyes alight with hope. "Do you like it?"
"It's the best present ever." Carrie said, smiling. "Let me clip it on you!" Odessa exclaimed, extremely excited. Carrie spun so her back was facing her friend.
Suddenly a bright light filled the room. Out of the corner of her eyes, Carrie saw fire. "Fire!" She screamed. Odessa grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door. Carrie passed the mirror art she had hanging on her living room wall. "Wait!" Carrie yelled to Odessa, still squeezing her hand. She let go of the wide eyed Odessa and slowly moved closer to the mirror. It was made for decoration, so the warped shards made the image blurry. But what was clear was that she was on fire, and all she felt was a soft warmth. "Carrie, they're wings." Odessa said, still in shock. Carrie observed that the fire formed two elegant wings out of the flames. Carrie glanced at her eyes. They were the same mix matched colour as this morning. She was always drawn to fire, that's why she called herself Phoenix when she had decided Carrie was too plain for superstardom. But this was too weird. Carrie unclipped the necklace, and dropped to the floor, where she sat with her legs folded in a ring of ash.
"What the hell just happened Carrie?" Odessa said and walked slowly to her stunned friend.
Carrie thought back to her mother's tattoo, a rose engulfed in flames, had Deanna knew this would happen?
