Chosen

Acid Flowers

That word flashed through my brain all through LIT, making it hard to focus. At one point, I must have dozed off, because the next thing I know, I hear an extremely loud voice by me.

"What's your name, girl?" I open my eyes to find myself face-to-face with Chad. I nearly jump out of my seat.

"Scarlet." i say, stifling a yawn. Chad raises his eyebrows at me. He's so close, I can smell something that vaguely smells like alcohol on his breath.

"Sorry." I mumble. "Scarlet, sir" He seems satisfied enough so he returns pacing the isles, looking for someone to report. So instead of reading my extremely boring book called History and everything you need to know about WWII. So I looked at the front of the book. I looked at the bottom and let out a gasp in surprise.

Written at the bottom, in a fancy font was the name of the Author, Chaddeth Albert Crimsington. I giggled despite myself and Alex curiously glanced my direction. the familiar feel of blush crept to my cheeks and I turned to page 10. I read the first paragraph and got bored.

"During WWII, Nazis and the German party roamed the streets, looking for their next prey. It was intense like a game of cat and mouse. The war resulted in over 50 million deaths of army members and innocent civilians. Adolf Hitler was finally caught on April 22nd, 1945"

Blah, blah, blah. Alex leaned over and whispered, "This book is quite something right. I find it very interesting that our country participated in that."

I gaped at him, until he smiled and laughed. "I'm just kidding, luv. Honestly, this is the most boring book I have ever read."

I giggled and said, "Shh!!" but I was unable to keep the smile off my face, causing him to smile and say, "You know, Scarlet, you have a very beautiful smile." I searched his face to see if he was joking, but all I saw was him staring intently into my eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the bell rang, Alex stopped me in the hallway. He said, "Ya know what I am thinking, luv? I say we go and ditch. There's a place that I want to show you."

I giggled, "Well, I have to do homework..." I started to say, but seeing the hunger for adventure in his eyes, I said, "You know what, screw homework, lets go!" He smiled and we raced each other to his black convertible.

I beat him there, and panting, I say. "I win!!" He laughs and hops into the driver's seat. I get into the passenger seat and pulled out my sunglasses.

We speed down the highway, exceeding the limit. I was gripping the seat so hard my knuckles were turning white. We passed the beach, the Hollywood sign, all the places that I thought we'd be going.

As if reading my mind (or just the disappointed look on my face) he said, "Another time, luv." Right now, there's a very... well.. um... nice place we can go and grab some lunch."

I was mentally protesting, but when I heard my stomach growl, I dropped the subject. About an hour later, we pulled up to what looked like a deserted power plant. I looked to Alex for some explanation, but all he said was, "You'll get used to the smell" and just like that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into it with him.

He was walking pretty fast, so I had to run to catch up to him. He was gazing at all the stuff, as if he'd never been here before.

I don't get scared very easily, but let me tell you, that place gave me the creeps. So when I heard a tiny little groan from one of the tanks, I yelped and fell into Alex's arms. When I felt him laughing, I let go and dusted myself off. (and regained what was left of my dignity)

But Alex just smiled. "Did you bring me hear just so I'd get scared and come crawling into your arms?" I ask, trying to be serious.

He puts his hands up in surrender. "Never!" He fakes looking shocked at such an accusation. "I just thought you'd wanna see that." He says indicating to something behind me. I turn around and the retort I was about to say got caught in my breath. I was vaguely aware that Alex said, "Honestly luv, you need to loosen up."

But I could not answer because what I saw sent chills down to my bones, and my breath whooshed away from me. Because what I saw was an entire field, for miles and miles, was dead roses, crumbling to the ground. And running through the field was a river. A river that was unmistakably filled with dead bodies, much like the roses.