The Roses

Chapter Three

Not registering what was being said, I sat up, numb. Looking around at the faces of the Roses, Mr. Maroon, and a strange new boy. Then suddenly,  what happened caught up with me and I started bawling. Burying my face in my hands, my body shudders and convulses with the intensity of my sobs.

Removing my hands from my face I see black tears filled with glistening rainbows on the surface, like when oil engine is spilled on water. My chest is tight making it hard to breath and snot is pouring out of my nose, no doubt making me look like Mucus Niagara Falls.

Trying to speak in this state, "S-s-s-she- I couldn't- I-" I stuttered looking at everyone wildly, hair whipping around my head. In my hysteria I didn't notice that is was no longer in a braid and incredibly short.

The white haired boy had silently moved away and stood next to Mr. Maroon with his arms crossed over his chest. He kept a blank straight face, nothing about him expressed any emotion. Alicianna moves to sit next to me, offering me a handkerchief with an orange sun embroidered in one of the corners. I stared at it absently studying the embroidery. It looked like she'd hand stitched it, it was beautiful.

"Use it to wipe your eyes, Sun Spot," she gently moved my hand holding the cloth to my face. I robotically moved the cloth removing the black tears. Regrettably, it ended up staining her pretty handkerchief and I started crying again realised I'd destroyed another of the few beauties this world had left. The tears still ran black.

"Don't cry, we are Roses! Remember?" Vaera's bubbly voice floated to me. I looked over to her and saw her grinning while flexing her arm muscles, I couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"Now, would you care to tell us what you saw?" Maroon raised an eyebrow at me.

It felt like I'd been dowsed in ice water, my jaw dropped. Alicianna hugged me gently from the side, softly she rubbed my arms up and down in an attempt to resoothe me.

My stutter returned, "I-I c-couldn't  s-save her," I shook my head squeezing my eyes shut hoping that if I pressed them together enough the image of her floating in the water shredded to ribbons would be squished into nonexistence, "I KILLED her! If I'd just stopped and thought..." I was drowning in the memory.

With stern eyes on the white haired boy, "Dark, I think you need to explain yourself," his face darkened, "You used too much power and this is definitely not what we discussed," his eyes hard.

I watch the boy slowly, but purposefully make his way to me. Then suddenly like a bold of lightning it finally hit me who he was. He was the Thorn, our leader, he was Dark. He wore a pair of black converse, black fitted jeans, and one of those weird hoodie shirts. The thin ones than have the pouch pocket, hood, and no sleeves. It was a deep navy blue. He had on a necklace too, dangling from a leather cord was a black and grey ball. It was like a marble with coloured water in it, except the colours never actually mixed. They were in an infinite dance of unfurling colour. His violet eyes were cold when our eyes finally met. He was handsome, in that predatory way that someone might find a panther beautiful.

He stopped just in front of me and Alicianna scrambled away. Her reaction made my chest tighten further, "Are you alright?" A cool voice asked, it took me a moment to realise that the noise came from his moving lips. Then it was like a volcano erupted.

"Am I alright?" I started softly parroting his question, "Am I alright!?" I screamed jumping to my feet and getting in his face. I was screaming up at him considering the several inch height difference, but that didn't stop me, "No I am not alright! I just watched a woman die and she died because of me! On top of that I was torn apart by some type of-of-of beast!" This time my stutter was from trying to find the correct word to describe those horrid creatures, "I don't even know how I'm standing here whole and unharmed when my flesh was literally eviscerated and my limbs were pulled from my body like a grape from a vine. I also don't know why none of you are acting in the urgency of the situation, that woman needs avenging or at the very least those monsters need to be eliminated so that no one else gets hurt!" I finally run out of breathe and I close my hands into fists to keep them from shaking. Tears of anger rolled down my cheeks.