Our Superheroes

The Briar that Beat the Rose

Year 1994

Briar had always been extraordinarily beautiful. Even as a teenager when she was going through growth-spurts and dealing with acne, – which she never had – beauty had always come naturally to her. She was also extremely intelligent and talented. By the age of twelve she could play Bach cello suite no. 1 and do advanced physics. Briar never boasted though. Not about her intelligence nor her skill or her beauty. But the reason for this was because of one of Briar's few flaws. She hated herself and everything she did and was. She believed that she didn't deserve praise or compliments. She believed she wasn't worthy to boast or to show-off. Briar believed that she was meant to be a nobody with no hope of becoming anybody. She always altered her looks, personality, voice and brain so that no one can change any more than she has changed herself. No one could help her now. She was too far gone. Too far into the process of self-loathing and too far gone to see her true beauty and not just the type on the outside but on the inside.

She was just another broken toy.

Her whole family had come from Germany to America because everyone they knew – which wasn't very many people – who had been there, loved it, and Briar's parents had thought that maybe a change of scenery would help her self-confidence. Briar was just about to turn fourteen when they moved so she was going through a whole teenager phase but it wasn't a good one. Briar had become more and more annoyed with how she looked and would claim that she was fat even though it was coming close to being able to see her ribs. She had become anorexic by this point and her future wasn't looking too bright. After she turned fifteen everything stopped. She had changed her voice, changed her shape, changed her clothes and her hair and her skin. She had gone from pale white to tan. From dark, almost black, hair to light brown-sugar coloured hair. From thin to thinner than from thinner back to thin. From black goth wear to pale pink singlets, to pale blue and white sweaters and button-up tops. From a thick German accent to an American accent. She was finally done with changing. This was not the same Briar that had stepped out onto that tarmac a year ago this was the new and slightly improved Briar. When Briar reached the age of sixteen she studied and wrote in her room most of the time hoping to improve her mental capabilities. She also did a little bit of Ballet because she wanted to improve her strength but not in a weightlifter kind of way.

One day when she came home from school and things started changing again. She stepped into the flat to see a dark-skinned boy sitting on the sofa across from the two armchairs that her parents sat in. They all turned to look at her and her mother smiled gently.

"Briar, darling," She said in a thick accent. "Come have a seat." Briar looked at them all then dumped her bag at the door, walked over and sat next to the dark-skinned boy.

"Briar, we'd like you to meet your new brother Luke." Briar looked at the boy a moment, he looked about nine.

"I'm sorry?"

"We have been trying to adopt for a while now but if it didn't work out we didn't want another thing for you to worry about."

"It still would have been nice to know." She stuck out her hand to him. "Pleasure."

"Same to you." He said in a quiet voice.

"Why don't you two go to the comic bookstore down the street, get to know each other a bit, while me and your father set up Luke's room." Briar' s mother said. Briar nodded. She stood up and turned back to see he was still sitting on the couch.

"Come on." She said holding her hand out to him. He stood up and then held her hand as they walked to the comic bookstore.

When they finally reached it there was a neon sign hung on the door that said "OPEN" in big words. Briar pushed the door open and a bell rang as they entered. The sudden rush of noise and cool air was nice to experience. She looked down at her new brother who scanned his surrounding anxiously.

"What kind of comics do you like?" Briar asked him to make him less nervous.

"Heroes." He spluttered.

"Well let's start there." He nodded and Briar dragged him to the section labelled heroes. He let go of her hand and she started looking for a comic book herself. A geeky looking employee walked past. He had Flamey-orange hair and a face covered with freckles and a pair of large glasses.

"Excuse me." She said to him as he was just about to enter the backroom. He turned and smiled at her. He had a name tag that said 'Tony'.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for a comic about a hero called 'The Phantom'?"

"Yeah just this way." The employee called Tony lead her to the end of the aisle and picked up a comic with the character known as 'The Phantom' sprawled across the top. "This, now this one is my personal favourite. I would totally recommend it." He handed her the comic.

She smiled at him, "Thanks." She replied.

"No problem. Shout out if you need help with anything else." He smiled back and started to head off towards the back again.

"Will do." She called after him. She walked back towards Luke and found him browsing through a Flash comic. "You want that one." She nodded to the comic and he looked up stunned to see her standing there. He nodded. "Well I'll buy it for you." She said.

"You don't have to I'll borrow it off someone." He said.

"No. It's too late. I've already made up my mind." She said smiling and holding up the money. He giggled and handed the comic to her.

"Thanks." He said, sheepishly. She paid for the comic. The man at the stand had cropped brown hair, broad shoulders and muscled arms. His name tag read 'Antony'. She handed both comics to him. He smiled as he looked at the Phantom comic.

"Did Tony lead you onto this. He's always going on about how this is the best comic and that I should read, well everyone should read it." He shook his head still smiling. "The Flash." He looked at Luke and turned the comic to him. "This one yours?" Luke nodded. "Spoiler alert: It's amazing." Antony said in a whispery voice. Luke laughed. Antony put both comics in a plastic bag then picked up two flyers and handed one to each of them. "A comic book club is starting up I hope to see you both on Saturday morning."

"Thanks." Briar said. "You wanna hold the bag." She held out the bag towards Luke. He nodded then took the bag and her hand and they walked out of the store. Finally, like this was what younger Briar had been waiting for, she finally felt complete. Holding her little brother's hand while walking down the street. Not her adopted brother. Her brother.

And life continues on.