"Roses & Thorns" by Jessica D. McCollam

Rose

A faerie with red hair and eyes of dusk found her adventure in the small town of Utopia in late September. She is called Kira. She was taken in by the mayor and adopted as the town mascot. She wandered the streets of this small town for weeks, and never once did she see a person cry, frown, or scowl. Everyday where ever she went she could hear the soft humming of magick. Her thoughts were disturbed by the thornless roses and trees that still had leaves, even though it had been snowing for three weeks.

On the twenty-second day of her stay Kira went sledding with the children.

"Kira!" A blond boy yelled, "come push us."

"Coming." Kira's voice rant out like soft bells. She ran to the top of the hill and hopped onto the sled with three little boys. Kira fluttered her wings giving them speed and lifting them off the hill frequently. The little boys screamed as they flew down.

The sled hit a boulder and two giggling boys flipped to the powdery ground laughing so hard tears froze the ground to ice. The other boy slammed his head into the boulder and sat up with a smile. Even though the boulder has slashed his forehead, there was not blood or cut

Kira slid across the ground past a single rose and cut her hand. She slowly sat up and saw the small red circle. She crawled back to the rose and found two thorns still present. She could feel the innocence of an nature, and the humming of magick was gone.

"Kira, are you okay?" A young voice came from behind her.

"Yeah, but I'm going to stay out here for a while. Tell your father I'll be in later. Now go on home before you get cold."

"Okay."

Kira stared at the rose and knew one thing, the rose was the last hope in the beauty of illusions. It was the only thing that had kept it's true form. It had beauty and thorns of a rose. The faerie wrapped her blue wings around the rose. Kira knew the rose had to survive the winter or she'd fall under the spell too. Without her Utopia was doomed.

She kneeled there as the sun fell and only the stars watched her and the snow. The mayor skipped and fell beside her as the sky turned pink.

"Good morning, did you have a nice night. Of course you did, Fairies never did good indoors. I should have realized that sooner. Do you wish for some breakfast?"

"No." Kira didn't look up.

The mayor glanced down, "Oh what a beautiful flower," His hand slowly crept down to tear the rose out.

"NO!" Kira spun and hit the mayor with her wings. He went flying backwards and landed two hundred feet away with a laugh, "How fun.'

"Please just leave me alone for a while. I will come in when I want to. Until then I will be fine out here. I promise you." Kira's voice became a whisper.

"I have no doubt in your judgement. I will tell the children to leave you be for now. Good bye dear." The mayor skipped back to his house on the hill.

Kira resumed her vigil around the rose. Many nights and days came to pass. It soon became February. Kira's wings had frozen solid and the ice slowly drifted up her back. The children came everyday to ask her to play, but she just smiled and said, "Maybe tomorrow, maybe."

The sunset one night in late February. Kira looked up at the stars, remembering how as a child she had name every single one of them. There was Sun Blossom, Blue Orb, and Little White Dot. She began to cry and wish that she was back home, back in the warmth of her lands. A place where snow was just a fairy tale and her wings would never freeze.

She closed her eyes to these memories and felt herself slowly falling asleep. As sleep captured her mind, death captured her body. The ice had made its way up to her spine. Her body fell forward, crushing and killing the rose. The magick had free rein over the whole town then. Just two days before the temperatures began to warm up and sustain true life.