“Rose, are you even listening to me?” Andi said as she flipped her hair. The way she had it done, curled and pulled back with a silver headband, her short black hair made her look just like a model. Even with an annoyed face and no makeup, she still looked amazing and that just made me want to be super sarcastic to her. I knew I wasn’t the best at being sarcastic but I could still do it.
“No. I’m just counting unicorns.” Okay, so I sucked at being sarcastic. I could see Andi’s green eyes roll and I knew that I was digging myself a big ditch.
“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Ry walked over to us, looking cool and collected; as usual. His blonde hair was windblown and for some reason, that just made him look even cooler.
“Rose has failed a math quiz and now I have to tutor her but she won’t even pay attention! Rythian, please save me from this torment!” Andi began to run towards him but Ry, being himself, stepped out of the way and sent her flying right past him.
“I thought she would learn by now but apparently she can’t.” I leaned back on the tree right behind me and looked to the sky. The sky was speckled with fluffy clouds and I could tell it was going to rain. “What are you even doing here?”
“I’m ditching a dinner with the parents.” He said it like it was a normal thing and sadly, it was. Ry and his parents didn’t really get along. His views were way too different from theirs for them to see eye to eye.
I stood up and walked to a rose bush. The roses were dark red and the plant was a healthy green with thorns ready to attack anyone who tried to destroy it. I grabbed the largest and prettiest rose, not even trying to avoid the thorns, and took my pocket knife out. With one swift motion, I cut off the rose and put the knife back. I stuck the rose behind my ear and turned towards my friends. The rose itself matched me perfectly.
“Wow, it suits you.” Andi walked up to me and stopped at Ry, who was about 2 feet away from me. “I mean, even the color of the rose matches your hair and the stem is like an exact replica of your eyes!”
I smiled and slightly blushed as my twin complemented my flower. I turned and headed towards my house, motioning to Andi to use this time to get close to her crush. I didn’t even have to look to know that she was already dragging him off to do some random thing with her.
As I walked the two mile walk to my house from the park, I looked back on the past. I giggled as I remembered how Andi and I met my best friend, Rythian or as I liked to call him, Ry. It was my first day at this school and at the time, I was too shy for my own good. Andi had already made an amazing introduction and I was dreading my own. I slowly walked to the podium and as I began talking, Ry stormed through the door; completely cutting me off and making my day.
It’s been almost a year since that day and my relationship with Ry and Andi had grown so much. My shyness had almost disappeared and I was on mostly good terms with all of the teachers. Life was pretty good, at least; that’s what I thought.
About a month ago, Andi started acting weird. She was really closed off and never said anything to anyone. It had me really worried so I went to Ry to go and figure out what I was supposed to do. Sadly, I came into his house at the wrong time. He was dressed in a midnight blue tuxedo and his hair was black, shocking me to an unknown level. At first, I thought it wasn’t him but as I took a closer look at what he was doing; it was most defiantly him. Being a predictable person, I hid and ran. At home, I looked him up and sure enough; a midnight suited man showed up. His name was “Midnight Death” and he was an infamous thief. At first, I was heartbroken. How could he hide something like this from me? Was I not his best friend or did he not have any trust in me at all?! I was crushed and I didn’t take it well.
I stayed quiet for about 3 weeks, as in I didn’t talk to anyone, until Andi began acting normal again. I would have been happy but at the same time Andi became “normal”, a new criminal had appeared in town. Her name was “Obsidiana.” That one fact alone was enough to get me suspicious. So, I started spying on her; tracking her every move without her realizing. Soon, I caught her as “Obsidiana” and I knew what I now had to do. I kept it a secret. It was Ry all over again and once again, I was crushed. So, I became depressed. I stayed depressed for about a month and even now, I still haven’t gotten over it.

Finished with my walk, I entered my small house and went into my room. I grabbed a brush and looked at it with a smile. I remembered the day I found the brush and what it could do. It was right after I found out Andi was the “Obsidiana”. I was running home when I tripped over something and fell flat on my face. I looked back and my mood plummeted when I saw I tripped over a brush. Picking up the brush, I noticed a scrape on my elbow. While examining the injury; the brush accidently touched my hair and without me knowing, turned my hair black. It was when I got home that I noticed. Ever since then, I’ve cleaned the brush to oblivion and I’ve been using it.
I carefully brushed through all of my hair with the brush, thinking about blonde hair the entire time. When I was all finished, all of my hair was a vibrant blonde. I then put my hair up in a high ponytail and made sure it was tight. Smiling, I walked over to my closet and took out a completely red outfit. I stuck the rose I found earlier through the hair right behind my ear to secure it and put on the outfit. Satisfied with my look, I did a mini twirl in front of the mirror and blew a kiss to my imaginary crowd of fans. Having an overactive imagination wasn’t something new for me, more like an everyday thing.
As much as I loved my green eyes, they didn’t fit my alter ego. Humming as I sat down on the stool and got out my color contacts, I checked around me to see if anyone was home or spying on me. Luckily, I didn’t sense anyone around; which made things really easy for me. I carefully placed the contacts in my eyes and blinked about a couple hundred thousand times.
I remembered the first time I put on my outfit and contacts. It was right after I found out my twin was “Obsidiana” and when I say right after, I mean right after. I ran to my room after she had left and threw on a red shirt and jeans that I dyed red, not the best dye job but it didn’t suck. I used a piece of red cloth to hide my eyes and the magic brush I just found turned my hair blonde. With my hair in a high ponytail and my new makeshift hero suit, I jumped out the window and crashed down into the tree below my window. Crashing into trees wasn’t exactly the best way to start your hero career but it still happened. It made me a little sad to find out I had tree branches in my hair so I quickly fixed my hair and clothes and jumped onto the ledge that was conveniently placed near the tree. Using all of my strength, I leaped onto the closest ledge on my house and then back onto the next ledge on my neighbor’s house. Out of breath and ready to crawl in bed, I launched myself onto my roof and almost fell. Gaining your balance when you’re tired isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do and I was super clumsy so I ended up falling halfway off of the roof. I scrambled to regain my balance as I threw roofing tiles off of my roof, knowing that if my parents ever found out; I would be grounded until I was 80. By the time I got past my neighborhood via roof, I thought my lungs were going to explode. Still, I had to make it to the jewelry store three blocks away and if I kicked anymore roofing tiles off, people were going to hate me instead of think I was a hero. This job took courage and so I gathered all of the courage I had and sprinted across the rooftops, still kicking off tiles. Once I had made it to the store, “Obsidiana” was already there. Part of me said to just let her get away with jewels but I was stupid and jumped down in front of her. The response I got for my heroic jump was a nice punch to the face, which was my last straw. I went crazy, yelling at her about how I had faced many dangers to get here and I wasn’t going to get cut down that easily. I punched her in the nose, snapping it, and round house kicked her in the head. Once she was on the ground, I was ready to become a hero and finally become someone; not what happened. The police surrounded me and started claiming that I was the criminal! So, I ran. One of the many things I had done that day. Ever since then, I have been head to head with the police and thieves. Needless to say, no one really liked me.
Standing up, I took one last look in the mirror. My new blonde hair slightly swayed and my crimson eyes stood out like rubies. I got rid of the mask when I bought color contacts. Ironically, that was also the day I ended my depression. It made me feel like I was a new me. My body fit into the outfit like it was made for me, which it was. I had it custom tailored a week after I become a “hero”. I walked over to the window and stood on the windowsill. My body relaxed and I leaned forward, falling off of my 4th story window. As I fell, I reminded myself who I was. I was Rose, the clumsy high schooler. I was a student by day, hero by night. I was the one who was friends with the enemy.
I was the “Crimson Flame”. The one whose fire burned bright, even when there is no fuel or light. Even if my “Crimson Flame” and “Obsidiana” and “Midnight Death” are all enemies; Andi, Ry, and I will always be friends.