“I love you!”

“Don’t give me that crap!”

“Why would I lie?! Jo, please come back!”

I didn’t want to listen to him. I knew he was lying.

“Josephine!”

I kept walking, digging my fingernails into my palms.

I wasn’t fair. We couldn’t be what other people were. I loved him, but how was I supposed to work around this?

“Josephine!” He grabbed my arms and spun me around to face him.

My curls bounced in my face, and he gently brushed them aside. I forced away hot, angry tears.

“Jo, I love you, but your powers are strong. And they scare me.”

I knew I was dangerous. I just wanted to be normal. I wanted to be with him without hurting him.

“Jo...”

I forced back a sob and he hugged me. “Don’t worry, we will figure this out.”

“I should have never gone down that rabbit hole.”

I didn’t realize at the time she literally meant it. I had assumed it involved her relationship with that guy.

I hated him. He was untrustworthy, not loyal, and just all around terrible. But Rusty (as I had nicknamed her) had a knack for getting into trouble, especially with guys.

“Yeah... he was terrible.” I said, glad they weren’t together anymore. They hadn’t lasted a week, but I hated him the moment we met.

I was protective of her, and wished she hadn’t dated him. At least it was over.

“What?” She asked. “What are you talking about?”

“The same thing you were?” I responded, frowning at her.

“Wait.. so you weren’t talking about the fact we both fell down a rabbit hole the other night?” Rusty’s eyes widened.

“Of course not. Rusty, cmon, stop being dumb.”

“Theo. I’m serious. You don’t remember?”

“Rusty, you know I work Friday nights.”

I watched her face grow pale, and she suddenly grew very anxious. “Then who was with me when I fell down the rabbit hole?”

He stumbled through the woods, legs and arms being ripped open by the rose bush thorns.

He had to get home, now now now. He had been out far too long, and the trees grew restless. The groaned and creaked, trying to wake up their master.

He cursed and he tumbled down a ditch, quickly pulling himself up. The horrendous sounds of barking dogs and shrieking horses grew louder as they gained. As the trees thinned, he could see his house, despite the darkness. He charged forward as fast as he could, pushing himself through the front door and locking it behind him.

A sigh of relief was breathed into the silence. Wait... silence?

He looked up from where he stood, realizing all too quickly the barrier had been broken.

And his family... was one of them now.

“We weren’t supposed to kill him!”

The silence of the ward is spilt as a whisper shook me out of my slumber. Someone was clearly distressed.

The bed I was laying in had a small nightstand next to it, and the space was enclosed with a neat white curtain.

The patient next to me sounded incredibly upset.

And based on what they were saying, I began to grow upset as well.

I determined the voice was that of a woman. Young, maybe even a teenager.

“Please. Let me go!” She whined.

I held my breath, leaned to the far end of my bed, just to hear better. “Stop! Stop!”

I was practically falling off the bed.

“Let me go! Please!” She was crying.

Silence falls, and then, “He’s dead! You killed him!”

I was trying to think rationally here, perhaps she was in an accident. Maybe she got caught between a gang fight. I didn’t want to assume she was involved in something horrible.

“We weren’t supposed to kill him.”

That’s it. That’s all I needed to hear for my instincts to tell me something was very wrong.

My sleuthing was interrupted by a nurse sliding through the curtain.

“Sir?” She asked, giving me a funny look. I realize that I was hanging off the edge of the bed. I quickly righted my position.

“Ma’am, what can you tell me about that patient?”

She sighed. “Nothing, HIPPA prevents me from talking about to a person who isn’t a doctor.”

I stared at the nurse. “Ma’am, she’s been talking in her sleep.”

The nurse formed her lips into a thin line. She lowered her voice. “They will pay you.”

“They?” I echoed.

“Her guardians. They payed the hospital a large sum to keep quiet, and they offered money to any patient who hears anything... questionable.”

I was shocked. This hospital was being bribed into silence.

“I don’t need money.” I said flatly. I wasn’t sure if was going to keep quiet either.

The nurse nodded. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

I watched her leave.

Bribery.

Works like a charm.

The air around me grows still. I watch in horror as her body crumples to the ground.

And suddenly I’m screaming.

The explosive sound of the shot rings through the night air.

I can’t make out any other sound. I can see my brother crouching over her. And he’s screaming, and I’m screaming, and all I hear is the deafening sound of shots ringing out.

I feel strong arms pull me out of the range of fire, a fellow officer has pulled me back. But I want him to let go, I want to make sure she is okay.

I know she isn’t though.

The funeral was awful. I had to maintain some sort of composure as they lowered her casket into the ground.

My brother can hardly stand, a mix of the bullet wounds to his legs and the crushing grief and memory.

I have to be strong for him.

I support him as best I can.

But I’m so weak.

She was like a sister.

We’re in his room hours later, he’s slumped over on the floor. I sit beside him. His hands fiddle with a small silver ring.

A few words send my heart to my throat.

“I was going to marry her.”

That’s all it takes to send him into another sobbing fit. I hold him tightly. I take a shaky breath in.

Because she’s dead. Her beautiful dark skin, her bright smile. She loved the color yellow. She loved the ocean and she loved cats.

And she was dead.

It was a miscommunication. She worked on the police force with my brother and I- that’s how they met.

The officers were instructed to fire upon a gang threatening to bomb a local school.

They were misinformed of the proper location and ended up firing on us instead.

4 injured, 2 dead.

I fought the grief building in my throat.

I blamed myself. As my brother fell to bits in my arms, I raised my head to the sky and found myself praying this was a nightmare.

I never woke up from it though.

The plush red and gold lining of this room is almost dizzying.

I drink in the deliciousness of my surroundings. Gorgeous velvet curtains drawn back with golden tassels drape in front of a massive window looking out to a forest that stretches for miles.

The train rolls along slowly, the grey steam slightly visible through the window.

I take a seat. Inspect the room.

“Look for two roses.” His command whispers in my thoughts.

There are no visible roses in the room.

I sigh, lean back. It was a very vague statement. No other instructions, just look for 2 roses.

Moments later, a woman enters the room.

She is incredibly striking. Her thick black hair is done up, she wears a red hat with a single rose.

I wonder if she is what- or whom I am looking for or if this is merely coincidence. She smiled at me, takes a seat, and removes her hat.

I eye the rose, deciding this is probably coincidence.

We sit in silence for a while before she opens her hand bag, removes a notepad and a pen.

A pen with a rose on it.

Bingo.

She began to write, what I’m not sure.

Finally I speak up. “I like your pen.”

She looks at me, pale skin a contrast to her red lips. “Thank you sir, a friend gifted it to me.”

I nod, then again speak up. “May I inquire as to the name of this friend?” She smiles again. “Lamb.”

That’s the code word. I give her a grin. This is whom I am supposed to meet. Though I believe my boss forgot to mention the she herself in a rose.

So dainty, yet there is something about her. Something guarding secrets. Like a thorn.

She says something that snaps me out of my transfixed thoughts.

“What name do you go by, if I may ask?”

I answer my code name. “Hawk. Mr. Hawk.”

That seems to be enough for her. “It appears we were both set out to find each other. She offers me her hand. I shake it.

“Pleasure to meet you Mr. Hawk. For now, you may call me Ms. Willow.”

I nod, smile a bit. Phase one, complete.

“The sky is blood!”

He screams and rushes to me, little hands gripping my thighs. I try not to laugh.

“The sky is blood?” I echo.

“Yes.”

I smile.

My brother Eli has the wildest imagination. Most nights he sleeps in my bed for fear of unknown things devouring him.

It’s almost concerning.

I stroke his blond mop of hair, scoop him up, and I’m climbing up a grassy knoll.

I set him down at the top. We sit.

“Those are fireworks.” I say softly.

The expanse explodes again, this time in colors of green and blue. He grips me tight.

“Fireworks?” He whines. I nod. “They can’t harm you. It’s just noise and pretty colors.”

He relaxes. “I like to color.” I grin. “That’s what fireworks are. Colors for the sky.”

He stared up, eyes wide and filled with excitement.

At least I managed to convince him of the beauty of fireworks.

Before long he’s making up stories about how one firework was on a mission to find his friends.

And not to long after that, he’s asleep.

Mission accomplished.