Young Writers Society

Black Rose

He touched my mask. I offically hated him. But... he was like me. I couldn't just leave him.
"I'm Black Rose, touch my mask again and you're going to lose a finger." I snapped, standing on my own without his help. I dusted my cloak off and sheilded myself from his view. No one wanted to see a monster, a freak of nature. Just because he had the same stupid mark as me didn't mean he felt the pain it brought me. I hurt my friends, family, everyone I cared about. Because I couldn't control myself. I adjusted my mask and turned to him.
"Is that so? Maybe I should try again." He smirked. I scowled. If he tried anything he would feel my wrath. Nobody messes with Black Rose and gets away with it.

Revan

Hmm. So she decided to be difficult...not my problem.

"Black Rose...a pretty name for a pretty girl." I reached to stroke the cheek of her mask, but she slapped my hand away. "Aww, c'mon love...why don't you lift up that ugly mask?"

From the look of hatred in her eyes, I knew I had hit a nerve. Intersting.

"Don't be mean, love, just- "

"Don't call me love!" She glared at me angrily.

"Well, that's all I need to know." I turned around and walked away from her. I listened carefully, expecting to hear the sound of footsteps behind me. And, sure enough, the pat pat pat of her shoes, coming closer towards me.

"Wait...what was the about? What's your deal? Can't deal wth a girl rejecting you?" She had caught up with me by now and was walking beside me.

"No. I feigned interest to see how much I could get out of you. I don't have the time for silly crushes, and I sure as heck don't have the time to save your ass."

"Why would you need you to save me?"

"You were going to kill that man. And,if you had, you would've not only been a freak, but a freaky murderer as well. Would that have been good for you?"

She huffed. "I would've been fine! I don't need you babying me!"

Heh. THAT is a laugh.

We walked seemingly aimlessly through the streets before I spoke.

"Uhm...why are you still following me?"

"We're alike. We need to stick together- "

"No, actually, we don't," I said. Geez, for someone as cute as her she sure could be annoying...not that I actually thought she was cute or anything of course. "Just stay quiet and...I guess you can follow me."

Again, it was awhile before she spoke. "...thanks, Revan. For saving me...from myself...back there."

She sure was a freak...but I didn't mind. I'd let her stick around for awhile.

Elodie

My teeth chattered and I pulled my cloak around me tighter. Hurrin...she had to be here. I was going to find her if it meant taking a trip to hell itself. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up having to do just that. And when I did find her, I was going to take her back. Possibly kill my ego-maniac of a husband while I was at it.

If only my father was here to see what he had done to me... what he had done to my daughter.

I shook the thought and stepped out from the alley, scanning the streets carefully. I was in unknown territory, and if anything happened I couldn't scream. I felt for my bow and arrows, feeling some relief. Control. I told myself sternly.

"'Ello! Who's this?" A gruff male voice shouted from behind me. A familiar one.

I froze, mid-stride, body tensing. It couldn't be... My head turned slowly, eyes cold. Of course it was.

"Found me did you, love?" his lips spread out in a grin, and I could feel myself shivering. She wasn't with him though. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. As if to read my thoughts, he chuckled and said, "No, she's not here. She's with a few different men now, though. Safe and cozy."

My mouth dropped open. He sold her?! I could feel my hand gliding down to my hip, hidden by my cloak and wrap itself around the handle of my dagger. He would not live for this.

He laughed. "G'day Silence!" I cringed, and he turned on his heel and fled.

I pursued, and gaining was easy enough. What I didn't expect was for him to disapear below the streets, right in front of me. I stopped cold, staring at where he had once been before dropping to my knees and resting my head in my hands. Crying was something I rarely did, but at this point all I could do was weep silently.

Footsteps plodding against the street had me up in an instant, dagger at hand. I was holding it to the throat of a blonde, probably around my age. Her eyes were wide.

I lowered my dagger, drilling her with a glare and breathing heavily.

Dre

This was rash. I should've gotten some hot chocolate. Now I've just disrupted a girl from whatever had her upset, intruded on her pain, and gotten myself into more than I could handle, obviously. I dipped my head and started a line of apologies, rapidly and shakily.

"I'm so sorry, I should've been watching, I'm not normally on this street, I should be home, it's after curfew, I'm ashamed of myself, I need to discipline myself, I'll never get my timing right, I-" I ran out. Feeling that I'd resupply more quickly than I'd like, I bolted again, only to feel something close around my legs. Faster than I could process, I'd sprung onto my hands and back on my feet, skidding some, but balancing carefully on my fingertips.

Well, at least we knew I was an athlete.

A whole new slew of faults came to mind as I saw the girl standing, now empty handed. "I didn't mean to startle, I didn't think before I acted, I just didn't think, my brain's never with me, I shouldn't risk things like that-" Again, my arsenal had run dry.

Eyes welling up, I twisted the fabric of my thermal shirt and looked firmly down at my running shoes.

Elodie

I just stared at the girl for a moment, mind unable to keep up with the constant apologies. But she did seem sorry, and I couldn't help but feel guilty for my harsh actions. I rested a hand on her shoulder and gave my head a slight shake. This mess wasn't her fault, she had to understand that.

She looked up at me, misty-eyed, probably expecting me to say something. Of course, I didn't say anything. It was then that I noticed the dragon tattoo. I blinked, met her eyes and showed her my hand.

"You...you've got the same mark I do..." she whispered, eyes wide again.

I nodded before creating an illusion on the wall. Words in a bolded blue reading, You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I was wrong to lash out, it's just been stressful for me lately. Stressful wasn't quite the right word. Something like Devasting or Devastating would have been more suiting.

She blinked at me, and I made the words disapear. We just stared at each other for a moment, eyes pleading.

My legs were urging me to run, but the rest of me told me to stay put. She might be able to help me, after all, she had the same mark.

A thought occured to me, and I once again made writing appear on the wall. I'm mute, by the way. There. It was out of the way and she wouldn't have to ask.

Brooke

I sat on a rock that jutted out into the sea, being by the sea made me feel alive, like I had a purpose. I could feel the rhythm of the waves as they crashed to the shore in my stomach. Feel the power of the water as gravity pulled it toward the shore. It was 2:30 in the morning, so I could only see the shine of the moon reflecting off of the water. Being out here at night made me feel calm and less scared about what would happen if I drifted off to sleep. My nightmares haunted me, if I closed my eyes I would see horrid sights and spine tingling images of scary creatures. So I hardly every slept, and if I tried it wouldn't be long before I woke up shrieking.

I absent-mindedly I reached my arm outward toward the water and slowly pulled it up. A stream of water followed my hand as I brought it level with my face. I was getting better at controlling my powers. I stuck my hand into the sea, and watched as the water crawled up my arm washing over my dragon shaped tattoo. The tattoo had been there my whole life, I knew nothing about why it was there, but I had a feeling it had to do with my powers to control water.

*sorry it's kinda short!*

Black Rose

He was like me. So I would learn to trust him. But if he touched my mask again, there would be one master-less dragon somewhere in the world. Which made me wonder where our dragons went when we weren't summoning them. I shook the thoughts from my head and focus on walking and not going out of control. Revan kept glancing at me, and I was getting uncomfortable. I stopped walking, he took another step before realising I wasn't following and turned to me. I stared at the ground as I talked.

"I know I'm a freak, but you don't have to stare at me." I choked out, trying to sound strong. Really I wanted to slap him. He didn't say anything and continued walking. I followed, angry with him. If he kept it up I was going to give him one nasty rash in the morning. Touch my mask and he would get a more... lethal poison. He turned his head towards me and I slapped him on the back of the head, as he turned. He took a stumbling step forward and fell on top of me, cracking my mask slightly. He was so dead.

As he started to get up off of me, I flipped him over and summoned a root from a nearby tree. It wrapped around his wrist and squeezed tightly, I slapped him quickly then realised him, slowly standing. The tree still had it's hold on him. I let him squirm a short while longer, then let him go.
"You cracked my mask." I hissed, spitting at him.

Revan

Geez, this girl just didn't know when to quit! With my free arm I created another patch of quicksand underneath her feet, but she must've expected that. Vines shot out and created a makeshift platform for her to stand on above the groud. So she wasn't a complete, helpless moron. Good to know. But I still didn't like the fact that she spit at me. That was a bit much.

"It was an accident...I'm really sorry..." I brushed my hand through the air, and the quicksand dissapated. She must've taken this as a sign of surrender, as the vines slowly disappeared. I stood up and rubbed my wrist. "I didn't mean to make fun of your mask, by the way...it's just...you know...I really like..." I let my sentence linger.

She looked at me, head cocked to the side. "You like?..."

I smiled slightly. "I like...to do this!"

I swung my hand down, and she disappeared into a puddle of quicksand. I made sure she sunk to her chest so she couldn't send her dumb plants after me.

"Listen," I sneered down at her. "I don't care about your dumb mask. I don't care about your dumb tattoo. Now, unless you have some logical reason to continue to follow me, goodBYE." I yanked her out of the quicksand and walked away.

Black Rose

I sat on the ground as he started to walk away. Tears streaming down my face. Didn't he understand how much that hurt? Those few little words? I don't care. Nobody cares about the monster. Nobody loves the freak. I sobs loudly as tears streamed down my face. By now you think the pain of hate wouldn't hurt. But it seems that since he was supposed to be like me, it seemed to hurt more. Just as I thought he was gone for good, he stopped walking and turned. I swallowed hard, still sitting on the ground.
"Are you... crying?" He asked, sounding irritated. He took a step forward, and I turned my face away. "What's wrong?" He asked, taking a few steps back over towards me. I stood slowly, letting my head hang towards the ground.


"I. Am. Not. A. Monster." I hissed through gritted teeth. He took a step back. I lost control and lashed out, hearing a sickening twist as roots cracked from the ground, out from under the cement. They lashed forward and grabbed him, pulling him up into the branches. They slowly tightened around him.
"Let me go!" He gasped for air. I wasn't thinking, just acting. I would have crushed him, but something inside me made me stop. Something inside of me couldn't bring me to kill him. It goes to show you, even the Black Rose is weak. I felt myself weaken and I let him fall, I swayed and tried to regain my balance.

Revan

Ow. For a couple seconds after she released me, all I could think of was "Stupid girl thinks shes so important such an idiot not worth my time should just kill her right now she's so cute when she cries- " Wow, I really had to keep my hormones in check.

I went over to her and gritted my teeth. "I'm...sorry. Your mask isn't stupid...and neither is your tattoo."

I could tell she was debating whether to believe me this time or not. What would make her know that I was being truly sincere?

I wrapped my arms around her and awkwardly held her. For a second I thought I felt her relax slightly in my arms, but then she punched me in the chest and tore herself from my grasp. "Don't touch me!" She looked about ready to fall right over, so she let me lead her off the street and towards a bench on the sidewalk. She slumped down onto the bench and exhaled deeply.

"I don't know what to think of you, Revan..." She was looking at the sky, but I wanted her to look at me. Wait, why did I want her to look at me? I didn't want her to look at me. Stupid hormones. "You're a very confusing young man. But...you have the tattoo. You're like me."

Ugh. Normally this useless talk would annoy the hell outta me...but for some reason I didn't mind so much when the words were coming from her mouth.

"Tell me, Revan..." Her voice shook slightly. "Where you come from...do they...call you a freak too?"

"Well...I don't have anywhere I come from. I don't have a home. No family. Nothing to truly call my own except for the clothes on my back." Why was I telling her this? "But that's all I need. And...and I sure don't need extra baggage like you dragging me down!" I stood up quickly and walked away for - what, the third time in the past couple minutes? I got about ten feet away before I heard her crying again.

I turned around and joined her back on the bench. Stupid hormones.

Jerasila:

Pursana was quiet, almost everyone was asleep, apart front the pair in front of me. A boy and a girl wearing a mask. Hmm. I wasn't sure about the girl, but the boy. I grinned, remember what I'd seen both of them do. The girl might not join me, but the boy.

I chuckled under my breath, twisting the cloak of shadows as I watched. The girl was crying behind her mask and the boy looked like he didn't know what to do. I sighed, shifting slightly and looking at my dragon tattoo. I suppose I should just go talk to them then.

Grinning again, I stepped out of the shadows and approached the bench they sat on. "Hey there?" I called, tilting my head to one side. My grin was gone, I just looked scared now, unsure. "Hello?"

Black Rose

Another girl approached us, looking rather timid. I didn't want to deal with her, then I saw her mark. Another one of us. I gasped quietly and looked down at my own. My dried tears were begining to get itchy on my face, but I wasn't taking off my mask in front of them. I didn't even take it off to sleep. I looked over to Revan then back to the stranger.
"Who are you?" I asked, unsure of her. She looked at me oddly for a moment, then smiled acting timid again.
"Jerasila." She replied quietly. Revan took a step forward.
"I'm Revan, this is Black Rose." He said, a lot more nicley then he had to me. Only I knew my real name, well I and my parents. But I was never going to see them again. I stepped forward beside Revan, pulling my cloak closed.

Revan

This new person seemed friendly. But life on the streets has taught me that first impressions are almost always wrong.

"Jerasila...a pretty name for a pretty girl." I reached out and stroked her cheek. She didn't flinch at all. Something was up; usually females shyed away when I did that. "What're you doing here at such a late hour?"

"Oh, you know, just...wandering. The dark helps me think." Jerasila looked at me thoughtfully. "What about you?"

No one needed to know my business...quick, think of a lie. "I was...walking with my friend here. She's not feeling well, and I thought the fresh air would help her feel better." Black Rose knew enough not to protest.

Dre

I nodded at the blue letters. "That's... cool... I mean, that makes me sound skeptical, and I don't mean to be, it really is, I'm just sort of at a loss, because I mean, how am I supposed to respond? Ugh, no, that makes me sound bratty, but really, it is cool. It is." The words tumble out and trip over one another, and I'm staring at my shoes again. Blue letters spell out at my feet.

Save your breath. Do you know this man? A picture follows, and I blink. That really is cool. I think for half a second.

"Vente black, one cream," I mumble.

What?

I look up, and with more conviction, speak up. "I know his face. Vente black, one cream." I pause. "I work at a coffee shop."

Do you remember his name? Location? Any information?

I shake my head, holding back my tirade against myself. "We have it recorded back at the shop?" I try to make it convincing, it's a fact, anyway, but my self-doubt comes through anyway.

Could I have a look?

I nod and get on my knees.

... What?

"Get on my back. I'm faster than anyone and Hurrin, you will be no exception. Get. On. My. Back." Running is the one thing I have total confidence in, so nothing is triggered in me with my complete and utter... well, rudeness. But I feel a dense weight settle on my back after a few seconds.

With ease, I leap up to my feet, hook my arms around her legs, make sure her arms are looped around my neck, and take off.

Elodie

She set me down at the door of the coffee shop, and I could feel myself tensing up. A cheerful atmosphere seemed to seep through the doors, and all I could do was stare straight ahead, expressionless, calm. Of course, inside I was a torrent of raw anger. Heaven knows how much I wanted to rip his face off.

Taking my baby away from me, and then selling her! He had no idea who he was messing with.

I entered the coffee shop behind the girl, who still hadn't told me her name. Or perhaps she had, but I didn't recall. Ah well, I would call her Jitters for the time being.

"Fancy seeing you here hun!"

I froze, fists clenching. Again?! The second time in one night, this man was on a roll. Too bad I couldn't kill him in the middle of a busy coffee shop. I turned, drilling holes into him.

"Vente black, one cream," Jitters mumbled behind me.

Where is she? I mouthed, trying to keep myself calm. It was so hard around him. Everything about this man made me want to rip him to shreds and feed his insides to cannibals.

"I dunno! Out of my hair! It's all that matters to me! You think I actually cared about the little runt?" He snorted and leaned back in his chair.

I turned to Jitters, begging for something. What that something was I could only guess, but my eyes were pleading nonetheless. She had no idea what had happened in my past, but she had to at least know how desperate I was right now.

"Silence has herself a minion, does she now?"

I spun around again, using ever ounce of self control I had not to walk over and sock him in the nose. This man was quite honestly going to die before the night ended.