I'm not a criminal. I am a good, little girl who has never done any harm in my life. I've never even cussed before!

So why was I about to trespass on my neighbor's property? Well, that answer is simple, I saw a pretty flower.

Now, don't get the wrong idea! It's not just any pretty flower. It's a rose except it's golden in color. It's all glittery and shiny, and it was the only one of its kind! I had to take it. My friends would be so jealous.

It's hidden under all the plain, red roses, so who would notice? The house owners were out on vacation, and it was the middle of the day. There's barely anyone around here. Who could stop me?

So, I just went up to the flower and yanked it out without thinking. It was such a clean yank that it didn't come out with any roots! I'm a bit proud of that.

I carefully tucked the flower behind my ear and resumed my journey home.

When I finally got back, I went to greet my mom.

"Hi, Mom! I'm back."

She and Dad were at the dining table with a dejected look on their faces. There wasn't any food prepared for me as there normally was, and it didn't look like Dad changed out of his work clothes either. Mom's perfect, straight black hair was a mess, and Dad's grey eyes were dull.

I had been expecting warm greetings and food. Instead, I was met with neither.

"Alisha, we need to talk," my mom said. She hadn't even bothered to say 'hi' or 'how was your day'.

She motioned for me to sit down. There were so many ideas running through my head. Had she looked through my phone and seen all the Tom Holland fanfics I've been reading? Was there a bad grade on my report card? Maybe I was getting another sibling! I have overheard them talking about it before. Could it be that Mom was pregnant? It would be great news if that was the case. But then why did they look so sad? Did I do something wrong?

My thoughts got interrupted when my dad started speaking.

"We're getting a divorce."

At that moment, it felt like my whole world just stopped. There was only one thing on my mind.

No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No!

This can't be. We're a happy family. I have never seen my parents fight before. Or have they fought before? This was so sudden! I know they have little arguments, but I never thought it was anything bad. Why haven't I heard of this until now?

"We know you might have a lot of questions. We're happy to answer them for you, darling," Mom said, with a small smile on her face.

No.

Would this mean that I would have to choose one parent? Did I have to live with one and only see the other occasionally, maybe not at all? Why are they even divorcing in the first place?

My hands were shaking profusely, and my eyes were wider than normal. I must have stayed silent for a long while because my Dad sighed and started speaking again.

"Are you okay?" he said, but there was only one word on my mind.

"No!" I yelled, and I slammed the table as hard as I could and ran to my room without looking back.

I locked the door and crawled under my oddly cold comforter without even taking my shoes or backpack off.

Then, I cried. I cried my heart out. I cried much more than I ever have before.

How could they do this to me? Have they secretly hated each other this whole time? Did they ever even want me?

I glanced around my room. Dad had installed the ceiling light when we first moved here. Mom had gotten me my lamb plushie on my 4th birthday. They both worked together to paint my walls my favorite color, orange. They both picked out and set up my bookshelf. They helped me pick out what clothes I would wear on the first day of middle school. They sat with me at my desk to help with my homework. Did those moments together go to waste?

I didn't have a care in the world. All I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry. I drifted off to sleep, with dry tear marks clearly visible on my face.

I woke up very abruptly. My face still felt dry, and I could smell the rice and fish on my bedside table. Mom must have come in and left it there.

I was about to reach for my food when I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Finally, you're awake."

Was I hearing things? It was a girl's voice. It was bright and confident but a little hoarse. It sounded very close. Too close for comfort.

"Alisha? Hello? I'm talking to you, y'know."

There it was again. Where was it coming from? How does it know my name? I froze in the same stance I was, trying to focus on my hearing.

"That's quite rude of you to ignore me, seeing as you kinda ripped me out of the ground a while ago. Do you remember that? You owe me," it said again.

Ripped her out of the ground? Then, it hit me.

I felt for the beautiful, golden rose that was still tucked behind my ear. It couldn't be.

"Hey! You figured it out. Congrats, you're not stupid. That's a real achievement."

My mouth gaped. The flower was...talking? To me? How?

I took the rose out of my hair and set it down next to me.

"Um- hi?" I squeaked.

"Yay! You finally responded! I knew you weren't mute."

I just couldn't believe my ears. It wiggled its petals as it spoke. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not. I was about to scream, but it seemed I couldn't. I was either too scared, or my voice was hoarse from the crying earlier. I couldn't be sure. The flower started speaking again.

"So here's the deal, I need you to help me turn into a human again. Do you think you can help with that? I did say you owe me."

"How do you know my name?" I said sternly, failing at trying to be assertive. This flower was not just going to start talking out of nowhere, and then start demanding things from me. I wanted answers.

"Your mom used it to address you? I thought that was obvious. Anyway, to make me human again, you probably have to go to the library because I never really knew in the first place, to be honest. Oh, and you can't tell anyone about me. It's, like, the rules."

I was really confused.

"What's your name? Why do I have to do it? Would we be able to find it in a middle school library? How old are you? Can everyone else hear you talk? How did you get turned into a flower? You're a very pretty flower. How come you're gold rather than a traditional color?"

It was silent for a few seconds.

"Wow, that is a lot of questions. I'll only answer the ones I remember. Okay, first, my name is Rose. No, that was not intentional. It was a pure coincidence. Second, you're the one who snatched me from the ground. Don't even complain about doing this. It wasn't even your yard. Third, yes. Everyone can hear me talk. I'm not telling you how I got turned. You got a problem with it?"

"No."

I was still trying to comprehend the fact that a flower was talking to me.

This is too much exposition for me to handle right now, and I'm still tired from the earlier nap. I'm also hungry.

"How about we figure it out tomorrow, and I eat my dinner right now," I offered.

She replied, "Sounds good to me."

We spent the evening talking about Tom Holland because apparently, she was a fan too. There were still things in the back of my mind that I was worried about, but I didn't mention them to Rose.

She happened to be really loud too. My dad had come in like 5 times to ask me who I was talking to. I had to say I was talking to my plushies, like a 6-year-old.

The next day, I was all polished and ready for school. I looked especially immaculate with Rose planted in my hair.

I had a plan. I was going to go to the library while there was still time before class. I'll research some things about curses, and maybe look up Rose on the school computers. I'm sure to find answers there.

If I don't, then I'll just look in the public library. Easy.

I walked out of my room, ready for the bus to get here. My dad was already up and ready for work.

"Morning Alisha, I hope you're doing ok after last night," he said. I had almost forgotten all about the whole divorce.

"Yea, I'm fine," I said. I didn't feel like apologizing for slamming the table and running off at the moment. I would do it when I got home. I started heading my way to the bus stop.

"Wow, sorry you have to go through that. And at such a young age too. That must be really confusing for a little girl," said Rose.

"You're only three years older than me, so don't even talk. And it's fine, really. It happens to a lot of people. I can handle it."

The bus finally got here, so I hopped on and sat next to my best friend, Alexis.

She had shiny, red hair, and bright, blue eyes. There wasn't anyone who thought she wasn't pretty. I could easily be jealous of her looks. What, with my black hair and brown eyes, the most common eye and hair colors in existence. It's alright though because I'm at least smarter than her. That's why we go together just perfectly.

"Woah, where did you get that flower? It looks so pretty and real!" she said. No surprise that it's the first thing she noticed about me.

"I found it on the floor." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. Rose said I couldn't tell anyone, and I don't want to see what will happen if I do. Maybe lying to my bestie would be fine just this once.

"Are you ok? You seem sad," she said immediately. I knew I couldn't hide it from her.

"Well, my parents told me they were getting a divorce last night. I kind of slammed the table and ran off without warning," I said, "I feel really bad about it." If I couldn't tell her about Rose, then it was only fair to tell her about my parents.

She took a second to process it, but after she did, she embraced me in a hug. It was a little awkward since bus seats aren't all that big, but I still hugged her back tight. We pulled apart.

"Hey Alexis, wanna go to the library after breakfast?"

She thought it was weird but agreed. We stepped off the bus, and Rose started speaking. I slowed down a little so that no one would overhear.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to tell her about that?" she asked.

"About what?"

"About the divorce."

"Why not? She's my best friend, and we tell each other everything. I already lied about you. I can't lie about my situation at home."

"I was just thinking, what if she tells someone? Or uses it against you? Y'know, middle schoolers are ruthless. They would totally do something like that." It seemed weird that Rose would tell me something like that, but I brushed it off.

"I'm sure it's fine," I said.

We headed to the cafeteria to eat our breakfast. We chatted as we ate, and Rose would murmur some jokes or a sarcastic remark. I would try my best not to laugh, but I couldn't help but giggle. Alexis eyed me suspiciously, but I told her it was a funny video I watched.

We then made our way to the library with time left before class. She went off to look at some romance novels while I headed straight to the horror section. I mean, if curses didn't fall under horror, I didn't know where else to look.

Unfortunately, I only found fiction books telling stories about curses. Nothing about actual curses. Rose then suggested we look at the computers. Still nothing. I also tried looking up Rose on the computers. Dead nothing.

I told her that maybe her last name would give us a more accurate search, but she kept refusing. I decided it wouldn't be nice to push her. After all, she must feel sensitive talking about it.

Rose and I walked out of the library and started talking about where we could look in the public library. Somehow, our conversation drifted from curses to Tom Holland, and I don't know how to feel about that, but I'm not complaining.

It was only until I got to first period that I realized-

"Hey, did we leave Alexis in the library by herself?"

"Alexis?" Oh, right.

"My friend with the red hair. We left her! I need to go back to apologize. She's probably looking for me."

"No need. She didn't see us walking out. It's kind of her fault anyway," Rose remarked.

"But she was probably busy with the books. We always walk together, and if she's late, then I'm late too!"

"But we're already here, and it's only one time. She won't mind."

"I guess you're right..." I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I ditched her just this once.

I walked into first period and sat down. The bell rang, and the class started on the math warm-up for today. Alexis was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, she comes in and almost slams the door shut, and gives the teacher an unexcused tardy pass. She has a big scowl on her face.

She sits down and glares at me. I mouth sorry to her. I could give her like $20 to make up for it. That always works.

School goes on as normal, except I always have someone talking in my ear, and my best friend is giving me the silent treatment.

"Alisha!" a familiar voice calls out. It was Alexis.

"Can we just go to the library and ignore her? I really want to become human within the next century if that's possible?" Rose said. I'll just talk to Alexis first and then go to the library. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.

"Hey, Alexis. Not giving me the silent treatment anymore? Look, I'll give you $20 as a sorry for ditching you at the library, ok?"

Then, she did something unexpected.

It's like my whole world went in slow motion. There wasn't any time to react. Just a few hours ago we were hugging and laughing together. But then, she slapped me hard. Really hard.

My face was red where her hand made contact with my skin. I could hear Rose gasp, but she didn't say a word.

"Stop trying to buy my friendship with money," she said, "Maybe if you hadn't ditched me at the library like you always do, you wouldn't have to pay me so much!"

Where was all this coming from?

"You don't have to flex your money all the time, ok? I get it. You make me seem like a gold digger. I-it's toxic..." Her voice was cracking up.

I was too in shock to say anything. She just walked away before I could get my thoughts together. I didn't feel like going to the public library anymore.

"Rose, I-"

"Well, isn't she such a drama queen? Forget about her. I'm sure this will all be fixed tomorrow. Let's get to the library, ok?" Rose interrupted.

But I didn't want to. I walked home, and Rose simply thought we were heading to the library. But when I got to the front door, Rose started questioning me.

"Why are we at your house? I thought we were going to the library," she said.

I stopped.

"I'm just not feeling it. Maybe we can go another day."

I was expecting some comfort. Some validation from Rose. I thought she was going to tell me that it was ok, and she values me. But no. Something completely different slipped out of her mouth.

"Ugh, but you won't have as much money when your parents get divorced."

"What?"

"Oh- uh- nothing."

"You were using me...for money? Why? I thought you just wanted to be human again. How would you even use the money right now? You are a literal flower."

"Well, I can actually turn back into a human anytime, but I'm homeless and poor. Why not use this power to my advantage. Here's a deal. You give me enough to sustain me, and I'll never bother you again. How does that sound?"

Her voice was trembling. You can tell she screwed up badly.

I was mad. No. I was furious! She made me think I was wrong for feeling sad about my parents' divorce. She broke me and my best friend's relationship. And now she thinks she can use me for my money?

I could've thought forgave her. I could have been mad at her. I could have done anything but what I was about to do right now.

I grabbed a shovel from the shed and walked toward the park. Rose kept calling, telling me to stop, asking where we were going, and to forgive her. But I didn't listen and kept walking.

When I finally got there, I went towards the dirt, and I started digging. I spent a while there. I dug a hole that was about 3 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and 6 feet long. It should be enough to bury a human.

This wasn't murder. I'm not a murderer. Rose is what she is. A rose.

I dropped her into the dirt and started burying her. She screamed, begged, and pleaded, but there wasn't anyone around. I filled the hole; I could still hear faint screams coming from the pile of dirt. If anyone were to walk past, they wouldn't think anything of it.

No one uses me for my smarts, looks, or money. That's what my parents taught me.

I walked home with the sweetest smile I had, and the biggest tear in the world.

Prompt:

Description of image: There is a rose. The stem is green, however, the actual rose itself -- petal and all -- are completely made of gold.