Paint Me Black (Draft 1, Complete story)

Chapter 1: Sira

"Sira get up, and get dressed for school," called Sira's mom.

"Yes mother," answered Sira, and got up to change.

Sira is an eight year old girl with black hair, light blue eyes, and very inhumanly pale skin. It is her first day at Arvary Primary school, which is famous for its many talented students. She surely doesn't want to be late on her first day in an elite school. It was surprising for Sira's family when they found out that she actually got into Arvary. They all thought she wasn't really good at anything, or at least that's what it appeared to them. Sira doesn't really get good grades because she doesn't study or pay attention in class , and she also stays as far away from sports as possible , no one's ever seen her play sports before.

Sira is a very quiet girl who is too shy to approach the other children. It will be hard to make new friends, and fit in with the kids at her new school who are energetic, talented, and are showered by fame for their amazing abilities.

Sira's mother dropped her off at the school gates that looked like old rusty prison ones. It felt a bit unwelcoming. The school is huge but old. The paint on the building's wall had faded away and some of the windows had cracks on them. That was surprising considering it is a well-known school that has nearly every talented kid in the country attending. People would have thought it would be a little more modernized and clean but actually it is the exact opposite. Maybe they spent so much money on the best teachers in the country that they forgot to leave some money left to fix the school's exterior and interior. Although the building and the classrooms aren't the greatest, The school still has the best equipment available for each student to advance his/her talent to win more awards for the school.

There was an enormous amount of kids hanging around the front door of the school trying to get in. It was very crowded. Too crowded for Sira. When she tried to pass through she got pushed by the crowd and when she fell she was kicked and stepped on. Eventually she got up with shoe marks on her new long light blue skirt that she had worn for the first time. Since she couldn't get in because of the crowd she decided to just wait in a dark corner by the gate until all the students disappear one by one. When the number of people decreased Sira went inside and found her class. She was obviously late but the teacher overlooked it since it was the first day of school.

She sat down on the chair at the left corner of the classroom. That was her favorite spot. She sat quietly in all of her classes and avoided eye contact. At lunch break she had brought her own lunch box and sat alone on the ground far away from everyone else. It was as if she wanted to be invisible, she alienated herself from the rest. Nobody paid attention to her, no one really cared.
After school she walked home alone. Sira had already memorized the way to the school and back home . Her ability to memorize is really amazing she can remember something by just seeing it once.
Is that the reason she got into this school?

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Chapter 2: Alfador

After walking for an hour from her school Sira finally arrived home. She went inside her house and looked around to see if her mother was there, she wasn't. It wasn't a big surprise to Sira. She was already used to it by now. Her mother was never there whenever she reached home but it didn't bother her that much because she could go out to see Alfador, their neighbor. Alfador is a very secretive man who never leaves his house no matter what and he only eats food from his greenhouse.

The first time Sira met Alfador was a year and a half ago when she accidentally kicked her ball above the wall separating their houses and towards his greenhouse that is connected to his house. The ball crashed into the greenhouse and made a big mess. Even when she was afraid of getting scolded by the owner of the house something strongly allured her to go and so she did. She stood in front of the old, creepy house that looked like it has been abandoned for a very long time. Sira rang the bell and waited for an answer. While waiting outside she heard loud footsteps running toward the door. When the door opened an old man stood there with a smile on his face. Sira suddenly got a warm feeling inside and didn't know what to say. She was surprised to notice the ball in the man's right hand.

"S-sorry, I didn't..." but before Sira could continue the man started laughing.

"Don't worry about the damage i can fix it later and the ball didn't damage any of my plants," Said the man.

"What's your name?"

"Sira"

"What a beautiful name! My name is Alfador you can call me that."

Sira just stood there for a second not knowing how to respond.

"Well then Sira lets make a deal since you made a hole in my beautiful greenhouse you have to make it up to me by helping me with gardening for a week and at the end of the week I'll give you back your ball. What do you say?" said Alfador.

Sira silently nodded even though she knew that it would be dangerous to trust a stranger but something just told her to say yes.

"Well okay then it's a deal! Would you like to start today? I need someone to water the plants while I clean up the mess you made. If you wouldn't mind helping today, just follow me," said Alfador.

He kept the door open and walked away. Sira stepped inside the house and closed the door behind her then followed Alfador. They headed straight to the greenhouse door that is located exactly opposite to the door they were just at. Alfador opened the greenhouse door went inside and held it open for Sira to enter. When she went in she suddenly felt goosebumps. It was more than beautiful. Words couldn't describe how amazing it was. It was the first time Sira ever saw something as dazzling as this.

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Chapter 3: The Black Rose

There were so many kinds of plants in the greenhouse. The place was huge. It looks even bigger from the inside.

"Are you going to help me or what?" said Alfador.

Sira, still mesmerized, started watering the plants while Alfador picked up the pieces of glass that laid on the ground. The greenhouse was very big so Sira couldn't finish watering all the plants. She wondered if Alfador spent all his time here taking care of the plants and that's why she never saw him get out of the house. A week had already passed but Sira kept going to the greenhouse anyways. She had somehow gotten attached to Alfador and the greenhouse. It made her feel warm and safe. Every day she would discover a new type of plant.

"Why hello there Sira. How was your day at school?" asked Alfador.

"Good," whispered Sira.

The plants had already been watered so she decided to walk around and admire the view. Sira went deep into the greenhouse to a place she'd never seen before. In the left corner of the greenhouse there was nothing but roses there. There were many batches of different colors. The white roses were in the middle, the red roses were on the wall, pink were to the right of, yellow were on the left, but there was only one black rose that was in the deep corner far away from the rest of the roses.

"It is beautiful isn't it!" said Alfador creeping up from behind.

Sira jumped in surprise then continued staring at the black rose.

"I didn't know black roses existed," said Sira.

"They don't," said Alfador.

"But how come this rose is black?"

"It's artificial. I created it, but sadly it won't live long since it's not real. If you haven't noticed already it is in a very bad shape."

"Why isn't it next to the other flowers?"

"..."

That was the end of the conversation after that Sira stayed next to the black rose till it was time to go home.

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Chapter 4: Artificial

Alfador was waiting in his greenhouse for Sira to come as usual, but she never did. He thought maybe she was late or her mother might have come home early that day. He  felt a bit uneasy about it. Something was wrong. He was sure about it. Fear creeped up all over his body and that is when he finally decided to make sure everything was fine. It was the first time in a very long time that Alfador has stepped foot outside of his house. He had his reasons for staying in.

Alfador went to Sira's house and knocked on the door. Sira's mother answered the door. The house looked empty as if no one else except for her was there. Alfador asked her where Sira was.

"I returned her to the orphanage. She was nothing but trouble to me. She hardly spoke or did anything at all and now she is sick. I didn't have time to take care of her." Said Sira's mother.

Alfador shivered in fear. He ran to the orphanage as fast as he can. There she was laying on the bed with pale skin and a blue mouth.

"Sira!" shouted Alfador. "What happened to you? Why is this happening?"

Sira looked at him , smiled, and said " I'm artificial."

She slowly closed her eyes and that was the end of her life.

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Chapter 5: End

Alfador's eyes were filled with tears as he witnessed the death of his creation, Sira. She was his granddaughter, his only living relative who turned into an experiment when all his family died from a dangerous chemical leakage. Sira was the only one who kept breathing but she was bound to die one day. He didn't want her to die so went to extreme lengths to keep her alive by experimenting with dangerous chemicals on a 3 year old child.

Now she is gone forever.

Alfador's actions were illegal so the government had to jail him. When he got out of jail he got all his belongings back except for Sira and his laboratory, which was shut down. From the day he was released from prison he went looking for his last living relative and when he found her, she was already adopted by someone else. Luckily enough there was an abandoned house next to the place Sira's foster parents lived. He settled there and unloaded all of his equipment. He built a greenhouse to fill his time at his stay, hoping one day he will see Sira once again.