Witchling Academy Semester Eight - Avery Song Page 0,155

like a magnet - and it pierced through the man who crumbled to the ground.

Yet again, the younger man rushed to his loved one's aid, his hand reaching out to the crowd for support, but it didn't matter that those who held roses already threw them in the air in an attempt to get them to their destination faster.

The older silhouette was flickering with his last speck of light, but unlike with the others, he reached out to pat the man's head like I'd done. The red roses turned to black before they hit the ground, and the man was left there in his sorrow as his head hung low.

We watched in complete silence as he rose up and looked to the large piece of work that was only 1/10th done. He shook his head as he began to walk away from it before he stood on my left side.

He reached out to the crowd as if roses would come to him like the other times, but nothing reached his grasp. He moved to my left side and did the same deed.

Not a single rose came to his grasp, and all eyes fell on me as I held the bouquet of flowers. I was going to offer them to him as he looked back to the large canvas, but he began to stomp his foot and tug at his outlined hair.

He ruffled it in frustration and walked around me as he tossed the suit coat to reveal his outlined arms and the marks that glowed in red. Tears began to spill at the chaotic behavior of the magical image as the man spun and clung to his hair while neon blue droplets ran down his face.

He kicked at the black petals, and the action ignited a gust to lift them up as he moved vigorously across the stage until he was in front of me and the center of attention from the crowd as he lifted his hands up.

The wind carried all the black petals into the air, but they remained their onyx color of lifelessness as they began to fall at an extremely slow pace.

In defeat, the man's hands fell as his head looked to the floor.

"To love, again and again, only to have to submit in defeat to the ultimate enemy called life," the voice whispered. "The sky looked inviting. The hues of darkness somehow led to a world of peace. That's all anyone wants. Peace."

The man looked to the crowd as we all seemed to realize he was at the edge of the stage. He reached to take a step forward, the petals that fell still in their places in the air like the world had frozen.

I don't know why I did what I did, but I reached out to grab the silhouette's hand, and everyone seemed to do the same as they reached forward like roses would float through the sky to give him the love he desperately deserved.

My hand went through the silhouette as he leaned forward, and all I could do was throw the bouquet of the last remaining flowers as I fell to my knees.

The bundle of flowers soared as the silhouette fell off the edge. They hit the image in the back, which made him and the flowers burst into black petals.

The silence lingered as we just watched the petals begin to fall again. The silhouette of the man was now gone. I was left alone on the stage, my tears dropping down to the circle spot beneath me.

No one dared to speak. Some people had their hands on their mouths to muffle their sobs, while others cried proudly as they stared at the stage before them.

The wind picked up and a single red petal fluttered right in front of me. I sniffed and tried to wipe away my tears, before reaching for the single red petal that somehow sparked a drop of hope.

"As a being of this world, we are created to love. To be attracted to the signs of love, to absorb the actions of love, and to wish to deliver love to those lacking it," the voice narrated as the soft beam of light landed upon me.

"Many experience throughout their lifetime the emotional burden love brings. They give and give until the world has the petals of their love and they have nothing to give to themselves. They allow their lives to revolve around the expectations of family, friends, and the negative expectations of others. They're bullied to think