"I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then." - Lewis Carroll

So, here's a short background on the story you're about to read. I wrote this my junior year of high school, and my friends, as well as teachers, told me it deserves to have a huge audience. I immediately jumped at the opportunity once I found out Odyssey now allows short stories. I wrote this story as a project and never expected it to create such an up roar when I presented it to the class. My inspiration was the loss of a friend to suicide the year prior. I wrote it because I don't want anyone to feel so low about themselves that it leaves no other option. I read this aloud with tears in my eyes, my voice shaking, my hands trembling and the deepest passion. Although, I wrote this story, the likes of a few fictional stories are hinted because that was the basis of our prompt. I would like to thank Lewis Carroll and Hans Christian Andersen for their characters that sparked my creativity.

And so the story begins:

No one expected me to blossom the way I did. Certainly, I never expected to be what I am now. One person is all you need to show you your full potential and to show you you're perfect, just the way you are. And this is my story.

I started off as a little seed, planted by the lady in red. Everyone sprouted while I was waiting for my first drop of water. When I finally saw the sun, everyone was towering over me. They were taller, brighter and perfectly pleased the lady in red. I was different and I hated it. I could never please her. Her men would do anything to hide me. They painted me RED.

The red weighed me down enough to hide me under the others. The red was my burden. The burden of my differences. Rain was my favorite thing; it would wash away my burdens and I stood up straight. I felt confident... until the other would mock me and call me names.

"She's so tiny and ugly."

"There is enough of us already!"

There was a tiny voice one day.

"Leave her alone," it said, "she is not doing any harm." This voice came from a girl dressed in a blue dress. This girl told me that I am the best; I will be better than the others, and I will be the most beautiful rose in the garden.

About a year passed. Lots of red paint washed off my petals that year. The men gave up trying to hide me. Everyday, the tiny girl would show up and make me feel better about myself. She taught me her confidence, but one thing still scared me: the lady in red. She hated my color. She would scream something about cutting off heads towards anyone who was different. I certainly do not have a head, but I am sure she would not hesitate to pluck me petal by petal.

Anyway, I grew and I grew. Soon, I was taller than everyone else. I was so tall that I could no longer her those voices that mocked me.

The lady in red was walking in her garden when she noticed me. I was shaking in the soil beneath me. She yelled at her men to take me away. But, when no one was looking, a lady in white and the girl -- who was normally sized now-- snatched me up and placed me in a garden full of my kind. I still stood out but I was praised for my beauty. I did not even change, I was myself! The same flower who was made fun of found her place. I realized my beauty was within and eventually everyone will see it. That girl taught me that you need to find friends who wash off the red; not ones who paint it on you. She showed me what I really am.

And I am different. I am blossoming. I am unique. I am confident. I am beautiful... I am a white rose.