"Do you see this peony?" A woman with brown hair said. She closed her eyes peacefully as she smelled the flower. "Your father gave it to me on our first date."

"Mommy, why a peony?" A small child that looked like his mother asked. He had the same hair color and brown eyes as his mother.

"You see, child. A peony symbolizes good luck and happiness." The woman said. "And ever since your father gave me this, I've been having good luck and happiness since then."

...

"So why did you leave...?"

"Mommy."

"WH¥'D ¥0U |3@v3?"

Suddenly, the house started to shake and tremble. It shaked in an intense way. Before long, the house started to fall into ashes and dust. One by one, furniture got destroyed and destructed. The house was collasping. Everything was dissapearing into dust. The house seemed to be burning down. Yet, no fire was seen.

The beautiful woman was slowly turning into a corpse. Veins appeared into her perfect pale skin. Her skin fell into a greyish color. Her once beautiful brown eyes fell out of her eye sockets, exposing blood and the insides of her sockets. Once the eyes hit the ground, it dissapeared into ash just like the rest of the furniture. Her mouth dripped a black ink that looked like blood. Her nose, cracked and forced into the sides. The skin of the head and the rest of the body dissapeared (rather more quickly) than the eyes, nose, and mouth. The dissapearing of the skin exposed her bones. Her hair was slowly turning white. For some unknown reason, the hair began to grow longer. Once the hair touched the ground it began to dissapear. Along with the furniture, the woman was slowly turning into dust aswell.

Everything was getting destructed. The only thing that was normal was the peony.

Once the woman dissapeared, the peony fell out of her hands, slowly falling onto the ground. It fell in a graceful and elegant way.

As soon as it hit the ground, the child was in a completely different place. The whole setting was just pure darkness. Empty. Nothing. The only thing the child could see was the peony, laying on the ground.

He walked over to the peony, slowly. He bent over and gently took the peony. He held it close to him until it faded into ashes.

~

Another nightmare was the last thing Carson needed in his miserable life. The struggles of an orphan kept him up at night. Memories of his former parents constantly haunted him. It was the fourth nightmare he dreamt of. And everytime he dreamed of that nightmare, it was the same setting and event. Memory, peonies, destruction, peonies. Nothing changed. 

The first time Carson had that nightmare was when he was around 5 years old. Of course, he was scared the first time. He didn't know what to do. The first time he didn't even touched the peony. He just stared at it until it faded away completely, just waiting for it to wake him up.

The second and third time was when he was 6 years old. He wasn't as scared as the first time. He tried finding a way to stop the house from destructing. He gave it his all trying, but yet, nothing happened. He even picked up the peony at his second and third time. Yet, it was the same. Destruct, fade, wake.

Fourth time was this time. 'Maybe I can try smelling the peony? Not asking mother that question?' He thought to himself. 'Maybe something new will happen. What if something new can happen...?' "If" was like a magic word.

The only thing Carson had in mind were miracles. But don't everyone? Well, what can he say? It's life. People love you, they abandon you, and next thing you know, your in some random orphanage trying to find your place in life. Speaking of life, the boy would question his. He would ask "Whatever did I do to make my life miserable? Is it my fault I'm like this?" He would question his mother on her words, "Peonies symbolize happiness and good luck." If his (former) parents got "good luck" and "happiness," why was Carson the one living like this? Whatever did he do to get this life?

Stomp.

Stomp.

Stomp.

Getting snapped from his train of thoughts, Carson blinked his eyes to reality. Oh great, another chore week. The other orphans in the orphanage were already on their way to The Main Quad Area. The Main Quad area was the place where the headmasters explained every single event that was happening. One of the other last things Carson needed in his life was chores. 

Carson scratched his eyes. 'Why can't a miracle happen?" He said outloud, yawning. Exhausted, he slowly began to change into his normal orphan wear.

~

Slowly opening the door, Carson sighed of positivity, he was hoping something new would happen. Maybe a positive attitude would bring possibility to his wishes? Or atleast a family to adopt him.

As Carson was heading to The Quad Area, he came across a man with black hair and green eyes. The man was wearing a black collar shirt with white shimmering buttons. He had black pants along with long black leather boots.

"Greetings, Carson." The man said. He was looking down at Carson with a welcoming smile.

"Greetings, Mr. Lance Hunsterton." Carson stood up straight, shoulders down, and chin up. "Or Mr. Lance? Mr. Hunsterton? Mr. H?" Carson broke his position, questioning Hunsterton's perferred names.

"Carson..." Lance said. "How many times do I have to tell you orphans? Just call me Mr. Lance." Lance said.

"My apologises, Mr." Carson calmed down. "It's just that...I get really anxious when I'm speaking to an elder. It would be a bad reputation if I said something negative, now would it?"

"Carson..." Lance said. "Do me a favor." He bent over to reach Carson's short height. Carson looked up, innocently shining his brown eyes at Lance. "When your around me, be yourself!" Lance smiled. He gave Carson the most brightest smile he has ever seen.

"Thank you, Sir. But are you certain my change of attitude won't affect my reputation?" Carson began to panic. "You do know how important reputations are!"

Lance did nothing but chuckle. He stood up from his position and patted Carson's head. "You know, for a 7 year old, I have to say. Your really good with English."

"Why thank you, Mr! I'm quite good with ELA, if I do say so myself." Realizing what he did, Carson began to panic again. "My apologies! Was that rude of me to be bragging!?" Carson began to tremble.

Lance took a moment to laugh. "Your quite the silly type, Carson." He chuckled. "Your personaility is rather amusing than most of the orphans here. I quite enjoy talking to you. And yes, I already know about your amazing grade at ELA." He held his hand out to Carson. Five fingers out, Carson knew what that meant. He jumped up to give Lance a high-five. "I'm proud of you, Carson. Your in an advanced level in all of your classes. Good for you!"

"H-how nice of you, sir! What an honor to have the main headmaster be proud of me!" Carson cheerfully said.

"We can talk about you going to a higher grade next time. For now, why don't you head to The Quad Area?" Lance said. He countinued to walk the other direction, dissapearing into the halls.

'Higher grade?' Carson's positivity worked! A good thing happened. He was going to go to a higher grade! That was a good thing for him atleast. I mean, atleast it'll change his lame schedule: wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, go to school, lunch, play, more school, end of school, play again, dinner, toothbrush, sleep. His schedule basically haunted him. It was the same schedule since he was 5. He already knew everything they were teaching. Hes been at the same classes since he was 5. The orphanage underestimated young children when it came to school. They always thought younger children couldn't be as smart as older kids. He was hoping he'd learn new things in a higher grade.

Skipping happily, Carson headed to The Quad Area. He wore a big, bright smile this time.

Peonies really did symbolize good luck.