Flower of Hephesta
I hesitated before finally giving in. "Yeah, sure I guess we can go check it out." Not a single cell in my body wanted to do it, but for a 10-year-old tomboy of a girl it's very hard to turn down a challenge from a boy.

Karanvir was 10 as well, rather tall for his age and had a permanent shit-eating grin plastered onto his face. Our families were close, and we were neighbors. I don't quite know why, perhaps because I fancied him a bit with his wavy jet black hair, I just couldn't resist his mischief proposals. Despite being a tomboy, I was known as somehwat of an example child among adults. I was sneaky enough to do my cheeky business outside the sight of adults and followed my good girl routine while under their radar. Karanvir and I usually got ourselves in small messes, things we could shrug off. Especially me, because I just set things up so I could run away with my hands clean; whereas Karanvir would take some sort of pride in his troublemaking and just faced the grownups openly. Had I known this particular mischief would do so much harm, I'd have backed out. Karanvir wasn't the kind of kid that would act without a buddy to share the laughs.

"Alright here we are!" said Karanvir, upbeat as always. We were standing in front of the construction site a few blocks away from our apartment complex. A gigantic "DO NOT ENTER" sign was hanging over the heavy metal gate. He looked around with dramatized vigilance, and quietly added "Seems like we're alone. I told you they'd stop working due to rain earlier today."

"Yeah, I guess people don't want to get wet huh."

"They might be afraid to get wet, but not us. Screw that, let's go mess with some stuff!"

"Alright" I concurred, passive as ever. I followed him as he climbed the fence. I wasn't afraid of heights because my parents had me go on flights a bunch during our Europe travels. The wire was cold and rather damp, but we both managed to scale it without slipping. Once we were done, Karanvir straightened his back in an exaggerated way and started to scan the construction site for things to fool around with. The world was his playground. I was far too grounded to be like that, but I enjoyed tagging along. His shoulders jerked and that could only mean one thing, he found something. He turned around to face me, with  his permanent grin widened and his large brown eyes glimmering.

"I see an awesome forest of metal right over there." He gestured at the building foundation with the metal poles sticking out of concrete. I was no craven but it actually looked really dangerous to play over there. Against my better judgment, I tailed him as he dashed over to his target. I was thankful that he didn't seem too interested in the huge rectangular hole that housed the spooky metal poles, but was more interested in climbing the slabs of solid concrete stacked near it. We climbed on and off, chased each other, tripped and fell onto the mud a bunch as we played for about 30 minutes.

As we were running about, I paused when I noticed the most brilliant flash of purple on the other side of the ractangular hole. Purple was, and always has been my favorite color. All my clothes were purple. My room was purple. I even had a purple streak in my hair during my rebellious years but that's another story. Karanvir was a dense little 10-year-old but even he knew about my obsession. He ran into me when i stopped running and it took him less than a few seconds to take note of what entranced me. "You know, that's the magical Flower of Hephesta there. We'd have psychic powers if we obtained it." he whispered from my left side. I could see his adventure-face in my head even without looking. Slightly squinted eyes, signature shit-eating grin, and an extra little puff in his cheeks. He had already decided this would be the new game. I had to play. Magic and purple were my two favorite things. Oh, he knew how to entice me.

"You are right, Sir Karanvir but the riddled flower is on the other side of this dragon cemetery and we can't go around it. See those large mountains surrounding the pit? It's impossible." Indeed, there were walls around the pit and the only way to go across it would be to fly. I deemed the flower unattainable. Karanvir had far more courage and a dash of insanity in him, though.
"Maybe so... but what if..." Before I knew what was going on, he placed a peck on the corner of my lips, and then ran towards the wall. "I'll show you nothing is impossible m'lady!" he yelled and started to climb it with dexterity I've never seen anywhere else to this day. I was completely petrified. Karanvir, though, was swiftly advancing towards the flower. He was tall but had unexpected grace while walking along the thin top surface of the wall. My heart was pounding, I couldn't believe I just got kissed. Not only that, but he was walking on a slippery wall just trying to get me a stupid flower.

Karanvir truly managed to climbed the wall and walked all the way around the pit and reached the flower. Before he plucked it, he made some silly dramatic dance and yelled from across the pit "See? I told you I'd do it! I will now retrieve the legendary Flower of Hephesta and bring it to you. Constant perseverance, m'lady!". I was relieved that he managed to do it and relaxed as I cheered him on. I had butterflies in my stomach from anticipating his return and imagining what would happen once he's given me the flower. Another kiss? Oh boy...

Karanvir climbed back onto the wall and started walking back. He was never the kind of boy to walk the same road twice, so this backtracking was quite the chore for him. He broke into a half-jog. Within seconds, our lighthearted little game turned into the worst nightmare. I don't remember details from beyond this point as my mind seems to have locked the memories away. All I remember is seeing Karanvir's horrified face as he slipped on the damp wall.

That was the first time I had to face adults. Karanvir's parents told me I had alarmed everyone living nearby with my screams for help. I didn't find out quite what happened to him medically, but I do know he narrowly missed a metal pole sticking out of the concrete when he landed. I heard he had to stay in the hospital for over a month. The last time I saw him, he was lying unconscious with a ridiculous amount of bangages all over him, the little purple flower on the side of his hospital bed, resisting decay in a glass of water. I was able to sneak a little peck on the corner of his lips before me and my family had to leave. We moved away shortly after. My parents never let me see Karanvir again.