very visual, beautiful in a poetic imagery way. it's like there were two stories going on at the same time, and the fire intertwined them. the rose that burns holds all the secrets and the wind blows away all memory for both stories. keep writing.

Okay. ::cracks knuckles:: Let's get this started. You asked for a critique, and I do love giving those. How long it's been since someone asked me to be honest!

The red rose burned in the vase of water. - I love, love, love the juxtaposition of fire and water, beauty and destruction. Absolutely wonderful, and incredible! Very good way to begin.

How long has it been since the pedals could be seen through the flames? - Ah, ah, ah. Pedals means bike pedals or gas pedals. The d should be a t for flower petals. And watch out! Your tense shifted from the first line being past-tense to present in the rest of the story.

burns an image of perfection into my retinas. - Nnh. Retinas isn't a really good synonym for eyes. I know it is, but it sounds far too... I don't know. It sounds like you couldn't come up with another way to say it. You could say "into my brain" and achieve the same effect.

The trick to removing the bloodstain from this four hundred dollar rug is to concentrate. - Nnh. I think the price tag is a bit superfluous. You could use another word and convey the same thing - rich, exquisite, hell, even Oriental or silk. Make us see it, as opposed to seeing how much it costs. Give the rug an image, because it's an important one. Perhaps buttery cashmere? I'm thinking a pale color because that would contrast the blood stain well. But that's just me.

But at any rate, "four hundred dollar" should be hyphenated, because all three act as one adjective.

Wish the stain gone long enough, and soon you'll forget it exists. - God knows I'm all for second person, but in this context, I think a different wording would be better because you're talking to the victim earlier in the story, so to use second person here is a bit confusing. Perhaps - "...and it can soon be forgotten," or "...and soon it's as if it wasn't even there."

The easiest way to defeat something is to pretend as though it were never there. - Awkward wording at the end, though I do love the imagery. You can just drop the "as though," change were to was and it would flow better.

The easiest way to erase a bad experience from your life is to hold it secret. - Drop "from your life." Same thing as before with second person.

scolding the chestnut. - You bad chestnut, you. I think you meant scalding. ;)

The glass vase expands the fiery image, making the small fire into a danger beyond expectation. - Should probably say "imagination" or something like that. "Expectation" doesn't really work here.

five second fist fight - again, five and second act as one adjective and should be hyphenated.

How a cheating spouse becomes a dead one. - Hmm. Something feels off about this line, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it. I will say that it's really good how you build up to this and then "crash" the tension, dropping suddenly to the important part. Very nice. That's definitely one of my favorite techniques.

My breathe catches it last second - Breathe is a verb, breath is a noun. Drop the "e." Oh, and there should be a "the" before "last."

drifting it to the carpet - You can't drift something. "Causing it to drift to the carpet" would be better if that didn't sound to gross. Hmm. "Making it feather to the carpet"? Possibly.

The small becoming the big. - Even though I love fragments, I think this would work better as "becomes" instead of "becoming." It would flow better with the rest of the paragraph.

The rose, its stem begins to curl, to burn. - The comma after "rose" should probably be an ellipsis or a dash. The comma just isn't cutting it.

The fire runs over the thorns, erasing them forever. - The fire spreads would work better, or something to that effect. Running makes it sound like it's dripping over the thorns, and I've never known fire to drip.

You shoot the guy she’s cheating on you with first - Hmm. In retrospect, perhaps you should change the beginning part where you're talking to the victim, because the second person really works well here. But you should probably use "man," rather than "guy" because "guy" is very slang, and this piece isn't slang.

Till death do us part my **. - Again, too slang. You've done a very good job at building up this calm, almost aristocratic feel in this piece; there's no place for crass or slang language here. You should use something else, perhaps a derisive "ha!" or something. Keep with the emotions you've established.

crumbled black ash flower - Black and ash should be hyphenated.

All that through with, I really, honestly enjoyed this. You've done a very good job at establishing an emotion and background for the actions. It's very believable and beautiful and surreal at the same time. All in all, an excellent piece!

I think I remember sending you a pm about this one, but I decided to review anyways-since it still amazes me how awesome this piece is.
I liked how you used the imagery of the rose as the "solving of the problem" and the steps to solving it, and the very last sentence: "the last piece of salvation any of us will get to see."
"How long has it been since the ordinary became extraordinary? How long until the extraordinary will become revolutionary?" -That was my favorite line by far in the whole piece. I liked it because it makes me think that anything mundane (such as a rose) can become extraordinary, and then possibly revolutionary. :D
I also enjoyed the length of this piece-longer than most of your other works, but not too long.

All in all-wonderful job. And as for your piece on your bio page-ho-ly-cow! When I got to the sentence where you said "Everytime you saw a pair of red eyes under your bed as a child, that was me," I froze. I was kindof speed-reading it because I should have been doing something else (naughty me) but that line made me stop in my tracks and read it slower. When I read this, I remember what Mary Shelley said was her goal for writing Frankenstein, "I want to write something that will send fear straight to the hearts of my readers, just like it did mine." and you certainly accomplished that with this piece. I loved how you used common childhood insecurities and so on to mask how you were observing what your character was doing. That was amazing in itself.
Great job, as always. Keep writing!
Always, Irony