The Crow and the Butterfly

Hayden groaned and slammed the door behind her, carelessly tossing her black and white plaid book bag on the floor. She stormed through the living room and down the stairs into the safety of her room, the basement. She had been living in the basement since she was a freshman, and now that she was a senior, appreciated it so much more.

Her day had not gone well at all. First it started with getting late to school because the battery in her car died, so she was forced to take a bus downtown. Then she was called to the office for her unexcused absence, and forced to call her parents. They weren’t very forgiving, blaming everything on Hayden. Then she had to serve a detention after school and share a table with some guy who smelled like pot and asked if she wanted to join him after school. She might have actually considered his offer if she didn’t have to get home to Lily and do homework, despite it being a Friday.

Hayden wasn’t quite as innocent as she tried to be.

Hayden shot her head up at the thought of her younger sister. Lily had been home alone for about three hours now, due to Hayden’s unexpected detention, and was probably scared out of her mind. Like Hayden, though to a greater extent, Lily hated being alone.

Hayden skipped up the stairs and back into the living room, jogging into the nearby family room, or the ‘therapy room’, as she had dubbed it.

Hayden’s mother was a therapist, and often tried to analyze Hayden’s behavior as a mental disorder. She didn’t believe in Hayden’s taste in music, or her taste in clothes, or her taste in friends, her taste in guys, her taste in careers…

The list was endless.

Hayden’s father worked at the bank downtown, and she didn’t know to this day exactly what he did since he had never told anyone but her mother. Curtis and Janet Amoury were rather private people.

Like her mother, Hayden’s father also did not approve of anything Hayden did. They always thought they went wrong with raising her, and it really ticked Hayden off. Yet she refused to conform and be the little snob they wanted her to be. She would be as she wished.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Hayden looked up to see Lily sitting on the couch in the ‘therapy room’, watching the Discovery Channel. Mythbusters, one of Hayden’s favorite shows, was on. Hayden knew Lily watched it just because she did, and it made her feel like a proud older sister.

“I’m home, Lil.”

Lily turned around, her face brightening as she saw her older sister. She jumped off the couch and ran to greet Hayden with a hug, her head coming up to Hayden’s middle.

“Sorry you had to be here so long. I got stuck at school-”

“I know,” Lily said, cutting her off, “Mom called and said you got in trouble and I would be alone all night until you came home finally.”

Hayden’s mouth sat in a thin line, “I see. And where’s Mom and Dad at?”

“Daddy’s working late again, and Mom had an unexpected meeting and won’t be back until late tonight,” Lily answered, letting go of Hayden and sitting back on the couch.

Hayden looked at the clock, realizing it was getting late and Lily probably hadn’t eaten yet.

“You hungry, Lil?”

Lily, without turning around, nodded, “Yeah. Can we have pancakes?”

Hayden laughed at her younger sister, but turned around to go into the kitchen, “Yes we can.”

She left Lily to watch Mythbusters as she went to go make pancakes. She was a good cook by no means, but she knew how to make basic things. Growing up without parents around a lot, she learned to make enough simple stuff to keep from starving, and that was all that mattered.

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Hayden yawned as she sat on the living room couch, watching Cinderella on the giant screen mounted on the wall. She loved Cinderella; it was always her favorite fairy tale as a kid. Lily was supposed to watch it with her, but she had chosen to go up to her room and play with her dolls instead.

Hayden paused the movie and got up from the couch, slowly stretching with her arms over her head. She pulled down on her Avenged Sevenfold shirt, taking a moment to admire the designs of each of their faces before wandering upstairs to check on Lily.

Her blue and black plaid pajama shorts hung loosely on her hips and threatened to fall down as she jogged up the stairs. She saw Lily poke her head out of her room at the sound.

Lily yawned, “Hi, Hayden.”

Hayden gently guided the tired girl, clad in a light blue night dress, back into her room.

“You look tired, Lil. Ready to go to bed?”

Lily nodded, her light brown hair limply following the movements of her head.

Hayden pulled back the covers as Lily crawled inside, then pulled them back up when the young girl was laying inside.

“Can you tell me a bedtime story, Hayden?”

Hayden smiled softly and pat Lily on the head, “You bet, Lil. Any requests?”

Lily tapped her chin, “How about…them?”

Hayden looked down to see that Lily was pointing at her shirt, “You want me to tell you a story about Avenged Sevenfold?”

Lily shook her head, “No, not a story. A fairytale!”

“A fairytale?” Hayden laughed. The words ‘Avenged Sevenfold’ and ‘fairytale’ didn’t really go together.

“Yeah!” Lily said excitedly.

Hayden sighed, not having the ability to disappoint her sister, “Okay, fine.”

She cleared her throat, “Once upon a time, there was a princess. Her name was-”

“Hayden!” Lily giggled.

Hayden sighed, “Okay, so the princess’ name was Hayden. She had-”

“Brown hair and olive green eyes!”

Hayden gave her sister an unamused look, “So basically you want me to tell you a fairytale involving me and Avenged Sevenfold?”

Lily nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah!”

Hayden laughed softly, “Well, there were also five knights. Their names were-”

“Matt, Brian, Zacky, Johnny, and Jimmy!”

“How do you even know their real names?” Hayden asked, confused.

“Keep telling the story!” Lily giggled.

“You keep telling it for me!”

Lily pouted, “Please?”

Hayden sighed, “Okay, so the names of the knights were Sir Matt, Sir Brian, Sir Zacky, Sir Johnny, and Sir Jimmy.”

Lily clapped, “Sir Jimmy!”

“Right. Well, so the five knights heard that the Princess was in danger, and they needed to rescue her.”

“Why was she in danger?” Lily asked quietly.

Hayden tapped her chin, “Well, see, the princess’ mother and father, the king and queen, were not nice people. They locked her up in the highest room of the highest tower of the highest castle, which was guarded by a large, vicious, ferocious-”

“Great Dane!” Lily shouted.

Hayden laughed, “I thought I was telling the story!”

“Sorry.”

“Where was I? Oh, yeah! So then Sir Matt suggested that he and the other four knights go and save this princess. It was their duty, being knights and all.”

Hayden scratched her head as she thought up of more ideas. Lily waited, staring patiently up at her older sister. Hayden sighed.

This was going to be a long story.

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Three hours, yes, three hours later Hayden sighed and stood up from Lily’s bed, tip-toeing out of the room and quietly shutting the door behind her.

She had finally managed to finish her lengthy tale about herself and Avenged Sevenfold, set in a far away land. It was now almost one in the morning, not that Hayden cared. She usually stayed up past this hour on weekends anyway.

What irritated her was that neither of her parents were still home. As she walked through the living room, fuming about them, she realized that she had left Cinderella on. She smiled, remembering the story she had told Lily not long ago.

How great it would be if her life really were a fairytale…but only if Avenged Sevenfold was included.

She turned off the movie and made her way down to her room in the basement. It was cooler down here in the summer, and even now in the spring. She spotted her two Avenged Sevenfold posters, hanging next to each other on the wall opposite her bed. She walked up to them, her fingers lightly tracing the deathbat on one.

“If only fairytales were real,” she said quietly.

Hayden walked over to her CD player, turning it on. The sounds of Chapter Four echoing in the large basement. She changed the volume so that it was just a whisper, a quiet yet powerful melody floating into Hayden’s ears. She smiled and tossed herself onto her bed face down, happy that at least she had her music, her sister, and her imagination to keep her entertained.

She let her tiredness take over, her mind growing silent as she drifted off to sleep. Thoughts of the story she told her sister flooded her mind, though they seemed far away and incoherent. Right before falling asleep, she wished that her story would come true. It was better than the life she had to deal with now.

But you know what they say:

Be careful what you wish for.