The Butterfly Room

The plane touched down shuddering with indecision. Should it land? Or should It just turn around? I leaned my head against the headrest gripping my iPod. No, I wasn't scared, I was pissed off. I was supposed to be slumming it up in Miami beach with my friends, picking up girls and drinking until I...well died. Instead, I was on a rickety plane headed to nowhere with freaks that called themselves, my 'family.' fun, I know. My younger sister Tatiana grabbed my hand pulling it towards her face.

"I can't watch Jonah. I'm scaaaared." she crooned, her nine year old voice rapidly changing to an infants. I rolled my eyes sinking lower into my chair. This was not an easy task if you supposed it was. Me being a 5 foot 10 French guy(man), it was:
a) not easy for me to be inconspicuous and b) hard for me to make myself small enough for this plane which happened to be full of little French people.

The captain came over the intercom. The ding scaring my little sister half to death.

"Mon dieu!" she cried pressing her palms to her milky white cheeks. She was such a drama queen.

"Welcome to St. Maarten. The current weather is 75 degrees and partly cloudy. I want to thank you for flying spirit air, and hope to see you all very soon." he said cheerfully. Actually, he sounded like the George Clooney of every female passenger over 40's dream.

I stretched my arms, discreetly prying my sisters hands off. Day 1 of 14. I thought trying to stand in the crammed plane.

My parents rented a condo right off of a place called Oriental Beach or some shit like that. Unlocking the door, I expected it to be some run down love shack or something, considering the many ones we saw along the way here. But I was wrong, it was a of nice size with great long stucco walls and floor to ceiling windows. It was then i decided that St. Maarten was cool actually, deep in my heart I knew it was probably the most gorgeous places I've ever seen. I was just too stubborn to admit it.

Throwing my suitcase into a random room I went out to the balcony as my sister 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at everything she saw. I craned my neck looking at the slate grey horizon. I dug in my pockets. Before I could pull out a cigarette, my mum called me.

"Jonah? Where are you?" I rubbed the scruffle of a beard that was creeping along my chin.

"Out here ma." I said wearily. I heard her slippers pad outside.

"Are you busy?" she asked, her accent thick as French cream. I looked around.

"Ahh, no. Not at the moment." she took my hand leading me inside the condo.

"I need you to go down to the lobby and ask for a map." she lowered her voice swiping her greying hair behind one ear. "your father is not so good with directions. Remember?" I remembered the 'family trip' we took to Rome and how we got so lost we ended up in Florence. Let's just say there was no Colloseum for us that year. I looked down at my skinny jeans and v-necked shirt, she looked along with me.

"You might want to change your clothes first, that outfit looks a bit stifling." I nodded going to my suitcase...if I could remember where I threw it... Walking into a room with high ceilings and a Tuscan tiled floor, I saw my suitcase laid neatly on the queen sized bed. I really wished my mum wouldn't touch my stuff. I pulled a pair of Armani exchange capris and just kept the shirt on. Maybe if I were in Miami like I had planned, I would have dressed to impress.

I walked past Tatiana on my way to the bathroom. She fell into a heap before my feet.

"Oh Jonah! I absolutely MUST have 3 euros for ice cream, or I'll just die!" she whined her blonde pigtails sticking to her sweating neck. I nudged her off my foot.

"Tati. What happened to the money papa gave you? I actually WORK for my spending money." and this was true, at the end of my 11th year in high school I had acquired a job in a bistro not far from our flat in Paris. Tatiana moaned wiping her forehead with a thin wrist. I reached into my pocket taking out my wallet.
"how much?"

After I had gotten a map and asissted Tatiana with her ice cream issue, I locked myself in the bathroom to shave. I didn't look half bad with five o clock shadow actually. I inspected my sharp nose and neat hair. I could use more sun though. I thought turning my pale face every which way in the mirror. I lathered shaving cream on my face dragging the razor down my cheeks. Soon my face was smooth, perfect for tanning. I put on a nice outfit as my mother requested since we were going out to dinner and went on my way.

My father made reservations for some fancy restaurant on the beach. I looked out the window nonchalantly as we drove there, observing the dark people and sagging messily built houses. It was all so beautiful, in a weird way. We pulled up in front of the restaurant looking for a place to park our rental car. We looked so out of place amongst the sea of lexus's and ferrari's. How lovely.

We strolled into the large building, kicking off the start of our vacation with some of the richest people in the world. A leggy blonde seated us facing the ocean. She glanced at me demurely every so often. Hmm, maybe St. Maarten girls weren't so different from Miami girls after all...not hatbi had actually been to America yet...

As my parents talked quietly, my sister leaned over tugging on her light blue dress. She was so short, her feet didn't even reach the ground.

"That waitress likes you, I can tell." she said sipping her kid sized drink. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're like, what, 4? Tati. What do you know about that stuff?" I said snorting. She glared at me, suddenly, my dads phone rang . He looked over his square shaped glasses at the caller ID.

"Excusez moi." he said calmly rising from his chair. A shadow fell across my mums face. We all knew who it was. It was dads other woman. Mum turned to the ocean covering her thin lips with one hand. Tatiana looked to me trying to change the subject.

"I'm 9 and a half! And I know a lot about these things. I'm sophisticated." she retorted turning her nose up. After two more times of the waitress practically rubbing her breasts in my face, I decided she was right.

That night, I laid awake in my room staring out the window at the black night. I wanted to punch something.
Dad still gets to have his fun, even when he drags his family along. I thought angrily. What did this woman have that my mum didn't? What made me the angriest was that my mum didn't do anything about it. I'll never forget when I caught my dad 4 years back when I was 14.

I had come back from a horrible day of school, my mother had forgot to pack me lunch and even forgot to pick me up from school. So I had to walk all the way home from my private school. And it had started to rain...hard. Wet and tired I trudged up the stairs deciding not to complain to my mum, I'd tell my dad.

I reached the end of the hall by his room, hearing odd sounds. A woman said something, it didnt sound like my mums voice, or even something she'd say.

I pushed open the door quietly peeking in and seeing my dad tangled in his bed sheets with a redheaded woman. My mouth went dry as my dad turned to the door. I slammed it shut running to my Tatiana's room. My sister was 5 at this time and was playing with barbies. I had picked her up much to her disliking and dragged her to my room shutting the door behind me.
"Where's mummy?" I asked, my heart pounding. Tati looked up at me with big blue eyes and shrugged pouting.
"Why you pull me like that?" she asked going to the door. I ran to it blocking it off. Smart for a 5 year old, she punched me in the stomach. But I was determined to not let her see any of the weird stuff that was going on.
"let me out!" she screamed. I bent down taking her by her Freckled shoulders.
"Tati, there's a bad woman here." Tatiana crossed her arms.
"That's daddy's new friend. She got me barbies. She not bad." she whined. And that's when I knew, things were very wrong.