The Butterfly Room

     The first few days rolled by sloooowly. I thought this trip would never end. There were only so many family pictures, "oh try eating this's", sister helping's, "stop listening to your iPod's" I could take. I also couldnt take my dads constant disappearances with his cellphone. I could tell it hurt my mom, but she refused to let it show. By day 5 I was pretty much a zombie.

Tatiana woke me up at an ungodly hour that morning by jumping on my stomach. I was having a great dream, it involved me, and Miami. I was just getting to the best part when Tati knocked the air out of me with her bony knees.
"Wake UP! BONJOIR MONSOIR SLEEPY!" she yelled in my ear. I tossed her off rubbing my throbbing head.

"Shit Tati, I thought you were sophisticated. Last I checked, princesses don't hop on people." I pried one eye open coming face to face with the back of her Hello Kitty panties. "and they don't show their knickers." I grunted sliding out of bed. Tati pulled her nightgown tighter around her little body.

"I am a princess." she stated, and now I knew why most little girls back home wouldn't be friends with her. Most of them came over only to flirt with me or spy on me as opposed to playing dressup or dolls like Tati wanted. I checked my hair in the mirror, satisfied with the messiness I woke up with. Tatiana bounded over to me squinting in the mirror.

"Why do you have so much chest hair Jonah?" she asked scrunching her nose. I took her arm and pulled her to the open door.

"Out." I ordered, she stomped out, her hair almost as messy as mine.

"MUMMY JONAH'S BEING RUDE!" she wailed as I slammed the door.

"I could be in Miami right now." I mumbled pulling my swimming shorts over my knickers. I just wanted to have a normal life. To people looking in from the outside, it may have looked like it. I had a lot of friends and was very athletic, but I wasn't happy, I was always worrying about Tatiana, or my mum. I didnt even have many girlfriends because I never had the time for it. Miami could have changed all that.

Meeting my parents in the kitchen, I could see I walked in on a very heated argument.

"Luc, we are on a fucking FAMILY vacation, is Jolie REALLY that impo-" my mum stopped seeing me standing by the small fridge.

"Hallo sweetheart." she said smearing a smile on her sunburnt face. I opened the fridge pulling orange juice out and taking a swig right from the bottle. My dad saw this as an opportunity to walk out. My mom looked after him woundedly.

"How did you sleep?" she tried again. I set the bottle down staring at the floor.

"Fine mum, how about you." she poured herself a cup of coffee looking like a ghost of what I remembered. She used to be beautiful. Now she was a bag of regret. She sighed.

"Wonderfully darling, the ocean just calms you." I nodded tapping my fingers on the counter. She played with the handle of her mug. "I was thinking we could all go to-" I cut her off.

"Look mum, I. I'm going out for a little bit." her face fell. I moved closer to her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "I think a family day is the last thing we need right now. Take Tati to the spa or something." my mom nodded her head slowly staring blankly ahead. I kissed her sallow cheek taking the keys off the counter. I stopped at the door.

"I'll be back." I said leaving her with that promise.

I jogged downstairs since there was no elevator and stumbled outside into the blinding sunlight. Finding our car out front, I started the engine peeling out of the lot and onto the main street. By this time the roads were packed with cars all heading to the lush beaches. I put my ray bans on and lit a cigarette putting the windows down. I cruised through sleepy neighborhoods. Not really having a goal in mind, I drove straight hoping to hit somewhere interesting.

I pulled on my cigarette blowing a cloud out the window. There was a young guy standing by the side of the road talking on a cellphone trying to hitch a ride. I pulled over unlocking the door. I knew it was unsafe, but it looked as if it were going to rain. The clouds gathered over the mountains like thick sheets. The man opened the door sliding in. He hung up his cell putting a hand out for me to shake.

"Thanks mon. It's getting windy yeah. Almost blew me out me shoes." he claimed in a thick accent.

"Yeah no worries." I said beauguarding back into traffic. "where you headed?" I asked.

"The butterfly farm out by Galion Beach." I looked at him confusedly. "I'll tell you where." he said. After that, the car was silent as I drove finishing the last of my cigarette. He lit his own offering me another one, I considered it payment for the ride tucking it behind my ear.

"The weather is bad." he said puffing. The smoke blew around his weathered face. Clouds covered the sun, charcoal bubbles full of rain, not releasing any. The wind threw leaves and debris around the farther away from town we got.

"Yeah, it is getting ugly." my car swerved around a bend. The man laughed as thunder shook the ground.
"it's gonna be a bad one yeah!" he said almost sounding as if he were agreeing with himself. A twinge of fear struck me. What if this guy was a serial killer or something?

"They say in a storm like this one here, things happen. Crazy sorts of things yeah? Unexplainable things."

"Are we close to this butterfly farm?" I asked trying to remember some of the karate moves I had learned when I took it as a kid.

"Yeah mon, just past these here potholes." he said sitting up taller in his seat.

"Potholes?" I asked. Suddenly, the car sunk and jumped right through a large one, hitting more right after.

"Them ones." he hooted laughing. After minutes of stomach turning deep holes, we finally reached a small clearing where a small house on stilts was set up. A large fence with tarp was attatched. He pointed a crooked finger to a wooden sign with with colourful painting on it. It read 'Sint Maartens Butterfly Farm'.

A fat raindrop landed on the windshield with an inaudible thud. Many more followed. The man hopped out of the car producing a hat from his knapsack and slapping it on his head.

"The storms here!" he hollered over the whistling wind and slamming the door. Now the rain was coming so fast I couldn't see an inch in front of me.

"Come on!" he hollered motioning for me to get out. I mulled over this turning the car off. I couldn't get very far in this rain, especially with those dangerous potholes, and there probably wasn't civilization for miles. I climbed out running after the man to the entrance of the farm. Rain bled into my eyes burning my corneas.

We busted into the poorly built shack shutting the door firmly behind us. I was drenched and the cigarette behind my ear laid like a soggy worm. He switched on all the lights casting our eerie shadows across the walls.

"What's yer name eh?" he asked trudging over to a counter with a cash register and trinkets for sale.

"Jonah." I answered running a hand over my now soaked hair. "yours?"

"Enoch. You see? We both got them godly bible names." I nodded examining acrylic butterflies behind airtight glass cases. So he was a serial killer, a serial butterfly killer at least. I touched a case where a blue butterfly laid unmoving. Enoch came up next to me stroking the case.

"We get a lot of visitors for that one there. The blue morphos is what they called." he commented. "today was supposed to be the grand opening for this year, but I guess not." he said jerking a thumb at the rain splattered window.

"Can I wait here a while?" I asked sitting in a plastic lawnchair. "at least until the storm is over." the wind howled outside. Enoch nodded disappearing into an office.

"Feel free to look at the butterflies out back." he said. I sat motionless. I never really liked bugs, or anything that crawled and creeped. So I just sat there hoping the storm would die.

Smoking was off limits in a place like this, so I tried to sleep. But I couldn't. Getting up and walking to the window, I saw that the storm was getting worse, if possible. I wandered to the entrance of the greenhouse-house like farm area. I cautiously pushed the door open. Behind the door was another door, I guess a precaution for keeping the butterflies in their habitat. The humid air clung to me as I entered the habitat. It was silent and hot.

I heard the flutter of wings and the rustle of leaves and branches. Looking around, a butterfly floated lazily over my head. I wasn't very scared, a bit unnerved, but not scared. I looked around for any interesting looking butterflies.

I saw all kinds, some with wings of exploding colours and some with mute pastels of greens and pinks. I smiled looking at a cocoon swaying back and forth in the shelflike carrier. I leaned in closer, to get a better look.

"Is the wind blowing it?" I wondered aloud. But there was no wind in here I thought. The cocoon made a crackling noise. The wind picked up outside the tarp and thunder rolled. I backed away. The cocoon rattled with life. I kept backing away, tripping over an ivy. Did I do something wrong? It thought. And then, A pair of feelers poked out. I squinted coming closer again. Brown wings slipped out like silk. The butterfly grasped onto the shell crawling around curiously. It opened it's wings exposing brilliant blue brushstrokes. I crept foreword in awe of the beauty. It was surreal. Soon I was merely inches from the creature.

It opened and closed it's wings slowly as if trying to gather Windspeed for flying. Not thinking I reached out a finger, and to my surprise it's flittered on holding on for dear life. I laughed softly, my breath blowing it's wings like a breeze. The storm picked up outside, lighting ripping across the sky that I could clearly see through the tarp. I stroked the butterfly as it now comfortably sat on my finger, its wings closed. The wings felt Fluidlike, as if they weren't even there, they were pretty soft.

"I wish people were like butterflies. Simple and quiet. And beautiful." I said to the butterfly. It focused it's eyes on me. I looked at them, smiling.

"You won't tell anybody I was talking to you right? Because that would be weird as shit." I chuckled suddenly feeling a wave of boredness wash over me.

"If more people were like butterflies, then we could just chill. We could be normal on the outside and have our souls be any colour we want on the inside." I said. Hm. That sounded poetic... The ground shook, lightning and thunder now erupting at the same time.

"if only." I muttered. The butterfly twitched. Bolting from my finger, it tried its hardest to fly away, but failing. It dipped and swayed until disappearing behind a tree. A bright light flashed, blue sparks flying to the ceiling like fireworks. I hopped back.

"What the hell?" I said running to the light. Maybe the butterfly hit a radiator or something. I pushed branches aside until I reached the place where the explosion was and looked down. There was no butterfly. But there WAS A girl laying completely naked in fetal position. Her brown body was curled into a ball, her hair was springy cinnamon curls that erected from her head everywhichway. I turned around Ashamed of staring so long.
What the FUUUUUCK??