The Butterfly Room

She stared at me, zoning out.

"LUMIERE?" I asked loudly trying to bring her back to reality. She blinked, smiling.

"Jonah." she said dreamily. I ran a hand through my hair.

"We have to find out how to turn you back to normal." I said Irritably pacing back and forth. "I mean, I'm not superstitious. I don't believe in this kind of stuff. But it just.makes.sense!"

In the middle of my banter, I noticed that Lumiere had fallen asleep. And a deep sleep at that. Limbs curled inward and Her pert mouth cracked open. I went to my bag pulling out my laptop. I HAD to find some answers before she woke up. I started up google searching for information on blue morphos. The info I had learned at the farm was the same info I found on these sites. One thing that always popped up, was the fact that they only lived two weeks to the day. 

Maybe her life span would be different? So I searched up the possibility of shapeshifting amongst insects and found a lot. One site claimed that every once in a while, the soul of an insect was just too large for the minuscule BODY of an insect and had to find another vessel. I looked over at Lumiere. That helped a little...

"Bt how do I turn her back?" I wondered aloud typing in random queries. I finally found a bit of information. It stated that to turn the being back into in insect, I must kill it. I raised an eyebrow.

Uhh...noo, I could rule out that one. Tired of searching I closed my laptop with a snap. I leaned back in the folding chair sitting and watching Lumiere. She slowly woke up as if erupting from a cocoon. First her fingers twitched, then she stretched, her arms blue veins shimmering like a glittery gulch and then she yawned. Her waking up compared to mine was a work of art. She scratched her curly head not bothering to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth.

"Water." she croaked. I got to my feet pulling out the water I had in my bag and handing it to her. She took it tapping the cap. Of course, nanny Jonah has to OPEN the bottle too! I took it back and unscrewed it for her. She drank the whole thing And didn't look satisfied. She looked like a spoiled child actually.

"I want to go outside Jonah." she said wistfully. I instantly felt bad. I kept her inside all this time, She needed wide open spaces. I dug in my bag pulling out a pair of jeans and tossing them on the bed. 

"Here." I said. She fingered the frayed hem of them humming. "did you hear me Lumiere?" she nodded putting the jeans on slowly. They were enormous on her so I had to roll the cuffs for her and strap a belt through the loops. She looked perfect still. It was getting dark out now, but we could just run around for a bit. I peeked out of my door seeing the coast was clear. She followed me racing to the elevator.

"Did she see?" she panted her eyes as big as a doe's as the doors closed.

"No." I said smiling. When we had reached outside she flew from the courtyard springing into a wooded area. 
what if she disappeared or something? I had to do more research on her. Maybe she had amnesia and some medical ward was searching for her. But as she played joyfully leaping through the open field, I doubted my doubts. What if she really was a butterfly? It's crazy. But anything is possible, I thought remembering Enoch. I sat on my haunches examining the sun disappearing behind the palm trees like a shy belladonna. Did Enoch have any correlation with Lumiere? Waves crashed at a distant beach, an echoed reminder of what the island had to offer. She crept over to me, her feet on pointe. I looked at her feet in disbelief, she hasn't ceased to amaze me yet.

"Jonah. What's that sound?" she asked, she was beginning to remind me of a toddler that was constantly curious about the world. Why was the sky blue? Where do babies come from?

"It's the ocean. Sur la plage." I motioned behind me. She spun in a circle as if her body were warring with itself on the inside. In this light, I could clearly see the outline of her sinuous Body through the t-shirt as she again curled her feet to pointe.

"Can we go?" she asked, her face leading the way. I looked at my watch beginning to protest, but the look on her face led me to answer otherwise. I got up almost taking her elbow but restraining. 

"yeah. Let's go."

We danced down the slope finally reaching the sand. Lumiere looked down frightened.

"Jonah..." she started yet she wouldn't take my hand. She merely took baby steps onto the snow white sand letting her feet sink in like a spoon in soup. She toed the ground a few more times and marched onward to the water. I followed, a slave to her majesty. We stood at the edge of the ocean.

"It's a bunch of water." she said putting her hands on her hips.

"yep." I said submerging my foot in it. Foam covered our feet, a soft white blessing. Little pockets of air burst in the sand like mini volcanic eruptions. 

"This is the ocean!" I continued, digging my heels in the sand. By now, the sun had disappeared leaving a hazy violet sheer separating our world from the higher world. The beach was emptying, everybody sleepy, tired and brown from the days heat. Lumiere jumped into the shallow water wetting the rolled cuffs around her ankles. She splashed water everywhere 
Mini stars nosediving back into the ocean. 

"Hey, we gotta go." I said regrettably waving her back down to earth. She turned to me and I realized that I wasnt obligated to take her back with me. I just needed to. Just to make sure she was okay. She obediently followed, looking back at the water one more time misty eyed and and promise-filled.

I let us back into the condo rushing her into my room.

"Jonah? Is that you?" I heard my mom call from the kitchen, there was a sickeningly sweet smell that swirled throughout the apartment like a lazy fog.

"yeah," I called over my shoulder. "what's for dinner?" I asked before closing my door. My mom walked out of the confines of the kitchen wiping her hands with a blue kitchen towel. 

"I've just been baking. Dinner is whatevers in the freezer" she noted wearily. Her brown bob framed her face as she tilted it sideways. "where have you been? I've been calling you and you never answered." she asked, blissfully ignorant.

"I went to the beach." I answered quickly shutting my door.
Lumiere had stripped the pants off discarding them in a heap on the floor.

"I don't really like clothes." she said softly. I bent over picking them up. They smelled faintly of cinnamon and sun. I smiled crookedly.

"Who does?" she didnt answer, pressing the pads of her fingers to the windowpane. "are you hungry?" I tried. Whenever she was inside, she lost a little bit of the shine that I saw whenever she was outside. I could hear her stomach growling across the room.

"I'll take that as a yes." I replied for her leaving the room. I  returned with some of the lemon cake my mom had made and set it before her on the floor. She picked up bits setting them on her tongue warily. And then she started to eat more finishing the whole thing. Her eyes craved more, but she didn't say anything. By now it was getting late, if you could call 8 o clock late, and she began to yawn. Her mouth becoming a gaping O. I realized that I had no where for her to sleep. I looked at my bed sacrificially giving it up.

"When you're tired, you can sleep on my bed." I said kindly. "I'll take the floor." I grabbed a few extra pillows and a blanket from the closet setting them on the floor campfire style. She yawned again crawling into my bed and slipping into the covers, burying her face. I wasnt really tired, but I didn't want to disrupt her sleep by keeping the light on so I switched it off. I pulled my shirt over my head and hopped out of my jeans tossing them aside as I laid on the floor. Looking up, I saw that Lumiere was already fast asleep, her seashell eyelids still.

 The moon shone a spotlight on her bathing every feature blue. I just had to touch her. So I reached a hand out to touch her cheek. And at that moment, even then, she moved away.