The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

All At Once

[Sophia]

"Well... this is it." I said as we stepped out of the tree line. In front of us was the small pond and ahead of us was the tree house. In all its old, hidden glory. The twins stepped out behind me and looked nervously up at it. I walked towards the tree house and the twins took in the area more slowly.

"This is..."

"Really where you live?" they spoke in turn.

"Well, yeah. More or less. This thing has been here since... uh, before us, I think. I don't really know."

The twins finally came up behind me and stared up at the tree house, squinting a bit as the rays of light filtering from the sky above blinded them somewhat.

"Did you build this yourself?" they asked.

"No. But someone did. I don't know who though. I found this place when I was a kid, and it pretty much became my home for a while. Until I met my best friend. Whoever originally built it must've forgotten about it a long time ago. I'm surprised it's still standing."

I climbed up to the platform, branch after branch and invited the twins to come look at it for themselves. They simply flew up to the platform and nervously looked inside. There really wasn't much for them to see. Just the old desk and chair, and the rusty paint cans holding nothing on the wall shelves. The twins admitted they were imagining something... a little different, but I kinda expected that reaction.

"So... you've really lived here your whole life? With... your friend?"

"Yeah, pretty much. He should be here soon, so you'll get to meet him." I replied.

I continued to watch the twins observing everything. They stood out on the platform and looked at everything from a different height. They continued to be startled by distant bird chirps and pointed out the ones they could see sitting in the trees. Until they climbed down and approached the small pond. It was nothing but a large dirt hole filled with water. And a bit of algae. They stuck their arms in the water, hoping to reach something, but found nothing. The water wasn't very cold either.

It was kinda fascinating watching them explore the surface world for the first time. I could partially imagine what they were feeling. They tended to avoid any areas with bright sunlight on them and used their own wings to shade themselves. I'm sure they'd adjust easier when the sun goes down.

And then I realized something.

Wait, if they're not able to go back to the caves, where are they gonna live? Crap, I don't think we thought this through. They can't come back with us to the house, can they...? Oh man, I didn't think this through...

I heard familiar footsteps behind me and hopped off the platform. I saw Apollo wave at me, but he stopped when he saw the twins in the distance.

"Hey... Sophie..... is that...?"

The twins looked back and saw him. They rushed up and hid behind me.

"Woah, woah, it's okay! This is my friend, he's like me." I assured.

Apollo smiled and introduced himself to the twins. The twins were still nervous, until I told Apollo to open his wings for them, which he did and upon seeing them, the twins relaxed a bit. We all sat underneath the shade of the tree house and talked for a long time. Apollo and the twins had a lot of questions about each other. I hardly said anything. I chimed in once or twice, but I was mostly too busy listening to them talk to each other. I could tell Apollo was trying to hide his excitement, trying to appear friendly as to not scare the twins.

When the twins brought up the part about how they escaped the caves, Apollo had the same thought I did.

"So... if you're not gonna go back to the caves, then... where are you gonna stay?"

"Stay...?"

"I..." the boys glanced at each other. "I guess we didn't think about that."

Apollo and I looked at each other and thought for a moment.

"Hmm... well... maybe you could stay here at the tree house. It's got space. It's well hidden, and you guys will be perfectly safe here." Apollo suggested.

I shot him a nervous look. The twins were also unsure.

"Us?"

"Stay here?"

"But I thought this was your home?"

"Well... it is! But, actually..." I stammered.

This is our first home, technically. We have another place where we actually live."

"You live in two places?"

While I hesitated to say anything, Apollo didn't hesitate at all. He explained how we found the tree house as kids, but as we got older, we knew it wouldn't be enough for us. He explained about the humans that live here, and the neighborhood that wasn't too far from here. The empty house we found and took for ourselves. No on knows we live there, but it has everything we need to live more comfortably, whereas the tree house became more of a private hangout spot, or getaway to stretch our wings and not disturb the humans when we wanna have fun and be loud.

I chimed in once or twice with added details, hoping we could get the twins to understand. I was afraid they'd be more confused, but Apollo explains things better than I can, so I they got the gist of it.

Apollo said we'd show them our house so they could see it for themselves. I hesitated, but didn't really say anything. I wasn't worried about the twins, I was worried about getting caught by our human neighbors spotting a bunch of in-human people living next door. (As if we weren't already risking ourselves already.) But Apollo assured me that it would be fine and perfectly safe. He then assured the twins that we'd help them be more comfortable here. The twins looked at themselves before glancing at me, remembering that I was the one who promised that they'd be safe. I avoided all eye contact.

But eventually, the twins agreed to stay in the tree house, trusting us to keep them safe. There was an awkward pause, until I remembered something.

"Hey, when is your other friend gonna get here?" I asked Apollo.

"Huh? Oh, that's right! I meant to go get her. She said she'd meet me by the lake-"

"I think she's already here." said the twins.

We noticed them staring off in the distance and Apollo and I turned our heads. In the small pond just by the tree line, a small head was peering out of the water, staring back at us. I felt a sense of unease. Apollo stood up and approached the figure. The twins and I stared at them nervously.

"Teri, is that you?" Apollo called out. The figure raised their head out of the water.

"Apollo?" she responded.

At first, I thought my eyes were tricking me. I thought the sunlight beaming down on her was making the colors look different from afar, but it wasn't. Her hair and skin were two different shades of green.

"Teri, how did you get up here?" Apollo asked.

"Oh, well I was coming to wait for you by the lake, but I found this weird tunnel. I thought I had some time, so I followed it and... somehow it led right here."

"What? How is that even possible?"

"I don;t know. I never saw this hole the first time you brought me up. It has to have been made by someone, but I'm not sure. It is a bit narrow though."

Apollo was baffled. Teri noticed something off to the side, seeing us staring back at her.

"Hey, are those your friends over there?"

Apollo turned around and waved to us.

"Guys, come over here! Come say hi to Teri!"

I guessed this was the friend Apollo was talking about. I glanced back at the twins and got up, approaching Teri curiously as the twins followed close behind me, more nervous.

Apollo relayed his story to the twins as Teri introduced herself and gave more context. We all sat down by the pond as Teri beamed at us and didn't hesitate to show herself off. The twins and I were amazed. While she and the twins were firing questions at one another, I was busy studying her anatomy.

Not like, in a weird, creepy way, I mean like... from an artists' standpoint.

C'mon, she's a real life mermaid sitting right in front of me! What else am I supposed to do?

While I was accidentally tuned out, Teri approached me and grabbed my face. Apollo was surprised by this action and tried to get her attention, but she was too busy staring at me in the face. She was looking directly into my eyes, studying them. I'd never felt so awkward, my eyes darted in every direction, refusing to make eye contact. I couldn't help noticing how cold and slimy her webbed hands were against my face.

"Your eyes really are two different colors! That's incredible! I've never seen anyone with eyes like those before! Were you born with them?"

"Uhhh....."

"Yes! Yes, she was born like that, it's completely normal!" Apollo spoke up for me, hoping to grab her attention. He succeeded and Teri let go of my face. The cold, damp marks she left on my cheeks were replaced by a warm blush creeping underneath.

In all my years, no one has ever said that about my eyes. I'm always afraid that people would think my red eye is the result of some kind of disease, or curse, or some other genetic issue that might cause me problems later in life, (which it isn't), but that's why I always hide it. But the second Teri pulled away from my face, I got this... weird feeling that felt like I had something stuck in my throat.

Apollo thought I looked traumatized. He knows I'm not really a fan of people touching me.

The rest of the day went on with all of us just talking to each other. Asking question over questions about ourselves and each other. Apollo ran back to the house to grab snacks and drinks for all of us. Teri and the twins were skeptical at first, but seemed to enjoy them later. Apollo and I explained what happened to the twins and how they'd be staying at the tree house from now on. Teri agreed it would be safe for them here, before remarking that she had to get back home and soon left.

Apollo stayed with the twins as I ran back to the house to find some extra pillows and blankets for the twins so they could sleep in the tree house. As the sun began to set, Apollo gave the twins a brief astronomy lesson about the sun and stars in the sky. The creeping darkness making their eyes adjust better. We stayed with them a while longer, counting all the stars we could see in the skies until Apollo admitted that it was getting late and we had to go home. We assured the twins that they'd be perfectly safe and we'd come right back here the next morning. When the twins felt comfortable enough, Apollo and I left and went home.

I couldn't believe how much had happened in one day. But at the same time... it was nice to know we weren't the only freaks out there.