The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Eviction Notice

[The Twins]

The Twins were still asleep on the floor, sunlight still shining down from when the day began. When they eventually wake up, they looked around and realized Sophia had disappeared. They both got up and started looking around, stepping underneath the sunlight and looking upwards. They didn't see any sign of Sophia and wondered if she had left already and returned home.

"Do you think she'll come back?" Flyboy asked.

"I don't know. She said she would come visit us. But I bet she's already gone home." Fleetfoot answered.

They looked upwards at the bright light above them for another minute before going back to the tunnel and returning to the darkness. They were still too afriad to venture up to the surface and decided to wait for Sophia to return one day. They thought it was best to remain hidden in the dark caverns and tunnels where they knew they'd be safe.

There were many tunnels, large and small, that led this way and that all throughout the caverns. Some led deeper underground and others circled back around to the main cavern. But there was only one tunnel that led up to the surface. There were other smaller passageways that seemed to lead upwards, but the Twins discovered that they were all blocked. But they weren't sure how or why. They've explored every tunnel and passageway they were able to crawl into, and only managed to find no other exit to the surface. Only one way in or out. But they believed it was much safer down in the depths. Sure, it may be completely devoid of all light and life, or any source of warmth, but it was the only place they knew of to call home. But as time passed, and the Twins had wandered through their familiar paths, they began to think.

Without their sacred Moonflower gardens to light up the tunnels, something about this place seemed a lot less like home to them. And when Sophia showed up, it made things even stranger. The first person they had ever seen appearing shortly after the Twins discoverd the destruction of their gardens. While she proved that she wasn't the one responsible, something was. And whatever that something was might still be here, lurking in the shadows. The only thing the Twins knew was that whoever or whatever it was, it was not welcome here. But as they continued to walk through the dark tunnels, they saw nothing. Just the carved walls around them and a darkness thaat stretched both ahead of them and behind them.

One day, when they were circling around a larger tunnel, they thought they heard something. The Twins turned around and saw nothing. They didn't say anything to each other, but their ears twitched. They turned back and kept walking, slowly this time. Until they heard it again. They stopped and spun their heads behind them. A sound echoed throughout the cave tunnel. A sort of shifting sound. A pebble falling. And then silence.

The Twins just stood there, surrounded by the silence. Staring into the darkness, into whatever was there. No sound came from them. But they both got the sense that something was... different. The air around them felt strange. And cold. Oddly cold. And it was beginning to make them feel uneasy. As if... something was watching them.

A loud scream rang throughout the tunnel, scaring the Twins and they turned and ran as fast as they could. They could hear something shuffling behind them and neither of them wanted to look back. Adrenaline pumping through their viens, heavy breathing, something was after them and all they knew now was that they had to get out of there fast. They didn't need to see where they were going, they had these tunnels practically memorized. Their bare feet slapped against the cold, rocky surface. Each step stung as they had never run like this before. They turned a sharp corner and could see light ahead of them. Their only way out. They were almost there, but the shuffling and huffing of whatever was chasing them was growing closer and louder, and the Twins were losing speed as their energy began to wear out.

But before the creature was able to catch up to them, they both unfolded two dark, bat-like wings and pulled themselves upwards towards the surface. The creature behind them screamed in a fit of rage. The Twins looked at each other as they rose upwards, relieved that they escaped, but were still afriad of what was yet to come. They said nothing to each other, only glancing at themselves with fearful looks. They didn't know where else they could go, but anywhere was better than back down with that monster. But as they continued to rise, the ring of sunlight growing ever wider, they weren't sure what was more terrifying. The monster they had barely escaped from, or having to escape to a world they knew nothing about.

With one last nervous glance at each other, only one good thought crossed their minds.

They had to find Sophia.