The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Resurfacing

[Apollo]

The next thing Apollo remembered, he was hacking and coughing and gasping for air as he felt the bright sun against his face. He turned his head to the side, letting the water spill over his mouth and into the sand. But the rest of of his body didn't turn with him. his left leg, his right arm, they were almost completely numb.

Suddenly Apollo realized there was a shadow over his face and he opened one eye to see what it was. His vision was a little blurry, but he could tell something was looming over him.

'Sophie...?"

Apollo heard a gasp and the shadow moved away quickly, the sunlight hitting his eyes and blinding him again. He heard the sand in front of him get kicked up followed by a splash. Apollo tried to lift his head, only able to catch a shape sinking into the lake before it disappeared.

"Hey, wait..."

Apollo used his other good arm to wipe the moisture from his face, able to see clearly now. As he looked around, he realized he was back on the little beach. His gear was still sitting by the rock he left at before. He carefully sat up, being careful with his large wings that were partially buried in the sand. He bent the right one over his face to provide shade. Looking at the sand in from of him, he noticed he... had to have been dragged back to shore.

He started to remember what happened.

He looked around, trying to figure out how we got back here.

Wasn't he... didn't..... did he...?

Apollo called out to Sophia, hoping maybe she was somewhere around. But she wasn't. He was completely alone.

Very slowly, the feeling in his arm and leg was starting to return, but it wasn't enough to get him to try to standing up. He looked down at his leg and noticed a strange circular bite mark. He lightly touched the area, but he couldn't feel it. He had a similar bite mark on the side of his arm. Those were the areas that were most numb. Apollo began to panic and shook his leg around, trying to see if that might help. He still couldn't feel it, much less move it properly. He looked over to his backpack against the rock, taking a deep breath in as he began to drag himself over the sand until he was able to reach out close enough to grab it and shove his hand in one of the pockets until he pulled out his phone. He checked his text messages, seeing that Sophia read the previous one he sent, but no reply.

Confused, he sent Sophia another.

> Hey, did you come out here at all? Something happened to me while I was swimming. I'm coming home soon, but if you're up, could you come meet me?

>Dude, I think there might be something in the lake. I think I nearly drowned. Please reply as soon as you can.

Apollo sighed as he shoved his phone back. He grabbed a towel out of his backpack and started drying off, but he decided to wait until he was able to fully move before he tried to go back to the house. If it wasn't Sophia he just saw, he hoped she'd come out here to help him.

As he sat in the sand, he tried to think hard, wondering what exactly happened. What kind of creature in the lake could've left a mark like this?

And... if he didn't make it to shore on his own..... who pulled him out of the lake?