The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Break and Heal

[Sophia]

The Twins kept asking me if I was alright and I kept telling them I was okay. A little bruised and banged up, but I was still alive. I can handle it. I mean, sometimes I walk a little weird the next morning but that's normal. It just takes some time to heal and if I have a funny walk or I stumble a bit when going up the stairs, don't worry about that.

I didn't really show the pain on my face, even though it was starting to burn a lot more. And my leg was making the nice skirt stick to my leg and it was getting annoying. But, we finally made it back to the tree house and I was relieved to see it. I could finally sit down. I decided not to go all the way up and sit on the platform. I just carefully plopped myself down underneath the tree and let out a large breath of air. The Twins just hopped up on the edge of the platform and I tuned them out. I sat there breathing, thinking, burning.

I didn't know what to think. Or at the very least, I didn't know how to react, or what the proper reactions would be. And the pain from my wounds wasn't helping either.

It really didn't seem that bad at first, but now that I'm sitting here it really is starting to kinda hurt now. Not a lot, it was just more of a minor inconvenience. Everything just happened so fast... I can only remember the feeling of my heart pounding against my chest, my ragged, desperate breathing, and the feeling of fear, uncertainty...

And then, almost as if on cue, Teri's bright face popped out of the water and she waved to us.

"Oh, great. You're all back!" she smiled brightly. "Did you guys find anything? I can't stay very long so..." and then her smile faded. She looked at me and saw my confused and surprised face. (Though I obviously didn't show it very well.) And then she saw the Twins sudden reaction as they leaped down from the tree house and stopped at the edge of the tiny pool.

"Is everything okay? You guys don't look so good."

"We ran into a little trouble," the Twins answered.

As the Twins explained, I spoke no words. I just sat there, observing them. I listened to them, but I said nothing. I couldn't think of anything.

As the Twins filled her in, her confused face suddenly switched to a face of concern, then surprise. And when the Twins finished, Teri had a worried look and she made it at me. I avoided eye contact with her as she stared at me.

"Sophie, come over here would you?" she asked politely. I hesitated for a moment before finally, carefully standing up and walking over to Teri and sat down. When I tilted my head up for her to see my face, she gasped.

"Sophie, your face. Oh, you don't look so good..." Teri then pressed her wet hand against my face and I suddenly felt awkward. She was looking at the cut across my face, then she took my hands and examined them.

I will admit, I wasn't entirely sure what she was doing. I just felt really awkward the way she looked over my arms and hands and the way she put her hand against my face felt really weird.

Look, I'm being honest when I say I don't really appreciate other people touching me. Or any other form of physical contact. I'm not entirely comfortable with it.

Teri wiped away the blood from my cut. She got a little closer to it and made me flinch in pain and she reeled back.

"Sorry, sorry... hold on. Wait here for just a moment, I have something that might help. Stay right here." she instructed. Then she dove beneath the surface. I watched the water move around until it was a flat puddle.

I put a thumb to my face and wiped away the remaining blood and when I looked at it on my hand, there was a lot more on there. A little more than I previously thought. I stood up and started walking away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Fleetfoot asked.

"Teri told us to wait here." Flyboy added.

"I'm just gonna go change my clothes. I'll be right back." I said.

I made sure to make it quick, I didn't want to keep them waiting for me. I hung the skirt and the blouse on my window to dry. I hoped it wouldn't change their texture when they finished drying. I was too tired to find something nice, so I just changed into my old, blue shirt and my black shorts. I came back barefoot, not bothering to put on shoes. Sure, the soles of my feet burned from all the running from the hard ground, but I really couldn't be bothered to put on any shoes right now.

I prefer to be barefoot anyway.

When I got back the Twins were still waiting for me and Teri. I didn't mind waiting. I sat by the pools and stretched out my legs carefully, letting my tired feet touch the cool water in the other pool across from me. It felt nice. My legs hurt a bit, but they looked alright. I leaned backwards and stretched my back and my wings carefully. I just left my wings open like that for a while. Finally, Teri came back and she told me to come closer so she could reach me. I could tell she was holding something in her other hand beneath the water. I did as she said and scooted closer to her.

"Here, let me see your leg."

I let her look at it and she started to rub this strange, wet, muddy, and slightly sticky... paste on my wounded leg. It felt really weird and I wasn't sure if I liked it. But as she continued to spread it up and down on the scratch, I suddenly felt something weird. The burning sensation had suddenly been replaced by a strange cooling effect. Like the pain was just suddenly lifted from me. I felt a sense of relief.

"Okay, don't touch that. Just leave your leg out for a while. Here, lean forward a bit." she told me. I did so, and I knew she was going to put that strange stuff on my face. She wiped away the remaining blood with her webbed hand and started carefully spreading the paste on my cut. Again, the burning and stinging was gone, and I felt a sense of relief as that strange cooling effect took place. It felt so much nicer. Like putting aloe vera on a sunburn.

"This will help your wounds heal faster, and it won't leave scars. Does that feel okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." I replied. It still felt awkward to me, the way she was spreading it around my face like that. But I knew she was trying to help.

"I'm sorry you weren't able to help Apollo. I should've gone with you. I wish I could've helped sooner."

I didn't say anything.

"Of course, I had to make sure my people were okay. They were really shaken up by that earthquake. It took me a while to calm them down. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you sooner. You two are best friends, right?"

I blinked. "Yeah..."

"How close are you? If you don't mind me asking,"

I paused. "As close as siblings. But I like him more as my best friend." I said honestly.

I thought about what I said.

When I was younger, it really was just us against the world. Of course, we like doing our own things and we have our own interests, but it was always more fun when we did things together. It doesn't matter what it was, it was just fun when we found something to do. There was never a dull moment.

I couldn't really provide Teri much detail to go off of. I just didn't feel like speaking.

"I bet it must feel strange and scary to be without her, right? To have someone you know and love disappear like that in an instant. You don't know what to think, you don't know what to do. All you can do is try and hope things will get better." she said somberly.

And then I realized what she was talking about, and I felt bad for not saying anything. And after she finished, I still couldn't find any words to say. I didn't know how to comfort her. Until she moved away and called over the Twins to look at their wounds.

I suddenly felt strangely calm. The cool sensation on my face and legs. The fact that I think she knew what I was feeling. (Or at least what I think I'm feeling.)

I stood up carefully and walked over and sat underneath the tree again, leaning against it's trunk. The shade over my face and the nearing sunset shining on my beaten legs. I was calm, and I wondered what we should do now.