YA Indie Carnival - Blast from the Past

This week the YA Indie Carnival sponsors are reminiscing...sharing some of our early work.  The oldest piece I have is a bedtime story written for my son several years ago.  It's never been important to me for others to like it because he absolutely loved it.  More importantly, he appreciated the effort I put into creating a magical story of his very own. 
 
BUTTERFLY LOVE
Before I was fully awake, I felt a brush as light as afeather dusting my cheek.  The scent ofthe floral perfume wafting around me was as familiar as the aroma fromthe bacon I heard sizzling in the kitchen down the hall.  I stretched and hummed and envisioned Mommakissing me good morning…welcoming me to a glorious new day.  She'd always insisted we start each morningwith love and happiness, knowing the rest of the day's tenor would follow suit.As soon as my lids lifted, the sun's rays caused theheavenly dream to disappear into thin air. I was quickly reminded – with gut-wrenching clarity – Momma had been deadfor over three months.   The last fewprecious moments had been the only twinges of normalcy I'd felt since the daythe heartless doctors told us 'her treatments were failing'.  Without waiting for us to process theirwords or comprehend their meaning, they callously reminded us to 'plan for herdeath'. Devastated, I'd done little more than exist since those life-alteringsyllables were uttered.   Intending to tame the unruly hair tickling my cheek, Ireached up and was met by the fluttering of wings. Living in the south andconditioned to tolerate our varmints, I imagined my fingers had grazed at agigantic cockroach.  I, prepared to runscreaming from my room, jumped up. Instead of a filthy insect, I found my visitor to be one of the mostbeautiful butterflies – teasingly fluttering around me – I'd ever seen. Her brilliant tattooed wings magically waved toward me.  I knew the tiny creature was waiting for myresponse, but I sat immovable for several seconds. When I finally shifted positions, she made no attempt at flitting away.  Amazingly, she was not in theleast bit intimidated by me.  "Are you trying to tell me something?"  I asked, feeling silly but unable to stopmyself.   Her black velvet wings – sprinkled with glorious shades ofgreens, blues, and platinum glitter – went berserk. I lifted my index finger,hoping the perch would be a welcomed place for her to light.  With a few silent flaps, she landed, and Isensed the now familiar tickle.   This time, our contact opened my hearing in a whole new way.  I watched the joyous creature while shetelepathically sang a message to me. 'Good morning, Faith.  My name is Riodi.'Positive someone was playing a terrible joke on me, I lookedsuspiciously around the room. 'It's okay. Speaking aloud is not necessary.  We can talk just like this.  No one has to know about it,' she melodicallysaid without moving her mouth.'How do you know my name?' I asked only in my mind.'We have been sent to you by Elise,' she said, carefullywatching my reaction with her giant round eyes.    "Elise?"  I, stilllooking around for the jokester, asked.'Yes.  Your mother,Elise. She's sent us here to be 'flies on your wall'. Nobody said the flies hadto be ones who evolved from maggots,' she said, snickering to herself."We?"  I asked.  Complete and utter shock kept me fromspeaking anything more than one-word sentences.In response to my question, she released a deafening whistlesimilar to the two-fingered one my brother, Tommy, used when calling Skip, ourborder collie.  Seeing my painfulgrimace, she crooned, 'Sorry. I should have taken flight before doing that.'Seconds later, four new butterflies gracefully flutteredaround my room.  All five undeniablybeautiful. With their appearance, Riodi began the formal announcements.  Working in concert with her, the one beingintroduced landed on my arm, using it as their runway while giving me a wave ofthe wing.'This is Papi,' Riodi said as the first, an enormousbutterfly, sporting paper-thin purple and red wings, landed.  It was impossible to ignore the magnificenceof the conspicuous black veins interwoven within each of his scale-coveredwings.   Papi's soft yellow thoraxhad a jet-black stripe extending from his massive eight-ball eyes down to hiswispy tail.  He may have lacked Riodi's elegance,but he made up for it with an almost palpable allegiance. 'Your mother loves you…so we love you.  The honor is ours, Faith,' he said in a voiceas articulate as an announcers.   As soon as his unconditional pledge was transmitted to mymind, the tails of all five Lepidoptera brilliantly lit up.  I was instantly reminded of the lightningbugs Tommy and I caught every summer…when Momma allowed us to play by the riverafter night fall.  With their glow, I wasconsumed with a hug-induced warmth. Sensing my reaction, Riodi said, 'Think of that as a presentfrom your mother.  Her remote embrace.'  Ialmost cried when I thought of the lengths Momma had gone to send that messageto me.  'This is Lyca,' Riodi said just as the smallest butterfly –almost pigmy – landed right next to Papi. On touchdown, Lyca batted her iridescent eyes Papi's way andsaid, 'Good morning, Faith.'  Herinfatuations with Papi reminded me of Tinkerbelle's crush on Peter Pan.While Lyca's beauty was every bit as stunning as Riodi's,the metallic copper speckled with bright pink showcased on her wings were asunique as her quiet personality.  Lyca'svelvety thorax was a brilliant fuchsia. Her every move was as graceful andplanned as a ballerina in the middle of a ballet.As soon as a butterfly – with wings the greens of cabbageleaves mixed with the yellow of a lemon's peel – descended onto my arm, Riodisaid, 'This is Piere.  Be very carefulwith him. His favorite pastime is sprinkling girls with Love Dust.'Mischievous, he shook his head, causing a dash of ashimmering powder to cling to the hairs of my arm. A heartbeat later, anadmiration for Piere – similar to Lyca's for Papi – consumed me.  Thankfully, it only lasted seconds.'If his Dust hits you like that, imagine how it impacts us,since we are so much smaller. Its effects are overwhelming and can last fordays,' she said, squinting her eyes toward Piere's sheepish grin. With the tone of a boy caught with his hand in the cookiejar, Piere responded to Riodi's accusations. 'Awe shucks, you know you love me, Riodi…with or without the Love Dust.Just admit it, and I'll stop flirting with other girls,' he said, giving her alittle wink.  Then, he turned toward meand said, 'Sorry for the Love Dust, Faith. It just falls when I shake my head.Really, it's completely out of my control.'  With Piere's infinitesimal move closer to Riodi, I saw his thorax was as soft as rabbit's fur and white as a cotton ball.His deliberate impishness caused a giggle to escape from deepinside of me and bubble to the surface. I basked in the glory of the first show of happiness I'd felt in a verylong time.  Riodi rolled her eyes with Piere's obvious lie andpurposefully refused to give him any further attention.  'And finally, this is Lidae. She is a motherto all of us…even though we were all born within days of each other,' Riodisang.Lidae, cautious, landed between me and the rest of thepack.  She thoroughly scoured my brain,making sure my intentions were sincere when it came to her family. With heractions, I knew beyond a shadow of doubt she would instantly sacrifice herselfbefore seeing any of the other four hurting. Her absolute love of them wassimilar to the one Momma possessed for me. Lidae respectfully bowed her head toward me as soon as I passed the rigors ofher inspection.  Afterwards, I studied Lidae. To others, her colors would have been considered the most boring of thefive.  Not to me.  I saw every single intricate detail and theway they were highlighted by various shades of matte brown, ranging from lightto dark. Her wings were similar to a tortoise's shell and their design asstriking as any that I'd ever seen. Lidae's body was as bold as coffee and smooth as mink. With an earthyvoice, she finally said, 'Hello, Faith.'

I nodded.  It was apparent Lidae was the leader, but Riodi remained theunofficial spokesman for the group. 'As I have said, we have been sent by yourmother. She wanted us to remind you of her love for you.'"Can I talk to my mother?" I asked, hoping she'd beengiven back to me.All five heads shook from side-to-side.  'No' their obvious response."Can you talk to my mother?" I, afraid of their answer,asked.This time, every head bobbed up and down."Can one of you elaborate, please?" Lyca flitted over to me and said, 'We have been sent to staywith you and watch over you. We will stay until a rainbow appears.  The rainbow is a signal, a notice it's timefor us - one at a time - to embark upon a strenuous journey back to Elise. It'sthe only way for her to know how you're doing.'The familiar blur of tears clouded my vision.  After everything I'd been through, I couldbarely believe Momma was almost within my reach…that I would be able to tellher all the things I'd regretted not saying since the day she died.  Lidae said, 'Your mother wants you to stop being upset, andfor you to realize when you're sad, she hurts.'I sat stunned, wondering if I'd finally gone insane to thepoint where hallucinations were playing brutal jokes with my mind.  The exotic butterflies' heads shook from side-to-side as if the movement had been choreographed.Thankful for the tangible evidence proving Momma's presence,I knelt down on the side of my bed and thanked God – the one I had been cursingfor months – for this miraculous gift. Through these amazing messengers, Momma would be at my side.  At least, temporarily.Suddenly, it occurred to me that Momma had been right. Thisday had begun filled with love and happiness and would absolutely end on thatsame note.  Even better, there would be many more to follow.
1.Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series2.Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series3.Heather Self4.T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series5.Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga6.Darby Karchut, author of GRIFFIN RISING7.Lexus Luke8.PJ Hoover, Author of SOLSTICE, Blogging at ROOTS IN MYTH9.Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy10.Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 11.K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed12.Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series13.Courtney Cole, author of The Bloodstone Saga 14.Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy15.Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 16.Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey17.M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 18.Abbi Glines, author of Breathe and The Vincent Boys19.Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind20.Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls21.Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler22.Nicole Williams, author of Eternal Eden, Falling Eden 23.Gwenn Wright, author of Filter