Butterflies Volume II

Chapter 1

Lively chatter and dance music filled the air as Frenchie lifted the door to the lift. Kimiko trailed after him giving a smile as they entered the party, in search for a particular small man. Neon lights and cocaine was what you could immediately see, as well as huddles of people chatting over whatever drinks they could get their hands on. Frenchie and Kimiko nodded to each other, parting ways to scope the area out. Their missions had become a lot more inconspicuous, and so Kimiko found strength in venturing on her own.

Silently she strolled through the room, dark hair covering most of her face as she avoided the eyes of other partiers. She never truly liked parties, from the few she actually had attended. So loud, so boisterous, so many people touching and speaking words she didn't understand. Suppose it was the parties she snuck into, like the one they just had, that made her stomach churn at even the glance of the drugs on the counters. Parties like the one they had hijacked often left a bad taste. A room full of a bunch of strangers. So loud, so boisterous.

She found herself drifting away to the rooms in the back of the building, the glow of orange lamps shifting to a cold blue. So inviting, the aura of the glow begged for her to venture closer. Kimiko peaked her head around the corner of the doorway and in the empty room lit only by the blue LEDs was a woman playing a piano.

In another reality she would have hoped that it would have been Violet playing, that the immense swelling in her chest would have been from her and not a stranger. If only she could blink and that woman be replaced with her friend she missed. If only she could blink and the same butterflies could fly around her. Maybe squinting hard enough would allow it, that suddenly out from their cocoons the butterflies would burst and pull her in. From where the blue LED hit the orange lamps it turned purple, a weakened presence.

Frenchie said they mustn't see her, that she must be left alone to be free, that Violet would not want to be disturbed. But how free must you be once you pushed everyone else away? Kimiko could imagine herself singing to the woman, and for a moment the woman was Violet. She would get closer to the piano, and Violet's smile would grow wider, encouraging her.

But then a car horn would sound and Kimiko would be reminded that the woman is not Violet. Just a memory, a memory amongst the growing blandness of her everyday.

"Hey," the woman finally noticed her, "I'm Tyler."

A woman without a voice couldn't make any new friends. A woman like Kimiko, would not make friends. Not with what she could do. She spun away and walked back into the main room, used to the disappointment brought by leaving things unsaid. When looking around for Frenchie, she could not find him then, but also not the tiny man they were looking for. Checking the bar, then the plethora of social areas and the doll house that had been set up... Kimiko could not find him.

Until a faint scream.

No one else heard the yelling, but with hearing like hers it was unavoidable the shrieking. And that only meant one thing. Elbowing past people, Kimiko made her way to the other end of the building, heaving open every door like she was bursting for the toilet and hadn't been told where it was. She heard grunting, a thud, and thought the worst, rushing down the corridor, in which French yelling grew louder.

Rounding a corner, she found Frenchie frantically patting his trousers... And the body of a man exploded from the waist down lying on the bed. Confusion came first, but Frenchie screaming that their tiny friend was scrambling for his ass came second. Wincing, she ran forward and grabbed him, undoing his belt to reach down for the tiny menace. Panicking, Frenchie rushed, forcing her behind him in which she yanked her hand down to pull the man from his underwear.

Termite now held between her fist snarled and bit her thumb, Kimiko letting go which allowed him to throw her to the ground and then throw her into the nearest wall. Shouting, Frenchie brought out his gun to aim at anywhere that could hold the tiny terror. With no clue as to where the man was though, Frenchie looked to Kimiko, just as Termite grabbed his ankle and swung him into the bedside table. And he would have succeeded in sliding into his open mouth if it weren't for Billy Butcher swiping him up in his own coke bag to stop him.