Strange Nightmares

Strange Nightmares 10

Stephen was a man dreaming he was a butterfly.

Or perhaps, at one point, he'd been a butterfly dreaming he was a man.

Either way, he stretched his swallowtail wings, black growing into bright blue, shimmering iridescent in the sun, and fluttered away from his perch behind a leaf.

He hummed and sang to himself as he flew, catching the gentle breezes that blew through the forest, leading him down whatever path nature wanted him to go. Stephen the butterfly had never known magic, or evil, or even much in the way of fear, besides keeping himself safe from birds and frogs who wanted to eat him. The world was as warm and perfect as it had been the day he was hatched several weeks ago.

But, of course, he was hungry. He had been hungry as a caterpillar, and still hungered just as much as a grown butterfly, but for nectar instead of leaves.

A cluster of pink milkweed--his absolute favorite--caught his eye as he descended lower into the underbrush. All kinds of insects swarmed over the flowers and leaves. They quietly went about their business, tolerating each other and taking food from the plant as they wished. There was plenty for everyone.

"Morning Christine!" he cheerfully greeted a bumblebee crawling over the tiny flowers, her legs covered in yellow pollen.

"Sorry, Stephen, gotta go," said Christine as she buzzed by him. "Too busy."

"Of course," he said. He wasn't disappointed at all. Bees' lives were much different than his own. Stephen wondered what it would be like to have a hive, sometimes, to have others to care for, a queen to protect. He wasn't sad to be alone, though. That was the life of a butterfly.

He landed on a perfect milkweed blossom and stuck his proboscis deep into the flower, sucking up all the delicious nectar inside.

"Hey, Stephen!" a familiar voice called out to him. A tiny ant wandered across the tops of the flowers, carrying a bit of leaf in its mouth.

"Scott! How have you been? Haven't seen you in a while! How's Hope doing?"

"Hope's great," said Scott the ant, putting down his load for a moment. "She's taking care of larvae right now. Man, I wish I could just fly around all over the place, like you. I've got to do so much work just to keep the colony going."