Rainbows & Butterflies

Rainbows & Butterflies by Kierstyn Hart

A lonely girl wearing a purple rain coat and a purple backpack was walking home from school. Her head faced down as she counted the raindrops that fell on her purple rain boots. The purple girl's dark choppy hair was revealed when she pulled her hood down to investigate where a soft crying noise was coming from. She found a tiny wet, black and white kitten meowing in a dead flower bush next to the train tracks. "You're going to be alright, I'll take good care of you." the girl said while putting the kitten in her raincoat and continuing her walk in the cold rain.

When the girl arrived home, she looked at the driveway expecting to see her dad's gray truck but was relieved to find it empty. She ran up the porch and hurried inside. She shut the door quietly and tiptoed into the dark messy kitchen. There were well over twenty empty beer cans on the dining room table and more overflowing in the garbage can along with microwaveable dinner packages. The sink was only half full with dirty dishes and wrappers were scattered on top of the kitchen counter. The girl opened the pantry door and grabbed all of the canned tuna she could find, she then rushed down the creaky stairs to her bedroom.

Her dark empty bedroom had a small walk-in closet where she left the light on, the only other light source came from a big window above her unsheeted mattress that rested on the floor. On her mattress was a pillow with no cover and a small baby blanket. The girl closed her door, threw her backpack on the floor, and hopped on her bed. She took the kitten out from her raincoat and put her on the windowsill. She peeled back the lid of a can of tuna and laid it down in front of her. The kitten started devouring the tuna and the girl put her arm on the windowsill and stood there admiring her. "Poor baby you must have been so hungry!" She rested her head on her arm and laid that way to watch her eat.

The kitten finished her tuna and nudged the girl's face "You need a name! But what could it be?" she looked around to think, she then looked at the kitten and noticed a white spot on her neck in the shape of a butterfly. "I know! Butterfly! It's perfect!" The girl paused, "It's nice to officially meet you, my name is Lucy by the way," Lucy picked her up and cuddled her on her bed. She looked through the window and thanked the pouring rain for bringing her a friend.

A car pulled into the driveway, Lucy quickly stood up and froze, once she heard the front door open she grabbed Butterfly and ran to her closet to hide her.

"Lucille!" a loud voice from above yelled. Lucy flinched.

"Just be quiet, you'll be safe here and I'll be back in a minute. I promise" Lucy turned off the closet light and shut the door quietly. She rushed to her bed, hid under her blanket and counted her fathers loud stomps coming down the stairs. "Please. Please. Please." she whispered to herself after the twelfth stomp and squeezed her eyes shut.

The rain poured down harder, lightning lit up Lucy's room, she woke up to the thunder that came shortly after. She cried from the pain on her head and in her heart. She lifted her body up then trudged over to the closet, Lucy opened the door, Butterfly stepped out and rubbed her head on Lucy's leg. She walked over to her mattress where she laid down to cry. Butterfly followed and curled up on her chest, purring. Butterfly stretched out her furry legs, Lucy stopped crying then smiled at Butterfly. "You know what you need? That's right you need a collar!" Lucy took Butterfly back to the closet and turned on the light. The closet was small, she had a few shirts hung up and a little dresser in the corner. On top of the dresser was a mirror and a large pair of silver scissors, that rested on a pile of dark hair clippings. Lucy stared at her shirts, "What color do you like better?" She looked at Butterfly, "Purple? Okay!" Lucy grabbed her bright purple shirt off the hanger. She grabbed the scissors off the dresser and hacked her way to make a collar. She tied the weird looking collar around Butterfly's neck. "But how are people going to know your name?" she asked Butterfly. Lucy stepped out of the closet and reached into her backpack to get a marker, she continued to write out "BUTTERFLY" on the collar. "Perfect! Don't you think? Lucy grabbed the scissors and the remains of the purple shirt, she began to cut it into a long strip. Lucy dropped the scissors on the floor and started to wave the strip around to play with Butterfly.
"Are you having fun?"