Monarch Butterflies

Terrible Babysitting

You hold up your camera, index finger readily on the shutter button as your younger sibling prances around the garden of wildflowers. Even after the shot is taken, they proceed to skip after the monarch butterflies.

In a way, you think, that child is much like those monarchs. They're a leader, they are powerful, trustworthy, and going extinct...

You make it a point to capture that fleeting beauty in the photos you take...

Of course, your baby sib isn't dying or anything! There's just not a lot of children akin to them anymore, as kids can be quite introverted or shy.

Speaking of extinction, it appears your little monarch has vanished out of thin air. Until you hear their astonished voice from a tangle of trees and bushes...

"Woah...Sibi, look what I found!"

Scurrying down immediately, you find them bending over a small creek, mesmerizing over the most beautiful monarch butterfly you've seen yet.

It has just discharged from it's cacoon, a small gap of sunlight through the trees shines down upon it perfectly. You pull out your camera once more to take a picture, quickly adjusting the settings to perfectly convey the feeling of this moment.

The lense focuses before a satisfying snap is heard from the device. And suddenly, you feel the atmosphere.. changes somehow.

The butterfly, once it has dried it's wings, flutters into the distant leaves, leaving you both behind in the shrubbery.

"Let's go home, little monarch. It's getting late and Mother should be home to feed you soon."

You grab the child's hand before heading back the way you came.

It takes longer than expected to remove yourselves from the branches and stickers, but you both make it out with no scratches. Although, it appears the flower field you took pictures at mere minutes ago, has materielized itself into a birch forest.

"Maybe we went the wrong way?" You reasoned. You don't always have the best sense of direction or memory, but you've been at that field many times before today. How could you have gotten yourselves lost?

Your sibling seems to have read your thoughts as they state, "No, we definitely went the right way."

Now what are you supposed to do in a situation like this? ...

Phone. That's right you have your phone on you! Surely, you can call Mother or someone to come get you.

However, as you find, you're immediately disconnected from the call. There aren't any cell phone towers nearby.

This is bad..this is really bad. What do we do? Do we go back the other way? But..this was definitely where we came from, it's not like we went anywhere other than straight ahead!

You need to calm your panicky heart and clear your head. You need to be the calm one here, for your baby sib. You're an adult, you can handle this.

You take a deep breath and try to think rationally. It's getting late, we should find shelter first. Maybe there's a neighborhood up ahead.

You turn towards your jittery sibling, "It's gonna be alright. We'll find a house that'll let us sleep with them for the night, or maybe they have service and we can go home after a quick call. No matter what, I'll keep you safe. Okay?"

"... Okay."