The Lavender Butterfly

Chapter 24

I walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. “I have to clean myself up before I meet up with the others. I can’t look like I’ve been crying all night,” I thought to myself. Evan had already gone back to the ballroom to meet with the others. We figured that it would be best if we arrived separately so we wouldn’t raise any suspicion of where we were, or what we were doing. I leaned over and took a closer look. “Hmm…not too bad, considering how much I’ve been crying tonight,” I thought to myself. This must have been some pretty good makeup that Meredith put on me earlier, it hardly ran or smeared at all, throughout all my tears. I still took some paper towels to clean my face up at least a little bit. I looked down at my dress, and what was a big wet stain from the lake of tears forming on my dress earlier had already dried. I ran my fingers up and down my dress. I looked in the mirror at my reflection. I smiled at myself. “Damn, I look good!” I thought to myself. I spun around, danced, and struck various poses in the mirror as if I were a runway model. I felt a great deal of feminine confidence, like I was primed and ready to take on the world. I was Olivia, a teenage girl in the prime of her life and I was feeling ecstatic. Not but a good 45 minutes ago, I was terrified about my future. I was bawling my eyes out, mortified about actually having feelings for Evan. That felt like ancient history now. Somehow, I was no longer afraid anymore. I was in love. My reflection in the mirror was glowing. I continued to strike pose after pose in the mirror. I loved being a girl. Suddenly I was startled by somebody else walking into the bathroom. A middle-aged woman walked in and gave me an amused grin, as she walked past me making silly poses in the mirror. I was embarrassed that this stranger caught me in the act of my moment of ecstasy, but I didn’t seem to care. But it did remind me that I had gotten distracted, and I needed to get back and reunite with the others. I took a deep breath as I left the bathroom and made my way back to the ballroom. The music was still blaring, and the dance was still going strong. The group on the dance floor had gotten significantly younger, as the majority of the dancers appeared to be under ten. There was Chloe, still dancing her heart out, this time with the rest of her girls in her dance team. They all looked like they were having the time of their lives. I looked off to the back of the dance floor and I spotted Meredith waving to me from a table. Stella and Evan were both seated at the table as well. I sat down next to them. “Hey Olivia, where have you been?” Meredith said to me. “Oh, just out walking around. It was getting too loud in here, and I was just looking for some quiet,” I replied. “I hear you,” Stella chimed in. “That’s funny, because I can’t hear you!” I jokingly replied, with the table bursting out with laughter. It was a moderately funny joke, at best, but I guess I got a laugh out of these people. “You’re a funny one,” Stella replied. Just then, Chloe trotted to the table, panting and puffing. “So….thirsty…” she said dramatically as she chugged her glass of water that was on the table. “You getting tired yet, Chloe?” Stella said. “Nope!” Chloe said, after she had finished off her glass of water. She ran back over to the dance floor with no delay. “Oh, to be young again,” I said amusingly. Meredith stared at me laughing, “You’re thirteen, Olivia!” Stella and Evan both laughed. I looked over at Evan and his laughter slowed down and tried to look serious. I then began to laugh, myself. I forgot that I was no longer a man in his mid-30s. It was pretty fun realizing these words actually came out of my mouth. Just then, Meredith’s phone rang, buzzing on the table. I was able to read the phone out of the corner of my eye. The screen on her phone read “Emergency Services.” “Oh no,” I thought. I had a feeling what this phone call was about. “Hello?” Meredith answered. “This is,” she said, as I tried to deduce what the call was, using only her side of the call as a frame of reference. “The police?” she replied again. Stella looked up alertly, as if she had just seen a ghost. The atmosphere of joy had suddenly turned to an atmosphere of worry and tension. “It’s really loud in here, let me go where it’s quieter,” she continued, as she started for the exit. I followed her quickly behind. “No, no, no, no, no…..” she said, as she started to cry. “No…..I’ll….be up there right away…” she said as she hung up the phone. Meredith embraced me as she burst out crying. She took a quick break from her crying to whisper into my ear. “Did you throw your wallet and phone into the ocean?” She asked me. I nodded affirmately, nervous about how she would react. “Thank you,” she whispered into my ear again. Surprised, I asked her why. “This will making moving on…..and explaining it to everyone a lot easier,” she replied. Just then, Stella approached Meredith, concerned. “What’s going on, Meredith? Is everything okay?” she said to Meredith. “No…” Meredith replied, embracing Stella tightly, as she completely lost her composure, crying on Stella’s shoulder. “It’s Chris, the police found his wallet and phone washed up on the beach behind the hotel,” she said, trying to hold back the tears. “They have a search and rescue team working on trying to locate him, but they aren’t optimistic that they are going to find him. They are going to continue to try and find him, but they aren’t optimistic that he is still alive out there,” she said to Stella. I saw Stella’s face almost immediately go pale, as she started crying almost instantly. They both continued to sob uncontrollably. Stella seemed to gasp for air, as she asked Meredith what she was going to do next. “I’m going down to the police station, can you come with me, please?” Meredith said, sobbing to Stella. “For sure, I’m coming with you,” she replied. I started to follow them, before Meredith stopped me in my tracks. “Olivia, can you please wait here with Evan and Chloe?” We will try and be back soon.” Meredith said to me. “Yes, we’ll be right here.” I replied. “Thanks, Olivia,” Stella said to me. “If you need anything or if we aren’t back within a couple of hours, talk to Haleigh’s mom. She’ll help you guys if we aren’t back soon. And whatever you do, DO NOT tell Evan or Chloe about what you just heard until we get back!” Stella continued, and she and Meredith hurried out the door. Just like that, it was sounding like Chris was officially dead, and everyone was about to be delivered the bad news. I was sad, in a way, thinking about all my loved ones that would soon be informed that their beloved friend or family had passed. I thought about my mother. She would be devastated, and I would be there to witness all of it. I thought about the prospect of attending my own funeral, and the thought was frightening. While I felt liberated of my old self, I began to feel very uneasy. Uneasy about the fact that the people that mean the most to me are going to soon be informed that Chris is dead. I slowly walked back into the ballroom and sat down next to Evan at the table. “What’s going on?” Evan said. “I don’t know,” I replied. “They said that they needed to head out for a while, they said they would be back in an hour or two.” “Oh, okay,” Evan replied. I remained in silent thought while I awaited Meredith and Stella’s return. Chloe was still happily dancing with her friends on the dance floor. It pained me that while I was watching Chloe having the time of her life, I knew full well that she was going to be completely heartbroken within the next couple hours. I looked over at Evan, as he gave me a loving smile. I scooted over next to him and held his hand under the table, as I smiled back at him. I began to wonder how he was going to take the news. The rest of the night was going to be hard on everybody.