Butterflies

Before; Part 1

We met when we were 7, in the woods near my home. Who would have know he was there?
I had always been told not to go out into the woods even during the day when the sun was at its height. My mother had told me stories of terrible things that had happened in the woods. She would always remind me of the boys and girls that had gone in there and never came back. Not long ago news spread around town like a wildfire. A girl who had gotten lost in the woods was found. That was the good news, the bad news though was that she didn't make it. Yet I wasn't afraid of these stories.
Each day I would find time to go and sit at the border of the woods and our backyard. I felt like something was calling me. Like something in there needed me to go to it. These thoughts ran through my head the day before I betrayed my mothers warnings.
That night I prepared everything I would need. I didn't care what happened to me in those woods. I just wanted to know what was out there that I was so drawn to. While I was packing my backpack I looked up to see a almost translucent butterfly. It just hovered there in front of me. When I reached out to it it vanished. I wasn't one of those kids that believed in magic and shook it off as a figment of my imagination.
Once I had all my things in my bag I put on my back and went outside. It was late and was a bit chilly for a night in July. I looked up at the star painted sky. I remember how beautiful I thought it was.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw it, the butterfly. I was shocked to see it a second time and came to the conclusion that I was losing my mind. But this time as I went to reach for it it didn't vanish. It simply landed on my hand. It only sat there for a few moments before it flew of into the woods.
I looked down at my hand to find a small mark on my index finger. It was something that I couldn't make out. Before I was able to process the event that had just occurred my mother turned the porch lights on. I knew at that moment that there was no going back.