Mountain Butterfly

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

When we get home I hold back to flood of tears I know are sure to come. I say goodnight to my Dad and head for my room. When I get to my room I shut the door behind me and not even bothering to turn on the lights or change out of my dress I fling myself on to my bed and cry. I’m not sure how long I’ve been like this but I roll onto my back and wipe my tears away from my eyes. As I lower my hand away from my face there on my palm in small neat numbers only slightly smudged is Peter’s number. I close my hand around his number and hold it close I smile silently as I pull myself together and put on a pair of pajamas and my slippers and walk over to the sliding glass door leading to the small balcony outside my room.

I slide the door open and walk outside and recline the black and purple cushioned lounge chair and look up at the millions of stars that scatter the night sky. All of a sudden I see a shooting star, I close my eyes and wish with all my heart that somehow I’ll figure out a way to make this whole mess workout. As I lay there curled up, thinking about everything, more tears threaten to spill. I give into the tears and cry myself to sleep right there on the balcony.

After waking up several hours later I walk back inside to my dark, lonely room. I locate my phone and plug it into the charger next to my bed. When it has enough battery to turn on I check the time, it’s almost four in the morning. I shuffle over to my desk and power up my laptop.

One of my Dad’s abilitys is that he is super smart. His inventions range from not only highly sophisticated products for regular humans such as NASA computers, but also specialized convenience items for Balmty.

Right now there aren’t any other Balmty that have an ability even close to his. He has secured air frequencies so we can have our own radio stations and communicate news involving Balmty people from all over the world without the risk of being intercepted by humans. He has created microchips for cell phones so that when activated we can use a regular cell phone to contact other Balmty without any fear.

Not to mention he has made hundreds of various flavors of shakes that have all the vitamins and proteins we need to stay healthy without compromising the taste. Anyways a few years back he created a secured private website where Balmty from all over could video chat with one another.

Once my laptop has booted up I quickly log on. Crossing my fingers and hoping that at least one of the two people I really need to talk to right now, will be on. I’m disappointed to see that neither of them are currently online. I’m not surprised though, considering it is quite early in the morning. I leave them both a quick video message saying that I really need to talk to them both and to call me back as soon as they received my message.

Knowing that sleep will not befall me anymore tonight I decide to get some fresh air. After standing on the balcony for a few minutes I decide that what I need is to be in the air away from everything. I climb onto the railing and waiting a few seconds before jumping off. I can’t remember why I started doing this but whenever I take off from a ledge I free fall until I’m a few inches from the ground before shooting into the sky as fast as I can.

I continue straight up into the sky I don’t stop until I am high above the clouds. I’m not exactly sure where I am going or if I even have a final destination in mind but I fine myself flying toward town. It’s a beautiful starry night. The air is fresh and pleasantly warm. There isn’t a cloud around for miles, but because there are no clouds I make sure to turn myself invisible so as not to be spotted, no need for me to get into anymore trouble tonight.

I let my thoughts drift as I circle high above the town. I refuse to let myself wallow in anymore of this self pity. But I do think about what it would be like to be a normal teenager. I laugh to myself because even I find it absurd to think about being normal as I’m flying through the night sky.

I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to grounded. I mean literally grounded as in not ever being able to fly ever again. Though there may be many disadvantages to not being “normal” I would never give it up. I would miss flying way too much. Flying is my one escape where I can be totally free. Free of judgement Free from prying eyes. Free to just be me. I drift on my back for a while just looking at the stars, but after about an hour and a half I figure I should probably be getting home. Instead of going home the way I normally go I decide to fly a bit lower and go the long way through the back roads.

All of a sudden I hear a faint melody float through the air accompanied by the voice of someone singing softly. I stop where I am, which is above a large empty field full of tall grasses and weeds, and listen. I can’t quite make out where the music is coming from or what the words are but the voice is so strong yet quiet and sweet.

I scan the field looking for the source of it, after a few moments of searching I spot a light in the middle of the field. I come closer to the light and find that it is Peter who is playing the guitar and singing. He is sitting on a blanket with a lantern sitting next to him just playing. I hover a few feet away entranced by his voice. I still can’t make out the words then I realize that he is singing in another language, what language I’m not sure, but it's breathtaking.

All of a sudden a strong breeze catches me off guard and because I am hovering so close to the ground it spins me into the grasses. I try to free myself, but I just make my situation worse and quickly become more entangled in the weeds. In all my thrashing about in my failed attempt at freeing myself I forget to keep my invisibility up. I freeze as I realize how much noise I’m making and I also realize that the music has stopped.

Great, that must mean Peter has heard me. Then I hear footsteps crunching along the ground, then I see the light a few feet away. I don’t dare move a muscle or even breath. I can’t have him find me out here in the middle of nowhere tangled in the weeds. Then a devastating thought crashes into my brain, I’m still in my pajamas. I’m praying he doesn’t head in my direction, but of course that isn’t my luck. He turns and heads straight for me I have a couple seconds tops before he finds me.

I have two options. Option one; I turn myself invisible and risk him running into something he can’t see, me, and thereby risking balmty secrets or we have option two; have Peter find me in my fuzzy cherry print pajama pants and red tank top and most embarrassing of all my very worn bunny slippers in the middle of a field trapped in the weeds. For the sake of my people I stay visible, I’m visibly humiliated, I count down three, two, one. He spots me. Great.

I can feel my cheeks burning red. Thank goodness it’s dark out. He comes closer, when he realizes its me a huge smile spreads across his face. My face just continues to turn an even darker shade of red.

I see he is still wearing the khakis and shirt he was wearing at the party but now the top buttons of his shirt are undone and his shirt is wrinkled. I wonder how long he has been out in this field, or why he is out in this field. His laughing brings me back to my humiliating situation. He contains his laughter long enough to say, “Hey, Violet. How ya doing?” before bursting out in laughter again.

“Stop laughing. Are you going to help me get untangled or not?”

“Hmm. I’m not so sure if I should or not.”

“Peter!”

With a smirk and a teasing tone in his voice he says, “What’s the magic word?”

“Please! Now help me.”

“Ok. Ok. Pushy.” He smiles again as he pulls a pocket knife out of his pocket and cuts me free. When I’m finally free he stands with his arms folded across his chest with his one eyebrow raised clearly giving me the “good luck explaining this” look.

I gulp before saying, “I can explain this.”

“I’m sure you can, and I look forward to hearing your explanation but its getting a bit cold. How bout you come over to my house and tell me your story. My house is just right over there.” He points in a general direction. I nod my head in agreement. The walk will give me time to think of a somewhat logical explanation. As we begin to walk back to his house he notices my slippers, raises an eyebrow, smirks and continues to lead the way.