Caroline's Butterflies

Chapter 3

While you may spot a butterfly doing nothing but relaxing on a flower, some butterflies can fly up to 30 mph when they really want to move!

Oliver told me to meet him in the teen center so to Gregory's excitement I was escorted down there. When I see Oliver I don't walk right over but instead sit down and let him come to me.

"Ready to go?" He smiles.

I nervously pull on my knit cap. "Uh, yeah. Let's go."

He leads me down the hall and I'm already tired. I can tell I am slowing him down because he noticeably lowers his pace every few seconds.

"What kind?" Oliver breaks the silence. "Do you mind if I ask?"

As if he couldn't tell by my non stop panting. "Lung cancer, you?"

"Leukemia. Diagnosed when I was four, and it was supposed to be all gone three years ago but a few months back it reappeared and was pretty bad. I've been hanging here since then. How long you here for?"

"I'm not sure, " I almost laughed when saying it. "I've been here three years so...yep."

Oliver all together stopped in his tracks. "Woah! Three years? Holy cow! Caroline you must know everyone here."

This time I did laugh. "Oh you don't even know..."

When we arrived at his room I was a bit confused. It was just a regular room. When Oliver started closing the the blinds I was a whole lot more than a bit confused.

"Oliver what in the world?"

"Not in the world Caroline, Out of it." Oliver turned off the last light and the dark room glowed. All four walls were covered with intricate designs of the galaxy done in neon green glow in the dark paint.

"Oliver you're an artist!" I couldn't take my eyes off the walls. "How does nobody know about this?"

Suddenly my chest began to burn. Oliver said something but I couldn't hear. My eyes started to get blurry. "You know Oliver," I managed to say, "You should see my room sometime. It's covered with bu-"

"Caroline!"