What waits for us after the sunset?

8.2

"You don't feel well?" Mikhail looked at his ward with incredible care in his eyes. With such care, with which her parents had never looked at her.

"No, it's alright. I was just thinking about something, forgive me please..." Oksana didn't understand from where did she found the courage to answer him and take her eyes off the red-haired woman.

Her teacher shrugged thoughtfully, beckoned her with his hand, and went on ahead, hiding in the shadow of a dark narrow stone corridor, similar to the throat of a giant snake.

The girl sniffed and hurried after the man, afraid to lose him from sight. Oksana tried not to look at the worker of the Garden.

A short dark corridor led them to the next glass doors, through which the soft artificial light had poured. For some reason, this led her to the idea of Wonderland and the door leading there. Probably because now there was a similar feeling - Oksana didn't know who and what was waiting for her behind these doors. Certainly, this time it won't be her fire-haired tulpa.

The girl took a step forward, half-opening the door. A bright lemon light cut through her eyes.

A few minutes later, through the blinding shroud, the outlines of countless fluffy bushes, ferns, and other exotic plants began to show up. Between them, labyrinths of narrow paths made of dark pebbles were comfortably located. The same stones of different colors were decorating walls of the room all along to the low ceiling. Right in the center of the hall, a small pond bubbled amiably, with a dozen colored fish with shiny sides fluttered splashing around.

And among this fragrance, hundreds of different butterflies fluttered, with their barely flinching wings barely flinching in the air. They flew close, circling around, soared into the air, landing on saucers with fruits, hidden in the bushes, but what was the most unusual...

Oksana, with surprise, slightly opened her mouth and blinked disbelievingly.

"Mikhail Viktorovich, they are..."

"The Butterfly Garden's dwellers. They can calmly sit on any visitor. Butterflies brought from all corners of our planet. I thought... I think you'll like it. I visited this place two years ago and here is a very positive and pleasant environment, which hasn't changed at all since then".

The man stood behind his student, watching her with an indulgent smile. He took a step forward, almost making a monstrous and a large-scale mistake, showing a desire to put his palm on her shoulder. Having stopped himself at the last moment, he saved from "moving away" from Oksana, who quite recently began to get used to such an unusual affinity of a male representative.

However, he didn't do it, and Oksana, completely enchanted by the charm of the new place, took two timid steps forward along the path, like a kitten that had barely opened its eyes.

In front of her, like petals picked up by the wind, butterflies drifted, unremittingly sitting down in one place, then immediately rising into the air, in an indefatigable search for a good location to take a rest, no matter if this place was another bush or a living, roaming along the paths of the garden, visitor. The girl, opened her eyes and her mouth wide in surprise, froze on the edge of the pond, stopping and twisting her head from side to side.

It's like a fairy tale... Exactly, Mikhail Viktorovich brought me to some magical place, not less. So many butterflies... they are so beautifully moving through the air, like never before any fish swam in the water. And though... Butterflies are air fish. What a ridiculous thought.

As soon as Oksana had come to this conclusion, she moved from her place, following the main stream of people and almost completely forgetting about her teacher, who, like her personal bodyguard, was constantly following her, not flashing before her eyes, but at the same time was always ready to be near if it will be required. But apparently, Oksana didn't ask for any type of help, because she was doing exactly what he had brought her here for – she enjoyed and recruited new impressions, which she missed during all this time, lived with her mother.

Even Cahir didn't show up, despite his morning remarks about the conduct and actions of his owner. More precisely, the girl for a moment even forgot about the existence of her silent tulpa.

Following the movement of the crowd, Oksana peered at every butterfly. In her wide eyes, framed by thick eyelashes, was a mute delight. The girl's weightless gentle flower dress quickly attracted the attention of inhabitants of the garden and the first on the edge of the dress was a pair of ocean – coloured butterflies.

The girl froze, afraid to move and frighten off her new companions. But the Lycaenidae did not fly away, and Oksana's lips broke into a happy, ecstatic smile, which was completely uncharacteristic of her. The girl, thin as a skeleton, with traces of scars on skin-covered limbs, smiled and acquired a completely different look.

One elderly couple who stood on a parallel path was lucky to see this absolutely rare moment. A woman with short gray hair bent to her husband's ear and quickly commented on the girl in the dress, calling her a charming red-haired angel. The husband nodded, smiled, and the couple continued on their walk.

The girl's chest filled with a feeling of happiness, which she wanted to share generously with the whole world at the same time. But first, of course, she wished to show it to her teacher. To whom she had become so attached in such a short time.

"Mikhail Viktorovich..." she exclaimed and turned around, slowly taking her eyes off the objects of her attention and looking at the man. And when Oksana did it, she was stupefied.

A couple of meters away from her, stood her teacher, holding his hand up, at the eye level. On his index finger, without any fear, sat with folded wings, a heavenly coloured butterfly. The butterfly that Oksana had dreamed of from the very beginning. With dark edges and white specks, similar to hoarfrost.

"This is Morpho peleids, a very rare specimen. I did not expect to see it here. You know, it was named after one Greek hero..."

Oksana didn't hear next words of her escort, as she was completely mesmerized by the look in which she found him. Tall and broad-shouldered, like a rock, Mikhail stood like a statue, with a reflection of water ripes on his face and a butterfly on his finger. Looking himself like a real Greek god, he completely fascinated her attention.

He looks like a hero from fairy tales. It's strange, but I would like him to be my...

The girl didn't finish her thought, as for a moment she saw Cahir's displeased blue eyes in the pattern of the butterfly's wing staring right at her.

Then, a few hours later, when she and her companion were about to leave, Oksana still dared to finish the sentence.