Uni's Unicorn

Chapter 6 -Butterfly Drones

Carol and Jilly woke in a small room, having slept on a soft carpet kind of fabric. The same fabric covered the walls, floor, and the ceiling.

They sat slowly, feeling disoriented, trying to take in this strange room. So many questions flooding their minds, they felt the blood racing in their heads.

Jilly's heart pounded and her breath came too fast. "I feel... dizzy," she whispered.

The floor was soft and spongy. One oblong-shaped light with a dark frame, set into the roof above gave dull illumination. A breeze came from above as if a fan blew, but no fan was visible.

To all appearances, there was no door or windows in the room and no furniture. 

Jilly, wanting to talk to her parents, felt her pocket for her iCom. It wasn't there. She panicked. 

Carol shook her head, feeling disoriented as if she'd woken in the middle of a nightmare. She felt the terror of it, right here. She drew a deep breath, holding it. Looking at her wrist, she saw that her iComfone wasn't there. Who had it? What time was it? Was it day or night? Slowly, she let the breath out...

Jilly's cries, gasps, and sobs brought Carol the sense that this was real.

"Jilly, stop!" Grasping her friend by the shoulders, she shook her. Jilly screamed.

Carol spoke into Jilly's ear, "Take a deep breath and hold it...

"That's right. Now, breathe it out, slowly, all the way out. I'll do it too...

"Take another.

"Hold it...

"We'll breathe out, together...

"Again..."

Soft music sounded... Jilly looked up at the light, before glancing around the room, wondering where the music came from. It was symphonic-type music, the kind one might listen to for meditation or to fall asleep to... so soothing... the frame around the light changed to a green color, fading, lighter and lighter...

Jilly calmed into weeping with her arms around her knees and head down on them. Closing her eyes, she spoke of the last things she remembered... "We... I, I was in our cave. Someone grabbed me out of the cave after you went. Uni wasn't there... I don't know what happened... I'm here... but... here are we?" She sobbed. "I... want... to... go home..."

Carol walked around the chamber, feeling the walls, the corners, all the way to the next corner, hoping for a door or portal of any kind. There was nothing. She sat again, putting an arm around Jilly saying, "We just have to wait until they come..."

"Who —are —they?"

"We have to wait and see, Jilly. Keep calm."

"Where's Uni? Did you see her?"

"No. I went out of our cave... and then, I went behind a tree and when I came back to come in the cave, there was a really pretty butterfly near the cave, just flitting around. Then another one came. They flew up above me. It was then. I was watching them, looking up. I can't remember after that... I woke here."

"Didn't you see the man with the hood?"

"No. I saw no one. What did he look like?"

"He was all in black. I didn't see him until he was really close... but, will we ever get home again?"

"Yes, we will. Everyone will be looking for us, just like they were looking for Tyson, back then... Carol drew a deep breath, wondering herself if anyone would come, and, how long had they been here... How did they get here? Where on earth, was 'here'? Why wasn't Uni with them? As she let the breath out, she said, "They'll have to feed us and likely we'll learn something then..."

"Yes, I'm hungry." 

Lying back on the soft floor, Jilly closed her eyes and squeezed them. She wiped her tears. Her eyes went to the frame around the light and she pointed at it. "Look, Jilly... two butterflies up there, by the light..."

"Where?"

"They flew over to the corner." Jumping up to stand, Jilly turned around with her eyes on the walls. "I see one. It's green."

"I can see an orange one. In the far corner. They're like the ones I saw near the cave..."

Jilly stepped to the corner and the green butterfly flew diagonally to the far corner.

"There's one in each corner."

"Yes, two of them are green, and there's a blue one too..."

"I see a yellow one," Carol said, "up by the light. Look it's gone brighter, the light..."

They sat, watching the butterflies dancing around the edges of the top of the room, then landing, one in each of the four corners before floating across to the light, back and forth.

Lying back on the floor, they watched the butterflies... the light dimmed...

"It's changing color, the frame, and that butterfly over there's gone purple, oh, now it's pink, how pretty they are," Jilly said with awe in her voice.

"I've never seen butterflies do that. I think, perhaps..." Carol stopped mid this sentence. How could she say what was on her mind about 'genetic-engineering', or drones? Jilly would freak... and there were the butterflies outside the cave... 

The air coming in had a soft, sweet smell...

"Perhaps that bumble was like these," Carol began, her voice slow and soft. "I think they are, like, well, drones, but miniature... so small for drones... but, that's why the bee followed... us... I wonder where Uni is... I... think..." She closed her eyes.

The two girls slept.

A low table with pizzas, bread rolls, plates and a bowl of salad, three plates, three forks on it as if it had been set for three, greeted their eyes when they woke. Beneath the table was a tray bearing an assortment of bottled juices, apple, orange, and raspberry juice.

"It's like magic," Jilly said, crawling to the table and snatching up a piece of pizza, eating hungrily. 

A strange opening happened without a sound. The wall carpet in the far corner wound sideways as a roller blind at the window would roll up. 

Uni stepped into the room, a big smile on her face. The portal behind her closed. 

"I'm hungry," she said, making the girls jump and turn around. Jilly struggled not to choke on her mouthful.

"I need to eat and drink something. My dad said you've got pizza and juice here." Flopping down on the floor at the table, she snatched a piece of chicken pizza, folding the point go a V and pushing that pointy end into her mouth. "Mmmm, cranberry sauce."

Before they could say a word, Uni held her other hand in the air, waving her palm at them, saying while still trying to chew, "I'll tell you all, as soon as I've eaten. Best of all, my Dad's here, and we are safe..."