Flutter by, Butterfly

Chapter 17

"Do her thing? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" asked my aunt.

"Enough," said my uncle, with quiet command. "Sandy, I don't know what you have done, but I want this girl out of my house and out of our lives." He looked into my eyes and said, "Little butterfly, I want you to walk to the nearest street, stand in the middle of the road, and stay there until somebody runs over you. There, you will die."

He called me "butterfly." Butterfly and kitten were important key words. What else did he know? I had to obey him now. I began to turn away, my mind racing on how I was to survive this. Bruno and Sandy looked right at me as I passed them by. Can't let them see my fear. Can't let my emotions show.

"Wait a minute," said my aunt. "How much money do you think she could be worth?"

"Oh my God, Mom!" said Bruno.

"Shut-up, Bruno! There's no telling how much somebody would pay for a weapon like her."

"You just found out our entire family could be put into danger, and all you want to talk about is money?" I heard my uncle ask. Their voices began to fade away. I supposed it was a good thing that I had chosen to play along. I would have surely still been in danger if I hadn't. At least my uncle did what he did to protect everyone. Meanwhile, he said the nearest street, not the busiest one. That meant all I had to do was cross the side walk and wait.

The traffic was fairly slow. It was easy to time it just right on when to cross without stopping. All I had to do was wait for them to have plenty of time to slam on their breaks... I could hear the sounds of their screeching and honking of their horns. Resting bitch face. No emotion. Can't let my feelings show. I had to do it.

When I reached the center, I looked all around me, all the glittering lights, all the sounds. There was a cool breeze. It felt nice on my skin. I closed my eyes. Maybe it was better this way. My life was always going to be in shambles. I would always be in danger somehow. I breathed in, cherishing my breath, even as I hoped it would be my last.

"Jani!" "Jani!" I heard people calling my name. I opened my eyes and found Sandy and Bruno beside me.

"Oh my god, oh my god! What do we do?" asked Sandy. She was panicking.

"Come on, baby," said Bruno, holding her face in his hands. "I know you can do this..."

They really did look cute together.

"Um, um, um, um,"

"Come on," said Bruno.

"Ummm...WAKE UP KITTEN, GO FIND YOUR MITTENS!"

Bingo.

I blinked several times. I pretended to look around, confused.

"Jani!" said Bruno, shaking me by the shoulders and looking me in the eyes. "Wake-up! We have to get you out of here!"

"Come on!" said Sandy, taking me by the hand.

She did not get to lead me for long. A black limo pulled up, and just for a moment, I felt extreme joy to see him again. He climbed out, and I smiled with pure radiance, though at the time I did not know it.

"Get in," said Hugo. He did not smile. His face was expressionless.

I got in. Sandy and Bruno followed. We all settled in and the limo driver continued onward.

"So what happened?" asked Hugo.

Sandy and Bruno looked at each other in confusion. I couldn't say that I blame them. Wasn't this supposed to be Alejandro Jones, the super star? How did he know about anything that went on?"