Red Butterflies

Chapter 9

I woke up again to the sound of text messages in a room that had been swallowed by darkness. I had slept the day away. I grabbed my phone; I had six texts from Tye. “Hey” “Sky” “Hello?” “Why weren’t you at school, are you okay, I’m worried?” “Skylar, answer me.” “Skylar. What is going on, are you okay!?” More texts kept coming through. I just locked my phone and threw it down. I didn’t feel like talking to anymore. I walked down stairs and walked to the kitchen. Ellie was sitting at the table waiting for food. Mum walked over and said “Oh good, you’re awake, just in time for dinner. I came to bring you lunch but you were pretty passed out.” The smell of stir fry hit my nostrils and I instantly felt sick. “I’m not up to eating mum, not feeling well, I’m just going to grab a bottle of water and go back to bed.

She opened her mouth to argue back. “Don’t bother mum, I’m not eating.” I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and another mint before heading up to my room again. I got back into bed and grabbed my phone to check my face book. I had multiply messages from Tye in my inbox as well as through texts. He had obviously given up on trying to get a hold of me. I read through all the messages, the last text read: “Skylar, I hope you are okay. I hope I haven’t upset you or done anything, I am actually really worried, I noticed you weren’t at school and started worrying. Please, just message me when you get this and let me know you are okay. Please Sky.” I just turned my phone off and ignored it and hit my head on my pillow before starting to cry again.

I started screaming into my pillow, tears once again staining the case. My whimpers grew louder before I reached out to check my cuts. The longer I stared at them the more they hurt. It’s funny how things become psychological. I started to feel more disappointed with myself. “Dad.” I cried into my pillow, and that’s how I fell back to sleep that night. Quietly moaning his name into my pillow as tears poured onto my pillow case.

There was a hand pushing back my hair. “Skylar.” I slowly fluttered open my eyes. “Mum.” I said. “Why are you waking me up?” “I need you dressed and down stairs in half an hour, its nine thirty, don’t be late.” She replied before leaving. I was slightly confused. I didn’t understand why I was being woken up and she had already left the room so I was too late to ask, so I just did as she wished. I put a pair of black tights on and put a bra on before changing into a long sleeved white shirt and went to the bathroom. I didn’t know if we were going anywhere or what not. I ran warm water in the sink and splashed my face before putting an anti-bacterial facial scrub on it. After I washed that off I applied simple makeup before brushing my hair. I then headed down stairs. There was still no sun, although I wasn’t complaining. I left my phone upstairs I hadn’t even bothered to check it this morning. I sat on the couch and mum walked over. “So, why am I awake?” I asked her. “There are funeral people coming today that we need to talk to.” She replied. “Oh.” I said back, as I sunk deep into the couch.

Yay, funeral people. My dad died two days ago and I had to already face the world and socialize with people I didn’t know. There was a knock at the door and my mum bustled over in a hurry to answer it. There was a lady and man standing there. The man was wearing black dress pants and a black long sleeved dress shirt and the woman was wearing a black skirt that ended just above her knees, black stockings, black flats and a black blouse. Her blonde hair was in a high bun and her glasses sat at the bottom of her nose. It was easy to tell they were from the funeral parlour. My mother greeted them and led them to the living room. “Skylar, this is Tammy and Terri.” I shook both their hands before they sat on the opposite lounge.

“Mum, where is Ellie?” I asked. “In her room, she isn’t old enough for this.” Mum replied. I nodded and then Tammy spoke up. “So, Naomi, Skylar.” She looked at both of us. “First of all I am sorry for your loss. There is never any amount of words anyone can say to help ease the grieving, although we send our condolences. Second of all have you got any funeral insurance put into place?” The start of this conversation was irrelevant to me as I had no idea about funeral insurance. Mum stood up and hurried over to a set of drawers and pulled out a bunch of paper work and went through it with Tammy. After the insurance was discussed my name was called upon, we had to organise the funeral.