Page 19 of Wings of a Butterfly

I whimper at the cruel words. “Josh, leave me alone, she’s different and you know it. She was made for me. She’s just like me.”

“I dunno, little Alex.” Josh is leaning against the basement door with no concern at the emotions he’s making me feel.“I think you may have misjudged her.”He looks at me with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

I pull on my hair, screaming for him to stop. “Leave me alone!”

And he is gone. He plays on my insecurities and fills me with so much doubt. Skylar is different.I know it. I know it. I know it,I silently chant to myself.

Exhaling in relief, I make my way back up the stairs. I need a drink.

I walk into the kitchen and see Skylar sitting at the table with a glass in her hand. She looks like she did when I told her my story, just sitting there quietly thinking.

“Looks like we had the same idea.” I point to the glass in her hand that’s filled with whiskey.

She’s still staring down at her glass and nods her head slightly. I guess she’s still processing everything. I am, too, it seems. Josh shows up when my doubts are at their highest. It has gotten slightly easier to push him away the longer she’s here and especially since all my secrets are out in the open now. There’s nothing but me left, and she’s already accepted me. I grab a glass for myself and fill the glass with three fingers of whiskey. I grab my glass and sit beside her. Being close to her fills me with so much joy. I take a sip of my whiskey relishing the burn it leaves behind.

She clears her throat and I look up at her. “So when were you going to tell me about the women you’re torturing upstairs?”

The panic in me spikes. I’m stunned. After everything, she still wants to leave me. Anger flares within me. “I told you not to go up there!” Spit is flying from my mouth, and I lunge at her. I grab hold of her hair and I stumble a bit. My vision starts to go in and out. I’m looking down at Skylar and she’s smiling up at me. She is fucking smiling.

“I figured you would say that,” she says calmly.

“What the fuck did you do?” The breathing in my chest becomes ragged, and my grip on her hair loosens as I brace my hands on the floor to hold myself upright. I fall on my face, and my breathing rattles in my chest. I look over at the doorway and see Josh in his usual stance leaning against the door frame. He’s smirking, that cocky fucking smirk on his lips. I want to rip it right off his fucking face and blood’s dripping down the corner of his mouth. All I see are his lips moving.

“I told you so.”

CHAPTER 14

SKYLAR

That nightwe curl up in bed and drift off to sleep.

Later, a chilly breeze brushes my backside and wakes me up. I feel the space beside me is empty. I guess he couldn’t sleep, but I get this nagging thought in my brain. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back and all that. I’ve always been curious. It’s like my brain holds onto something, and it will keep nagging at me until I find all the answers.

Alex is probably upstairs where I’m not allowed to go, but he said he gave me all of his secrets. I want to love him. I want to trust him. My head and my heart are at war with each other, but my head wins out. Slipping out of bed, I’m determined this time to find out who he’s talking to up there. Tiptoeing my way to the door, I look out in the hallway and see that the coast is clear.

I’m going to catch him in the act. I feel insane. This house of secrets is making me hate myself. All the doubt that clouds my mind, it’s insufferable. Do I love him, does he not love me, and what else is he keeping from me? All these things race through my mind.

Making it to the set of stairs that leads to the third floor, I remember the step that gave me away last time. Mentally take note to miss that step this time. I go at a light but steady pace, and I make it to the top with no cracks or squeaks. I want to jump up in victory, but I’ll do that safely in our room later. You know, if he doesn’t try to kill me first.

The air up here is musky and smells as if something died up here. There must be rodents. I continue down the hall, looking in the rooms as I pass. They’re all mostly empty besides a few old pieces of furniture. It almost feels like a storage space up here. The further I go the smell gets worse.

I cover my nose with my shirt because it’s so bad. I get to the last door, and it’s cracked open, and I see a figure standing in the doorway. It scares me at first, but his back is to me. I ease the door open simultaneously reaching out for Alex.

“Hey, I was looking for you. Why did you leave?”

The figure falls to pieces in my hands. What the hell. Looking down, I see that it’s a mannequin made to look like Alex. Wearing his clothes and a wig, and a scar is drawn on his face.

A whisper from the bed: “Heeeellllpppp ... mmmeee...”

I’m so scared. I’m shaking. I stand up slowly, looking toward the bed. There’s a woman there. A shell of herself. Her body is withered and pruned. The more I look, the more I see, and I cover my mouth from the scream that wants to escape.

Her legs are cut off to nubs and maggots are writhing in the open sores. She reaches out a hand that looks like bone covered in gray crêpe paper. I can’t help the tears that fall from my eyes.

She breathes out the words, “Kill me.”

Is this the love he mentioned before? A silent sob escapes me as the tears fall. I never thought he’d take what little piece of my sweet soul I had left. At this moment, it feels like I’m ripping the wings off a butterfly.

I grab the pillow beside her and press it over her face. I’m crying. I feel so much pain in my heart, but death is better, I keep telling myself. Her body thrashes around with more strength than I thought she’d have, and I press the pillow down hard. When she stops moving, I pull the pillow off and sink to the floor with my head in my hands.

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