Page 22 of Wings of a Butterfly

We end up spending the day hanging out in our PJs binge-watching trash TV. It’s the best time I’ve had in a long time.

That night, when it’s time for bed, we resort to cuddling up in bed together. I didn’t want to sleep alone, so Nicci offered to come sleep in my room with me. It makes me so happy that I’m finally in her arms again. She kisses my forehead and holds me close, playing with my hair until I fall asleep.

***

The weight shifts on the bed and I don’t want to open my eyes yet.

“Nicci, what are you doing?”

“This isn’t Nicci.” A strong hand presses over my mouth and heaviness is weighing on my chest.

My eyes spring open to see a shadow with a black hood on. I begin to thrash and scream in his hold. The panic I feel has my heart beating out of my chest and my lungs burning from how fast I’m breathing.

“Uh-huh, little butterfly. I’m guessing you thought you left me for dead, right?” He chuckles a bit because he can see it written in my eyes. “You actually saved me, but I guess you didn’t mean to do that either.” He pauses, grinning down at me. “You’re always so beautiful when you cry.” Then he leans over, licking a hot trail of spit up the side of my face. “And tasty. Back to what I was saying. I didn’t choke on my own vomit because of you. That seizure was pretty bad but, princess, don’t you know Delphinium is less potent the longer it sits out?” He laughs in my face then gives me a little slap on the cheek. “It was a good try though. A damn good one too.”

He leans into my ear and whispers, “But you didn’t have to kill my mother.”

I scream under the weight of his hand as loud as I can, and I thrash around, trying to throw him off.

“Hey, hey. Calm down, little butterfly. I only wanted to repay the life-saving favor and tell you...” His words cut off in a choke. There’s a pained expression in his eyes and the grip he has on me loosens.

I push with my hands to get out from under him, but he’s too heavy. He’s dead weight on my torso. He coughs and blood drips from the side of his mouth.

He falls face first onto the pillow beside my head, and I scream. Tears are running down my face. Will this nightmare never end?

I see a knife sticking out of his back, and my best friend is still standing there frozen in the position she stabbed him in. I look at her in confusion; she was sleeping beside me, but now she’s standing there in a trench coat. What the fuck?

CHAPTER 17

SKYLAR

It’s been almosta month now since my brother was stabbed in the back by my best friend. We haven’t really talked about it, and she won’t tell me where she went while I was sleeping. Why was she wearing a trench coat?

The cops took our statements, and we still kept our lips sealed about who he really was. They used one of the fake IDs he had in his pocket to identify him. Nicci and I didn’t correct them. We’ll take that secret to our graves.

We continue on with school, classes, and life. The energy between us though has changed, in a way. It saddens me.

I’m in the bathroom throwing up again. I feel so sick and there’s a pain in my abdomen. I thought it was because of stress, working too much, or not eating much. I’ve swept it under the rug and given it every excuse in the book. I think I might be in denial.

I’m sitting on the toilet holding the pregnancy test I bought from the convenience store today. I watch as the urine runs up the strip, filling up the indicator lines. I’m sweating, heart racing at the anticipation of what this little white stick will tell me.

I look up, praying for the first time for someone to please save me.Don’t let this happen to me.Taking a deep breath, I look back down at the stick in my hand. My eyes are blurring at the two pink lines.

Tears run down my cheeks, I’m so angry. He’s taken everything away from me. Now this.

I stand up and look in the mirror. I’ll never be the same. I’ve changed into someone I can’t even recognize anymore.

I hear a whisper in my ear:“You can never get rid of me, little butterfly.”

The tears in my eyes are blurring, but my anger is like a raging sea ready to destroy it all. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.” I grab hold of the knife I’ve kept with me as a safety blanket. Screaming with all that I have, trying to release this pain I’m feeling, I plunge the knife into my abdomen. Right over theAhe burned into my skin. I look at it in the mirror as blood drips from the wound. Then I pull the knife out to release the pain I feel.

The floor reaches up to me in a cool embrace.

EPILOGUE

I seethe bright lights and my mother’s beautiful face. Wanting to be with her, where pain can no longer find me. She turns me away, saying,“Sky, it’s not your time yet, baby. There’s still so much more for you.”

“Skylar. Skylar.” Fingers are snapping in my face, breaking the spell I was in. “The only way you’ll be able to get out of here is if you participate.”

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