Retrospect

Forty-two

"Cory..." a voice spoke in my ear softly.

My eyes flew open and I took in my surroundings. I was sitting in a field of glowing flowers: roses, sunflowers, carnations, tulips. They seemed to breathe as the twinkling stars of midnight dangled above my head like they were hung by a string. The fat, yellow moon shone brightly and I looked out at the field, there really was no end to the flowers. They went on forever.

A pretty, blue butterfly flapped its wings near my face, then landed on my nose. "Cory."

My mom's voice came from the tiny insect. I couldn't believe my eyes. "Where am I?" I wondered, gazing in awe at the glittering plants wrapping around my ankles and arms. An owl hooted from somewhere, though there weren't any trees to be seen and no figures in the sky.

Then, another whisper in my ear made me jump. "You are in a better place."

Dad? I turned my head to see another butterfly, an emerald green one the size of my hand crawling up onto my leg, then up and up and onto my arm. The creature's voice was my dad's.

I raised my eyebrows at what the green butterfly had said. "Am I...am I dead?" I stuttered, my heart beating faster at the single word.

"No, Cory, you are not dead," the blue butterfly replied. I held out my hand, then extended my finger so the innocent insect could fly over and rest on it. "But you will wish for death when you know what's coming next," she whispered.

"What?" My eyes grew wide. "Why?"

The green butterfly shook his head miserably. "I'm sorry..." He looked out into the distance. A humongous, dark silhouette stood about a mile away, big, yellow eyes staring at me.

I got to my feet slowly, unable to look away from the monster. "What is that?" I asked silently, afraid that I would disturb it. I had been expecting an answer from either of the butterflies, but instead, I got one from the giant itself.

Its voice boomed like an aircraft, shaking the earth beneath me, rattling my bones. It spoke, though it didn't have a mouth. Instead, little spheres on its body illuminated when it answered. I couldn't understand anything it was saying, it wasn't in any language I could decipher.

The blue butterfly landed on my ear and murmured into it. "It's speaking backwards, Cory. I will translate for you."

Speaking backwards? It was the same thing I'd had to do to find the Butterfly Shop in the Sera apartment building. I'd also had to do this when I'd searched for information about the fake worker coat.

The creature's hum was so low, it was barely audible. The butterfly listened, then put its little legs on my ear. "It says its name is Hale," the butterfly explained, goosebumps crawling up my arms, "and it says it would like for you to take three steps closer."

"No," I said, keeping my feet planted on the ground. "I'm not moving."

Hale's lights rippled across its body. The butterfly translated. "It says if you do not participate, you will drown."

Drown? There was no water around that I could see. "I'm not moving," I repeated.

Hale stopped responding. The giant's body went completely dark. I could still see its silhouette, just sitting there in the field, the flowers swaying around it.

Then a zig zag of blue lightning struck the sky and heavy rain poured out of nowhere, onto all of the fragile flowers. They wilted right then and there, their petals crumbling away, down into nothingness. I brought my hand up to my ear to let the blue butterfly climb onto my finger again, but it had vanished and so had the green one.