Butterflies
Jeff Graves
Love. It's a thing that can't die. No matter how hard you try. Love hurts when the one you love doesn't love you the same. You look to the stars and pray every night for that person to love you. But what if your love fades and when that person finally loves you, you can't love them back. But still, you look to the stars.
"Why can't I stop thinking about her? We were only friends but I fell in love with her, but she still wants to be just friends." The depressed man said, sitting on some steps talking to his good friend in red.
"well. I'm always here for a friend in need." The guy in red smacked him on the back (friendly).
"Thanks Vash. I knew I could count on you."
"Joe. So what does this girl look like?" Vash said in excitement.
"About my hight, blonde hair, and magnificent green eyes." Joe lifted his head up and grinned. "oh yeah, she has big boobs too." They laughed for a moment, but then it ended and drifted to silence again, except for the ever moving wind blowing the dust in the air.
Joe dropped his head again with his hands over his face. "It's hard being friends and loving her that much."
"Have you told her how you feel about her?"
"I wrote her a letter!" Joe lifted his head up once again.
"What'd she say?"
"Nothing! She just acts like she is trying to ignore the fact that I still like her that way."
"Let me give you advice. First you have to get some flowers, then look into her eyes." Vash stood in front of Joe giving him an example. Vash looking into the thin air. "Then tell her how beautiful she is, how her eyes sparkle like stars in the night and her smile is unbelievable."
"Will it work?"
"Might. Don't know until you try."
"I'll do it. Tomorrow." Joe stood up looking at the night sky. The moons shone brightly and he stood staring at their shimmering light. "Good night Vash."
Joe turned around and went into the door. "Good night friend." Vash said.
Joe tossed and turned all night. How could you expect him to sleep. Joe awoke from his restless dreams and sat up in his bed. He stared at the glare of the moons on some empty beer bottles. Anger grew within him as he thought. He said to himself, "I can't do this anymore! I can't do it." He thought about all of the time he had spent with Melanie, the one he loved. Trying to find hope. Within his dreams.
His eyes opened to the beautiful morning. Magical rays of light from the two suns came through the windows brilliantly, giving Joe hope as he took a deep breath of the heavy morning air. Morning had come. A new day. But Joe didn't know what was in store for him that day. For all he knew and was thinking about was Melanie, how he was going to meet her at noon and to tell her how he felt about her.
He ate a good breakfast. Filled with excitement, he bathed, shaved, and styled his brown hair with some hair grease.
"I don't know why I feel this way." He thought to himself. "If she turns me down I don't think I would care. After all, I think that beautiful young girl at the café sort of likes me." Joe thought again, sitting on his bed looking at his decorations on the wall. The old clock on the wall said 9:23. "What to do now?" He asked himself. "Maybe I should go find out what Vash is up to. I've heard about his twin brother, but I don't know much about it. All I remember is when he brought him into town over his shoulders two months ago. Everything else is just a mystery to me."
Joe got up from his thoughts and headed to the door. He opened the door and stepped out. The wind slightly blew his brown hair, and the wind suddenly whisked up a cloud of dust from the middle of the street and carried it off. He walked to Main street. The town was already up and busy. A building had a banner hanging from it that said, "A New Beginning." People were jumping for joy yelling, "Thank you God!"
Vash was standing beside a red brick building, smiling, looking at the happy people.
As Joe walked towards Vash, the wind made his brown coat wave about. "What's this all about?" Joe asked, looking at the celebrations in the street.
"Some people found a huge under ground water supply out in the vast dessert west of here. It sure is good news. Don't you think?"
"Yeah, I think it's great news. How big is it?"
"It's as big as an ocean. They're going to build pipes to pump the water to planting stations across the dessert. The planting stations will plant trees, grass, anything. I'm going to use my powers to help and protect this program. And slowly but surely this dessert planet will become a wonderful thriving planet."
"Sure is a wonderful plan, but I don't think it will work."
"Have faith brother. We can do it if we all put in the effort. Besides don't you want to help this place become a beautiful Eden, a perfect world with no killing or stealing. Now don't you want that?"
"Yes, but I don't think its going to happen."
"Have faith, have faith."
The air was getting hot. There was a slight breeze. Such a beautiful day.
"Hey." Vash said. "You going to talk to your crush today?"
"Yeah, at lunch."
"Its getting late. You better get going."
"Hey, You want to come with me?"
"Sure, I'm getting hungry anyways."
The started walking. The pit-pat of their shoes, kicked dust up into the air. Again Joe was thinking of only one thing: what was to happen? He imagined being turned down many times, but imagined Melanie actually loving, even more.
As they walked past, people gasped and stared. Eyes pierced as they walked. Some filled with hate, amazement, gratefulness, and some with disbelief.
Now after the day Vash finally confronted Knives, almost every body knew the legend of Vash the Stampede. But some things still remained a mystery. Like where exactly did he come from. Who was his brother Knives and what happened to him. Some said that Knives lives by himself in a mysterious mansion, having nothing to do with humans, trying to find out where he came from.
Two butterflies fluttered in front of Joe and Vash. It was a splendid sight and it astounded Joe and Vash. They stared in awe as the butterflies flew near some beautiful red roses in front of a flower shop.
"Hmm. Butterflies, a sign of hope." Vash said in a soft voice.
"The flower shop! I'm going to get some roses." Joe said.
"Get the red ones. I'm sure she'll like that."
"OK." Joe ran into the shop. Vash stood and waited.
"Love, a beautiful thing." Vash thought. "I hope this goes well for him."
Not a second later Joe popped out of the shop with a dozen roses. What a purchase it was because roses are very expensive. Just about ten double dollars for a single rose. Joe bought those roses with no uncertainty. Blinded by an almost foolish love for that very moment.
"Wow. You got roses for her. She must really be some thing special." Vash said.
"She sure is." Joe said with a blushing smile on his face. "Lets go."
They started walking again. Joe pricked his finger on the roses and smiled. He thought, "What do I say?"
"Are you nervous?" Vash asked.
"Yeah. We're almost there. There's the donut shop." Joe said pointing at the donut shop. Vash perked up suddenly, like a dog on alert.
"Where?"
"There." As Joe pointed, a beautiful girl in a light blue dress caught his eye, just down the road. She walked gracefully down the road with her blond curly hair waving in the dusty wind. "Wait! There she is!" Joe said looking in the direction of the girl.
"Wow, she's beautiful."
"Alright, I'm going to go. Go get your donuts."
"That I will do." Vash waved his hands up in the air yelling, "donuts!" and he ran towards the donut shop. "Good luck."
Joe walked forward. As nervous as ever. He was so nervous he thought about just turning back, but he still walked on, toward the beautiful girl Melanie.
They met in front of the café. Joe looked in her eyes, as she walk to him. He felt his head nervously shake, but it was hardly noticeable.
"Hi." Joe greeted.
"Hi." She said with a delightful smile.
"Um… I got these for you." Joe said holding up the roses. Melanie looked down at them surprised.
"Joe." She gasped. "I can't- I can't accept this."
"Why?"
"I don't like you that way. I only want to be friends."
"But… I … I love you." Melanie looked up into Joe's eyes. Her eyes started to shine with grief as she looked at Joe's sad eyes.
"I'm sorry. I have to go." Melanie said, as she started to run back the way she came, covering her face with her hands weeping uncontrollably.
Joe stood with his head down, crying to himself, and letting his roses crash down to the hard dry ground.
"Why do I feel like this?" He asked himself. He stood there letting his roses blow off into the wind. A few tears rolled down his cheek.
Then he just turned around and started walking. Just walking aimlessly, with nothing to look forward to. Just walking, to no where.
Joe walked and walked. He wandered into the endless desert. Sand blew in his face as he cried. He sat on a rock, listening to the smooth swirling winds around him.
"What are you doing?" A Voice called out behind him. "You can't just mope around like this. Heh, My brother is always filling people's heads with senseless dreams."
Joe looked up . A silhouette of a man stood behind the dust. "Who? Vash?" Joe thought. "No. Couldn't be." The dust slowly drifted away and the man came into appearance. "Knives!"
"What? You look surprised." Knives spoke in a stern voice. "How hopelessly pitiful. Crying over the woman who turned you down. Well you should have seen it coming. She doesn't like you. Don't you remember that guy at the bar, who she was flirting with. They've been going out for a week now."
"How… How do you know?"
"Trust me. I know." Knives said with an strangely evil grin on his face. "Better go see her tonight. I think that guy won't protect her. For the coward he is, he should deserve to die."
Knives looked at Joe and thought, "And so should every one of these filthy humans on this planet. But I'll wait for now."
"Hey it's the insurance girls!" Vash yelled in surprise. He ran behind the two girls. One was tall, big, and husky with brown hair. The other was short, skinny, and had short black hair.
"Hi Meryl." Vash said to the shorter girl. "Hi Milly." Vash said to the taller, husky girl.
"Hey Vash." Meryl said with an emotionless face. "Too good to talk to us?"
"No, I just couldn't find you guys. Seriously, I really tried." Vash said.
"Sure Vash." Meryl said.
"So how's that baby coming?" Vash asked Milly with excitement.
"Great. My belly is getting bigger. Look at my stomach." Meryl partly lifted her shirt, so vash could see her little bulge. "If it's a boy I'll name him Nicolas, after his father."
"That's great!" Vash said. "Hey, you want some donuts. They're really good."
"Sure I'll have some." Milly said in her squeaky voice.
"How about you?" Vash asked handing a donut to Meryl.
"No thanks." Meryl said.
"Come on. They're really tasty." Vash said with a mouthful of dunuts. "Lets go sit in the bar." They walked down the street heading for the bar. The day was drawing to an end. The suns were getting low and people were heading home from their celebrations. People were carrying their banners in their arms, and their decorations too.
Suddenly Vash caught sight of Joe. Joe walked by them, not even glancing at Vash. Joe's eyes were filled with determination. He walked with jealousy and rage in his heart. To Vash, this seemed peculiar, but Vash walked on with Milly and Meryl, wondering what was up with Joe.
"So are you going to give me a kiss?" Vash asked Meryl, sitting at a table.
"Why should I. You haven't talked to me in two weeks." Meryl said cold heartedly.
"Come on. I really tried. I looked all over. I even went to the Insurance Office."
"Right. Whatever Vash." Meryl said before taking a drink of her water.
"Vash. I think you should be a little bit nicer to Meryl." Milly said.
"What did I do!" Vash stood up and waved his hands up into the air foolishly.
"Meow." A fury black cat jumped on to the table. It went "Mow.", as it licked its paws. Then it jumped on Vash's head, and Vash froze with a blank expression on his face.
Soon they started eating. Vash stuffed his face. He ate uncontrollably with food flying everywhere.
"Vash, your such slob." Meryl said.
"What?" Vash said with a mouthful of food.
Then they started to eat again. All of a sudden, the sound of a large explosion shook the whole place. Plates, dishes, glasses, and liquor bottles rattled from the vibration. Vash, Meryl, and Milly took cover beside the table.
"What was that?" Meryl asked in shock.
"I don't know." Vash said, pulling out his smooth silver gun, and setting the bullets in its chambers. His eyes were serious and stern. Vash stood up and dusted off his coat, and started walking to the door with his gun in his hand.
"Wait!" Meryl called out to Vash. Vash turned his dead slightly. "Be careful." Vash nodded and walked out the door. "I hope he doesn't do anything stupid this time."
There was a huge pile of ruble and smoke, in the direction where Joe was walking. A distant scream alarmed vash. "What was that? A scream of a young girl in distress. A pretty young girl." Vash started running in the direction of the smoke. "Got- to- save- pretty- girl."
As he got closer the smoke cleared. "Get away!" Joe called out to the huge beast and his little scrawny old man of a master.
"Now, why should we listen to you?" The old man said in his screeching annoying voice. "So this must be the house of the lovely Melanie. I've heard that she's the daughter of a multi millionaire. So what I plan to do is kidnap her and get some money from her old man. Melanie! Get out, before we knock your house down!"
"Ahhhhh!" A man came running out of the house screaming.
"I can't let you do this!" Vash yelled. The two villains turned towards Vash. "The Nebraska Family!"
"Well what do we have here? Vash the Stampede."
"I thought we put you away for good."
"No place can hold us for long. Now look at our new secret weapon. You don't stand a chance against us. Now That we have you here. I can forget about the girl and finally get that 60 billion double dollars." There was the same old weapon (the flying fist thing), but on the other arm was a large machine gun. The old man sat cowardly on the big dumb guy's shoulders. "Lets show him what we got." The old man said. The big guy's arm raised up. The thunder of the gun vibrated the ground around the Nebraska family. A shower of speeding bullets flew towards Vash. Vash, in an instant dodged them and ran towards the rubble where there were no houses and nobody around. The Nebraska family stomped after him.
"Melanie!" Joe yelled. "Melanie." Joe ran under a window that was open, two stories up. "Melanie!"
"Joe?" A voice came through the window. Melanie stuck her head out of her window. "Did you come to save me?"
"Come on, we have to go!"
In the distance you could see Vash dodging the bullets of the huge machine. "What's the matter Vash? Too much for ya?" The old man said in his annoying voice. Vash ran, around the two, panting.
Suddenly, the rain of bullets stopped. "Heh, out of bullets. Time to put you away for good." Vash said lifting up his gun. In a split second, two bullets left the chambers of his gun, hitting with precise accuracy into the giant's shoulders, and dropped him to the ground. Dust flew into the air as he hit, but it slowly drifted away. "Had enough yet?" The old man sat there stunned looking through his broken glasses. "I think you learned your lesson. I'll go get the sheriff to actually put you away for good." Vash turned his back and began to walk.
"Come on lets go." Joe said to Melanie, standing next to her in front of her house. Joe and Melanie ran far into town, not looking back.
As Vash walked gracefully away, the old man slowly picked up his shot gun and aimed it at Vash's back. "I'm not letting you get away this time." He muttered in a cold harsh voice.
A sound of a gun shot behind Vash startled him. The old man fell limply to the ground, as the blood splattered on to the giant, laying there with two gun shot wounds. Blood pooled around the body, and next to him lay the shot gun.
"I took care of him, brother." A familiar voice said standing next to the dead corpse.
"Knives!" Vash looked in disgusted anger. His eyes narrowed. "Why did you do that?"
"Look beside him. He was going to kill you."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to…"
"Shut up Vash! When are you going to learn? You would have died, and I saved you. What is the harm in that?"
"I still see the evil in your eyes, Knives."
"Can't you say something nice. I mean he deserved to die. Think of all of the people he killed. He won't harm another soul."
"I guess you're right."
"Good you're starting to see it my way. Maybe we can kill all of the rest of these pathetic humans." Knives said with a smile.
"Haven't you learned that not all humans are like him. Most of them are loving, caring people."
"Lighten up. I was just kidding."
Vash stared at Knives and the two bodies by him. The giant's arm was moving a little. "I guess I should be grateful. But anyways, what are you doing here? Why did you come back."
"I've learned a few things."
"Where we came from?"
"We are experiments, Vash. A cross between humans and plants. That Doctor friend of yours helped me out with that. I guess humans are good for something after all. That's all I know."
"Half human, half plant."
"That's right. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to do what I promised Rem, a long time ago. The day has come where we make place a better place to live. I suppose you're going to look for the truth."
"Yeah."
"Joe you, came for me." Melanie said hugging Joe. Joyful tears welled up in her eyes. Joe stood there motionless, not saying a word.
"What is wrong with me?" Joe asked himself. "I don't feel the same way. I don't know why."
"Joe, I love you." Melanie said looking into Joe's eyes. Joe stood there holding Melanie in his arms, staring into her eyes. "You saved me, Joe. I'm sorry for everything I've said. I've loved you for a long time, but I just wanted to be friends, but now I want to be with you." Melanie reached up and kissed Joe. Still, Joe was motionless. "What's wrong?"
Joe pushed Melanie away and turned his back to her. "I can't… accept!" Joe said with anger. "Bye." Joe said taking his steps away from her. Melanie watched as he walked away.
Joe walked outside, under the night sky. The stars glittered and shimmered. He walked to the outside of town and stopped, sat down and looked at the shimmering stars above him. His eyes sparkled and reflected the light of the night sky. And it was such a beautiful light.
Back in town, Vash stood in the street, by the flower shop. There below him lay two beautiful butterflies wrapped in eternal slumber. A tear ran down Vashs' face. He thought to himself. "I know he'll kill again. But what am I supposed to do?"
Many days have passed. People get older, but some stay the same. We're getting closer to complete what I've set out to do. The search for the truth still goes on. The question is: Will we find the truth or will the truth find us?