Running with the butterflies
I thought I had forgotten about all of this Fantasy stuff. I hadn't realised that it would endanger my life, and steal the lives of people I loved. I was now running for my life, from things I would never've been able to dream existed. I laughed to myself as I realised that I couldn't outrun them any longer. I turned around and faced my fate.
1. First Day
This was the first day of the rest of my life, I told myself. I was going to throw away all the old fairytales and kiddish things. I was fourteen now, I didn't need all of that stuff. I could stop believing in the myths and fantasy creatures and start focusing on all the other things important in my life. I was going to do what they call "spring cleaning" and act my age. This was also the worst day of my life: the first day at a new school.
I was sort of looking forward to my first day at school. I only had one friend at my old school, but she was held back a year. She was the only person who actually shared my interest for mythical creatures. I'm not really upset that I'll probably never see her again because like I said before, I am giving up on mythical creatures.
Mum made us move away from our old place in Perth, Western Australia. The reason for this I don't know; probably to get away from dad. My parents split up three months ago. How she found a house, a school, and a new job in that short amount of time I don't know either. She probably had to show a bit of skin to get it done though.
My mum is what you would probably call nice-looking. She has dark brown hair with natural highlights and a curvy figure. She has an awesome taste in fashion and always buys designer clothes. I'm glad of her taste because I probably wouldn't know fashion if it bit me on the nose.
"Lily? Are you nearly ready?" Mum called from downstairs of our cosy new Honeydaye home in South Australia. Honeydaye was a town on the coast of South Australia. It was nearly always sunny, and on the days that it wasn't, it was raining. Today was a rainy day, even though the day before was sunny. This was a pain because it would be a lot more humid outside.
I was going to be late for school but I didn't care. That was my attitude for this new town; I don't care. I wasn't going to be the nerd who believed in fairies and witches and vampires anymore. I was going to be cool.
It was the first day of the last term of school. I had tried to convince mum to let me start next year and just have an extended holiday, but she wouldn't hear any of it.
"LILY!!! Get your butt down here now or I will come up there and drag you down myself!!"
And she really meant that. I grabbed my school bag and ran down the stairs, knocking a vase over on the way. I'll clean it up when I get home I thought. I raced out the door and into our 63' Volkswagen beetle. I was embarrassed to have mum drive me to school but it was the only way I could get there.
"What were you doing up in the attic, Lily?"
"Just stuff," I shrugged.
"Well tomorrow you need to be ready. I have to get to work."
Mum worked on old cars by doing them up and fixing the engine. That's how we got this crap-box car.
I nodded my head at her and then put my headphones in my ears. She started talking about something to do with cookies so I turned the volume up higher and acted like I didn't even know she was talking. I think I fell asleep on the long drive to school because it seemed like the song had only just started when I jolted forward out of my seat. I took the headphones out of my ears and opened the door. Mum leaned over and kissed me goodbye.
"Bye, mum," I said unenthusiastically.
"Bye sweetheart. Have a good first day."
"Mmmm," I mumbled. I got out of the car and slammed the door shut.
Honeydaye High School was the largest high school in the whole country, with 8, 932 students in total. It was practically historic; it was built when the English first built the town in 1897. All of the classrooms were in separate buildings and the only way to get to one of them would be to weave your way through them. I knew I would be using my map for at least two weeks.
As soon as I looked around I felt like a stranger. I felt like I didn't belong. Everyone was walking, sitting, or standing in groups and there were no outsiders; except for me.
I was deciding whether or not I should go and say hi to a group. If I did, then I would have another problem: which group? I looked around again. There was a group of people who I guessed were the "populars". You know, blonde hair, designer clothes, tall, skinny, and beautiful. I would have only fit in there because of my mum's designer clothes and my long, blonde, curly hair. I knew I didn't want to be a "popular" though, so I scrubbed that off the list. The next group looked like musicians. I might have fit in there because of my love of music. I wouldn't try and talk to them though, I am completely musically unco. I kept looking and could easily pick out the groups; artists, anorexics, nerds, sport players and the foreign exchange students. It reminded me of those American movies about all the clichés and how in the end all the clichés were gone and they all were friends, blah, blah, blah. My mind was fighting with itself whether or not to go to the populars first when it was interrupted by a gentle, friendly voice.
"Hi, I'm Anastasia,"
I turned around and stared at this girl and her breathtaking features. She had high cheekbones and a soft jaw. Her eyes were a dark sea blue with a hint of soft gray. She had a button nose and long, red hair that was curled so tightly that it looked like it was permed. Her smile was welcoming and made her teeth glitter in the sunlight.
"I'm Lily. I'm new here." This girl seemed friendly enough. I didn't remember seeing her in any of the clichés, but I didn't remember seeing an outsider. She must've just arrived. This theory made me wonder what cliché she belonged to, and if I had a chance of joining it with her.
"I know. Everyone's been expecting someone new to come soon."
"Oh." Expecting me? How could people know that I was coming? Who was everyone?
"Well, it's so good to see a fresh face. Would you like me to show you around school?"
"Sure."
Anastasia took my hand and walked through the clichés all gathered for the holiday gossip. She led me to a group of students gathered at the back.
"Everyone, this is Lily. She just moved here,"
They didn't seem like glamour people, and they didn't seem like musicians either. They could've been artists except for the fact that there were no paint splotches on their clothes and I didn't see any sketch books in their bags. I looked at everyone in the group one by one, taking in their features slowly. There were four of them altogether. The first person was a tall, sturdy-looking boy with dark skin and tousled black hair. His eyes were dark brown and were framed by long, thick black eyelashes. The second person was a girl who was short with cropped brown hair. She had hazel eyes that were made more distinct by heavy eyeliner and mascara. She had bright lipstick and freckles. She was wearing lots of bangles, beads, and rings. I wondered if she was allowed to wear jewellery. The next person was a boy about my height with rust-coloured spiky hair and fair skin. He had freckles all over his body and eyes that were sea green. His muscles were defined by the tight jumper he was wearing. The last person was tall and probably the worst-looking person in the group. She had terrible acne and big red glasses. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun and when she smiled you could see her big, crooked teeth. I wondered if she was getting braces.
"Hi," They all said in unison.
"I'm Jake," The first boy said.
"H-hi, j-Jake," I stuttered. His voice was perfectly smooth and deep.
"I'm Alana," said the second girl.
"Tom," said the third boy. His voice sounded happy and he had a smile so big that it looked like the sides of his face would split.
"Hello, Lily. My name is Tamara," The last girl said in a high pitched voice.
"Lily. Exotic name, man," Tom said. So they were hippies. That would explain Anastasia's bright red hair and Alana's exotic jewellery. I smiled to myself at my private joke. Anastasia started talking to them about her holidays and I zoned out. I was examining all the faces in the school yard carefully, trying to memorise faces. Some people I knew I would recognise easily if I saw them; they had very distinct features. Some of them looked exactly the same and some looked very plain. I thought I recognised a girl from Perth when I barely realised that the conversation had turned to me.
"So, Lily, where did you move from?" Alana asked me in a low pitched voice.
"Perth, in Western Australia," I replied.
"Oh." She said in a tone that sounded disappointed and slightly amused at the same time.
"Why?" Tom asked. He had moved himself a lot closer to me.
"I'm not exactly sure," I replied. "I think it was because my mum and dad split up and mum just wanted to get as far away from him as possible."
"So do you live here with your dad?" He asked again. What was this, twenty questions?
"No, I live with my mum."
"Oh, ok then," He said in a tone that seemed disappointed even though the smile on his face was genuine. Just then, a screeching sound echoed through the yard. It took me a while to realise that it was just the bell indicating that we needed to go to class.
"What's your first lesson, Lily?" Jake asked me.
"Ummmm…" I searched through my bag for the timetable that had come with my registration pack a few weeks ago. Found it. "Uh, I have History in room 34."
"Me too!" Tamara exclaimed. Great, I thought.
"Follow me. I'll show you where it is,"
"Thanks, Tamara." Well, at least I would know someone in my first class.
She grabbed my hand and sprinted through the crowd of people trying to get into the building. She pushed and shoved her way to the door, all the while holding my hand. When we got to the door, she shoved it open and ran through the empty hall so fast that I could barely keep up. She must have a perfect attendance record and that's why she was running so fast. The coloured flyers that were pinned to the wall passed so fast that it was more like a rainbow blur. We burst through the door on the other side of the hall.
We ran through a maze of buildings through misty rain when we finally got to a small building next to the oval. She slowed down when we were about 3 metres away from the building. On the door were the numbers "34" in gold paint.
"History, building 34," she said with a trace of smugness in her voice. She didn't seem very out of breath for someone who had just sprinted for two and a half minutes.
"Thanks." I said breathlessly. We walked inside and I was amazed. The room was so much bigger than it had looked from outside. There 8 rows and four columns of desks and a huge blackboard on the right side of the door. In the corner to the left of the blackboard was a teacher's desk that was covered in messy piles of paper. In the middle of the desk was a flat-screen computer and behind it was a young-looking man with trendy glasses. He was wearing a white button up shirt with the top two buttons undone and a pair of baggy jeans. On his feet was a pair of old skate shoes.
"Early as always, Miss Riviera." The man said, smiling. I assumed he was the teacher's assistant. Tamara blushed and smiled.
"And who is your friend?" he turned to me and smiled a tiny bit wider.
"My name is Lily Milinzino. I'm new here." I smiled back at him and read the nametag on his shirt. Mr. Johnraner. Wow, that was a mouthful.
"Of course," Mr Johnraner said. "Finally," He added under his breath.
I started to wonder if he was the teacher, not the assistant. He seemed nice enough and I knew that if he was the teacher then I would like him very quickly. I was staring at his face carefully, trying to read the meaning behind his words.
It seemed like everyone was expecting me for some reason. I wondered what that reason might be. Maybe the principal had told everyone that I was coming and they all got excited about the fresh meat. Anastasia did say that it was nice to see a fresh face. But with a school this big, people shouldn't really be that excited about new students. Surely they wouldn't know everyone here?
I wondered how long it had been since there was someone new at the school. It would've only been at the beginning of the year so they couldn't be that desperate for a new face, could they? Maybe they had all grown up together and so they already knew everyone.
At that moment the door flew open and a rush of students came in. They moved so fast that I was nearly knocked over. Mr Johnraner —still looking at me— pointed to a desk in the second row and I walked over to it quickly with Tamara right behind me. I sat down at the desk the teacher had pointed to and Tamara sat next to me.
Everyone around us took their seats and got out a blue pen. I fished around in my bag and found an old pen. Everyone started talking about their holidays while Mr Johnraner just sat there fiddling with the computer. I leaned over to Tamara who was flicking the lid off and on her pen absently.
"Tamara, shouldn't he be teaching us something?"
Before she could answer, Mr Johnraner stood up and clapped his hands. He wrote his name on the board and everyone laughed. He turned around smiling and looked at me. Everyone in the class turned their seats to face me. Mr Johnraner clapped his hands again and everyone shifted their desks to the sides of the room. Tamara and I were the only ones in the middle. I looked over at Tamara and she was smiling just like all the other students. Mr Johnraner walked over to me and stopped about 4 centimetres away from my desk.
"Class, we have a new student," he said, still looking at me. "Her name is Lily. I trust that you will all make Lily feel very welcome here at Honeydaye high."
"Hi, Lily" the whole class said in unison.
"Uhh, hi." I was surprised at how enthusiastic everyone was about me being here.
"Well, Lily, why don't you stand up and tell us about yourself?" Mr Johnraner gave me a hopeful look. I groaned. I hated talking in front of people. I scooted my chair back and it made a horrible screeching sound that gave me goose bumps. I stood up slowly and walked to the front of the class. Everyone was waiting for me to start talking.
"Ummm, ok then. Well, I moved here from Perth. I moved here with my mum," I said shakily. Mr Johnraner waited for me to keep talking. I looked at the class and they were showing the same look.
"Uh, I didn't have very many friends at my old school and, um, I hope to make some, um, new friends." One of the students raised her hand. I recognised her from the popular group. Mr Johnraner nodded to her and she stood up.
"Hi, Lily. My name is Veronica and I would just like to welcome you on behalf of all of the class to Honeydaye high." A few students chuckled and I saw one of them roll their eyes. So the kids here didn't really like the populars very much. Good thing I didn't speak to them. I smiled at her and she grinned back.
"Thank you, Veronica." Mr Johnraner said. Veronica sat down with that stupid grin still on her face.
"Well, I hope you do like it here Lily," Mr Johnraner said "You can sit down now."
I sighed in relief and walked back to my chair.
"Well class, put your desks in the normal position now. I think we've put Lily on the spot enough today." He smiled at me. Everyone dragged their desks back to their original places. I winced at the sound of the chairs scraping on the floor.
Mr Johnraner turned around and started writing on the board. He was writing about Greek Mythology. Great. Exactly what I needed to forget about myths and legends and fantasy. He started writing about Hercules and Zeus. He then turned around and read a chapter from a book to us. His voice was so soothing that I zoned out for the rest of the lesson. My attention was regained when the piercing sound of the bell rang through the school. Immediately everyone got out of their chairs and walked out of the classroom. Tamara leaned over to me.
"What's your next lesson?"
I fished around in my bag again for my timetable.
"Ummm, English in room 42."
"Great! That's just next door. Jake's in that class so you won't be all alone. He'll help you out."
"Is everyone gonna do what they did to me today? You know how they moved their desks and put me on the spot?"
"Nah, that's just one of Mr Johnraner's things that he does."
"Oh." I sighed in relief and smiled. I was glad that every lesson of the day wasn't going to be like this one. Tamara smiled, reading my expression. She and I would probably be very good friends. I stood up and walked to the door.
"Lily?" Mr Johnraner called my name in a soft voice. I moaned. Tamara waved as she walked out the door and mouthed the words, "good luck". I smiled back at her. I turned around and walked to the teacher's desk.
"Yes, Mr Johnraner?"
"How do you like Honeydaye?"
I shrugged. "It's alright. Everyone is really nice."
"I bet you're wondering why I put you on the spot like that, huh?"
I shrugged again.
"Well, everyone in town's been expecting you."
"But it must be a big town, with all the students here."
"No, it's quite a small town really. A lot of the kids here come from surrounding towns and such."
"Oh. Are you gonna tell me what you wanted me here for?"
"I just wanted to let you know that people are gonna be acting strange around you. That's all." I nodded and he waved me off like he was fanning the air. I walked out the door and replayed the conversation in my head. I wondered what he meant by people are gonna be acting strange around you. Maybe because it was a small town everyone was looking forward to someone new. Everyone was so eager to introduce themselves, so maybe it was a competition to see who could become friends with the freaky new girl. Or maybe they were all just generally nice. You never know.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realise that everyone had already gone into their classes and I had walked way past where I was supposed to be. I quickly looked in my satchel bag and found my map. I ran back to where I was supposed to be and burst through the classroom door. Immediately everyone turned to look at me. The teacher stopped talking and stared at me.
"Sorry I'm late. I-I got lost. My name's Lily. I'm new here. I just moved from Perth." It was best to get all the basics out of the way to avoid small talk later. Everyone was still staring at me like I had just interrupted something really important. I scanned through the faces for Jake's and I saw it in the middle row, smiling at me. The teacher cleared her throat.
"Kind of you to join us, Lily. You can take the available seat in the back row." The teacher immediately changed her expression from strict and annoyed to kind and considerate. I walked quickly to my seat in the back row and she started talking again. Jake turned around and grinned at me. I rolled me eyes at him and then grinned back. He chuckled.
I got out a pen and looked at the worksheet on my desk. It was about "Famous fantasy fiction books". What was this school's obsession with myths? I had no idea how I was going to try and forget about it when I would have to endure it every day at school. I tried to pay attention to the teacher but I just gave up and looked at my worksheet. The first question was: What was the name of the first book ever written about vampires? I knew the answer to this one. I ticked the box next to Count Dracula. I went through the next fourteen questions quickly and finished before anyone else.
I tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying again but I eventually gave up. I judged in my head how far away my desk was from the front and decided to have a little nap.
The teacher's lecture obviously influenced my dreams because I had a dream that I was flying on a black unicorn. I was flying above the clouds next to fairies with orange and silver wings. They weren't your normal fairies; they looked more like bugs with human faces. I was enjoying my ride on the unicorn. I lifted my arms up and closed my eyes. The unicorn twisted and turned like it was negotiating its way through a maze. Suddenly the unicorn made a sharp dip like it had stopped flying and began falling toward the earth. I tried to get the unicorn to start flapping its wings again but then I realised I was on a normal black horse. I looked next to me and saw that the fairies I saw before had become butterflies with orange and black wings. I started screaming. I shut my eyes waiting for the impact of my body crashing into the waiting earth below. I was falling for a while when I realised that I should've hit the earth a long time ago. I opened my eyes slowly and found that I was lying on the grass in my backyard. The backyard sloped downwards steeply and at the end of it was a little pool of water that ran into a stream on the other side of the fence. I stood up and looked at all the butterflies that were flying around me and came to the theory that they had helped me land safely on the ground.
Again, the screeching sound of the bell woke me up. I sat up and looked sleepily around the room and saw that no-one had realised that I was asleep. I looked out the window and nearly had a stroke. I saw a black horse. That was funny; there were no paddocks around here. The horse turned around revealing a pair of velvety wings on its back. It then turned to face me and it revealed a long, black, pointy horn on its head just between its eyes. My eyes widened in shock and I stared at it for a few minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes. I blinked and it was gone. I kept blinking, wondering if it would come back, but it didn't. I stood up in shock and Jake walked over to me.
"Did you have a nice little sleep?" he asked in a teasing voice. So someone did notice that I was asleep.
"Yeah. I had the strangest dream though."
"Tell me about it on your way to your next class. What have you got?"
"Ummm, algebra in room 13. Great." I had memorised the rest of my timetable when I was looking at my map earlier.
"Cool, I have a free. I'll walk you there and you can tell me about your dream." I nodded and he led me out the door. I told him about my dream on our way to room 13 and he nodded thoughtfully all the time, never interrupting. When we got to the door he said goodbye and walked off.
Algebra went pretty quickly. I had already done this stuff at the beginning of the year at my old school. I raced ahead of everyone and the teacher told me to read or do something while I waited for the bell to go. When it did go, I walked out of the class and saw Alana coming out of the building next to mine.
"Hey, Alana!" I called out. She could show me the way to the canteen.
"Hey, Lily. How did you enjoy the first lessons of the day?"
"They were fine. I fell asleep in English though. And I had the strangest dream."
"Yeah, English can be pretty boring."
"Can you show me the way to the canteen?" I asked.
"Sure," She agreed with a smile. She led me to the canteen and I stood in line to buy my lunch. We walked over to the oval and sat down next to Anastasia, Tamara, Jake and Tom who were already eating their home-made lunches.
Tom started talking to Jake and Tamara started talking to Alana. Anastasia was listening to her IPod and reading so I just looked around at faces on the oval that were becoming vaguely familiar. All the year 12's had their first lot of exams today and the year 10's were on an excursion. This made it a lot easier to find people. I recognised a few people from history and I recognised one person from English who I had sat next to.
I was trying to remember someone's name when a flash of bright orange caught my eye. I turned my head and looked at it more carefully and realised that it was a gang of butterflies. They were flying in our direction. No-one else in the group seemed to realise. The butterflies got closer and closer and then they suddenly disappeared. I blinked a few times but they didn't return.
The rest of the school day went pretty quickly. Probably because I was still in shock at seeing a black unicorn and a gang of butterflies disappear. The only other lessons I had that day were study, French, and Italian.
When I got home mum asked me how my day was and I just moaned in return. I ran upstairs to my room and sat at my desk. I got my homework done and then lay down on my bed trying to make sense of the events that happened today. I walked over to one of my boxes of unpacked books and fished out one of my tattered old books on mythology. It was my favourite one. I flipped to the index and looked up "unicorns". I went to the page it indicated and read about them. Unicorns possess special powers of healing and invisibility when required. They usually have one soul rider that they stick to their whole life. They will follow this rider until the day he/she dies. Sometimes, the soul they choose might not be their rider. They will still follow it, keeping it out of danger and then disappearing before the soul can see it.
I thought about all of this. I came to heaps of conclusions but I couldn't bring myself to believe any of them.
I suddenly remembered the vase I had knocked over that morning. I ran downstairs, careful not to be too noisy so mum wouldn't notice. The vase was sitting on the table it had been on this morning. There wasn't a crack on it. The flowers were the same flowers that had been there before. Mum must've already cleaned it up when she got home. She might've had another vase somewhere that was identical, because it looked as good as new.
That night, I had the same dream about unicorns and fairies.