Though I might as well throw this one up here as well. This is something I've been writing over at Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity. It is nowhere near as dark as Queen is.


A Butterfly does not Flap its wings

Taylor smiled as her turn at the payphone came up. She had been here at summer camp for a week now, and had been looking forwards to this moment. She had decided to ration herself to only once a week.

She was happier than she had been in a long time now. Summer Camp had been good to her this year. All the other smiles and laughter had helped her. She no longer felt the sorrow that had filled her these last few years.

In her pocket, she felt the two fifty cent coins she had prepared for the two calls she intended to make. One to Emma, and one to her Dad.

She stepped up to the payphone, with a skip in her step. She was lucky there was no queue, though there were voices in the background, babbling loudly. She was the only one currently using a payphone. Everyone else was back at the nearby central area, enjoying themselves and eating their lunches.

Taylor had taken the chance to head to the payphones, trusting that they would be empty. She could grab lunch later, rather than at the first opportunity, she reasoned.

Excitedly, she put her first fifty cents into the payphone, and dialled Emma.

"Hello?"

"Emma!" Taylor said, her voice breathy, excited.

"Taylor" Emma said, sounding happy.

"Ok I gotta talk fast because I only have two minutes and I need my other fifty cents to call my dad. We rowed across the lake this morning to this waterfall, only it wasn't exactly a waterfall, more like a water stair, and we were all taking turns sliding and falling down this set of slick rocks, and Elsa, she's this girl wearing a bikini, she's been spending the last three days acting like she's hot stuff, she slides down the wrong part, and it catches on the strap, right? It doesn't tear it off, but it stretches, so it doesn't even fit her anymore…"

Emma laughed on the other end of the phone, which made Taylor grin more even as she continued babbling. This inane aimless babbling was good for her. The dark place where the loss of her Mother still hurt was shrinking, hidden.

Ready to strike if needed, but no longer as crippling as it had been.

"…and I wish I'd listened to my dad, because he suggested at least ten times that I might want to take more books, and I only brought three, and I've read each of them twice already. My…"

Taylor continued to babble on, unaware of the event which would change her destiny on the other end of the phone taking place.

"…I could probably recite this one book word for word for you by the time I get back. Maybe if I asked one of the counsellors, I could get more..."

It is said that a butterfly, from the simple act of flapping its wings, can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. Thus, it can be said that a single change in actions can result in a chain of events that culminate in something huge, enormous. For example, a single action might result in a girl being bullied, ending up with super powers, taking over the city, then fighting a massive god-thing in an epic war that covers the multiverse.

Wait... no, that's stupid. What kind of idea is that?

Of course, the inverse if true. If the butterfly never flaps it's wings, then there is no hurricane. And a lack of a simple action, such as moving a thumb, could change everything.

Emma Barnes did not move her thumb.

The first thing that indicated that something was wrong to Taylor was the bang. Then there was the squeal of tyres on the road.

Taylor interrupted her babbling and asked, almost hesitantly, "Emma?"

She heard Alan Barnes say something, and then a second later, heard him faintly. Heard what he said, and chills went down her spine. "Emma! Call the Police!"

"Emma! What's going on?" Taylor said panicked. She heard Emma fumbling with her phone, but couldn't work out what she was doing. Then she realized; she was trying to dial 911.

"Emma! I'm still connected! Hang up!" Taylor quickly. How long did she have left on the call? 30 seconds? A minute? She couldn't remember. She looked at the payphone, and the timer on it. Less than a minute left.

Then she heard a window shatter. And then something that sent daggers into the core of her being. That she would remember in her nightmares for years.

Emma screamed.

Taylor missed the noise of the phone clattering to the floor as she stood frozen. Horror warring with shock and fear for control. Emma was her rock, who had gotten her through the darkest period of her life.

The happiness she had been feeling earlier was gone. Smashed. She had lost her mother, and right now, she may very well be losing he best friend. She had no idea what was happening, except that Emma was in trouble.

If something happened to Emma, Taylor didn't know if she could recover. Emma had been the one to drag her out of the darkness after her mother's death. If she was gone... who would drag her out.

She could hear Mr Barnes screaming as well now. Screaming Emma's name over and over again.

Taylor screamed it as well, her voice raw, panicked, screaming into the phone. In her panic, she saw that the time was almost up. She then made a move that she forever said was stupid. That she forever cursed.

She put the other fifty cents into the machine.

Perhaps it was because she was not thinking straight. Perhaps it was because some part of her NEEDED to hear this, to know what was happening, rather than be told what had happened afterwards. Whatever the reason, as soon as she heard the coin clunk into the cash box, her heard turned cold, and her mind caught up.

Emma hadn't called the police. Taylor couldn't call the police now. She had truly become powerless to help her friend. She had quite possibly doomed her best friend.

She may have just killed Emma.

Taylor screamed Emma's name again, having missed the sound of the car door opening.

She heard a tinny voice, and not one she recognized. "Hey, the bitch was on the phone"

There came a faint sound of laughter, then a whistling sound, and then a thud. Then a tinny voice spoke, different, perhaps, or perhaps not.

"You'll do anything? Like what?"

Taylor began to shake. What was happening to Emma? Was she okay? Would she be?

Would Taylor now lose her best friend having just gotten over the death of her mother.

Despair filled her. She was powerless to do anything. She felt the tears running down her face. Emma had helped her through the worst part of her life, and now Taylor was powerless to do anything for her in her time of need. Worse, she had perhaps thrown away the only way to save her.

She wanted more than anything to be there. To know what was going on. To help. Or if she couldn't help, to just be there. To be a rock for Emma, or to share her fate perhaps.

"Then it's the face after all. Hold her"

Terror filled Taylor at those words. She had no idea the meaning. The context. But the holding part. What were they doing to her.

Taylor screamed again. Raw. Terror filled.

She missed what was being said next through her fear and panic. She could hear in the background faint sounds of people asking where the screaming was coming from, from the place where the rest of the campers were eating.

In her mind, all she could think of was that she could do nothing. Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. Nothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothing...

Taylor saw stars...

Ironically, it was the sobbing and screaming through the phone that made Emma act. She had remained still in fear, not struggling. She had remained still even as she has heard Lao ask her best friend to choose what part of her face Yan would wreck. Even as she had seen the shadowy figure not helping her.

It was Lao laughing at the silence from the other end of the phone that did it. Saying that the girl hadn't answered. Had been too busy balling her eyes out to even answer. Even though she had seemed so worried about her.

That was what made her struggle at last. That was what had made the shadow figure help out in the fight.

Emma had watched, numb, as the shadow girl had taken down the gang members. She hadn't been able to move much since the fist had hit her.

Besides, in this fight, she was superficial anyway. The gang members went down really easy.

"Emma!" a voice tinged with relief said as arms wrapped around her, hugging her tightly. Emma stared at Taylor, who had just appeared in front of her, looking into her tear streaked face before it buried itself in her shoulder.

Emma wrapped her own arms around Taylor, even as her father wrapped his around them both.