The sun had finally lowered beneath the horizon and the moon began looming bright in the night sky as the butterfly's unconscious body floated onto the soft sandy shore. It wasn't too terribly far away from where the two had fallen, but far enough to not see the cliff in the distance. The water was speckled with starlight as the deep blue washed over everything in serenity. They were awake, somewhat. They groaned with discomfort and forced their eyes open, still unwilling to move. Their whole body ached after the battering and bashing it'd gone through in the water so they resolved to simply wait for... something. Anything...

After a few minutes they had enough energy to turn their head slightly and move a little, although it wasn't nearly enough to push them to their feet, or even a sitting position. The sand smattered against their face and latched onto it like mud. It was almost calming, if they didn't focus too much on it. The water had left their skin cold and shivering, but they didn't really move to warm themselves up. Their arms were covered by the massive, draping sleeves, but the crop top and shorts left a bit of warmth to be desired. They wondered if they would just have to lie there forever until they perished. However, it seemed luck shone down upon them that night, as they heard footsteps approaching.

The Butterfly turned their head to see a couple approaching, one human and one object. They didn't seem to notice them for a moment before the human nudged their partner and pointed at the Butterfly's body plastered across the sand. The two rushed over to them.

"Oh my gosh- are you okay sir? Or ma'am? Or- ah whatever," sputtered the human.

The Butterfly exhaustedly nodded their head.

"You don't look okay! What on earth happened to you!?" asked the object.

"I dunno. I fell off a cliff I guess."

The couple startled at the sound of a very young child's voice coming out of this odd creature. They glanced anxiously at each other before pulling the butterfly upright and helping them sit up.

"Are you- uh, what's your name? How old are you? Do you have any family or anything?"

"I... uh..." the Butterfly's mind went into a panic. They didn't even have a name! How stupid were they? They should've come up with a name by now, it's been five years! Uh, what's a name that normal kids have? Uh uh- "Micheal! My name is Micheal!" He smiled awkwardly at the couple after spitting that out. "My name is Micheal and I'm five years old! And I don't have a family, I'm all on my own!" he smiled proudly. Not many kids his age could say that could they? Of course, he had been cheating a little bit, since it wasn't HIM who was taking care of his body, but semantics.

The couple didn't seem as impressed as he wished. Their faces distorted into extremely uncomfortable expressions before the human pulled their partner to the side and whispered in their ear for a moment. The two nodded at each other and began talking. Micheal fidgeted with his antennae. It felt funny. The couple were certainly taking their time talking, weren't they? He wondered what they were discussing. It probably had to do with him, but he had no idea as to how.

"Well, my name's Evyn," said the human. "I'm 25 and this is my partner Shell." They gestured at the object. "We uh, both agree that it's not a good idea for a kid like you to be out and about. At night. Alone. So... do you wanna stay at our house for a bit until we figure something out for you?"

A massive smile spread across Micheal's face and he jumped up in the air. A house? That sounds fun indeed. He'd never really seen what people down on the ground lived like. Shrignold never had a reason to go, so he never got to look through his eyes. "Oh YES YES! That'd be wonderful! Ehehe, I wanna go right now!" He hopped up and down in place, newly energized by the thought of having NICE people to hang out with. The couple glanced nervously at him standing up like that. They hadn't noticed before but this weird kid was uh... 7 feet tall. Ah, it's probably nothing. They can figure it out later.

...

Micheal had never actually eaten a proper meal before. Shrignold didn't actually have to eat, and even if he did, it wasn't like he'd have been able to taste it anyways. He'd only had access to sight and hearing before. So the stale bag of potato chips the couple and found in their cupboard was more than enough to satisfy him. He almost ate the actual bag too before Shell tore it out of his hands. Evidently he wasn't supposed to eat that sort of thing. Is that so? How come it doesn't count as food?

Micheal was absolutely fascinated with the bathroom mirror in particular. He'd never gotten a good look at himself before and WOW that was what he was? That's so cool! He marveled at his weird sleek hair and teal skin and super duper huge sleeves and giant antennae. Nobody else he'd seen looked like this! He must be special! Shrignold always talked about how beautiful he was, and yet he'd never gotten a good look at himself through anything but a distorted pool of water. HA! Beautiful. Shrignold was such a weirdo. He was cool, that was for sure.

Micheal then caught himself. He noticed something felt different. He pressed his hand to his chest. Something was missing; where was the-

THE HEART! Shrignold's heart wasn't plastered to his chest! There wasn't any gross cult goop seeping into his eye! Micheal clenched his fists and hopped and spun around in excitement. HE WAS GONE! Shrignold was gone! He got rid of him!

He must've knocked him out of his body cuz of the fall! Of course, of course! He'd get to have his own life now! Malcolm wouldn't find him and he could live life like a normal kid! Micheal burst out of the bathroom and hopped jumped on the bed the couple had provided for him, screaming nonsense words in excitement. This continued for almost 15 minutes before he promptly exhausted his energy and passed out for the night, collapsing onto the blanket.

...

Micheal spent the next day exploring everything around the couple's house. They told him he couldn't run too far away but seeing as he'd survived this long alone at only 5 years old, they trusted him to be safe a little more than average.

Micheal savored in every single thing. When Shrignold was in control, he could only see and hear things, and not very clearly. Now every little object, creature, plant felt new and exciting! The sun was actually on HIS skin! He could see how bright the colors of the world really were, he could smell the distinct scent of nature and the woods that he'd only got to truly live in for a few weeks before his transformation into a humanoid. It was nostalgic and fresh and new all at once.

He expended all of his daylight hours simply experiencing every square inch of the area the couple had given him. The water felt so strange, not at all like the kind he'd fallen into. Touch was such a strange sensation to him, especially once he rediscovered how to use his antennae in his new form. Micheal used those very lovely hours being a person, and he was so eager to do it again and again, every day, for the rest of his life.

Micheal retired to his bed once the sun had set with a warm feeling in his heart.

Five hours later, Shrignold woke up.