Butterflies

Happily, I hit the snooze button on my alarm and sat up. Stretching, I rubbed my eye and got out of bed. I slightly waved my hand, making my favorite animal appear right before my eyes: a butterfly. It fluttered it’s way on top of my stretched out hand. I walked it to my bathroom where I sat it on my bathroom counter and looked at myself in the mirror.

My brunette curls were pulled up in a messy bun I had before I went to sleep. Gold swirled around in my hazel eyes that were squinted from smiling. On my light caramel skin laid scars on my arms and stomach from fighting. Fighting what, you ask? Well, I fight what everyone fights; either themselves, or the enemy. I fight my enemy. Well, I fought my enemy.

For over ten years, I’ve been running. I guess you can say it’s like running from my problems. Well, when your problem is an organization hell-bent on your destruction, you have no choice but to run. The worst part, I don’t even know why they want to kill me. I know I’m not the only one with powers, so why am I being singled out?

After showering and washing my hair, I brushed my teeth and pulled my hair in a tight ponytail. Instead of putting on makeup, I change into a simple shirt and jeans with my white and gold Nike Air Forces. I grabbed my keys and left my condo, ready for work.

“Goodmorning, Lara.”

I look over at the receptionist, Willow with a grin. “Goodmorning.” I make my way to my car and slip in. On the drive, I run into a red light. I look over to my right and feel skeptical as I see a man sitting on the bench staring directly at me. I couldn’t shake this feeling that I’ve seen him before.

Once I see other cars starting to move, I start driving again. I peeked over in my rear mirror to see him still looking my way. I lightly shook my head to brush it off and focused on driving. Once I arrived at my job, which was babysitting, I entered the house with the key my boss gave me. The first thing I saw was the kid I babysit lying on the couch on her phone.

“Hey, Lyn.” I greeted her.

Instead of looking over at me, she just sent a wave and went back to her phone. I shook my head with a smile and went over to the kitchen where I saw her mom, my boss. “Good morning, Lara. Thanks for coming. I should be back at around 9.” She told me as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder.

“Cool. Have a good day at work, Talia ” I said and gave her a hug.

“Thank you sweetie,” My boss said and walked over to the living room where I followed. “Lyn, be good for Lara. I won’t be back till tonight.”

“Ok, mom. Have fun.” Lyn said still on her phone.

Once her mom was out the door, I looked over at Lyn with a wide grin. “So,” I dragged the word out. “Whatchu wanna do today?”

She shrugged in response before she perked up. “Actually, I need to go out!”

I frowned, “Go out where?”

“To a skating rink, with my friends.”

I chuckled a little, “I wouldn’t be hired to watch you if I wasn’t watching you. And I’m sure you don’t want me to look over your shoulder every five seconds while you’re there.”

She sat there with a thoughtful look for a few seconds. “Yeah, you’re right. Never mind.”

I walked over and sat on the couch, propping her feet on my lap. “Wanna go to the mall?” I asked her. She beamed at me before hopping off the couch.

“I’ll go get dressed.”

I nodded at her as she ran off up the stairs, taking her phone with her. I swear those two are inseparable.

Everything seemed to slow down. My heart rate picked up at a hastily speed. I slowly looked over to the door, to see it kicked down, hanging halfway in the air. A man stood with his mouth hanging open and his foot in the air as if he was going to take a step.

“I froze time.” I realized. “Why?”

I stood from the couch and approached the man. Then it hit me, this is the same man whom I saw sitting on the bench on the other side of the street. Odd, I had a feeling I recognized him. Now here he is, kicking in my boss’s door. I’m guessing he followed me. Wait, is he from the organization? Is he here to kill me? Mhm, how unfortunate for him.

I lightly chuckled as I stepped to the side of the door, pressing my back against the wall before I unfroze time. The loud thud of the door clattering didn’t make me jump. But it sure did make Lyn coming running down the stairs. She froze at seeing the man looking back and forth, while I stood to the side of the door so he couldn’t see me.

I put a finger to my mouth telling her to stay quiet. The stairs were to the left of the door and me, so the man couldn’t see her unless he stepped in the house fully.

The floor creaked as the man took a step inside. But before he could turn his head to see us both, I snapped my finger making a lion appear right in front of him. It wasted little time in clawing at his throat.

I took multiple steps back so no blood got on my shoes. I tuned out Lyn’s scream and watched the lion tear him to pieces with a small smile. I waved my hand, making the lion disappear in an instant. With a sigh, I turned to see Lyn now at the bottom of the stairs looking at the dead body with a look of horror.

“Lyn,” I started cautiously. “He came here to kill me. You would have died as collateral damage.”

“Fuck that! How the hell did you make that lion appear?” She yelled frantically.

I sighed as I looked back at the body. “I need you to forget I did that.”

“I can’t just forget that!”

Ignoring her, I looked down at my hands as I raised them up. A dull pain along with a tingling sensation vibrated through my hands making me look at them in wonder. I chuckled with excitement once it hit me. When a supernatural person kills another, they absorb the other person’s power. “I wonder what his power was.” I mumbled.

“Lara!” I walked over to her and in instinct, I put my hands on each side of her head and looked into her eyes with curiosity. “What are you-”

“Stay quiet.” I interrupted. “Forget that a man broke down the door.” I released her head and looked down at her. “Lyn?”

“Yes?”

“What happened five minutes ago?”

“I was looking for a pair of shoes to wear to the mall.”

I chuckled, “Marvelous. A new power.”

“What do you mean?” She inquired.

“Nothing.” I reassured her. Gripping her shoulders, I twirled her around so she couldn’t see the body and gave her push to the stairs. “Hurry and get ready.” She nodded and ran up the stairs.

I exhaled and looked back at the man. Maybe a lion wasn’t the best choice; he got blood everywhere. I took gloves, a garbage bag, bleach, and rags out of the cabinet and went back to the body. After putting on gloves, I put each body part on the garbage bag and scrubbed the blood out of the hardwood floor with bleach.

“What about the door?” I asked myself, after putting the garbage bag in the dumpster. Before I could continue, Lyn came down the stairs and looked at the door in confusion.

“What happened to the door?”

“Oh, the hinges were extremely loose so I took them out. I was going to replace them before we left.” I lied.

She groaned, “Just hurry.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I jokingly told her.

Once I finished fixing the door, Lyn and I got in my car. Once we arrived at the mall, Lyn practically dragged me to the jewelry store. I discreetly looked around for anyone watching me closely. It’s most likely a bad idea for me to be out in public, that man coming to attack means they found me. I’m not safe in the U.S anymore. I have to leave, but I can’t now.

“Lara, look at this ring!” I heard Lyn yell.

I walked over to her and looked down at the massive diamond ring surrounded by tiny gold flowers. I chuckled, “You want that one?”

She nodded, “Yes! The price doesn’t matter.”

We both looked down to see the diamonds and gold is real, making the ring cost an arm and a leg. “Ok,” I walked over to the woman behind the counter. “Can you hold number two-hundred fifty-five? I’ll come back and pick it up this Friday.”

The woman nodded, “And what is your name?”

“Lara Johnson.”

“Ok, it’ll be ready for you on Friday.”

I nodded and turned back to Lyn. “Happy?” She nodded with a smile and dragged me to a clothes store. We looked around and made some of the extremely ugly pieces of clothing we saw. Eventually, we left and went to a shoe store.

This is one store I love going to. I looked around at the different shoes and cringed at some of the horrible designs. “Lara?”

At hearing my name, I walked back to the main part of the store where Lyn was. “Yes?”

“I’m ready to go to a new store.”

“Ok, c’mon.”

After some hours, we ate and got back in my car. We both went back to her house and showered before laying on the couch beside each other watching a movie. There are perks to babysitting a teenager. One of the main ones is they know how to do stuff themselves.