The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#76 Another Day

[Sophia]

I didn't hear anything at first. My surroundings still coated in darkness. Then I felt my shoulder being nudged gently.
"Sophie..... Sophie..... Uh, Sophie?" A hushed voice spoke to me. At first I thought it was Apollo coming to wake me up for school.
Then I realized I don't go to school anymore.
"Huh?"
"Sophie?"
"Hm... what?"
"Sophie, can we go back now? Is it safe to go back?"
My memories began to replace my dreams and I sat up. I looked at the light that was trying to shine through my blinds. I glanced over at my stereo clock that sat on top of the dresser. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus on the clock. It read 6:12. About 20 minutes early from when I'd usually get up for school. I yawned and looked at Teri's face. Still desperate, and already anxious to get back home. I sighed and told her it was fine. She said she'd wait downstairs so I could get dressed.
I was too tired (and lazy) to put on a new outfit, so I just changed shirts and put on a jacket. Early morning is chilly. I slipped on a pair of flip flops and grabbed my satchel, making sure I had all my essentials packed just in case.I stretched one last time and quietly made my way downstairs. I crept quietly passed the Twins, still asleep on the couch. Teri was waiting for me in the kitchen.
"Ready?"
"Mhmm."
I opened the screen door quietly and Teri stepped through. We climbed over the fence and started making our way down through the grove.
"Sorry for making you wake up so early. I just really need to get home."
"Don't worry about it. They should be gone, so I think it's fine."
"Are you feeling okay?" Teri asked.
I nodded sluggishly, "Yeah, just tired. And a little sore."
Teri stuck close to me as I lead her through. The morning fog turning the original colors of the forest a grey overtone.
"I don't think I'm going to come back for a while." Teri spoke up.
"That's okay. I think it's a good idea to lay low for a while too. We've never been attacked like this before, so we might take it easy for a while."
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, we should be fine." I said quietly.

When we reached the tree house, Teri noticed I didn't stop at the pools of water.
"Wait, where are you going?" Teri asked. I turned around.
"I just think we should go to the lake. It's faster than going through the tunnels, right?"
"Yeah, good thinking." Teri began to trot behind me as I lead the way. Still tired and a little delirious, but I kept aware of my surroundings. Even though I was always accompanied by the feeling of being watched, I had to make sure we weren't being currently observed. Although, throughout the walk my mind continuously drifted in and out of reality and flicking through the dreams I had last night. I couldn't remember everything though. I finally snapped back when I glanced at Teri's anxious face. I've never seen that look on her face before. But to me, it almost looked like she was a little paranoid.
I summoned the strength to speak.
"Hey, are you gonna be okay?" I asked.
"Yes. I'm just a little worried is all."
"It's okay, we're almost there."
"I know I'll be okay, it's my people that I'm worried about." Teri said. I looked at her.
"Sophie... that thing..... it knew you. And it knew about Apollo too."
"Yeah...?" I said, not quite understanding.
"If it knew about you, then what about us? What if it knows about me and my home? You didn't even know that thing was out there and it somehow knew you. What if it comes for me?"

Teri was right. I had never met this creature, or... whatever it was. And somehow, it knew about us. It recognized our faces, used Apollo as bait to get us and even tried to kill me. But how was it possible for something like that to observe us in broad daylight? That's the only time we're ever out here and like clockwork, we return to the house just before sundown. And I doubt it sneaks over to the neighborhood just to spy on us. How could it know........ and why?

I thought about all of that, but for the moment I only said, "I don't know. I've never seen it before. But..... if it comes back, we'll be ready."
"What?"
"We've been training this whole time just in case something like this happens. If we can fight the Shadovians, we can fight that thing. I don't know what it is, but I know we can do this."
I'm not a great motivational speaker, much less able to raise anyone's spirits. But the point I was trying to make was that if that thing ever came back to hurt us, we had to be ready. It's only five of us and just that one thing. I bet with all our strength combined, we could overwhelm it and maybe take it down. Maybe. Last night was only our second encounter, and we didn't know when it would come back. But we couldn't let it win.