The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#140 Your Turn

[The Twins]

Ever since Sophia helped move the Moonflower shrub to a safer container, the Twins couldn't take their eyes off of it. It was really nice to have it closer so they could easily watch and take care of it. They kept it up on the shelf on the other side of the wall. You couldn't see through it in the daytime. It just looked like an opaque black glass case. But at night, you could see the little while flowers glowing through the glass. They weren't as bright as they normally were with the case over them, but it was still mesmerizing to look at.
Seeing new flowers grow and bloom gave them a reassuring feeling and it looked better everyday. One night, they were up late with the terrarium sitting on the floor, the both of them wrapped up in the green blanket and lying down on the floor, just staring at it. They couldn't take their eyes off of the case. It looked as if there was a whole miniature world hidden inside.
"Hey, do you think it can still speak to us?" Flyboy asked his brother.
"I don't know. You think it'd be okay if we tried taking the glass off?" Fleetfoot wondered.
"I'm not sure, Sophie said it would grow comfortably inside the glass. The dirt inside might fall out if we tried taking the case off. We can try and say something and see what happens."
"Hmm... okay, let's see."
The Twins took a moment to think about something to ask. They shuffled closer towards it.
"Are you okay in this form?" they asked. They waited patiently for a reply, but all they heard was silence. They started thinking about something else to ask.
"Can you still hear us?" they said aloud. They shuffled closer towards the case, hoping to hear something. They waited for as long as they could, but there was nothing to be heard. Their eyes narrowed. They thought about one more question.
"Sophie... made you like this and made the case so you could grow safely. Was that okay?"
They moved closer, turning their heads and leaning their ears near the glass, hoping to hear something. They listened carefully, they tried waiting patiently. But they didn't hear anything. Eventually, they sighed and leaned back.
"Maybe... the glass is making it hard to hear anything?" Flyboy thought out loud.
"Maybe? We could probably ask Sophie to put holes in the top to see if that might make it easier?"
"Yeah, I guess we could try that. Let's just put it back on the shelf."
They both stood up. Flyboy took the case and set it gently on the shelf above him. They both got comfortable, pulling the blanket over themselves and sleeping against the bean bag chair.

The next morning, everyone was huddled around the tree house. Apollo was busy showing Teri something on his phone and laughing together. After a minute of that, he starts talking about something and Teri was hanging onto every word. Sophia was up on the platform of the tree house, leaning against the wall and typing away on her open laptop, tuning out the rest of the world. She seemed really focused on what she was doing. The Twins were inside and looking up at the Moonflower still sitting on the shelf above them. After a long moment of thinking and wondering, they poked their heads out the door and looked over at Sophia.
"Hey Sophie, can you come inside for a minute." they asked.
"Yeah, sure." she replied, slapping her laptop shut and following the Twins inside. She watched them take the terrarium down from the shelf and carefully set it on the floor. Sophia sat down curiously.
"Is there something wrong with the Moonflowers?" she asked.
"No, it's fine. We haven't been able to stop looking at it though. It's really cool. But last night, we tried to speak to it to see if it would say anything, but we didn't hear it."
"Doesn't it always speak to you?" Sophia asked.
"Not always. It's spoken to us the most, but last night we didn't hear it at all. We just thought maybe you could put holes in the glass so maybe we could hear it better?"
Sophia thought about it for a moment, "Hmm, I dunno. I can try, but the glass isn't very thick. I'm just sayin'."
Sophia pulled out her paintbrush and started dotting the top of the glass with little holes. And when she thought there was enough, she put it away and everyone leaned closer.
"Okay, I think that might be enough."
Everyone remained silent until the Twins shuffled and leaned their faces closer towards the terrarium.
"Can you hear us now?" they asked. Everyone sat still and silent, only able to hear a soft breeze and Apollo and Teri's faint laughter from outside. But they didn't hear anything more. Sophia heard the Twins sigh and they leaned forward again.
"Can you still speak to us?" they spoke softly. Sophia leaned forward, trying to see if she could hear any better. They heard only silence.
"Sophie, you try saying something."
"Really?" ...Okay."
Sophia took a moment to think of something to ask. A moment turned into a while. She blinked and tilted her head. She couldn't think of anything specific so she thought of something simple.
"Do you know who I am?"
Everyone shuffled and leaned in closer, waiting for a response. Any sort of reply. They looked through the holes in the top, hoping to see if they could hear sound through it. They waited for a long time. Until the Twins sat down and sighed in disappointment.
"I still don't hear anything."
"Maybe it doesn't feel like saying anything right now?" Sophia wondered out loud.
"But it's spoken to us before. Not all the time, but it always told us what we needed to hear. Why isn't it saying anything now?" the Twins looked up at Sophia. "You didn't mess with it when you moved it, did you?"
"No, no, I swear! I hardly touched it at all. The last thing I want to do is mess it up. I swear, I didn't do anything to it!"
The Twins glared at her for a moment before their expressions finally softened and they looked back down at the terrarium.
"Maybe it... just needs a little time to adjust? Maybe... all we can do is just wait."
The Twins sighed in unison and stood up.
"Maybe... But if something was wrong, it would tell us," they said as they walked outside and joined Apollo and Teri who were sitting just underneath. Sophia didn't really understand why they seemed so frustrated, but she didn't say anything more. But in all honesty, she did hope that the Moonflowers might reveal something. Even a single word that might point them in the right direction. But for a while now, there's been no new clues, no answers, nothing seemed to make any sense. She continued to sit and stare at the plant that was left on the floor. Other thought began to pop in her mind.

Maybe since they've taken care of it for so long, it's already told them what they needed to hear, and now it has nothing more to say. She thought that maybe if she took it back to her room and looked after it for a while, it might yield different results. But it was only a thought. There wasn't much to go off of just a thought. She laid down on the floor in a comfortable position and tried to look through the glass, trying to see if she could see the glowing flowers within.
Back outside, the Twins sat down around the low table and Apollo and Teri could see their frustrated faces.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Teri asked.
The Twins sighed and leaned against the table.
"Yeah... we were just checking on the plant. It seems fine, but..."
"Do you really think it still speaks to you?" Apollo asked.
"We know it does, but right now it doesn't wanna say anything. If you heard it say something to you, would you believe it?"
Teri and Apollo exchanged glances.
"I dunno. I think it depends on what it says, I guess," Apollo replied. Teri only gave a confused look, like she wasn't sure what to decide.
"We just thought that... since we can't seem to figure anything out, maybe it would have something to tell us. Like it did before. It just feels a little strange that it's decided not to say anything now. The only thing we ever really do around here is look after the Moonflowers and make sure they're all doing well."
"Is it doing okay?" Apollo asked.
"Yeah, yeah, it's perfectly fine. There's not much we need to do. As long as it's still growing, then we don't really need to do anything more."
"I could probably find something else for you to do, if you want," Apollo offered.
"That'd be nice. Until we can figure out our next plan, we're just... kinda tired of sitting around and doing nothing."

They all heard footsteps coming down from the tree house. Sophia peeked over the edge and looked down at the Twins.
"Hey, what if I took the Moonflowers back to the house? I could keep them upstairs and... maybe see if it does anything different? Just for a while, I'll bring it back whenever you want. If it's okay?"
The Twins looked up at her and thought for a moment.
"You know what, yeah. You can take it. Just be careful with it and let us know if anything happens."
"Of course. I'll be careful." Sophia agreed.
Later during the evening when everyone was getting ready to settle down, the Twins gave Sophia the Moonflower terrarium and she carefully took it back to her room. They didn't think too much of it, in fact they almost thought the same thoughts she did. Maybe having it sit in a different location with a different person might reveal something.
They both doubted and hoped that something would happen.

During the night, they were both lying against the bean bag chair in the corner of the tree house, both pretending to be asleep. The sliding door was closed over the doorway, but there was a light breeze flowing through the cut out window. Everything was still and silent, their eyelids only sitting halfway closed as their minds raced with thoughts. But they didn't say anything to each other. At the same time, their limbs began to glow subtly. They didn't move or make a sound. They just stared and studied the strange pattern that wrapped around their skin. They wanted to sleep, but they were too busy staring at themselves to shut their eyes. They glowed dimly for a moment more before returning to normal. They still didn't completely understand what this power was or how much of it they could control. They began to think maybe what they were missing wasn't out there for them to find. Maybe it was something within themselves they were missing.