Butterfly Moth (GxG)

• hesperiidae •

Hesperiidae: Also referred to as skippers. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy places the family in the superfamily Papilionoidea.
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4

The shackles bound to Hemera Leora's ankles were ones that couldn't be removed. She had no key, and no foresight as to how to find one. All she knew was that if she did have one, she would have unlocked the chains without a moments worth of hesitation.

Her family sat at the dining room table, all silently eating the pot roast that her mom, Molly, had made. However, Leora found that she wasn't as hungry as she usually would have been, picking at the plate of food rather than consuming it. There was an image on vivid replay in her mind, one that she couldn't decide if she should classify it as disturbing or simply odd.

"Leora, quit playing with your plate, darling." Molly sighed, having had enough of watching her youngest daughter turn the meat over with her fork.

Leora sighed, brutally stabbing that same meat and dropping it into her mouth. Mumbling, she asked, "Mom, Dad, you know Miss Alisman from down the street?"

Robert, her father, slowly nodded his head without lowering the newspaper, obviously not entirely paying attention. "Yes, at the dead end."

She had to pause before asking the next question, because she knew that her parents weren't going to believe what she saw. "Does she live alone?"

Molly raised an arched brow at Leora, giving her a look that scolded her for once again playing with her food. "I do believe so." She answered. "Why do you ask?" That was the part that confused Leora and brought her to ask her parents such a bizarre question in the first place.

She had been completing her rounds, attempting to sell some items from a pamphlet for a fundraiser that the cheerleaders were doing. She had been in her uniform and was a bit sweaty from the hot day. Leora saved Miss Alisman's house for last, because she was a rather odd woman that most teens her age avoided with a ten foot pole. However, she still went there to at least try. Leora had been doubtful that anyone would answer since there was no car in the driveway, but she decided that it wouldn't hurt to knock.

What she hadn't expected was for the corner of a face to peek out of the window just as she happened to look in that direction. Whoever it was had a beautiful blue eye that was an incredibly cold, light blue with specks of navy dispersed throughout it. There was also the hint of extremely pale skin and possibly black hair. Leora would have thought that it was Miss Alisman, but it didn't look like her. Miss Alisman had brown hair and was not nearly so pale.

"I think I saw someone else in her house when I knocked on the door." Leora told her parents, waiting for their reaction.

Robert glanced up from the paper to look at Leora for a split moment, then he looked back down. "You probably just imagined something."

That was when Phoebe laughed at her younger sister, rolling her eyes. "What, are you scared of that house or something?"

"Oh, knock it off, Phoebe." Molly scolded her, then proceeded to address Leora. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I knocked and at first no one was answering, so I decided to just do it one more time before leaving. But then I saw someone lift the curtains and look out at me. They had this really blue eye and super pale skin." Leora perked up, instantly spilling her guts to her family with the hopes of them taking her seriously.

"Ooh, sounds like Leo saw a ghost." Phoebe burst into a fit of laughter. Leora stared at her sister with a dropped jaw.

"I did not!" She argued. "It was a person!"

"Enough, you two." Molly told them both to quiet down. "But it does sound like you imagined someone, Leora. Miss Alisman has lived in that house for years and I've never seen her with someone else before."

The beautiful blue eye that almost reminded Leora of the moon faded from her lips as she decided that talking about it wasn't going to achieve anything. No one believed what she saw, but deep down, Leora knew it was real.

She glanced out of the dining room window to see that it was late dusk and soon it would be dark. Leora would be forced into her room and she would be told to go to bed. There was no chance that she would be able to go out with her friends. All she could think of was that blue eye.

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