The
Butterfly Effect (Part II)
By Rebecca Rosen
My one and only clear memory
involving Dominus Finden is from my sixth year of schooling. In sixth grade Dominus visited our middle
school for “introduction to your future” day.
I was extremely excited, yet nervous at the same time. I’d worked endlessly on my invention, with
Aldabert’s help of course, and I truly had faith in it. I knew he had to like me, I was his son’s
best friend! Every student sat with him alone, in a room. It was cold as I recall, with only one window
on the far right side. I did not understand
why his presence made me so nervous.
“And what do you
have for me today, Ms. Cavelry?”
“I created a device that can
alter the mood of anybody in a twenty foot radius of the device.”
“And how do you believe this
device will help the society of Pareo?” He asked.
“If someone is scared, angry,
nervous, all that needs to be done is a turn of a dial and the flick of a
switch!” I answered, such pride in my voice.
“This invention is
worthless. Let us hope you carry the Formosa
gene somewhere in that tiny body of yours!”
Suddenly all of
the excitement and joy I had felt before that moment disappeared, like Dominus
was controlling the machine now and using it against me, its creator. All of that hard work, for my dreams to be
completely crushed. Everything at that
moment turned white and I began to feel a lump in my throat swelling up,
growing, begging to burst. I lifted my head high, though took my invention, and
flashed a toothy grin at him.
“Thank you for
that, Dominus. May I call you Dominus?”
He just stared at
me in disbelief, stunned, like I had ripped all the dignity he had right out of
his system.
I spotted
Aldabert’s sandy blonde hair swaying above the rest of the crowd as I left. He
ran up to me as quickly as he could and in one swift breath asked me,
“How did it go,
did he love it?”
“He was amazed, in
shock actually.”
“Beata, you did
it!”
“I sure did.”
“Are you okay?”
Aldabert asks me. “You seem a little out of it.”
“I am all right,
promise,” this has been happening to me very much lately.
“Really? So what
is the last thing I said?” I’m caught.
“Fine, I had that
nightmare again last night. The one
about the butterfly. It has been getting
more and more graphic. It is
unbelievably bothersome. This morning I
woke up shaking.”
“And everything
was exactly the same as last time, the blood, only one wing?”
“Exactly the
same.” I say. I begin to shiver just
thinking about it.
“Well, let us not
dwell on the murky past but rather move forward. Mystery awaits us at every turn on this fine
Sunday morning.”
“This Sunday
morning is hardly fine, Aldabert, it is splendid. I am sure the weather nymphs are sparing us
with nice, warm, sunny weather for the next couple of days. The sorting is only
a week away,” I say. He laughs at my attempt at a joke and I am happy about
it. He’s always known the perfect times
to respond. Just another wonderful thing
about Aldabert.
“Beata, if you are
interested, I mean, since it is such a wonderful day, I was wondering if we
could enjoy a picnic by our lake. I packed us both a lunch and some
drinks. I mean the tulips are just
beginning to bloom, the yellow ones you love so much. If you are not interested though I
understand, I just though this is precious time we have together since the
sorting is so near in the future.”
“I need no more
convincing Aldabert, you got me at the tulips, you know they are my favorite.”
“Fantastic Beata,
race me there?”
“Only if you are
prepared to lose” I snicker. Aldabert
hates nothing more than to lose. He is always up for some good competition.
“Fine, you’re on!”
He shouts, I can tell he is trying not to smile.
Bessie barks and
wags her tail back and forth. She knows
I will not go down without a fight just.
“In three,”
“Two,”
“One,” we both
shout.
And I am off. Cutting through the people so swiftly I can
hardly stand it.
“Hey watch it
lady,” somebody screams at me. Who
cares, this country needs to have some fun.
Before I know it I
have lost Aldabert in the crowd. I am
soaring now, out of the Town and into the endless green. I hear Bessie’s loud
thumps behind me trying to keep my pace.
This is where the challenge kicks in. Tree branches slice my calves, but
I do not mind. I hear Aldabert’s quick
strides behind me now, and I know I am slowing up. I gather up all the energy I
have left and leap ten feet forward, over branches and stones. I am almost there; I can see the yellow buds
and the glistening from the lake… And
finally I am there. I stop quickly on
the edge of the water to catch my breath, and Bessie is already doing the doggy
paddle in the water. This heat no longer seems nice, it is teasing me. I stand up straight and there he is. Already
in the lake swimming around with Bessie.
Classic Aldabert.
“Only if you are
prepared to lose,” he mimics and starts to laugh.
“Fine then. You win…again” I say. Wow I should really get used to this.
I take off my
backpack and my shoes, and I step into the water. It is crystal clear, yet mysterious at the
same time. It ripples starting from where my foot touches all the way to the outskirt
of the opposite shore. It feels so
good. I walk towards Aldabert and stop
in my tracks when something catches my attention.
I look down and
see the reflection of a girl, not quite a woman yet. She looks back at me with an ordinary
expression, nothing too extravagant. Her
skin is pasty white in color and is stretched thinly across her tired looking
face. Her hair lies in a frizzy ponytail
atop her head, and her plain shirt is slightly too large for her long, lanky
body. Her eyebrows are fuzzy, and her
hair is dirt brown in color. Her eyes look up at me, an endless hole of
brown. The look dazed, as though
something dark has been stirring inside her.
Then I see another reflection, the reflection
of a boy. His face carries a confused look, but it does not at all detract from
his beauty. His skin is perfectly
bronzed, like he has spent most of his life sitting on a beach. His hair is a dazzling gold, and it lays askew
atop his perfectly defined jaw line and sculpted face. His shirt is stretched
perfectly across his muscular shoulders, which look as though they could carry
the weight of the world on them. His eyebrows though, carry a furrowed
expression, like I am missing something. His eyes look back up at me, an ice
cold blue, so beautiful I am sure the gods are jealous.
Could it be true?
Could someone so unique, so perfect, so sublime, be friends with a girl such as
this one? She is below unique, below just plain ordinary. She looks worse than that. She does not deserve him, he is just too
wonderful for her to comprehend.
Suddenly a
perfectly bronzed hand slaps the water, and the two people blur out of my
focus.
“What was that
about?” He asks me.
“Nothing at
all. Just zoning out I guess,” I answer
“Well, stop zoning
out and start having fun! This is the last ounce we will get of it before we
are shipped of to some school!” Has he always been this extreme?
“I am having fun!”
I protest. Was I really?
We swim around in
the lake for a while, observing the different species of fresh water plants in
deep concentration. I push off the
bottom of the twelveish foot deep lake and pop my head up and breathe in. The air is fresh and sweet, spring is here. I swim to shore and lay out a blanket for us
to eat on. Aldabert swims toward me and
walks out of the water. His perfectly
chiseled abdomen is a distraction from the sweltering heat that is pouring down
from the sky. The water drips from his
body slowly, like it cannot get enough of him.
He sits down next to me on the blanket and grabs his sandwich. Bessie runs out of the water at the slightest
whiff of food and I flash her a smile.
She runs on top of me and licks me all over my face.
“Bessie!” I yell
as I laugh and fall backward.
“Get her Bessie!
Get her good!” Aldabert encourages Bessie to shower me in dog spit. Of course.
“Alright girl
alright.” I say as I sit up again. She
walks over to my side and sits down with her head on my lap. I begin absentmindedly petting her and
looking toward where the sky meets the trees.
A peaceful place.
“Ya want some?”
Aldabert asks me.
“No, I’m not that
hungry,” I say to him.
“Okay fine. Well, I have been working on this report for
Literacy about…”
Wow, those tulip
buds look beautiful.
“Beata…”
“BEATA!” He
roars. The world turns silent. There are no more birds chirping and the lake
is completely still. I feel Bessie’s
peaceful rest interrupted and she lifts her head from my lap. I have never heard him yell like that
before.
“What the HELL is
the matter with you! I have been talking to you for the past ten minutes and I
feel like I am talking to a wall! I’m not trying to act like a jerk, but gosh
Beata, I feel like I’ve lost you!” He walks over to the nearest tree and tries
to steady himself.
“Okay, Aldabert,
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m acting
like this lately, I apologize. If you
would please just relax and..”
“Beata, do you
realize this is possibly the last few days we can spend with each other?
Ever? When my dad announces my name and
then yours, what that diploma reads will alter our futures, for either the good
or the bad. I am trying to look at this
last week with you as leaving on a good note, but you are making that
impossible for me.” He looks furious, like an animal waiting to tear me limb
from limb.
To Be
Continued…
