The Butterfly Effect (Part II)

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…