Don’t you just hate coincidences?
I do.
I was tapping away at my bracelet, trying to get Mr. Silver to just say something. It’d been two weeks since he decided to leave me in the dark about those other people and I was desperately trying to get a hold of him to try and find out just what exactly was going on with my situation.
Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Bellamy was droning on about homework and something to do with diseases and volunteers. I didn’t know, I could barely pay attention to his slow drawled out voice and large glasses that covered up half his face.
“So, any volunteers. Just know you must be…”
At that moment, Mr. Silver came to life startling me which caused my hand to shoot up.
“Ms. Anji, it seems we have…”
“No,” I spoke up. “I was just stretching. Sorry…”
“Maybe you should do it,” Mr. Silver said.
I resisted the urge to role my eyes. Oh, now you talk. “Actually, yes I am volunteering.” I chuckled nervously. “What exactly am I volunteering for?” I said, the forced smile on my face tearing my face apart.
Mr. Bellamy looked confused and let me tell you, if there was an Olympic gold medal for having a confused expression, this man had it. His thick eyebrows escaped the confines of his large glasses, almost grasping his receding hairline.
“Why would you volunteer for something you don’t know anything about?” Mr. Bellamy asked.
“You know me,” I said, forcing my grin wider. “I like surprises.”
“No, I don’t know you Ms. Anji.”
There was a wave of quiet chuckles from my classmates. I could feel my face heating up.
Mr. Bellamy shrugged. “Very well then, I’ll give you the binder and…”
“Sorry, what exactly am I doing?”
My classmates started grinning. Mr. Bellamy’s eyebrows did that stupid thing again.
“How can you volunteer for something you don’t know anything about?” Mr. Bellamy asked.
Well, I thought. I can’t just say a magical voice in a friendship bracelet told me to do so.
“I just need a refresher you know?” I said, my face muscles stretching so much at this point that I could probably lift weights with them.
“I don’t know, Ms. Anji,” Mr. Bellamy said. “I do not know. I don’t understand how anyone could be so stupid as to not know what exactly it is they’re throwing themselves into…”
And because I was so used to shouting verbally abusive things at a talking bracelet on my hand I shot back, saying “I don’t know how anyone can be so stupid as to get that bald at 32.”
When I realised what I had said my body burned up. I could feel the embarrassment and regret start crawling up into my face and twisting it. I looked down at my desk, ashamed, trying my best not to show the class how red my face felt.
I looked up and saw Mr. Bellamy’s face turn from pale with shock to bright red with anger like a traffic signal. The entire class was dead silent, staring at me with a mixture of shock, amusement and even admiration. I even elicited a reaction out of Lloyd who took out his sunglasses.
“Hot damn, April,” Lloyd said.
“Ms. Anji,” Mr. Bellamy said, pausing between each syllable of my name like he was uttering a curse. “In my office, now!”
“Yes,” I squeaked out, resisting the urge to cry.
…
After getting a rundown of my task which basically involved giving homework to a girl with a highly contagious disease.
“What disease?” I asked.
“Ms. Anji,” Mr. Bellamy let irritation flare across his face for a brief second before calming himself down. He sighed. “We don’t know the nature of the disease, we’ve just been informed that it’s serious and that Ms. Butters is sick.”
“Who’s Ms. Butters?”
He did the weird eyebrow thing again. “Skye Butters. The girl you’re supposed to be giving the homework to.”
“Oh.”
“Maybe you should pay attention,” Mr. Bellamy said. “Ever think about that.”
Mr. Bellamy shuffled through some files at the bottom of his desk before pulling out a fat stack of papers that caused a loud thud when he placed it on the table.
“You’ll be taking that up to her,” Mr. Bellamy said. “Make sure you have a face mask on and some gloves.”
“Why aren’t you doing it?” I asked. “Or any of the teachers.”
“Well,” Mr. Bellamy droned. “You volunteered.”
I sighed, defeated.
Stupid freaking friendship bracelet.
…
After school, I got the file from Mr. Bellamy’s office and with two hands I carried it to Skye’s house, my back arching under the weight. Resting peacefully atop the stack was the mask and gloves I bought (with my orphan welfare money, mind you) and carried it to Skye’s house. I was glad my school was right next to the residential area she stayed at because I couldn’t imagine just how bad it was for my back to be carrying a file the size of a briefcase down 3 blocks.
3 blocks of the same looking, white picket fence, standardised houses that probably cost way more than they were worth. All the while trying to wring out answers from that goddamn bracelet.
“I thought you were supposed to help me,” I said. “The silent treatment is not helping. It’s just being a dick.”
Only silence. No silver glow, the only response I got was silence from the purple bead I got from Violetta.
On my way to Skye’s house, I thought about just how much changed within the 4 years I’ve been ‘away’. The city I was in 4 years in the future could’ve been a whole other country. For one, most of the residential area I was in had been cleared out in favour of a new mall and the convenience stops I wanted to get my mask and gloves from would only pop into existence two years later.
The design of the houses, though. That remained the same. Two storey houses with black tiled rooves, white paint, garage and a path that cut through the centre of a small, trimmed lawns, hell, even each houses mailbox were clear. The only distinguishing features between houses was the plot number in bright golden colours. I stared at the numbers to make sure I was going in the right direction. Skye’s house number was 333 and I had just passed 321 so I was on the right track.
“329, 330,” I muttered to myself. “331, 332…”
When compared to the houses, surrounding it, Skye’s stuck out like a sore thumb. The lawn hadn’t been trimmed in days, looking like uncombed hair. Poking out from the grass, jabbed in haphazard locations were red “KEEP OUT” and yellow “CAUTION: BIOHAZARD” signs that were beginning to fade like the paint on the house. The metal of the garage door was starting to rust and the mailbox in the corner was looked as if were vomiting out the papers stuffed into its tiny mouth. A tiny pile of parcels and files with my school’s logo in the centre were piled at the side of the door and that’s where I assumed I was supposed to place my giant stack of homework also.
I took a deep breath. I put the file on the pavement, slipping on my gloves and putting on my mask before opening the picket gate.
The gate creaked on its hinges. I looked down and noticed the walkway to the house was slowly being eaten away by the grass. It was chipped and I almost found myself tripping over it a few times. I climbed up the stairs and rung the bell. It chimed. I waited a few minutes before ringing it again.
“Hello,” I said, my voice muffled by the mask. “Is anyone there?”
I waited a while before knocking.
“Hello,” I said. “I’m April Anji, I’m a classmate of yours. I’m here to deliver some homework.”
I tapped my feet. “I’m pretty sure you got the call from Mr. Bellamy.”
I sighed. “If you don’t respond I’m going to just leave it on the side here.”
There was a gust of wind. The papers in my file fluttered, I could hear the grass rustle and much to my surprise the door groaned open into a dusty, dark house pushed open by the wind.
“Um Skye,” I called out, my voice echoing in the house. “Your door’s open.”
No response except the darkness, the only light being what filtered through the door lighting up the doorway revealing a staircase to my right and a rusted hand sanitiser dispenser on the left, the pink liquid dripping out the weary spray bottle.
“I’m coming in,” I said. “I’ll uh, put your papers by the stairs. Do you even hear me…”
I stepped in making sure the door stayed open as I looked around the house. The passageway in front of me lead to what looked like a living room, I made out small shadowy lumps that looked like furniture. On my left was a kitchen, fridges were unmistakable no matter how creepy the house. On my right was a doorway that looked like it led to the garage and before that, a staircase. I walked towards the staircase, calling out to Skye.
“Hello, Skye,” I said. “I’m not sure if you’re around but I’ll be putting your homework down here. I seriously hope I didn’t just step into an empty house.”
I put the homework down by the stairs and turned to the doorway. But just as I was about to leave, and I mean just then, there was another gust of wind and the door slammed shut, the noise echoing loudly throughout the house, leaving me in pitch black darkness.
No Biggy, I thought. I’ll just open the door.
I grabbed the handle and tried to pull it open, but the door was stuck. Just then, Mr. Silver flashed on for a brief second showing me that the door was rusted on its hinges.
Don’t you just hate coincidences?
…
So here I was, stuck in a house where someone had an infectious disease, protected only by a face mask and some gloves. Not to mention I had no idea how the disease spread. I couldn’t touch anything lest I get sick and to make matters worse, I had no phone to call anyone for help.
“Hello Skye,” I said. “Mr. and Mrs. Butters. Anyone! Can you please help me out, I’m kinda stuck here!”
I took a few steps before calling out again. “I’m not a thief or a robber or anything. I just came here to give your daughter some homework.”
I paced around the passageway in circles while the wind whistled on outside.
“Hey,” I hissed, tapping my friendship bracelet. “A little light would be nice right about now, asshole.”
He didn’t respond. I let out a stifled groan.
I didn’t know how long I waited but after a few minutes I heard a door groan open upstairs.
“HELLO!” I yelled out, walking towards the stairs. “Sorry for all the noise. I’m your classmate April, I was asked by the school to bring you your homework. The door just closed and…”
No response. All I heard were the stairs creaking.
“Hello,” I said, my voice lowering. “Look I know how shady that sounds, but I really was sent by the school, I have the homework here. You just need to open the door and I’ll be off.”
The creaking got louder and louder.
“Are… am I talking to a ghost,” I said, letting out a laugh. “I’m sorry it’s just you’re awfully silent and…”
Just then, Mr. Silver went on. The sudden burst of light startled both me and the person who was climbing down the stairs. She let out a cute yelp and stumbled down the stairs. The baseball bat she was holding almost hit me in the forehead causing me to step back just as the girl landed on me.
Don’t you just love coincidences?
Cause the girl that landed on me was a stunner. It didn’t matter that I was straight, her curly, waist length blonde hair was so long it made me want to run my fingers through it. She had a pair of beautiful blue eyes that matched her name, eyes, that even in the darkness shined like the moon. The features on her face were delicate from her cute nose to small lips. I wanted to run my fingers over the gentle curve her eyebrows made over her eyes and her eyelashes… I was jealous but more than that…
“I love you,” I said, pulling down my mask and turning her head to face me. “I love you so much. I want to marry you and we’ll have our honeymoon in Venice, we’ll see the sunset on the beach and…”
Just then the door swung open, but I didn’t care for the interruption. I wanted her and her alone.
“Harper,” she said calmly as if this was just a daily occurrence. But how could my love be just a daily occurrence, it was transcendent, beautiful. I would move continents just for her. I would say my vows a thousand times over just…
“We really need to get the door checked,” Harper said. Another woman. And what was with this ‘we’? It was only me and Skye. The rest of the world didn’t matter. Only she did. This Harper better not…
Harper went into the kitchen and just as our lips were about to touch, just as the deal was about to be sealed, I felt a sharp pain in my arm.
“What the hell did…”
My vision was hazy and through my hazy vision I saw Harper, a stout looking woman holding what looked like a syringe in her left hand.
“Anaesthetic,” she said but her brusque voice was far away. “Will give me enough time to administer the vaccine.”
Even through the thick haze I could hear Skye’s beautiful voice. “Did you really have to do that?”
“No,” Harper said. “But it was funny…”
That was the last thing I heard before sleep overcame my body.
…
It was a while before the black haze cleared up and the world came into focus. Skye was leaning over me, her eyebrows furrowed in worry. She was so… pretty yeah. But that was it. I vaguely remembered being madly in love with her.
Harper was busy humming something. I groaned, stretching to get up.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Skye asked in that sweet voice of hers. It was sweet yes but hearing it now, it was as if it lost its flavour.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. I looked to my left noticing light filtering through checkered curtains and the copy and paste street below. “I’m sorry that I barged in and…”
“Is that the only thing you should be apologising for?” Harper asked, her voice muffled. She was facing a long table littered with vials, flasks and tubes all twisting and turning into each other. A reddish liquid bubbled in a few of the flasks.
Harper turned around. She had a face mask on covering most of her mouth, she wore a checkered red and black T-Shirt over a white shirt and jeans. She stood in stark contrast to Skye. The features on her face were strong. Broad nose, wide brown eyes and bushy eyebrows. Her hair was cut short and dyed a faded yellow and combed over her forehead. Her body type was also drastically different. She was built like a farmgirl. Big in a muscular kind of way compared to Skye’s more delicate build. I bet she had carried me upstairs all by herself.
“C’mon Harper,” Skye said. “She couldn’t help it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Harper said. “It’s the butterflies I know.”
“The butterflies?” I asked. “What are you talking about? And why is my arm so sore?”
“Vaccine,” Harper said. “Open your mouth.”
“Vaccine?” I asked. “Did you just administer a vaccine in my body without my…”
“It’s okay,” Skye piped in. “It’s not a big…”
“Open your mouth,” Harper said.
“Is the vaccine even approved,” I asked. “What…”
“Guys,” Skye whimpered. “Can we please just…”
“For a student you seem to know a lot about medical procedure,” Harper said. “Can you please…?”
“Can we stop f-fight…?” Skye tried pitching in.
“I’m studying medi…” I stopped myself. “I want to study medicine. And also, what’s this about being a student… you’re the same age as…”
“Just open your damn mouth!” Harper snapped.
I groaned and opened my mouth. Harper placed a thermostat in my mouth.
“Your temperature is fine,” Harper said. “No spikes around Skye…”
“What kind of disease is this?” I asked.
“Harper will explain it to you,” Skye stammered. “Just wait.”
“A contagious one,” Harper said, placing a stethoscope around her neck and placing the earpieces in her ears. “Roll up your shirt…”
I rolled up my shirt. She placed a stethoscope not on my chest but my…
“Stomach?” I asked. “Why the stomach?”
“To look for butterflies,” Harper said.
“She’ll explain it,” Skye said, placing a small hand on my back. It almost sent shivers down my spine, making me…
“Please avoid touching her Skye,” Harper said. “Remember what we talked about.”
Skye took back her hand, but I wanted her to linger there just for a bit…
I caught myself. What the heck was that sudden burst of emotion?
“What the heck…?” I mumbled. “What was…?”
“The number has reduced,” Harper said in a monotone voice. “But there’s still a lot of them.”
She took out her stethoscope and placed it on the table.
Harper let out a sigh of disappointment. “The vaccine’s working but… still needs an adjustment before I can develop a cure.”
Skye’s expression was blank, her eyes turned downwards.
“So, are you going to explain what’s going on?” I asked. “Or are you going to keep me in the dark like a certain someone in my life?”
I side-eyed my bracelet before turning to Harper.
“Well, it’s a long story,” Harper said. “But long story short Skye here has a sickness that makes people fall in love with her.”
“I’m going to need details,” I said.
Harper sighed. “You sure you have the time. Don’t you have homework to do?”
I shrugged. “I already know the answers so… lay it on me.”
“Sure,” Harper said. “Though I’m not comfortable doing it at the place I work at everyday so… what are you in the mood for? Tea… coffee?”
…
We sat in the living room. Harper decided to open up the curtains, lightening up the dark house. There were three navy blue sofas and one armchair surrounding a coffee table.
“Damn you really don’t like getting any light in here, huh?” Harper asked Skye.
“I was napping,” Skye said.
I decided to sit on the armchair while Skye and Harper sat on two couches opposite each other. Harper placed a tray with three cups on the table. Coffee for herself and tea for Skye and me.
“So, what’s this about Skye?” I asked, taking a sip of my tea. “And butterflies.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“You say you’re studying medicine,” Harper said. “So, I hope you don’t mind the jargon and Skye, you don’t mind if I tell her?”
Skye shook her head.
Harper sipped her coffee. “Alright,” she said, pulling the word. “Well, a while back, when we were in middle school, her parents took her on a trip to Central Africa, deep in the Congo jungle. There was a tour and she got separated from them and lost…”
“It was terrifying,” Skye admitted. “I didn’t where to go.”
“And she was deep in the forest,” Harper said. “Like the part of the forest where people say you can find dinosaurs.”
“Did you find dinosaurs?” I asked, finding myself suddenly excited.
“No,” Harper said, disappointed. “But she did encounter another never seen before creature.”
“And that’s…?”
“Heart-shaped butterflies,” Harper said.
I was confused. “Heart-shaped what…?”
She went through a file that was sitting at her side and pulled out an X-Ray of my stomach. Inside was what looked like hearts. Like those hearts on cards or that you see in cartoons dotted across my stomach. Attached to them were little dots that I recognised as legs and another line that spread outwards like antennae.
“Those are…”
“Heart-shaped butterflies,” Harper said. “Or Animus Rhopalocera.”
“I…” I was dumbfounded. “How the hell do they work, how did they get…?”
“Well, they’re actually not butterflies,” Harper said. “But a type of bacteria that increases pheromone activity in a human, but it’s spread through a butterfly that enters through your mouth, breeds there and spreads through other humans by touch, saliva, sweat or even breath. Once it grows up it leaves your body through… well, puking.”
“So, it’s a butterfly whose caterpillar stage isn’t an insect but bacteria,” I sat there trying to take it in.
“Rainforests are wild,” Harper said.
“Truer words haven’t been spoken,” I said.
I paused, my fingers twirling around my cup of tea. “So, you said that it increases pheromone activity, does that mean…?”
“Yep,” Harper said. “That’s why your natural instinct when you saw Skye over there was to make out with her.”
Skye reddened.
“So those weren’t my feelings for her,” I said. “It was a bug. A love bug?”
“A very scary one,” Harper said.
“But wait if it spreads from person to person in the ways you said and I got it so fast,” I said. “How come you’re not effected?”
Harper shrugged. “I’m ace.”
“But I’m straight,” I said. “How…?”
“It seems it effects anyone who can feel romantically and physically attracted to someone,” Harper said. “I don’t fit the criteria. Also I might be immune.”
She pulled out another X-Ray, this time of her stomach and in it I saw no butterflies.
I nodded. “Makes sense.”
“So, it took a while for the disease to germinate,” Harper said, starting to grin. “But once it did well people started doing stuff for her, they wouldn’t do. The disease affected her parents differently. Her parents started doing whatever she told them to do. And I mean whatever, we once took their car at midnight and got into trouble with the cops…”
Skye started to redden.
Harper laughed. “They both let us go. It was fun until…”
“Valentines at the end of middle school,” Harper said. “It was wild. Kids and teachers were beating the shit out of each other just to give her chocolate almost to deat…”
“Harper,” Skye hissed. “I don’t…”
Harper understood and stopped talking about it. “Either way, that’s when I realised it was a problem. I stayed with her and her parents as we tried to find a cure but after a while her parents had a disagreement about something and…”
“So, you’ve been working with her since middle school?” I asked.
“Yep, just trying to figure out what the hell this disease is all about,” Harper said. “And trying to help her get rid of it.”
She stared at Skye and even though she said she didn’t ‘love’ her, the concern and love I saw for her friend was on full display. At that moment I noticed the dark bags under her eyes. Her body was bent over and she looked as if she could collapse at any moment. It showed even in the state of her ‘lab’, flasks scattered around, notebooks filled with wild equations dotted haphazardly around with chemical stains on them. Harper was barely holding it together for her friend but despite all that, the glimmer I saw in her eyes, the glimmer of friendship and concern. When I saw that I knew what was carrying her through all this.
“You look like you can carry yourself well in a lab?” Harper asked. “You wouldn’t mind helping us out, would you?”
I looked at her and then at Skye. When Harper asked me for help, she perked up a little, looking at me expectantly.
I gave Harper my best smile. “I’m sorry,” I started. “I’m really tied up at the moment.”
…
At home, I was puking, choking out a mashed out of red heart shaped wings.
“Harper was right,” I mumbled. “These things really die because of our atmosphere.”
In the red goop of dead bug remains I saw a leg twitch before flushing the remains down the toilet. Apparently, the bug was so used to the deep forest environment that any exposure to the outside killed them, which was why it didn’t spread beyond Skye. However, they were perfectly evolved to survive human bodies which was why one of the side effects of the vaccine was…
“Not again,” I muttered as I felt the bile reach my throat.
I puked out another round of red paste, my knees starting to hurt from kneeling over the toilet bowl so long. Mr. Silver was on top of the bathroom cabinet and didn’t come back to my hand like a loyal little soldier. When I was 100% sure I was done puking, I flushed, picked up my bracelet from the cabinet and went back to reading a book. It was at that moment Mr. Silver decided to come to life.
“You’re not going to help them?” Mr. Silver asked.
“So, the only time you’re going to talk to me is to judge me,” I said. “What are you, my teacher?”
“I wasn’t even judging you,” Mr. Silver said. “I just asked a question. You assuming I’m judging you means you feel guilty about it, don’t you?”
I wanted to retort to that, but I realised I had nothing. “What do you know, you’re a freaking bracelet?”
“You listened to their entire story,” Mr. Silver said. “And at the last minute you decide to leave them hanging like that?”
“What can I do?” I mumbled. “I’m just a high school student…”
“A high school student with the soul of an almost doctor,” Mr. Silver said. “You seem to be conveniently forgetting that…”
“But I don’t know anything about heart shaped butterflies,” I countered. “It wasn’t in my…”
“Now you’re just making excuses,” Silver said. “You seemed to pick up her explanations really fast.”
“But…”
“Enough buts,” Mr. Silver said. “Why did you let them down?”
“I don’t want to let anybody down!” I yelled. “I’m reincarnated remember. I’m not me! Just know these people meet the real me and they’re disappointed. Just saving them from that.”
“Saving them?” Mr. Silver asked. “Or yourself?”
“What are you, my therapist?” I snapped. “Go stick to being a flashlight or something.”
“What do you want?” Mr. Silver asked.
“You, off my ass,” I said.
“Never mind, I should be asking why you stuck around if you weren’t interested in the first place?”
“None of your business,” I said.
“April,” Mr. Silver said in a disappointed tone. “Why’d you stick around?”
“Can you shut up?” I said. “The books getting really interesting.”
“April,” Silver said in an annoying nasally voice. “C’mon Aprillll…”
I groaned. “I wanted to help them, okay. Now get off my ass.”
“So, why’d you leave them?”
“To not disappoint them,” I said. “So will you please shut up?”
“Are they disappointing you?”
“No,” I said. “I barely… will you freaking shut up?”
“So, who’s the disappointing party in this?”
“Me,” I yelled. “Is that what you want to hear, me?” I tossed my book aside. “I don’t want to disappoint them so it’s better I just leave them freaking alone instead of bothering them with my presence. Is that a problem?”
“No,” Mr. Silver said. “But it is a problem if it prevents you from doing what you want to do. Which is…”
I sighed. “I want to help them.”
“So why aren’t you?”
The answer wanted to squirm itself out of my body. There it was in my stomach, causing my fingers to stiffen and my body to tense up. I didn’t want to hear the answer, I just wanted to strangle the person behind Mr. Silver’s voice.
Instead, I just let the answer speak.
“Myself,” I sighed, both relieved and angry. “Myself. I want to do it but I’m afraid I’ll let them down.”
“But they asked you for help,” Mr. Silver said. “I don’t think you’ll let them down and…”
“Yeah,” I said, trying my best not to let the defeat show in my voice. I don’t even know why I felt defeated. I crossed my arms to warm myself up despite it being not all that cold. “Harper really needs the help. I should probably help her out.”
I took out Mr. Silver and placed him on my dressing table, the purple gem clattering on the wood surface.
“I’m burnt out,” I said. “I need some rest, I’ll call Harper and tell her I’m willing to help.” She’d given me her number in case I changed my mind. It was on a scrap of paper lying on my desk.
As I laid down on my bed, I pointed at Mr. Silver. “And no more therapy sessions from you, the only thing I want to hear you say next time are answers.”
Silver dimmed for a moment before letting out a sigh of defeat.
“Fine,” he said. “After you cure whatever, this is I’ll give you answers.” He paused. “Just don’t throw me when you don’t like them.”
…
I called Harper and she was more than happy to welcome me back to the team. Before we started working, she checked me for any butterflies before we started getting to work. Skye gave me a curt nod as I started going over the research papers she’d written. By the time evening fell my brain was stuffed with equations and medicine names.
“So did you see anything I might’ve missed?” Harper asked.
“A lot.”
So, I told her how her approach wasn’t very well, how the consistent use of antibiotics spread the disease more than control it, how soap somehow makes these butterflies worse and how the vaccine had a few flaws in the formula that made it defective.
“If you went on like this, you’d only find a cure in 20 years.”
I couldn’t read Harper’s face; she still has a smile plastered on it.
“That’s why I have you on board,” she said with a grin.
…
Harper and I worked on the cure, day in and day out. Barely taking any rests. The only time I got to see my house was during the weekend and rest days. Everyday, immediately after school I’d be in Harper’s makeshift lab working on the cure.
Skye helped us out by making coffee and tea which both Harper and I advised against, but she insisted and we couldn’t really refuse since our fuel was literally store brought sandwiches and a dream.
On one of the days, after Harper had bought the chemicals we needed to develop a cure, we had needed from the store she called both Skye and I into the ‘meeting room’ (it was just the living room).
Harper sat on the armchair while Skye and I sat opposite each other on the couches. Harper went through her phone until she found what she was looking for, she zoomed in and placed it on the table.
“On my way back from the store, I saw someone start puking on the sidewalk,” Harper said. “Decided to help him out and guess what I saw in the puke?”
Skye and I peered over the phone and within what looked like liquidised meat and ice cream we saw the heart shaped wings.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Harper said. “But the disease isn’t limited to only our little group but the entire city.”
Harper’s face was stoic but that was just a mask. I could see the panic in her eyes. Skye looked as if she was about to cry.
“I was afraid of that,” I said. “Besides her parents we probably don’t have a good estimate of just how many people are infected by this little disease and since the only person people are falling in love with is Skye, she’s the only way we can test it and…”
“Taking her out is risky,” Harper said. She buried her face in her palms. “What the hell are we supposed to do?”
“It’s hopeless,” Skye cried. “There’s nothing we can do.”
And it did seem hopeless. After all the only theoretical way to spread the cure was through a vaccine or a liquid solution and nobody would take a cure for a disease they didn’t know… unless…
“Air dispersal,” I said, slamming a fist into my palm.
“What?” Skye and Harper said, perking up.
“Air dispersal,” I said. “We spread the cure in the atmosphere and…”
Harper stood up. “Wait, wait. First of all, how?”
“The city’s tower,” I said. “It has an air dispersal module.”
“That’s…” Harper said. “How and why…?”
“Our city has a history it’d rather forget,” I said.
“My second question was supposed to be how you knew that but I don’t think I want to know,” Harper said. To answer her question, I found out about the tower browsing some conspiracy blogs. One night in my freshmen year of college, some friends and I drove out to test it with some beer. And sure enough that night there was lager in the city’s atmosphere. It was all the news anchors could talk about. “So, my other question is that isn’t spreading unknown substances in the air a war crime or something?”
“We’re minors,” I said. “The laws don’t apply to us.”
Harper wanted to raise an objection but decided against it.
“It’s the only way to spread the cure, Harper,” I said. “Our best bet at curing Skye and putting this thing behind us.”
Harper slouched against the sofa and decided to give it some thought.
“But what about the cops,” Harper said. “And the people in the tower, won’t they have questions?”
“Yeah,” Skye chimed in. “It’s very risky.”
“Oh, I’m not talking about the Central tower,” I said. “There’s a few outside the city, has the same effect as the Central one. Those towers have been offline for years, but I know how to get them to work.”
“It’s too risky,” Harper said. “Not to mention it’s a literal war crime.”
“And what do you propose we do?” I asked. “Submit a bunch of unsubstantiated research to a board of research from a group of teenagers with zero qualifications?”
Harper was quiet.
“Even if they do believe us,” I said. “Do you know how long it’ll take for them to come up with a cure? What if they deem it a national emergency? What then? I don’t have that type of time, neither of us do.”
Harper looked as if she was about to say something but stayed quiet.
“Is that what you want Skye?” I asked. “To be sick forever?”
Skye reddened and didn’t meet my eyes.
“This is the only way we cure this,” I said, meeting Harper’s eyes. “It’s the only way you move on from this disease that’s taken up years of your life.”
Harper sat back on the chair, her arms on the handles. She sighed. She looked at Skye who met her eyes. The concern and love for each other was plain to see in their eyes. They were friends who’d been through thick and thin together, friends who knew what the other was thinking with only a glance. It reminded me of Vi and I. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking.
Harper turned to face me. “War crimes it is.”
…
After two and a half weeks of hard work, Harper and I were ready. On the second month of the year, we steeled ourselves for the long walk to the tower. Despite our objections, Skye insisted she joined us. She said she wanted to witness the moment she’d finally be rid of the disease that had plagued her all these years. We couldn’t refuse when she put it like that, so we bought her a hazmat suit. With the cure in a briefcase and Harper carrying the vaccine and a prayer, our little group set off.
We took a taxi to the edge of town. Driving past rows of houses and buildings until we finally made it to the big city wall (that would see a lot of damage during the Kaiju attacks but that was a story for another day). The atmospheric dispenser was atop the walls. Rows of them interspersed across the circumference of the wall that circled the city.
“We’ll stop here thanks,” I said.
Harper pulled out some money to pay but the taxi driver refused. “It’s on me, for the pretty girl sitting in between you.”
The pretty girl in a hazmat suit. How the heck did the disease affect him when she didn’t even show her face?
“No, I insist…”
“Harper, we don’t have time,” Skye said. “I really want to be cured.”
Harper was silent, smiled at Skye and we made our way up the wall. My ears popped as we reached the top. What a majestic view it was atop the walls, green fields, and yellow wheat farms as far as the eye could see. The wall was 50 meters in length and width and a popular tourist attraction. Apparently, it was built a thousand years ago to prevent attacks from dragons, but I didn’t know how true that claim was.
A giant gust of wind blew my hair, my clothes fluttered in the wind.
“Hey, April,” Harper said. “Hurry it up with the briefcase.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just I’ve been here a million times, but I didn’t realise how beautiful the view was.”
I followed them until we made it to one of the towers. The tower jutted out of the wall. On the surface it looked like a normal broadcasting tower but at the tip of the tower was an object that opened up to be an air dispenser once an object was inserted at the base. You used a computer attached to the side of the tower, (a computer from the sixties mind you) to open up the little object receiver and once it was in you closed it up and set it to disperse. Back when my college friends and I wanted to spread lager we had Samuel who had a weird interest in sixties computers. Now, we just had Harper who only knew how to work her laptop and cell phone.
Harper was pressing random buttons trying to make it work while I carefully removed the cure from the briefcase and stood carefully by the tower.
The only sound was the wind whistling through the air, causing the rusted tower to moan in surrender. I was afraid it’d fall on me. Skye was standing right next to me, I turned to face her, she smiled under the yellow mirror of the hazmat suit. Harper cursed, saying swear words that were thankfully carried away by the wind.
I was glad we were by a side of the wall were none of the maintenance guys or even tourists could find us. I glanced around nervously, hoping the small dot of people in the far distance couldn’t see us. If I were being honest with myself, I wouldn’t say I was nervous about being found out but rather nervous that after the cure was dispersed, we wouldn’t accidently spread a whole new disease. The cure sloshing around in its metal container didn’t do much to ease my anxiety.
“I got it!” Harper shouted out. The tower whined as the disperser up top spread open like a flower. The machinery at the bottom of the wall whirred as suddenly, surrounded by the brown bars of the tower, what looked like a microwave ascended. It stopped right in front of me, reflecting my masked face on the sleek black surface.
“How am I supposed to get it open?” I asked.
“I’m working on it,” Harper said. “Shouldn’t take me long, AHA!”
The microwave opened revealing three faded red claws at the bottom that I assumed would keep the cure in place as it ascended in place, on the right and left side were suction cups tubes that could literally puncture any surface, including iron. The cups were attached to a network of tubes that snaked upwards to a device that would vaporize the liquid and spread it to the atmosphere. I grabbed the cure and placed it in the microwave. I attached the clasps.
“Harper, the cure is…”
“Make sure Harper doesn’t press the input,” Skye whispered in my ear.
I didn’t want to, but that voice sent a shiver down my spine. Made me feel alive, happy. I ran at Harper who…
Spun me around, grabbed both of my hands with her left and used the right to keep me in a sleeper hold.
“Black belt, remember,” I said. I tried biting at her, but my teeth could barely reach her. “April what the fuck is this?”
“I’ll do anything for Skye,” I yelled. “My one true love.”
“April!” Skye said. Her saying my name made my heart flutter. It sounded like poetry when it came from her mouth. April like the spring breeze that…
“How do I…”
She turned the corner and saw Harper had me in a sleeper hold.
“It’s you,” Harper said. The way Harper said my beloved name in such an accusatory tone. This whore. I tried kicking her with my shin, but Harper pressed down on my foot with hers and turned her attention back to Skye. “What the heck are you doing? I thought you wanted to be cured!”
“I don’t,” Skye said, unable to meet Harper’s eyes.
“But you helped me out,” Harper yelled. “You…”
I didn’t care about this drama. I wanted, no, needed to get out. I tried to. Harper just pinned me to the ground.
“Let me go,” I cried. “Let me be in her arms.”
“April, relax,” Skye said. You had to truly be in love with her to notice that her voice had become firm, she wasn’t the timid girl I met all those days ago. I was so proud of her. I relaxed my body.
“I let you cure me because I… I liked it,” Skye said. “I enjoyed the attention. I enjoyed being cared about.”
This time Skye really couldn’t meet Harper’s face even though I wanted to see those beautiful eyes of hers. My body squirmed in desperation under Harper’s firm grip but I really underestimated her strength cause she kept me pinned down.
“You, you…” Harper’s voice cracked. “We’ll talk about this later, let’s deal with this B.S and then…”
“Harper, let go of April.”
Harper did just that. I was finally free. I ran into Skye’s arms. Skye gave me a hug. In that moment, my heart could have just about exploded.
“How…?” Harper asked, her voice strained.
“Harper release the clasps,” Skye said. “Destroy the cure.”
Harper turned to the computer, obeying everything Skye said. I could see her body try and resist, each step she looked as if it were a chore but, in the end, she stood in front of the computer and started typing.
“What the hell? I thought I was immune,” Harper said. “I saw the X-Ray. I had to…”
“I swapped them,” Skye said. “I made a copy of your X-Ray before the scan and replaced them. You were never immune. Why do you think you studied the rest of the medicine course you were taking? Because you’re my friend? We barely knew each other before.”
Harper was silent. She mouthed something.
“What’s that?”
“Why?”
“You never understood,” Skye said. “Being average. You were always Harper the black belt, Harper the girl studying college level material in middle school. You were always remarkable, yet you chose to be my friend. Me, unremarkable me. Who couldn’t get a boy to like her. Who only got C’s in class. Whose parents left her alone in a fucking jungle.”
I had never heard Skye swear. I was liking this new her. And I was so happy she was being vulnerable to me, I hugged her even tighter.
“I never got attention,” Skye growled. “You were always popular. So, when I got this disease and my parents finally started giving me attention, when Sam started looking at my direction. That was all I ever wanted and when you finally, finally paid attention to me instead of all those other people. That was the greatest feeling in the world.”
Tears started forming in Harper’s eyes. Good, she deserved it for speaking up to my beloved.
“You… you could’ve just asked me,” Harper said. “Skye, I enjoyed your time more than anyone. I loved how sweet you were, how humble and how funny you could be. You were never unremarkable.”
“Just stop the cure and shut up,” Skye said.
I grinned, hand on her chest. “I like it when you get like that.”
“Is this what you want?” Harper asked. “People liking you for something you’re not. Leaving everything about themselves behind just to please you? April isn’t even into girls, yet…”
“I said shut up!” Skye yelled. “Why aren’t you doing what you’re told?”
“Yeah,” I yelled. “Don’t question my love. It’s true and pure!”
Though, for some reason when I said that I couldn’t meet my beloved’s eyes.
“It’s fake is what it is,” Harper said. “Nobody’s liking you for you, they’re doing it because of a butterfly. Because they’re sick!”
“Everyone else obeys me,” Skye shouted. “Why aren’t…”
“Because I’m the one who truly loves you,” Harper said. The microwave shot upwards.
“WHY IS IT DOING THAT?!” Skye yelled. She tossed me aside, but I immediately got up and followed after her.
“It’ll be alright darling!” I called after her. Skye shoved Harper aside, I stuck out my tongue at her.
“NO!” Skye yelled.
On the computer it was written: SUBSTANCE IS READY FOR DISPERSAL in big green letters.
“No, no, no,” Skye said. She desperately typed away at the computer, slamming the screen but no matter what she did, the text stood still. “NO!” she cried till her voice went hoarse. She turned to Harper, slamming her fists against her chest. “Fuck you Harper, fuck you, fuck you, fuck…”
I tapped her shoulder. “I’d rather you fuck me…”
But was interrupted when in a burst of blue vapor spread out in the sky and my mind suddenly felt clear.
Skye fell to her knees, crying out. Tears started pouring down her eyes, meanwhile Harper remained impassive, her face still.
“What happened?” I asked. “What did I…”
Harper knelt, facing Skye. “Why’d you lie to me? Was all my worth to you how I made you feel instead…?” Harper choked. “Instead of me?”
I decided to leave them alone. Whatever had happened, this was something I didn’t want to say anything on.
“You’re a bitch,” Skye cried. “All I wanted, all I wanted was to be loved and you took that away from me!”
Harper ignored the scathing words. “You’re sick, Skye, in more ways than one.” Harper smiled, though I could see the sadness in her eyes. “You know what? I’d have helped you with the disease, I’d have done whatever I could to cure it, butterflies in my stomach or no.”
She got up and turned to face me. “I… need some space. Could you help me get home?”
I nodded. “What about…?” I pointed at Skye.
“Leave her alone,” Harper said. “She never wanted people around her anyway.”
We started walking away from her, Skye’s sobs being carried away by the wind.
“Friends,” Harper said with a forced smile. “You think you know a person, am I right?”
She laughed but the crack in her voice gave her away. I noticed the single tear running down her cheek, carried away by the wind.
…
Skye’s disease was all over the news, even the TV in the cafeteria I was in was broadcasting it. Random people around town were reported puking out butterflies that weren’t seen anywhere else. Those butterflies were being researched and a mandatory checkup was made for people who were reported to puke them out. Meanwhile, other reports stated that the atmosphere had traces of an unknown substances.
Life was moving on. The world was starting to be aware of a disease that Harper and I cured over a month. The world, however, may have been pushing forward but Mr. Silver was still. I didn’t hear from him for the past few days despite our promise. The person behind the voice must’ve been really popular with girls cause he sure knew how to keep one waiting.
“Oh, hey April,” a familiar voice called out amidst the wave of murmurs in the cafeteria. I turned to see Harper holding a tray and waving at me. I smiled and beckoned at her to sit.
“Nice view,” she said. “You have a good taste in seats.”
I usually used to sit by the large window in the cafeteria instead of our spot at the courtyard where Vi and I sat when Vi wasn’t around. Lots of light filtered through. Outside you could see trees in bloom and the school lawn lined with hedges.
“Nobody likes being seen while eating so nobody sits here,” I said. “It’s perfect.”
“That’s great,” Harper said and took a bite of her sandwich. I stared at her face, and she looked tired. Even after curing her best friend of a disease, she didn’t look as if she’s been getting enough sleep. “I just wanted to thank you for you know, helping me out with Skye. I really appreciate it.” The sincerity in those tired eyes was so pure it made me want to look away, but I held her gaze.
“No problem,” I said. “It’s the least I could do.”
Even though it took some prodding from Mr. Silver to do it, the sincerity in Harper’s eyes made it so that I wouldn’t mind doing something nice every once in a while.
“How is our little test subject?” I asked.
Harper stopped meeting my eyes and looked out the window instead. It seemed I’d struck a nerve.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I understand if…”
Harper sighed. “No, it’s okay. She’s transferred to another school. I tried texting her, but she hasn’t responded. 8 years of friendship down the drain like that.”
“You did everything you could,” I said. “You shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.”
“You know what sucks after finding out your friend just viewed you as an object all the time,” Harper said. “Trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. Was it always like this? Did the moments that matter to you, matter to her? I just…” She sighed. “It sucks.”
“I understand,” I said. “I had that moment with a friend not too long ago, but we sorted it out.”
“But on the plus side we cured a disease,” Harper said, staring at me with a smile. “Unethically and violating a lot of oaths but we did it. Who could say they’ve done something like that?”
I chuckled. “Who could?”
Harper finished her sandwich. “I have to catchup on some assignments, but I’ll see you around. Wanna meetup for coffee this weekend?”
“Sure,” I said with a smile. “I know this place, the service is fucking terrible but the coffee…”
Harper smiled. “I’d love that, see you around.”
“See you around.”
Harper walked off and I found myself sitting alone, eating a sandwich looking around at the other tables with couples and groups of friends laughing and smiling. Suddenly, being alone didn’t seem all that appealing anymore.
I didn’t have time to process that as there was a small flash and there, on the bracelet was another bead. This one was a pure red, heart-shaped with antenna sticking out the top. Amusing. Though I wondered where these beads came from.
Mr. Silver flashed into existence. “Aww would you look at that? Little April made a friend. See how doing what you want to do instead of chickening out can lead to new opportunities?”
“Hardi har, asshole,” I said. “I was promised answers now give em to me also where the hell do these beads come from?”
There was a pause. A very long one. I was about to curse when Mr. Silver spoke up again. Only this time his voice was grim.
“Those other people your friend was talking about, the ones out of time,” Mr. Silver said, very quickly. “They’re all part of the experiment…”
“Experiment, which ex…?”
“Shh,” Mr. Silver interrupted. “I don’t have much time. Just know you’re not alone in this. I wasn’t supposed to talk about it…”
His voice cut off, the silver glow turned black for a bit as another deep voice said “E… what are…”. I couldn’t make out the rest of the voice as it started to cut out.
The five-minute pause afterwards was excruciating. “I almost got into trouble; look April I don’t have much time. I’ll need to save face tomorrow. Just know I don’t agree with what they’re doing with you.”
The black again. “E… Not enough time…”
“Experiment, what are you doing with me?” I was confused, I felt a sick feeling creep through my stomach. “Silver, what the hell is going on?”
“Look for Thanatos Inc,” Silver said. “Anywhere you go, look for them. They have your answers.”
“That didn’t answer my question,” I yelled. “Silver!”
The light went off. I tried tapping it but Mr. Silver didn’t come back on.
Thanatos Inc, huh.
I looked around the cafeteria, people were starting to leave, others were just starting to eat. On the table in front of me I saw Aaron, a fellow loner sitting on his table and looking out the window. By the ordering table, Elam was chewing out Lloyd about trying to start another food fight, again. It was business as usual.
But I couldn’t shake the cold feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was being watched. I looked behind me, nobody was there.