The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Butterfly, Butterfly
by A.F. Stewart

Spotting the crumbles of white dust on his fingertips, I searched and found a broken wing in the flower garden. A shiver slid across my skin.

Please don’t let it be one from the nest.

I glanced at him. Daniel. Thirteen years and gangly, tousled blond hair and a destructive streak no one could control. Thank the heavens he wasn’t my son.

I warned him not to kill the butterflies. Why didn’t he listen?

“Hey, Cecily. What brings you here?” His mother, June, walked out of the house with a smile.

“Just bringing you some berry jam.” I held up the glass jar. “I made a fresh batch.”

“Wonderful.” She stepped off the porch, and I handed her the glass container filled with bright red jam. 

I leaned in, whispering, “Daniel killed a butterfly.”

She shrugged. “Boys will be boys.”

I sighed. So be it. I left, hoping I was wrong.

I wasn’t.

That night his screams invaded my dreams. Stabbing across the void on his wild heartbeat and the whir of their beating wings. His agony swirled in dust and grit and the potent smell of blood; the swarm had found their target. I woke up drenched in sweat and dressed in a hurry. In the dead of the night, I raced to my neighbour’s house.

He was on the porch, his face and fingers bloodied and raw, but still moving. Still alive. The nest had mercy this time. His mother stood in the doorway, shrieking. I yelled, “Call 911!” and she disappeared inside. I cradled his head in my lap, stroking his head as he whimpered. His face was shredded, his eyes gone. Poor boy.

“I told you not to kill the butterflies.” 

.

Fiction © Copyright A.F. Stewart
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

 

More from A.F. Stewart:

Visions and Nightmares

Tragedy spares no one… and takes no prisoners.
In the twilight shadows, secrets are revealed past the whispers of madness.

Wander into the realm of the old gods with Elenora, where humanity and marriage are a prison.
Step through a looking glass of dark horrors with an Alice you never knew.
Join with Zenna to seek the truth as her death by magic grows closer.
Journey with Olivia as she crosses paths with a monster of the forest and runs for her life.
Watch Isobel summon the faerie to solve her problem of an unwanted husband.
Shiver as Doctor Killbride experiments with corpses to create life from death.
All that and more await within the pages.

Ten stories. Ten women.
Who will survive? Who will fall? And who will succumb to their inner evil?
Find out in Visions and Nightmares.

Warning: This book contains disturbing scenes that may be upsetting to some readers.

Available on Amazon!