Alright, this is just a little short story I did. It's a little bit twisted and I didn't quite know if I should have put it under fantasy fiction or not, but its mostly underlined romance. Please, harsh reviews are much abilged and I love feedback!
Butterfly Wings
Love was something I thought I understood. It was such a simple concept, but was it really supposed to hurt this much? I could still recall those few moments I had spent with him, his smile so gentle, so light. I remember each and every one like they just happened, his eyes filling with such a profound passion. A will.
When I had first laid eyes on him, I just stood over the water, wings flapping lightly as I flew closer. He was sitting there, a stick in his hand, as he poked and prodded the gentle waves. Just a human. I was used to such belittled creatures as they seemed to find such joy sitting around my lake. This place, the place I had protected for many a centuries, was the place I called home.
But I never expected to see him look up, his eyes peering directly at me, a smile gracing his tanned cheeks. His fingers merely pushed his glasses up his nose, his free hand giving a curt wave. My heart stopped at such a gesture, and I quickly turned my head the other way searching for another human presence, maybe, that he could have been waving towards, but there was nothing. Just me. I had turned back towards him, gentle chuckles peeling from his lightly parted mouth.
“Yes, I’m waving at you,” the first thing he ever said to me. Those words… those words meant everything.
After that moment, that brief introduction, the world felt like it was standing still. Life itself seemed so much more pleasant, the reality of things becoming fairly apparent. His name was Gen. A brown haired, hazel eyed human, but he could see me. Never had I heard such a thing as this for I was but merely a butterfly spirit, guarding a lake that no one cared to know of.
As time grew though, his visits became regular, and everyday, I found myself becoming closer and closer to him. We’d talk for hours, him and me, of the human world and how quick paced everything was when all you had was such a short time to live. I told him of my life too, of the pleasant afternoons with the other spirits, and the peaceful nights, alone with the moonlight. Everyday there was something new and exciting to learn about each other, every moment special in itself.
And I couldn’t help but fall in love with him.
It was apparent from the moment he first laid eyes on me. The moment that little smile became visible. I had fallen for a human, and the human had fallen for me. Days spent together by the lake, holding hands, simple gestures. Sometimes, he would stay till the wee hours of the morning, singing gentle human lullabies to me even though he knew I could not sleep. It was my first love. My first real taste at emotions that once seemed to simple to me. So easy to understand.
Life was wonderful when he was near, but dreamlike. All dreams come to an end though, and ours came so abruptly, so harshly, nothing ever seemed to be the same.
That day, the day he came to the lake crying, his eyes searching everywhere for me but they could not see me any longer.
“Lila,” he murmured hopelessly. “Lila.. Please, talk to me… say something… anything…”
“Gen, I’m here,” I whispered over and over as he fell to his knees, hands grasping his hair tightly. “I’m here, Gen.”
“Lila, I love you,” he sobbed. “Why do you not answer me? Why?”
My heart broke that day, the moment he spoke those words. As he aged, his eyes lost the ability to see beyond what most humans see. With adulthood came the understanding of truths, and the truth of the matter was that we could no longer be.
He came everyday though after that. Always, at the same time. During the winter, he would bundle up tightly in warm coats and he would sit till darkness hit the hills, watching, waiting for my return. The ironic part was that I had never left. Autumn was the saddest of all seasons, for the leaves fell, and the chill brought tears to his eyes, as they did mine. I would hold him in my arms, crying. Tell him that I had always loved him and that things were alright.
He didn’t hear me. He couldn’t feel my touches.
Time passed, and with time came his aging. His body changed, his once brown locks now speckled with grey, his bright hazel eyes now dim and cold. Thin wrinkles appeared across his flesh, and yet, everyday he returned. Everyday I told him I loved him, and that things would be okay. Everyday he smiled that same, beautiful smile.
And then, one day he didn’t return.
I knew why. I always knew that this day would come, and that he would leave me for the afterlife, but such a bitter, twisted ending made my heart ache a thousand times over. Although time could not heal the wounds that I felt, I knew in my heart that he was happy now, and that maybe he knew I loved him. Maybe he finally knew that I did not leave him, and that my heart was his.
And maybe, he always knew.
