It took a few days for Heather to feel anything resembling happiness anytime she wasn't basking in the sunlight, and she only fed from the garden for 5 minutes at a time. She finally perked up 5 days later, signalling she had come to terms with her new reality. Mom and I noticed something was still wrong. We noticed her looking outside most of the time, just waiting for the sunlight to come through the window and into her cage. Then the day came when we found out what the problem was.
It was 7 days after she emerged from her chrysalis that we noticed Heather looking outside with the sun beating down on her. At this point, this was highly unusual behavior, not having her wings spread in the sunlight. Mom and I looked outside, and noticed something different about the garden. We finally came to an unbelievably difficult conclusion.
There was a small gathering of monarchs fluttering around the butterfly garden, pollinating and otherwise doing their natural job. Heather was watching them. I finally bent down to her level and got her attention. Heather twitched her wings to let me know she was listening.
"You're watching them, aren't you?" I asked. Heather flapped her wings twice. Yes. That was the mode of communication we had come up with so she could answer basic questions. "They're free out there, in the wild." She lowered her wings, exhibiting a feeling of sadness. I waited for a few seconds, then...
"You want to join them," I continued. "Don't you?" Two slow flaps. Yes. Mom bent down with me.
"You know what that means, right, Heather?" she asked slowly. Two flaps. "You'll be away from us. You won't be taken care of. You might never see us again. You could be eaten. You could be caught. You could end up drowning in the rain. You'll might end up laying eggs. You'll be alone when you..." Every situation was met with two flaps.
"We'll be really sad here without you," I offered. Suddenly, Heather hesitated, only half lowering her wings. Then...two flaps, with an accompanying emotion. Sorrow.
Mom and I looked at each other, then asked Heather to wait a few minuted while we talked it over. Two flaps again. We went into another room so we could come to a decision about Heather's future.
As it stood, Heather wasn't happy staying with us anymore. She wanted to live life as her body was meant to, not cooped up in a cage inside a house, being constantly watched over by two beings hundreds of times larger than her. She wanted to be free. As such, Mom and I made the hardest decision we had ever made, or would ever make in our lives.
We entered the living room again to carry out our decision. I opened the door to Heather's cage, offering my finger for her to climb onto. She was curious about what was happening, so she hesitated. "It's OK, Heather," I offered. Slowly, she crawled onto my outstretched finger. I carefully lifted her out of the cage, turning toward the door into the garden. Mom opened the door for us to go outside. We had decided that I would be the one to release my little sister.
I stepped into the garden, Heather looking around at the monarchs around us. I smiled at her, raising my hand into the air. Then she took off flying.
But not for long. She landed first on Mom's shoulder, lingering for a few seconds, broadcasting her mixture of excitement and deep sorrow. Then she flew over to mew, landing playfully on the tip of my nose. As I went cross-eyed looking at her, I felt something small brush lightly against my skin as Heather touched me with the end of her elegant proboscis. The closest thing to a kiss goodbye that she could manage. With that, she flew off again.
This time, it would be for good. She joined the monarchs in their activity, quickly becoming lost in the bunch. There would be no way to tell her apart from the others, and that's exactly how she wanted it. She was happy now, but still sad.
Mom and I watched her mingle with her favorite animal, then looked on in tears as they all flew off, searching for the next patch of friendly flowers. Within seconds, every last butterfly was gone. Including Heather.
For the next few weeks, Mom and I never left the house, never even going outside. For every storm, we worried for Heather's safety. Every day, we watched out the window, wishing she would return to us. We tracked her every movement with a device Dad had invented long ago that was effectively a GPS for transformed matter. We always knew where she was, but we wanted it to be Heather's decision whether or not she came back. And we both knew the truth.
Heather wouldn't choose to come back. She was smart enough to stay safe during storms, and no predator would dare to try to eat her due to her body's natural coloring signalling, "Get away! I taste horrible!"
We missed her greatly, but we only cared for Heather's happiness. And she was happy now, free in the wild. Where she belonged. With her own kind, the majestic monarch butterfly, she would help to pollinate plants around the area, and eventually contribute her genes through her own offspring as she rapidly matured mentally. She had chosen this life, and she would live it to the fullest right up to the very end.
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Part 6, the finale, should be out tomorrow I'll have the entire day to write.
Just as a test, can anyone actually leave comments here? I'd very much like to know! I think I set it where anyone can comment, but I also don't know what it meant by 'anyone'.
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