Yellow Butterflies

She gazed out the window at the garden and traced the scar along her knee with her fingertips. She stood up and smoothed out her white dress. Closing her eyes, Alice thought back to the day that the pain touched her skin. She could smell the freshly cut grass, feel the cool breeze against her skin, hear the birds in the treetops, but most of all, she could feel her father’s tight hug, keeping her safe.

Alice closed her eyes and suddenly she was ten years old again, her bare feet thudded on the ground as she sprinted to the driveway where her father was arriving. “Did you get them, did you get them?” she was breathless with excitement.

“Here they are, a dozen yellow butterflies just for you.” She peered through the holes in the box, mesmerized by the tiny creatures. Alice was in her own world. Trotting to the garden, she took the butterflies to her mother’s favorite daisies where she decided that they would like to live. With trembling fingers she popped open the box holding her precious butterflies. Her heart leapt with joy as she raised the lid and watched them take off through the air around her, as if they wanted to dance with her. Her father strolled over, smiling at the beauty of the scene; her blonde hair blurred with the sunshine colored wings. For hours they laughed and played in the garden with the butterflies and each other. They were so joyful that they did not realize that it began to grow dark, a thick black raincloud surrounded the family.

The rain began, first a light drizzle and then suddenly a downpour. The wind blew the rain in all directions, making it impossible for the young butterflies to find shelter. The rain mixed with tears as Alice frantically tried to save the butterflies and failed, the rain was too hard, the wind too strong. She ran to the box but slipped, slicing her knee on the garden’s rocks. She helplessly watched the wind pick up and toss the butterflies, destroying their perfect wings. Her father’s heart filled with pain at watching her helplessly struggle and the butterflies were knocked to the ground. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the box and covered the closest butterfly, saving it from the rain. He took his crying daughter’s hand and ran to the house to dry their clothes and her tears.

When they stepped through the door, he noticed that Alice was limping. Completely forgetting about the butterfly, he dropped the box and ran to get bandages from the closet and ice from the freezer. Alice, however, could not feel the pain in her knee, as she was devastated by her loss. For months she had been looking forward to releasing these butterflies, her father had promised to get them for her the next time he drove by the butterfly farm.

At her mother and father’s wedding, her grandmother had purchased a hundred yellow butterflies from this farm. During the ceremony, they released them. If you ask anyone who attended their wedding, they will tell you how beautiful they were, how it was one of the best weddings that they have ever been to. When the family visited the church a few months before, they found countless butterflies dancing through the gardens there. Alice was amazed by this and decided that she wanted to release butterflies, too.

When her father returned with bandages, he thought Alice’s tears were from her pain. “Are you okay? Is it broken? Do we need to call the ambulance?” Her father was always worrying for her.

“No, I’m fine. The butterflies aren’t though.” She couldn’t help more hot tears from streaming down her face. If she had just waited to release them; if she had done so under the porch, the butterflies would still dance in the garden, in her mother’s beautiful garden. “Now they are all gone,” she sobbed.

“Not quite my dear Alice.” Her father opened the box, and a single butterfly rose from it, completely unharmed. Joy overtook her, one of her beautiful butterflies had survived. Her heart leapt with hope, maybe this garden would house generations of her precious butterflies one day. Alice was so overjoyed that she did not feel her knee at all. She ran to hug her father as tightly as possible, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Alice had never been more relieved.

Alice opened her eyes and looked at the garden once again. Fifteen years had passed since that day, and a lot had changed in this time. It had been four years since her father’s funeral, four unbearably long years. Not a day went by that she did not think of his kind heart. Before her beloved father had passed, he told Alice something that made each day without him bearable. He said, “Promise me that you will never stops dancing with the yellow butterflies, and I will always be in that garden with you.” Nothing had ever felt more important to Alice as this, and she made sure to honor it.

After that rainstorm many years ago, she remembers that her father did not let her lose hope. She hoped and prayed that the one surviving butterfly had somehow made it after her father had saved it, and that one day she would be able to see more butterflies in the garden again. Many months had passed, seasons had changed, and she had no luck. Despite this, her father did not give up, convincing her that somewhere in the garden there were caterpillars ready to become butterflies. Just when all hope was lost, Alice heard her father yell from the garden, “Get out here Alice, I have something to show you!”

Her feet had never moved as quickly as they did in that moment, and when she met her father outside she was filled with joy. A beautiful yellow butterfly was perched on her mother’s daisies, exactly where she had released the butterflies before. Alice hugged her father very tightly; he had made her believe in these butterflies.

Now, as Alice looked out the window to the garden she saw a dozen yellow butterflies, happily landing on the flowers. Alice touched her knee and remembered the pain she had felt that day and how her father had made the pain go away. Some days without him seemed impossible to get through, but when she looked out at that garden, Alice was reminded of how much her father loved her.

She stepped up to the door and took a deep breath. Having her wedding in this garden, with the same butterflies her parents had, was her dream, and she was ready. Alice began to walk down the aisle, alone. The butterflies danced around her, and she smiled.

My short story tells about a young girl dealing with the death of her father. While I have not lost my father, the loss of my grandmother who was extremely close to me has impacted my life. As the father did in my story, my grandmother loved to be in her garden and my family has associated both her and my grandfather with butterflies. Whenever we see a butterfly, we think of our loved ones who have passed, just like the main character in my story. The main character deals with her grief in the same way that I have, and expressing this through my story has helped me heal, too.