Ecstasy

• Maia Brauner, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

Butterflies swarmed around me, their brightly coloured wings delicately flapping in the cool breeze of the willow trees. I held my finger out and watched it shake ever so slightly as I waited for the iridescent blue butterfly to land on it. Time passed; butterflies with their common brown, spotted wings, landed on my finger, auburn hair and cream silk dress. Butterflies of all colours – white, green, rich purple and bright orange - flitted about me, but still the king of butterflies would not land on my outstretched finger.

As the sun moved behind a puffy white cloud I saw it fly towards me, its majestic wings flapped in what seemed to be an effortless plight towards me. But just at the last second, its wings turned and it flew off in the other direction, landing on a wild violet. A sigh escaped my lips. I would have to be more patient.

Time flew, like the cloud of butterflies that seemed to always be hovering above me. As I felt the green butterfly that was nestled in my hair, prepare its wings to take off, the blue butterfly left its perch. I froze in my place, moving nothing but my eyes, which never left my prize. Just as I felt my lungs could last without air no more, the blue butterfly flitted towards me. Its fragile wings brought it closer and closer, until it was about to land on my trembling finger.

But suddenly, my picturesque world blurred, the colour draining from the scene like paint running down a canvas, until blackness enveloped me. My eyelids fluttered like the wings of the butterflies that I had seen, even touched. That I had thought were real.

As my eyes opened, I found myself squinting in the midday sun, struggling to adjust to the brightness. I rolled over and smiled at my Dad who was sitting in a deck chair in the shade of our tree, reading Tolstoy. And as I lay on our picnic blanket in my favourite place with my favourite person, I realised something. I had everything I needed – I was already in paradise.

And at that, I got out my book and wrote my thought for the day: “Happiness can come from something as simple as sharing a special moment, place or thing with someone you love”.