This story began a month ago. To set the context, I live in a small city surrounded by fields and forests. It was the best place to live in you could imagine. No problems with the neighbours, fresh air, and the nature is wonderful here.
At least until a recently. It all begun with a rumor : a farmer went in his field in the morning to … make farmer things, I don’t know exactly. But the important part is that he didn’t come back in the evening. Or on the next day. And he did not answer his phone. The police quickly got involved, and concluded his death.
I know, this happens, but this wasn’t the only case. A little girl playing alone in her backyard, gone. Someone who came to town visit his family, disappeared.
Three disapperances in our peaceful town, that was horrible. Despite the authorities’ efforts to calm us down, people talked about serial killers, and I must say I believed it at first.
Seeing the police not solving the case, I decided to do my own search. Talking to the victims’ relatives, I found out valuable information. The victims were always alone, in the ouskirts or outside the city. Somtimes, police said the corpse was found, but they would never let their relatives see it.
They however brought back some of the victims’ belongings to their families, perfectly intact. This part made me really uncomfortable however, for a simple reason. The objects that were brought back were always phones, jewelry, and not clothing or things with little walue. My conclusion was that either the killer was totally crazy, either that was something else.
The more useful discussion I had was with the little girl’s mother, who kindly accepted to talk to me, even if she was still mourning her precious child.
She explained me her daughter Sara was outside for only twenty minutes, before she called her for dinner. But Sara didn’t answer. She went out, and found her backyard empty.
Between two sobs, she told me she was absolutely certain she didn’t hear anything. No scream, no cries, no fight. And when began looking for her daughter, not a single trace was left behind. No blood, nothing that could hint a fight unfolding there. Sara simply vanished.
I felt so bad for her, and told to myself I shouldn’t have come here reminding her all of this, when she told me a last thing. She was not sure about it, but she said she may have heard a weird flapping noise, like insects flying, from outside the window that evening.
At first, I thought she was probably wrong. How could she have heard a sound this faint from inside her house ? But I then told myself that everything in this case was already weird, so why not trust her, at least a little.
During all this investigation, four more people disappeared. And regarding the police, the only thing they did was to tell us to stay inside and avoid the city’s periphery. That did not really help reassuring us. They seemed powerless, and if the police could not stop these things from happening, what could we, ordinary people, do to avoid disappearing like the others.
That’s when I decided to take care of things myself. I would try to go to the fields, and find by myself what’s happening. Even if I would get the same fate as the others. I took a knife, a flashlight, a bottle of insecticide, and some food and water with me, just in case.
And I went outside. I walked in barren streets, once filled with life and agitation. The silence was eerie. I was used to hear kids’ laughters, a car passing now and then, but nobody left their home anymore. I thought about before all of this, when this city was full of life. I loved this town, and looking at its current state filled me with sadness.
I only regained a grasp on my thoughts when the silence was broken. From behind a corner, I could hear footsteps, which should have been reassuring. But more importantly, I heard wings flapping.
I put my hand on the insecticide spray, and peeked at the corner. And I don’t remember clearly what happened next.
I recall seeing butterflies. They were orange, and had captivating patterns on their wings.
They were wonderful.
They surrounded someone.
They were wonderful.
I think I walked towards them until they surrounded me.
They were wonderful.
I was in a field, outside the city. I don’t know how I ended up there. I was exhausted, my eyes were dry, as if I hadn’t blinked for an hour. My vision was blur. It hurt everywhere. I felt hundreds of little teeth biting me everywhere.
But it didn’t feel so bad.
I felt blood flowing on my arms and legs. A drop felt in my right eye, and I blinked to clear it. And I saw the other person a few meters ahead. And I think that’s what broke the trance. I saw thousands of butterflies swarming him, while he stood in the middle without moving, with a smile on his face, vanishing as his cheeks were teared apart by these horrors.
Adrenaline rushed, and I grabbed my spray. I emptied it on myself, as butterflies felt by dozens at my feet. It hurt when it entered my wounds and as I breathed it, but I couldn’t care less. I needed to free myself from them.
As I heard the spray weakening, I began running in the opposite direction. I’m sorry for the man I left behind, but I don’t think I could have saved him. I already glimpsed the whiteness of his bones under the orange wings all around him.
I think I ran about half an hour. I didn’t dare looking back, fearing i’d lose consciousness if I saw them again. I heard them behind me. Or was it just the grass ? I don’t know. Sometimes I’d even take a glimpse of my arm reddened by my blood in the corner of my eye, and mistake it for a butterfly. I’d shake it and scream, before noticing there was nothing and I only hurt myself doing so.
I reached my home, breathless and aching. I felt an incredible amount of dread simply seeing the orange flowers that grew in my garden, looking disgustingly like these orange abominations, but managed to walk past them and enter my house. I quickly closed every shutter and fell on the ground.
When I woke up, I couldn’t even move, the pain was too much to handle. I looked at my skin, and saw papercut-like wounds everywhere. I barely managed to reach bandages, and took care of my arms and chest, where the injuries were the worst. And I went back to rest.
I got up two hours ago. My first thought was to tell all of you what’s happening in my town. Please. If you are living a situation like mine, do not try to fight them, they are too many, and they can kill you without you even noticing it. It was only luck if I survived. So please take care of you. Please don’t feed the butterflies.