Becoming a Butterfly Fiction

by Allyssa Alfoja Second Place

“You’re the prettiest girl in the world,” my mommy said while she was struggling to make my short hair into a little ponytail. My mommy is lying. Aurora from my art class is the prettiest girl. Aurora has beautiful, and long, and black straight hair, and she always wears a beautiful dress. My Abuela said my dress is beautiful too, but my hair is awful. It always hurts when my mommy combs my hair.

“Done. It’s beautiful.” My mommy said after putting the butterfly hair clips on my little ponytail. “Please be good to Abuela when mommy’s away, okay?” she said. I touched my little ponytail, and then I faced my mommy. I don’t know why my mommy is crying right now. She was crying a lot today and it makes me sad. Maybe combing my hair hurts her too. My mommy kissed me on my forehead, nose, and cheeks just like she used to with me and Angelina. She said that’s her way of saying I love you. I love my mommy.

When my mommy left, it was just me and my Abuela. I like my Abuela, but she doesn’t talk much like my mommy used to. But my Abuela smiles a lot and I like that.

I’ve been to my Abuela’s house before. I like Abuela’s house. It’s big and it always smells like flowers. There are lots of pictures hanging on the wall in my Abuela’s house. There is a picture of my Abuela when she was my mommy’s age. She looked just like my mommy but happier. There was a picture of my mommy when she was a little girl just like me. But my mommy was more beautiful before because she smiles. In the picture, my mommy was holding a stick with a worm that looked like it was going to fall. My Abuela said my mommy would use to go to the garden and draw everything she sees. I would always watch her drawing flowers on my art book. My mommy likes flowers. I like flowers too. I like blue flowers, and yellow, and pink, and purple. But my favorite flower is blue because Angelina’s favorite color is blue.

Me and my Abuela went to her garden. The garden is beautiful but there are a lot of bees. I don’t like bees. The bees sting boys and girls. I don’t think bees are nice.

I ran to the trees that have blue flowers. My Abuela can’t keep up because I ran so fast. I like to run fast. And I feel like I’m the fastest girl in the world when I ran.

I climbed to the tree to see the blue flowers. I’m going to pick the blue flowers so I can give them to my mommy when she comes and picks me up tonight. I climbed up and up the tree until I can reach the closest flower. When I was about to grab the flower, I saw a big worm. It was brown, stripy and ugly. I froze and held my breath, but my heartbeat was so loud. I don’t want the worm to hear my heart beating so loud. I tried to climb down the tree very gently, and then I heard a loud crack sound.

The last thing I knew, I was on a couch with a lot of band-aids on my face and on my elbows and on my legs. My elbows sting. Maybe the bees came to me and sting me on my elbows. My Abuela said I was crying and calling my mommy until I fell asleep. She said that it was good that I didn’t climb very high because if I did, then I would be in the hospital. It’s good that I’m not in the hospital. The hospital eats people. My daddy was sent to the hospital once and he never came home. I think the hospital ate my daddy. I don’t like hospitals.

My Abuela said that I was a silly little girl. She said that she took the callipiller from my hand, and she put it in a big jar. I don’t know what she was talking about. I don’t know what callipiller is. But it sounds beautiful and important. She said that the callipiller was in my hand when I fell. It was good that I didn’t smash it because my Abuela said callipillers, I mean caterpillars, she corrected me, are very delicate. Delicate, I don’t know what that is either.

My Abuela took the jar and placed it on the table next to me. She called the ugly worm a caterpillar and I can’t believe that thing was in my hand when I fell.

I told my Abuela that I fell because of that caterpillar. I told her I froze and got scared when I saw it. I told her I don’t like the caterpillar because it was wrinkly and thorny and ugly, and it looked weird. My Abuela just laughed. She looks younger when she laughs.

Suddenly, she took the picture of my mommy on the wall. She said that the worm on the stick that my mommy was holding was a caterpillar, and my mommy used to hate it too. My Abuela says caterpillars are nice. They don’t bite or sting people. Caterpillars are beautiful creatures.

The next day, I woke up crying. My mommy didn’t come back to pick me up. I miss her. I waited and waited for her last night until I fell asleep. I hope she’s fine. My Abuela said that my mommy will come here later. She just needs to do something important far away. I hope she comes here soon.

My Abuela told me that we will feed the caterpillar. She said the caterpillar likes leaves. So, every day I find green leaves and put them in the jar for the caterpillar to eat. I like it when the caterpillar eats my leaves. I think we're becoming friends. Me and the caterpillar. Now I have two friends, Angelina and the caterpillar.

One day, the caterpillar stopped eating my leaves. It made me sad. I’m not sure if we're really becoming friends. I watched the caterpillar the whole day and night. I ate my meals in front of it, and I even tell it me and Angelina’s secrets.

I woke up the next day seeing the caterpillar hanging upside down in the stick inside the jar. It's just like the one in my mommy’s pictures on the wall. The caterpillar doesn’t move anymore. “It’s dead, it's dead. My caterpillar is dead!” I cried to Abuela.

Abuela came to see the caterpillar and she told me that the caterpillar is not dead. It was only the start of its change to something beautiful.

I kept on putting leaves inside the jar. I thought maybe the caterpillar will go hungry again after hanging on the stick for days. But each day it stays still. Maybe the caterpillar forgets how to move, the same way how my mommy forgets about me.

I noticed that the caterpillar spins itself and its bottom is becoming silky and shiny. Abuela said it’s going to be a cocoon. This time I asked Abuela about the words I didn’t know. I asked her what a cocoon is. She said the cocoon is going to be the caterpillar’s home. Home.

I thought about my home. My home smelled normal. Normal smelled like mommy. And mommy smelled like the streets we used to go where she gets our money. My Abuela's home smelled like flowers. I think I like the smell here better because my Abuela doesn’t smoke.

My Abuela taught me how to read. She taught me how to write my name, and she taught me the days of the week. Today is the third Monday since the caterpillar changed into a cocoon. The leaves I put in the jar are now dry. But the cocoon stays the same hanging on the stick. My Abuela said tomorrow is going to be a big day. I just must wait.

The next day I woke up and saw the jar with the cocoon beside my bed. My Abuela must have put it here this morning. I looked very closely to see the change of the cocoon. To my surprise, the cocoon was wide open, and I couldn’t find the caterpillar in the jar. I got out of my bed, ran, and called for my Abuela.

In the living room, there was my Abuela sitting on the couch waiting for me. She was smiling looking at the strange thing on her finger I could barely see. The whole house feels bright. As I was walking towards her, I was surprised there was a blue butterfly sitting on her finger.

“Come, look, this was your caterpillar. It changed into a beautiful butterfly.” my Abuela said.

“It’s your favorite color too.” she added.

“It’s Angelina’s.” I said. My Abuela just smiled at me. She’s placing the butterfly on my finger.

“It's beautiful.” the only word I can think of. My Abuela was smiling. And then suddenly her smile disappeared. She looked at me straight in the eyes, longer than anyone has ever looked me in the eyes.

“You might not understand everything right now, but you will eventually. You’ve been through so much, mi amor. The loss of your sister Angelina and your dad has been a lot for you, especially at your age. You’re too young to go through this.” My Abuela kissed my forehead, and I felt her warm tears on my face.

“Your mommy couldn’t handle it. She tried to protect you the best way she could. Your mommy loves you, remember that. She will be thinking of you wherever she goes.

Right now, she’s just going the wrong way, and she doesn’t want to drag you with her. Por eso estás aquí. Conmigo. For a little while, I will be your home. I will be your cocoon and I promised to protect you and encase you with love just like your mom would. You’re going to be the most beautiful butterfly, Ariana. I’m sure you will.” said my Abuela. I believe her.