Chapter Forty-seven

Chapter Forty-seven

“Brandon Matthew West? That does sound familiar!” My mom crooned. “Could he be the very same?” She asked excitedly, but my dad shrugged and said; “no idea.”

I stood there looking bewildered with my mouth hanging open in shock. Brandon? The very same Mr. Entitled I was just talking about? How is that even possible?

How did he find me? How did he know my parent’s home? Has he been stalking me all along?

I said it! He was behind it, this Roland Bones stunt. He might have been hiding there, somewhere, trying to creep me out simply because I wanted to prove a point against him that I didn’t need any saving.

Why did he have to send this here? To my parents’ home? How was I going to explain this to my dad? And mom, she might think we actually have something going on, when it’s a series of complications and complications.

“He’s the very same you were telling me about just now right?” Mom asked with curiosity burning in her eyes. I could tell she was even more excited than I was, I think she was the one in love with him, and not me.

“He is.” I said in a strangled voice as I tried to force the words out of my throat. I looked dejected and pissed off by his gifts. What exactly was he trying to do? Buy my parents’ hearts and win their trust? Or make them believe that he was a loving person?

Oh, how dare he!

“Oh my God!” she gasped excitedly; “aren’t you lucky?” she whispered excitedly before grabbing the bouquet of flowers from my dad who stood cluelessly watching us from a corner. She stretched it in front of me with a big grin straining the corners of her face.

“Here,” she said grinning widely like a schoolgirl of seventeen that just got asked to prom by her secret crush. “Have it. It’s all yours.” she beamed at me reassuringly, persuading me with a nod to take the flowers from her.

Of course flowers are one of my favourite things to have and they remind me of butterflies, free and happy with strips of beautiful colours like confetti and artworks flying in the air. I kinda relate with the butterflies so much in a way that most people do not understand, but I’m just gonna say how.

You see, the butterflies are one ethereal kind of beings that keep fascinating me as I learn about them. On a personal level, I think everyone is like a butterfly at one point or the other in their lives, even though they might never realise it.

Have you ever studied the metamorphosis of butterflies? Their stages of transformation and what they look like on each stage and what purpose each stage of their metamorphosis serves? You know, they kick off from the egg stage, that is the first stage of their life cycle.

Of course, naturally, eggs look attractive, feline and fragile, and no one wants to break eggs for nothing, everyone handles it with care, and I relate it to when we are just born into the world, just there, staying in our place, being loved and cared for by everyone, being the centre of attraction and focus of all attention.

This is the stage in life we enjoy all the warmth, the affections, the love we can ever receive from both our family and strangers, and at this point in our life, we do not care if you love us or not. We are just existing. We are just living, with little to no cares in our hearts, except to poop, to sleep and to eat. Simple cycle we run everyday on this stage of our lives. Our responsibilities are solely belonging to our parents or guardians, so we really have nothing to worry about other than to breathe and live. But no one warns us what the second quarter of our lives holds for us, nor do they teach us how to prepare for it. It just comes and we grab it head-on.

The second stage of metamorphosis where the butterfly metamorphoses into its larva or caterpillar stage is more like a stage where we start getting to know more about life. This is where the sad reality hits us in the face that life ain’t so pretty and sweet, and life is not all about being pampered and cuddled, but at this point, we start learning how to live our lives and try not to get crushed in the long run. This is the stage where we start getting misunderstood, because their views and their fantasies about us are not exactly what might be playing out, because, how the hell can a cute, little egg grow into an ugly caterpillar? Isn’t that insane?

Now, because they misunderstand us, they begin to hate us. Naturally, people hate what they don’t know, they’re mad at what they can’t seem to understand, and that hatred seems to spring from unsatisfied inquisitions and unfilled curiosities; but what they don’t know is that is our own way of survival, our only form of adaptation, our own way of growth, though it might never look beautiful and rosy at first, but only us knows where we are going, and not everyone can share that dream, because they are sadly deluded by our present outlook - the beautiful egg that turned into a caterpillar, how strange! But what they don’t know is even the ugliest caterpillars can turn into the most beautiful butterflies and surf through the air, doting the flowers and kissing the nectars, beautifying every scented garden.

The third stage which is the most critical stage of the metamorphosis of a butterfly determines if this ugly larva will ever become a pretty butterfly. Here, the butterfly has learnt a lot about life and people, and has seen that people don’t really care, so it builds walls around itself, a cocoon to protect her from what critics and narcissists might try to do to her with their words. She doesn’t trust people easily any more, because the last time she did, they called her weird, ugly, odd and stupid, so she learnt how to build strong walls around herself, around her heart, as she wouldn’t let anyone in. She existed in her own world now, living and avoiding people and unnecessary dramas.

At this stage, she got even more criticism because she was more misunderstood. Of course, everyone thought; “this worm is growing into something else. How odd and crazy can she get?”

Now they totally do not understand what she is becoming at all. First she’s an egg, then a larva, a very ugly one at that, and now, just a plump ugly thing with too many walls around her. She doesn’t look like everyone else, she’s strangely different and she’s mysterious. People are driven by her new mysteriousness and they try to understand what she’s trying to do or become, but it looks like she has no direction at all, she seems to be using the road less taken and she doesn’t seem to be becoming anything beautiful or important in the nearest future, but who are they to decide?

Yes, this butterfly now has many walls and trusts no one. Yes, she looks ugly, round and directionless, but only the butterfly knows where it is going, and it doesn’t matter what people thinks about her, just like the world spins after people’s numerous opinions about it, considering it flat or round or squared, the butterfly still matures at its appointed time, regardless of the opinions of the people around her.

This is the most critical stage because this is where the butterfly has to come out of her comfort zone, come out of her place of hiding and face all her fears head-on, fighting until she wins. She has to develop that warrior spirit and learn how to conquer defeat instead of retreating into her well decorated cocoon, and until she learns how to come out of her comfort zone, conquer her fears and learn how to fly, soft as her wings may be, she would never become a full butterfly.

She would never become a full butterfly.

And though, I have no idea what stage I might be at, because of course, there is so much to learn and everything seems to be happening so fast, but I know for sure that even this ugly caterpillar will grow into a butterfly. Everything might be ugly now, but I know, all will be well.

Even though Brandon tries to creep me out, I know, all will…

“Honey,” my mom interrupts my long train of thoughts, “you’ve been quiet. Don’t you like your gifts?” she asked concernedly.

My face got defiant and my voice forcefully left my throat; “I hate him!”