Collection of Vignettes

Keelyn Myers

Black Butterfly 

Black butterfly... I see you...when I watch the sky turn into honey that created the sunset. Till noon, the sky went to a cotton candy blue as it reached dark. The dark sky filled with specks of lights peeking through as I laid my head onto my pillow. I see you...I never quite understood why this particular butterfly was always around me. When I wake up I see you.. in the sky appearing in between a shadow just fluttering your wings as the sky would change scenes. I see you… When I lay upon my bed saying my prayers you’re around the back corner of my bedroom. Sometimes you would stay there and watch me. You watch when I get up every morning to watch the sun hit its peak, to sit on the school bus in awe of the trees dancing as the wind would blow. I see you... watching me sitting in class silent, waiting for the day to end. I walk alongside a hill where I imagine a gold path and a sky filled with gold specks forming the moon every time I look up. I see you... when mama asks how my days are and she fills my face with kisses. I see you.. at dawn. As I close my eyes you’re my last image before I fall into a slumber. I never feared that I was being followed by a butterfly everywhere I went. If anything I felt like I knew this particular butterfly. I see you...when you lead me to the room where mama sits by her window singing above with her hands high and her eyes closed. I peek towards her door as I see a stream of heartache flowing throughout the room. The room was dark yet red peeking throughout like a lightning strike broken between a heart. I come towards the opening of the door to face her.  

“Mama...you okay?” I asked. 

“Yes baby, Mama will be okay,” She replies.  

She began to hug me in her arms. I lay my head against her chest and close my eyes. I open one eye to see you appearing, your shadow on the wall with a blue heart. I began to smile. I knew that was you. I saw you... When I watch Papa come home later in the night working tirelessly long hours away. I saw you.. when Mama received the call about Papa. Mama dropped the phone to the floor and got on her knees to pray. I saw you... when I watched Mama sleep endlessly in the bed as I watched the doctors come in and out to keep mama alive. I walked into Mama’s room.  

“Mama it’s this butterfly that follows me and I met it before,” I express. 

She laughed.  

“Come sit on Mama’s lap and let me tell you a story,” she says. 

The next morning, I saw you...you didn’t appear black you appeared blue. You started to flutter away. I smiled and began to say “Bye brother, see you later. “

Water Runs Dry 

The same storm occurred over and over for months. The sky was filled with grey and fog that made it hard to see. The fog was like smoke from a flame that was shown throughout the whole town. The streets were gloomy with nobody in sight. The brown grass was so rusted and dry from the useless sun. The trees were black as charcoal but they danced with the wind. The streams were dry and rusted from the cold and stale air. Till dusk till dawn, the storm never changed. A memory flooded when I started to think about how the sun would rise above the clouds and the sky was as blue as the sea. The grass was greener, and the wind would whistle as you walked past. I started to think about you recently. I remembered when you were at your highest your eyes would sparkle like diamonds shining in the light when you see me. The sparkle may have shined but there was always a glimpse of pain within. I remembered that some days you’d wait for me just to know that I was around. Another day, I barely saw you and when I did , you took one glance and walked towards the dark small path of pain. A lot of the other days, you were nowhere in sight. I’d watch the way you walk towards me with your heart in your hands like you wanted someone to take it and crush it for you. I never asked why? Or why in the beginning your smile could touch the clouds. To where the smile faded. I was almost persuaded that the darkness consumed you or was it a cry for attention? But, it wasn’t. The more days I saw you the more you looked like broken glass that shattered as It hit the ground. I wondered what happened? I would text and call to make sure you were alright. Some days I get a response, another you wouldn’t respond. The days grew old as you started to call out my name. You called out my name in pain. You were like a lobster. You would cling to me showing me the fear of the pain you encountered. But, I started to realize the way I was your shelter the more you were grabbing my heart through my chest by every vessel. I was so close to seeing why you were broken. But, you let go. Your heart that you held so tightly within your hands you held so tight, your bare hands broke it. Every shatter of your heart left pieces behind your shadow every time I would see you. I recognize that the fewer pieces the more bitter you became. The more you were there the sight of you didn’t exist. Many months later, the sun moved away and night became day. There was no air to breathe within. The sea left no waves to wash the dirt left behind. The water continued to flow until it started to run dry.  

The Piece That Was Missing 

Dear You, 

              I just wanted to take the time to say the things I’ll never get to say to you off my chest. You, you were my light in the darkness. The rainbow at times, my everything. It was the way you looked at me displaying an image of being the only girl that gave you the sparkle in your eyes. It was the way you take my hand and pat it softly like a baby being rocked to sleep. It was the way you linger the words “I love you” of the tip of your tongue that made me melt like butter. I thought I had myself all figured out before meeting you. But, before I could you cast me with your spell and picked me up off my two feet to a place where I didn’t think I had within. Your words did the trick. You say how beauty couldn’t describe the art that was made when you would look at me. You had me sprung by the look on your face when you watched me come to you with lust written all over my face. Your heart was made of gold and your warmth was intoxicating that it was too hard to breathe. For a second I thought I had it all. The boy I was going to marry one day, the father to my future, and the glue to my untouched pieces. It all turned to stone when your words stayed within my soul but you didn’t. My heart cried a river throughout the room as I watched you leave. I fell to the floor broken like fragile glass when the door slammed. My heart broke into two when I heard your name or a breeze that felt like you beneath my skin. You broke me. You broke me to where I had no pieces to fill the void you left. My worth that I had been searching for was taken from right under me. But, the days grew longer as I bloomed when the seasons started to change. On this very day, I looked in the mirror and I saw it. My everything doesn’t touch the base of the ache you left within and the words you said. I just wanted to let you know that being without you was the best thing that you decided. I don’t have to be the most beautiful girl you have ever seen but in my heart, I am beautiful from the inside out. Your words hurt but, baby you didn’t break me...you made me so much stronger that I used to amount myself to being “weak." You filled the pieces I searched for and I thank you. Thank you for once upon a time loving me and being my first love to being my last. And for reminding me that just because you couldn’t love me at my most doesn’t mean I should love myself less. I am me and one day someone else will see that. But, for now, my worth is important. As for a man yours should be too. 

                                                                                Sincerely, K