Redemption by Kaye Draper Page A

had to jog to keep up.  Suddenly, the cat came to a stop. 
It cocked its head this way and that, as if watching something in the gloom. 
Rebecca was about to start moving again when she saw something flicker in the
air above the cat.  She drew closer and watched in awe as a beautiful yellow
butterfly fluttered away. 
    The cat launched
into motion, quicker than thought, running after the butterfly.  Rebecca didn’t
pause to wonder what she was doing.  She dashed after the cat, afraid she would
lose him in the gloom.  As they ran, she realized that there were more
butterflies.  They were all the colors of the rainbow, fluttering against the
dark backdrop of the ancient forest.  The butterflies all seemed to be headed
in the same direction, and she followed her furry companion that way.
    They reached a
moss-covered clearing and Rebecca stumbled to a halt.  “Oh!” she breathed. 
    All around them,
thousands of butterflies danced and fluttered, a swirling tornado of delicate
wings.  The cat stalked to the center of the clearing, where it began batting
at the butterflies. 
    Rebecca
carefully made her way to the cat.  “Stop it,” she whispered, still overwhelmed
by the sight before her eyes.  The cat leapt, just missing a big, beautiful
white luna moth.  “Stop it, you’ll hurt them!”  She reached toward the cat, but
it turned its mesmerizing eyes on her and hissed. 
    The cat yowled
and darted through the butterflies, following the white moth.  Rebecca sighed
in exasperation and followed, trying not to damage the little creatures.  Their
wings beat at her skin, soft as a sigh.  A wing brushed her cheek and she
gasped.  She had seen images, for just a moment.  She had watched a baby be
born and grow, in jumps and flashes, into an old man. 
    She raised a
hand to her cheek to ward off the touch of wings as dozens of lives flashed
before her eyes.  The cat let out a plaintive mewl and she pushed herself into
motion, fighting through the butterflies to where her furry companion leapt and
hissed.  That white moth was dancing just out of the cat’s reach, a bit above
Rebecca’s head. 
    She stretched
out her hands, but she couldn’t reach.  She strained on her tiptoes and jumped,
but to no avail.  The moth was drifting higher, following the others in an
ascending cone toward a little break in the canopy above.  Panic clawed at
Rebecca’s chest.  She couldn’t let that moth fly away.  She dashed to a moss-covered
log and scrambled up.  Then, not thinking of anything but catching the moth,
she launched herself into the air.  Her hands reached, straining desperately,
and she and gently caught the delicate creature.
    She fell onto
the mossy ground, sending up a shower of twigs and old leaves.  Her heart was
in her throat as she opened her cupped hands, afraid that she had crushed it. 
It sat on her hand and slowly opened and closed its wings.  Then it took
flight, slow and erratic, low to the ground.  Rebecca pushed herself to her
feet and followed, afraid she would lose it again.
    The moth led her
to a place near the clearing, where a long form lay sprawled on the ground.  It
landed on Isaac’s chest, then flickered and disappeared.  Rebecca stumbled
sobbing to his side, just as the storm above broke and a deluge of rain began
to fall. 
    ~~~~~
    Isaac was lost
in a void.  He had enough senses left to know that there was darkness, but
beyond that, he had no sense of himself.  He couldn’t feel his body, the ground
beneath him, or even any sense of where, exactly, “beneath” would be.  There
was no up or down. 
    The weight of
the blackness around him was oppressive.  He found that it was easier to just
accept it than to waste thought on fear or reason.  He was, he realized, really
very tired.  He was tired of failing, tired of trying, and tired of pretty much
everything.  It would be so much easier if he didn’t have to deal with it all. 
He was glad that he couldn’t feel