Butterfly

Chapter One: Red Admiral

It was just a normal day. Sophia's alarm clock had gone off far too early, as normal. She had waited by the school gates for her best friends Ashleigh and Lauren, as normal. They had been two minutes late for school, as normal. But no one, absolutely no one, could have known what was going to happen on that "normal" day.

Sophia and Ashleigh were at maths. It was the last lesson of the day. Sophia looked around the room and noticed that Lauren wasn't there. She leaned across to Ashleigh and whispered, "Where's Lauren?" Ashleigh brushed his chestnut brown hair out of his green eyes.

"Erm, I don't know. I'm sure she was at chemistry?"

"She was. Oh well, maybe she had to go home early." Sophia looked a little bit worried, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"I think she had a netball tournament actually." Sophia didn't know why, but she thought Ashleigh was being a bit strange today. "Mm. I'm sure she's fine." They grinned and turned back to their maths. Algebra. Sophia yawned, shook her long blonde hair, and decided to spend the time doodling instead. The teachers were always nagging her to spend the lesson time wisely, and she wanted to be an artist when she was older, not a mathematician

When the bell screamed to mark the end of the day, Sophia thought they should maybe just go to Lauren's house and check she was definitely ok.

As they were crossing the road in front of Lauren's house, something awful happened. A big silver car came racing round the corner. Everything went in slow motion. Sophia pulled herself out of the way, and she tried to pull Ashleigh too but he wouldn't move.

And in a blink of an eye, he was gone. The car didn't even stop. It just carried on as if nothing had happened. Sophia screamed, tears spilt down her beautiful face. As much as she wanted to run out into the road and drag Ashleigh back to the pavement, she knew she would only get herself run over. The next car that came down the road was a smaller dark blue car. An elderly couple were in it. She made them stop by waving her arms about wildly with a desperate look on her face. The car stopped. The man stepped out of it and went over to Sophia, who was still crying. "Please, erm, the last car ran over my best friend," she gestured to the road where Ashleigh was lying in a heap, "and I've lost my phone so I-I can't ring the ambulance..." The old man looked round. "Oh, I am so sorry. First let's get him out of the road so no more cars can run over him." He looked both ways, then very quickly, he darted into the road and dragged Ashleigh back onto the pavement. "I'll get Shirley to ring the ambulance." Shirley was the old lady's name. The kind man went back to his car. Sophia turned to Ashleigh's crumpled body. She leaned in as and listened to his heart. Thank goodness it was still beating.

Eventually, somehow, they got to the hospital. Ashleigh's mum had been called by Shirley too. As they sat in the silent waiting room, the clock seemed to tick extra loudly. Sophia had a thought that it was like the timer on Ashleigh's life, and any second it would make a ringing noise and say, "Time is up." But for now, all she could do was pray. Sophia was a great believer in God, and she had decided that even if Ashleigh did get called by the angels, she wouldn't lose faith. Because if you're in a garden... Which flowers do you pick?

The most beautiful ones. That's why the best people die.

The nurse walked into the quiet waiting room. Sophia held her breath, but she saw the look on the nurse's face and knew Ashleigh was dead.