Butterfly

Chapter Two: Purple Emperor

All this had been about two weeks ago now. Ashleigh, very sadly, was dead. His funeral had been arranged. The police wanted to find out who ran Ashleigh over. Because if you had run over an actual human, you would have noticed the bump under your car. You would have stopped and apologized, and called the ambulance. They had interviewed Sophia about her version of events. All she could remember was that the car was silver and, very suspiciously, it had no numberplate. Which kind of car would have had no numberplate? Only an illegal one.

Ashleigh's brother, Robert, had suddenly turned cold on Sophia since his brother's death. It was a shame, because Robert had always been quite kind to her. Maybe he thought it was all her fault.

Sophia still hadn't been able to contact Lauren. First of all Sophia had lost her phone, which didn't help matters. Secondly, she hadn't been at school for a week because she was ill. And lastly, Lauren hadn't been at school for the week Sophia was there. So for all Lauren knew, Ashleigh was still alive.

All Sophia wanted was for the police to find out who had run Ashleigh over and punish them somehow. Maybe only for one hundred years in gaol. But nothing in the world would ever make up for the loss of her best friend in all the world. Sophia was lost without him. She was very sad of course, but she knew in her heart that Ashleigh was in God's arms now, and he was safe. Probably with his father, who had died that year of cancer.

They had been best friends since they were five years old, in their first year of school. Ashleigh had asked Sophia what the word "certain" meant, Sophia started crying because she didn't know, and they were best friends ever since. She just wished she could tell Lauren. After all, she knew Ashleigh even better than Sophia.

One beautiful sunny Saturday, Sophia was walking through the woods near her house. She was having a private conversation with God. "If white roses grow in heaven, Lord, pick one for Ashleigh and tell him it's from me?" Ashleigh's favourite thing in all the world was white roses. Sophia's big black glasses went misty with tears as she saw a small, beautiful, solitary, bright white rose. It was Ashleigh's colour. As she took her misty glasses off and wiped them on her sleeve, she then smiled as she realised it was Ashleigh telling her that he was ok. Sophia walked closer to the rose. She bent down and breathed in its sunny scent. Sophia looked up to the sky where she knew God to be and whispered, "Thank you, oh thank you Lord for keeping him safe!"