Ch. 1
Rain poured down with a heavy steadiness, as it had the day before. The rain seemed a reminder to her of what had happened only a few days ago. Like her tears, it hadn't stopped since. Her gaze drifted to a single droplet hanging from the seam of window-paste as a butterfly fluttered up and started to suckle from the flowers on her window-sill. She watched the strange insect take its leave from her drooping roses. Roses of which he had bought her,and helped her plant only a month ago. She smiled at the memory, then instantly remembered and only resulted herself in getting more tears. Through the blur she noticed the butterfly struggling to make its way through the pounding torment of rain. She then saw the butterfly struck, and fall to the ground. She gasped and ran outside, forgetting the rain and its harmful effects against her wooly sweater. She scooped up the tiny creature and rushed inside with it, gentle as she could. She brushed her soaked hair out of her face and laid the butterfly down on the counter hoping it would take refuge somewhere in her house until the rain stopped. It detached its wet wings from the counter and unfurled them, shaking them slightly . The woman stepped back, admiring its beauty and grace in which it moved its slender body and wings. “My old terrarium!” she thought, rushing to her room without pausing to look at what she didn't want to see. She grabbed it, running back to the kitchen and setting it down on her dining room table. Flipping on the light, she turns to the counter where she left the little bug. There was nothing but a damp spot. Frantic, she turns about searching for its brightly colored wings among the dreary furniture she had acquired from her grandmother years ago. Then she spotted it, perched on a rafter right above her head. Sighing, she fills with relief then, she gets a heady feeling of bewilderment. Why did she care for this small insect she had just rescued? She had no idea. She shrugged the sensation off and grabbed a small stool and reaches up to grab the butterfly. As soon as her fingers brush its legs, it takes off again. “Damn,” she curses under her breath. It lands on a picture hanging on the wall above the chair she always used to read in. She climbs on the chair and lets it crawl on her finger. She walks over to the terrarium and sets it on a leaf, closing the lid. Suddenly she felt tired, and breathless, so she slumps down in her chair, not wanting to go back to the bedroom after what happened there once before. Her mind wandered through the memories she tried to keep repressed.
She rolls over, breathless after what they just tried.”Phew, ha ha, that was new.” He looked over at her, smiling that smile that made her melt every time she saw it. She swallowed a gasp as his hand cupped her cheek. “I love you,” he says to her. “I love you too, my love,” she responds, kissing him softly. We're perfect together, she thought to herself. No one could ever be better for her, and nobody could love him anymore than she did right now. Rolling over on top of him, she lays her head on his chest, just listening to his heart beat. She could feel his fingers tracing small circles on her bare back and it sent contented shivers through her entire body. “Happy, much?” he says, winking at her. Oh, if he only knew. Just then the phone rang, vibrating on the end table hard enough to make a loud buzzing sound.
Gasping for air, she opens her eyes from the memory. Glancing at the window, she determined the memory had formed a dream, judging by the fading light disappearing over the tree tops outside. Deciding she needed to sleep, she gets up, realizing her sweater was still soaked and pulls it off. By now, her shirt had been dampened as well, so she pulls that off too. Walking to the hamper and stripping the rest of the way, she drops her clothes in and turns to the room.
After getting more clothes, rushing and tripping out of the room for fear of more memories overwhelming her, she pulls her red threadbare blanket up to her chin and curls into a ball on the large chair. Watching the rain fall from those pillow-like clouds above, she then closes her eyes and listens to the music of it break against the roof and windows. When she was a little girl, she always thought the sound of rain was a cover for when the angels played their music in heaven. Her father had always encouraged her in her dreams, even though he wasn't around that much. As she sat swimming in her thoughts, she falls asleep, warm, but not the least bit relaxed.
When she wakes up, the first thing she does is step outside and feel the cool morning mist envelope her legs. She crosses her arms and hugs herself, closing her eyes and turning her face up to the sun. That was another good thing about living in the mountains, its always cool, but warm at the same time. And in the winter there's more snow than anyone could hope to use for the worlds largest snowman, or snowball fight, in there own backyard, much less the whole mountain. She turns her head around towards their cottage. Even though it was as much a cottage as a polar bear being a lumpy mushroom, that's the word that always comes to mind when she looks at it. Large, wooden, and roughly 2 stories tall, it was rather more of a small mansion than a cottage. The outside was stone, wood, and some other material she couldn't bring to mind, but they had gotten the inside laid in with insulation and walling. It had a small tower, with a cone-shaped peak, covered in Babies Breath vines and Morning Glories. The names seemed as if they were meant for the little clearing they lived in.
