Beethoven Rose, Tchaikovsky Blue

0: The first color

What was the color of the first butterfly you saw this year?

March 3rd in the lunar calendar is the day when the swallows come back from the south, the official entrance to spring. In Korea, people read their fortune by the color of the butterfly they first saw on this day.

Yellow butterfly means good luck and happiness. Large spotted butterfly means luxury and wealth. Beware of the white butterfly, it means you might lose someone that is dear to you. Because of this legend, it is a taboo, a curse to catch or look at a white butterfly in spring.

Eddy was five, looking out to the playground yard brimming with spring air. The intoxicating scent of flowers was making him sleepy and stupid. He was slowly dozing off when his eyes spotted a white pearly butterfly landing in front of him, just in reach. Its insect eyes meeting humans, unreadable.

Maybe that was the start of it. The start of his own little curse.

Eddy secretly believed that everything that happened afterward was because of that white butterfly he saw on that beautiful spring day. If the world was going to snatch someone out of this world against his wish, at least let it be artistic.

***

"Twenty dollars for common flu? Do you have any idea how much of a bastard these flu viruses became these days?" Eddy grumbled on his phone while walking to school. "At least double the price or I won't take it. I have a fucking exam this week too."

From the other side of the phone, Eddy heard a train of curse words churning toward him - these illegal undocumented sigmas trying to scam him and the world, psychos, weirdos.

Eddy promptly closed the call - really not worth his time anymore - standing next to the school entrance. Oak Lane High School: an ordinary, small high school where nothing ever special happens amongst mediocre kids. And Eddy loved this school and loved being mediocre. His life motto was to blend in with the crowds. Lead an ordinary life. Do not be an oddball out there.

To be frankly honest, he knew he was supposed to be in a different school, an entirely different facility actually. He remembered the day when he first read about people like him, the weirdos of society in a dictionary:

Sigma (noun): a human being that is born with superhuman powers that manifest without control.

And the following instruction read: All sigmas should be reported and documented as soon as possible and handled in a government-led facility.

Yes, Eddy was a sigma. He could transfer any disease or pain of another person to himself by physical contact. Flu? Broken bone? Terminal cancer? He could relocate the misery of another human being to his own body by simply touching them. The best part was his body will reset itself every week. The illness, whatever it was, will disappear after a week of staying with him.

When he realized this freaky talent at puberty, he knew he was supposed to report himself to the government but he didn't. He had no idea what was happening behind those barbed-wire gates of the government facility but he wasn't going to be a guinea pig and die on a cold stainless table. Instead, he became an illegal undocumented sigma and made sweet simple bucks by treating his sick customers in an underground market. His customers mockingly called him a filter. Eddy liked to call himself a healer. After all, he only played healer characters in an RPG game.

Eddy had no problem living his life this way. He had friends. He had good scores in the class. He could make money. Some day, after graduation, he could go to a university and become a real doctor so that he can actually heal people without tormenting his own body. He will have a nice house, a car, possibly a girlfriend and two dogs, and whatnot.......

"Everybody, say hello to a new student in our class. Brett Yang," His teacher announced.

Until this new student came into his life. A sweet flap of a butterfly wing.

Something inside Eddy screamed danger but he did not know what it was, yet.

"Hello, mind if I sit here?" A cool emotionless voice asked Eddy.

"Sure," Eddy shrugged, moving his bag so that the newcomer can sit beside him.

"Thank you, Eddy," Brett smiled.

It was only after lunch that Eddy realized, he has never told his name to the new student before.

***************************

<Author's note>

Thank you for reading! Comments/feedbacks are always appreciated :)