Sincerely Yours, No Matter Where

The Power of Friendship

"The best friend is the man who in wishing me well, wishes it for my sake."
Aristotle
Nichomachean Ethics

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One cloud sluggishly rolled over Parkorman Park during an otherwise clear summer afternoon. When it departed, the sun smiled brightly upon a clearing located within the northern section of the park. Sun rays scattered with the wind and skipped along each dancing blade of grass, transforming the field into a shimmering emerald ocean.

Windswept, a butterfly glided to the clearing's undulating grassy knoll and hovered above a patch of purple primroses. It repeatedly moved toward each flower and backed away with uncertainty, until it gracefully settled on a small daisy instead. Captured by its beauty, a six-year-old girl veered off from a nearby loamy soiled path.

Her sapphire-colored eyes gleamed with awe and wonder as she attempted to silently approach it. Every step she took made a soft crunching sound and released a pungent honeysuckle scent into the air. When she neared it, she gazed at how its wings gently moved. Their white, translucent and delicate surface were stained with light hues of barely visible colors. It seemed as if droplets from the sun had fallen from the sky and settled on them, sparkling on their veiny surface each time they made an almost imperceptible shudder.

She wanted to hold it and have a closer look.

An occasional grass-blade caressed her skin when she carefully cupped her hands around the fascinating creature. Almost as if certain that the small child posed no threat, the insect lightly touched her fingers with its wiry legs. The tickling sensation stirred her into a loud fit of giggles, making the butterfly immediately halt. She silenced herself and continued to observe, hoping it wouldn't flutter away in fear. It inspected the new terrain, until it rested comfortably on the tip of her index finger. She sighed with relief.

"What're you holding?" A voice spoke from behind.

She gasped and quickly turned her head, only to be confronted with a blue wall. Her eyes slowly travelled up in search of a face. A tall boy with a blue sweater leaned over her and his face was filled with curiosity. He silently stared and awaited a reply. With his blue eyes fixed intently on her, and his towering height, he had a commanding presence about him. Two boys meekly positioned themselves behind him. They wore average matching t-shirts and shorts, but they didn't physically look the same. One was fair-skinned and the other had a golden tan. Their hair were different shades, but their eyes shared the same honey-color with flecks of a darker tone.

"Umm," uncertainty took hold of her.

Her eyes nervously scanned the clearing. There wasn't anyone around when she walked off the park's path, and she didn't hear when the three boys had approached her. Her mother always told her not to talk to strangers, but these were young boys. They couldn't have been more than four years older than her. Surely, her mother meant not to talk to adults? She was excited to have encountered the butterfly and to hold it in her hands. And she so very much wanted to share the find with someone else.

"Umm? What?" The tall boy asked.

She stood and held out her hands. "It's a butterfly. Isn't it pretty?"

"Oh, a butterfly. Did ya hear that, guys? She holdin' a butterfly."

"I wanna see. Trevor, ask her if you can show it to us?" One of the two boys asked.

They snickered among themselves. Her shoulders curled forward. Lowering her head, one foot began to awkwardly lift from the ground, but she quickly planted it back in place. Boys were silly sometimes. That's probably what it was, she thought to herself.

"Can I hold it?" Trevor asked and smiled widely.

A half-smile forced itself onto her mouth, and her words were softly drawled, "I guess. But be careful, 'kay?"

"OKAY."

His impatient hands greedily grabbed the insect from hers with such a roughness, that she couldn't help but start to panic.

"Hey! Careful! You're gonna hurt it!" She screamed.

"Soz...," Trevor chuckled.

"Give it back, you big meanie!"

"Shut up, will ya?" His voice oozed.

She pulled on his arm. "Give it!"

"Don't hurt yourself there, shorty. You want it back? Try and get it," he held the butterfly above his head.

She jumped and reached up in sudden bursts, repeatedly telling him to let it go. The words were difficult to say in between gulping breaths. Her face began to darken with the strained effort. She was much shorter, she could never reach. Too short. It was all her fault, she thought to herself. If she had never tried to hold the butterfly in her hands, it would've been fine. Instead, it could be crushed by the hands of the ogre that stood before her.

They laughed with a grating sound that gnawed at her insides.

"God, she worse than my lil' sis when I take her dollo," he glanced back at the boys.

"Right. What's the big deal? Just a stupid butterfly." The fair-skinned boy said.

"Hey Trevor, I wanna go play on one of the fields." Uneasily, the boy with the golden tan spoke, "our dad told us we gotta be back soon. I wanna check out the other part of the park."

"Oh yeah! Crap, what's the time?"

"Hold on, will yous! What you got that A-D-D or something? Anyways, she being a big baby and this is fun, init?" Trevor replied.

"I dunno ... what if her parents are near?"

The fair-skinned boy scoffed, "so what? we'll get in trouble for taking a stupid butterfly?"

Where were her parents? Where were theirs? Where was anyone else? If only a grownup was near or walking by, they would stop what was happening. But no, she was all alone. She stared angrily and teary-eyed at them. Trevor, with his stupid toothy grin, occasionally called her names. The other two just uselessly stood there. Fury welled up inside her, speckling her face with tiny red spots. It burst and sprang forth, surging out from her in the form of a high-pitched scream that echoed throughout the park.

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***Here's to my attempt at—finally—converting this into an actual first draft. If you notice any comma mistakes or a misspelling—even a suggestion that I should consider—do not be afraid to tell me. There were a few I fixed, but had also added 300 words to this segment and could've easily added some new ones in the process haha. The Power of Friendship had four segments with page-breaks, it also contained a word count of 3,500 words, and with the addition of 300 words in the first of the four, I decided to separate them into chapters.***