I slowly peeked at the puddle on the muddy soil with gravel and stones. It had rained a few minutes ago, and the holes on the mushy, dark-brown earth were filled with rainwater. My appearance hadn’t changed a bit. My long purple body with black stripes and the spikes on my back were reflected by the small, vague pool.
“Disgusting!”
A high-pitched voice cut my sentiments.
I looked for the source of the voice and was stunned when a beautiful butterfly, flapping her yellow with blue spots wings, came into view.
“Do you want to stay in that hideous form forever?” she asked again. She hovered a few inches away from me, bragging about the new wings she possessed.
It was Violet, my older sister. She had come out of her cocoon three days ago and enjoyed the attention of every male butterfly since then.
“I- uh…”
I couldn’t find the words to respond to her insult. To be honest, I also wanted to grow wings like her, and I was getting worried that I might not change into a butterfly and would remain as an ugly-looking caterpillar for life.
“My growth was just delayed,” I replied. “Can you please tell me about what you felt prior to sleeping in your chrysalis?”
Violet simpered. Her antennae wriggled several times.
“Nothing,” she said. “I felt nothing! Oh, I forgot! I need to gather some nectar. I’m starved.”
She glided away without giving me an appropriate answer. And I knew she was lying! Her attitude changed the moment she left her sheath.
Before that, when we were still caterpillars, we used to be so close to each other. We munched on mulberry leaves and crawled from one twig to another.
I even remembered once when we were out in a lovely garden, sitting in a bush. She was chomping on some apple leaves when a hawk spotted her. I saw how the bird’s eyes glimmered under the sun when he saw Violet: she used to be stout. The bird glided downward towards my sister like a swift arrow released from a hungry bow. I couldn’t vividly remember how it exactly happened, but I just found myself between the hawk and her. I threw myself in the way of danger to save Violet!
Fortunately, a young boy came out of the house where the garden stood and threw stones at the bird. I was salvaged from being a juicy breakfast to a feathered predator.
I looked at the boy who was walking towards my branch.
“Good thing I came in time. The two of you could’ve been inside that hawk’s stomach by now,” he said before breaking the stem we were sitting on and transferring it somewhere safe.
As it turned out, we were in a butterfly garden and the roof, which was made of a net, was torn. That was how the hawk came in.
We were supposed to be used for that boy's science project: metamorphosis.
“Hey, Violet, are you okay?” I asked her.
“Stay away from me! I almost died because of you!”
“What?! I just tried to save you.”
“Save me? See this scratch? I got this when you pushed me! I might get a scar out of it!”
“Don’t worry, you’ll turn into a beautiful butterfly soon. You won’t stay in that body, anyway.” I smiled, hoping it would calm her.
“You have a point! I’ll be a gorgeous butterfly, and you’ll remain an unsightly caterpillar!”
“Don’t say that,” I said. Her harsh remarks broke my heart. I almost cried—if caterpillars had lacrimal glands.
**
I sighed when that memory played in my head. Ironically, butterflies flutter in my stomach at the idea that Violet’s curse must be true.
“Why the long face?” another voice broke my moment of truth.
“Hey, it’s you,” I replied. It was Mac, my best friend. Like Violet, he had also turned into a butterfly, only that his wings were like the colors of the ocean: turquoise-blue.
“I see you still didn’t change.” I stared at him, wanting to burst out all my frustrations. “Come with me. I’ll show you the spot where my cocoon still hangs.”
Mac and I reached the end of a lemon tree in the same garden.
“You know what? The courage to change lies within you. It is your desire to be the best version of yourself that will initiate the process,” he said.
I let his words sink in for my brain to process.
“If I become a butterfly, will I have the same wings as yours?”
He smiled. “Nope.”
I pouted. What he said hurt me even worse.
“Your wings will reflect your beauty within,” he continued. “Do you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“The urge to change. Never listen to that brat sister of yours. Cast your worries aside… you’re more beautiful than her.”
No one heard of me after that conversation with Mac… until one day.
I paid Violet a visit.
As usual, there she was, surrounded by prospective mates.
“Hello,” I said and smiled at my filled-with-herself sister.
“Yes? Do I know you?” she asked.
“It’s me, Via. The one you used to call ugly.”
I saw her petrified while scanning my pair of wings. My wings, which were wider than hers. My wings flaunted the colors of the rainbow, along with the sparkling glitters of the radiant morning sun.
After spending I didn’t know how long inside my dark chamber, I finally emerged victoriously.
“How did this happen? I trampled your ego. Tore your spirit. I did everything for you to feel discouraged! How could this happen?!”
“Well, I must admit, at first, your scheme worked pretty hard to crush my confidence. But it turns out that somebody believed in me. Thanks to Mac, I realized that change is not something you wait for to happen… because change must begin from within,” I said. “Oh, and by the way, don’t act as if you have always been pretty. You used to be a caterpillar, too, like everyone else here did.”