"It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time."-Ray Bradbury

Arden Murphy

They say that butterflies can cause catastrophes. They flap their wings and disasters happen years later. I’ve heard it all—tornados, earthquakes, hail, and hurricanes. If one creature could cause so much destruction, even in a little way, why give it the chance? If there is a God, why give butterflies their wings?

I pondered that while looking at the bottom of my shoe. And the gravel outside of Todd’s house. Well, both at the same time. Between my foot and the ground was a tiny butterfly, beautiful. In the dim street light, it looked gold and green and black. And very, very dead.

One less disaster. Though it had been pretty.

JD slammed the truck door from behind, then walked to my side, holding out a sweatshirt. It was hot outside, but I tend to get cold a lot. Instead of listening to me complain, he placed the sweatshirt around my shoulders, like a gentleman.

Except, it smelled bad. Like JD not showering in months bad. I sighed and laced my arms through the sleeves, turned to my brother and took one of the flashlights he was holding. I shoved it in the sweatshirt pocket, despite how heavy it felt and how lumpy I looked.

The gravel crunched beneath us as we walked to Todd’s front door. It was a narrow old house with a second story, and painted some pale color I couldn’t distinguish in the dark. I noticed there were no porch lights, just the dim, flickering light coming from the street.

And then there was barking. Against the side of the house was a tilting iron-chain fence. It looked rusted over and seemed to be collapsing in on itself. Inside of the pin, which I presumed went all the way to the backyard, was a large grey dog. It jerked around, barking its head off at us. At me.

I hate animals.

JD nudged my arm and herded me toward the front door. He knocked and we waited. And waited. And waited…

“Heelloo?” JD called out through cupped hands. He banged on the thin wood door again, shaking and rattling it. “Anybody home?”

I peered around him, at an ancient looking doorbell, wondering whether it was worth touching. It looked pretty dead, and I’m pretty good at noticing things like that.

JD began to pound his entire body against the door, like a human battering ram. “Open up, Todd!”

I pushed around him and went back to the fence, where the dog was still going berserk. It backed away when I approached, circled twice, and then went back to barking at me. I leaned in, attempting to soothe it or something. “I hope he’s not dead,” I said, and I was referring to Todd.

“Better not be,” my brother muttered. “It’s a two-hour-fucking-drive, Todd!” His voice just got louder and louder.

I hummed to the dog. It began pawing at the cage, and I saw how big it was. A real beast. I tucked my hair behind my ear and turned to JD. “Should we go?”

“Hell no,” JD said, backing off from the door. There was a moment’s pause between dog barks as we exchanged glances. Something must have caught his eye though, because he stepped back and looked up at one of the windows. “Todd!” He waved frantically. I stepped beside him.

A few moments later I could hear someone fiddling around on the other side of the door, a chain being removed and two or more locks turning. The door opened just an inch and we saw a pale slice of Todd’s face. Todd being the name he gave us. We assumed it was a false one.

“Hey,” JD said softly. “You Todd?”

“Yeah,” the door swung open a little more and a middle aged man, looking very ragged, stepped onto the porch with us. But just a step. “You Jay?”

“JD,” my brother nodded with a chumpy smile.

“Right, right,” the man glanced between him and me nervously. The dog was still barking. “Who’s she?” he asked suspiciously.

“Who?” my brother smiled, perplexed.

Todd wrinkled his forehead. “Her,” he pointed directly at me.

“Who?” JD repeated, faking confusion.

“The girl standing next to you,” Todd hissed, glaring at us both. He stepped closer to me and put a hand out, as if to touch me.

“I’m Arden,” I said, seeing as JD would rather freak this guy out. “I’m his sister. Your dog is strange. What’s his name?” I brushed the hair off my face.

“Grover, and uh, thanks.”

“Can we come in?” JD asked, inching past the man.

He glowered. “I wasn’t expecting two of you…”

“We’re sort of a packaged deal,” my brother shrugged.

I stepped into the house after him. It was very, very dark. And smelled like cats.

Todd shut the door after us and led us to a small green kitchen. I remembered hearing somewhere that green kitchens are unlucky. There was an old lamp shining dim yellow light from the corner, and a dripping sink faucet on the counter. Todd sat down in a chair wearily, slumping down and putting his face in his hands and his elbows on the table. My brother moved to the fridge.

“So…” I glanced around, taking in the room. A squat clock in the shape of a coffee mug told me it was just past ten. “What’s the problem?”

Todd looked up at me and grunted. “It’s upstairs. I haven’t been up there in days.”

“What’s it like, exactly?” JD asked, head poking into the fridge. He didn’t seem too impressed with its contents.

“I-I can’t explain it,” Todd stared at his table miserably. “It’s not my house. Whatever’s up there—it’s not my house.”

JD and I shared a sly glance. “So what is it then?” I asked, annoyed.

Todd shuddered, smoothing his hair with one hand. “I’m not sure.”

I stared at him a moment, dimly aware of my brother putting something in the microwave. It started cooking.

“Well this has been informative,” I sighed. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Up there?” Todd looked horrified. “Why would you want…”

“Isn’t that why you called us?” I asked, shrugging. “So let’s go.”

“I’ll catch up with ya’ll,” JD said, digging around for a fork in one of the kitchen drawers. The microwave beeped, smelling like warm food.

I rolled my eyes and looked pointedly at Todd. “Well?”

He hesitated, eyes bulging. “I’m not going up there.”

“I guess I’ll just riffle through your stuff until I find whatever we’re looking for,” I said, like a genuine smart ass, and turned on my heel, exiting the kitchen. There were footsteps behind me and the shuffle of a chair as a middle aged man ran after me.

“Wait,” Todd breathed. “The stairs are…over here.” He led me to a staircase, but let me lead the rest of the way. Scared shitless, the poor guy.

“So is it just weird noises or are you seeing stuff as well?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Uh…you’ll see.”

I didn’t like where this was going. At the top of the stairs was a door that led to a dark hallway. I felt around for a switch, then froze when Todd clicked it on for me. The hallway was old and creepy, like I had expected, but also painted a gross yellow and cluttered with boxes and bookshelves of junk that looked modern.

“Sorry,” Todd said behind me. “This is sort of my office.”

I treaded down the hallway aimlessly, unsure of what I was looking for exactly. Todd stayed behind me, but only tentatively, as if he would bail at the first sign of strange.

“So you’ve lived here for a while?” I asked, stepping over an overflowing corner of packing boxes and a broken, discarded television. “It’s real…nice.” I stepped up to a door that looked ominous enough.

“Don’t go in there!” Todd grabbed my arm. I disliked that. “That’s the bathroom,” he whispered, as if this would have any effect on me.

I blinked. “Um, okay,” I wiggled out of his grasp and placed a hand on the door. “We have to start somewhere, Todd-baby, and come on—what’s the worst that could happen?”

He seemed unsure and breathed heavily, making me nervous. I took a breath and twisted the knob slowly letting the door crrreak on open.

It was a tiny, dark bathroom covered in white tile and porcelain. Directly in front of me was the sink and mirror. From the light of the hallway, I could make out a young girl—pale as death—with a scarred face and long, dark hair clinging around her.

“HOLY SHIT,” I cried.

Behind me, Todd jumped back nine feet. “What?”

I took a step closer to the mirror and stared at my reflection, fixing my bangs. “God, I look dreadful…”

El Noté: So this is something I spat out in five seconds (give or take thirty minutes). Not something I totally thought out, but it’s a start. And horror is just so the new cool thing, especially about dead stuff! (Shameless plug: Aleksy Lorraine). I think I'm going to be switching point of view a lot in it. Not something I usually like, but I've been reading some stories of that persuasion, and I'm warming up to the idea. (Shameless plug: GrannyP)