By Katie Arminie
With the discounted wine squeezed into the liquor store’s conspicuous black grocery bag and tucked behind her seat, she was on her way. As she drove, she marveled on how strange the weather had been this year. After years of drought, followed by torrential rains, it had been a colder winter in Southern California terms. And now? The Santa Ana winds had, as usual, brought stifling, hot temperatures.
Maybe that was the reason for the mass amounts of monarch butterflies. Even though insects terrified her, she had to admit butterflies offered hope and beauty to the world. And yet…there were so many of them this year! As she drove down the busy street that led to the freeway, a bothersome thought drifted through her mine. Was she dodging them with her car? Although she had only driven a half mile, she had already nearly hit 20. She half expected to see their crushed carcasses against her windshield.
“Ugh, knock it off!” She scolded herself, instead of the creatures.
It was a beautiful day. A blue cloudless sky greeted her as the car filled up with the sun’s friendly, smiling warmth. Then it dawned on her. Why did she always have to worry and ruin her time off?
In fact, soon, she would be with her best girlfriends celebrating one of their engagements. Yet again, she could not escape her anxious thoughts. Her heart sank as the familiar feelings about marriage and divorce rushed her system.
“It’s not always about you!” She slapped the steering wheel as she said these words.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the person in the next car, staring. Her face burned with embarrassment as she slammed her foot on the gas and took full advantage of the changing light.
“I’m not crazy,” she thought and then giggled to herself with dark humor, “Just a little bipolar…”
With a better attitude, she looked down at her stereo. She needed some party music to further heighten her mood. Nevertheless, her disposition was not to be lightened on this day… On this day things changed in an instant, just like terrible things tend to do. In the distance, she heard a scream of terror. Something on the road needed her immediate attention. Her neck snapped up from the radio. She saw the familiar curve coming up in the road, almost invisible by a swarm of monarch butterflies. Thoughts filled her like hurried lepidopterans crowding her mind. This is impossible! Are they trying to cause accidents? Is this karma? As she thought, a mere second passed while the road became obscured by the fluttering bodies.
Just as the reality of the situation made her start to panic, her car hit something hard, slamming her against the steering wheel. All of a sudden, she felt her stomach lurch upwards and knew she was suspended in air. Time stopped in an unbelievable moment of disbelief and terror. Her ears rang with her own screams, broken glass and the wrenching sound as the car turning over in a somersault of wrecking metal. Her head throbbed as it smashed against the ceiling and the window. After being satisfied with its crushed metal carcass, it crashed down, unrelenting, onto the pavement below, throwing her riddled body backwards and forwards.
Everything was a blur of flashing brown, red and orange. Her heart’s rapid beating was all she felt as the world went into a merciful blackness. However, her reprieve was short- lived. Less than a minute passed, and she was jolted back to harsh reality. Opening her eyes, sensations of pain and being soaking wet assaulted her. Her fingers felt along her neck for the source of her agony. She felt a slippery substance along with jagged pieces of glass. Pulling one out of her neck, ignoring the sharp pain, she lifted it to her line of sight…glass from a wine bottle. Fear left her icy cold as the realization struck her; this could be deadly… Now, both hands were on her neck feeling the large gash pouring blood from her slit throat.
“I’m dying!” She thought in desperation.
Her ex-husband’s face filled her mind along with the children they never had. Oh, how she wished things had been different! Why had she been so petty? Would he ever know how she felt now?
“Please!” she prayed, “Please! This can’t be it!”
In a lightheaded fog she noticed the butterflies were filling up her car, seeming to be after something. Realization twisted her gut; they were accumulating on her neck at a rapid pace like looters to a riot. Their urgent bodies were vying for position, using their greedy proboscises to lap up her blood. It tickled and the landscape filled with her hysterical death throes of laughter.
The End
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Katie Arminie Art 