Wings of A Butterfly

[bynm27]

all i gotta say is WOW!!!! that was awful for that to happen to aaron.

 

[TimWhite07]

Ok i jsut went through and read all the chapters so im all caught up. OMG WOW. i love the story man. I can not wait to find out what happens next.

 

[PerpetuallyHard312]

This is a great story...I read all of the current chapters and finished Graduation....you are truly a gifted writer. Thank you for sharing your talents with us for free! I'm sure someone of your talents could publish award winning books.

 

[gmoney]

-ITC

Where are you? I know you have a life to live, but I'm so hooked on your story.

Graduation was a fantastic story, which is what led me here.

I think you've outdone yourself with this one. It's even more gripping than the last one (if that's even possible).

I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm waiting with baited breath to see what happens next.

 

[inthecloset]

I do apologize for the wait, but classes are coming to an end soon which means it's almost finals week. I'm trying to find the energy and the inspiration to write, but it's really difficult since the only time I have is at night.

I WILL finish the next chapter soon, but I'm not sure when it will be posted.

 

[DonQuixote]

ITC,
REAL Life come first.
No worries.
We'll be here when you have the time.

 

[inthecloset]

Hey guys, I do apologize for the wait. Lots of crap going on recently and I'm trying to get my hands on a guy in my psych class so I haven't had much of an opportunity to write. I want to thank you all for being patient and I hope I didn't lost anyone in the downtime.

I also want to give a HUGE public thank you to my good friend Irishinvader, without whom this chapter would not have made it past 2 pages. Much love Irish and thank you so much.

Enjoy!

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​

Wings of A Butterfly

Chapter Eleven:
The Magic in the Music
​

I watched him carefully as his chest moved up and down. He looked like he was just sleeping, but the machines beeping every few seconds told me that it was much more than that. I looked at his face which was scarred but peaceful, and wished that reaching up and touching him would be enough to wake him.

But his state wasn’t just sleep. The attack left Aaron with severe trauma to the head. Shortly after he arrived to the hospital, he slipped into a coma. He was supposed to be awake a couple days ago, but for some reason his eyes wouldn’t open. People came and went to visit him. One of them was a girl who turned out to be his best friend Carly. Others were people who had heard about what happened, and were hoping Aaron was awake.

I stayed as much as I could. I wanted to be there when he opened his eyes. If they didn’t force me to leave at night I wouldn’t have left his side. Every morning I walked in, hoping his eyes would be open; and every night I left, hoping he would be awake the next time I saw him.

As I sat there, looking at his face, I couldn’t help but cry. Not because I didn’t think he would wake up; I knew he would. I cried because of what happened to him. He was just opening himself up, and some scum went and did this to him. It was at that moment, I heard Aaron’s voice ringing in my head. He wasn’t talking to me; his eyes were still shut. I was remembering a conversation we had before. My mind flashed back to that night at the club, with music playing in the background of our conversation.

“God, they sure picked a shitty rotation,” I said.
“Why do you say that?” he asked.
“Don’t tell me you actually like this garbage,” I said grinning at him.
“Meh, sort of. I only really liked the first song,” he said.
“Which was that?”
“Crushcrushcrush by Paramore,” he said.
“Get out!” I yelled, “Dude I love Paramore.”
“You’re kidding,” he said.
“Not at all, Haley Williams is the shit.”
“I’m more into the instrumentals of their music,” he said.
“How so?” I asked.
“They put more energy and passion into the beat of the music. The guitar and drums totally overpower the song and they say more than the lyrics do.”

And then it hit me. Energy. Passion. Music…

Music!

I pulled out my iPod and put one of the buds into his ear. I selected a random song and pushed play. I put the other bud into my ear and listened with him. The somber tones of the piano keys started playing as a soft voice began singing.

I’m so tired of being here…
Suppressed by all my childish fears…
And if you have to leave,
I wish that you would just leave.

I looked at his face as the voice grew stronger. His heart rate remained unchanged, and nothing seemed to happen. I reached my hand up to his face, but it felt the same. It felt as if he weren’t even there.

When you cried I’d
Wipe away all of your tears
When you’d scream I’d
Fight away all of your fears

His face still seemed lifeless. I wanted so badly for that to work. I felt my heart drop a little as I sighed out of frustration and clicked to another song to try again.

Maybe a faster song…

I clicked over to Celldweller on my list and played Own Little World. It had a harder, more energetic tone. The song opened with a screeching guitar and soft vocals that became overpowered by the rest of the instrumentals.

Mutual sight
Mutual sound
Mutual struggle
For shared ground

His hear rate jumped a bit. My eyes widened with hope as the Celldweller song reached the chorus.

Welcome to a world
Where the air I breathe is mine
Nothing to overwhelm me
And nothing to cloud my mind
Be anyone do anything
I’d ever wanna try
Time doesn’t exist here I WILL NEVER DIE.

The minor rise in his hear rate leveled out and crashed my hopes. I went over what he had said in my head again. I tried so hard to figure out a way to bring him back to me. I was about to give up when my finger slipped and selected a new song. The song opened with the repeated strokes of a guitar followed by a drum and guitar intro. I felt my heart race as I recognized my favorite song.

Heaven ablaze in our eyes
We're standing still in time
The blood on our hands is the wine
We offer as sacrifice

I got lost in the music as the monitors beeped with Aaron’s increased activity. My heart screamed with excitement as his heart started increasing its rate.

Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul

My eyes were shut and I could feel his pulse increasing as I squeezed his hand. Tears were falling down my eyes as I thought about everything Aaron has made me see in myself. The song was reaching its final verse as I felt his hand close around mine.

Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
Dont let go
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
Rip out the wings of a butterfly

I looked up at him and saw his eyes flash open. He looked around in a haze and finally laid his eyes on me. He smiled slightly and mouthed the words, “Don’t let go,” as he squeezed my hand tighter.

I buried my face into him and cried out of happiness. I said over and over again, “Thank God.” He made me look at him and said in a hoarse voice, “Don’t thank him.”

***​

I walked into the library in search of Aaron. I had checked the dining hall, the Student Union, and even Carly’s dorm building. No one knew where he was. One of the nurses at the hospital told me he just got out of bed and left this morning, so I spent the rest of the afternoon searching for him.

I went to the third floor of the Library where no one usually went and found him sitting at one of the tables in the back. He didn’t hear me approach, but we were all alone up here. He had a massive bruise around his left eye and on the side of his neck. He sat beside a mountain of his books and barely flinched when I sat down next to him.

“I went to see you in the hospital,” I said.
“Yeah, they released me this morning,” he said blankly.
“No they didn’t,” I said.
“Well…you know how I hate hospitals,” he said.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I have a test on Monday,” he said.

He never once looked up from his books. I put my hand over the book he was staring at and forced him to look up at me. He was unable to hide the pain he was in, both physical and mental. The sparkling blue eyes that looked at me were full of fear.

“Aaron,” I said, “You were raped…by a man who pumped you full of drugs, beat you senseless, and left you to die in an alley…You really need to lie down and rest.”
“No,” he said, “I can’t sleep.”
“I thought the doctors gave you-“
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, “I can’t sleep.”

He took a deep breath and stood up, revealing the brace his left leg was in and a few bandages on his torso. I couldn’t help but see him as this helpless victim that was totally destroyed by what happened to him. The bandages might come off soon but I was afraid his wounds would never heal…

“I’m afraid to sleep,” he said, breaking me out of my thoughts, “When I close my eyes…all I can see is his face.”

His voice started breaking and I could almost feel the tears building up in his eyes. I got up to stand beside him in case he wanted to turn to me and cry on my shoulder. He just stood there staring at the wall.

“I can’t close my eyes because I’m afraid that when they open, I’ll be back in that room with no way out,” he said.

I put my hand on his neck and made him look at me. The tears distorted his beautiful brown eyes as he tried to resist, but then allowed himself to look at me. I wiped a couple tears off his face and smiled at him.

“Then come stay with me,” I said.
“Wh-what?” he said.
“Come stay with me,” I repeated, “I’ll protect you. And when your eyes open…you’ll be in my room. And I’ll be there.”
“Y-you serious?” he asked.
“Of course Aaron,” I said.

I pulled him in and embraced him tightly. I felt him start crying again as we stood there. After his sobs started dying down and the sun started setting, his arms moved up to hold me back. He lifted his head and rested it on my shoulder next to my ear.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

I responded with a light kiss on his cheek. We released each other and he gathered his books. He returned to my side and I put my arm around his shoulder as we left the library together.

***​

I sat him down on his bed and kissed him on the forehead. I went over to his closet and started putting some of his clothes in his bag. When I turned around, he was smiling at me. I smiled back at him and raised my eyebrow. I walked over to him and sat down beside him on the bed.

“You feeling alright?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, “It comes and goes.”
“Are you ready to talk about it?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t going to upset him.
“Not yet Luke…” he said.
“Okay, that’s fine,” I said, “I’m here when you’re ready.”
“I know you are,” he said, “And I really, really appreciate it.”

I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him into me. We sat there for a moment in silence as his head rested on my shoulder. We were like that for a while until Aaron let out a yawn and I realized how late it was getting. The sun had completely gone away and left the world in darkness. We left the building and walked together across the courtyard. Aaron never let go of my hand.

When we got inside, he yawned again. I dropped the bag of his stuff and pulled out a white t-shirt and his gym shorts and threw them onto the chair. I smiled at him and went over to my closet to pull out some clothes for myself, when I turned and noticed Aaron clenching his teeth as he was trying to take his shirt off. I walked over to him and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. He stopped my hand and looked directly into my eyes. His eyes were full of uncertainty as he looked at me.

“Let me help,” I said.
“Luke I can do it,” he said.
“Not without hurting yourself, now please let me help,” I said.
He sighed and said, “Okay.”

I slowly and gently lifted his shirt up from the bottom and helped him slide his arms through the sleeves. When I pulled the shirt off of his head, I noticed a big black bruise near his ribs. I gently ran my fingertips over it and he flinched a little.

“Does that hurt?” I asked.
“No,” he said in a surprised tone, “Not when you touch it…”
I leaned in and lightly kissed the bruise and said, “How bout now?”
“Much better,” he said smiling.

I smiled back and kissed it again as I grabbed his shirt off of the chair. I gently slid his arms into the sleeves and pulled it over his head. When his shirt was on he unbuckled his belt and focused his eyes on mine. His pants dropped to the floor. I honestly thought I wouldn’t be able to control myself, but I did.

I slid on his gym shorts carefully over his knee-brace, looking at his sparkling blue eyes the entire time. When the shorts were secure, I stood up and smiled at him. He caught me off guard and wrapped his arms around me tightly; well as tight as he could without hurting himself.

When we broke the hug, I went and quickly changed myself. I came back and sat on my bed and noticed him sitting on the spare bed plugging his phone into its charger. I threw the covers off my bed and inched up against the wall. I looked over and saw him pulling back the covers of the spare bed.

“Hey, uh what are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting into bed?” he said questioningly.
“Well…” I said, “How am I supposed to protect you if you’re all the way over there?”
“Lucas…I don’t think I’m ready for that,” he said.
“Aaron, it’s just sleep,” I said, “Nothing has to happen if you don’t want it to.”
He sighed and said, “Okay.”

He hobbled over to my bed and eased himself in. When he was pressed up against me, I brought the blankets over to cover him and wrapped my arms around his torso underneath them. I looked at him and was relieved to see his smile again. He had a few almost invisible freckles on his face that made him look so innocent, so precious, that I could only handle looking at him for so long.

I kissed the top of his head as I shut off the lamp on the nightstand next to us. His grip tightened around me and squeezed him back as if to say, “I’m not leaving.” Sleep was about to wash over me completely when his voice rang out in the darkness and pulled me out of my almost slumber.

“Why are you here Luke,” he whispered..
“Huh?”
“I told you my reason for going to college…” he said, “What’s yours?”
“Oh,” I said, “Well I don’t really have one.”
“Come on,” he said.
“Seriously,” I said, “I’m only here for my General Ed right now. I never really came here with a plan.”
“Do you have a plan?” he asked.
“Sorta,” I said.
“Tell me,” he said softly.
“Well, I never really understood how so many people I knew already figured out what they wanted to do with their lives before they left high school and I didn’t. About five months ago, I finally figured out what I want to do.”
“What’s that?”
“For as long as I can remember music has been a driving passion in my life,” I said, “I’ve been writing songs, playing guitar, and listening to any song I could get my hands on.”
“Okay…” he said.
“Well, when I was home for the summer, I had nothing to do outside of work. My friends were all vacationing with their families so I was kinda left alone most of the summer. I was surfing the internet aimlessly and stumbled onto an ad for internships in the music industry. And that’s when it hit me.”
“What?”
“I want to do something with music. I wanna be the person who’s responsible for the band playing on that stage. I wanna be the person responsible for someone’s voice getting heard. I wanna be the person responsible for a teenager turning on the radio and hearing a song that changes their life.”
“Wow,” he said, “That’s really…”
“Lame?” I said jokingly.
“No!” he said, “Amazing.”

The smile on his face was audible in his voice. He moved his head onto my chest and used it as a pillow. I could almost feel the anxiety melting out of him as he was finally able to go to sleep. But something bugged me. Something had been playing over and over in my head for a day or so. Something made me need to probe.

“Aaron,” I said.
“Yeah?” he whispered.
“Why did you say ‘don’t thank him,’ the other day?” I asked.
“Huh?” he asked.
“When I said, ‘thank God,” you said ‘don’t thank him.’ Why?” I asked.
“Oh…” he said, “I don’t want you to think he was responsible for me waking up.”
“What?” I asked.
“You’re the reason I’m awake now,” he said, “Not God.”
“Oh…” I said.
“Good night Lucas,” he said. The grin on his face was even more obvious in his voice this time.
“Good night Aaron,” I said, “Sweet dreams.”

I love you…

 

[Craiger]

Brushing away the tears, ITC, that was a heart wrenching chapter. Very much worth the wait. There is still a lot of healing that has to come, but for now, even I feel safe now with Aaron in Lucas' protection. Looking forward to further installments.

Craiger

 

[gmoney]

Well worth the wait, ITC.

I know Aaron has a lot of healing to do, but having Luke by his side is the best thing for him.

I'm looking forward to your next installment.

 

[LADIICROFT]

Wow that was powerful. I'm happy to see that Aaron and Lucas are going to be ok.....Plz keep it comming but plz dont make us wait long...Thanx

 

[Kyanimal]

WOW! What can I say? I'm sitting here with a big smile on my face, but, I seem to be having some trouble seeing! I'm feeling a bit tense, but, also, so very warm and comfy. I have read some Very good stories here, but none have had quite the effect that Your's has! Just ... WOW!!

THANK YOU!, ITC!!

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

 

[Lefty]

damn it itc. i was hoping for a lousy chapter so i could dump this damn thread.

but oh no, oh no you couldn't accommodate that...j/k...great job as usual

 

[upyrkilt469]

ITC, that was a beautiful chapter and like Chaz I'm glad the Kleenex were close by. Thanks again and am waiting for the next capter. H&K Vic

 

[King08]

Bravo bravo. Well worth the wait. Something bad has brought them closer to ever, closer to love.

 

[TimWhite07]

ITC, that was an amazing chapter. So much love and emotion.

You have a great selection in music in this chapter. Wings of a bufferfly has got to be my favorite song of HIM's. Then Evenescece is great. Her songs useally have a good message.

This chapter was well worth the wait. Unlike some of the others i didnt have and kleenex near me, so i had to run and get some by the end

Im looking forward to your next chapter.

 

[DonQuixote]

Dear InTheCloset,
Thank you.
This was a wonderful, powerful, sad-happy chapter.

To see and hear and feel Aaron's aches and pains and despair is heartwrenching.
Then, to see Lucas work so hard to help Aaron come back from the abyss. The total giving, selflessness is wonderful.

I know that Aaron believes that Lucas was responsible for his return, not God.
Those of us who have a strong faith in God know that He works in mysterious ways, and through others. I'll choose to believe that He guided Lucas' fingers to trip on the Ipod and play the song he did.

For you see, unlike some of the Holy Roller "Christians" who love to hate all things Gay, I don't believe our good Lord has anything but love for all of us, and wants nothing but what is best for all of us, individually.

I think HE may by working through you, too. You have developed an incredible story, one that pulls at all of our heart strings.

Take care of yourself and your studies, your real life. That ALWAYS takes precedence.

Thank you, for finding the time and energy to devote to crafting this wonderful tale and sharing it with us. If IrishInvader helped you behind the scenes, perhaps poking, prodding you, we thank him, too.

 

[brasilboy1]

ITC, you have filled my heart with love for these two. I long to experience such a tender love. Thank you for giving us this marvelous story.

 

[littletosay]

Absolutely beautiful. Thanks, ITC. Can't wait for more.

 

[gmoney]

I think HE may by working through you, too. You have developed an incredible story, one that pulls at all of our heart strings.

Take care of yourself and your studies, your real life. That ALWAYS takes precedence.

Thank you, for finding the time and energy to devote to crafting this wonderful tale and sharing it with us. If IrishInvader helped you behind the scenes, perhaps poking, prodding you, we thank him, too.

What a great post!

I couldn't agree with you more.

Don't forget to rate this thread, guys. It deserves more than 5 stars!

 

[littletosay]

Everyone don't forget to rate this story. There should be 5 stars next to this thread.