Flying as a Butterfly chapter 4

### The Falling Butterflies

Tom flew carefully around the candle, trying to let the string on his body touch the flame. Sure enough, with a whoosh, the string was burned off. Finally free, Tom was overjoyed and immediately flew to pull Lily over. However, he pulled too hard. When Lily flew over, she passed right over the flame, and her wings touched the fire. A burning smell filled the air, and Lily’s body fell and knocked over the candle, which rolled off the table.

Tom was extremely shocked. Just as he was about to go and check on Lily’s injury, a huge flame suddenly shot up. The candle had rolled into a basket full of bamboo strips and paper. The paper caught fire immediately. In an instant, the cottage was ablaze, and the butterflies in the house were burning and screaming.

Tom looked back and saw Lily looking at him with pleading eyes, flapping her wings constantly. He wanted to go and save her, but then he thought that he could fly out of the house alone, but he wasn’t sure if he could carry Lily out. Thinking of this, he hesitated. Just as he was indecisive, the fire rushed over and separated them. He turned around and flew out of the house. The house was quickly surrounded by fire.

After flying out of the house, Tom flew aimlessly. The fire was getting stronger and stronger, and the heat wave kept rolling towards him. He had to fly towards the forest. Suddenly, a branch hit him. He couldn’t dodge in time and was hit and fell to the ground. He felt a sharp pain in his knees. Looking at his body, he was a complete human being, and there were no butterfly wings at all!

Looking around, he found himself standing in front of a bamboo forest. He called out Lily’s name a few times, and soon heard Lily’s response not far away. Just as he was about to go over, he saw Lily walking over with a red and a yellow butterfly in her hand. Tom was surprised and asked, “What’s going on? Was it just a dream?” Lily shook her head and said, “I’m not sure. I only remember the fire was very big, and then it suddenly disappeared. Then I saw these two butterflies hanging on the branch in front and took them.”

They walked back to the wooden cabin along the original path. Their friends laughed and asked if they went out to have a private conversation. Lily didn’t say a word and just lowered her head and went into the room.

The next day, they found that the two butterflies couldn’t fly anymore. They went to the stall where they bought the butterflies, but the old woman was gone. Only a young girl was selling tourist souvenirs there.

Tom went up to ask. The girl said, “She went to treat someone early this morning. Everyone here knows that the old woman can use hypnosis and treat diseases.”

After this trip, Tom noticed that Lily was gradually becoming cold towards him. Eventually, they broke up. He didn’t ask the reason because he already knew the answer. The mysterious old woman had shown them each other’s true hearts. Lily was willing to die with him in times of danger, but he chose to save himself at the critical moment. Tom knew that he didn’t deserve such a good girl.