“You know you are a butterfly. You are beautiful.”
Her mum always tried to make her feel special. But she knew she was a caterpillar. And she knew she would never ever be a butterfly.
Her sister ... her sister was the butterfly. She had heard this all her life. From family and friends and even strangers.
“They look so different. She is so pretty. They don’t look like sisters. This one is as pretty as you. Are their fathers’ different?” That one always got Mum. She hated that question " No, they have the same mother and father. Thank you very much!”
As far back as she could remember, her sister and her were always compared. She got the short end of the stick. Her sister got the looks, the brains and even the personality. She was the awkward one, the one that made people uncomfortable. Not as pretty, not as smart and didn’t know how to socialise.
Once when her mum told her she could be anything she wanted to be, "just put your heart and mind to it and everything will fall into place."
Mum looked surprised when she said, "No matter how hard I try I can never be Tess." Mum immediately took on that familiar tone - firm, confident and unwavering. "You are beautiful and wonderful, the way you are. You are Lily. You don’t need to be Tess.” And she didn’t hear the rest.
At first she didn’t know there was ugly and pretty, smart and stupid. Her mum did her best not to compare them. But over time, she was told in so many different ways that she was just not as good as her sister. And no matter what Mum or Tess said, she knew how the world felt.
Tess sat by the pond feeding the ducks while Lily sat beside her watching the butterflies. Her sister was oblivious to how beautiful she was. Tess kept looking down at her phone, reading messages from her friends. Tess the Butterfly, Lily the caterpillar.
Lily spotted him first, walking towards them with a purpose. She had seen that look of concentration one too many times. He would walk up to Tess and try impressing her with some lame conversation.
He walked right up to Tess as expected. She looked up and smiled at him. “Hi! Would it be ok if I joined you ladies?” Tess nodded as she always took the lead. Lily just looked away for obviously he was there for the Butterfly and she didn’t mind. It didn’t bother her anymore, she was used to it.
He sat beside Lily and smiled at her. That smile, the way he looked at her as if suddenly Tess wasn’t there. He started talking but Lily couldn't make sense of it. It took a while to register that today, the Caterpillar was beautiful.
Check out @mariannewest and @freewritehouse to find out more.
This is my submission for the 200 Day Party Challenge where we need to write one freewrite every single day for 50 days. Read other stories inspired by the prompt *Caterpillar here!!
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