1
Reece often dreamed of butterflies, the paper thin insects so intricate and beautiful, she longed to see one in real life. This dream proved to be quite different from her other dreams, she was standing in a forest, she had never seen a forest either but knew of them from movies and books. The idea of forests were confusing to her, some sources claimed they were sinister places where people died and wild animals ripped innocents to shreds; others viewed it as a masterpiece of creation, a beautiful sanctuary where one could find inner peace among the giant trees and squirming life. Reece trusted the latter; in her dream the forest was absolutely wonderful. Butterflies floated everywhere, of all impossible shapes, colors, and sizes. A giant moth blocked out the sun overhead, she looked up at it. Giant brown eye markings gazed down at her from its wings, but the markings weren’t fibrous, they looked as if they had been painted on. The moth extended one of its feathery antennae toward a clearing ahead. Without question Reece curiously walked toward that meadow, brightness overtook her, but when her eyes adjusted she saw a quaint cottage ahead, a thin trail of smoke billowing from the chimney, someone was home. She danced toward the door and cracked it open; a friendly smell of coffee and warmth filled her lungs as she entered the dark, welcoming room. A radio was on in the kitchen to the left, the sun streaming in and illuminating the small floor space. To the right was a closed door, Reece could make out shadows moving about behind the window, but they were blurred due to the facets in the glass. Reece approached the door, a shiny plaque below the window read: Andrew J. Emerenton. She let herself be known by pushing her face against the glass, straining to get a glimpse inside.
“Come on in, Reece.” A familiar voice beckoned from the inside.
Reece pushed the handle down and opened the door, out burst hundreds of white butterflies into the living room and out the window. Reece stood in the doorway, hair standing in unnatural ways on her head from the encounter.
“Reece, nice of you to stop by. Welcome to my house.” Drew was sitting at a writing desk facing the far wall, a pair of scissors in hand. “I hope you enjoyed the walk.” He lifted a piece of white parchment and held it to the light, then proceeded to cut a mysterious shape from the paper.
Drew was a kind man; he was her doctor at the Foundation. He was in his late fifties, tall and lean, but quite fit for his age. Drew never liked to talk about himself, his only concern was everyone else, especially Reece.
Reece watched Drew work, idly standing in the warm sunlight seeping through the small shuttered window above Drew’s head. Reece waited a minute? An hour? She didn’t know, all she knew that she saw white reflection on the wall, it was moving, quickly. A white butterfly emerged from the desk, gliding across the room, and landing delicately on Reece’s outstretched hand. It was pure white as the parchment paper, Reece looked up and jumped, Drew towered over her. The butterfly flew away.
Drew’s mouth was moving, he was telling her something important, she knew from the look on his face. But his words were incomprehendible, Reece could feel the world blurring around her… she didn’t want to leave… it was nice here… so much better than the dirty, gray building she reluctantly called home… the world pulsed with a red light…

Reece’s eyes opened to the unwelcoming sight of her unkempt room, it wasn’t exactly a challenge to keep it tidy, what with her few possessions, but the messiness made it more homely. Reece pushed her alarm response button and the clicking red light ceased. Another day of her dull boring life was in full force. In contrast with her dream last night, Reece felt especially moody and depressed.
And disgusting, Reece felt disgusting.
Maybe today was a good day to paint a bathroom stall with mashed potatoes again, maybe adding a few more etchings to the bottom of her writing desk would give her the vandalism fix she needed. The ward provided her with art supplies, but Reece didn’t see the thrill in doing what she was supposed to do. It wasn’t like they could prove it was her anyway, she had become a master of not being caught.
Reece booted up her small pocket screen which was laying on her nightstand. She took a look at her requirements for the day, Warehouse Training, Auditorium for Class 5, and Private Therapy… not a horrible schedule, Private Therapy meant she got to hang out with Drew for a few hours.
She rolled out of bed onto the floor, using her quilt to break her fall somewhat. She left it there on the ground and walked out the door of her small closet of a dorm. She felt like someone had blown a balloon inside her head. She walked to the communal bathroom and approached a mirror looking less than pleasant. Reece felt her forehead for fever, but couldn’t tell.
It definitely wasn’t Brevifolia, like everyone else got. Brevifolia included hallucinations, hysteria, rapid heartbeat, and many other unpleasant symptoms wrapped up in a nice little package. Reece lived in one of the largest complexes in the world: The Reynold’s Foundation of Science. It was really a prison, a giant hospital designed to treat the disease that had wracked the world many years ago. It was only curable in the first 18 years of development in a person, after age eighteen everyone in the Foundation would move on to the outside world and start their life. Some find love, some find their parents, and some find what they feel they were meant to do. Reece didn’t understand why she had to be here, she never contracted Brevifolia once in her life, but she was given the medication for it anyway, a monthly dosage of the disease to help the patient build an immunity. Reece of course accepted the treatment; she didn’t want to end up like the Permanents, living like lepers in colonies in the wilderness, forever haunted by sickness.
Reece quickly washed cool water over her face and went back to her room to put on some decent clothes, the same shirt she had been wearing and a pair of gray sweatpants which were much to big for her. The drawstring cinched so tightly that it nearly touched the ground, it was quite a pain on days she forgot to tuck the strings into her waistband and they would get stuck in a door. She once spent a half hour waiting for someone to unlock a door after the stray string had gotten stuck, she had considered taking the pants off but decided against walking through the halls in her underwear.
She turned right out of her door and evasively navigated through the maze-like corridors of fluorescent halls, many people got lost in the Foundation but Reece possessed an internal map that never failed her.
She stopped at an office door labeled ‘Andrew J. Emerenton’ and peered inside. Drew was writing notes at his desk on an important-looking piece of paper before he noticed her glaring eye in the entrance. Reece accurately interpreted this as a welcome queue and slipped inside, much less gracefully than usual due to her fever.
“Hi Drew.” Reece pushed a sweat-sodden chunk of hair from her brow. “Do you have any more of that stuff? I think the fever is back.”
Drew stood and approached her, feeling her forehead. “Good lord, sit down.” He pulled a stool out from the other side of the room. Before she knew it, Reece had a cup of water and fever pills at her lap.
“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” Drew sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk.
Reece thought for a moment, this was definitely the worse it had ever gotten. Perhaps she had something along with Brevifolia… “It is, actually.” She squinted at him, the lights in the room suddenly becoming glowy.
Drew sighed “Take the medicine, go rest.
Reece silently obeyed.
“Oh, and meet me tomorrow in the courtyard when you wake.” He mentioned as she was leaving.
2
Reece woke up again; it must have been about noon. She looked out her small window, which she was extremely lucky to have, and felt the warmth of the sun pouring in. Reece felt slightly better, she had slept over 24 hours after all. She lay in bed for a few minutes until her feet sweated, yearning for use. She got up and put on her warmer clothes, cotton leggings and a striped blue men’s dress shirt with a thin cotton jacket.
Reece emerged from the building and into the courtyard, which was surrounded on three sides by the structure, but the fourth side was a tall electrified fence. The wardens told the patients that it kept coyotes out, but Reece knew what its true purpose was. She scanned the yard, despite the direct sunlight, and the fact that the Foundation lay in the middle of a desert, it was incredibly cold and windy. A few kids played ball in the field, smaller kids swung on the tire swing, teenagers played a sophisticated game consisting of four holes in the ground and a small clay ball, a game Reece had never bothered to learn.
There he was. Drew sat in a brown trench coat with the collar turned up against the wind close to the fence. Reece tucked her frigid pink hands into her pockets and approached.
“Took you long enough.” Drew smiled as he noticed her; he was holding one of the clay playing balls in his palm.
“Kind of slept in, why are we here?” Reece hugged her jacket tighter in the wind.
“I’m going to show you something, but we need to go somewhere private.” Drew got up and started toward the corner of the yard. He turned toward the electric fence and beckoned Reece.
“This is a blind spot from the security cameras, and the yard is the only place in the Foundation that’s not bugged.”
He lifted the ball up and dropped it from eye level, in a split second it fell like anyone would expect, but after it came about a fourth of the way closer to the ground it slowed, levitating in mid-air.
Reece’s wide eyes grew to planet-status. “How in the world…” She whispered in amazement.
“Air currents, I can control them with a kind of… electricity inside me. It looks as if the ball is hovering on its own, but put your hand closer to it.”
Reece eyed him, making sure he meant it, then tentatively reached out her fingers. When they grazed closer to the ball she noticed a current of air sweeping all around the ball, warm then cool mixing to keep hovering.
“High pressurized particles always yearn to travel to low pressure spaces, that’s what I’m doing with the air around the ball, I make a low pressure zone right above it and a high one right below it, chemistry does the rest.” He released the ball and caught it. “Now” he put it in his pocket “I have something very important to tell you, something you must never ever repeat to anyone here at the Foundation.”
Reece nodded eagerly.


I'd really like to know what you think of this story, I've been working it out in my head for quite a few years now. I encourage critique and general thoughts. If you would like a full synopsis of the story I can P.M. it to you for futher critique
~KMPark