Black Butterfly, Where Does the Black Butterfly Go Drink Water by Beep Beep Beep
Proofreader/Editor: Itane, Hwarang
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“Ahh- I really don’t. Want. To. Go-“
After he complained about 37 times to the bald chief and to his partner who went on a vacation, Jude wore a backpack that had the case files and basic necessary toiletry. A big sign that continuously updated points of departure and destinations, an airport speaker with a polite voice, and people carrying luggage, walking busily. It was dinner time, but the airport that had the smell of machines was always busy. Jude looked at the view hopelessly –I’m really at the airport!- and sighed deeply and went on his way.
He gave his ticket to a female worker near the entrance gate and sighed deeply once more. His shoulders went down by themselves. I wasn’t this nervous when I was taking the police exam.
“-Welcome…. Do you feel ill?”
“Yes, but I can’t go back, so don’t worry about it.”
Tim, I’ll torture you when you get back from the vacation. Jude mumbled and walked staring at the ground hesitant in front of the plane door for the last time. He tilted his head like –can I really do this?- and he started to move again when a person’s glared at him. He sighed with full of self-pitying. He wasn’t happy to see an alley with blue seats in the both sides.
G1, G2, G3……. G14, G16, G18……
G19.
It was a seat with a window. If a kid whined about opening the window to see outside, I’ll show him the police badge. The plane hasn’t even started moving, but it felt like the ground was shaking already. Jude sat on the seat and covered the window first.
A watch that he loosely wore on his wrist made the sound that was strangely ringing in his ears. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He leaned his head on the chair and felt someone sitting next to him. Hearing a quiet sound, fortunately it doesn’t seem to be a kid. Yes, I thought it was a good thing.
Until I heard a quiet voice.
“Are you sleeping?”
My neck turned, it probably made a wind sound.
“……..Ah.”
“Long time no see.”
This annoying calm smile, and the quiet voice ringing in my ears. Jude vacantly stared at the face that was making Jude’s mind go blank at the same time. He messed up his hair and turned away. A mumble like a moaning came out.
“…….I should’ve gotten a doctor’s note. I got so sensitive that I’m starting to see hallucination…….”
“What do you mean hallucination? I’m disappointed.”
“Then do you want me to take this as a reality? No way, this is neurosis, neurosis.”
“Why, I can’t ride an airplane?”
When there was a voice mixed with a little of laugh, Jude opened his eyes and spoke bluntly like a person speaking about common senses having gone missing.
“Then do you think it makes sense? Get off, so I can cuff you.”
A young man who covered his bluish grey eyes with blue contact lens smiled innocently and politely.
“-Do you think I’ll get off?”
“Do you think you can stay after alerting to a security guard?”
“Will the security guard believe you?”
“I can show him my badge. Now, now, get off fast.”
“Do you even have your badge?”
“Of course…..” Jude put his hand in his pocket and soon frowned. In the pocket where it’s full of house key and receipts, there was no familiar shape. Alvin giggled quietly.
“……When did you take it?”
“Right after I came. I’ll give it back later.”
“You think I can’t arrest you without the badge? Don’t you know your face is everywhere?”
“That’s why I wore color contact lens and glasses and dyed my hair a little. People shiver at the story of a killer, but they don’t always think that kind of a person would roam among them. You know that. Most of the people don’t think a person around them will attack except for a lunatic. That’s why Mrs. Rice took me in.”
“…..Ah, is that so.”
“And if you call the security now, I can make him think you are more dangerous than me. Do you want to test it? It’s a small trick, but it’s pretty useful. How do you think I brought only one guard out when I escaped?”
The voice was very quiet. Jude looked at Alvin like he bit into something he shouldn’t have. He soon turned away making a small sound. All the cells inside his body got filled with annoyance. He frowned unknowingly.
“Do you feel sick?”
“……Don’t care about it.”
In that moment, there was an announcement that the plane would be leaving soon. An insincere voice wishing for a fun flight, a horrible news that it would leave soon, an uncomfortable instruction saying he must fasten the seatbelt. He reluctantly held the belt, but for some reason, his hands were trembling like a drug addict. Clang, clang, the belt kept on missing the spot. He got annoyed fast and desperately wished for a smoke.
Tsk, he clicked his tongue, but suddenly there was a pale and thin hand that held the belt instead of Jude. Click, Jude unconsciously shrugged at the belt easily going in. He sighed at the hand that tapped the belt once.
“Detective……”
“What.”
“Are you aerophobic?”
“Will you believe me if I say no?”
They said it’s not the worst if you can say it’s the worst, but in this situation this is the worst for Jude. He was ‘on the plane’, and ‘that bastard’ is next to him, and that bastard found out about ‘the truth.’
Drrrrr, a heavy airplane started to move to fly, and Jude inhaled his breath and tightly held the armrest.
“……Will they let me get off if I ask them……. This was a bad idea…….. maybe if I beg them please let me out……. No, first to chief…….”
He murmured like he was having a light seizure. On top of the hand that was grabbing the armrest tightly that white bones were showing, there was another hand that lightly held it. Jude chuckled.
“…….I feel more nervous.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not……!”
Guuuuuu! When he felt the airplane speeding up for take off, Jude ended up grabbing the thin hand that was on top of his hand. He yelled “Damn it!” endlessly. The detective with dark blonde hair deeply regretted his action. You might not see it since it’s been several years, but I can see it more clearly! Jude grinded his teeth like he was going to break them, and when the plane started to lift, he closed his eyes.
When he grabbed the thin and stern line of the hand like he was going to break it with his left hand, the other hand approached him and tapped his shoulder.
“It’s okay.”
“……..It’s……not……”
“It’s okay. We are not going to fall.”
“…..I feel sick……”
“We have a bag, here. But first breathe. It’s okay.”
He wanted to throw up at the feeling of someone stroking his back, then it might get worse. Jude calmed down his stomach and breathed slowly. The breath that was short got a little bit more comfortable when the airplane stopped elevating the altitude and started to fly stably. He leaned his stiff body on the seat and exhaled deeply and heard Alvin slightly laughing voice.
“Detective, my hand hurts.”
He then realized the hand that he was grabbing tightly and let it go like throwing it away, and he saw a flight attendant looking at him with a strange face and looked away. He mumbled, “I think she misunderstood us,” and Alvin laughed.
“I didn’t know that Detective had this kind of a side.”
“I didn’t know until I rode an airplane either.”
“Ah, the window!”
Jude confessed with a pale voice then a kid suddenly burst in next to Jude. It was a boy sitting next to Alvin about eleven years old. The boy suddenly put up the window curtain that Jude had put down and made Jude panic. He turned his head away hearing a cracking sound from his neck, and there was Alvin’s gentle like voice.
“He put that down because he was tired and tried to go to sleep. Can you close it back? That’s a good boy.”
“Ehh- that’s not fair!”
Alvin smiled at the childish voice. Jude looked at that smile with a little indifferent face and insincerely tapped the boy’s back.
“Okay, go back, go back. Where is your mother?”
He tried to make the boy go back to his seat, but there was a voice that was starting to get husky from the back seat.
“Hey, El! I’m telling on you if you are misbehaving.”
A brown short haired young older boy popped out. He seemed like he exercises because he was pretty big and had muscles, but his face was still young. Is he the older brother of this boy? The boy went back to his seat with a disappointed face. The older boy politely apologized.
“I’m sorry. My younger brother is still too young.”
“No, it’s okay…… I’ll go to the restroom.”
Jude answered a little bit pale and stood up touching his head that was still dizzy. He ignored the kids’ sound- “So, El, let’s play. Do you want to play circus?” “Ye-s! I want to, I want to!” Jude came out to the alley, and Alvin lightly grabbed his arm as if asking if he was okay, but he insincerely shook it off and went to the restroom. He tried his best not to see the view –a dark night sky with flying clouds underneath.- outside through the opened the widows.
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Yay I love Alvin! I would love if a hot guy holds my hand....
and what's going to happen here? huehuehue
Continue to Part 15
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