User blog:Echostar/The Butterfly

You have just logged in to Dumbledore's Army wiki, checking out the recent activity and logging on to chat. You have no sooner greeted your fellow users on chat when you're mother says in a shrill, excited voice. "Come quick! There's a monarch butterfly right on our flowers.  Come quick!"

Not wanting to miss the butterfly, you leap out of your seat in the office and hurry down the hallway, your bare feet moving quickly over the floor. In only three strides, you slip. The hard floor is perilous even in its aridity, and you flail your arms to catch yourself. Your hands hit the walls beside you and break your fall, though your feet coast uselessly on the slippery floor.

Pain. The little toe on your right foot has collided with the trash can. Stumbling into the kitchen, you are consumed by the pain as you stare dully at the butterfly, whose beauty is lost amidst the affliction that clouds your mind.

The sting begins to ebb away as you hop toward the bathroom, clutching your foot. You believe that it will simply be a bruise until you sit down and examine your toe. Blood covers it, making it unrecognizable. Your eyes lift to see the blood trail you have left.

Your mother assists you as you rinse your toe, press a paper towel against it for a few minutes, and wrap it in a bandage. Considering yourself lucky, you return to the computer and continue speaking to the other wiki users. After a few minutes, you glance down at your toe, only to find blood seeping through the bandage.

Your mother, taking full charge this time, wraps the poor toe in gauze. The tide of blood continues to flow, like the current of a fast stream. For a quarter of an hour you work to build the dam, but to no avail. At last, it is decided to let it stop bleeding on its own, though it contines

Each touch of the toe becomes sheer agony; each step becomes a fire to run through. Upon comparison, your injured little toe is much too light and flexible. There can be no other explanation; the bone has broken.

"Thank you, butterfly, for giving me my first broken toe."

XD