Eleanor has always felt a strange attraction to certain living creatures. She senses there are butterflies growing inside of her. They flit in every direction at all times of the day. As they move, she feels a mixture of comfort in knowing she is not alone and uneasiness because she knows they cannot stay inside forever. They will need to make their way out of her body one way or another. Sometimes they are released, and the space they occupied quickly fuses closed, leaving no trace of their presence. And sometimes, they take a piece of Eleanor with them. Eleanor longs to follow these creatures to freedom. Her life has become a beautiful but stifling cage of her own making. Her fear of the unknown and of leaving her familiar surroundings, keeps her tethered to the bars of the cage. She knows that it is up to her to summon the strength to leave her gilded enclosure. She entered willingly, took the comforts offered, and hoped that would be enough. When it wasn’t, the butterflies came; like an omen of truth. She closes her eyes and dreams of a life where she no longer worries what others think of her; where she is not hiding who she is; and where she can finally be whole. Then she feels it – the butterflies are lifting her up and out of the enclosed space she has been inhabiting. She does not know what will happen next, but she knows it will be real.
