I never saw another butterfly

"D-D-Daniel? I....I remember the name...." Shade yelled and grabbed her head. She squeezed the pencil so hard it broke it in half.

Shade muttered: "I...I remember....the words! I kept saying them to myself... Home, run, free, Daniel. Over and over. Are you-" Shade winced again. "Something tells me not to remember. Not here. Not now. I....I have too much work to do! Perhaps we can talk later?" Shade looked up at him with a smile. "I wouldn't mind looking at and talking to a handsome fella like you again. So exactly how much do you know about Newton's 2nd Law applied to Inertia? It would be a great if you could help!"

Shade chuckled as she grabbed another pencil out of her ear. "Seriously though...later okay?"
 
"That one's my pencil, too!" Daniel exclaimed, snatching the pencil out of her hand. "God, I know you had a habit of doing this, but finding two on you in one day?" He grinned slightly, trying to push her more towards normal. Shoving both into his bag, he answers, "Inertia is the friction, I think," he answered, ignoring her innocent flirting. If she honestly didn't remember anything, it would be a problem if she did anything more than flirting. "But, look," he said. "Meet me in the Orchard today in free period. We'll figure this out, yeah?" Smiling again, he stands, pleasantly surprised that she hadn't tried to get him to eat.
 
Shade called after Daniel: "Oi! Are all men like this? That was my last pencil!! Hey come back! I want the damn pencil!"

Shade chuckled. She already liked Daniel and she bet she liked him even more if she remembered him. He made her excited. Shade searched for a pen and noticed a strange leather bound book. Huh....didn't notice that before.

Jade practically floated through her classes. Her teachers often excused her to study in the library as long as she returned with a few missed assignments that were signed by the library. Jade was looking forward to seeing Daniel.

Free period was before today. It was nice being on a rotating schedule. Confusing, but nice.

Jade skipped to the Orchard. Oddly she knew the way without thinking. Before she realized it, she had walked halfway in and climbed up a tree. She hummed as she read the book she was assigned to write an essay on. Shade was almost finished with it even though she had started this morning. She was a naturally fast reader-it seems she always had been.
 
As Daniel walked to the Orchard, hoping Shade remembered the way, he was relieved to see her up in the tree. Climbing up after her, still as slow as always, he eventually made it to the branch, settling against the trunk. "You still doing okay?" he asked, smiling slightly.
 
"Well you do have a bad habit of making me excited. So I'd say peachy!" Shade smiled and earmarked her book at the place she was. It was a nasty habit, but she loved being reminded where she had stopped and where others had too.

"Now you wanted to meet me here why?" Shade moved closer. "If I didn't know better I'd say you dragged me out here to kiss me!!"
 
"You wouldn't remember it, I don't think, but you did the very same thing to me up here once. But really, I told you to come here because...where's your journal? Or your sketchbook, do you have that?" He smiled at her slightly, trying to figure out how to become friends with her again.
 
"Journal? Oh! you mean....." Shade jumped down and dug out the leather bound book that she had seen earlier. "This?" At Daniel's nod, Shade opened up the book and began reading. Bits and pieces slowly came back to her as she read. The more Shade read, the more her head began to throb. After reading most of the pages, it hit at full force and Shade screamed.

Oh god it hurts so much. Shade never expected the pain to be as sharp as this. I can withstand bugs and irons, but this makes me scream. Shade opened her eyes in excitement. "I....I....I REMEMBER! Daniel!" Shade was excited that she could kiss and hug him and she would do exactly that when she had the chance.

There was a sharp pain still in Shade's head and she had nasty feeling it wasn't going away anytime soon.
 
As soon as she screamed, Daniel moved to her side, placing his arms around her until she shouted in excitement. A wide smile splitting his face, he looked around quickly before placing a quick kiss on her lips, unbelievably happy that she remembered him. "That's great," he told her, kissing her cheek this time.

"Never let yourself disappear like that...You don't know how much I missed you these two weeks."
 
"I tried my hardest, but they took away everything... I remember... every time I'd find something to carve with or write with they'd take it away. I didn't even get very far. I even.... " Shade sighed and begun unbuttoning her top shirt. Shade noticed Daniel's face. She kept unbuttoning to reveal a tank top. Shade lifted up a tank top to reveal a jagged scar from scratching on her stomach.

"I even tried using my own blood-don't get me wrong I was desperate, but all I could remember was the words: home, run, free, and Daniel. Give me credit, at least I remembered your name," said Shade as she still held her shirt up.
 
"I'm so...so sorry, Shade," Daniel said. "You were so strong these two weeks. I've only spent them worrying and afraid that something terrible had happened to you...I promise, no matter what, I'll get you out of here, okay?" He grinned at her, gently taking her hand and squeezing it. It'll be okay, he told himself, desperate to believe that they would get out of the the school. "We'll get out, we'll finally be...normal. No matter what, I promise."
 
Shade led his hand to her still bare hip and she leaned in "I tried hardest not to, but I knew you'd bring me back. If anyone could it would be you." Shade leaned in and kissed him for a little while. She then pulled back away from them. "What about the blueprints? I...I don't know if I could take another basement. You'd be okay in it maybe if you got the same treatment. I...honestly....as much as want to think about the plan....I" Shade proceeded to put Daniel's other hand on her heart which was already beating hard with excitement. "I can't seem to."
 
Daniel felt like the happiest man alive when she kissed him, glad that she was able to do so again. Slightly disappointed when she finally pulled away, he closed his eyes when she placed his hand on her heart, feeling her racing heart. "We'll figure out something," he answered her, trying to figure out if he could find a way for force Bryan into getting the blueprints or if he could find them himself. "It'll be fine."
 
Shade stepped away and nodded. She began buttoning her shirt back up slowly though the heat me her not want to. "I...we...we could before the blueprints....just us....without him-forget its stupid. We need to head back and I probably could get away with not knowing the rules cause I don't remember much and the teachers know."

Shade picked up her bag, walked up to Daniel, and said "At least I remember you now cutie. It is a bit funny how I met you practically the same way for the second time." Shade smiled and kissed him on the lips again.
 
Melting into the kiss, Daniel pressed back gently, but kept his hand on her hip, not wanting either of them to pull away. When he needed to breathe, he finally broke it, glad that no one had disturbed them. "We'll figure it out," he told her, reluctantly letting go of her. "I promise you, it'll all be alright." He grinned again, his smile genuine as he led the way back to the door, feeling like the day had just gotten brighter, thanks to Shade remembering him.
 
Shade floated back to class humming just like she had arrived. When she arrived and sat down, a sharp pain in her mind caused her to yell slightly. "Im sorry teacher, just an unexpected pain in my head,"

"Please excuse yourself to medical center."

"Where is the medical center again?" Shade asked.

"Room 23."

shade gathered her things and left the class. The pain spiked a few times in her brain but she managed to reach her destination. The nurse was friendly and prescribed her medicine for migraines.

On the way back to class Jade notified something strange and she hurried to finish the day to tell Daniel of what she had seen.
 
As soon as he was let out of his last class, Daniel went to Shade's last class, glad that he had gotten there before she left. Waiting outside for her to come, he almost took her hand immediately, before coming to his senses. "Hey," he said, smiling. "How's your day been?"
 
((Sorry if my responses are slow. I'm two weeks away from finals))

"It's been... interesting. I had a migraine... and they sent me to the medical center."

Shade pulled him outside and made sure they were alone. "Daniel....I saw something..." Shade lowered her voice. "I saw something strange. I think...we're underground. I think that all of this is just stimulation of the outside. It makes sense. There's not really much weather. I just assumed we were somewhere in California or something, but I don't think it's ever rained once here."

Shade leaned as close to Daniel she could get without getting in trouble. He wasn't touching her but it felt like they were grazing each other. It was exciting. Momentarily, Shade was distracted. She then shook her head and proceeded: "I saw mud and roots at the top of the window then a metal bar and then the sky as we had seen it earlier. It was..... strange...."
 
Daniel's eyebrows had risen steadily when he heard what Shade had to say. It seemed impossible, but...felt true. Still, he had to ask, "How...how is it possible? I remember coming here in the fourth grade, I remember my family, the outside world...It doesn't make sense..." He trailed off, thinking, sitting down on a nearby bench.

"So..." he continued, concentrated in deep thinking. "If we break a window or just keep walking into the Orchard or something...we'll find dirt or a wall...?"
 
"Possibly? I saw it by the medical center. I don't think it's that simple. Remember when we first went out in the Orchard? Remember how we had walked almost the end and they caught us, but they let us go cause it was my idea and I was new?"

She loved that memory right up to that point. It was fun and everything was new. For Shade, it had been the first time-at least what she had thought at that point-that things were finally good.

"I think there's more than 2 stories here. Like have you ever seen a person on the top of a building? Ever?"
 
"I always assumed it was because they didn't need it," Daniel said, frowning. "But...if you think this is what it is, d'you," he lowered his voice. "D'you suppose we should sneak out here and try to find out? Like, tonight? Or try to find a way to the roof or something?" Leading her further into the Orchard, so they would be less likely to be seen by anyone in the school, he waited for an answer, suddenly paranoid now that he had no idea what was real and what was pure coincidence.
 
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