~Chapter Five~The First Flap~ “Why are you doing this?” I ask Hazel, as we walk away from that terrible house. “Cause we're friends, and that's what friends do.” She doesn't look up from the ground. “Friends… don't do what you did.” “Look, I just saved your life. Can you just-” “Who said I wanted to be saved?” I interrupted her, my voice rising. “I didn't want to do this,” I gesture around us, “anymore.” “Then why'd you come with me? Why didn't you- didn't you- UGH!” She's almost yelling now. In all my years of knowing Hazel, she's always been a calm, chill type of girl. Jeez, now I've done it. “I don't know! Maybe because somewhat inside me, I want a friend, I want to know I'm not alone. And maybe I thought you-” I stop. “Never mind. It's stupid. I can't believe I'm dumb enough to think you- well, anybody- would want to be my friend. Look, I stopped trusting people and making ‘friends’ a long time ago. But you helped me, and…” I sigh. There's no way I could put my feeling onto words and there's even less chance Hazel would get it. “I do want to be your friend again,” she says quietly. “You were one of the best friends I've ever had.” “So why did you…?” “Well would you look at that. We're here.” I pretend to not catch the obvious change of topic because I don't want to make her uncomfortable. Also, I'm still processing what just happened. /Friends/? We step into the library and sit down at a table. “Soooo, what did you need help with?” We talk about math for a while until Hazel aces all of my spitfire practice questions. “You're a really good teacher. I never thought I would understand functions in an hour.” I shrug. “Thanks, I guess.” She looks at me for a moment and I squirm under her hard gaze. “Well, we're at a library,” she says, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Shall we find some books?” I have never stood up this fast. Immediately, I speed walk to the fantasy section. I look at the books with magic, where anything can happen, spells and potions and wands that can transform and change life as we know it. Villains and heroes and stories of bravery and chivalry, of greatness and power. Magic. I grabbed a few books with cool covers (who actually never judges books by their covers? I mean, seriously.) and walked back to the table, nose buried in a book. And the butterfly flaps its wings. “Woahhh!” In my haste, I bumped into a librarian who was restocking the shelves. “Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!” “It's alright, I've got it,” she says, but she sounds kinda annoyed. Which makes sense, I would be too. I bend down and help her pick the books up. A beautiful patterned brown book lined with gold catches my eye. I pick it up. It seems to be a book of… magic spells and potions? Jeez, only a super gullible person would actually want it. I'm a super gullible person. I grab it and check my books out. Then I find Hazel, who's playing video games on the computer. Oh well, to each their own. All the way home, I wonder what that book has in store.
READ PLEASE “The first flap”. This name is quite relative as there never really is ‘first’ flap in the world of the butterfly effect, because every single thing that has ever happened in the world has had an impact on this moment. That’s why the Butterfly effect is so flipping awesome. Every step you walk, every breath you take, every word I write in this Notes and Credits section- that has an impact on the future. You see, every time you do something as ‘trivial’ as breathing, or walking, or reading my essay of a footnote, the world changes. Just a bit. But it changes nonetheless. Whether it’s the amount of oxygen molecules in the air, the amount of germs on the bottom of your shoes. And the thing is, someone being born on the other side of the world has an impact on you. Have you ever heard (or read) the phrase “everything in my life has led to this moment”? That can be said for literally every moment in your life. If you hadn’t made several seemingly random decisions earlier, you might not be reading this right now, sitting on the spot you’re sitting. My point here is that there is no first flap. Tita tripping in the library would not have happened if the things that have happened in the previous chapters had happened. Those would not have happened if her parents didn’t disappear, if Ali was still her friend, if Hazel chose her over Ali. Heck, something that happened thousands of years ago had an impact on this. So there is no specific moment here that’s going to lead to what’ll happen next. This is just one of those main moments. This looks like something ChatGPT would write but I promise it’s my awesome brain lol ADIOS MAH FRENDS
