The Glass Butterfly

The sun felt warm on my shoulders as I sat in the middle of our garden. My big sister, Flora, and her friend Maya were showing me Flora's favorite thing in the whole world: a sparkly glass butterfly that glowed like a rainbow. Maya, who is always curious about how things work, held it up to the light to see the colors dance on the grass. We were having the best afternoon ever among the blooming daisies.

Flora and Maya went inside to get some lemonade, leaving the butterfly resting on a soft velvet cushion. I knew I should wait, but I wanted to see the rainbow colors for myself. I reached out my small hand to touch the smooth wings. But as I picked it up, my fingers slipped. Time seemed to slow down as the butterfly tumbled through the air and landed on the stone path with a sharp 'clack'. One of its beautiful wings had a long, jagged crack right down the middle.

My heart started thumping against my ribs like a little drum. Thump-thump, thump-thump. I heard the back door creak open and the girls' laughter coming closer. I wanted to hide the butterfly under a leaf or pretend I didn't know what happened. My hands were shaking, and my tummy felt like it was full of jumpy frogs. Maya ran over, her curious eyes scanning the ground, and she asked why I looked so pale.

I took a deep breath, even though it felt hard to do. I looked at Flora's kind face and decided to use all my inner strength. 'I'm sorry, Flora,' I whispered, my voice trembling. 'I touched your butterfly when I wasn't supposed to, and I dropped it. I broke the wing.' I waited for her to be angry, but instead, the scary feeling in my chest started to melt away because the secret was out. I had told the truth.

Flora knelt down and hugged me tightly while Maya leaned in to inspect the crack. Flora told me she was sad about the wing, but she was very proud of me for being honest. Maya suggested we use some special clear glue to fix it, and together we spent the rest of the afternoon making the butterfly strong again. As the sun set, I realized that telling the truth made me feel much better than any secret ever could.