July 22 - Butterflies

[pompey_01]

Title: Butterflies

Author: Pompey

Universe: BBC

Rating: PG

Warnings: somewhat animal ick

Word count: 200

Summary: John is seeing butterflies. And the butterflies are tasting John.

Prompt: July 22 – animal vegetable mineral

 

Evening was falling. The park was growing cooler and quieter. And John, having been drugged and dumped behind some large bushes, awoke headachy and nauseous and sweaty from lying out in the sun for hours.

 

John managed to roll onto his back although the movement aggravated his symptoms. He stilled again, appreciating the shade the boxwood bush offered now that the sun had turned. He let his eyes shut.

 

Not long after (then again, he couldn’t be sure if he had dozed off or not), John felt a tiny tickling sensation along his hairline and cheeks. Twitching his facial muscles only did briefly stopped the sensation. Cracking open an eye, he saw that three or four butterflies were had put out their tongues (“Proboscis, John,” Sherlock would correct him later at hospital) and seemed to be licking at his skin. John did not try to brush them away and eventually they flew off of their own accord.

 

“I thought I was hallucinating,” John admitted quietly, hours after the fact.

 

“No,” Sherlock replied just as quietly. “They likely were licking your skin. You said you were sweaty when you awoke. They wanted the minerals like sodium that were in your sweat.”

 

Comments

[debriswoman]

An unsettling image…