After a while, he felt something touching his body. He then heard someone talking.

  "A bit hairy, but eh, since when has hair ever bothered me?" The voice said, and Ronny heard them gulp.

  He turned around to see a blowfly standing right in front of him. The fly's eyes opened wide when they saw Ronny.

  "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I thought you were a piece of food" It said.

  "It's okay..," Ronny said, wiping a tear from his eye, "You can eat me if you want"

  The fly's eyes got wider. It crawled over to Ronny.

  "I appreciate the offer but I don't think you'd taste that good," It said, then noticed Ronny had been crying, "What's a matter, little caterpillar?"

  "Nothing you'd be interested in, you're just a fly" Ronny told the fly.

  "Hey, I may be 'just a fly', but I've heard it all," The fly said, "The name's Bourke, and you look like you got a story to tell, Mr..."

  "Ronny" Ronny introduced himself, looking up at the fly.

  Ronny told Bourke the whole story, of how everyone he knew had either already turned into a cocoon or a butterfly, and how his mum had just started her cocoon, but most of all, why he was upset. How he was so close to seeing his father emerge from his cocoon, but instead he saw him die.

  "You know what it sounds to me?" Bourke told him.

  "What?" Ronny asked.

  "Sounds like you're just a late developer, and there ain't nothing wrong with that," Bourke replied, "So, you know what I'd do?"

  "What?" Ronny repeated himself.

  "I'd go back there to that tree and figure out what it'd take to get you ready to make a cocoon, and then you know what I'd do when I was in that cocoon?" Bourke told him.

  Ronny looked at Bourke.

  "I'd think about your pappy," Bourke said, "No matter how hard it is, think about how you ain't gonna let him down, become the most beautiful butterfly of them all through thought. Then I'd ask that girl out"

  "Go back?" Ronny asked, "But I don't think I can right now"

  "Well, no worries, I know a safe haven where you can be alone with your thoughts, jump on" Bourke offered.

  Ronny thought about this for a moment, then took a look at the tree he came from. He knew he wouldn't be able tohandle going back. All his friends and his mother were entombed in their cocoons and he had no one else there to talk to. This Bourke character might have been a fly, but he was the closest thing Ronny had to a friend right now.

  "Sure" Ronny said as he climbed onto Bourke's back.

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  "Whenever you're ready to come back here and make your cocoon, you just let me know" Bourke told him as he flew away with Ronny on his back.

  Weeks passed, and a butterfly emerged from each cocoon over time. Mark emerged as a bright red monarch butterfly, Tick emerged as a bright yellow butterfly, Lucia as a snow white butterfly and Molly emerged as a beautiful pink butterfly. But there seemed to be someone missing. Lucia, Mark and Tick sat on a branch, trying to think. Then Tick managed to remember.

  "Ronny!" He said.

  "That's right, Ronny's not a butterfly yet!" Lucia exclaimed.

  "Then where is he?" Mark asked, looking around.

  "Look, there's his mum!" Tick said as he noticed Molly flying by, "Maybe she knows!"

  "Ronny's mum!" Lucia called as she flew over to where Molly was.

  The two butterflies hovered in the air.

  "What is it, Lucia?" Molly asked.

  "Do you know where Ronny is? Is he a butterfly yet?" Lucia asked her.

  "I'm afraid I haven't seen him since I emerged, sweetheart," Molly said, "I'm terribly worried about him. If you do see him, let me know, will you?"

  "Hey, Lucia!" Mark called from the branch, "Come see what Tick found!"

  Lucia and Molly flew down to the other butterflies and noticed what they saw. A soid dark brown cocoon hanging from a single branch. Molly then realised what branch this was. This was the branch Malcolm had made his cocoon on. Which could only mean one thing.

  "Kids, I think I know where Ronny is" She told the other three.

  "No way!" Tick shouted.

  "All right!" Mark exclaimed.

  "Ohmygosh, is that Ronny's cocoon?" Lucia squealed as she began flying toward it, but Molly stopped her.

  "I think it's best we leave him, don't you?" She said, pushing Lucia back.

  "Yeah..," Lucia replied, "Tell him to come see us when he emerges!"

  "Yeah!" Mark said.

  "I wonder what kind of butterfly he'll look like!" Tick said as the three flew away.

  Molly flew down to the cocoon and hovered in front of it. She smiled at it, knowing this was her son's. Knowing he wanted to complete what her husband didn't. As she smiled at the cocoon, she reached out to touch it, only to feel it wasn't silky. It was stringy. Her smile suddenly faded. She knew what this meant. She also knew what this meant for Ronny.

  "You must be his mother" said a voice from on the branch.

  "Ah!" Molly screamed as she flew backwards.

  She looked on the branch and saw a bowfly. She eyed it suspiciously.

  "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you or nothin'," It said, "Just come to check on him"

  It pointed at Ronny's cocoon. Molly looked at her son's cocoon then back to the fly.

  "I'm Bourke," The fly introduced itself, "I met Ronny when you were all in your cocoons"

  "How do you know my son?" Molly asked, flying up to the branch to sit next to Bourke.

  "He was having a little cry on the windowsill I frequent some weeks back," Bourke explained to her, "I almost mistook him for some food. He then proceeded to tell me everything that happened"

  "Why didn't he come back?" Molly asked.

  "He couldn't handle coming back, being around caterpillars who were already in their cocoons when he wasn't," Bourke explained, "So, I took him back with me, and told him he could come back when he was ready. Apparently, he was ready. Your son's going to make one hell of a butterfly, missy"

  Molly turned her head away at that last sentence. Bourke noticed this and stirred up.

  "You don't think your own son's going to make a good butterfly?" Bourke asked her.

  "Its not that," Molly said, "I know he'll be amazing when he emerges, he's my son, after all. It's him I'm worried for"

  "Now, why d'ya need to be worried for him for?" Bourke queried.

  "I felt his cocoon," Molly explained, "It's stringy"

  "So?" Bourke asked, not getting it.

  "You flies might not understand, but caterpillars in cocoons don't just turn into butterflies, it depends on their cocoon structure," Molly explained, "If it's silky, they'll be butterflies, if it's stringy, they'll be...moths"

  "I don't see what the big deal is, moths are basically night butterflies so what if he'll be a moth?" Bourke asked.

  "I don't care that he'll be a moth, but he will," Molly said, "And so will his friends. Ever since they were young, they were all so obssessed with becoming butterflies. Especially Ronny. I'm afraid his friends will reject him when they see him"

  "Even that girl he's pining after?" Bourke asked.

  Molly simply nodded. Bourke looked deep in her eyes as if to say 'good luck' and simply flew away. After that, she never saw Bourke again.