Free The Butterfly Storm by Kate Frost

bone in great chunks and is passed along the table. Its rich meaty scent disperses into
the night air.
    Our voices are carried into the starless sky. Sandwiched between Spiros and little Yannis I’m hot,
my belly full of too much drink and not enough food. Despina, at the head of the table, stands and
raises her glass. We all follow. Yannis grabs hold of my hand and Lena’s and we pull him to his feet. His
sticky fingers curl into my palm.
    ‘I want to thank all of you for a wonderful day,’ Despina says, looking around the table at each of
us. Yannis fidgets next to me. ‘It’s lovely to see all my friends and family together, celebrating
with me. Yamas !’ Everyone leans in and clinks glasses. ‘To health, happiness and more
grandchildren!’
    Alekos leans across the table and catches my eye. He has a sleepy smile plastered across his
face. Wine sloshes in our glasses when we knock them together. ‘ Yamas ,’ Alekos says to
me.
    In the distance the sky growls. Despina gazes up to where clouds blanket the stars. ‘The sound
of the end of summer,’ she says. The flames from the torches make the jewels on her top
sparkle, and she smiles as she looks over at Takis quietly sipping his wine. ‘Everyone eat,
eat!’
    Thunder rumbles closer and then cold droplets of rain splash into drinks and the remains of food.
The effect is immediate; a stampede towards the warmth of the restaurant, everyone under orders from
Despina to grab a bowl of food on their way.
    I head in the opposite direction and duck beneath the umbrella of grapes. I don’t want to go into
the heat and brightness inside; I don’t want to be bullied into being sociable by Alekos. Outside, rain
pummels the ground like a fist against a punch bag. The restaurant is an oasis, a pinprick of light

within a shroud of black. Only occasional headlights break the darkness, flashing by on the road that
passes in front.
    I lean on the rough stone of the arched wall and peer into the night. Fat drops of rain splash on to
my hands but the rest of me stays dry beneath the vine. After each rumble of thunder I
count… one, two, three, four, five, six, seven… and wide-eyed I watch the darkness flicker to life.
Jagged silver light splits the horizon open, a strobe-like flash backlighting the outline of
Olympus.
    I don’t hear Alekos shout for me. Mesmerised by the electric storm I’m unaware anything has
happened until Alekos grasps my shoulders.
    ‘What are you doing out here?’ His voice is strained. ‘I’ve been calling you.’ His black hair glistens
with water; droplets cling to dark eyelashes. The rain has soaked his T-shirt and splattered his
jeans.
    ‘Sorry, I didn’t hear you,’ I say. I wipe rain off the bridge of his nose. ‘It’s too stuffy inside... the
storm’s incredible. What’s up?’
    ‘You’ve got a phone call from England,’ he says.
    ‘From who?’
    ‘I’m not sure but it’s about your mother.’
    I turn my back on the Gods of Olympus for the second time that day and follow Alekos inside. A
rush of hot air, cigarette smoke and laughter greets us. I catch sight of my hair in the glass panel of the
door: it looks like dark-red fronds of seaweed plastered to my neck. I leave a trail of water across the
marbled floor. The middle dining tables are laid out with the leftover food and music blasts
from the speakers on the wall. Everyone claps Christos and Takis who are energetically
dancing.
    I retreat into the darkness of the kitchen. ‘Hello?’
    ‘Hello, is that Sophie Keech?’ It’s a woman’s voice.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘My name’s Lorraine, I’m a staff nurse at Norwich University Hospital. We’ve got your Mum
here.’
    ‘In hospital?’
    ‘I’m afraid so,’ she pauses. ‘Is there someone with you, Sophie?’
    ‘Yes.’ I look over at Alekos in the doorway. He mouths something. I wave him away and look at the
floor.
    ‘I’m afraid your Mum was admitted after a motorbike accident earlier today. She’s been taken