A few days later, the evening found Jeff in his lab. Jars and cages of magic butterfly specimens sat on every surface. Curiously, most of them had died already. Jeff found himself near constantly replacing the insects. Try as he might, Jeff couldn’t get them to live longer than a day once he had caught them. They simply withered and died. Jeff pushed his glasses up with his forearm. He had a scalpel in one gloved hand and a probe in the other. A butterfly was flayed open and pinned to a tray on the table before him. He shifted organs about and jotted down notes as he worked. Leaning tensely over the insect, he squinted his eyes in concentration.

A sudden knock at the door made him jump and he split the delicate butterfly in half, demolishing its organ systems.

Jeff sighed and set the probe on the table, “I’m coming!”


Jeff screamed when he opened the door.