The inhabitants of the City were afraid of who could be found outside of it, and those who lived in the border village didn't really want to be pessimistic, but it was ridiculous to deny the fact that there was no one in the neighborhood.

– Where are you going, Niel? " Roxy asked cheekily. She often pretended to be the real ruler of the world, if not of the world, then of the school.

– Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and moved away from the gate, taking his time.

– Why are you being so rude? " the girls, Evie and Thea, started.

– Nothing.

– Goodbye, then! " snapped at Evie, then whispered: "I'll find someone else".

– Evie, don't take offense. He's nothing. He doesn't look like anyone. We're so much cooler," Roxy told her friend as she flipped through the news feed. The first line of the day read: "A heat wave is coming. Be careful." Why now, she wondered, with important exams looming? Roxy turned off her smartphone and turned to Evie and Thea:

– Shall we play, detectives? Let's find them and destroy. I bet I know who's responsible. Let's show them who's boss.

"Dear Mommy,

Louise, your daughter, writes to you. Although, am I really your daughter? I want to see you very much, but I don't think you share my wish. Do you love me at all? And does my father? Galya doesn't say anything about him, and I'd like to know where he is and how he's doing. Honestly, I don't even know your names.

Tell me, why am I living with Galya in the Forests and Steppes? I'm a child, and a child needs a mother and a father. Sometimes I even feel like an orphan. What made you give up your own daughter? Don't you need me at all?

There's a town near us, but I've never been there. Galya says I don't belong there. I know that ordinary children live there, who will not become Butterflies and will not eat flakes of flower pollen every day. Surely there are schools in the City where all the teenagers go and have fun with each other. Why can't I do the same? I'm a teenager too and I want to make friends and I end up living like a caged animal.

I talked to a butterfly recently, but she didn't say anything sensible. Why would I even want to turn into a Butterfly if I was born human? Are there any other butterfly people like me? What about you? Do you have wings too? Why did nature set it up this way? It's not logical at all.

Galya said that in six years you'll take me away from here. Where will we go when I have wings? If I'm not supposed to come to the City of Men, where are we supposed to live? And what's the point of all this anyway? I don't understand.

I hope you and my father remember that your own daughter lives on this planet at all. Write to me as soon as you can.

Louise".

The girl reread these lines several times, but did not correct anything. The letter was like a confession of her own soul – Louise was able to pour out on paper everything that had been languishing inside for so long. Would her mother answer her? The girl really wanted to know the answers to a lot of questions, even though it seemed that she was still six years away from transformation. But, really, why is it even necessary? Man was born a human, and an insect was born an insect. It is perfectly natural. Louise knew very well what balance was. Doesn't all this mean that if she becomes a Butterfly, another butterfly will become a human? But who or what would want that? Does the universe itself engage in such nonsense?

– Did you write it? " Galina asked, sitting at the table and stirring something in the pot. This something smelled rotten, but mixed with the wonderful smell of strawberries. It must be strawberries again.