Dragon, My Darling by Cat
Cheatle
I was just an egg, a tiny speck in the universe
waiting to sprout. I’ve spent weeks in this shell and the bigger I grow the
tighter it gets and the more eager I am to escape into the Earth.
Just yesterday I blew out the window of a strange
man’s car. I landed safely on a pile of new grass trimmings. The wind took me
away, off of my soft landing and blew me to the front porch of an eight year
old girl, who stood right in front of me. She must have felt me hit her because
she bent down and picked me up off the hard ground. Her hands were warm and
soft, like a young girl’s hands should be.
She seemed to take an interest in me. I explored
with her, I saw what she saw. After a few days of acquiring me she planted me
in a nearby field. Making sure not to dig to deep or too shallow. She came to
water me every few days or so. I was inflating with water, growing more and
more plump. I could see her growing older, she was eleven now, still watering
me. I had just began to sprout. I will soon see the world through eyes of my
own instead of through a shell.
She turned thirteen just as my head began to peak
through the ground. In another year I could see, and communicate with my eyes.
She brought her little brother out to see me. She explained to him what I was,
a dragon, and to be sure to help take excellent care of me throughout our
lives. During her teenage years she would come visit me often, telling me about
her day and her worries. She expressed her worried thoughts about what would
happen once I’m fully out of the ground and in the world, being a part of it.
My mouth is now in that field. It failed to talk
but water and fire spewed out of it. I could start fires and end them. I could
drown and burn. Two forms of destruction. I could feel a disturbance in my
mind, almost like all of my innocence has disappeared. I wanted to kill, to
destroy, to harm, but then- to love. There’s been a tree to my right growing
along side me, not far away. I spat water at it. I enjoyed the effect it had.
My mouth was a powerful force. I burned the tree down and watched it burn,
watched it crumble. When the fire spread too close to me I just set my water
weapon on it. I have arms now, I can crush, I can swat the flies that land on
my long horned snout away.
The girl came to visit me in the field, it was her
last day of her senior year. She saw burned tree, and the fire I had caused.
She was quite furious with me, stating her disappointment and disapproval. She
was speaking to me as if I was some sort of toddler. I wouldn’t say I was more
sophisticated then her, but I am surely more powerful. She told me that I was
forbidden to burn or drown anything in a destructive way. What’s the point of
being a fire and water spewing dragon if I’m not allowed to use my talents?
I’m up to my waist now, I can twist and turn. I’ve needed
to stretch my back for years. Oh, how good it feels. The girl came home for the
summer- she just finished her second year of college. She brought me a treat, a
family of rabbits she found in a nearby rabbit den. I enjoyed feeling those
drops of rabbit blood running down my neck.
My kneecaps are in the world, they can finally
breath. It is quite difficult to stay balanced, but as soon as I’m big enough
to get out of the ground my muscles will quickly grow into strong tools for me
to use. I miss the scent of the girl. It’s getting lonely here in the field.
The birds and squirrels don’t know how to speak, they only squeak and tweet. I
don’t understand what they say, if they’re saying anything at all. I often
think of what other animals lives are like. How do they come to be? Are they
grown, like me? I crave something to do, someone to talk to. I’ve burned up the
majority of the things I can reach.
A middle aged man just emerged out of the nearby
forest. I hope he can’t see me. If he can, I hope he is weaponless. I am still
just a young dragon, I have not learned the ways of the world. I do know the
main goal in the life of a dragon, reach them before they reach you. A dragon’s
life is very Do or Die. How does one not end up tired of being chased or threatened?
How does one not get tired of having the need to kill everything threatening in
it’s path? The man has spotted me. Thankfully his hands are empty, his one
threatening aspect is just being human. I tilt my head upwards, pointing my
mouth towards the cloudy sky. I release a long flame from my mouth, watch it
rise above me and watch it disappear. I hope the man was watching too, he needs
to know I’m dangerous. He needs to see that I am a threat to his well being. He
does, he notices the line of fire I brought into the world. He smiles at me. It
looks half friendly, and half evil. Then again, I’m not an expert at
deciphering the good humans from the bad. I have only met two in my life, both
of which were friendly and soothing. This may be the first bad intentioned
human I’ve encountered. He slowly walks towards me. He’s still smiling. I am
still knee deep in the ground, I've tried getting out but my roots must still
be connected. Maybe someone needs to come pull me out, like a carrot. The man
is now a few feet away from me. I see him reach into his shoe, remove a knife
while his grin keeps getting better, and more evil. I take a deep breath.
I wait another few seconds, and when he’s right in front of me, a large flaming
flame escapes me. It stops right on the man, I see his lips turn from a smile,
to an open gaping hole. My fire reaches him, and his screams reach my ears. Our
little gifts to one another. He stops screaming as he falls to the ground. He
must have lost his life. If I was his life I would have wanted out too. I now
spit water at the dead man, cooling him down. I have to eat the body before the
girl, my friend, comes back. Who knows when she arrives. The body is cool now-
I reach my arms out, and pull him closer. I lick the body. It is a very unappetizing
taste. I will have to wait a few more days until the full amount of my limbs
are outside of the dirt.
On this day, I step out of the earth. I am free. I
am part of the world. I walk for a few minutes, getting used to my feet. All I
can think about is that girl, and how proud she must be of me. Or has she
forgotten about me? She must be in her thirties now. I stop worrying myself
with her life, and drag the burnt, rotting body to the forest, where I end my
body transportation journey. I strut out of the small amount of the forest I
have gone into, feeling rather good about myself. What do I do with my time now
that I have freedom? I quickly back away from the forest, and light it on fire.
It comes to my realisation that I am a dragon at the same time I
pick up her scent. Following her trail I run to the girl’s house, excited to
see her, anticipating her reaction. I ignore all the humans I pass, and their
reactions to the sight of me. I burst into the girl’s house, telling her to
come away with me, and we will fly to a better place. I see her father scream
at me and his daughter, but it fails to phase me. My friend, my only friend,
agrees. Her father, still screaming at her, tries to hold her back. The
daughter ignores her father and hops onto my back. I see the father grab the
house’s biggest kitchen knife, and throw it towards us. It hits his daughter
who falls off of my back and bleeds too much to be salvaged. I cry, I run out
of the house, and once outside, burn it down and fly away, alone.
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In bookstores 6-5-2012
