Dragons

                                                                                                            1744 Words

Dragons                                                 







She loved dinosaurs. She had posters all over her walls showing dinosaurs and their names, she had books, childrens books, encyclopedias devoted to dinosaurs, drawings she had done herself, models she had made, and gifts from people; embellished with dinosaurs.

People had called her a child, but she brushed them off; just because she liked something didn't mean she had to be a child. Her interest was actually quite factual; she enjoyed it. It wasn't just an interest in books for children; she read factual books about them. You could ask her anything about dinosaurs; she would more than likely be able to answer.

One day she walked into her back garden, and saw a ball. She kicked it, waiting for an interesting idea to creep into her head.

As she gave the ball a strong kick, and it flew up in the air. When it landed, it rolled down the garden until it came to a stop at the back wall. She walked over to get it, shivering in the process. The wall gave a shadow to the end of the garden, so the heat from the sun disappeared from there.

When she bent down to pick up the ball, she saw it. It was like a baby bird that had fallen from the nest. At least that's what she thought it was. She bent down closer to it, and inspected what she found. It..... looked like a bird; but it was..... shiny, almost as if it had scales that shimmered when the light hit them. She gasped, stood up, and held her hand over her mouth in shock.

It couldn't be a dinosaur..... could it? No, no. She knew her dinosaurs, and she knew they weren't scaly..... or shiny; were they? No. It couldn't be a dinosaur. They were extinct; much to her disappointment.

So, what could it be? Then she realised. She was glad she had read all those fantasy books, because now she could put a name to this creature. It was a dragon. It had to be. She still remained slightly disbelieving of herself despite what she saw. Why was her mind telling her this? She had a mature mind; she was not a child! Why was her mind tricking her into thinking she had found a dragon? She still had the urge to pick it up.

She bent down, cupped the tiny creature in her hands, and lifted it up, to hear a muffled growl.

"I'm sorry!" She said. "I don't mean to hurt you!" The growling got louder. It didn't like her tone of voice. She softened her tone. "I hope I didn't hurt you." The growling stopped. She stood holding this creature, gaining its trust, and eventually it unfolded itself; opening its tiny wings, and unfolding its head from it's hiding place behind them. There it stood, in her hands; this tiny creature shimmering in the light. It was beautiful. Its scales were a rich red colour, its wings patterned with minuscule veins. It had magnificent deep blue eyes, minuscule compared to her own, and tiny baby teeth. Its hands - claws included - were the size of her thumb nail, its feet relatively the same, and its body the size of a small stone.

This creature in her hand looked into her eyes, and started glowing. It was glowing. It turned to face away from her, and she felt a pang of disappointment. Did it not like her? It stretched forward, and glowed again. Was it telling her something? She turned the other way, the glowing stopped, and the creature started to growl. She quickly changed course, back the way the creature was stretching, and it glowed again. She walked forward in the direction the creature was pointing to, and it started to purr. She kept walking until she realised she was at the wall. The creatures purring had grown louder as she progressed, and now it was so loud the creature was almost shaking in her hands. The creature was bent, head down; concentrating, it seemed. She looked up, and saw that part of the wall was going see through, and had a look like water, flowing around. The creature stretched towards it, and glowed again. It purred even louder. Well, all she could do was try. She stepped forward, and felt a cool sensation. She opened her eyes, to see that she was standing in the forest behind her house. The creature stretched further, almost falling off her hands. She instinctively went to grab it, hoping it had not injured itself. She placed it back on her hand like before, and continued walking forward.

Before long she realised she was almost to the edge of the forest. She hadn't realised she had been walking this far; she had been too engrossed with watching the creatures movements. She saw the large field ahead of the edge of the forest, and noticed the creature concentrating again. The part of the field she could see turned into water. Was there a hidden lake here? Did the creature want water? She walked forward, and followed a path the creature had created beside the water. She was out of the forest now.

She turned as she heard a loud noise; growling. She saw a red creature like the one she had in her hands; only bigger. This must be the Mother. The large creature breathed right in her face, and growled again; louder this time. It was a warning. She realised then she was holding the creatures baby in her hands, and she lifted her hands, turning her head away and squeezing her eyes shut as the large creature examined the small one.

She heard the two creatures purring at one another, and she turned to see the baby rubbing its head along the Mothers, climbing along her back, and perching on her shoulders. The Mother rubbed its head against the girls face and neck, thanking her for bringing her baby back safe.

"No problem." She replied. "But, can I come back tomorrow?" The large creature purred in acceptance, and as she walked home, the girl decided it. She was right; it was a dragon.





Over the course of the next few weeks, the girl visited the dragons daily. Every time she visited she was mesmerised by the dragons she had found; there were tall ones, short ones, skinny ones, large ones, blue ones, pink ones, green ones, and all different types of dragons in general.

All the posters in her room had been taken off, and now her interests were in dragons. Dragon books, posters, drawings, models, everything. Anything to do with dragons piqued her interest, and drew her into facts about them.

Soon enough her Mother asked her about what she was doing all the time, and where she was going. The girl deliberated. Should she show her?

She came to the conclusion that she should; it was her Mother, after all. She wasn't going to hide something that made her happy. She told her Mother to meet her at the back garden later, before she left to visit them again, and she would show her.



Later that day, her Mother stood in the garden, as the girl walked up to her.

"Are you ready?" The girl asked.

"Of course! I want to see what has you running off for hours on end each day!" Her Mother laughed.

"Well, here we go!" The girl laughed.

She walked towards the wall, gesturing for her Mother to follow her. Her Mother followed, a puzzled expression on her face. The girl stood in front of the wall, and concentrated. She had been practising. Part of the wall went see through, and she stepped through. Her sceptical Mother followed.

"What was that!?" Her Mother exclaimed.

"Shhhhh," The girl put a finger over her lips. "Don't make too much noise; you'll see in a minute." She explained.

They walked through the forest until they got to the edge, and the girl concentrated again.

"As long as you know where it is, and you're willing to find it, it will be there." She said.

They walked along the newly formed path which wasn't there before, and her disbelieving Mother looked puzzled again.

"What is this place!?" She exclaimed.

"It's..... it's a place filled with dragons." The girl explained.

"What? Are you joking me?" Her Mother laughed. "Are you gone mad? Prove it!"

The girl picked up the red dragon, now a bit bigger than when she found it, and explained.

"This is my new friend; he introduced me to this place."

The Mother took out her phone.

"I'm calling Animal Control!" She said. She dialled the number, and put her phone in the air, searching for signal.

"There's no signal here; it's a magical world."

"Pah! It's no magical world!" Her Mother exclaimed. "It's all..... all..... fake!"

The girl had tears in her eyes.

"I'm going to leave this place, go back to our own world, and then I'm calling Animal Control!" She screamed.

"Don't you dare!" The girl screamed. She tried to grab the phone. "I trusted you! This place..... this magical world, it provdes science wrong, it proves history wrong, it proves everything wrong! But it proves all the fantasy books right! Don't take this place away from me! I've discovered a world outside our own, a world where dragons are as common as people to us! Don't take them away!" She held onto her Mothers forearms, tears streaming down her face. "Don't take them away!" She screamed again. She sobbed, and went quiet. "Don't take them away."

Her Mother looked shocked.

"You're going mad." Her Mother said. "This place, it's making you go mad."

"It's not..... you are. I trusted you enough to bring you here, show you all this, a discovery only I know about. I trusted you to see all these beautiful creatures, to show you this magical world of dragons. But you call me mad? This place is like a second home to me. It's special. I love it."

"Well, you can stay." Her Mother said.

"I will." The girl replied. As her Mother went back through the forest, the girl turned to look at the beautiful magical world she had discovered, and all her new friends. She looked down at the beautiful dragon in her hands, and a tear of happiness fell from her eye.

"I'm home." She said. "But I'll visit my house sometimes."