Dragons

Dragons? Out of all the things that could’ve been placed in this world, dragons had made the top list. I mean what’s everybody’s obsession with dragons? They’re big, mean and scary. If they could suddenly sing you a lullaby or take you to school and protect you; not breathe fire, scare the beejeezus out of everyone and eat them, then I’d say go for it. Why couldn’t they have put pretty things in like unicorns or fairies or butterflies? Why dragons? So people like you and me have to be scared?

“Chris, I think we need to talk” I said

“Why Samantha? What have I done?”

“Sam, Chris. How many times? I don’t like Samantha”

“Sorry, but what have I done now?”

“Not you, the company. They’ve put bloody dragons in this again.”

I don’t get why the company had to do this. They get a list of the top one hundred enemies, creatures and settings that people would most likely want to see and they narrow it down to the top five, then after numerous tries and fails, they choose the top two and put them both in. How did they choose dragons? I’m pretty sure I submitted ‘unicorns and beaches’. OK, so that’s slightly girly, but what’s wrong with that. Beaches are fun; I think they’d be a lot harder to get around on than grass or rocks.

“So you can’t defeat them, what’s the big problem, if you can’t do it, don’t waste your time attempting to do so. I’m going on my bike, I need some fresh air.”

“Because I have to finish this. Fine, just make sure you don’t fall off again like last time. You know that corner’s a bitch.”

Chris chuckled “You should know; you’ve done it before.”

“On my skateboard! That thing has no brakes. I am the breaks. You go enjoy the sun and I’ll finish my homework I started earlier.”

Homework, homework. Now where did I put that blasted home-Oh! Nope that’s not it. Aha! Here! Stupid cat, moulted over it again.

* * *

“She’s whinging again Tom. Maybe we should do her one with unicorns and beaches, ‘specially for her. She can get off my back then. I’m gonna have to go, don’t want to fall again.” Break Chris, break. Haha! Suck on that corner, suck on… what the… That ain’t good.

“There’s horns or something in the water.”

“You been smoking some weird shit lately? You mad bro.” the stranger said.

“What? No, I am not mad!” I replied, my voice rising in fear and anger.

The dragon rose from the water, eyes wide and glowing yellow, the stench of its breath was unbearable. It rose out the water, beating its wings and pouring water off them. Why could no one see it? It opened its mouth and let out a deafening roar, I say roar, it was more like a scream. I could sense its eyes searching wildly, searching for someone; it found me. Its eyes locked onto where I was rooted with fear. Inside my head I was making a blaring noise and then I realised it wasn’t inside my head, I was screaming for real. My heart rate increased and I could feel the blood inside my ears rushing around furiously.

I began to run as soon as the mouth of the dragon opened wide. A sound rose from the back of its throat and a wave of fire shot out. It incinerated the bridge and the cars plummeted into the freezing waters below. Running wildly and shoving people aside; they gave me angry looks, I raced home leaving my bike to be burnt to a crisp. I tripped once or twice, but daren’t look behind me. As I ran up the steps, I caught a glimpse of the dragon in the road mirror. It was attempting to land on the road, but was blocked by another section of bridge. With a hefty swing of its head, the bridge crumbled and smashed down onto the road below. Why no one was reacting was beyond me, but I had to get home and fast.

I ran inside the house and shouted at Sam. “There’s a dragon! It just rose out of the water!” Sam wasn’t there. Was it just me and a ginormous dragon? I could see it out of the window, it had found me. Another bout of flames burnt the side of the house. How had a dragon arrived in this plain world?

NB: This is a piece of micro-fiction I had to do in my fiction class as part of my Creative Writing course. Enjoy!