Dragon Girl

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley”, he told me, while giving me a deep stare from under his hoodie.

“Yes, I know, they used to just hang around major cities, now they’re everywhere”, I said with an annoyed tone.

“Kian, where are you from?” I asked him again.

“Doesn’t matter, the important thing is that I’m here.”

I sometimes felt jealous of Kian because he had an answer for everything. He could predict events and even people that I will meet. I wanted to be just as special as him and have superpowers too. He also looked about 10 years old but never wanted to confirm his age. Even though it felt awkward being 19 and having a friendship with a child I couldn’t help but to listen to his stories. He told me the dragons were here because they were protecting us. When I asked what they were protecting us from, he didn’t want to answer. That was strange, because I always asked a lot of questions yet he always dodged that one.

My mom was making lunch for us. He sat behind our kitchen table and stared at my little sister who was sitting right across. She started to cry.

“Lilly, are you ok?" - I gasped, while rushing towards her. I picked her up and gave Kian an evil stare.

“Children shouldn’t be sitting around the main table.”

“Did you say children?” I laughed. “But she’s your age!”

“And how old am I, Breeny?”, he looked at me with his usual emotionless stare.

“Aren’t you like 10?”

“Wrong! I only appear as a 10 year old but I am in fact eternal.”

I rolled my eyes and took Lilly to the living room. When I came back he had already eaten the whole meal and was already on his way out.

“Wait, you’re leaving? Were you not supposed to tell me more about the dragons and”…

“Breeny”, he stopped my rant, “don’t ask why they’re here. You’re not ready.”

He knew I was going to kick him if he didn’t leave the house immediately. I was furious that he would tell me what was happening on Mars and Venus, but he couldn’t tell me why on Earth there were dragons in the valley. Maybe the truth was too scary. What could possibly be scarier than having dragons walk around town? Sure they don’t look like they came here to attack. Not one human was injured. Only that one time, I remember my neighbour Marta threw her walking stick at a dragon, when all the dragon did in return was to burn her stick and the hair on her legs. She needed a wax anyway. It was way overdue.

If he doesn’t want to tell me the truth about the dragons, I thought, maybe there was a way for me to find out. So I decided I’ll follow him the next time he shows up, and he always shows up for food at our house. I will dress up in my big brother’s clothes and follow him around until I figure out what this stupid secret is about. At 2PM, just like every day for the last few months, he arrived. He always wore the same outfit - a weird tunic that makes him look like a priest. It even had a giant hoodie. Why was a 10 year old dressed like a wizard? I had no idea but I started to care about Kian. I knew it was odd that his parents haven’t shown up once. I knew the stories he was telling me were completely bizarre and sometimes unbelievable, but I felt like I needed to protect him. Who knows, maybe he had a hard time at home so he was dressing up like a lunatic to cope.

“Mama Breeny, I hope you don’t mind, but yesterday’s lunch was a bit too plain.”

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe he would dare to criticise my mom’s food yet he always eats like a pig. I pulled mom to the side before she could kick him out the house.

“Look mom, don’t worry, I got this. I will show him what “too plain” looks like.”

So I added a lot of spices into the tomato soup that she prepared. I watched closely as he sipped his first sip. Nothing, no reaction. He kept eating the soup as if I never added anything. Maybe I should have added more chilli, even though I definitely went crazy with pepper. I went back to the kitchen to try it myself, maybe it wasn’t as spicy as I thought… With tears in my eyes thinking I burnt the back of my scalp I came back and sat quietly behind the table. He ate it all. 

“I know what you did, Breeny. You tried to trick me.”

“Trick you? How did I trick you?” 

“That’s not a good colour on you.” 

He pushed himself out of the chair and left while I sat behind the table feeling ashamed of myself. Mostly ashamed that a 10 year old just scolded me.

After changing into my brother’s attire I sat on my bike and peddled into the valley. I could have walked and I would have still gotten caught up with him as he was walking as slow as a slug. He walked completely on his own. People of San Fernando stared at him while he approached one of the dragons and petted it like a dog. Everybody was mesmerised by his courage. The dragons seemed to respond well to him. Usually they would push people away, they most certainly wouldn’t let anybody pet them. Why is he petting a damn dragon?! This little boy! I'm going to kick his ass one day! He turned around and looked straight towards me, I quickly sped up, passing him by. It seemed natural, I thought. There’s no way he could recognise me. I was wearing black sunglasses and even a beanie. He definitely wouldn’t know it was me.

In disbelief of the fact the dragons let themselves be caressed by Kian, I kept pedalling and deeply contemplating. When the police tried to remove the dragons, all their cars, guns and helicopters were literally burnt to the ground. It didn’t make sense to me. How is it that a random boy can touch them but nobody else is allowed? I kept a safe distance while observing him. I couldn’t help but to feel bad for the whole world. We had these dragons invading our cities all around the world and nobody knew why. For over a year, they were flying over and residing in major cities around the world. The one in Korea was the biggest. That TikTok of Korean teenagers trying to dance in front of it while it swung its tail and knocked them over like a bunch of chess figurines - that one was hilarious. They didn’t seem to mean harm to us but Kian said they were protecting us from something. If they were protecting us from something, what being is out there scarier and bigger than a dragon? I believed it was my right to know because not knowing felt even worse.

Finally I saw Kian being a little suspicious - he looked left and right, making sure that no one was following him. I pretended I was sitting on a bench reading a newspaper I'd found when Kian knocked on the door of one of the most luxurious houses in the valley. That rat! He comes to eat at our house everyday yet he lives with the Kardashians. Why wasn’t I ever invited? He knocked three times and waited. Then knocked another three times and waited. It looked like it was a signal for something. He leaned his head next to the door and listened and then did it again. 1, 2, 3. The floor underneath him then suddenly opened and he vanished. I was mortified. I sat there in the worst outfit I ever stole witnessing this insanity. What did I just see? Did he just vanish into the ground? I wondered whether it was time to call my investigation off but I couldn’t help myself, I needed to know more. I biked to the same spot in front of the mansion where he disappeared. I looked at the ground - it was pure, hard cement. How did he disappear into cement? There was only one way to find out. I knocked 3 times, then waited while leaning my head against the door. There was a sound of 3 knocks, played backwards, coming back into my ears. I did it again. I knocked 3 times, this time I did it with a different sequence. Same thing happened - the noise came back in rewind spaced out exactly as I spaced it out. I knew what was going to happen next, I just didn’t know where the ground would take me. The floor opened, my body dropped. It was pitch black but I could see light in the vicinity. I walked towards the light and was back in the same exact spot in front of the mansion. “Ok Kian, you got me! Very sophisticated trick!” As I gazed upon my reflection in the window of the mansion. I screamed. I was Kian. “What in the world?!” I grabbed the bike and hysterically peddled back home. Half crying, half screaming I found myself at the doorsteps of my house. I jumped off the bike and ran towards the door when I saw the door open. I was now staring at myself. After just a few seconds I noticed something different in my eyes - those weren’t my eyes! It was Kian!

“Kian, what did you do to me?”

“This will teach you a lesson you little nugget. Do not follow me!”

“Excuse me, how am I the little nugget? Get me out of this body! And get out of my body! That is just gross!”

“You really do act like a teenager, Breeny.”

“I am a teenager!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Breeny, if I told you the truth you wouldn’t be able to handle it, just like you cannot handle the fact that you’re now in my body and I’m in yours. You cannot understand what you’re not ready to understand.”

“Well, how will I know that I’m ready?”

“You will know, by being patient, by being present, by being involved with your heart’s desires. Everything you ever need to understand will be understandable to you if you only let go of the need to understand.”

“First of all, don’t you dare touch my body in any inappropriate way. Second of all, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Let go, Breeny. Let go!” Are you willing and ready to let go?”

“I so want to punch you but this would mean I would be punching myself and I really cannot afford a broken cheekbone, prom is approaching.”

“Let go of knowing what your next step is, knowing why the dragons are here and what they’re protecting you from. If you can let go, the answer will show up.”

“I am done trying to figure out why there are dragons in town and why you’re so weird and why you’re now in my body. I give up on figuring out everything and everybody and trying to understand everything so that I can prevent the ending of the world."

“Is that what’s happening here?"

“What?”

“You’re trying to prevent the ending of the world?”

“I guess.”

“It isn’t your job to save the planet. The expectation of saving the world cannot and should not be on your shoulders.”

“Wanting to help is the right thing to do, is it not?”

“Do you know how you can actually help?”

“How?”

“Be who you are. That is your only responsibility - to be true to yourself.”

“What about the dragons?”

“I’ve placed them all around the world to protect you.”

“You’ve placed them? To protect me? Wait a minute”…