The Baby

I didn't see the dragonling at first, tiny as he was, and camouflaged to look leaf-like. A young branch curled up away from its trunk, and around into a circle. The forest viewed through it looked strange, like it was a badly-focused camera lens. I was puzzling at that when the "leaf" moved and I saw him. Clinging to that curved twig: there's his tail, his spine, his head cocked and looking right at me.

I froze, staring. Were my eyes playing tricks? Was I dreaming?

Unable to resist his smallness and vitality, I reached out, cupping my hands round him-

Ouch! He was hot! I almost dropped him, but he was so little and I didn't want to hurt him. He nipped at my rough handling, his scalding purplish-black tongue swiping at the blood that welled up. I gritted my teeth against the pain, determined not to let go. He was too wonderful, and besides, without tangible proof, nobody would believe me. I wouldn't believe myself.

I held him against my chest, with my sleeve pulled down over my hand to protect my skin. Dismay at the singed patches on my hoodie dismissed, and pained sobs swallowed, I hurried home.

In stories, kids keep secrets like this from their parents. But those kids never met my mum. You know the mum in E.T.? Yeah, she's not like her. At all. There was no way I could hide my injuries. Plus, they hurt and needed cream or bandages or something.

"Muuuuuum!" I practically kicked the door down and burst into the kitchen.

"What?" She turned from sink, and immediately zeroed in on my hands.

"What have you got th- What have you done to your hands?!"

"A baby dragon, mum! I found him in the forest, look-"

I set him down on the table, where he steamed gently.

She gave a little scream, and pulled away. The same stuff that drew me to him made him scary and gross to her. She yelled for Dad.

That's how I've got a baby dragon in an old hamster cage, and why Mum's trying to scrub scorch marks that look like little claw prints off the kitchen table.

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Word count: 366

Submitted on 10th January at 00:05AM

*Author's Note*

Thank you for reading! I appreciate your engagement and try to reciprocate all reads. Please leave a comment to make that easy. If you enjoyed it, the best compliment you can give me is to share it, or read another.

The story behind the story: I'm writing a story every day this year. So far, I am 10 for 10! I'll link the others below.

To be honest, the inspiration for this one came from a mish mash of places. The first spark was this picture I stumbled across on Twitter:

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It's a plastic dinosaur, but didn't you see a baby dragon for a moment? Or was that just me?

I'd already done a story about a dragon who finds a lost child in the forest, so I thought, why not reverse it? The twig in a circle also put me in mind of Mike's fairy door challenge from last year. A perfectly plausible gateway for my dragonling to stumble through from another world.

If you...

• are also writing a story every day
• are inspired by the dragon/fairy door picture
• write a microfiction about a child who finds a baby dragon

...please leave your link in the comments. I'd love to see what you come up with.

MY JANUARY MICROFICTIONS

1st: A New Beginning

2nd: The Other Guy

3rd: One Day, I Just Disappeared

4th: The Wages of Sin

5th:Where Am I?

6th: A Visit to Nana's

7th: Honour and Obey

8th: Another Life

9th: A Motherless Child

I'll come back and edit to add links to other people's efforts here 👇