Valley of the Dragon

“There weren't always dragons in the Valley…”

Dayton was crying as he said the words, so Alex knew that dad had whipped him hard. It wasn’t like her little brother to cry. Alex found his tears unsettling. She jiggled the door handle to let him in, but the door was stuck. He kept repeating the phrase “There weren't always dragons in the Valley…” between sobs that were coming so hard now that Dayton was gulping in between words, “Alex! Let me in!”

Alex pulled hard at the handle, but the door to their fort was stuck. The “fort” was an old Datsun pickup and served as a refuge from their parents’ epic battles. “I’m trying Dayton, but it won’t budge!” “Please, Alex! He’s coming! Alex…PLEASE!” Dayton sounded unhinged, his obvious fear making Alex feel panicky.

It had never been this bad before. Dad had never been this bad before.

“Dayton! Hang on!” Alex tried to comfort her brother, calling to him from inside the cab. She was getting flustered, “Day! I’m coming!” she had to find a way to get to him. His crying had turned into screams of terror. Alex felt hysteria rise as she tried the other door. None of the windows would open. Why couldn’t she see Day through the window? She could hear him screaming. “Dayton! Dayton!” She called to him, “What’s happening? I’m coming!” and now Alex was sobbing herself, gripped by fear and frustration.

In the seven years she had known him, Dayton had rarely cried. She had never heard her brother in such a state of fear. Dayton was now babbling on the other side of the door. Alex was scrambling inside the truck, working in vain to get to him. She was pounding against the glass, trying the handles, the windows, anything to get to her brother. What was making him cry like this? "Dayton! Dayton!" She shouted his name over the animal sounds he was making and then the unthinkable happened - Dayton was silent.

Alex woke up screaming her brother’s name.

Gasping and sobbing, it took Alex a moment to recognize her own bedroom. The dream had been so vivid, so real, that her waking life was hard to grasp. She was a grown woman, not a terrified little girl. Alex sat up and seeing the empty pillow next to hers, let out a shuddery sigh of relief.

Her husband Eduardo, a conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, had gone in early to meet with a new harpist. At least she didn’t have to explain the screaming. This was the third time in the last week that Alex had dreamed of the childhood fort and the bad old days. Taking a deep breath, Alex focused her attention on getting coffee. “More coffee, less screaming.” She muttered on her way downstairs.

Normally, Alex kept her life structured and peaceful. Structure and peace kept Alex sane. When she wasn’t on tour or in rehearsals, she was home. As a professional musician, Alex sometimes felt that she was pulled in countless directions and peace was hard to maintain. Alex needed to be home so she could recharge, and her home needed to be serene. Eduardo remarked more than once that Alex chased serenity like addicts chase a high.

Alex's introversion had become a sour spot in her marriage recently. Her mind unhelpfully played the most recent argument with her handsome husband like a crappy movie. “This is who I am, Eduardo. I’m a homebody. You knew that when you married me!”

Alex turned her attention back to the coffee. Was her marriage the reason she was having these awful stress dreams about Dayton? She was a aware that her relationship with Eduardo needed a tune-up, but these dreams seemed out of proportion. Ten years in she knew her marriage was a strong one. Of course, the gifted harpist that the BSO had recently hired was on her mind. The woman was stunning and as friendly as she was talented, but Alex didn’t feel deeply concerned. She knew that Eduardo was only doing his job as a conductor by spending time with the new girl. Maybe he didn’t have to enjoy it so much - especially after unfairly nit-picking at his wife - but that hardly made him a cheater.

Her thoughts turned back to Dayton and the upsetting dreams. Maybe the dreams wouldn’t be so troubling if she hadn’t argued with Dayton before he hopped on a flight to Beijing eight months ago. Since then, she hadn’t heard from him even once. She thought about the phrase Dayton had used in the dream “There weren't always dragons in the Valley…” Until these dreams had begun Alex had forgotten the fort and the spoken passcodes they had used as children. The “dragons” referred to their parents who frequently had violent fights before calling it quits. Alex and Dayton learned early to stay out of their way. Bad old days, indeed.

Alex filled her coffee mug and headed out onto the deck. The deck overlooked her garden. It was her sanctuary. As she slid onto the lounger she felt her dream-jangled nerves relaxing. Clancy, the 100lb mutt that came with the house, was sprawled across the only other lounger snoring loudly. The sun was perfect today, not too hot. Closing her eyes, she let the sunshine sink into her. It felt almost like a hug.

Lifting her head to take a drink of her coffee, Alex noticed something at the far end of the deck. She shaded her eyes with her hand. Was that a package? “Clancy…you will be the death of me.” She nudged his sleeping form as she walked over to inspect the object lodged between the shrubs and a rolled-up garden hose. Clancy was known to steal packages and use them for chew toys.

As she approached Alex sucked in her breath. There was a tattered parcel covered with Chinese characters and DHL tape. She felt the same fear rising in her throat that had risen in her dream. Alex fished the package out from behind the hydrangeas.

She immediately recognized the writing as Dayton’s, though it was almost impossible to read the address through the many official looking stamps, Chinese characters, the miles of DHL tape, and Clancy’s slobbery bite marks. The box had probably taken a lot of time to get to her from China. How long it had been on the deck? It felt to Alex as if her nightmares were blending with her waking life and she practically sprinted into the kitchen to find a knife.

Opening the multiple layers of wrapping took a few minutes and the knife was visibly shaking as she worked. What she saw when she finally pried the cardboard open did not help to calm her nerves. Dayton had written a message and taped it to the top of a large, padded envelope wedged inside, “There are Dragons in the Valley, Alex. I need you here. Hurry.”