The College Drag, Part 27

The next morning came and I woke up. The first thing I checked was if the door was still closed. The second thing was if my pants were still on. Both checked out. I carefully untied the bell and cracked the door open just a bit. There she was, still fast asleep under the covers. I went upstairs to make a nice big breakfast for her. I figured she’d be hungry when she woke up.

“Let’s see.” I said to myself as I looked over what we had, “Bacon, eggs, hash browns, sausages and deli meat. I guess a nice large omelet with a ton of meat in it will do.”

So I set to work on making a very large meat filled omelet. I may not have a very large range of breakfast meals I can cook, but I make a mean omelet. I used the biggest skillet we had to make the jumbo meat omelet. This thing took nine eggs to make a proper sized omelet. After filling it with as much meat as it could hold, I tossed into onto a plate, put from hot sauce on it, added some basil for presentation and a little bit of parsley for that extra something. I set up the dining room table with a place for her and poured a big glass of orange juice. I whipped up a regular omelet for me, but as I was doing that, I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Morning.” I said without really thinking of it much, “Breakfast is on the dining room table.”

I glanced behind me to see her looking at me funny.

“What are you doing?” Heather asked, sounding quite confused.

“I’m making breakfast.” I replied as I put my omelet on a plate, “Yours is on the dining room table over there.

I quickly pointed to the place her meal was. She carefully walked over to her place at the table, like an animal that was scared that something bad could happen at any moment. Looking around the room, eyeing corners and every so often, look at what’s behind her. Once she made it to the plate, she gave it a sniff and quickly ate it in one big bite. I stood there with my plate in my claws in shock as she chewed the whole omelet in her muzzle.

“What?” she asked after she swallowed.

“I’m just wondering how much I’ve bitten off with you.” I said at I took my seat and began to eat my meal.

“This is perfectly normal for how a dragon eatsss.” She said, “The slow starve.”

“Welcome to human society.” I replied after I swallowed a careful cut piece of my omelet, “Mind your manners.”

“It’sss been a long time sssince mannersss mattered for me.” Heather grumbled.

“Well they matter again now, so you’d better get used to them.” I told her, cutting another piece of my meal off and carefully eating it with a fork.

She just sort of signed and curled up on the living room floor as I finished my breakfast. After that, I got ready for class. I had slept in my clothes so I was good to go as far I was concerned, all I needed was my back pack and that was in the basement. Heather followed me downstairs and started to ask questions.

“Ssso you go to college?” she asked as I grabbed my back pack.

“Indeed I do.” I replied, “Nice enough weather, I think I’ll fly today.”

“Don’t you fly everywhere?” Heather questioned.

“Not all the time, I like to drive my truck a lot more then I like to fly.” I said as I walked up stairs.

“You don’t eat like a dragon, don’t fly everywhere and you don’t even ssseem to have basic instinctsss of a dragon.” she said while we walked into the yard, “I guesssss you did get rid of that voice in your head like you ssssaid. I didn’t know it could be desssstroyed.”

“Neither did I, but my head is my head.” I told her, “Only me up there and no others.”

“If I had known that, maybe I could have done sssomething.” Heather said, sounding a bit saddened, “Having these inssstinctsss and urgesss isss sssomething I don’t care for. Sssure they can point you in the right direction sssometimesss, but other timesss they jussst point you to act on raw aggressssion or feeling. I’ll never forgive myssself for sssome of the thingsss I’ve done.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but what?” I asked, half curious, half worried.

“I’d rather not talk about it.” she said as she looked away, “I’m ssstarting a new life right now and moving on asss bessst I can.”

“Well good for you.” I said, still a bit concerned, but not too much, “My advice is to lose that hiss, it’s a bit distracting.”

“I guessss I ssshould.” She said, looking back at me, “I jussst don’t know how.”

“Say a lot of ‘S’ words has try to control that hiss.” I replied, just trying to help.

“Isss that how you learned to not hissss?” asked Heather.

“No, I never hissed for some reason.” I replied with a smirk, “I guess since I never merged with that dragon mind, that instinctive hiss never found its way in. Lucky I guess.”

“Ssso how do you know that what you sssaid will help?” she questioned, looking a bit more confused.

“I don’t, but it couldn’t hurt.” I replied, “Now I have to get to class, do you want to come along?”

“I would love to.” she said with a smile on me muzzle, “Ssseeing what wondersss have occurred while I wasss gone and you sssaid that you’ll be looking for my family there. I want to know the sssecond you find them.”

“I’m not promising any miracles here; I’m only looking as best I can.” I told her, “Now let’s go before I’m late to my first class.”

She just nodded and we took to the sky. As we flew, I noticed she was a lot more gracefully then me. There was a majestic beauty to her flight while mine was more of a brute force flight pattern that got the job done. I tried to follow her wings movements to see if I could do it to. By the time I could see the Science Building, I had at least improved a little bit. It was at least less tiring.

“What is thisss building for?” she asked just as we landed in front of the Science Building.

“This is the Science Building.” I explained, “That shorter part attached to it in the Commons and that three storied part attached to that is the Math Building. All together they are called the Math and Science Building. Here is where all the science and math courses are taught, biology, chemistry, algebra, geometry and so forth. Of all the buildings on campus, these are the newest and have all the latest stuff.”

“So what are you going do here?” Heather asked, still a bit lost it seemed.

“Head up to the third floor and sit in a classroom to learn.” I replied, “I’m not sure if Mr. Philips would like having you there, students only.”

“Well then what ssshould I do?” she asked.

“Well I guess I could ask if you could stay, I don’t want you wondering around on your own, something might happen.” I said as I thought it over.

“Well then let’sss check that first.” She said.

We went inside and I just caught Mr. Philips outside the classroom.

“Mr. Philips, I’d like to ask you a question if I may?” I asked just we came out of the stairwell and I saw if come out of the elevator.

“What is it Mr. Compas?” she asked back, looking at Heather as she stayed behind me or tried to.

“Heather here is staying with me for a bit and she’s kind of new to this whole thing.” I told him.

“Oh, a recently changed dragon?” he inquired.

“No, one that was changed a long time ago and now trying to get back into the swing of things.” I answered.

“Well you miss have a lot to catch up on.” he said to Heather, who still was a bit too shy to answer, “I’m betting you want her to stay by your side for a bit so you can help her along.”

I nodded to him.

“Well then come in and take a seat then,” he said with a smile, “prepare to enter the wonderful world of science.”

Mr. Philips walked to the classroom and we followed him. A lot of people seemed to take immediate notice of Heather as she walked in behind me.

“Why are they looking at me more than you?” she asked.

“Because I’ve been here for a while now,” I said as I took my seat and she sat on her haunches next to me, “you are a new dragon and therefore attract attention. The fact you walk on all fours and don’t wear clothes doesn’t help you any either.”

“But thisss isss how I walk and I don’t need clothesss anymore.” she said, she looked a little small as she shrunk down out of sight of a lot of the class.

“Still, it doesn’t matter.” I replied, taking out my Biology book, “You look like a wild dragon and I don’t.”

I heard a few comments and Heather must have heard them too.

“You see that purple dragon, it’s not wearing anything. That means its naked.” said some guy in the front row

“Did you hear that? It hisses when it talks.” said a lady in the center row on the right side.

“Okay people.” Mr. Philips said, “We have a guest in the class room so let’s be nice and treat her with respect. Now, let’s get to work.”

As he talked about cellular respiration and all the things that go along with it, I glanced over to Heather as she laid next to me. She looked totally lost.

“What isss he talking about?” she whispered.

“How the cells of the body use chemical reactions to maintain oxygen flow in the bloodstream.” I answered quietly, not really taking my attention of Mr. Philips.

“Okay, what?” she said, still keeping her voice very low, “I didn’t understand you either.”

“It’s complicated.” I said, “Here, look at my book.”

I put gave her the book to look at. She took it and began to read it. She thumbed through it, looking at anything that got her attention.

“This is interesting.” She said to herself quietly, “So many details.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t get any text books where you were?” I said to her.

“We had some very old reading material, just to keep us literate.” she answered, still thumbing through the Biology book.

I just nodded a bit, still trying to keep up with Mr. Philips. After class Heather and I were walking to my Art-130 class and I was curious about what her life had been like for all those long years.

“Heather, I was wondering,” I said as we walked the long way to Wade Hall, “what was it like to live in a community of nothing but dragons?”

“Well I we called it a clan, but the name fitsss.” she said, “It’s very different from this human community though.”

“Well, different how?” I asked.

“Well you sssay hello and greet people asss you passsss.” she answered, “In the clan, malesss would tossss a threat or challenge if they got too close to each other and possssibility fight to achieve dominance over the other. Femalesss would lower our headsss to show our submissssion to a male and not encourage any violence.”

“That sounds terrible.” I said in shock, “How could you live like that?”

“It wasss hard at first, but after a while it just becomesss a habit.” Heather replied.

As we walked, we passed an emo guy and sure enough, Heather’s head dropped.

“Well it’s not needed anymore.” I told her, “Hold your head up.”

“It’ll be hard, but I’ll try.” she said, raising her head up, “In a clan, we live asss a whole. One helpsss the others. It’s how we sssurvive. Live together, sssleep together, hunt together and even bathe together. Alone, we could be taken by sssurprissse and many dangersss are out there for dragonsss. Huntersss are one of the major dangersss asss well as rouge clansss and government capture teamsss.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” I said, halting in my tracks, “Back up a second, say that again please.”

“Dragon huntersss are pretty hard on usss.” she told me, stopping on the sidewalk, “They either do it because of their creed, to rid the earth of usss, or they are motivated by the black market demand for our hidesss.”

I stood there with my mouth open. I was shocked that my hide was a commodity item.

“Rouge clansss are a danger as well.” she said, “For one reason or another, a clan goesss rouge and wondersss around. When times get hard for them, they become dangerousss. They look for any clan that hasss what they want. Whether itsss food, a living ssspace or femalesss, they attack and take it. Government capture teamsss have been a more recent problem, but are growing in their threat level. It ssseemed each time they ssshowed up, they have some new trick up their sssleeve. It’s why we ssstick together ssso much. Alone we are vulnerable, together we are protected.”

“Well I can see that there’s strength in numbers, but I didn’t think dragons needed it.” I replied, kinda worried a bit about what she said.

“In this age, we are not the mossst powerful creatures.” she said, sounding a bit sad, “Humansss may be individually weak, but they have great numbersss and are very sssmart. It’s their toolsss and weaponsss that make them ssso dangerous. Frankly, it’sss you that I can’t underssstand.”

“Me?” I asked as I pointed to my chest, wondering what she meant.

“Yesss.” said Heather, “You live day in, day out among humansss. The very sssame humansss that I wasss told would kill usss in a heartbeat if they found out about usss. And here you are, walking along ssside them like one of their own. You are a very strange dragon. You don’t fight unlesssss you are psssychically threatened and even then you don’t do anymore than necessssary to protect yourssself. You already suppressssed your mating drive ssso much that when a willing female comesss right to you, you do nothing, even go as far asss to turn her away. You are very ssstrange dragon in your looks asss well, no hornsss, or ssspikesss, not even a tail ssspike or blade. Your features are all rounded, not sssharp like they ssshould be. I’d sssay to most females, you are not a very attractive male, but I think you look cute.”

“Awe shucks.” I said as I looked down at my feet, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She said with a smile, “You really do look quite handsssome for sssuch a young dragon. I think you and I would make a great pair.”

“Uh, well yeah, maybe.” I quickly replied, caught a bit off guard by that statement and trying to shift the topic, “Right now I have things to attend to. Speaking of which, we’d better get moving.”

We hauled tail to my Art class and thankfully Mr. Scott was kind enough to let Heather sit in with me. She seemed a bit more interested in that class. Esthetics was the topic and we were looking at abstract sculptures. She just looked at the slide show in wonder.

“Amazing.” she breathed, “sssuch vibrant colorsss.”

“The projectors here are fairly good.” I said, “I’ve seen sharper ones though.”

“Amazing.” was all she said as she continued to stare at the screen.

When that was over, I had to go to work for my one to three shift. Paula saw Heather and said,

“So, found another one huh?”

“I guess so.” I replied as I signed in, “This is Heather. I’m going to try and find her family so she can return home.”

“Well good luck to the both of you,” Paula said, “I hope you get back home sweetie.”

“I hope ssso too, thank you.” Heather said politely.

“I’ll be in the front lab.” I said as I walked off.

Once I got settled and everything was ready for the patrons to print and such, I started my search for Heather’s family.

“Good old Google should be a good place to start.” I said as I launched Internet Explorer. I like Firefox better, but I mostly use Explorer at work.

“Google?” she asked, looking me with a puzzled look.

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t know about computers yet.” I said to her, “Well you came to the right dragon. Let’s get you started.”

I spent a while telling her all the basic parts to a computer and to her credit, she picked up on it fast. She just sat on her haunches at G03 while I kept the chair behind the desk so it didn’t wonder off. After a while, she was able to at least hunt and peck her way around. She had thumbs, but they weren’t used like that before and it was whole new world to her.

“So thisss thing can tell me where my family isss?” she asked as she pointed to the Internet Explorer icon.

“Yes, if that information is on the web, then it can find it.” I told her, “If we ask the right questions that is.”

“What do you mean by that?” she said.

“You’ll see.” I replied and leaned over to be able to operate the computer.

She seemed fascinated with my claws as I typed in all the information.

“Your clawsss just ssseemed to dance over the buttonsss ssso fassst that I can’t even tell what you are writing unlessss I look at the ssscreen.” said Heather, “How did you get to be able to do that?”

“Practice.” Was all I said as I continued to search Google for the info I needed, “Dang, nothing. Let’s look at missing persons reports for California only and during June and July in 1956.”

I hit search and there it was.

“Is this you? I mean the old you? I asked her as I looked the report over. “Heather Armstrong, age sixteen. Black hair, blue eyes, height is five foot eight inches and weight is one hundred and sixty five pounds.”

She looked at the attached picture like she was looking at a lost treasure.

“Yesss, that’sss me.” she finally said.

I could see a little tear form in the corner of her eye as she read the statement below.

“To anyone who has ssseen our daughter, pleassse tell her to come home. We missss her dearly and we want to sssee her again. If you are reading thisss Heather, pleassse come home. We never ssstopped loving you and we never will. Anything that we sssaid or did to make you leave, we are truly sssorry and we want to make it up to you. Pleassse return home sssoon. Love your Mother and Father.”

That last line was the kicker. She started to cry and I had to do something. I did the only thing I could think of, I gave her a big hug and tried to comfort her.

“It’s alright,” I said, patting her head, “You’ll be back home soon.”

“Fifty yearsss,” she said through the sobs, “Over fifty yearsss they’ve waited for me to come home and I never once looked for them till now. How could I be forgiven for that?”

“It’s not your fault.” I told her, “The important thing is that you’re trying now. So let’s see what I can find.”

Everyone in the lab sort of looked shocked when she broke into tears, but when she said how long it was, they seemed to feel sorry for her. As I worked my Google Foo, they’d pat her on the back and say comforting things to her as they left.

“I hope you find them.” said a nice young lady.

“Never stop looking for them.” said a guy as he gently patted her shoulder.

She would just smile a bit at them and they would return the gesture.

“They’re ssso sssupporting and nice to me. Why?” Heather asked as I tracked down her families movements over the last fifty years.

“Because they feel sorry for you.” I said, not breaking my attention from the screen, “Humans have sympathy you know. You lost your parents and fifty years of your life, that alone is a tragedy. They understand that and want to be supportive.”

She just seemed to think it over as I found the latest information I could.

“Okay,” I said as I think I got it nailed down, “I check the address given in the missing persons reports to Google Maps and found a different name, so they moved at some point. So I spent a while tracking down where they went. The full names helped a ton and I found that they moved to St. Louis. That’s convenient.”

“You mean they moved all the way out here?” she said, clearly surprised, “They’ve been thisss close and I didn’t know it?”

“That would seem to be the case.” I told her, “The names match. Franklin Daniels Armstrong married to Elizabeth Regina Armstrong. They have a loft in Lafayette Square, 1119 Mississippi Avenue, St. Louis Missouri, 63104.”

“Then let’sss go.” she said with determination in her voice, “I’ve wasssted enough time and I want to sssee them again.”

I looked at my watch and it was only 1:45.

“I have to stay here till three,” I told her, “You can go if you want to, but I can’t.”

She seemed to think it over and said,

“I don’t want to do thisss alone, I’ll wait.”

“In the meantime, you can play around online and get to know the world and I would advise that you work on getting rid of that hiss.” I said as I sat back down at my desk.

She played around on the computer for a few minutes, but she didn’t stay long. She walked out to the reference section and looked over the many books. When I went to do the counts, I would see her nestled in a corner of the first alcove with a book in her claws. It seemed to be a different one each time too. When my shift was done and I made sure the labs were ready for the next guy, I went to get her.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked as I walked up to her.

“My shift is done and I’m good to roll.” I replied with a smile.

“Good, let’s go.” she said.

“Hey, you didn’t hiss that time.” I said as we started to walk out.

“I’ve been practicing,” she said with a smile on her muzzle, “One or two might slip out, but I can control it pretty well now. Thank you for your advice.”

“No problem.” I said, “Now let’s find your family.”

We went outside and took to the air. I tried again to perfect my flying skills by copying her movements, but I still didn’t quite get it down. I was closer though. The Lafayette Square is pretty easy to spot from the air. Rows of red brick building and some colorful ones as well.

“Here we are.” I said as we landed in front of the building, “Building 100. According to Google Maps, they’re in Loft 26.”

“What’s a loft?” she asked as we walked up to the door.

“It’s a sort of apartment, just more open and roomy.” I answered, “Mostly young adults in college have them. It’s weird that your parents have one. But hey, we all need a place to sleep at night.”

I knocked on the door while Heather seemed to step aside. My guess is she was still a bit afraid to face her parents. After a few minutes, no one answered. I checked to see if the door was locked and to my surprise, it wasn’t. The door opened and into hall way.

“I guess you walk in and they keep the loft doors locked.” I said as I walked inside.

She followed me as I looked for Loft 26. Since the numbers read in the teens, I figured one floor up should be in the twenties. A trip upstairs and there we were in the right place.

“23, 24, 25.” I said as I said the brass numbers on the doors as I past them, “And 26. This should be the place.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

She got up against the wall to stay out of sight, looking nervous and frightened.

“The names match this address, so it’s very likely.” I replied, “But we won’t know for sure till we try.”

“I hope this goes well.” Heather said.

Her face was just full of conflicting emotions. Joy mixed with fear, sadness mixed with hope. I honestly don’t know if she herself knew what to feel.

“I hope so to.” I said to her quietly as I knocked on the door.

A noise came from inside, like someone moving around. I waited for an answer, what I got was the door opening just a crack and a lady looking up at me from behind the door chain.

“What do you want freak?” she asked, sounding a bit rude.

“I’m sorry; I must have the wrong address.” I told her, “I’m looking for a Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong.”

“You mean Mom and Dad.” she said, she shot back, “Well if you really must stick that enormous nose where it doesn’t belong, Mom’s dead and Dad’s in the hospital.”

“Oh no!” Heather said aloud, “I’m too late!”

“Who else is out there?” the lady said.

The door closed and opened back up wide this time. The lady had black hair and blue eyes. In fact, she looked very close to what Heather’s old description was.

“And who are you?” the lady asked Heather.

“It’s me Harriet.” Heather said, her eyes were wet with tears, “Heather.”

The look on the ladies face said it all. It went from wide eyed shock then shifted to pure anger.

“You have some nerve showing your face again after all these years!” she shouted as she stormed up to Heather, “You left and the family fell apart. Mom worried herself to death. She was always hoping that you’d walk through that door one day. When her health began to fail, we moved here. It didn’t help. On her deathbed, she looked at the door and said she thought she saw you there. Dad never could get all his strength back after that day. And now his health is failing too. And now you show up! Not only show up, but show up as a freak! We were twins Heather, Twins! Now look at you! You’re a monster and I wish to God you had stayed where ever the hell you’ve been all these years. I was just getting over Mom’s death and I was beginning to come to terms with Dad dying, but this! My twin sister shows up after over fifty years as a dragon! I’m not going to deal with this again. I’m not going to deal with your mess Heather. You made it, you deal with it. Don’t come looking for us again, we don’t want you.”

Harriet went back inside and slammed the door closed. Heather couldn’t take that kind of abuse. She began to cry and then she turned around and ran down the hall.

“Heather! Stop!” I shouted as I chased after her.

She beat me out the door and flew off into the sky. I took off after her. It must have been two hours of straight flying till she finally landed in the middle of the Missouri back country, deep in the wooded hills. When I landed near her, she was lying on the ground weeping uncontrollably.

“Heather, please listen to me.” I said as I sat down next to her, “This was just a large amount of pent up anger she had. She loves you; she’s just going through some tough times as are you. You just need to work this out. Running away is what made this problem. It’s time to fix it.”

“She hates me.” Heather said, the tears just wouldn’t stop, “My own twin sister hates me.”

“No she doesn’t.” I said as I rubbed the back of her neck, “More than likely she’s in the same state you’re in right now. This is a lot to take in and there was bound to be some backlash, but it’s up to you to show her that you really want to come home. Running away again won’t help. I’ll be right there with you, but you have to go back and deal with this problem. End it, once and for all.”

She still sobbed in her claws for a while, but she eventually began to show signs of stopping. She lifted her head after about a half hour of straight crying and said,

“I think I’m done. Thank you for sitting with me through this.”

“No problem,” I replied with a smile, “Now are you ready to go back?”

“I can’t say I’m eager, but I want to be a part of their lives again.” she said as she stood up, “I’ve lost so much time and I don’t have much time left to see my father. I’m not going to miss that for anything.”

“Then let’s go.” I said.

We both spread our wings and flew back to Lafayette Square. It didn’t take long to be back at that doorway and we both could hear the sound of Harriet crying inside.

“Harriet?” Heather said through the door, “May I please come in?”

“Go away!” Harriet shouted, “I don’t want to ever see you again!”

“Harriet, I’m so sorry for what I did.” she pleaded, “I was just so scared that you would reject me after it happened. So I ran away. There wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t think about you Harriet. I thought about Mom and Dad every day I was gone. I missed you all so much, but I was just so scared.”

The door opened wide and Harriet stood in the doorway. He face was red and wet with tears.

“You were scared?” she said, sounding even angrier, “That’s what kept you away? You were scared that we’d kick you out because of the way you look? Heather, we would never have done that. All you had to do was come home and explained it to us. We would have been scared at first, but we know you. I know you. We could have been there for you. All these years lost out of fear. Heather, you always were too scared of things.”

“Please forgive me.” Heather said as she began to tear up again, “I’m so sorry for all that I’ve caused. I didn’t know.”

“I guess I can see what happened to you and how that would have an effect.” said Harriet, “You really are trying and it took guts to come here. Looks like after all this time, you found that backbone I told you to look for. It took you long enough. I just have this to say, the pig’s in the meadow.”

“And the chicken’s in the bedroom.” Heather replied.

The two of them embraced in a hug.

“You just had to make sure it was me.” said Heather with a draconic smile.

“Only you would know the secret code phrase to get into our old club house back home.” Harriet said with a smile on her face as well. “I suppose you helped her track us down?”

“Yes, I did what I could.” I told her.

“Well it’s good that I came back to live with Dad since he had to go to the hospital.” she replied, “Barnes Jewish is one of the best in the country and they are doing all they can for him. Maybe the fact his daughter has come home might help him. I just hope that the fact she’s a dragon now won’t make things worse.”

“We’ll prepare him first.” Heather said, “There must be something we can do to help lessen the shock.”

“Well,” said Harriet as she looked around the room, “We could always make a quick video of you and then show him that to get his started.”

“That’s a good idea.” I said.

Harriet walked out of the room in search of a camera I guessed.

“Video?” asked Heather.

“Like that stuff in art class today,” I answered, “moving pictures with sound.”

“Here’s my camera.” Harriet said as she came back with a digital video camera in her hand, “Now say hi Heather, you’re being recorded.”

Heather looked at the little device and sort of warily smiled at it and said,

“Hello.”

“You can do better than that.” Harriet told her, “Come on, say hi to Dad and kinda sum it up for him. This is going to be the first thing he sees of you in over five decades.”

“Um, Hello Father.” Heather shakily began, “It’s me, Heather. I know I look different, really different then the last time you saw me and that’s really the reason I ran away. I was scared you’d reject me, so I thought if I just left that would be better. I was wrong and I’m so sorry. I just hope that you’ll forgive me. I love you Dad.”

“Perfect.” said her sister as she closed the camera up, “Now I guess we’re off to the hospital. I’m guessing you two didn’t drive.”

“No we didn’t.” I said to her, “But this really is a family thing and I think I should leave. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“No, I want you to come.” Heather said as she grabbed my claw, “You’ve helped me so much and I don’t want to be the only dragon in the room. I feel safer with you around.”

“Looks like my sister has found a boyfriend.” Harriet teased, “Or as you dragons call them, mates.”

“I’m not her mate and not her boyfriend.” I told them both, trying to nip this in the bud, “I’m just a friend.”

“Whatever you say, but I thing she thinks differently.” Harriet said with a smirk.

She was right. Heather’s eyes had a sparkle in them. That can only mean one thing, no matter the species. I just followed them out and hoped it would be over soon. Heather and I flew to Barnes Jewish Hospital while Harriet drove. We waited at the front entrance for Harriet to arrive and when she did, she led us right to the room where their father was.

“Okay,” Harriet said as we got to the door, “I’ll go in and tell him, show him the video and then when I call for you, then you can come in. Till then, you two stay out here.”

She went inside and that left Heather and I to just wait in the hall I sat on a bench twiddling my thumbs, she paced back and forth.

“I have to do this, I have to do this.” she mumbled to herself over and over.

“Take it easy,” I said, trying to calm her down, “You’ll do fine. Your sister is trying to help and I’m sure he’ll be so glad to see you again, no matter what you look like.”

“Heather.” Harriet said from the room, “You can come in now.”

“I sure hope so.” she said as she walked to the door.

She hesitated a bit, but she willed her way into the room. By the time I came into the room, she was already next to his bed.

“Heather, oh my baby girl.” he said as tears of joy ran down his face, “I’m so glad to see you again. Your mother never gave up hope that you’d come back and here you are.”

He hugged her neck as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry Dad.” she sobbed, “I should have come home a long time ago.”

“Its okay.” he replied, “You’re here now and that’s all I care about.”

The two of them just held that loving embrace for what seemed like hours but was mere seconds. The he seemed to spot me in the room.

“You found her?” he asked.

“No, she found me.” I answered, “She was a little confused, but I thought I could help her get her life back. I helped her locate you. She deserves her life back and I figured it would be best to start with getting her back to her family.”

“Thank you so much.” he said, his face beaming with joy, “I don’t care what she looks like, just as long as I have my two baby girls with me again. This is the greatest thing to happen to me in a very long time.”

“Well I’m glad I could help.” I said with a smile.

The Heather and Harriet gave their father a tearful hug and I was really proud that I helped make that happen.

“Well I’ll leave you guys to get caught up and I wish you well Sir.” I said as I tipped my hat and began to walk out.

“Ethan, wait.” said Heather as she came up to me, “There are no words that can ever fully tell you how grateful I am for all that you have done for me.”

“I owed you one.” I told her, “That debt is now paid and we’re even.”

“You gave my life back to me, I only allowed you to continue yours.” she said, “You helped me do something I couldn’t do for over fifty years. I am truly thankful for everything you’ve done.”

“I was only doing what I think is right.” I replied, “All you need to do is live your life, that’s thanks enough.”

“You are really a strange dragon.” she said with a soft smile, “You’ll do anything for someone, even one you barely know. For me to find someone with as big a heart as you have, I am very fortunate.”

“I wish you the best of luck.” I said as turned and started to walk out again.

“You as well.” she replied.

I went to the front entrance, leaving them to get caught up, and went home. As I flew towards my house in the failing sunlight, I just wondered about where her life would take her? For that matter, where would mine take me? I just kept thinking about it till I landed in my backyard and the smell of Mom’s meatloaf got my attention.

“About time you got home.” she hollered out of the kitchen window, “Where’s your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend and she’s back with her family.” I said as I walked inside.

“Well that’s nice.” she said, “Dinner’s ready. Dish up.”

I got my plate and loaded up my dinner. I had four slices of meatloaf, mash potatoes and corn with a glass of milk. We all sat in the dining room to eat. It was about ten minutes before anyone said anything. Sam broke the silence with a question that was probably the reason for the silence and frankly, I liked the silence better.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you.” she said as she looked up from her plate, “It’s been bothering me and I just have to ask it. How?”

“How what?” I replied, hoping for a different answer then the one I was thinking of.

“How would she have been able to do…it, with you?” she said.

Mom dropped her fork, but Dad just continued like normal.

“Sam, this is a dinner table.” she said.

“It’s an honest question.” Sam shot back, “You have to be at least curious.”

I shrunk down in my chair; it was a little embarrassing to be asked that question as I was eating. She saw my reaction and guessed the rest.

“You found it didn’t you.” she said with a smirk.

“Listen, it’s not something I’d run out of the bathroom and say guess what I found.” I shot back, “Now please, I’m eating.”

“Well I’m gonna look at it this way.” said Mom, “We’re gonna have grandkids with the Compas last name after all.”

I gagged on my meatloaf when I heard that.

“You are aware that those kids are going to be little dragons.” Sam said, “Whole new meaning to the phrase ‘ankle biters.’”

“That’s going to be a ways off, so don’t get any ideas.” I said when my food stopped trying to kill me.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Dad said, “You keep attracting girls like you have been and soon you’ll find one that you just can’t turn away.”

“Let me handle it my way, okay.” I said as I returned to my meal.

“Alright,” said Dad, “but it will happen soon or later.”

“And I want grandkids.” said Mom, “so not too long.”

I didn’t say anything; I just continued to eat, but a bit faster than before. After dinner, I went down stairs and booted up my computer. After talking to a few people online, working on my stories and drawing till midnight, I went to bed. Well, I fell onto my bed and passed out. CRT monitors are not fun to stare at for hours on end. Even on dragon eyes, they hurt to look at for that long. The next thing I knew, I was running at full speed from something big. I couldn’t see what it was; just that it was big and coming after me. I was on some path in a forest and it was at night. That thing was almost close enough to grab my tail. I could feel my chest get sore, my legs start to wear out and my throat go dry, but I kept running. I tripped on a root or something and fell face first onto the ground. That thing kicked me over and pinned me. I finally saw what it was, it was me. My gold eyes were bloodshot, my teeth were covered in blood and my brown hair was all scraggly with two long black horns growing out the back of my skull. This crazed version of me was running on all fours and didn’t have any clothes on. This…thing, just stared at me, breathing heavily right in my face.

“You like thisss versssion of yourself?” an all too familiar voice said, seemingly from everywhere.

“You again.” I growled, “I thought the deal was you get erased if I defeated you.”

“The only reassson I’m here in this pathetic little body of yoursss again isss becaussse you have my ghossst locked up only a few feet away from your head.” he said.

“You mean that’s not Tim, but you?” I asked.

“Yesss.” he hissed, “When I quote end quote ‘erasssed’ myself, I only left your body and wondered around on my own. That’sss why you were ssso weak the next morning. I sssucked out enough energy from your body to become what I am now, which isss a ghossst. I must sssay, it’s ever ssso much fun to ssspy on people, essspecially in the ssshower and bedroomsss.”

“You perv.” I snarled.

“Not at your house.” he shot back, “I’ve wondered around a bit after I left your body, but now I’m back. I was only checking back in when I ssssaw all thossse other dragonsss in your home and I jussst had to have sssome fun. I didn’t know you could trap me. Ssso I’m asssking, pleassse let me go.”

“And why would I do that?” I said. The other me snapped its jaws in my face. “Well I guess that answers my question.”

“Now wake up and releassse me or I’ll haunt your dreamsss every night and don’t think I can’t do the sssame to your family.” he growled, “I’ll visssit their dreamsss and give them the mosssst horrible nightmaressss I can think of and trusssst me when I ssssay that becausssse I can come up with sssome good onesss.”

“Alright.” I told him, “Just stay away from me, my family and my friends from now on. Got it?”

“Anything to get out of thisss damn box.” he replied.

I woke up and looked at the clock; it was three in the morning. I went to my work shop under the stairs and pulled the tarp off. There were those red eyes, still floating there.

“A deal is a deal.” I said.

They bobbed in what I guessed was a nod. I pulled the lever and opened the seal. The eyes flew out the opening in the middle of the containment unit and out to the center of the room. Then all of a sudden, they flew up through the ceiling and were gone.

“Well that was freaky.” I said to myself as I went back to bed.

I was really too tired to care, so I just crawled under the covers, curled into a ball and fell asleep.