FSE

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We all hide from something, every one of us has a secret we don't want shared amongst the world. Mine is the fact my parents tried to kill me at the young age of eight.

My weak roars bounced off the stone walls, I had once called home as my father's claws raked through my wing membranes, spraying blood onto the stone floor of the den while mother held me down with her paw that must have weighed a ton. Lightning flashed through the opening of our den, lighting up the place in yellow for a mere second.

Mother's eyes met mine with scorn, hatred directed at me, her lips lifted in a snarl, her white teeth gleaming in the dark. Her mouth opened wide, ready to bite my head clean off. However, the chance never came; thunder rumbled through the sky. Its boom resonating through the den, the way a choir echoes in a church shaking the ground ever so slightly, but it was enough. A loose stalactite broke from where it hung, crashing into mothers head. Her thick scales protected her from death, but the impact knocked her out. Her heavy body thudding to the ground next to where I lay, her paw no longer holding me against the floor. Free, I crawled away and stood on my shaking legs, my heart pumping ferociously. My only thought was getting away, living. The cold rain pelted against my scales as I left the warmth of the den. The rain made clicking noises as it hit the ground, the water rolling off my scales in rivers. The thunder boomed overhead. I paid it no mind as I ran into the forest, the trees' leaves swaying in the fierce winds, leaves torn from the branches and carried amongst the air currents. My wings were still too weak to fly, forcing me to sprint along the forest ground. My paws left muddy imprints wherever I went, the tracks should anyone look for me would point them straight to me. Still, no one ever came. Father could have flown and caught up to me in mere moments, but that night not a wing flapping or a roar was heard from the dragon I once called father.

I don't know how long I ran; it could have been minutes or hours, I wasn't sure. Time was lost to me as I thundered through the forest. Squirrels, and rabbits running from me, while owls hooted above, watching me with their unwavering gaze. My limbs ached something fierce, a burning sensation that only grew stronger as the night wore on, had crept up my limbs. All I wanted to do was to lay down, curl up next to my father, and sleep. But I guess those days were over now, weren't they?

Finally, when my legs could go no further, I collapsed into a heap of bright red scales. All around me, the forest slowly came to life with chirping birds piercing the sky, flying from tree to tree in search of food. A brave blue jay jumped off the branch it was resting on and landed on the ground in front of me; our eyes met for a brief second before it pecked the dirt, revealing a worm. It flew off just as quickly as it came with the worm now in its beak. My chest still heaved from the long run, but my breathing started to slow after a while. Around me, animals scurried around, looking for their next meal. A pack of wolves sprinted by, making nary a sound except for their breathing. My ears picked up on them, quickly flicking against my head and alerting me to their presence. On my left, a bush started shaking, its leaves brushing against each other, making a 'shh shh' sound. Peering closer, the leaves split.

***

I awoke with a start, having had the same damn dream every night. Looking at the moon, I determined it to be some time in the early morning. Around me, the forest animals were still sleeping. I wish I could be too, but I never got a whole night's rest, that accursed nightmare plaguing me wherever I go. Animals scurried from sight, hiding amongst the ferns and bushes, crawling up and down trees. Fleeing wherever they could possibly go as my roar ripped through the forest. Anger, pain, and fury ripped open my chest, tears started falling like a waterfall as my heart tore into a thousand pieces for what must have been the hundredth time. It had been four months since that horrific night. I was sleeping peacefully in between my parents when suddenly a claw flipped me over and pinned me down, forcing me to wake as a gush of air left my chest with an oomph.

I still don't understand what I did wrong. If they hated me like their eyes revealed, then why would they cuddle with me as I slept? Why would they bother feeding me for eight years? Why would they bother doing anything for me at all if it was just to kill me as a hatchling? Questions whirled through my mind the rest of the day, most of them consisting of why? But answers were never revealed.

Hunger gnawed at my stomach, its growls shaking my yellow belly scales. They never taught me to hunt either. Food ended up being very scarce for me; more often than not, my prey got away running from me before I even revealed myself. Fish were the easiest to catch, but those meals were far in between. I could have lived next to a river my whole life, but my legs kept moving even when I didn't want them to, even when all I wanted to do was lie down and die.

Over the last few months, I had entered a routine of letting my paws carry me wherever they wanted as my mind was lost in an ever increasing tornado of thoughts, questions, and emotions. When food presented itself I hastily scarfed it down, but it wasn't long before my stomach would start to hurt again. The pain always seeming to come back with a vengeance. Another pang of hunger rumbled through me, sending me to my belly on the dirt as I waited for it to end. Whether I starved to death or the pain stopped, whichever came first, I didn't really care.

In the books I read, this is when the character happens upon someone or vice versa, and they are saved and come back stronger, but the reality is so much worse, help wasn't going to come. I had given up on that after the first two weeks of my wandering. But for some reason, hope still burned in my chest no matter how much I tried to squash or drench it in water, it still burned.

Mother always told me stories of entire cities full of dragons living and working together; maybe that's why my paws kept me moving. They were trying to find a place like that, but even if they did, who would want a hatchling whose parents tried to kill him? Who wants some depressed dragon whose fire was out drenched in the stormy rains of an even darker night? All too often storms gathered, their rain pelting my scales with cold droplets, and shelter was never to be found. Again, who would want me? Who would love me? Because my parents made it very obvious, they didn't.

It was getting hard now to remember what love felt like, but I had to ask myself if my own parents had tried to kill me, then was what I felt even really love? Or was it just parental responsibility?

Days continued to pass as I lost myself to these thoughts. The trees slowly changed, growing farther and farther apart from each other, though I barely took note of it. So lost in the mix of emotions and thoughts that I didn't notice when the forest ended. I walked out onto plains, tall green grass flowing to the breezes whims. Nearby a small pond lay with cattails growing on the edges, back and forth they flowed like the flapping of wings. It wasn't until the tall grass tickled my scales that I finally realized where I was or lack thereof. Behind me, the tree line stretched onward to the horizon, and the plains where I stood stretched out before my gaze.

My ears flicked my head as they caught the sound of loud wingbeats flapping in sync with each other. Turning around, my gaze rested on a dark blue scaled dragon flying straight for me. Father! My paws skidded in the dirt as I broke into a sprint, running wasn't going to outlast a flying dragon, but if I made it back to the tree line, maybe I could hide.

The tree line was a claw's breadth from me when father slammed into me, pinning me against the dry sunbaked dirt.

I struggled, trying to get free, but his weight was far too much for my body to handle. Above, his jaws opened wide, and in his throat, a light emerged. I was going to be roasted to death, charred to a crisp. Not even the wolves would want a piece of me. Just like my own parents didn't want me, just like this stupid world! My heart pounded not in fear but in fury. My paws, though pinned to the ground, clenched into fists. But no matter how angry I got, no matter how I struggled, there was no escaping the weight and force of father's claws.

Another moment later, father exhaled flames spewing from his mouth like a gale. I felt their heat long before they touched me; I thought there would be more pain before I died. Instead, blackness consumed me before the flames torched my hide to ash.