# Dragon in the Dishwater, Ch 3

Author: comidacomida
Tags: Angst, Bad Language, Character Development, Dragon, Highschool, Human, Plot Development, Psychological, Teenager, Trouble, broken home, deep storyline, sociological

Dragon in the Dishwater  
Chapter 3  
Copyright 2007 comidacomida  
  
"Eric, honey?" he heard his mother's voice call through the blackness.  
Somewhere, far off, a pounding pain throbbed through the bleary haze and Eric  
wished strongly that he hadn't begun to regain his senses. He groaned.  
"Eric... can you hear me?" his mother called again. It wasn't the first  
time that her voice sounded unpleasant to him but, with the last vestiges of  
comforting unconsciousness fading, it was certainly the most painful.

"Ow." he mumbled, his own voice causing the pain in his skull to ache all  
the more.

"You took a pretty nasty bump on the head, Eric." Dr. Marlow's voice spoke  
up, and Eric tensed.

"I'm fine." he gritted, blinking several times before his vision began to  
focus on two bleary shapes.

"Dr. Marlow said that he was getting ready to leave when he heard a thump  
from upstairs." explained his mother, resting a hand on his arm, "He went up to  
check on you and he found you on the floor."

"Well, I guess he does help people, doesn't he?" Eric attested  
sarcastically.

"I'll see you again on Tuesday." the doctor mentioned to Eric's mother,  
resting a hand on her shoulder before he left Eric's blurred sight.

"Thank you again, Doctor Marlow... thank you... very much." Eric's mother  
called after the doctor before turning back to look at her son, "Eric... Doctor  
Marlow carried you down here and laid you out on the couch. He called me at  
work and stayed here until I could get back." "He'll just put it on your  
bill... psychiatrists are some damn expensive  
babysitters." Eric grumbled, slowly moving to sit up. He groaned, clutching his  
head as he sank back down to the cushions of the sofa.

"He cancelled two appointments to stay here and make sure you were  
alright, Eric... I think you should give him a little more respect than that."

"Remind me to write him a thank you letter." the young man replied flatly.

Eric's mother just sighed, standing up as he watched her take off her  
coat. If she were back then it really was late, and Eric had lost the whole  
afternoon to the insanity she brought into the house. Gritting his teeth, he  
slowly sat up again, and winced at the pain in his head while planting his feet  
firmly on the floor. The young man remained there for several minutes as he let  
his spinning head slow down.

"Ground Beef Helper?" his mother inquired from the kitchen.

"Yea... whatever." Eric replied, slowly moving to stand. It only took a  
moment before he sat back down on the couch cushions, blinking several times  
before his vision stopped spinning. The blurriness in his gaze cleared after a  
few minutes and he tried again, this time with much greater effect. The young  
man stood once more, balancing on his feet as he let his head readjust to the  
new position, and he made his way slowly into the kitchen to rummage around one  
of the cabinets for something to help with the headache. His search continued  
as a frown spread its way across his face. "The pain killer is in the  
medicine cabinet in the bathroom." his mother  
volunteered, not even looking up from the pan that was slowly browning the meat  
for dinner.

"What's it doing there?" he demanded numbly, "It's always been in the  
kitchen."

His mother shrugged in response, "It shouldn't be in here... medicine  
belongs in a medicine cabinet."

Eric snorted at that, "I'll believe that when you put the sleeping pills  
there too." and he made his way to the bathroom to sift through the bottles of  
pills before finding the pain killers. He popped two of the pills and went back  
to the sofa, collapsing onto it, longing for the headache to abate. He was  
blessed shortly thereafter with sleep, and the comforting numbness of  
unconsciousness took over once again.

\* \* \* \* \* \*

Eric's stomach awoke him, grumbling in protest at being empty. The young  
man slowly gauged his ability to stand, moving deliberately from position to  
position checking for dizziness or pain; thankfully he did not encounter any.  
Eric stood, again testing his ability to balance, and was pleased to note that  
he had no difficulty. His stomach gurgled again as he smelled the familiar  
scent of the industry-generated, packaged sauce mix that flavored the meal his  
mother had prepared. He wandered into the kitchen, seeing the pan still on the  
stove.

Glancing at the microwave, Eric paused; he had not realized that the  
microwave's clock had started working again, and he clearly saw the listed 11:03  
lit. Not having his watch on him, Eric didn't know if the clock was accurate,  
but he paid it no more mind as he grabbed a plate from one of the shelves and  
scooped a good helping of the Ground Beef Helper onto it. Leaving the pan and  
spoon on the stove, Eric took a fork out of the drain board and headed straight  
for his room.

Friday nights meant he didn't have to worry about school the next day, but  
it also meant two days at home with his mother... a thought that was bearable  
only because Eric knew that his mother was scheduled to work overtime and  
wouldn't be around. While most of the students his aged looked longingly  
towards each and every weekend, Eric only really found enjoyment in the ones  
where he had the entire house all to himself.

Eric opened the door to his room, his brain shaking off the last remnants  
of its unplanned vacation. He flipped on the light using the edge of the plate  
in his hand and he paused, half inside the room and half outside it. With one  
hand on the doorknob and one hand on his dinner plate, Eric stared into his  
bedroom. He looked at the opened toy chest and bits of shell strewn about the  
floor.

Setting his plate on the dresser beneath the light switch, Eric slowly  
shut the door behind himself and slid into his room. From his place at the  
entryway, Eric looked first around the carpet at his feet. The events of  
earlier in the afternoon began to come back to him and his heart race started  
speeding up.

He moved away from the door, stalking slowly into the room, purposefully  
dragging his feet across the carpet, remembering seeing that lizard peel itself  
away from his bedspread and its color changing with barely a pause for shading.  
He spent so much time carefully seeking that he didn't even pay attention to the  
videogame playing on the TV. It wasn't for another thirty seconds until it drew  
his attention; he hadn't left the TV on.

Looking to the videogame console, Eric's eyes traced the wires from the  
television to the game system, and from the game system to the controller placed  
on the bed... on the bed directly in front of a greenish lizard the size of an  
amply large cat. Remaining silent, Eric watched as the creature used nimble  
digits on its talons to manipulate the buttons-- it was actually playing the  
game!

Awestruck, Eric's eyes alternated between watching the screen of the TV  
and watching the small reptile work the controls. The lizard wasn't just  
playing the game... it was playing well. The young man's throat tightened as he  
watched the game play out across the screen; the animal at the controller was  
getting close to Eric's most dreaded part of the game and, as with many times  
before, Eric tensed as the missile warning sound began to issue forth from the  
game.

Hands clenching as if seeking a controller, Eric took an involuntary step  
forward, eyes still glued to the screen. It was as if the lizard were  
completely forgotten, everything going in slow motion as the game took on a  
whole new light-- the dreaded missile had not hit the F-16. In the many times  
Eric had played that mission, he had never seen the missile miss.

Eric continued staring as the jet completed an expert series of jinx  
maneuvers, alternating hard right and left hand turns before the MIG came into  
clear view within the crosshairs. Eric's fingers reflexively clenched for  
buttons that weren't there, and two missiles streaked without error to the  
target; an explosion consumed the opposing aircraft.

The young man released an exhilarated breath of relief, having finally  
seen the completion of the objective. Though he himself had not done it, there  
was a sense of satisfaction about watching the MIG burst into flames. Eric let  
out a cry of relief and success, but the young man suddenly froze in place.  
Slowly turning to his right, Eric stopped as he saw the lizard staring at him.

The reptile was about a foot and a half tall as it stood there, if  
standing were the right term. The creature was perched on its hind legs,  
partially sitting on its tail, or just using it for balance like a tri-pod. Two  
small horns, more bumps than any real protrusions, poked up from its head. Fan-  
shaped ears emerged on either side of its head next to the small horn bumps.

The creature watched Eric, those two ear sails flickering.  
Its slightly smaller forelegs were tucked up against its body, talons  
crossed, almost reminiscent of a young boy folding his hands across his sternum  
while being reprimanded... but the lizard was not looking down, rather, its  
large, amber eyes were staring right at him, large, diamond-shaped pupils  
looking directly into his face.

The small beast blinked once-- not what Eric would consider a normal  
blink; its eyes closed horizontally instead of vertically, a clear membrane  
sliding across them rather than what would be considered a real eyelid. "Um...  
hi." Eric noted, slowly sliding further away from it on the bed.

"Hi." the creature responded.

Eric paused for a moment, completely at a loss for words. He sat facing a  
reasonably large lizard which had just responded to a greeting. He blinked  
twice before his brain started up again, and he realized that it had probably  
just made a sound that he had mistaken for a greeting in return to his own.

"Did you just..." he began, pausing for a moment, watching the way the  
lizard watched him, "Did you just do that on purpose?"

The lizard did not respond, except to slide down to its rump, tail curling  
around its lower legs as it remained gazing at him. Eric rested his hand atop  
his head, gripping his hair in confusion "I can't believe-- I thought I heard  
you talk." He looked down at the reptile, "But... you just beat that game level  
of F-16 Gulf Attack... that couldn't have been an accident."

The lizard blinked in response, the clear skin sliding out from the corner  
of its eyes before withdrawing out of sight. It didn't respond to Eric's  
inquiry, and the young man let out grunt and stood up. "I can't believe this."

"Can't believe what?" the lizard inquired.

"I can't believe I'm talking to some lizard, expecting it will--"  
Eric froze in mid-sentence, turning numbly to gaze at the creature, mouth agape.

"Talk back?" the reptile offered.

"You CAN talk!" Eric gasped, disbelievingly.

The lizard nodded in an entirely humanlike mannerism, "Yep."

"But-when-how-what-do you..." Eric failed to generate any cohesive  
sentence.

"Oh... wait, real fast." the reptile interjected, looking back to  
the TV screen before and manipulating the game controller. Eric followed its  
gaze to the television and watched as the little creature selected the save game  
option. For a moment, Eric faltered, still perplexed by the turn of events but,  
at the same time, the young man somehow had the presence of mind to be concerned  
about his own game being saved over. He let out a breath as the lizard selected  
a second save game slot, leaving his game untouched.

The reptile took its talons away from the controller, "Okay." it noted,  
turning back to regard Eric. The creature folded its talons again across its  
body and looked up at him, clear lids sliding out over its eyes again as it  
blinked in its own, exotic way. "I think we started off best with 'hi'." it  
revealed a row of small, pointed teeth... a gesture Eric realized must have been  
a smile.

"You can talk..." Eric ventured again, repeating his previous statement as  
his brain failed to overcome the earlier surprise.  
The lizard nodded, "Yes."

"And play videogames."

"Yes. Games too." The lizard grinned, the tip of its tail beating  
back and forth on the bed. Eric, who was standing by that point, reached out to  
grab the chair at his desk and move it closer to the bed. He took a seat on it  
as the reptile moved closer to the edge of the bed before sitting down once  
more, neck craned up so the two were face to face regarding one another.  
After several long seconds of silence, Eric, at length, finally asked,

"What... are you?"

"I'm a dragon." the creature responded.

"A dragon?" Eric inquired, incredulously.

"A dragon." The small reptile confirmed, tip of its tail still tapping  
back and forth on the bed.

"I didn't think dragons existed." Eric offered honestly, unable to think  
of anything else to say.

"We do." The dragon confirmed, as if its existence were not proof enough,

"Well... I do. I don't know if there are other dragons out there anymore."  
"If dragons exist, how come no one else has ever seen them?" Eric asked,  
incredulously.

"Humans used to see dragons, but they haven't for a awhile..." the dragon  
offered, glancing from Eric to the Ground Beef Helper on the plate resting near  
the young man's door, "It's a long story... maybe one we can share over dinner?"  
the creature grinned.

"Do dragons eat Ground Beef Helper?" Eric questioned, slowly standing, and  
walking backwards to where he left his plate.

The dragon shrugged, "Not sure," it replied honestly, "I don't think I've  
ever had it before... but it smells like food."

Eric started a half-sarcastic laugh, but cut it short as he brought the  
plate back to the dragon, "It's close to food, but I wouldn't call it good  
food." the young man attested, offering the plate to the dragon.

The dragon looked up at him, then to the plate, "You left your fork on the  
dresser." it noted matter-of-factly, glancing past him to where the utensil  
remained, resting on the wooden panel next to Eric's door.

"You use a fork?" Eric inquired, surprised at the remark. He stood up,  
moving to get the fork for the dragon before it replied.

"No," the reptile noted as Eric came back to the chair, "But you do... and  
we can't share dinner if you don't have your fork."

"Share?" Eric asked, not sure he understood, though the concept was simple  
enough.

"Right... you have some and I have some. Isn't 'share' the right word?"  
the dragon cocked its head to the side, tilting it like an inquisitive dog.

"That's what 'share' means, yea." Eric responded flatly, "But, why?"

The dragon continued to look at Eric with its head cocked, eyes blinking  
as it surveyed him, "What do you mean, 'why'?" it asked at length, "You are  
hungry, and I am hungry. There is food, so we can each have some." the dragon  
explained in an almost surgical manner, its train of logic seeming so basic and  
straight-forward that Eric was left wondering why he had asked the question in  
the first place, "Is that okay?" the dragon inquired.

"I... I guess so." Eric relented, and he sat the fork down next to the  
plate as he watched the dragon lay down beside to the dish and survey the meal.

After several seconds the dragon used a forepaw to scoop portions of meat and  
noodles closer to the edge of the plate, and then nimbly snatched them up in its  
muzzle. Eric was so enraptured with watching the creature eat that he nearly  
forgot that he was still hungry. It took a powerful gurgle from his stomach to  
remind him of that fact, and he finally picked up the fork which had laid unused  
on the bed.

The young man gingerly speared a noodle from his side of the plate and  
farthest from the dragon. At first, Eric hen-pecked around the dish, taking  
single pieces of pasta but, as the lizard seemed undisturbed by his actions, he  
slowly began to move into a more normal eating method. Soon enough, surprising  
himself, Eric was eating as if the dragon weren't even there. Finished, Eric  
sat back from the empty plate. He reflected on the fact that he hadn't eaten  
since noon, and it only made sense that he was hungry. The dragon, however,  
took time to lick the sauce off the plate.

"That was good food." the dragon noted.

"It's okay, if you call it food." Eric replied callously.

The dragon turned to him and cocked its head to the side, "If we ate it  
then it's food, right?"

"You can eat stuff that isn't food." the young man countered. He wasn't  
exactly sure if it was worth arguing the point, but-- Eric paused, "Never mind."  
he quickly noted, "Yea... it's good enough."

The dragon remained looking at him, and blinked again in its strange way.  
Eric shuddered, "Ugh... what IS that?" he demanded.

"What is what?" the reptile asked, blinking again.

"THAT!" Eric insisted, "Your eyes! You don't blink right."

The dragon cocked its head to the side, and Eric began to look away before  
the dragon quickly blinked, scaly lids swiping cleanly across its eyes,  
descending from its brow like a human would blink.

"What is--" Eric paused, "That was a blink... so what the fuck was the  
other thing?" he questioned.

The dragon frowned slightly and looked straight at him, "This..." the  
dragon slid its clear eyelids out from the corner of its eyes in a horizontal  
blink, "is clearing my eyes." it explained, "and this..." the dragon closed its  
scaled eyelids downward, "is a blink."

"So why not just blink like normal all the time then?" Eric asked flatly.  
"Normal for you isn't normal for everyone." the dragon responded simply.

Eric thought of any number of snide retorts, but he paused before making a  
verbal jab. Despite the obvious conversational "poke" made at him by the  
reptile, he couldn't see the use of getting into an argument... especially since  
the creature had claws and teeth. Even if it was only 1/6th his size, it was  
better armed. He decided to try a different approach.

"So what's the difference?"

The dragon closed its set of translucent eyelids and kept them closed,  
peering out at him from behind them, "These are nictitating membranes." it  
explained, "They help me keep my eyes clean and clear but still allow me to see  
if I have them closed in water or when I'm flying."

Eric stopped in mid-thought, "Flying?" he inquired, "You can fly?"

The dragon shrugged, "Not now. I'm still too fresh out of my egg... but  
when I am able to fly I can have them closed all the time so my eyes don't dry  
out. And, when I want to close my eyes-" the dragon shut his scaled eyelids,

"The 'normal' eyelids I have can keep light out." Eric didn't miss the dragon's  
accentuated use of the word 'normal', but decided not to comment.

The young man let out a deep breath, "Weird."

"Not to me." the dragon responded.

"How would you know what's normal and weird? You hatched less than a day  
ago." Eric retorted.

"Just because I hatched today doesn't mean that I didn't exist before I  
hatched." the dragon offered, "Dragons can spend a long time in their eggs, and  
it isn't like we're unconscious."

Eric pondered that a moment. Was this dragon able to learn while it was  
in its egg? Did the dragon pick up understanding from the world around it even  
before it hatched? How was it able to know how to speak if not for some kind of  
understanding imparted to it before it broke free of its shell?

"So that's how you were able to know how to play that videogame." he  
accused.

"Oh..." the dragon perked, ear sails rising, "No... I read the manual."

"The manual?" Eric paused.

"Right. It tells you how to play." the little lizard explained.

"I never read the manual." Eric admitted.

"That's why you always died on mission three. You're supposed to press  
down and R1 to release a flare. That helps you evade the missile." the dragon  
offered.

"Wait." Eric insisted, standing up from his chair as he put a hand to his  
forehead, "Go back a minute." he turned again to look at the dragon, "You read  
too?"

"Yes." the dragon admitted, "is that 'weird' too?"

"Most people spend the first years of their life learning how to read."  
Eric stated, "but you knew how to within the first hours?"

"I'm not a human." the dragon reasoned, "Dragons know a lot of things when  
they first hatch."

"Okay... so not weird for a dragon, but weird for a human." Eric offered.

"That's fair." the dragon agreed.

"So that's how you know how to read." Eric pondered aloud.

"Right."

"And how you know about forks and dressers and videogames." he offered

"Yes."

"And that's how you know how to speak English." Eric further ventured.

"Yes, and no." the dragon admitted.

"What do you mean 'yes and no'?" Eric asked.

The dragon lay down on the bed, rolling over onto its back as it rotated  
its sinuous neck so it could continue looking at Eric right-side-up. "It isn't  
very easy to explain... humans don't really have an equivalent to it."  
Eric sat back down on the chair beside him, "So how do you know how to  
speak English?" Eric pressed.

"I remember it from before." the dragon answered.

"Before what?" Eric asked.

"Before I became an egg." the dragon offered cryptically.

Eric raised an eyebrow, "Before you were an egg? What kind of shit is  
that? How can you be something before you're an egg?"

The dragon slowly rolled back over so it could sit back up. It cocked its  
head to the side and slid its translucent eyelids closed, "Why do you use those  
words?"

"What words?" Eric demanded, "And why are you changing the subje--"

"I answered your question." the dragon interrupted, "I said it was hard to  
explain." it retracted its clear eyelids, "The offensive words; why do you use  
them?"

Eric raised an eyebrow as the dragon looked at him. He said nothing for  
several moments as the reptile continued to watch as if waiting for an answer.  
The young man finally rolled his eyes, "God... you sound like my mom."  
The dragon blinked with its scaled eyelids and cocked its head the other  
way, "You said I did not answer your question, but I think you didn't answer  
mine."

The dragon continued to stare at him, and Eric could feel a sense of  
frustration begin to rise within him. The creature was so clueless. For being  
so smart it really had no idea how life worked or why--

"You do not have a reason?" the dragon inquired.

"Because I want to." Eric answered bluntly, "I can use them, so I do...  
okay? Fuck. Shit. Ass. Cock. Bitch. Damn. Cunt. Shit." Eric crossed his  
arms over his chest in frustration.

The dragon sighed and lowered its head to the mattress, "You said Shit  
twice." Several seconds of silence passed wordlessly in the room. Eric's upper  
lip quivered for a moment, and his stomach began to convulse, and, suddenly, he  
could no longer hold back the laugh.

Eric laughed long and hard. Though he couldn't quite figure it out; there  
was something about the strange situation that couldn't be classified. The word  
'absurd' just didn't do it justice, and he could do nothing but laugh. As he  
slowly regained his composure, he sat up, looking to the dragon who was still  
sitting up, gazing at him with head cocked slightly to one side.

"I guess I did." Eric responded wiping a tear away from one eye, "People  
don't always know why they do things." he offered at last, "So... I guess... I  
don't know why I curse. You're not 18 yet, so I guess I should be keeping it  
rated G, right?" he noted snidely.

"No." the dragon replied, "You don't have to change for me... I just  
wanted to know is all."

Eric shrugged, "Whatever."

The dragon scooted closer to the edge of the bed and looked up a Eric as  
the young man sat back into his chair, "When I said I knew some things since  
before I was an egg, that's because I remember a time before I was an egg." it  
tried explaining, "Dragons do not live like humans, and we don't die like  
humans... we hatch and we expire, but we aren't born and we don't die."

"I think you lost me." Eric noted flatly.

"Hmmm..." the dragon contemplated for a moment, "It's like waking up for  
us is hatching, and expiring is like going to sleep. Between the time we expire  
and we hatch is like being asleep. Humans remember what happened before they  
went to sleep the next day, and dragons remember what happened before they  
expired during their previous lives."

"So you're some kind of Jesus-Lizard." Eric deadpanned.

The dragon cocked its head to the side, "No." it blinked its translucent  
eyelids.

"That was a joke." the young man offered.

The reptile flicked its ear sails and blinked its scaled eyelids, "You  
were not smiling when you said it." the dragon noted, "sometimes humans are hard  
to understand."

Eric shrugged in response, "So... you're saying that you remember things  
from your past lives?"

"Yes. The times I have been out of an egg have not been past lives, but  
they have been part of my time on the earth." the dragon answered.

"And have you been around humans before?" Eric asked, many unpleasant  
images of housebreaking a dragon going through his mind.

"A few." the dragon replied.

"And?" Eric probed.

"And what?"

"I mean... what's it like?" Eric questioned.

"Why are you asking me? You should know what being around your own kind  
is like." the dragon countered.

"That isn't what I meant!" Eric objected.

"Then what do you mean?" the dragon used a hind-talon to scratch behind  
one of its ear sails.

"I mean... are things different? What's it like meeting different humans  
all the time? How long between dying and hatching? What does it feel like?  
How-"

"Those are a lot of questions." the dragon interrupted.

Eric nodded, stopping in the middle of his thoughts as he contemplated his  
own questioning. Before earlier that night, Eric had never thought such a thing  
as a dragon could exist, let alone that he would meet one and have it in his  
bedroom. The entirety of the situation was almost overwhelming, but the  
simplicity of talking to the down-to-earth reptile felt almost easy.

"Okay... well... how about, 'Do you have a name?'? Is that an okay, or do  
I just call you 'dragon'?"

The hatchling grinned at that, "I've been called worse."

"Now it's your turn for skipping an answer, huh?" Eric countered, grinning  
likewise.

"I have met many humans and they have given me many names." the dragon  
replied, "Some of them I liked more than others, but they are all me."

"So what should I call you?" Eric asked.

"Hiraeth." the dragon answered.

"Heeeer-aith?" Eric tried to pronounce the name.

"Yes."

"That sounds kinda Spanish." the young man noted.

"It is Welsh." Hiraeth explained.

"You mean from England?" Eric asked.

The dragon snorted, "No. Wales and England are not the same country.

They are not now and were not back then."

"Okay." Eric shrugged, "So what does it mean?"

The dragon cocked its head to the side, clear eyelids blinking, "What do  
you mean?"

"Does your name mean something?" Eric asked, "A lot of names have some  
kind of meaning... does yours?"

The dragon nodded after several moments of pause, its eyes gaining a far  
off quality to their gaze, "Yes."

"What does it mean?" Eric inquired.

"There is no exact translation in English... but it means a powerful grief  
over losing someone or something." Hiraeth answered.

"How would you get that as a name?" the young man questioned.

"It's a long story." The dragon replied.

"I just spent six hours unconscious; I'm not going to bed anytime soon."  
The little dragon grinned at that, "Alright... but remember: you asked me  
to tell it."  
 

Source: https://sofurry.com/view/160930

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