The Girl who raised a Dragon - Short Story

The other day I was going through an entry for the "Twenty-four hour short story" post and I was awestruck by the gem that it was. That lead me to reading more entries under this tag and what do I say other than, I was up all night reading them!

So this is like attempting to win gold in the olympics for me but I really had to take this challenge as the prompt looked super fun.

If you too would like to take part in this, check out the original post here.

The photo frame seemed to mock me as it lay devoid of any meaning on the top of the counter. All three of us were smiling in the photo pointing at the waterfall. It was shortly after that trip that we found out. Kate was only with us for another three months before she left us.

Nicole was all I had. My five year old princess. I got to admit, I am not very good at being a great father. I try but I feel that I fall flat a lot of times. Kate would have known. She was great at being a parent and I ...

I don't know why I kept the photo up on the counter. I should take it down. Looking at it only made me miss her more but I never really got around to it. Somehow, the act of taking it down would finally severe the hope that I was holding onto. That, maybe it was all just a dream.

"Papa?"

I looked around.

The golden curls. The big wonderous eyes. They melted my heart.

"Yes, your majesty?" I bowed as I answered. She giggled, covering her mouth.

"Papa, I need some fried chicken."

"Are you hungry already? Papa is still cooking." I said pointing towards the electric stove.

"It's not for me. It's for Klove. He said he is hungry and wants to eat something and I know he loves to have meat." She said.

I sighed. The Doctor had said that children had different ways to process loss and pain. An imaginary friend was one of them. My Nicole had an imaginary Dragon!

It was right after we moved to the new house that she claimed to have first seen some huge eggs in the forest behind the house. I tried telling her that it would eggs laid by some hen but she would have none of it. With her hand she showed the size of the egg, what could only be the size of a small puppy. It went on until one day she announced that it was a dragon's egg and that the egg had hatched.

I was not really concerned by her behavior initially but when this "dragon" was all that her life seemed to revolve around, we visited a Doctor. He asked me to give her time and not to worry. How could i not worry? She was all I had. Sometimes I wondered if moving to the house on the outskirts was a right decision. Maybe it was lack of having other kids around that made her conjure up this dragon. But I also needed the move badly. I had to finally get down to do some writing.

"He has grown, you know? He is quite big now, the size of a horse." She spoke excitedly.

"Does he fly yet?" I asked sarcastically

"Papa, they can only fly when they are 6 months old. Everyone knows that." She said looking annoyed.

"I'd like to meet Klove." I said standing up.

"I ... don't know. He is ... very shy."

"Oh, I will behave and if he is not comfortable I can always leave."

She stood thinking over it for a minute before motioning me to follow as she set our of the room dashing.

I stepped out into the broad daylight closing the back door behind me. Nicole was already near the gate and I jogged to catch upto to her.

She took my hands in hers and lead me towards the forest. We walked silently few hundred meters deep before she took me off the walkway and through the bushes.

"Papa, you got to be silent and don't talk unless I tell you." My daughter suddenly seemed to be a splitting image of her mother, making me smile.

"Sure." I whispered.

She cleared the huge overgrown bushes and stepped into what looked like a circular clearing.

There was nothing!

What did I really expect? He chuckled quietly only to be at the receiving end of a hot piercing stare from Nicole.

"What did I tell you?"

"Sorry, your majesty." I did a bow.

She turned and looked at the far end of the clearing and called out.

"Klove. Shoring Toring Baby Klove."

Nothing.

"Nicole, let's go back. It's getting late."

Hearing the leaves rustle I turned around to see a brownish purple scaly baby dragon the size of a horse emerge from the bushes at the other end.

I stood staring at it.

Photo by Bekah Russom on Unsplash