Shrieker

1

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Hello everyone! This is the first story I've ever written and therefore probably sucks LOL. But this is just for fun and something I enjoy doing. I don't mind constructive criticism, but please be kind. I'm really trying here lol. With that said, I hope you enjoy! :)

I am a dragon.

She blew little white clouds from her mouth as she exhaled.

Thalia loved autumn. It was the most colorful season with all the greens turning into yellows, bleeding into crimson. Nature shed her skin, transforming herself into her barest form.

Thalia wished she could transform. She wished she was something greater, something stronger. Dragons were strong. They were mighty creatures able to fly, swim and breathe fire, dominating sky, land and sea. Her mother told her stories of the creatures when she was little. Nestled under the blankets, tucked in tight, her mother would lay next to her and tell countless tales of the magical creatures. The white dragon with giant wings for sails that would ride the wind and block the sun like a storm cloud on the horizon. Of the blue dragons who had gills and webs between their claws to help them swim. Some even had retractable fins used to glide through the water without leaving so much as a ripple in their wake. Then of course there was her favorite, the red dragon whose massive size reigned over all others and whose fiery breath could destroy its enemies with a single blow. Though mighty and fierce, it was a guardian, meant to protect the other creatures of its kind.

There were times when Thalia's excitement overwhelmed her, and she would go to bed early just to hear her mothers stories sooner. To her, those stories were real. Dragons were one of life's wonderful mysteries, something a childs wild imagination made easy to believe in. To her mother they were lessons in disguise. The tales she told were meant to prepare her daughter for whatever life would throw her way. It was why she spent so many nights laying in her daughter's bed, telling her story after story, late into the early morning hours.

Thalia liked to think her mother was a dragon. Graceful in the way she moved, wild in the way she lived, and serene like the surface of an untouched lake. Her mother was magical, she just had to be. Magic doesn't die, or else it wouldn't really be magic.

She was wrong. The day her mother died, the dragons died too, along with the rest of her magic. Like a curse something else was born, a monster. Something so terrifying not even a dragon, her mother, could survive.

Thalia let out another breath, watching her sizzling smoke release once more. I am a dragon.

If only.

No matter how hard she wished it, her mother was never coming back. She could not save her. She could not fight the beast that grabbed her mom by the throat and forced a kiss upon her lips. She could not shield it from her mothers harsh words. She could not stop the demons fury as it sliced her mothers throat with its razor sharp claws. She could not hear her mothers voice as she clutched at her throat, blood seeping between her fingers, as her lips mouthed the word snapdragon.

Thalia knelt down and touched the fallen leaves. She stood in a sea of red. Though the ground was covered in fresh leaves and the trees were starting to look bare, she knew where she was. She stood there many times before. It was where she knelt beside her mom while she watched the magic fade from her eyes. A tear slipped from her eye and she looked down, letting the drop fall to the ground. She leaned forward, her lips almost brushing against the leaves and exhaled. She closed her eyes, imagining her dragons breath could reach her mother. It was silly, all of it. Coming out here, time after time, breathing into the spot her mother died. Thalia knew it made no sense, not even to her, but for whatever reason she felt connected to her mother when she did it.