Dragons of the Unknown

Chapter 1

“Scissors, paper, rock,” we chant together in perfect harmony, our voices like a choir. She looks up at me clearly disappointed, “Serena… stop cheating,” she complains in her utter most annoying tone. Her pale face quickly turns like a tomato, as she is clearly frustrated.

Oh, really? I’m not the one cheating and even if I was, what would be the big deal? Seriously it scissors, paper rock. I don’t let the words slip from my mouth. The moment seems to last forever the silence unnatural, but as quickly as it had come the red is leached from Tina’s face as she lets out a long high-pitched sigh. Leaning forward the leather of my dad’s old lounge sticks to my sweaty legs.

“Serena, I should probably go home now. I told my parents that I’d be back home by 5:30pm, and it’s...” Looking down at the watch, on her pale chubby arm. The one I had given to her for our two-year best friend anniversary seven years ago. She continues her sentence, “5:26, Oh God, I really need to go home now.” She says in a hurried voice, as she gets up as fast as a tornado.

“Tina, don’t worry you know your parents won’t be mad at you if your home a few minutes late,” I try to tell her, but she doesn’t pay attention to me, as her long, black hair flows behind her. “Tina!” I shout trying to get her attention, she stops running around like a wild goose around my cramped house, finally paying attention to me.

“Do you remember when you got home an hour and a half late, from losing track of time here?” I ask her in a slow voice. She now stops completely, staring blankly at the wall behind me with her stunning emerald eyes, then she hesitatingly nods her head.

“Yes… what about it?” She manages to ask in a confused voice.

“Your parents weren’t mad at you when you got home an hour and a half late, so compare that to now a few minutes late, what is the worst that can happen?” I explain.

Her gaze pins me to the spot. Clearly noticing my now tapping foot, she finally answers me, “yeah, you’re probably right, but still, I’d like to be home as close to 05:30 as possible; so, can we get going now?” She asks as she puts the last of her things into her navy-blue school bag.

“Dad! Dad!” I yell as I ascend our narrow, wooden staircase. Entering the first room on my left. I go to the large desk on the left side of my room and seeing my wallet and phone I pick them up, and stuffing them into the pockets of my jacket. Looking above my desk to the mirror on the wall I check my appearance, my jeans are a little rumpled as well as my light blue jacket. My thick, wavy, golden-brown hair appears messy so I tie it up in to a neat bun. Finally convinced I look ok I leave my calming grey of my bedroom and re-enter the small blue hallway. As I pass the bathroom the scent of cleaning products follow me as I walk to the door on my left. The sketched picture of my dad saddens me for a moment. My dad had always told me that my mother had drawn it, supposedly my mother Kirra had left three days after I was born. Dad has always said that she left because she thought it would keep me safe, but I’ve never understood what he meant.

“Serena! Hurry up!” The impatient voice, interrupts my train of thought.

“Give me a minute!” I yell back to Tina, to where she stands at the bottom of the stair case holding her bag. I nudge open the door into my dad’s room and see him fast asleep. Walking to the side of his double bed, I put a hand on his broad shoulder, faintly shaking it.

“Liam…Liam…” He finally wakes.

“Rise and shine dad, it’s time to take Tina home.” As he opens his bright, sea blue eyes he shakes his head of short rusty orange hair, like how a dog would shake its fur after getting wet.

“Wait. What time is it? How long was I asleep for?” He asks, his mind obviously still blurry from sleep.

“Any more questions dad?” He shakes his head going onto his elbows. “Okay...” I say with a long sigh.

“05:28 and I don’t know, Oh and you have one minute to meet me and Tina at the car.” I explain as I leave the overheated room. Just before I close the door behind me, I catch a glimpse of the green, shirt, and the grey pants my dad is wearing. Finally closing the door all the way behind me, I go back along the hallway this time coming to the bathroom on the left, and my bedroom on the right before I reach the stairs.

“Finally, what took you so long?” Tina asks in an agitated voice.

“My dad was asleep so- “

“Oh, okay, yep I get it,” She cuts me off.

Silently Tina and I make our way to the car, dad about ten seconds behind us unlocks the car with the button on his keys as he gets out of the front door. Dad enters the car and before I know it we have already started reversing out of our boring cement driveway. I sit quietly and watch as my house grows smaller and smaller.

...

We pull into the driveway that leads to the mansion ahead. As dad puts the car into park, Tina and I lunge out of the car towards the front door. Within ten seconds of knocking, Tina’s mum answers the door. Her warm smile welcoming me into her home.

“Hello Talia, how are you?” I say by greeting. A faint smile spreading across my own face.

“Just fine; how are you Serena?” She replies.

“Great” I announce.

Talia then moves her slim body behind the door to let Tina and I in. My dad brings up the rear as we kid’s slip inside. I take off my shoes to ensure that I don’t get the marble floor dirty. Leaving my dad behind to talk to Talia, I follow Tina. After following Tina down twisting and turning hallways for a few painful minutes, we come across a 2nd lounge room.

Entering the large room, we catch eye of Joseph, “Hi girls.”

“Hi dad,” Tina replies with a long stretched out sigh.

Giggling a bit, I manage to let out the words “Hi Joseph, nice to see you.”

“Nice to see you to, Serena,” he replies politely.

Leaving this lounge room behind, Tina walks down a large hallway then finally turns right. Following Tina into her pink, girlish bedroom, she dumps her school bag next to her large, over expensive desk. Sometimes it really disgusts me, she has such a great room with all the things she could possibly want to buy but she treats all her things like crap.

“Finally,” Tina sits down on her king-sized bed, “I thought we’d never make it here alive.” She says turning to me with a large smile on her face.

“But our long adventure is not yet over, we still must escape this great dungeon,” I announce.

After a few seconds of barely controlled emotions, we can no longer contain ourselves, as we burst into laughter. Sighing, I sit down next to Tina on her bed.

“Hey Tina, what day is it today?”

Tina pauses for a moment, concentrating, “It’s definitely Wednesday. Wednesday the… 3rd”

“Damn it, that means we have school again tomorrow,” I mutter through clenched teeth.

“Yeah…” she shifts her large body to face me. “Hey, what are we doing for your birthday?”

“I don’t know, it’s like forever away.”

“Are you kidding? It’s 4 days away! This Sunday!”

“Exactly like I said, it’s forever away” I tease as a slow smile spreads across my face. It’s always hilarious watching Tina get frustrated like this, her voice goes two semitones higher and her face a bright shade of red.

“Okay we have to do something. Why do you always leave it this late to plan your birthday!”

As I burst with laughter, Tina gives me the death stare then sighs. Tina see’s that I have finally settled down.

Her voice has dropped back to her normal tone when she speaks again. “But seriously Tina what are we going to do for your birthday?”

“Tina don’t worry I have already figured it all out, and have already checked with Talia and Joseph to make sure it is okay. So, on Saturday morning we will be having breakfast here with dad us and your parents, then play a few board games. At 11 we are going to Westfield’s via bus and Sarah is meeting us there. Then we’ll muck around for a while. At 5’o’clock both your parents and my dad will take the three of us for dinner together at a local restaurant.”

“Okay sorry… I didn’t mean to go totally ape on you.” She says as her cheeks flush.

“Don’t worry about it,” I reply in a reassuring tone, silently giggling.

Next to me Tina falls back onto the bed and a strange calm overcomes the room. A tingling sensation creeps into my nose, and a strange feeling seeps into pit of my stomach. My small hand suddenly reaches to my nose to pinch it shut as I sneeze. Without warning a pencil case on Tina’s desk falls off. The wired feeling is gone, but now replaced with confusion.

“What just happened?” Tina looks at me expectantly.

“I…I don’t know… It’s probably coincidence, right?” I stare straight into Tina’s eyes both of us wearing identical expressions of confusion on our faces.

Sitting in silence my mind starts to wonder… what had happened? Tina’s bright blue pencil case which was on a desk on the other side of the room had fallen off, in exact timing as my sneeze. With my mind racing I needed to get out of this house…

My voiced filled the silent room, “I think it’s time for me to go, I have to cook dinner tonight. We have practically no food at home so I need to get some things.”

Giggling Tina replies, “First we must escape this deadly kingdom.” And just like that everything goes back to normal. I release a breath I didn’t know I have been holding. Silently we exit the room and I follow Tina once again down different hallways till we get to the room by the front door where all the parents are.

“Ready to go sunshine?” Dad asks me as Tina and I enter the room.

“I sure am,” I admit.

Dad and I say our goodbyes to the Lashmore residence, then once again enter the car.

...

Pulling up in front of Woolworth's Liam turns and fixes his eyes on me.

“Okay, same as usual. I drop you off, you walk home with the groceries. You brought your wallet and phone with you, right?" Digging my hand into my pocket my hand comes across my prize. Pulling out my wallet I count the notes inside.

“Okay, yes I have my wallet and my phone that also has full credit.” I explain.

“Okay, okay. I will let you go now…” I give him a knowing stare, “After you give me a kiss.”

Giggling a bit, I kiss my dad’s cheek, as he finally lets me out to do my shopping. Walking across the rough pavement I pause for a second inhaling the fresh air. Continuing down the path I enter Woolworth’s. On my way in I get a basket, then going quickly through the brightly lit aisles I grab the essentials for the next few days and make my way to the front of the shop. I stroll forward to the cash register and wait my turn in line. Suddenly I’m aware of the sweat drenching me from head to toe, and the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. Looking around at the other sweaty people near me it seems that my sudden panic is over nothing. Realizing that it's finally my turn in line I step forward and silently put my few groceries in the bay. As the lady at the cash register scans my items she looks me in the eye.

“Looks like you’ve got a secret admirer,” she says as she points her chin at a place a fare way behind me.

Slowly I turn my head half way and my senses become weirdly accurate. He is roughly 9 meters behind me and all I can see is his brown eyes staring at me. As soon as he notices that I have caught him, he snaps his head around to make it seem he is busy looking at… girl’s stockings? From what I can see the guys is wearing full black including his hooded cloak, shoes but it is impossible to know if his shirt and pants are black because they are concealed by his cloak. Turning back to the register I quickly pay for my groceries, picking them up and walking to the door. Looking around the shop there is no sight of the hooded figure. Confident that the freaky guy in the cloak is no longer watching me, I walk home.

...

Opening the door I set the groceries by the bench.

"Hey Serena, did you get me my razors?" Dad asks from the couch his eyes fixated to the TV. 

"Mmmhmmm" I mumble.  As I'm unpacking the groceries my exhaustion sets in.

"Damn Serena I know it's hot but how are you so sweaty?"

What should I tell him? A weird cloaked man was staring at me in Woolworth's?

"Oh dad it's not all sweat I got really hot, so I decided  to put some water on me to cool off." As I'm saying this a lump forms in my throat, why am I lying to him? A wave of guilt overcomes me. Then he nods taking this as a simple enough explanation.

Now that all that is left on the bench is what I need for dinner I begin cooking. Turning on the oven I shove the lasagna inside and put the timer onto 40 minutes, and set up the table so I don't have to do it later. Walking to the bathroom I start unzipping my jacket. Now fully n***d and behind the safety of a closed door I step into the shower. As the cool water touches my skin I gasp and realize how hot and sweaty I really was. Carefully pulling out my hair I ease some shampoo into it, then conditioner washing it thoroughly. I also cleanse my skin with soap and I'm amazed at how clean I feel. Stopping the water and wrapping myself in my towel I walk across the hallway to my room. The wood underneath me squeaking at as my water soaked feet slide across them. Staring into my small wardrobe I pull out baggy shorts and loose shirt, sliding them on in an instant. Going again into the bathroom I pull my wallet and phone from my jacket then throw the clothes into the washing basket. Now back in my room I jump onto my tiny bed as the blankets make a perfect sized crater for me. Turning on my phone I check the news, my email, then finally pick a game to play.  A sudden buzzing sound fills the air, for a second I'm confused but then I realize what it is. Putting my phone down I run down the stairs and turn off the timer. Putting my oven mitts on I pull the lasagna out of the oven and put it on the stove top. Serving the lasagna onto the plates I shout for my dad to get ready for dinner. As dad comes to the kitchen and washes his hands I hand him his plate and head for our wooden table. For the first few minutes we eat in utter silence, "Sunshine, how has your day been?" Liam asks.

"Oh you know, reading, writing, so overall the normal boring."

Still laughing dad chokes out "sounds good, you excited for Monday?"

"Dad, it's just a birthday. Everybody has one and it happens every year, sure i guess it is something to celebrate, but honestly no I'm not really excited because it just means I'm getting older."

"Fair enough Serena. What time are you hitting the sack?"

"Right after dinner, I have a English Assessment tomorrow so I need the sleep."

"Have you studied?"

"Yeah, I have."

"Okay good luck,"

"Thanks dad," I reply.

Eating for the rest of the time in silence, many thoughts cross my mind, from dancing rainbows to turning 14. Mouthful after mouthful of lasagna sets my mind into a sleep like state. Now only half awake I mutter my good night to my dad and wash my plate in a haze. Making my way to my room I pass the photos on the walls, as memories flood my mind. One in particular . It was when I was 6 and my dad was pushing me on the swings in the local park, I still remember the fresh scent of the newly cut grass and the dizzying sensation of floating high up then coming back down. Though I had never told my dad about the eyes, the terrible eyes in the dying light. I had saw them in the nearby bush near the swings they had stared at me for many minutes the whites shining bright. The memory quickly fades but I can't seem to shake my new uneasiness. Realizing that I have made it to my room I duck inside and fall into my bed. The softness of my pillow lulls me to sleep.