The Others

Chapter Two

Slowly, I open my eyes. My back feels stiff, and sore. I stretch and yawn. The hay feels soft, but my body tells me that it would have been better to sleep in my own bed. The colours of the world show me that it’s late in the afternoon. The bright yellow of the sun is becoming a bit more orange with every hour that passes.

The barn stinks, and I’m sure I stink too. But my rest was nice. My clothes are dry again, and … The stone! Quickly I get up, and I look around but it’s nowhere to be found. I dig through the hay, but there’s nothing. I’m so stupid… why did I leave it out in the open like that? My parents must have come to check up on me, and found it.

Agitated, I get up. Why do they always interfere with my personal things. The least they could have done is ask, that would not have been so much to ask?

I leave the barn, and walk to the front-door with big steps. I barge in, and see my mother sat at the dinner table. She smiles when she sees me. ‘You might want to take a bath’, she jokes, probably referring to my hair, which no-doubtingly will be filled with strings of hay.

‘Where did you put it?’ I say angrily. My mother's smile vanishes from her face.

‘What are you talking about?’ she asks.

‘The stone’, I instantly clarify. ‘You took it from me and I want it back. I don’t care if you want to sell it.’

I see on my mother’s face that she has no idea what I am talking about. She’s genuinely surprised. ‘Why would I sell a rock?’ she asks. ‘Or did you find a gem in the mountains?’

I quickly shake my head. ‘Never mind’, I say before I run straight back to the barn. I hope she will not follow me, to ask me to clarify. I hate lying to her.

I kneel down near the hay and start digging through it again. If my mother did not take it, then who did?

That’s when I hear a strange sound. It sounds like some peeping, like a young cat, but it’s slightly different. It’s difficult to explain.

Surprised I turn to where the sound came from, and I see something move behind a barrel. It’s small, and most likely a rat. But still… there’s something about it that makes me want to get up and…

Slowly I walk towards the barrel. Carefully, because if it’s really a rat, I do not want to get bitten.

With the tip of my foot I push the barrel aside. And I instantly jump back.

It is small, winered, and something I have never seen before in my life. With big lightblue eyes, and small spikes all over the back. It pushes it’s belly to the floor, and trembles out of fear.

I bring my hand to my mouth out of amazement. It’s beautiful. But… I have never seen something like it.

I kneel down and try to get to the same height as it.

‘Hello’, I say. The animal starts shaking even more. ‘What are you?’ I ask it.

The little creature looks me right into my eyes, and I swear I can see the shaking stop. Slowly it lifts it belly up a bit, and it tilts its head. It makes the same sound it did a bit before, and I see when it opens its mouth that it has two entire rows of razor sharp teeth.

I have to admit that it looks a bit like what I think a dragon looks like. But everyone knows that dragons have been extinct for hundreds of years.

The animal slowly crawls forward, closer to me. I reach with my hand, but it startles him. I try not to move, and after a couple of second the little creature decides to come a bit closer to me again.

When it reaches my hand, it pushes its tiny nose against my hand.

‘Aren’t you a cutie’, I smile. The creature looks up with its big eyes, and I swear I can see it smile. It’s adorable. But… what is it?

The little creature turns around, and runs away. It’s not fast on its four little legs, but I still need to run to catch up to it. Not very far away from where we were, and still in the barn, it takes me to some red shells. I kneel down when I recognize it. It’s the stone. Or better said, it was the stone.

Astonished I pick up the eggshells, as I puzzle the stone back together. It was an egg, and not a rock.

I look back at the little creature. It must be a just hatched. Am I the first thing he sees?

The quadruped opens its little mouth and a braaap comes out. It must be hungry.

‘What do you eat?’ I ask, knowing I will not get an answer. That’s when I get back up on my legs, and think very deeply. I can try to catch it some mice, but mice are very fast. Not to start with the disease that they bring, if they bite me. Maybe I can get it an chicken egg? All animals love eggs, right?

‘Wait right here’, I tell the little thing. It tilts his head and without knowing if it will listen to me, I run out of the barn to the chickencoop. I pick up three eggs, knowing that more will make my mother notice, and go back.

The little creature is still standing in exactly the same spot. I break one of the eggs open in front of it on the floor, and carefully it crawls, with its belly on the floor, to the yoke. A little tongue comes out of its mouth and three seconds later the egg is licked clean from the floor. Laughing, I break one more, but when I grab the third one, the little animal bites my ankle. It’s very carefully, and doesn’t hurt. It makes light growling noises, and for some reason I think I understand that it’s asking if he can have the full egg. Shell and all.

I lay the egg on the floor, and see the little dragon look-alike devour it with passion. The idea of eating eggshell is making me slightly nauseated, but then again, I have never hatched.

I kneel back down with the little creature, pet it on its head and smile. ‘You are way too cute’, I say. As an answer it tilts his head again. ‘Are you really a dragon?’ I say curious. ‘You come from an egg, you have razor sharp teeth. Four legs, and little wings on your back.’ The creature braaps back again. I laugh. ‘One thing you truly are, is adorable.’

I hear my mum calling for me. ‘But I have to go back to the house’, I say. I do not want to leave it… what if it’s gone in the morning?

I pet it on the head again. ‘Feel free to stay’, I say. ‘I will try and catch you some mice tomorrow.’ Then I get up, and run to the house. Knowing there’s a big chance tomorrow, that the cutie is gone.