When We Were Dragons by Brandon Berntson

Author:Brandon Berntson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

~

When we got back, I turned to Karen. No one was as somber as I’d thought, but they were quieter than usual. I had an idea on how to bring them out of their shell.

“I want to go into town,” I told Karen. “Wanna come with me?”

“What are you going into town for?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

She raised her thick, black eyebrows. We told Holly we’d be back later, and she gave us a puzzled expression. Not to worry, I told her in a glance. It’ll be worth it.

We left the house, transforming into dragons for the first time since we’d arrived, and took to the sky. The shift came, and with it, a sense of peace. Oh, how good it felt to fly again, the cool wind under my wings, and I realized we had yet to show Holly or the children our ‘other’ forms.

I closed my eyes, the brisk cool wind against my scales. Below, Paramis Altered and New Earth unfolded under us. I flapped my wings slowly, savoring the view.

Changing into dragons is more a focused, centralized thought. Massive wings spread wide, and we are—in all aspects I give Earth credit for—similar to many pictures your artists convey. Of course, when we are dragons, we cannot talk, but we issue loud, echoing cries, and breathe fire.

I didn’t know what to look for at first. I was going on instinct. The department store might have what I was looking for, but after our visit, I couldn’t remember seeing anything similar to what I was looking for now. Karen was persistent, wanting to know what the mystery was. I could’ve made it easier by asking Holly where to look, but I wanted it to be a surprise for her, too.

We found a shopping mall several miles away in another town, but the collision had swallowed most of it, making the entrances inaccessible. Finally, I took to a larger town, one I didn’t know the name of, which was at the base of large, red colored rocks.

We transformed again, taking to the streets, and finally Karen pointed to a store I hadn’t noticed.

“Is that what you’re looking for?” she asked.

I followed where she pointed, a store called, All Occasion Costumes, and grabbed her hand. I didn’t know how she knew.

We walked across the street. The shop was open, still intact, at least. Some places, like Holly’s newer house, were untouched by the collision. The costume shop was one of them. I walked inside. The silence was eerie. The shop was deserted. Lines of costumes, masks, display cases of make-up, took up the entire store. I walked through, staring at goblin masks, alien heads, a skull with a forked-tongue between dry, green teeth. What kind of festivals did these people celebrate, I wondered?

“They like their entertainment, don’t they?” I asked Karen.

She smiled at me, looking at a long-white robe. It made me think of Dilla-dale.

Behind the counter on a shelf, high up on the wall, was the thing I was looking for.

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