Another Shade of Monster

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.

Of course, plenty of people in my town would tell you that there still aren’t dragons in the Valley –– because dragons couldn’t possibly be real.

Those people are kidding themselves.

The dragons arrived swiftly and without warning on a hot July night one year and four months ago. No one knew why they chose the Valley, but it hasn’t been the same since. Neither have I.

_________________________________________

I pulled my Jeep into what I thought was once a parking space in the remnants of the town square. The acrid stench of burning metal hit my nose first as I opened the driver’s side door and hopped out. My eyes watered and I shrugged my jean jacket closer to my body, taking in the aftermath of the dragons’ latest attack. Just last night they’d come out of their dwellings in the foothills of the nearby mountains again.

A crisp wind set my hair flying around my face and scattered dry, brown leaves down the rubble of the street. Above where I parked, a stoplight dangled at an odd angle, the wires holding it up broken and still smoldering. If the crumbling, half-burnt buildings surrounding me were any indication, the dragon denial still running rampant in the Valley wasn’t doing anybody any favors.

It certainly hadn’t helped me or my family nine months ago.

The people who didn’t deny the dragons said that when they came down to the Valley from their lairs, they weren’t attacking –– they were hunting.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that what they were hunting was me.

_________________________________________

“Praise be to the coffee gods that this place is still standing,” James said by way of greeting. I collapsed into the brown leather chair beside him.

“Amen,” I said.

He tapped the headline on the morning newspaper he was holding. “Look at this. Can you believe how many people are still stuck on this whole ‘they’re not dragons, they’re giant birds’ business?”

I peered over his shoulder as I read, “Electric Fence Meant to Control Horde of Giant Birds Leads to More Power Outages, Fires. Experts Say We’re Running Out of Options.”

I stole a sip of James’ coffee and rolled my eyes. He’d scored the best table at Lulu’s, our favorite café. The place was pretty empty for a Saturday morning –– probably from the so-called giant birds that had just wreaked more havoc on the Valley. He was right; we were lucky it was still standing. That anything was.

Not too long ago, it would have been unthinkable to do something as normal as meet up at a coffee shop the morning after dragons trashed your town. But we were so used to it by now that it didn’t seem like a big enough event anymore to stop us from living our lives.

“At least no one died this time,” James said.

My vision flashed. I watched as he clocked the sudden clench of my jaw, the way my hands gripped the arms of the leather chair a little tighter.

He winced and swore under his breath. “That was rude, Lara. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, swallowing down the wave of emotion. “I just can’t believe so many people are still in denial. Have they seen the town square? Birds don’t destroy buildings.”

“Listen, I am with you,” said James. “But you’re also one of the rare few who’s actually seen them up close. Most of the Valley hasn’t seen what you’ve seen, and the reality is––well, it’s weird. It’s never stopped being weird and unsettling. It wasn’t that long ago that the only dragon I’d ever heard of was the animated one in Shrek. And now…everything’s different. It’s all too much for most people, I think.”

“James, you are compassionate as always,” I said as I stood. “Want anything? I’m going to order.”

“Nah, I’m good,” said James without looking up, squinting incredulously at the rest of the article.

What I’d never say out loud, even as the thought roared inside my head: Was all of this somehow my fault?

Heather, the barista, was gingerly tossing shards of broken ceramic mugs into a trash bin as I approached the counter.

“Collateral damage, eh?” I said.

She smiled as she turned around. “What’s up, Lara Fawn? Yeah, there’s more in the back. It’s a bummer. But we got pretty lucky, I guess. For all that this shit’s still happening, you know?”

I nodded.

“I really hoped that electric fence around the whole Valley was gonna work,” she went on. “But I guess those things were too big. Dragons, giant birds, I don’t really care what they are. I just want them gone.”

“We all do,” I assured her. “When you’re done with that, can I grab a latte, please?”

“Oh, for sure,” she said, hopping over to the espresso machine. “You know what I think? I think someone needs to go find them and just tell them to leave. Be like, Mr. Dragon, your time is up and you gotta go! Get outta here and don’t come back!” She waved the milk frother for emphasis.

I laughed. “You really think that would work? Talking to dragons?”

“I don’t know, but I guess they’re supposed to be pretty smart. My cousin said they can talk. So like, why not? Nothing else has worked.”

My stomach tightened. I knew firsthand that her cousin was right.

“Who’s gonna be crazy enough to do that?” I asked.

“Shit, man, I will!” She slid the latte across the counter to me. “I don’t care! They’ve just gotta go. Before this whole place is dust.”

I tipped her and headed back to James, chewing on my lip. She might actually be onto something.

“Uh oh.” James looked up at me as I resumed my place in the chair beside him. “I know that face. You’re scheming.”

“Am not.” And I wasn’t scheming –– not yet. But my wheels were beginning to turn.

He gasped. “Are too! Whatever it is, if the cops ask, I’ve never heard of you.”

“Hey,” I kicked him. “Is that any way to treat your best friend?”

We got up in tandem, the bell above the still-intact door chiming as we left Lulu’s, and started walking back toward our cars. I scanned the skies. Nothing. I let out a breath.

They’d never come out during the day –– at least, not that I’d seen –– but it had become habit nonetheless. Just in case they were looking for me.

“Jesus, this place looks terrible,” said James.

“I don’t think Jesus can help us now.”

A bearded man in a rumpled suit stood atop a wooden crate on the street corner.“REPENT!” he cried.

“Oh, come on,” James muttered. We gave the man a wide berth.

“God has forsaken his children!” the man shouted, eyes roving frantically, trying to catch the attention of the few people out in the square. Men like him set up all over the valley these days. Behind him, smoke billowed from a building that once held a laundromat. His wild gaze kept darting back to James and me as we waited to cross the street.

“He has allowed the devil to send his demons to rain down upon us our certain demise, our destruction, our doom! Only now, if we all repent, can humanity be saved!”

We speed-walked across the street to get away from the zealot. I watched the other people walking around us, all of their shoulders hiked up around their ears, arms crossed as they shuffled through the streets. The November chill had something to do with the way they were walking, no doubt, but...there was this drawn expression on each of their faces that sent my heart through the floor.

Hopeless. They all looked hopeless.

Dragons had done this.

And no one was doing anything about them.

“I think Heather was on to something in there,” I blurted out before I could second-guess myself.

“Heather?” James said. “Oh, Lara honey, she’s half-baked at the best of times. What on earth did she say to you?”

I chewed my lip. “She thinks that our last hope is for someone to try and talk to the dragons and ask them to leave the Valley. They’re intelligent –– they might even be able to communicate with us –– and nothing else has worked. What if this simple solution is the one thing that does?”

James stared at me, cocked his head, and then burst into howling laughter.

“Talk to them?” he cackled.

I stared at him until he’d calmed down enough to speak without erupting into more fits of giggles, my face burning. This was not the reaction I’d expected.

“I’m sorry, it’s just hilarious, and crazy, right?” he said. “I know the people in charge here haven’t exactly handled this elegantly –– the ones who can even agree on what we’re experiencing, anyway –– but do you really think the Valley would spend millions of dollars encasing the town in an electric fence if the real solution was simply talking to the dragons?”

“Yes,” I said. “And the electric fence didn’t work. Nothing has worked. This might.”

“Oh, you are a dreamer,” he sighed.

It wasn’t his fault this idea sounded so outlandish to him, I realized. James hadn’t lost anything real since the dragons came. He hadn’t seen what I’d seen, or done what I’d done. He didn’t wake up in a cold sweat most mornings feeling golden, slit-pupiled eyes watching him.

“I’m sorry, Lara,” he said, hugging me around the shoulders. “We’ll figure this out. See you in a few days for dinner, right?”

I halfheartedly returned his hug. “Right.”

I said goodbye to James and thought about dragons all the way home.

_________________________________________

My mom’s car was in the driveway, but the curtains in the living room window were drawn. I wondered if she’d gotten out of bed today.

I’d moved back home almost two years ago, right before everything happened. My sister had gotten sick and I’d come back to help out. And now…now my family needed me more than ever.

I tossed my car keys on the table and opened the curtains before heading toward my mom’s room to see if I could rouse her. As usual, I sped up as I walked past the third door on the right and kept my gaze straight ahead.

“Mom?” I tapped gently when I got to her closed bedroom door.

Muffled sounds came from behind the door. I creaked it open.

“Mom?” I said again as I peered into her room.

She was sitting upright in her bed, her face blank and cast in the blueish glow of the TV. She had the news on, where reporters walked painstakingly through the wreckage.

After a long moment, she blinked and looked over at me, eyes watery. “The dance studio’s gone now,” was all she said. “They just showed it on the news.”

I swayed on my feet and held the wall as my mom’s words sank in. My baby sister had been training at the dance studio, before everything. One more piece of her that the dragons took from us.

I plucked the remote out of my mom’s hand and turned off the TV, then wrapped her in a hug and let her cry.

When was enough enough?

“Do you think they’ll ever set her free?” my mom whispered through her tears.

My throat got hot and tight. “I don’t know.”

My mom still believed my sister was out there somewhere. I don’t know when I’d stopped.

“I don’t want her to think we gave up on her.”

“She doesn’t.” I smoothed her hair back, the role reversal not lost on me. There were a lot of unspoken ifs in what I’d said––if she’s alive, if she’s safe, if she’s still herself, if, if, if –– and nothing anyone could do about it.

Right?

I knew in that moment that I had become as hopeless as those people in the town square.

And as I held my broken, grieving mom, my earlier conversation with James and my own fears still ringing through my mind, I suddenly knew what I had to do.