The Birchland Forest

The Birchland forest was crawling with shadows. Jack had taken the shortcut in desperation. It was a decision that he was starting to regret.

With a shaky hand, he took his phone out and hit the flashlight symbol—hoping that it would help to illuminate which way he should go. He could barely make out what was a few feet in front of him with the brave little light.

"Everything will be okay. Everything will be okay," he whispered to himself.

He was trying not to panic, but he couldn’t stop the creeping cold shudders that were making his teeth chatter.

He wanted to call someone, but he didn't want anyone to know how scared he was. After a few moments of hesitation, he decided to call his mom and ask her to pick him up.

So, what if he got an earful when she got there because he dared to venture through the Birchland woods at night? His mother had repeatedly warned him against the idea, but he never took her seriously. The rumors of the disappearing children weren't real! At least, no one he knew had disappeared. It was with this comforting knowledge that he had decided to take the shortcut.

Jack unlocked his screen and began scrolling through his contacts. It was just as he clicked on the word "mom" that something ran in front of him.

He froze.

"It's just a raccoon! Everything is okay,” he mumbled, as the hairs along his arms prickled to attention.

"I'm not a raccoon. Jack, what’s wrong?” His mother’s voice faded, as he dropped his phone. His world turned black as his body thudded down onto a bed of soggy leaves.

.

Jack was being dragged somewhere by something he couldn’t see.

When he opened his eyes he could vaguely make out the shadows of the dancing trees above him.

"Don't look up at them. You will only encourage them to torment you," a voice growled at him.

"Close your eyes and hold your breath for a moment, until they stop moving. Maybe we will get lucky, and they won't alert her to your presence here."

Jack complied with the command. He wanted to get up but he couldn’t feel his legs. He wanted to teleport home and out of the nightmare he found himself in.

*

It felt like he had fallen into an endless blank void. Just as he was about to hit rock bottom, something shook his leg and then nipped at the tender flesh of his elbow.

Jack jerked awake. He was on a plush bed of leaves. There was a small fire burning a few feet away from him. He looked around in a hazy daze. He was inside a warm color color-filled cave. There were bright, brilliant, and inviting colors painted onto the stone walls of the cave. The more he looked at the enticing blues, greens, purples, and pinks, the more he wanted to reach over and touch them.

"Don't give in to the impulse. The magic will fade if you touch the glowing dust on my walls, and then I will have nowhere else to hide."

Jack jumped at the voice. There was that voice, the voice that had stolen him away somewhere. He whipped his head around and completely froze.

A small dragon was lying curled up in a ball at the foot of his leafy bed. It wasn't until the dragon started to unfurl itself in a long stretch that he noticed the glowing branch on its forehead.

"Don't look so surprised. I was once like you until the witch that dwells in this forest cursed me."

The dragon cocked his head and huffed out a cloud of golden smoke, which hid half of his face.

Jack stood up and immediately fell back into the plush leafy bed.

"My venom has not completely worn off. I'd advise you to stay still for a bit longer. The more you struggle to be free of it, the stronger it will become," the small green dragon huffed.

Jack leaned against the cave wall as he watched the smoke evaporate, revealing the dragon's divided face. The right side of his face was covered in thick, scarred, and vine-encrusted green scales while the left side of his face was exposed bone. He had one burning red eye, which he closed as he turned away. Soon all Jack could see was the dragon's skeleton.

"This is what some humans might call nightmare fuel," the dragon laughed.

Jack didn't see what was so funny. All he wanted to do was scream.

The dragon sighed as it jumped up and stretched his wings, his bones click-clacked as he flipped them open and closed.

"I can't fly, because only half of my body is covered in flesh. It's bad enough she turned me into a dragon, but a dragon that can't fly, laughable," he mumbled as he puffed out small fireballs at a distant cave wave. They popped and fizzed out right before hitting the blue and purple colored stone.

"You weren't always a dragon?" Jack asked in a hoarse whisper.

"I was about your age when I became lost within these woods. That was probably a few centuries ago by now, but who's to say, time works differently here," the dragon mused.

Jack shuddered, worry seeping deep into his bones.

"Am I, am I…going to become a dragon, like you?" Jack choked back a sob.

"I hope not! That is why I pulled you here. If I hadn't found you first, who knows what she would have done to you. There are worse things than becoming a dragon, trust me."

The dragon sighed as he curled back up into a ball.

*

Jack couldn't stop screaming. It felt like his skin was being stripped away. His chest ached and burned with a timid flame that he didn't want or know how to control.

"Wake up, Jack!"

He screamed. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was no longer himself. He was something else, something that couldn't be reversed.

He felt pins and needles everywhere. The flame within his chest became so hot that he thought it was going to burn through his cavity to be let free. He drew a deep breath and coughed.

He was coughing, hacking something up. It was hard, and he couldn't breathe.

"Jack!"

He could hear someone calling him, but he couldn't answer. He was no longer who or what he once was. He was something different.

*

The dragon huffed and blew out a cold blue smoke around Jack and bit his arm in a vain attempt at stopping the witch's curse.

"You will not have this one. He will not become like the others!"

The little dragon was pulling Jack as fast as he could along the forest floor.

A voice crackled with grating laughter as the forest filled with smog so thick that the dragon couldn't see anything. He didn't stop. He had spent years scouting out the forest and knew where he was going.

The dragon sighed when he noticed the telltale green and teal blinking of the faery lights. They were close. He could smell them.

The more the lights blinked, the more the smog faded away, until suddenly, he was in a lush bright green open field. The dragon fell in a heap next to Jack and blacked out.

*

A small creature zipped and danced around the dragon and Jack.

Jack wanted to smile but found that he was unable to move his lips. Even so, the dancing faery lights were so soothing that he fell back to sleep. While the little dragon didn't stir, the flame within his chest grew smaller until it poofed out.

The faeries hummed and buzzed as fast as they could around the pair, trying to reverse the curse.

*

Jack woke up with a start.

"I fear that I was too late to save you,” the dragon whispered.

A tall creature with black eyes and long red hair stood next to the little dragon.

"This is Su, he saved us. Well, saved us from the witch. For you see, we are now trapped in the underworld, which is the realm of the faeries. I tried to bargain with them like I did so many centuries ago, but they don't seem to be in a deal-making mood."

Su inclined his head to Jack.

"What is wrong with me? I…I can't feel anything," Jack hugged himself.

The little dragon looked away from him.

Su cleared his throat, "Jack. You are now one of us. A real breed amongst our kind."

Jack was shaking with anxiety—he was staring at the mossy grass and his bony feet.

Su shook his head.

"Don't be upset. Your time was cut short as soon as you stepped into that cursed forest."

Su extended his pale bony fingers out to Jack and waited.

Jack didn't want to reach out to the strange creature, but he couldn't stop himself.

His fleshless fingers click-clacked against the pale hand that embraced his sensor-less fingers.

The dragon curled himself at Jack's feet.

"I would like you to join our Society of Reapers one day, but not today. It’s not past your time of mourning. I will give you this time to do what you wish in this realm. But, when I come to get you, I expect you to be ready to learn what it is we do here.”

Written By Ashley Houston

I wrote this story a few years ago after telling my son I would write a story based on a picture he drew, and that is what I did! This story is inspired by my son’s artwork. The drawing that inspired it is the picture attached to the story!

*This is a revised edition of this story with a new title as of 10/06/25. It used to be called “The Calling.” I originally posted it in my blog, Vocal, and then, on Kindle Vella as part of a short story collection. Now it’s made its journey back to Vocal! 😄

If you liked my story please give it a heart! Thank you for reading! 💚