Story for a JMD

[The Pirate Dragon]

This is a story for a JMD I'm trying out. Feel free to comment or anything.


It’s been awhile since I ever reflected back on my thoughts or past experiences, I never really wanted to. Although, things have changed since I was a kid, so maybe a little reflection wouldn’t hurt. I gotta warn you though, it’s a bit of a sob story.

When I was a little kid, my family lived far from the city and other dragons, so I was kind of a loner in my daily activities. My sister, mother and I lived in a small shack with only a couple of blankets and a fireplace, but the forest around us was filled with fruit and a river was nearby, so we had the essentials. The grass outside was very lush and soft too, so we slept outside when it was warm. My sister and I loved to point out star and look for the constellations, and my mother sang beautiful songs. I can’t say I contributed that much to our enjoyment, but I’ve seen my jokes light up my family’s faces. I never really knew my father, but my mother always tells me how generous he is and that my comedy came from him.

One day, my mother decided to go to the city that resided a few hours flight away while we stayed at home. That was when things started to change. Within the next few days, a woman in a car came by with a bag and a jacket. Tears were streaming down my mother’s face, which was common for her soft blue fur, but something was wrong. She said my sister had to go, and that it was just going to be me and mom. I didn’t understand what she meant, my sister and I had done everything together and she was my only friend. After a long discussion, the woman took my sister and I never got to see her again. My mother had to put one of us up for adoption, but she never brought any of this up. She simply said that she couldn’t take care of her anymore. Ever since that day, I wondered why she let my sister go and not me, when she knew I could handle it. I knew my sister couldn’t handle being left alone, and tried to take the place for her and go to this woman, but my mother insisted in me staying with her.

The ripple effect from that event showed immediately and only got worse. Each day I noticed her scrounge up fruit from the nearby trees or hunt in the woods for small mice to feed me, and I noticed her getting thinner and thinner by the months. Nights seemed colder, even in the summer. Conversations ceased to exist between us, and my walks in the forest made me feel lost in the world without my only companion. I heard the animals in the forest talk, but it didn’t seem like I was observing them anymore, it seemed like they were observing me.

Years went by, and I woke up one day to a brown jewel on my tail. I never knew what it did, or what it meant, but my mother told me it was a good thing. She said that I had gotten my special power, healing. I wasn’t sure what this was supposed to mean, a special power, but apparently, every adult dragon got one, so I thought about what my sister’s special power was. I knew she’d be excited about something like this, and she would probably celebrate by inventing a new game, or finding something cool and surprising me with it, but her absence eliminated the possibility of that. Then I remembered my sister. It had been a while since I had done that, remembered her, that is. My mother always told me to forget about it, and let go of the negative feelings, but you don’t just forget family. Sadly, I almost did. By this time, I couldn’t even remember her name. We always called each other “sister” or “brother” so there was no real use of our names. I even forgot mine.

One day while I was walking through the park, I heard my mother call something out. She called out, “Calder, Calder come here!” When I arrived back to her, figuring she meant me, there was a man standing there. I knew what was happening, it was my turn to go, but I didn’t want to leave. I sighed and looked at her. There were no words, only “Goodbye” and that was the last I ever saw of my mother. I went into the car and drove off to wherever my new home was. I was an adult now, so there would be no orphanage for me to go to, so someone had to have adopted me. Not something I wanted at all.

I met my new owner, just the man who picked me up. There was a small “Hello” and a greeting, but we barely got to know each other. He was always at work, and he threw a few boxes of TV dinners at me each day and that was the only attention I got for half a year. I was languorous from the tedious schedule of watching TV each day or learning about business sales from his books, so I ran. I knew he didn’t love me, and I knew each day when he said “Good morning” that it was a tone used for every ordinary person, so I knew I wasn’t needed.

My days on the streets weren’t the best, but at least I had a friend. I met an alley cat with no home and food and threw him a bread roll I found. He quickly curled up with me and we fell asleep. He was just a mangy black cat with scars on his ears. White lined his belly and covered his tail, along with his white paws. He seemed to respond to the name “Chalk” so I called him that. Chalk followed me everywhere and sometime hunted for me, regardless of what I fed him. It seemed like I had gotten another friend.

Chalk and I roamed around the area, always looking for somewhere to stay and food that we could get. Sometimes Chalk would cut himself, or we found an injured dog or cat on the streets, so I got enough practice using my jewel. I found that it helped to think of positive things, to be grateful for what you had, but there was one injury my jewel could never fix; my broken heart.

Eventually, I finally learned how to use my wings and Chalk and I would fly around the city. While flying, we found a moore that was free of people or animals. We found a small cabin and rested there for the night. When we awoke, we came across a forest and camped there, then came across another city.

While we explored the city, which was greatly populated with dragons, we noticed I was getting a few looks. Some of the dragons seemed to be staring at me, as though they had seen me before, so I knew something was wrong. I went up and asked a purple one if there was something wrong, and they simply said I looked familiar. I guess blue, yellow and white dragons were a bit common around these parts. Chalk and I came across a park, and noticed a girl on the other side. She was standing with a light blue dragon with a white mane and white and yellow spots on him, along with his yellow jewel. There was also a little girl who was around, a purple dragon with dark purple and light purple markings. The dragon was holding the little girl’s hand, and looked up and noticed me watching her, her blue jewel sparkling in the sunlight. She ran over towards me and wrapped her arms around me, and the other two dragons looked at us with confusion, Chalk was startled as well.

However, she and I both knew I had finally found my long lost sister.

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After an hour of talking with five other dragons and introducing myself and Chalk, I had met my father, Neomonni, his childhood friend, Satomi, and her mate, Redwood, along with their daughter, Colette. I was so happy to have finally seen Silver Lining again, and I’m glad I think I finally found a home. It’s been a long journey, and at times I gave up on being happy, but now I’m glad I kept traveling.