by Zara Zenia
She had been leaning over the edge of the bed and running her fingers through my hair. On any other normal circumstance, this would have felt sensational, but today when I was sick and feeling atrocious, I didn’t want to be touched.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her, so I allowed her to keep doing it obliviously. Once she stood up and grabbed her purse, I was somewhat relieved to gain my own little bubble of personal space back.
She gave me a concerned look and then slung her purse ov—er her shoulder. “We will be back to check on you as soon as we can.”
“Okay good—Ah-choo! —ugh…bye…” I said through a somewhat violent sneeze, once again shooting flames at the wall.
Daniel sprang forward and dowsed them again.
My dragon tail sprouted and slammed up against the wall, nearly knocking a hole in the drywall.
“Oops.” I winced and looked at them apologetically.
“My poor baby.” Marina plucked a clean tissue from the box on my nightstand and handed it to me.
“Thanks,” I said and gave her a sheepish smile. “I think I’ve already gone through a year’s supply of these.”
Daniel covered his mouth and nose with his hand. “You know I’m your best friend and I always will be,” he said through a muffled voice, “but I swear, if you get me sick, dude—”
“I know,” I told him. “I don’t expect you to stay here with me, dude. I’ll make do.”
Daniel shook his head. “And let the place burn down around your head? No, I don’t think so.”
Marina still looked hesitant to leave me and she lingered in the doorway for a few extra moments before casting me a little wave and departing.
“Call me the minute you need anything,” she said. “And I’ll be here as soon as I can.”
I smiled. “I have no doubt that you will, baby.”
She was the best girlfriend in the world, and as soon as I got around to feeling better, if that ever happened, I intended to pamper her like the princess she was.
As soon as she shut the door, it was like she inadvertently sealed me into a tomb of exhaustion. The window shades were drawn, making the room dark. The air was cool and the only sound in the room was the subtle whistle of the air conditioner unit under the window.
I let out a contented sigh and drifted off into what I hoped would be a restful sleep.
When I finally woke up, I was somewhat delusional, stuck somewhere between consciousness and in a hazy fog of confusion. I sat up and groaned, instantly experiencing an excruciating pain that seared through my head like a hot fire poker.
“Ouchhh….”
I grunted and heaved the sheets off my legs, thankful to realize that I no longer had the heavy weight of my dragon tail attached to my spine.
I decided to get up and stretch my legs and see how I felt. I needed to drain my bladder anyway.
As soon as I stood up, I immediately became lightheaded and the room started spinning. I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to clutch the bedframe to prevent myself from collapsing on my weakened knees.
I was sweaty and out of breath and I hadn’t even made it two steps so far since getting out of bed. My stomach churned with thick waves of crashing nausea that made me double over in blinding vision and terrible pain.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” I cried out to no one in particular, because I was by myself.
Suddenly, I regretted telling Marina to leave me here alone. I wondered if Daniel was still here. He’d said he would be, but I didn’t hear him moving around in the living room. “Daniel?” I hoarsely called.
I looked at my door, wishing it would open. I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to the bathroom and it looked as if Daniel had gone out for some reason. I looked at the door again. It seemed like an imaginary oasis in a desert where I still had to crawl for miles in order to reach it.
I got on all fours, but as soon as I did, I let out another hostile sneeze that ended in a spray of fire that shot across the room lighting the door on fire. I froze in a panic, and then allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief after realizing that the fire hadn’t stuck and dissipated relatively quickly.
“This is bad…” I moaned.
I attempted to stand up again after making it halfway across the room. As soon as I did, I sneezed again, and I immediately popped into my dragon form. I let out a frustrated roar and another line of fire and smoke shot across the room from my mouth and splattered against the wall.
“Oh no!” I cried and tried to race to the other side of the room and put the fire out with the bucket of water Daniel had brought in earlier, but it was empty and now the flames were eating away at the carpet.
Much to my horror, the smoke sensors began wailing a siren of alarm that pierced the air and echoed down the hallway. Since I’d moved in, I’d had the place fireproofed. All the buildings throughout the Sleepy Hollow campus, including my house, had specific fire-retardant walls and ceilings thanks to my parents who’d paid for it. It had been a condition since I was a fire-breathing dragon. Any time there was ever even a hint of smoke or fire, tiny water contraptions came out of containers in the ceilings and sprouted a stream of water to contain the fire.
Unfortunately for me, I was standing in the middle of my room wearing nothing. I’d shifted into my dragon form and back to human which had ripped my boxer shorts. I didn’t have time to get dressed before the ruckus began. I was soaking wet from head to toe from the water faucets in the ceiling and shivering. There was nothing I could do, because my body kept involuntarily switching back and forth from dragon to human.
The door to my room burst open and one of the campus fire fighters, Ted — I knew him from the fire inspection I’d had done on the house — stood there looking at me with a stunned expression on his face. He had swung the door open at the precise moment that I had shifted back into a dragon.
“In here,” he shouted to the rest of the campus fire fighters who were already on scene and rushing into my room like a swat team ambush.
I shifted back to my human form. “I’m sorry,” I immediately belted out and put my hands up by my sides to expose innocence that I didn’t feel.
The fire fighters ignored me and began stifling what was left of the little blaze eating away my carpet with fire extinguishers. I was mortified. By now, a crowd of curious campus residents had clustered outside my house and were pointing, whispering and chuckling at my misfortune. I could see them through the window, because at some point I must have also set the shade on fire since it hung in tatters now over the window.
I was so angry and frustrated that I shifted back into a dragon and let out an aggressive roar that thundered down my hallway. Everyone stared at me, frozen in shock.
I was about to give up and run from my house when I saw Marina and Daniel rushing back toward me, attempting to push through the dense crowd of fire fighters to come to my rescue. I was in the hot seat, literally, but at least I would have them by my side once it came time to explain my actions.
Nevertheless, I was terribly sick and hoping for an easy out and a lenient punishment to go with it. I was afraid the bouts of abrasive sneezes would keep coming. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to have the campus fire fighters on standby.
13
Marina
“Everybody just try and stay calm,” I shouted to the room full of fire fighters who were guardedly trying to steer clear of the sneezing, fire spewing dragon otherwise known as Vlad.
They had worked to put the fire out relatively quickly. Thankfully, there wasn’t much sustainable damage and it looked like his room contained most of the damage, so it wouldn’t be too costly to repair.
“I’m so sorry.” Vlad sneezed, fire once again hitting the wall and charring it as he switched back to his human build. “I really can’t help it.”
“Bless your heart.” I took a step closer to him. He looked so pitiful. I longed to comfort him and hug him.
But unfortunately for all
of us, as soon as he sneezed again, he switched back to a car sized dragon that could barely be contained within the perimeter of the enclosed dorm room space.
“It’s going to be okay.” I gently stroked the scales of his skin which felt rough and clammy to the touch. I knew from experience that it had something to do with the illness.
“Shit, I knew I should have had you stay while I ran to the store,” Daniel said with a frown. “I just wanted to get him some soup.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now,” I murmured.
Vlad’s eyes watered, and his nose was red and swollen. He had puffy circles under his eyes, and he looked worse for wear. He shifted back to a human.
“Ugh. I’m miserable. I don’t want any of you to see me like this…” His eyes flickered down to the ground in shame.
“You don’t have to hide from us, baby,” I assured him in a soothing voice.
He gazed back up at me. “You don’t need to see me in this condition, babe. I’m not healthy.”
“I want to help you,” I encouraged. “And you need to let me.”
Vlad flickered his green eyes at me, and his expression was woefully apologetic.
“Everything is going to be okay,” I whispered to him gently. “You’ll be as good as new in no time.”
He cast me a look of doubt. I knew it was probably difficult for him to believe me when he was in the ripeness of his misery, but I did my best to pacify him. Of course, consoling a sick dragon wasn’t the easiest task in the world to accomplish.
A few nurses came scampering into his room. “We are going to need to move him to the medical clinic,” a tall and skinny nurse with stringy hair said as she gazed at Vlad with apprehension. “We have larger, fire-proof rooms to um…accommodate his needs.” She was out of breath and looked nervous.
Vlad cringed and groaned. “You can just say the words. I’m a fire spitting dragon and it’s not safe for me to be out in the world like this.”
“Well not in so many words…” The nurse wouldn’t make eye contact with him and shifted her weight awkwardly.
“It’s okay,” I reassured her and linked my arm to Vlad’s. I nudged my chin in Daniel’s direction. “We will aid in escorting him there, right?”
Daniel looked a little shell shocked.
“Daniel?” I asked, desperately trying to probe through his thoughts before the dragon part of Vlad reared its massive head once again.
Daniel swiveled his head in my direction and gave me an unblinking, blank stare. “Huh?”
“We’re going to help these kind nurses bring Vlad back to the medical unit, are you with me?”
Daniel nodded his head and his forehead wrinkled. “Right. Uh. Yes.” He cast a wary look at the nurses. “We’re going to help. Yes.” He kept saying the words over and over as if that would help level out his disbelief of the situation.
Vlad sniffled and let out a moan of discomfort. “I just want to get in bed and lie down…I hurt everywhere…”
“I know, sweetie,” I whispered soothingly in his ear. “We’re going to get you the help you need. It’s alright.”
I had never been afraid of Vlad’s dragon form, and I didn’t want to show any fear now in front of him. I knew it would offend him if I behaved as if I was wary of his altered state and involuntary dragon shifting. But it wasn’t because of his shifting, it was because of the illness. At least he wasn’t erratic or showing signs of aggression. I didn’t know what I would do if he started behaving aggressively.
The crowd began to part outside and then eventually dissipate altogether as we moved in the direction of the infirmary with the nurses. I hated that we had to walk there, but with his shifting back and forth, there was no way to take a vehicle. A couple of fire fighters with extinguishers followed us, just in case.
When we reached the infirmary, we found that other medical unit teams had been dispatched to assist in the aid of other afflicted students and the place was packed. For the most part, though, they looked like they were being astutely cared for and stabilized. The medical staff seemed on top of things, which was reassuring in these uncertain times. Vlad hung his head as he trudged through the building, sniffling, coughing and hacking along the way. He looked sheepish and ashamed. His posture was wilted, and his body language was tensed as if he didn’t want anyone else coming too close to him.
As we moved further through the building, however, we discovered that the sickness had crawled and festered, spreading throughout the students and faculty alike.
“They are getting to be hazardous with their powers running wild,” one of the nurses stated with dread to her counterpart.
The nurses exchanged fearful looks with each other, and my heart pounded.
“Things are only going to get worse.” I voiced my cautious opinion to Daniel, muttering under my breath so that Vlad wouldn’t be able to hear me.
He was already in an emotionally compromised state. It was best not to stir the pot and give him even more of a complex than he already had about his current affliction.
“Let’s just hope that Vlad doesn’t notice because he’s suffering too much in the sickness to despair about his surroundings too.” Daniel’s eyes wandered around the hallways nervously.
Then, it was like the perfect storm combined to make a concoction of an extra flare of turmoil. Vlad suffered another debilitating sneeze fit, this time shifting back into a dragon for what seemed like several uninhibited moments.
“Move out of the way!” one of the nurses shouted and began frantically waving her arms at Daniel.
Her mouth hung open in horror as Vlad’s involuntarily sneezing fit began spraying the general area around Daniel with hot and spicy dragon fire.
Daniel and I leapt out of the line of fire at just the right moment. He sprang into action before the lava spew of molten power was able to engulf our bodies in a disturbance of orange fire.
I glanced up at Vlad and noticed the somberness flickering in his green eyes. He was wallowing in an internal frenzy of grief at his unintended actions.
As soon as I realized that everything and everyone was okay and hadn’t been harmed in the accidental incident, I allowed my muscles to untense and I breathed a sigh of relief. We weren’t in the clear yet, but at least we remained unscathed by the pelting flames.
“He’s not the aggressive type,” I assured the nurse as I quickly jumped to assist Daniel as we put out the flames, which seemed to be getting worse. “He really can’t help himself.”
The nurse looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “Yes, well, as true as that may be, the dragon poses a risk to himself and others and that is quite a dangerous combination.”
“He has a name, and its Vlad.” Daniel visibly tensed his jaw.
The nurse’s cheeks blushed a rosy shade of pink and she quickly looked away.
I had to smile. Even in the perilous situation where he almost got incinerated and turned to ashes by one of his best friends, he stuck up for him. He was willing to defend Vlad at any cost and that showed a nobility which in turn was a massive turn on for me.
Vlad shifted back to his human form, looking exceedingly embarrassed as he slunk off in front of us.
“Sorry about that,” he called out over his shoulder to Daniel. “I didn’t mean to almost roast you, buddy.”
Daniel chuckled humorously. “What are you talking about? You roast me all the time.”
The attempt to lighten Vlad’s mood paid off. There was a hint of a smile that curled at the edges of his lips.
“That’s in the form of insults, not accidentally setting you on fire,” Vlad said in an apologetic tone.
Daniel jogged to catch up to Vlad and gave him a brotherly pat on the back. “It’s okay, brother. You can just owe me.”
“If I ever get out of this alive,” Vlad sighed and rolled his eyes, “I will.”
My heart skipped an anxious beat and I felt a swell of nauseated nervousness sink into the pit of my stomach.
“
Don’t talk like that, Vlad, alright? You’re going to be just fine.”
Vlad turned his head and looked at me. His eyes reflected sadness. “Is that a promise, baby?”
“Absolutely.”
“You’re not mad I almost set you and Daniel on fire?”
“Of course not. You’re sick, you couldn’t help it.” I smiled and tried not to waver, but I noticed a few cracks in the foundation of my confidence that I knew probably displayed on the surface in front of Vlad.
Much to my relief, Vlad seemed to be slightly appeased by my testament. He gave me a timidly satisfied smile as we trudged on, hoping that no other flammable occurrences would happen before we reached the fire-proofed room.
14
Daniel
The next night after the fire incident at the house with Vlad, I was sitting with Marina in the courtyard behind the cafeteria.
I glanced at her. “I just can’t go home right now…”
“I understand.” Marina cupped her hand over mine and gave me an empathetic smile.
“It’s not just home, it’s the dorms, the cafeteria, the classrooms. It’s like I can’t breathe indoors.” I inhaled sharply.
“It’s suffocating to think about all the germs floating around in the air everywhere,” Marina agreed.
I looked at her hand over mine. She was wearing black nail polish that was both cute and a little sexy too.
I raised my chin and noticed she was observing me.
“Should we go visit with Vlad?” I asked.
“If you want to.” Marina seemed open to the idea.
“I just don’t want him to be alone in there, but at the same time, I’m nervous about him lighting one of us on fire.”
Marina chuckled. “Hopefully that won’t happen. I’m sure they are giving him medications now to counteract the constant dragon shifting and to stop the sneezing from happening so often and so violently.”