𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜 [ꜱɪᴢᴢʟᴇ] | 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

|| Chapter 5 ||

Lion was insane. Sizzle was depressed for the past three weeks but Lion was insane.

Her father wouldn't let Sizzle go out to Sunbeam's house or out to the Scorpion Den. Or out anywhere. She didn't mind it at first, thinking that Lion was just trying to protect her. But he just actually wanted someone to take his anger and wrath out on.

That morning, Sizzle was taking a quick nap in her empty bedroom, trying to escape her depression, her father, and her upside-down world. Well, until she heard, "SIZZLE OF THE SANDWINGS GET DOWN HERE-"

Sizzle blinked her eyes open immediately. She stood up and shook off the dust that coated her back and wings. Her father took all the mattresses away so Sizzle was forced to sleep on the floor. 

The pale SandWing walked as calmly as she could downstairs towards the kitchen. The house was a mess. There were large pieces of broken glass. The fruit was rotten as well as the meat and they were scattered across the table. Some of Sizzle's dried blood was splattered on the walls, and Lion never seemed to care. Or clean it for that matter.

When she entered the kitchen, she reluctantly sat down at the dining table, scanning the room for her deranged father. Then, she spotted him. Lion was standing, wings wrapped around his body, eerily in the corner of the room. From all she could see, his golden scales were filthy with dried mud, dirt, and cobwebs. His sail was ruffled and messy. There were bags under his eyes and she knew both of them were suffering from lack of sleep. His piercing evil red eyes met Sizzle's and she knew what time it was. Or the whole schedule in fact. 

Lion stretched out his arm to point towards the open door to his office and Sizzle quickly rushed inside and mentally prepared herself for the pain. The office was any more cleaner than the kitchen was. Sizzle couldn't even begin to describe the burnt scrolls on the musty carpet or the broken window or all the tiny scorpions that crawled onto his desk.

She stood in the same spot she usually did for office days and sat down and covered her head, waiting for the storm. Then, Lion bursted out into a full tantrum. "SHE'S DEAD. SUNRISE IS DEAD. MY ONLY STRONG SON IS DEAD. THEY ARE BOTH DEAD AND YOU DIDN'T HELP THEM YOU SELFISH, STUPID, SUNBATHING LIZARD!!!" he roared as he took Mother's  favorite vase and threw it as hard as he could at Sizzle's head.

Sizzle didn't have time to react so she just dealt with the pain as the vase shattered when it hit her snout. She waited in silence as she felt her blood drip down rom her face until her father stopped throwing glass at her or mini scorpions. When Lion stopped screaming in anger, he walked out the door, through the kitchen and out into the open desert. Sizzle followed hesitantly knowing that it was time to hunt. 

Lion never flied anymore. So, once they were a good walking distance away from their home and any civilization, Lion sat down and said in a harsh voice, "Hunt." Then he took a rock and started to sharpen his talons on it.

Sizzle bit her lip and leapt in the air, looking for any sorts of prey at all. Then she spotted a small desert hare. It must be far from the more grassy part of the Kingdom of Sand, because Sizzle never managed to find one of these.

She dove down and without a moment's delay, picked up the fuzzy creature into the air and bit it's neck. She landed and brought it back to her father. She inhaled, knowing exactly what was going to happen. "Terrible technique," Lion stated. Sizzle flattened her ears. "But I caught it this time!" she raised her voice, desperately. Lion didn't say another word as he pinned her to the ground and slashed a spot on her chest, deeply. 

Sizzle winced as she saw that blood started to form in the fresh wound. "Try again," her father hissed menacingly. But Sizzle still noticed that he ate the hare anyways. 

This continued to happen. She caught a snake. Lion slashed her chest and ate it. She caught two lizards. Lion slashed her chest and ate them. She caught a roadrunner. Lion slashed her chest, even deeper than before, and ate it. Sizzle was, no doubt about it, going to scar badly.

And when she caught and quail and Lion pinned her down, her kick him extremely hard in the face and escaped his grasp. She spun around to face him. "I. am. DONE. I am done giving you all the food. I am done with you smacking me, and punching me, and hurting me. I am done with you and all your pitying self. I don't need you," she growled directly in his face.

"Where are you going to go then?" Lion scoffed.

"I don't know. I don't want to burden my friend by living at her house. But living in the middle of the desert is a million times better than living in your disgusting place. I am done with you. And if you even try to come and find me or hurt me, I will tell the authorities at the Palace. Now, go home and moan about your terrible life." And with that said, Sizzle threw open her wings and took off into the sky. 

"If you don't come back here right now young lady, YOU ARE NO LONGER MY DAUGHTER," Lion screamed up to her.

"I'M FINE WITH THAT, YOU JERK," she shouted back and continued to fly off. She had no idea where she was heading. But anywhere was better without her father.

That's when the idea hit her. The idea that was originally her plan but she forgot about. And oh three moons, she didn't care if everything changed. She was going to that academy.