Where Smoke Bleeds Gold

Chapter Six - Entranced

    I kept my tail flexed. The three spines at the tip of my tail at a perfect curve. It looked perfectly normal, just like how I've kept it for two days straight. I stretched my wings out a bit, getting rather bored. Suddenly I turned my head to a yelp. Starshine was soaked from head to tail.
    "Really?" He asked, looking at Quake who had just drenched him. A wide smile was plastered on her face as Starshine stared at her. Suddenly he jumped forward, sending waves over her and Typhoon.
    "Chringle!" said Typhoon, or something like that, before leaping forward and tackling Starshine into the water.
    "She splashed first!" Starshine said, once he resurfaced with Typhoon wrapped onto his neck.
    "Haha. No," Typhoon said, sounding muffled. She threw her head back, pulling him back under the water along with her. All of them continued splashing in the water. Playing and laughing as if not a care in the world. I found it hard to keep a grin on my face. In fact, I hadn't been able to smile since yesterday. I looked down, trying to hide my face. Suddenly I felt like crying. Why did I want to cry? I blinked away the tears, knowing that my headaches would only get worse the less hydrated I was. But that didn't matter, I suddenly felt my chest caving in. My sight went blurry as I forced myself to keep walking. My tail dragged along the warm sand, each drop and rise making everything hurt so much. I clenched my teeth together, wishing it would all stop. Just stop. Please stop...

    "Hey mom?" I turned away from the window.
    "What?" She snapped. She was stirring a pot of something on the kitchen table. It smelled like burnt feathers and lizard scales. The smell made me sick, but I didn't say that outloud. Who knows what she might do.
    "Could I play outside with the other dragglings?" I asked. I knew the answer, but lately she wasn't so upset with everything.
    "What makes you think they'll want to play with something broken like you?" She said, setting a lid on the pot.
    "Well, I like to play with my broken toys," I said, pulling the screen back to look at the other dragglings.
    "Don't do that," She snapped at me. I dropped the fabric and looked at her quickly. She let out a sigh and dropped the pot.
    "Did they ask you? Snake? Did they ask you to go play?" She hissed. I pressed back against the wall, hoping to stay out of her way. As if I was far away enough then maybe she wouldn't bother hurting me. I didn't bother telling her about Kindling inviting me to play. I wouldn't have wanted her to make me stop being around windows because of him.
    "And what do you think they'll do once they find out about your tail?" She sneered. I looked away quickly, I had shown my tail to Kindling too. He said it was cool, but did he really? Did he say I should show it to everyone else just to get me to make a fool of myself? To get me to cry? Did he even like me?
    "I'm sorry," I said, walking briskly out of the room. Once I was out of sight I quickly darted to the staircase and ripped up a loose board.
    "No!" Flicker shouted, covering her head.
    "It's just me," I said, my small voice crackling.
    "Knock next time," She hissed, pushing herself into the wall.
    "I'm so sorry, I thought you were outside with the other kids.
    "Oh, no, they made me leave," She said. I stepped next to her, sliding my back against the splintering wood. I set the loose board above us, hiding us away from the world.
    "What happened?" She asked. We were getting too big to both fit under the stairs. There were only a few steps that were hollow that we could fit under. Flicker had found this spot first, so I had the feeling she would be kicking me out of it more and more.
    "Mom yelled at me for wanting to go outside," I said, setting my head on the planks. I expected some kind of pity. Some kind of, "don't worry, I'll be here for you,". Instead she cussed. I hit my head on the low boards above me.
    "Wha-?" I began.
    "You're an idiot, Flare," She snarled, the fire above her firehorn seemed to be eating at the wood. "She never lets you leave, not even to learn," She hissed.
    "I'm sorry," I said, turning away, her fire left flickering shadows against the wood. I traced the shadows, recognising the sluggish shape of my shadow. I felt bad. I looked bigger. Stronger than her. Was I eating too much? Was she not eating enough?
    "Get out," She hissed, looking away.
    "Dang it, Quake!" Avalanche yelled abruptly, shaking me from my thoughts. I looked up to see Avalanche suddenly barreling toward me. I tried to begin backing away, but she was too fast to try and stumble away.
    "What?" I began as she gripped onto my bag. She pulled it over my head, snagging the strap on my horns. "Hey!" I said, trying to pull away. She eventually got it off, setting it on a tree limb behind me.
    "Come on, GrumpyHorns," She said, stretching her wing behind her to display the water fight on the beach. "Get out of your head," She gave a small smile, as if she could read my thoughts. Could she? Or was she really good at reading faces? Or was I just that easy to see through.
    "I need your help destroying the others in a fight," She said, her real smile breaking her face. Behind her, Sun was beginning to fall down the sky. Had I really been in my head all day?
    "Not right now, maybe later?" I mumbled, trying to smile with her. She watched my face, her eyes twitching as she did. Her smile fell a little, but nothing more.
    "That's okay," She said, her eyes growing quiet. No. No! I didn't mean to make her sad. I didn't want to make her sad. She needed me to help her. Help her with what I wasn't sure, but I made her sad. Why did I make her sad?
    "No-" I began when suddenly Starshine called out. I looked over to him quickly to seem him standing alone in the waves, making waves as he stumbled deeper into the water.
    "What happened?" Avalanche said, running after him. I dragged my talons walking over to them, curiosity getting the best of me. This didn't evolve me, probably, so I didn't need to know. But I needed to know.
    "Quake slipped, or something, Now they're both gone," He said, running out of breath.
    "What?" Avalanche asked again as I stepped into the water beside them. The water around her felt icy like her touch. I stared at the water for a moment before looking back up at them.
    "They dived under the waves," Starshine said, gesturing his wing to the deeper water. "They just left," He said, his voice quiet. I stared to where he pointed, noticing just a glint of Typhoon's reflective wings before a wave crashed down on where I thought she was.
    "What should we do?" I asked, so faintly, I wasn't sure if either heard me. I stared at them quietly. They seemed unusually lost in thought. So quiet I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to be so quiet with my motor mouth always running off every stupid thought.
    "The only thing we can do is wait," Avalanche said, turning to me as if answering my question. I grinded my teeth together, feeling worse knowing she heard my question.
    "I..." I began. I didn't know what to say. Was I with them long enough to feel bad for losing Quake? I didn't know her well, so I couldn't say I missed her because they missed her more. I couldn't say sorry, I couldn't...
    "I'll go start a fire," I squeaked, stepping out of the water. Silently, I stacked small sticks in a square and snuffed out the fire above my nose. I waited a moment to feel the fire burn in my throat. I blew on the fire slowly, letting fire consume the small pile. I watched Avalanche stand in the water, unmoving. By the time Moon was visible, Starshine had crawled out of the water and fell by the dying light of the fire. My eyes felt dry. My scales were unpleasantly warm. Fatigue stretching at the sides of my mind, but the guilt I would feel if I left Avalanche even more alone by falling asleep. I stayed sitting up, blinking away weariness. An itch in my throat coaxed me to yawn, but I cursed myself for feeling so tired instead.
    Starshine's soft snore's filled the cool night along with the chorus of forest bugs. Avalanche dragged her talons out of the water, collapsing beside the fire without a word. I opened my mouth as if to say something, but my tongue felt dry as I searched for what to say. I didn't have anything to say. I've never had a friend and I much less have ever lost one. No, nothing I have ever done compares to the pain she must feel. I rested my head on my talons. I now begged for sleep to take me to a messed up world where nothing could really hurt me.
    Yet it didn't seem to want to come anymore.