Roses Are Red, Dragons Are Blue

1. Roses Are Red

So, when I started writing this story, this was my view! Perfect inspiration right? I can already see Flechter curled up on this beach in his dragon form. Can you?

Enjoy everyone!

Much love,

Robin

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1. Roses Are Red

Red roses. Any girl would be happy to receive those right? Sure, they're a little unimaginative, but they're pretty and they smell good. Except... These filled me with a terrible dread.

I'd walked into my apartment, feeling frazzled and worn after dinner with my grandfather. Which, as usual, had been filled with criticism and dating suggestions from the seemingly inexhaustible pool of elite vetted by him. Only the very best for his little girl he'd say. Mentally, I'd add 'very best business connections.'

Exhausted from his badgering, I'd given in to yet another blind date set up. Returned home and found one of these blasted bouquets on my dining table. The note simply said: "For my lovely Rose."

It was the fifth such bouquet with that exact message in as many weeks. Those others had all been left in front of my door. The first time I saw the roses, I'd been curious and excited, even a little flattered. Then I read the note and figured; wrong address. No way was someone calling me "Rose" of all things when my name was Lilly. At least do it right and sent me lilies then.

So I donated those roses, and the next deliveries too. The hospital didn't ask questions when I brought them in. Though one of the night shift nurses, Emma, who I'd tentatively made friends with had tried to get it out of me.

This new bunch of roses, they were inside my house. This filled me with horrible dread. Someone, this stupid admirer, had broken into my home to leave these. Violated my most private sanctuary. I hadn't touched anything, at this point, I knew I needed help, privately. But I couldn't stop the urge to wander from room to room and see if anything had been moved or taken.

I couldn't tell, my place was spotless; the cleaning lady had been in just that morning. The not knowing made my heart race, had he looked at my pictures? Sat on my couch? Stroked a finger along the spines of my books? I didn't know and it was freaking me out.

Until I walked into my bedroom. There, I discovered the worst of it, and on shaking legs sank to the floor. On the freshly made bed, there was a human-shaped dent, including a divot in the pillow. That dent was on the side of the bed which I preferred, which made the invasion of my privacy seem even worse.

One drawer in my wardrobe hung open, obscenely displaying my collection of colorful, lacy underwear. Sick to my stomach I realized that this person had invaded my space, lain on my bed, and touched my underwear. He'd probably taken something from that drawer but no way was I going near it to verify. I was never wearing those things again.

Without much further thought, I'd gotten up, picked up my purse and keys, and walked out of my home. I even methodically locked the door on my way out as if that would prevent this admirer from getting in again.

I'm not sure exactly where I was going, I just knew I had to get out. I needed to get out of this darn place right now. So I wandered down the street and considered going to the nearest police station, then decided against it because then my grandfather would find out. If he knew, this whole thing would turn into a nightmare of epic proportions.

Instead, I found myself heading for the nearest stretch of beach. The wind and the sound of the surf would clear my head, I could maybe use my phone to look up a private investigator or something. Someone who'd respect my privacy but who could help me uncover who was stalking me because this guy was definitely stalking me. I couldn't deal with that on my own if this guy was actually breaking into my house... He was far beyond crossing the line.

Once I reached the sand, I had the presence of mind to take off my shoes so my heels wouldn't sink and get lost in the loose sand. Other than that, I felt like my head was stuck in a complete mental fog as I tried to wrap my head around the utter destruction of my privacy, my sense of safety. The past weeks, I'd already felt on edge, not knowing who was leaving me these roses with that note. It was just so generic a bouquet, with just a standard note, not handwritten but typed, that I felt like there was little I could do to track down who was delivering them.

When I stubbed my toe on what I thought was a rock, I tumbled forward and only barely managed to stay on my feet. My purse went flying from my shoulder, scattering everything in it into the white sand. At my side, something moved, something huge, and it wasn't a boulder.

What appeared to be a small car had lifted off the sand to my left, glittering slate-gray, silver-green and sea-blue. Something blinked open inside this oddly colored rock, an eye the size of a dinner plate with a long narrow, vertical pupil and an iris glowing as blue as the ocean behind me.

I screamed because that's what a sensible person does when confronted with a dragon, right? A real-life dragon, bigger than a house, lying in great shining, undulating coils on the beach. That rock I'd tripped over? The very tip of its tail.

The head had a long snout with nostrils big enough for me to climb in, a frilled collar draped around its neck and when I screamed, it flared up. A bit like those lizards do, frilled lizards? Hadn't I seen that on TV once? Its huge maw was opened and a slick, split tongue came out and tasted the air, that head was so close to me that I could feel his warm breath wash over me. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, it was salty and tangy like the sea.

Raising its upper body on two big, scaly forelegs, I noticed with sick fascination that the black talons tipping those claws were easily as long as my forearms. This creature was going to gobble me up in one big gulp or tear me to ribbons. Either way, my stalker problem would be resolved.

Except this giant serpent eyed me for a moment longer before shaking himself as though it was a wet dog. I had to blink my eyes, confused at what I was seeing. Light re-fractured all around me, turning the early evening into a fireworks show. When I'd blinked my eyes to clear the sudden light spots I was face to face not with a dragon, but with a huge linebacker of a guy.

He looked at me with his dark eyes from a good three meters away, bare feet balancing on a big flat rock. Completely naked, it was as if he was daring me to look my fill but my adrenaline-fueled body decided that this was the moment to simply collapse. A stalker in my home, stealing my underwear and lying in my bed? Then being faced with a dragon? Which had to be a delusion of some kind. Nope, my body just said, enough is enough.

Sinking to my knees in the sand, a sob wrenched itself out of my chest, much to my complete embarrassment. Here I was, just coming out of the most bizarre delusion, faced with the hottest guy I'd ever laid eyes on, and all I could do was break down and cry.

*

I want to put a disclaimer here. Some of you might have noticed that Lily is very much the damsel in distress. Don't give up on her yet. That's her entire plot arch. She's going to grow a lot and find her own backbone, the point is that she learns to stand up for herself. If that's not your thing, that's okay, but give her a chance ya'll. She might surprise you.

I wanted to write a different character than Dani, who's a pretty tough and outspoken lady and I'm having a lot of fun doing this.

Much love,

Robin