Project iDragon

008: You Called Me, Remember?

I didn't sleep a lot that night, but when I did I had a bizarre dream about Selphon dropping my cell phone on my face to emphasize what a stupid name Selphon was. At some point in the dream he started sporting a pair of sunglasses that somehow stayed on his face due to dream logic, and Uptown Funk began blaring out of the speakers of the phone he had dropped.

It was at that point in the dream, that I realized that I wasn't dreaming anymore.

I sat upward with a jolt and Selphon scampered backward several steps so that he was sitting on my knees. He quickly lowered his head to the bed to place the ringing phone down on my thigh before nudging it toward me with his nose. I wiped the dragon drool off on the nearest blanket before awakening the screen. It was a couple minutes past five thirty in the morning and when I glanced to my window, I found that the outside world to be a dark, somber shade of grey.

I shuddered, simply glad that it wasn't blue like that light vortex earlier that night. My skin still tingled from the heat and something told me it was not something I was going to forget very soon. My head spun lightly and I had the momentary urge to throw up, but somehow, I refrained. The whole experience was like a solid kick to the head, and trust me, I know a thing or two about head injuries.

My phone vibrated again and continued to blare the chorus of Uptown Funk. A picture of Madi and her dog flashed across the screen and I rolled my eyes with a sigh before sliding my finger over the accept bar. "Do you have any idea what time it?" I greeted as I stretched and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

"Well, good morning to you too, Mr. Sunshine. No one made you pick up the phone at 5:37 in the morning. Now what the hell was it you did last night?"

Selphon growled under his breath like even the mention of it sent his scales skittering. His wings raised several inches off his back as he leapt down from the bed and started stalking nervous circles around my backpack.

"You know, I don't even think I got two hours of sleep – "

"What did you guys do exactly?" She insisted. "There was a fire in the woods by your house. It's all over the news."

"What?" I sat up quickly, instantly alert.

"You heard me. Check Local4, you'll see. They say it was a bunch of kids and a bonfire, but jeez the pictures don't look like a bonfire? Did Selphon go on a burning spree or something? Dude, if they tie this back to you, forest arsonry will not look good on your resume."

"God..." I muttered under my breath. My eyes flickered between Selphon and the computer on my desk. Some part of me wanted to look at the pictures to see just how much damage that hot disk of light had caused, but then the other part of me was complaining that I didn't get enough sleep and that there was a warm comfy pillow just two feet from my head – my brain wanted to listen to that second part.

"David."

"Look, some freaky crap did happen," I replied, watching with a tight smile as my comforter started sliding to one side as Selphon attempted to climb stealthily onto my bed. It took him all of five seconds to give up on stealth and leap up next to me in a single bound. He curled up on my legs curiously and chirped when I placed a hand on his neck. "But it was like that when we got there, okay? We didn't do anything."

Selphon chirped again and took a dive off the side of my bed to go paw at the backpack where I had hidden the rest of the mangoes. I sighed and quietly got of bed to get them out before he tore the bag apart. I hugged my phone to my shoulder and pulled open the drawstring as I spoke. "I'll tell you about it later. What are you doing up this early anyway?"

"NS had to use the facilities," Madi replied. NS, NShadow, or Nightshadow was her border collie, and her name was the product of allowing the fantasy obsessed teenager of the house name the new puppy. "And well...I couldn't sleep."

"I feel you," I murmured as I stumbled over to the window and pulled it open. The cold autumn air felt soft against my skin and I had to stifle a yawn as I looked down at the street. The lamps glowed yellow over the sidewalk, casting shadows in places that didn't exist during the day. I blinked slowly, trying to brush the sleep from my eyes, but it was no use -- it didn't matter how crazy a night I had already experienced, I couldn't run on two hours of sleep alone.

"Some crazy stuff happened last night – I'm so tired but I'm not sure I can sleep."

Selphon wandered over and jumped up so that his front legs were hooked over the windowsill. He held his mango carefully in his teeth like he was afraid he was going to drop it.

"Mm, I bet. I'll assume you'll tell me about it later?"

"Yeah," I whispered as my gaze wandered up to the sky. "Later. Bring coffee. We ride at dawn."

"Mm, okay. How do you take yours again? Or can I just pick you up and we'll go together."

"Whichever is good for you."

"Then we're doing the latter. I don't have the memory for it right now."

"But seriously though," I chuckled, leaning one shoulder against the wall. "We can legit ride at dawn."

Her voice betrayed an eminent intolerance for my quirks. "Really?"

"If you want, it's not like either of us are sleeping."

"You're a dramatic nerd, you know that?"

Despite the knots in my stomach, a momentary smile graced my features. "Hey, you called me, remember?"

A/N

Jeezus you guys really hate the guy in the last chapter. I have never seen so many flagged offensive comments in one chapter, not even in the end of Two and Three...although that was mostly crying.

Drawing up above is of my dragon hunter from the last chapter, Tern. Done by the too epic angelina316. Get up and scream guys! (I'll get back to posting contest winners after this). Look at those eyes. That smile...iaugaksdjkjaskjak

Short chapter. Would you be able to sleep after what David went through?