Dragon Paint

Prologue

I walk along the sidewalk, rain dripping off the overhanging canopies of abandoned stores. The street lamp flickers weakly, casting a shivering beam of light on my back. The storefronts are empty and dilapidated, and the sidewalk looks as if it went through five giant earthquakes. My faded gray Converse sneakers are soaked, but I don't care as I walk alone. I sneeze; my only jacket is old and is full of holes, and a thirteen year old really shouldn't be out this late in this weather anyway. I look up at an old building to my right. It once was a booming marketplace, full of shops and restaurants on every level.

Now though, it's nothing but a creaky brick building covered in graffiti and scheduled for demolition. I look around to make sure no police are snooping around, and pull out my paintbrush. Grabbing a can of spray paint from my pocket, I wet the brush and add my worthless, meager mark to the brick wall. The finished product is a skull motif with horns curling out the top. To many, this random design is just another insult to the historic structure, but it's more significant than that to me. It's the design on Toothless's prosthetic tailfin.

See, four years ago my mother took me to see the animated movie How To Train Your Dragon. The movie touched me, and so began an almost unhealthy obsession. My imagination and my paintbrush are all that keep me alive; my father disappeared when I was three, and my mom died in a car crash about a year ago. An orphan, I wander the streets nightly to escape the hustle and bustle of the orphanage. When I walk, I imagine what the world of Berk from the movie is like. That's when the paint comes out. My mind fills with ideas, and I start drawing.

Tonight, though, I think about the thing I really long for. I want to see the sequel to How To Train Your Dragon, but the tickets cost a fortune nowadays and I only have a five dollar bill in my jar at the orphanage. My most expensive possession is a relatively old iPod Touch, and I flip through the ancient songs on it absentmindedly. All the songs on it I bought when I had the money, and they keep me going. I listen to a song by Owl City, one of my favorite groups, and smile. The lyrics go through my head for the millionth time, and I hum along quietly. Then the song changes, and I instantly know what it is. A song by tobyMac, my most favorite artist and Christian singer.

"I gotta go,

I'm 'bout to do a show,

Can't take the stress,

Wanna give you my best, Lord

Can't sing with this hangin' over me,

But the show must go on,

Lord, set me free..."

It reminds me of the situation I'm in. My life must continue despite what's going on.

All of a sudden, lightning pierces the sky and forks downward. I don't move in time, and I get struck straight through the head. Dizzy, I stumble backward, and then everything goes black.