Spring

10

Only slightly late, shh...

Virgil

It's been a month since Roman left and everything had almost gone back to normal. Almost. Virgil still had the book and he would sometimes write small phrases to keep him happy. One time he made a small dragon that puffed icy smoke out of its mouth. The dragon was currently perched on his mirror. After seeing it Virgil couldn't not keep it. It was a light blue with faint pink stripes down its back and its wings were bigger than it's head. Usually it just eats whatever Virgil brings back from dinner and it poops gold for some reason. Virgil had found out its name with a very inefficient way, because apparently the dragon could understand him. The dragon's name was Opal.

Another time Virgil filled his room with fireflies again. He even wanted to see if he could bring Roman back himself, but thought that was unfair. Currently, he was sat watching the dragon play with its icy smoke on the mirror. She would blow and then move her paw to make a drawing. Sometimes they looked like words, but that was just coincidence.

Virgil moved too grab his book and pen. He sat looking over the handwriting of Roman. He ran his fingers over it and sighed. A crash made him jump and look over to see Opal in front of the broken mirror. Glass shards littered the ground and Opal was wagging her tail happily.

"Opal, what have I told you about staying quiet." Virgil called rushing over to clean the glass up. His reflection spread over all of the shards except one. Opal had he paw on it and when Virgil reached for it to clean it up, she hissed. Virgil was shocked. Opal had never hissed at him. She must've really not wanted this to be thrown away. When the rest of the glass was cleaned up Virgil sat in front of Opal.

"Can I see it? I'm not going to throw it away, promise." Virgil asked. Opal puffed and flew onto his shoulder. Virgil patted her head and grabbed the shard. It didn't reflect his face which was odd, but he saw the back of a man. He wore a large cloak and looked to be kneeling. He stood up and turned around looking towards Virgil and sighed pointing. The man shook his head and walked out of frame. The room was dark but Virgil could clearly see a boy huddled in the fetal position. His clothes were dirty and slightly scratched up. Chains from his arms led to the wall as Virgil assumed he was being held captive. Virgil lowered the mirror and looked to the dragon who hopped onto his lap and puffed on the shard. She moved her paw and drew a shaky 'R'.

Virgil was confused now. Who was the boy? Why was the shard showing him? Why did Opal know? What does she mean, R? Opal wiping the mirror and seemed to point at the boy who raised his head. Virgil dropped the shard and Opal clasped it between her paws. Virgil stood up quickly and shook his head.

"Opal? What the hell is going on?" Virgil asked looking back to the mirror shard. There Prince Roman sat, tears cascading down his face looking Virgil's way, sadly. Opal flew up and dropped the shard in his hand before perching back on his shoulder. Virgil was conflicted. The boy he had a crush on who left him, was being held captive and Opal was trying to tell him this whole time.

"Is this really--?" Virgil trailed off looking at Opal. She nodded and nudged his cheek. Virgil looked back to see Roman staring off into the distance leaning against the wall behind him. There was a plate next to him with food and a cup. Virgil sighed and placed the shard down.

"He didn't get out on his own did he?" Virgil asked aloud. Opal shook her head and sat on the book. Virgil went to the box he had shoved all of Roman's stuff in and grabbed one of his worksheets from school and returned to his desk. He pushed Opal off the book and placed the paper next to it to survey the handwriting. He determined that it wasn't the same. Virgil held his head and he felt a pit in his stomach. All this time he hate Roman for leaving him, but turns out he was taken from him.