The Dragon in the Attic

     As Hallie tried to fall asleep in her new room, she heard a scratching noise coming from above. Scared, she called for her mother, who shuffled through the door, rubbing her eyes groggily. Annoyed, she told Hallie to go back to sleep and ignore the squirrel or whatever was in there. After she left, Hallie stared at the ceiling for a long time, just wondering if she had imagined it, when it happened again. It was louder this time, and more insistent. Realizing that her mother wouldn’t come again, Hallie grabbed her softball bat and skulked out to the hallway. As quietly as she could, she pulled the chain to lower the stairs to the attic. The wooden steps creaked as Hallie ascended up them, clutching her softball bat tightly. Her heart pounded in her ears as she crawled through the attic.

    Then, she heard it again. A snuffling noise, like a dog sniffing its food. Taking a deep breath, Hallie peeked around the corner of a huge cardboard box, and her eyes grew wide as they fell on the creature. It wasn’t a dog or a squirrel, or anything earthly. Hallie gazed in wonder at the small creature that had a bright green body, splashes of yellow along its back, and a long, forked tongue that slithered in and out of its cavernous mouth. The creature was a dragon.

    The dragon’s long yellow claws dug into the wood as it scratched, leaving gashes behind them. The dragon seemed to sense it was being watched, and very slowly turned around, its eyes blazing with anger. Hallie stumbled back in shock, not believing her own eyes. Smack in the middle of the dragon’s forehead was a gemstone. A ruby. The same good luck charm her brother had always carried with him before he disappeared. The anger in the dragon’s eyes seemed to subside for a minute as it gazed quietly at Hallie. If Daniel was in there, somewhere… Hallie had to find out. She whispered a secret code that she had made up with Daniel, back before he went missing. The dragon cocked its head for a second, then sat down, obeying Hallie command. Hallie’s eyes filled with tears. This dragon, this small, weird dragon, was her brother.

     Hallie held out a shaking hand to her older brother, and the tiny dragon leaped into it without hesitation. The second the dragon touched her skin, a blinding purple light erupted in the room. A deep voice called out, congratulating Hallie on finding her brother. It also gave her a choice. She could either choose to return Daniel to his normal human form, which would erase all his memories of her, or she could decide to keep him as her dragon-brother forever.

     Faced with this impossible decision, Hallie looked helplessly at the tiny dragon in her hand. Seeing her distress, the dragon jumped onto Hallie’s shoulder and headbutted affectionately. In her heart, Hallie knew what Daniel would have wanted. In a shaking voice, she told the purple light that she chose to turn her brother back into human, despite the consequences. All at once, there was a bang, and smoke filled the room. Hallie doubled over, coughing and wheezing.

     As the haze of smoke cleared, Hallie crawled toward the groaning human that was her brother, Daniel. He coughed and cursed, his voice bringing Hallie back to tears. Hesitantly, she called her brother’s name softly, and he sat straight up, looking around, bewildered. When his eyes landed on Hallie, his brow furrowed in confusion. In a suspicious voice, he asked who she was. Hallie couldn’t stop the tears now. Coughing and crying, she told Daniel that she was his sister and that he’d been missing for years. Obviously shocked, Daniel asked Hallie if his parents were her. Hallie nodded and was about to show him to the stairs, when her mother and father appeared, crawling around the cardboard boxes and asked what all the noise was. Their question fell short as their eyes landed on Daniel, who scrambled to his feet and gave them both a tackling hug. Hallie’s heart broke, but she knew that she had made the right choice.

    As Hallie lay in her bed that night, with her brother sleeping in the next room, she could have sworn she heard another scratching sound. She sat up, completely confused, but the purple light returned, quiet this time, and told her softly that her family has been reunited, but the dragon will still visit the attic every night – because he remembers.