Welcome
to The Spot Writers.
The
current prompt is a story about something nice and unexpected happening on a
gloomy day.
This
week’s story comes from Chiara De Giorgi. Chiara dreams, reads, edits texts,
translates, and occasionally writes in two languages. She also has a lot of
fun.
***
Dragons
go out in the cold
by Chiara De Giorgi
March,
1st
We’ve reached the top of the
mountain just before midday. It’s been a wonderful day since sunrise: the sky is
clear and blue, not a single cloud is to be seen, and the temperature has been
seriously mild, considering it’s still Winter.
We quickly set camp not far from
the spring: the water is chilly, crystal clear, pure, and fresh. I love it.
Sam is lighting a fire, I’m
supposed to make notes about our surroundings, looking for the best place to
spot the dragon, but I don’t need to do that. I already know where we should go,
I’ve explored the area quite a few times on my own.
There’s a dragon hiding on these
mountains. It’s a handsome beast, huge and massive, with greenish scales all
over its body. You can’t imagine how wide its wings look, when it glides from
above. I can’t wait for Sam to see for himself.
The only problem is the weather:
it’s too good. Dragons go out in the cold.
March,
3rd
No sightings, yet. The sun is
shining, the days are gloriously warm, and Sam is getting impatient. The
silence, the stillness of this mountain is broken only by the burbling water in
the creek and the chirping of the birds.
March
5th
Now I am getting impatient. I believe there never were so many
cloudless days in a row! I’d hate it so much to go back without spotting the
dragon! People do not believe me. Maybe they wish I were right about the beast:
who wouldn’t be excited at the thought that dragons are real? If Sam is unable
to corroborate my claim, though... I can already see their condescending
smiles, their heads gently shaking. I couldn’t bear it.
Please, please, please: let there be clouds!
March,
6th
YES! Finally!
A strong wind shook our tent
early this morning, before sunrise. The weather has definitely changed: grey
clouds have been chasing one another across the sky for hours. We barely
managed to heat up our coffee before it started to rain: big, fat raindrops that
fell almost lazily at first, but soon gained strength and hurt when they hit
you.
We spent the day inside the tent.
Sam dozed and snored the day away. I was too excited to go back to sleep. As
bad as the day was getting, though, it was not bad enough.
As night fell, we ate some dry
meat and cereal bars, feeling quite miserable.
I just hope this awful weather gets
worse.
March,
6th – later
We heard it! Oh my God, we heard
it!
It was too dark to see anything,
but the noise was unmistakable.
I shook Sam awake and made him listen.
First he heard the flapping: powerful wings beating in the storm. He was
already trying to explain the noise away, when the scream came and he went
pale. His eyes were huge and his mouth hung open in disbelief. I just smiled
and nodded, then mouthed: Dragon.
I hope with all my heart that the
sun doesn’t come up tomorrow. We’ll walk to the spot from where we can keep an
eye on the cave and he will see.
March,
7th
I’m still trembling.
The day started as gloomy and
dark as it could be. We wore our raincoats and climbed up to the cave, then hid
behind a rock and lay in wait. Sam had barely spoken one word since last night.
Three hours later, we looked like
drowned rats and had not seen nor heard anything. I could see that Sam was
becoming impatient, but he was very excited, too. He wanted to see. He wanted
to believe.
Then we
heard a cracking sound behind us, and suddenly a heat wave hit our backs. We
slowly turned and… two baby dragons were watching us! They were slightly
smaller than we, had a thick tail and fleshy wings. And they spat fire. Not
enough to burn anything, especially under such a pouring rain, but still.
Sam was
about to pass out, but I slapped him hard and he came back to himself.
The two
babies cackled and hopped towards us, beating their wings in the most peculiar
way. At last I understood their meaning: they wanted to play!
I
started mirroring their movements and they were delighted, I was so happy that
I started to laugh and they laughed back – at least, I think that’s what they
did.
We had
been at that for a good while, when we felt the air move behind us. We slowly
turned and went numb. Mother was there. Sam started whimpering and I elbowed
him. He coughed and stopped. I was trembling myself. What would Mother do? The
slowest seconds passed, and then the two babies (puppies?) reached Mother,
jumping and flapping their wings, shrieking all the time. After a heartbeat of
consideration, Mother plunged her huge head towards us, one of her eyes as big
as my own head. I swallowed noisily and thought I was going to die in the
gloomiest day mankind could remember. But it was not to be. Mother purred, and puffed a wisp of smoke out
of her nostrils into our faces. After that, she spread her formidable wings and
took flight, her offspring close on her tail.
The Spot Writers—Our Members:
Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/
Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/
Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com
Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/
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