THE COLLECTOR

The town was engulfed in a blanket of white snow. The icy wind shrieked and howled in the deserted town. Not a soul could be seen outside at such a time, no one except a little girl who was hobbling down the lane with an excited look on her face, oblivious to the icy wind piercing her cheek like a knife. Her name was Emerina Asternette. she loved exploring and as her family had come to this town on holiday, she was determined to explore every inch of her neighborhood before they went back home again; Even if there was hardly anything to see but mounds of snow and dead trees she kept hoping she might find something interesting buried among the heaps of snow.

 Today, for the first time since they had come here Emerina did see something interesting. As she was walking she had suddenly glimpsed something shining from under a snow bank and her curiosity got the better of her. She knelt down and tugged. Nothing happened. She gave that up and began scraping the snow away with her bare hands. After a while it was loose enough for her to pull it out. Emerina took in in her hands; it was a stone, an enormous stone which was bright orange. She was delighted for she was a great collector of shells and stones.

As it was, she already had an enormous collection of odd looking shells and pebbles back at home which she had collected on her various visits to the seaside. In fact, her collection filled half a dozen large shelves. Emerina tried carrying the stone but it was just too heavy for her so she had to roll it on the ground all the way home.

She placed the bright orange stone on a shelf in her room and stared at it lovingly. She would take it back home with her.

That night Emerina woke to the sound of a creak. She leapt out of bed and switched on the light. Her gaze fell on the bright orange stone resting on her shelf. To her horror, there was a crack across it which went all around the stone. She reached towards her beloved stone and froze. The crack was widening and the stone begun to shudder and shiver slightly. Emerina took a step back. Suddenly, part of the stone fell of and an ugly little head poked out of it. “Aaaaaaaahhhhhh” Emerina shrieked and stumbled backwards; whatever the head belonged to came out of the stone and stared straight at her. The creature was covered in blood red scales. The creature turned around and she glimpsed a tail on its back. The creature was small enough to fit on Emerina’s palm.  Emerina was absolutely petrified.

“W-what are you?” Emerina asked shakily.

“I’m a dragon of course.” It said casually.

“You’re a dragon” Emerina asked in a daze, wondering if perhaps she was delirious.

“Of course I am” said the dragon, staring at her as if it were obvious.

“If you are a dragon, where are your wings?” asked Emerina.

“Don’t be stupid.” The dragon said, looking annoyed. “Of course I won’t have wings till I’ve grown up. Surely you- Hey! Hey, Where are you going?” he turned to Emerina who was creeping out of the room.

“I’m going to tell my mother that there is a talking dragon in my bedroom.” Emerina said.

“What! No, you can’t!” the dragon protested loudly.

“Why not?” Emerina asked.

“Because” The dragon said. “If you do, I shall be examined in a science lab or locked in a cage in the zoo or something equally horrible!”

“I suppose that is true” Emerina said pondering over what it had just said. “Alright, I won’t tell anyone. But you can’t stay here forever you know”

“If you will be kind enough to look after me for a days till I grow my wings I shall be able to fly off by the cover of night” the dragon said. A jet of fire came out of his mouth as he said this and one of Emerina’s encyclopedias caught fire. The dragon put it out by stamping on it with his feet. “So? Do you consent to me staying here for a few days?”

“As long as you do not make anything else catch fire.” Emerina said, glancing at her half burnt encyclopedia rather nervously.

“Uh…alright then” Emerina said.

“right.” the dragon said as it lay down on the shelf and fell asleep.

Emerina stared at the dragon nervously before she too tumbled on her bed and fell asleep.

Starting from the next day, Emerina sneaked in food to the dragon at mealtimes and they became rather good friends. Emerina told the dragon not to go anywhere else in the house in case her mother saw it. Less than a week later, the dragon had grown so large Emerina was almost afraid it would not fit in her bedroom anymore. Fortunately, it did as her bedroom was quite a large one.

 By the end of two weeks the dragon had fully grown and grew beautiful red wings on its back. The dragon still occasionally burnt some things by accident. Emerina knew it had to leave soon so instead of going out for her usual daily walks she stayed indoors and played cards or talked with the dragon. Once they even painted a picture together, a picture of her and the dragon. When it was finished Emerina framed it and hung it on her wall. The dragon did have a little difficulty holding the paintbrush because his hands had claws instead of fingers.

After three weeks the dragon told her sadly that he had to go tonight at midnight. Emerina nodded, she was surprised to find that she was actually sad because she was going to lose her wonderful dragon friend. She said one last goodbye that night. When she woke up in the morning the dragon was gone. Emerina went towards the remains of her friend’s egg, her eyes brimming with tears. To her surprise, she found an envelope.

 She tore it open to find an amulet and a map with only her house and a place called dragon city marked on it. There was a note saying “Emerina please wear the amulet and follow this map to fly to dragon city sometime by cover of night. I would dearly love to see you again.”  She tried on the amulet. A warm sensation spread over her. Emerina turned to the mirror and suppressed a scream. She had turned into a pink dragon. She fluttered her wings gently and hovered a few feet in the air. Emerina removed the amulet and was relieved to find that she turned back into her normal self again. She smiled. She would see her wonderful friend sometime after all.