THE BEAST

Taming or being tamed

The sky looked sleepy at dawn. Distant sounds of crickets buzzed outside and a lush smell of soil and wood filled the air. It was raining softly. The sound of the raindrops gently tapping on the window was what woke Brett up.

Brett slowly opened his eyes to realize that he was still holding the beast's hand. Surprised, Brett quickly took his hand away. Eddy groaned in his sleep and turned sideways, facing Brett now. Their face was close to each other and Brett could feel Eddy's breath on his face, warm and smoky. Brett could even see the dragon's eyelids flutter in his sleep, probably chasing the image in his wild dreams.

Brett looked at Eddy's face in a pale light of dawn. He couldn't believe the beast was actually more than a thousand years old. His human form looked like he was the same or even younger than Brett - does that mean dragons usually live much longer? Brett was lost in his thought as the dragon murmured unintelligibly in his sleep, his lips slightly apart. The soft lips of the beast reminded Brett of their unusual way of feeding and Brett blushed bright red, his heart pounding.

Eddy groaned again softly in his sleep, his face suddenly distorted.

"No......" The beast muttered as if he was in pain. His body tensed up and the beast clenched his fist, hard.

He must be having a bad dream, Brett realized.

Brett hesitantly stretched out his hand and placed it on top of Eddy's hair. He patted Eddy gently, afraid of waking him up too suddenly. His fingers stroked the smooth hair and lightly traced Eddy's ears.

Eddy sighed, his body relaxing little by little. Soon, his breathing became deep and rhythmic. Brett smiled as Eddy fell into a deep sleep, lightly snoring. Brett kept on patting Eddy, thinking that for the first time, he actually felt like he was taming the beast in some way - which was another way around most of the time.

He could have kept on patting Eddy for the whole day, just listening to the calming rainfall outside. However, the peace was broken when his phone began to ring from his desk.

Brett yelped, leaping to his desk to catch the phone and running outside the room. The beast was still undisturbed, sleeping soundly.

"Hello??" Brett whispered outside the dormitory corridor.

"Brett-! My goodness, are you alright?"

It was his father and mother, worried sick. They must have heard everything from the council and the school by now - about his less than desirable familiar summoning event.

"I'm alright. Don't worry about me."

"How could we not worry about you? The beast, how could you have summoned something like that?"

"I really have no idea. I was just practicing for my school exam...and I just happened to name him before I knew he was literally a dragon."

A long sigh came from the other end of the phone.

"The beast is alright? Is he violent? Did he try to hurt you in any way?"

Brett thought back to the beast sleeping in his room. Kissing doesn't count as hurting, Brett guessed.

"No...not really. He's fine. Just an old creature really."

"You can't trust a dragon though, son. They are known for their deceiving quality and love for violence and murder - it is bound to follow its instinct sooner or later."

"Yeah...I will keep an eye on him. I named him so he is under my command for now though," Brett scratched his head. Although he felt like he was the one following the beast's command most of the time.