A Dragon's Freedom

Chapter 9: How to Raise a Child

The misadventures of a tired Wilbur continued. He just wanted some
peace and tranquility, but for some unknown reason many decided that it would be a great idea to break into his house these past few days. First
came Boris then Jared, Olivia and finally Scarlet, Boris’s “cool” friend.
Feeling a pain in his back, Wilbur stood up to stretch a little. He did come to hear bits and pieces of Scarlet’s whole “adventure” and the end results.
To be honest, he felt very irritated when the crazy customer kept on using the wrong pronouns for Scarlet even though Scarlet clearly looks like a female.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a hybrid before.” Wilbur commented out loud.
“Huh?” Scarlet responded feeling confused.
“I mean, I have heard about hybrids before, but have never encountered one. Much less met one”
“It’s not like we are wild creatures or anything. We are still human one
way or another.” Scarlet just snarled, feeling a little annoyed by Wilbur’s
comment. “Also, how is Tempest still alive?”
This one sentence terrified Tempest. Did she know something Tempest did not? Did she witness the whole mass genocide? Was she part of it? Does she know who Tempest really is? Tempest was in full alert, ready to eliminate Scarlet if necessary.
“What do you mean by that?” Wilbur asked, peaking Tempest’s curiosity.
“I have heard many stories about you, Wilbur, and I have come to
think you are pretty childish for a grown man, so I wondered how you of all people can maintain a child. Much less keep ‘em alive,”
Tempest only chuckled at Wilbur’s immediate reaction, whilst also
feeling relieved that her suspicions were in fact wrong. That did not stop
her from keeping a close eye on Scarlet though.
“Excuse me! But let me tell you that I know more about children than
you and Boris combined.” Wilbur spat out feeling offended.
“Mhm. Ok, tell me at least one thing a parent should do to properly
raise their child.” Scarlet questioned Wilbur as he began to get nervous.
“Uh…”
“Knew it.” Feeling victorious, Scarlet stood up and started heading
out the door, “I am so sorry I can’t stay here for long, but my shift starts in a few minutes. I’ll come by your house later, ok Boris. Oh sorry, your plot of land. Ok bye!” Scarlet headed out the door giggling to herself as she made fun of Boris for “losing” his house to the burning sun.
“Well, guess I’ll go out as well. Gotta start looking for a new place to
live in. Maybe I could build my own house this time, I do have a plot of land already.” After Boris left, it was only Wilbur and Tempest that stayed. Well, more like Wilbur because Tempest left him to go to the backyard and “play” for a while. Now that he thought about it, how IS Tempest still alive? He knew he couldn’t take care of children cause he had no knowledge of them in the first place. Sure, he himself was a kid, but that was a long time ago.
Besides, he doesn’t want to raise Tempest the same way he was raised so he was left clueless to this sort of thing. It’s not like he expected to be a
father since marriage doesn’t appeal to him that much. Having a wife and
kids of his own made him feel overwhelmed to a degree. Heading towards his bedroom, Wilbur opened his laptop and sat on his bed.
“Time to consult my good old friend, google.” Wilbur began typing
away. He started reading articles, wiki pages, and even watching videos on youtube. He wanted to give Tempest the best childhood of her hecking life.
He wanted her to have everything he did not have the luxury to experience.
Like having a parental figure in their life or not having to stress over the
smallest of details.
Wilbur’s childhood wouldn’t be classified as horrible, but neither
wonderful. It was more of a balance of the two. He remembers having tea
parties with his mother and racing on horses with his father, but those
were rare occasions. He did have his brother to keep him company though.
He felt lucky to have his brother by his side. Wilbur’s brother was like his best friend and ally. He felt unstoppable with his brother by his side. Well, that is now in the past and now he wants Tempest to live to the fullest and maybe a part of him wants to relive his childhood through Tempest as well.
The next day came by as the morning sun and chirping of birds greeted Wilbur’s messy room. Wilbur had stayed up all night researching
all about parenting and behavioural patterns of a six year old. He even
created a google doc to keep his research organized. He truly felt proud and knowledgeable as he took a look at his research. Confidence gleamed
in his eyes like stars as he saw Tempest. Tempest, however, felt a
disturbance in the force. Somehow Tempest had a feeling that today would be a very eventful day indeed.
“Kid! We are going outside! For real this time!” Wilbur announced
enthusiastically. Tempest dreaded the idea. She didn’t want to go outside.
Despite practising to become a human, she only wanted to go outside to kill humans.
“You don’t want to go outside? We can stay here if you want.” Upon
hearing those words come out of Wilbur’s mouth, Tempest felt relieved.
Maybe not all humans are inconsiderate of others. Those thoughts were short lived as Wilbur picked up Tempest and a picnic basket.
“That is what I wish I could say but I have been planning this for a
long time. We are going outside. Sorry I had to deceive you like that.” Wilbur apologized.
“You know, you shouldn’t give me false hope, Mr. Wilbur.” Tempest only groaned as her skin met the warmth of the outside. Adjusting her vision,
Tempest saw houses and parked cars in a beautiful and green neighborhood. She never got to see where Wilbur lived and when she did, she felt at home. Tempest took in the peace and quiet before hearing the
car engine. Driving off into the distance, Wilbur felt determined to do whatever he can to raise Tempest properly.
Looking outside the window, Tempest saw people walking on
sidewalks, others talking to each other, and overall how calm and happy everyone looked. Feeling disgusted by the view, Tempest imagined how
each and every one of those humans would look like if they were dead.
Those thoughts brought a smile to her face.
Pulling up in a parking lot, Wilbur parked his car and took a deep
breath, feeling the fresh outside air fill his lungs. Tempest, however, just
took a shaky breath and slowly opened the car door. One foot outside and she already felt terrified. Wilbur noticed this and tried to reassure Tempest,
“Hey, don’t worry about them. It is just going to be me and you today
alright. I’ll make sure you’ll have the best day of your life alright. Just take a deep breath and enjoy this lovely nature. Don’t forget to have fun ok?”
Shaking her head in agreement, Tempest stepped out of the car and
started observing her surroundings. She saw green pastures and tall trees.
She heard the chirping of birds and felt a refreshing chilly breeze brush
against her human skin. Feeling a little relaxed, Tempest followed Wilbur.
Once Wilbur found the perfect picnic spot, he started setting everything
up while Tempest looked into the playground in the distance.
“Do you wanna help me out here? This food won’t eat itself.” Wilbur
called out to Tempest. Tempest, turned around and headed towards the picnic blanket. The blanket had a floral pattern and felt soft against her skin. She felt comfortable. This made her think of that one time she had a
picnic with her human friend, Bennie. She remembers the floral hill in which they sat and how cheerful Bennie was. She remembers hearing his laughter whenever she would fall to the ground when attempting to fly. Most importantly, she missed his mom’s special grilled cheese. This made Tempest sad. The fact that she won't ever see Bennie again broke her heart.
Wilbur sensed the change in Tempest’s mood so he looked at his
google doc and tried to cheer her up.
“Let’s go to the playground after we finish eating. How’s that sound?”
“I guess” Tempest simply replied, moving on from those unwanted
emotions. Looking at the options, a certain cheesy dish caught her
attention. Grilled cheese. There was grilled cheese on a plate. She reached over to get it. Savoring the cheeseness, Tempest was brought back to a
time in which she adored the humans. She felt very nostalgic and couldn’t
stop eating the grilled cheese.
Wilbur simply smiled at the sight of Tempest. Seeing her enjoying
herself made him feel ecstatic and maybe if he keeped it up, Tempest
might open up more and become a free spirit with a great future. Finishing the food, Wilbur and Tempest cleaned everything up before heading over to the playground section. Looking for an empty bench, Wilbur told Tempest to just go and have fun. The closer Tempest got to the playground
set, the more she felt nervous. What if she went out of control and ended
up killing everyone? Remembering to keep calm, Tempest took another
deep breath and headed over to the swing set. Swinging peacefully,
Tempest was soon interrupted by some pesky kids.
“Hey! That swing is off limits!” One of the kids yelled at her.
“Yeah! That swing belongs to Tommy!” Another one continued.
Tempest simply ignored the two and continued swinging. Soon the
two kids left. After a few minutes, they returned, but they brought someone else with them. The new addition seemed to be a 10 year old, blond kid with greyish eyes. This kid looked pissed.
“Hey! Get off of my swing!” The 10 year old demanded.
“I’m good, thanks” Tempest simply replied back. The blond did not like
her response, so he grabbed a long thick stick and tried stopping the
swing. This pissed Tempest, so she stopped swinging but never left the
swing.
“Do you know who I am?” The blond asked.
“No”
“I am the strongest kid in the block! Tommy is my name and you
happen to have stolen my swing.”
“Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Tempest taunted as she took her
tongue out as she prepared herself to swing again. Tommy being the
“strongest” started to throw a fit.
Back at the benches with Wilbur, he was suddenly met with a single
mom in her 30’s.
“You look so young to be a father.” The lady commented. Wilbur knew
people like her so in an internal frenzy he started to think of a way in which he would be able to get rid of her.
“Young people like you are so irresponsible. Always going at it at such a young age. Youth these days are so careless.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t like talking about my personal life with others.”
Wilbur responded, already feeling annoyed by this woman. The woman
didn’t seem to take this comment lightly as she began to complain about how rude Wilbur was being. That was when they both heard a scream in
the distance. The woman seemed to get concerned as she rushed over the
scene of the crime. She was met with her son in tears and a smiling
Tempest. Assuming what happened, the woman slapped Tempest across
the face and started yelling profanities at her, telling her how she hurt her child and how she should be severely punished. The woman also started talking smack about how bad her parents are at raising her. This upset Tempest. The last thing a person wants to do in front of Tempest is mention her parents. Wilbur could see how furious Tempest was getting and in an attempt to de-escalate the situation he tried apologizing to the red faced woman.
“Sorry won’t cut it! Are you this monster’s father?” The agitated
woman questioned Wilbur.
“I’m her caretaker ma’am.”
“Then, where are its parents?” The woman continued to question,
more angered by the second.
“They...her parents aren’t with us anymore.” Wilbur responded sincerely.
“I bet her parents died because of her! She is a demon among children! Get her away from my little angel!”
“I'M NOT A MONSTER!” Tempest screamed as tears threatened to fall
out of her eyes. She felt very overwhelmed. The mere mention of her parents made her heart ache, but this woman disrespectfully put the
death of her parents on her. This was the final straw for Tempest. The anger inside of her led to many gory thoughts and the thought of killing
this crazy lady brought a sinister smile to her face.
“That’s her!” A random person’s voice echoed through Tempest’s
head, “That’s the crazy lady that started assaulting the poor kid!” Wilbur felt very relieved that the authorities were now involved in this mess.
“Ma’am we have reason to believe that you assaulted this child. Am I
right?”
“O-Officer, you have to believe me when I say that this child hurt my
innocent angel and-and even t-tried stealing from me!” The woman tried
convincing the police officer. The police officer was having none of this
crap as he pulled out his phone and showed the woman a video of her
slapping and yelling profanities at Tempest, even the part in which she
blames Tempest for being the cause of her parent’s death. Flabbergasted,
the woman started to run away but proved to be useless as the officer
caught up to her very quickly.
Tempest collapsed to the floor feeling very exhausted. Even though she has been through hell on earth, this situation scared her immensely.
She felt as if she was in a very vulnerable position. She even began to believe that the death of her loved ones was because of her. Those
thoughts were short lived as she felt a warm embrace wrap around her.
“I’m here, don’t worry about it anymore. I won’t let anything bad
happen to you ever again.” Wilbur spoke in a soft voice as he himself
began tearing up as he felt the surge of strong emotions emanate from
Tempest. Seeing her distress made him feel very miserable.
“W-Wilbur? Am I a monster?” Tempest questioned Wilbur in a
trembling voice. Wilbur felt shocked.
“No, no you aren’t a monster. It wasn’t your fault at all. You couldn’t
have known the future and what it holds. Don’t blame yourself please. The only monster here is that sour tomato of a human. Did you see her face? I could see veins popping out.” Wilbur chuckled to himself as he recalled seeing the woman’s face during that agitated moment. This simple comment made Tempest chuckle. She felt safe and loved. This small gesture changed something inside of her. A twinge of trust emerged from the pits of her locked up emotions.
‘Maybe this human isn’t so bad.’
“I guess we can go home after this whole ordeal. I don’t feel like
dealing with more people like her,” getting up, Wilbur started heading
over to his car, Tempest walking behind. After returning home, Wilbur had many questions for Tempest.
“Alright kid, tell me what really happened on the swing set.” Tempest
only sighed as she sat herself on the living room’s sofa.
“Strap on Mr. Wilbur ‘cause this will be a long ride,” clearing her throat, Tempest continued, “I was just swinging on the swings by myself
when two annoying kids came to me and started to tell me that I couldn’t
be on the swing. I didn’t listen so they brought their friend, Tommy,” looking at her nails Tempest commented, “For the record, Tommy has pretty grey
eyes. I know, it’s weird,” Looking around, Tempest swung her small legs. “You were saying?” bringing Tempest back from her little world, she continued, “Anyways, Tommy grabbed a stick and tried stopping the swing. Me being amazing, stopped the swing and gave him my attention.
Honestly he should have been grateful I didn’t ignore him. After that, he
kept on nagging me and telling me to get off. That was when he started to
throw a fit. A few seconds later I told him that he was being very annoying. He stopped crying and challenged me to a swing off. Whoever could swing
the highest wins. I won of course, but Tommy is such a sour loser he started crying. I only smiled because I won. It is impossible for me to lose though. I
am the BEST at swinging out there. So yeah, that is what happened,”
finishing her sentence with a matter of factly face, Wilbur was just
astonished. The whole commotion with Tempest started because she beat another child in a silly kids game? Wilbur couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous this was. Tempest just stood there confused but decided to let Wilbur have his moment.
This small moment made Wilbur realise he didn’t need to raise
Tempest the way society wants to raise children. Even though he barely managed to scratch the surface of his plans, he decided to just go with the
flow and take care of her as she takes care of him. That wouldn’t stop him
from using the google doc he created. He isn’t just going to let all his
efforts go to waste. Today was a great day for the both of them.
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