My stories of old XD

A Dragon's Tale: book 1

 In a cave deep in the forest, a dragon hides its eggs, while in the city a girl struggles to fit in. She repeatedly has dreams ... dreams of being queen of the kingdom and owning dragons. The dragons are the friends she never had. Fascinated by her dreams about the dragons, she would research the creatures in books and ask for a dragon from her family, but they could never afford one. Things take a dark turn when her father is suddenly killed in the line of duty. She visits her father's grave every week, placing new flowers for him upon freshly turned dirt, her heart empty. She wears her father's ring on a darkly colored leather string around her neck. Now with her father gone, they are struggling at home. Her mother is working several jobs to keep the debt collector from their door, and she takes care of the house while her mother is gone. Some classmates at her school bully her for her poverty and misfortune of having only a single parent, and at one point, the mean girls do something that is unimaginable. Before the start of school, the group lit her house on fire! They were caught, but her home was destroyed along with everything in it, except for a family photo she was able to snatch at the last moment. Her home was rebuilt with the money the girls' parents were forced to repay for damages, but it was never the same as the one she had shared together with her father and mother. When high school began, her teacher gave an assignment about what they wanted to be ... who they wanted to be. All she could think was that she just wanted to be herself without being judged.

"Sakura," her art teacher called upon her on one cold December day. "What do you know about dragons?" he asked in a strong voice. Fear surged through Sakura's body. "You certainly draw them a lot," he commented.

"I-I-I," she stuttered, fearing she was being reprimanded.

"You're not in trouble," her teacher informed her, "I just want to know."

"I know that they can be incredibly loyal if you treat them right," Sakura said in a shaky voice. "But if you treat them wrong they can become aggressive and violent."

"That is correct," a deep voice firmly stated from the back of the room. The students whipped their heads around to the timbre of the Queen's voice. They all bowed to their queen.

"Your Majesty! How kind of you to join us today. Please come in, I was just getting ready to give the children their homework," the teacher said as he bowed to the sovereign. He turned to the class, and continued, "Your assignment is to draw the dragon you wish for. If you already have a dragon, draw that." Sakura watched the Queen silently depart from the classroom.

"You're a weirdo," a nasty blonde haired, blue eyed, rich girl whispered to Sakura. Fortunately, her hatefulness did not escape the teacher's good hearing.

"Zoey!" the art teacher admonished. "You will get detention if you keep this up! Maybe even suspension!"

"Yes, Mr. Yellow Dog," Zoey said, while eyeing Sakura. As school ended, Sakura quickly headed out the door and started her run for home, as was her routine. She wanted to put as much distance between her and those awful girls from school as she could. Zoey and her gang followed suit, but their attempts to catch her were intercepted by Paul, the best friend of Sakura's father. He would then offer her a ride home, which she would gladly accept. That was the cycle.

Once she was home, Sakura ran upstairs and pulled out a box from under her bed containing her sketchbooks. The pages held images of her father as she remembered him, the dragons from her dreams, and herself as a queen. One of them was to be a coloring book for her cousin who was ill. She sketched and inked a few more pages in the book for her cousin. After that, she got to work on her art assignment, which was the easiest part of her homework for the night. She set out her drawing utensils, colored pencils, and a big piece of paper. She drew the six dragons from her dream together on one sheet. She colored and shaded them to the point they looked almost alive. Working on the picture diligently for almost an entire week, she finally felt it was finished.