Flame of a Dragon

“Ah! Radical!” Luther says in amazement. He’s clearly stunned beyond belief, seeing the necklace around my neck. “I can’t believe you got yourself something that awesome, Victoria.”

He and several other friends of mine sit in some of the concrete benches, me being next to him. I didn’t want to do reveal it until my English Arts class was done. Couldn’t risk having the whole school wanting to see it, even though I’m afraid by the time tomorrow sets in, everyone will find out one way or another.

The majority of students have been picked up by their parents while only a small handful remain on campus. Good thing I have my own car to get back home. Even though I happen to have just a learners permit that restricts me from wanting to drive at night. Sometimes… I wish the people who came up with these rules decided to allow teens my age to be blessed with the ability to drive without a time limit on driving.

Why do the other kids get driver’s licenses, but not me? It’s bullshit to be honest.

Another one of my friends ask me a question regarding the necklace.

“Did your parents give it you?” Michael inquires, sitting on the far side of the bench. He’s been one of my best friends since elementary school. He’s been one of those students who happens to be laid back. Not the type who stresses over a lot of crap. Though, I’ve seen him stand up for some of his friends throughout the years since I’ve known. Guy really stands out in the world.

Same goes for Luther. He’s really known to be more of the relax type of guy. I’ve known this since middle school. Guy always has a plan, no matter what goes on.

“That doesn’t even look like a cheap necklace, in my opinion.”

“I’m afraid I can’t really give you the right answer,” I try to explain. “I don’t believe my parents bought this necklace for me.”

“What do you mean?” Jill questions. “Don’t your parents love you? After all, something like that should clearly be a dead give away that they care for who you are.”

I met Jill back in middle school. She tends be very concerned when it comes to seeing how her friends are doing. Though, I’ve seen her try to get out of the toughest situations when it comes to being a student. Mostly when it comes to passing her classes, she tends to think more about school work, rather than going out to enjoy life. I’m sort of like that myself.

I continue to tell them that I never heard my parents discuss about giving me anything for this month, especially since my birthday is in August which is four months from now. Not only that, but I would’ve at least heard them even while in my room. It’s not like I’m deaf or anything.

Come to think of it, neither one of them talked about trying to find where the necklace went from Saturday and Sunday. They never said anything; not a word about it.

I’m beginning to question if maybe someone at the school will know, but I don’t think that will be the case. Nobody that I’d know would just spend insane amounts of money in purchasing this type of necklace.

I ask my friends about if they ever heard of the company that produced this necklace.

“I’m curious.” I put a finger on my chin. “But, have any of you ever heard of the jewelry company known as Dragona Jewelry?”

All of them shake their heads.

“I don’t think I’ve heard of that company before,” Kevin says. “Sounds to me you got that necklace from a new business.”

“I haven’t heard of it.” Jill answers, scratching her head.

“Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry.” Even Luther can’t think of any company with that name.

None of them know about this business.

“Though,” Jill speaks. “Sounds like its a place that sales dragon-like stuff, hence to why your necklace depicts a dragon wrapped around that gemstone of yours.”

I give her a nod while looking down at the necklace. The gemstone appears to be showing a calm fire, remaining in this state like how I first laid eyes on it.

“I’m officially jealous that you managed to get something that awesome in the mail.” Luther sees the gemstone glow brightly. “I’m telling you Victoria, a necklace like that should be something you cherish for the rest of your life.”

“I agree.” Jill crouches down to get a better view of the necklace. “We might not know of that company, but they clearly decided to give you a quality necklace that sure does make you more noticeable.”

I laugh softly from her statement. “Yeah. I didn’t want to show a lot of people when school was still in session.” Having a huge audience probably wouldn’t be good for me. I tend to be shy when having a huge crowd wanting to talk to me. Good thing I only have just three of my friends here. Otherwise, I might as well have tried shrinking myself on the bench.

Imagine me talking to a major crowd like it was a pep rally or a presidential address. That’s going to be a nightmare ready to happen.

“Hey,” Jill pulls out her phone. “Mind if we have a group picture with you having that necklace on?”

I really want to say ‘no’, but I can just tell that Jill is eager in wanting to take a picture when it comes to this. Everyone else is going to find out, eventually. Though the more I think about this, it might be best to just get it over with.

Before wanting to tell Jill that it’s alright to take the picture, I see two other students coming over to us. The first student appears to be wearing a JROTC uniform used by the Air Force. He happens to be wearing a lot of decorative ribbons that appear on top of his right shirt pocket, and his name tag on his left pocket, stating his name as “Kim.” His uniform is spotless, while his black shoes remain unscafed from dirt. Kim’s hair is blond and his eyes brown, with a tan skin tone.

The other student that is right next to him doesn’t seem like he’s from Hawaii. He has black hair, brown eyes, with being a little more tanned compared to Kim. He wears casual clothes, just blue jeans and a gray shirt.

Kim looks to see Luther sitting on the bench. “Hey, Luther!” Kim says in glee. “I thought you were already heading back home for today.”

“Nah, I’m just sitting here with some friends and talking about Victoria’s necklace.”

Oh, boy. This is where things take either a good or bad turn for me.

Kim turns to see me, noticing the necklace. “Oh, wow! That’s what I call ‘unique’.”

“It… truly is.” I make a sheepish smile. At least he’s not going through a dozen questions for me to answer.

“... Oh!” Kim introduces himself. “I’m actually one of the students in JROTC who works closely with two of the teachers who work here at Elemental High School.” He then gestures his hand over to other student. “This is Katuo. He’s currently in his junior year here and one of the few foreign exchange students we’ve gotten so far from Japan over the years.

Katuo seems to not talk, but simply bows his head to us. He seems to not be much of a talker. Maybe he’s shy when talking to others?

“He’s still trying to get adjusted to being here.” Kim explains. At least there’s someone in this school who I can relate to.

Jill gets by me. “Hey Kim, would it be possible for you to take a picture of Jill with the rest of us?” She really wants to be in the picture. I can’t blame her.

Kim didn’t expect to get a request like that, but he nods. “Of course. I’ll take the picture.” Jill smiles and looks like she’s about to say ‘yes’ outloud, but happens to be keeping her excitement from taking over her actions.

“Hey, Katuo.” Kim turns his head to where his friend should be. “You want to b- huh?” He notices that his friend is no longer next to him. Where did he go?

“Oh, wait.” Kim scratches his head. “Forgot that he’s taking ninja classes here. Guy tends to easily disappear like a ghost.”

How did I not notice Katuo vanishing before me? He was right there, but I must’ve been paying close attention to what everyone else was doing. Talk about having a ninja student attending our school. That’s actually awesome, to say the least.

The rest of my friends also didn’t seem to know where he went either.

“Katuo is actually good at being sneaky when it comes to whatever he’s doing.” Kim elboarates as Jill gives him her smartphone. “Hope he thinks of joining the military. That guy would be good for covert operations.”

I Guess Kim wants Katuo to join him in the military. He would be a great asset, but I wouldn’t get anywhere near that. Too much blood and violence for even Quentin Tarantino to compete with.

“Alright...” Kim gestures Jill to get into the group to get the perfect picture. She complies, walking behind the bench to not blow our view. Kim gets closer. “... on the count of three, I want you guys to say ‘cheese.’” We all nod our heads with him getting phone in front of him to see that everyone is in view.

“One, two, three! Say ‘cheese’!”

“Cheese!” The light on the phone flashes.

“Let see…” Kim looks at the picture. “... Oh, yeah. Picture definitely came out fine.” He goes over to Jill with him giving her back her phone.

“Luther, I’ll see you later. I gotta go home, man.”

“Start chilling, dude.” Luther puts his hands behind his head, relaxing. “Ain't like we’re stressing over school work.”

“I can only hope inspection day for Wednesday doesn’t become a slaughter like it was for today.” Kim laughs while walking away, heading to the parking lot in front of the school.

I think having my picture taken in terms of wearing the necklace isn’t that bad the more I think about it. Maybe I’m just overreacting on something that’s so small that it really doesn’t need to be looked at seriously. Once this whole necklace thing cools down, maybe my life being here in school won’t be an utter shitstorm like I thought it would be during the weekend.

But… I’m not sure what to think about the whole me seeing a dragon in the mirror thing. That’s something I have yet to tell Luther or the rest about. Ten bucks says they’ll think I’m some crazy teenage girl who lost her mind in the matter of a few days.

Maybe, just maybe… I’ll tell them when I feel like the time is right. This is still my secret, and I need to just wait it out for a little while longer.

“Hey, Victoria.” Jill puts one hand on my shoulder. “Do you want me to just send the picture to just the four of us? If you feel like wanting it to be on Facebook, then that’s fine by me.”

“Well, maybe it's for the best that it’s only us who gets to see the picture. I really feel like it might be too risky to having everyone in school to start shaking my chains in wanting to see the necklace.” Jill understands where I’m coming from and simply nods.

“Do you think maybe in a week or somewhere in the future, you want one of us to put it on Facebook or IG?” Michael chimes in. “Probably be best to maybe wait for a little while to where it feels comfortable for you.”

“That would be the best.” I finally say to all of them. “ Actually, just send through our group chat.

They all nod their heads.

Ok. Perhaps things will go well for me. As long as nothing horrible happens in my last few weeks in school, everything should play out for me in the end.

A few hours later…

I have so far done nothing but listen to one of my favorite bands on my phone, that being Starset. There music gives me such excitement while my parents aren’t home, with what my mom told me from yesterday regarding these long meetings.

Listening to My Demons, I turn over on my side, giving out a relax moan to see the dragon in the same position that I am in. We look at one another, with its ember eyes looking straight at me. There’s something about me wearing this necklace that is still bothering me.

I mean, how is it possible for a necklace like this to even create this other ‘me’ while I have it around my neck? This shouldn’t be too difficult for me to understand. Well, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not understanding how science works from what my science professor had told us a few weeks ago about the parallel universe theory.

Scientists continue to think they know how the whole universe operates, and how there might be a multiverse of some sort in different dimensions. However, it’s really difficult for me to fully understand how physics work in terms of understanding how the universe could work in what scientists say.

Theories here. Theories there. Sometimes I wonder if the parallel universe is, in fact, real? Maybe it is, but I’m not going to just accept it just by seeing a dragon in my mirror. Someone would have to almost show me if I have somehow found something that could lead me to a whole new world that I never knew would even exist beyond my imagination. I’ve even watched some science channels that have Morgan Freeman and Stephen Hawking who happen to have a better understanding of how the whole universe works, no matter it being about black holes, aliens coming to earth, or that parallel universe stuff they explain to viewers about on The History Channel or Science Channel.

Trying to ignore my thoughts on the whole inner-dimensional theory stuff, I go back to lying on my back, continuing to listen to my music. Before I could get a chance to just close my eyes and drift away from the real world, I hear my phone make a noise. I just got a text message.

Sighing… I go to my dresser where I had put my phone on, taking it in my hands to see who wants my attention.

Jill sent you a text message.

Jill? Wonder what she wants. I go back to my bed, sitting on it to see what the message says.

I read what the message says, it seems Jill is concerned for… me?

“Hey, Victoria. I’m not sure if you noticed something wrong about the picture, but… are your eyes alright?”

My eyes? What is she saying? My eyes haven’t bothering me. At least, not to my own knowledge.

I reply back to her message.

“What’s wrong with my eyes? Idk what you’re talking about.” I press send and wait for what she’ll say.

While waiting, I go in our group chat to look at the picture of us earlier.

My heart suddenly skips a beat.

My eyes… they don’t even look human! Instead of seeing my emerald eyes, I see what looks like ember eyes. My pupils are slits, rather than being… what???

A chill goes down my spine while looking at the picture. I want to reply to Jill, but my brain is still trying to process what it’s just seen. The way my eyes look… I see what Jill says.

“Your eyes look so reptilian. wtf”

I… I’m not sure how to even reply to her message! This… this isn’t even natural! This shouldn’t even be possible! How the fuck can something like this even come close to being real?! How?!

I take the necklace off, looking at the mirror to see the dragon no longer present. Just my human-self replacing it...

With my eyes no longer human.

They are now draconic, with me seeing what Jill was talking about.

Making a quick about-face, I grab the phone and send another message to Jill to confirm her statement, rushing in doing so. I’m getting scared!

“Jil I dn’t know wha to say, but I m freaking the fuck out rit now!”

Remain calm, Victoria. You know what? Maybe this is just temporary. Yes! Temporary. Maybe you just need to relax and not have a panic attack. My parents haven’t come home yet, so just don’t go crazy because your eyes have changed to that of the dragon you’ve seen in the mirror with the necklace on you!

Another message comes from Jill. I read it.

“REMAIN CALM!”

Damnit, Jill!How can I with this happening to me?!

“Try and think of something that might solve this! I’m not an eye doctor, but please don’t go insane on me! Think of anything!”

… Fucking what?

Looking myself in the mirror again, I see how my eyes are still in their current state.

Closing them, I try to get myself under control.

Remain calm, don’t lose control of your actions.

I take deep breaths to get my heart rate back to normal, inhaling and exhaling ever slowly.

Get back to your normal state. Remain calm. Remain… calm.

It feels like an eternity trying to calm myself down. I can feel my heart rate getting back to normal

I open my eyes.

They’re… still draconic? D-did… It didn’t even work!

A huge sigh of despair leaves my lips as I fall to my knees.

Is this what my life has become? To see myself in the mirror as a dragon, and then my eyes turn to reptilian?

What of this necklace that I’ve got from that company? Does it have something that maybe I’m not fully understanding? Is it trying to inform me of something that is supposed to happen in the future?

All I can do now is put my hands on my face, giving a quiet sigh… I almost feel like crying.

“I really don’t want to do this… I really don’t...”