Falling into the dragon's cave
1066 Words
/Nine months later/
"Please don't cry." I pleaded with the infant as I held him in my arms. But he wouldn't stop. I knew the issue, he needed food. He needed a diaper change. I could not afford any of those things. With him being only a month old, my money had gone into the birth process. And I fed him fruits. Starving myself so he could survive. I made diapers out of my clothes. And I made him a warm cocoon with those clothes too.
Meaning I've been wearing one gown for an entire month.
While I was pregnant, I worked little jobs. Hiding my hair from people and covering my wrist so they wouldn't know I was a rogue. I slept in bus stations, and any abandoned building I could find.
Showered in the lakes because I couldn't afford public bathhouses. The water might not be good for him, but there is nothing I can do.
This situation is out of my hands.
Every penny I earned was being saved, and I ate just once a day. Which was partly why my child, Xavier, was born malnourished. The doctor said I could have killed myself and the baby with how reckless I was.
He demanded I do better now that the child was out.
But during the process of me having this child he'd seen my cuts so I was kicked out of the hospital. And the only reason they didn't kick my baby out for the first week he was being incubated, was because I allowed the doctor to whip my back two thousand times.
I held Xavier closely as tears ran down my face. I am such a bad mother. I knew I wasn't cut out for this life, and yet I tried.
He hasn't eaten in a day, there are no fruits nearby, no packs, or even a den nearby. A hollow where the pixies live.
There is no sign of civilization.
I don't know how I got here. I just had to walk away because an old man near the bus stop where I slept tried to steal my baby. Possibly to trade for food. Or worse, to eat.
Xavier cried harder, his face turning bright red.
I cried with him because there was nothing I could do. My energy was slowly running out.
"I'm so sorry. I failed you. I failed you as a mother. As everything. Goddess, Xavier I'm so sorry."
He cried even harder, and I felt his head. It was getting hot.
He probably has an infection. He needs a home.... he deserves better than me.
I made my way further down this empty road.
When the first sound of thunder came, my heart jolted. I looked up to see the clouds forming a scary group as a storm would soon pour. The last strength I had, I rushed to find a place to hide.
The storms are usually heavy. They'd drown my baby if they touch him. Too much water.
I clutched him, forgetting my tiredness and the fact that I'd lost so much weight from the lack of food.
My eyes came across a large set of trees, and claw marks wrapped all around them. These were warning signs but I ignored then and ventured further. Like most of the choices I've made since I was deemed a rogue, I just have to ignore the warning signs.
Get whipped two thousand times? Sure.
Sell a gallon of your blood to a vampire for blanket to cover your baby? Definitely.
I will do all it. I just hope I do not die before Xavier is old enough to take care of himself.
The next boom almost sent me to the ground but I held on, for Xavier's sake.
The biggest cave, or bear den? I'd ever seen was up ahead. If I can just get to it. We can wait out the storm. Hopefully whatever animal laid there was out, and got caught by a large tree. So it can't return.
I stepped under the rock canopy just as the rain gushed from the heavens, drowning out Xavier's cries.
His body was getting hotter. Was he ill? I have no money to take him to a doctor.
I don't even know where I am. What if he dies in my arms? He's all I live for.
What if I lose him?
Those months of being pregnant and alone, I learned that packs truly are a gift. Bad people are out there. I was even offered a large sum of money if I sell my toes.
I didn't. I couldn't. I was scared. Maybe If I'd done that we would have a home by now. But fear is a clutch I cannot avoid.
Instead, I took heavy jobs that nearly broke my spine. After all of that, I can't lose my son.
I walked further, cooing him with soft words.
More claw marks on the wall. These were even larger. And the scent here was like pure fire, and smoke.
The cave seemed larger than I thought. The more I walked, the more I saw.
Like the torches hanging on the wall, lit by a flame that the winds couldn't even quench.
I made it further in, and found gold pieces just laying around. What the f**k?
Has my luck just changed? I could use this gold.
Xavier's cries continued on, and I stepped on a bone. I begged silently that it be an animal's bone, not a person's. I didn't bother to confirm.
My were bare and bleeding, but I've grown accustomed to the pain. I rubbed Xavier's back.
I stopped at the end of the cave. Just as large as everywhere else, there was a nest made of fur in the middle of ….. is this a room?
I looked around for the owner. But there was no one.
I walked closer to the nest. Would it be wise to sleep at this moment?
Do I have a choice? My entire body is sore.
Glancing at the nest, it looks so comfortable. But the only people who made nest like these are bear shifters, and dragons!
I whipped my body around only to see a tall man, whose body covered the doorway, standing there with smoke coming from his nose.
Dragons. DRAGON SHIFTER!
"What the hell are you doing in my cave?!"
Oh no!
- Writer
