Why are you still here?

Because, monster or not, I need your help. We all do…

Who’s ‘we’-?

“Jesse Silvana! Wake up! This is the fifth time this class alone you’ve fallen asleep!” Above her head stood a woman in her late twenties. She hadn’t originally planned on being a teacher. She had wanted to become a zoologist, from what she had told the class. However, her dreams were put to a stand still when her books of great beasts were taken away and she was told that she was too old to fantasize about old myths. “Jesse? Do I need to send you to the nurse’s office? Again?”

She shook her head violently, snapping herself out of the trance. “Huh? Oh, no. No, Miss Temple. I’m fine, I swear.” She had tried to dispel the images she received when she slept, but they never left. Not once since that night had that beast failed to be at her side, to reprimand her, to encourage her, to comfort her, and to just talk to her. And despite his efforts, she was still afraid of him. She was afraid of his roar, of the way he killed mercilessly, even thought it was just for food.

But, Jesse knew that her fears would have to subside…eventually. She was still caught up in asking the beast over and over if he had really intended to make contact with her teacher. “Are you sure? After all, she’s the one who actually believes in these myths.”

“And why is it that you don’t speak about me?”

“Because, I don’t…oh.”

“Jesse!” By now, the teacher’s face was wraught with indignance and the other students had to stifle their laughter. “Jesse, I will not have you sleeping in my class! Now, go to the Nurse’s office. I don’t want to see you here until you can stay awake.”

Lovely, she thought as she gathered her things and trudged out the classroom toward the room she was doomed to. She had never had cause to go there before, but she had heard some interesting rumors. Mostly from younger students here at the school, but interesting nonetheless. She had heard that the nurses there had once beaten a boy until he stopped puking. She shuddered to think of the reasons he had stopped.

You think too much, the beast told her as she finally drifted off to sleep on the thin matted metal stand they dared to call a cot.

And you talk too much. I didn’t used to fall asleep so much.

It’s because you think too much. I don’t have any other time talk to you, and then people keep waking you up.

She rolled over in the cot, grumbling inwardly, “I can’t help it, though. I just have a lot to think about. Tests, homework, grades, friends,…”

Yeah, well. If you don’t start listening to me, you won’t have any of that to think about.

What’s that supposed to mean?

Nothing.

Yeah, sure. You wouldn’t have said it if it didn’t mean anything. She was becoming agitated with his behavior. He told her to listen to him, but every time she did he stopped talking. I pity any married couple who has to put up with this… She realized a second too late that he had heard every one of her thoughts and found herself waking up in her bedroom. The clock read seven o’ clock. So she had been asleep for the rest of the school day, and someone had called her mother to take her home.

“I don’t need a psychiatrist, mom! I’m fine!” Jesse was growing angry with her mother’s attempts to “fix her problem.” She was the only one she had ever told about “the beast,” and now her trust was being betrayed.

“Fine!?” her mother shouted, astonished at her daughter’s assumption. “Your teacher told me you have been falling asleep in class every day for the past month! And sometimes more than once in a day! Do you call that fine!?” Jesse cringed as her mother’s voice reached a pitch that would break windows, mirrors, and champagne glasses if she were a cartoon. Fortunately, it was still low enough to not do that in real life.

“But, Mom!” she retaliated, “I can’t help it!”

“Oh, no you don’t. Don’t you pull that beast thing on me again! You’re too old for that now!”

“But, it’s true! Why can’t you just believe me?” Jesse cried, hoping that somewhere in her mother’s heart she would have some room to trust her only child. Father would have bothered her. But Father isn’t here…

“Jesse, honey,” her mother crooned, “I wish I could believe you. But you know as well as I that those animals don’t exist. They’ve faded into myth, along with cavemen and dinosaurs. I’m sorry, Jesse.” But Jesse was not going to allow her mother’s soft voice break her. Not this time. She straightened her back and walked to the door, her boots clunking on the hard floor. “Jesse, don’t.”

Tears stung Jesse’s eyes as she realized what she was doing and knew that this was what she had to do. She needed to listen to the animal that was trying to reach her, and to do that she would have to leave behind those who would not listen to her and forced her to ignore him. “I’m sorry, Mom. I have to find someone who will listen to me and believe me.” She allowed a tear to fall as her mother nodded and gave her a hug before walking outside into the void land.

You did the right thing…

Night had fallen several hours earlier, but by that time she had only made it as far as the school. Cursing these large cities, she trudged on in the darkness unafraid of what did not exist. When she had finally stopped, she found herself amongst a small grove of Oak trees. So she had made it out of the city. That thought soon became a burden. She had never left her city before. Everyone she knew lived there. Finally, in the blanket of the night, she broke down. Sobbing into her arms, curled up against a tree, she fell asleep to the beast’s words of comfort.

You did the right thing…

Dragonn