PT4

When I woke up I noticed that Stu was knocking on my head telling me to wake up saying that I only had one hour to get ready for church.  When I heard this, I got up and went into the washroom to get showered.
"Shoot!  How am I going to do this?  I'm too big for the shower.  Oh well, better try my best.  I can't go to church without one, Mom would not be pleased with that."  So I tried my best to wash myself as well as I could.  It was not until I tried washing my wings that I slipped and fell over and smashed my head on the toilet with a big smash.  That's when I heard Mom come running down the stairs and knocking on the washroom door.
"Alex, are you ok? I thought I heard something smash?"
Yeah, I think so, but I also think I'm done trying to get washed in such a small shower."
"Why?  What happened?"
"Oh nothing much… just tried washing my wings and slipped.  I slammed my head on the toilet." That's when I heard in the back ground, on the other side of the door, Stu laughing.  I decided to ignore it and just continued talking.  "Mom?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Is it ok if I skip this shower? I just don't want to slip and hurt myself again."
"This once I think it should be ok.  I'm more concerned with your wellbeing then your cleanliness."
"Thanks Mom." I said as I carefully got up off the floor.

As I came out of the washroom and back into my own room I saw one of my church shirts on my bed. I saw that Mom had modified them for my new form by making it larger and also putting holes in the back for my spikes and wings.  She had also made changes to my pants so that they would fit around my tail.  I was glad that I would at least be able to appear half descent for church and more human-like with them on.  

After putting my new cloths on, I booted up my computer and went to my DA page.  I saw that I had some new messages and one as from RuCarNutz. It read, "Dear FiredragonV "Yes, the story is based on a real-life experience that I am currently going through."  After I read this I was thrilled to to know that I was not alone.  

I wrote back to him, "I have become one too because of a silver and gold colored shard I found in the woods behind my house. I am kind of hoping to meet you sometime because it is already difficult and I have only been living like this for ten hours.  I need some help any tips and tricks that you can provide.  From what I can tell, you have been a dragon longer than I have.  I cant wait to hear back from you."
"Alex! It's time to go!" I heard my Mom yell.
I shut down my computer and turned off the monitor.  I quickly ran up the stairs on all fours.  I don't know why, but I found running and walking like this much more comfortable.  

When I got up stairs I was surprised by my Dad.  He really did have Styrofoam ready for my claws, horns, spikes and tail.  I was not too thrilled about this and asked him, "Dad, do I really have to wear those?  They look so pathetic."
"Yes you do if you're going to be teaching the kids today." was his answer.
"About that, I was thinking… won't they all freak out once they see me?"
"They might at first, but I'm sure they will settle down after a while" Mom replied.
"Ok." I said back to her.
"By the way Dad, what's with the tarp? And please tell me you're not going to cover me with it."
"Ok, I won't tell you."  Dad said back.  He always loves to tease me.
"I am just going to go out on a limb here and guess that we are taking the truck and I'm going to need to be in the back?"
"Yes.  Before we head out please put the tarp on.  I don't want anyone that comes by to see you and we will guide you to the back of the truck."
"Ok, if I have to, but I'm not going to like this at all."

I put the tarp over my head while Stu, Mom and Dad help me cover the rest of me with the tarp.  I was not really happy about this.  I at least allowed them to guide me to the truck.  Once they told me that I was at the back Dad helped me to climb in.  I guess he had already removed the three plastic boards because I did not walk into them like I was afraid would happen.  I was thankful for that.  After I got inside, I heard the neighbor.
"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. White, what's under the tarp? I thought I saw it moving?"
"Oh nothing much… just our son, he has a skin condition and needs to be out of direct sunlight."
"Uum, ok, well I hope he gets better soon."
"Thank you, John." Said Dad.
"Ok Alex, just lay down." I heard Stu tell me.
So I did as he said and just curled up.  Knowing that the wind would lift the tarp off when we started moving I asked Stu to try and put the tarp's metal rings around some of my claws so that I could actually try and hold on to them.  Once the tarp was somewhat secured in my claws I heard my Mom tell Stu to get in the back seat and keep an eye on me in case the tarp started to slip off.

When my parents got in the front, Dad started the truck and we were on our way to church.  There where two times where we had to pull over because the tarp kept on coming off of my head.  It sort of got annoying but we finally made it to the church.  I asked my Mom again if she thought this was really a good idea.  I was very nervous about how the people I had known for years would react once they saw me.  Mom promised me that it would be ok.  She asked me to wait in the truck for a bit until she got Pastor Ron.  After a few minutes I heard her coming back and another pair of footsteps behind her.  I figured that this was the pastor and was also that the "Moment of Truth" had arrived.  We would soon see how he would react.

"So Mrs. White, you mean to tell me that your son got turned into a dragon?"
"Yes.  Now he is afraid of how people will react to what he looks like.  Please don't freak out when he shows himself to you."
"I promise, but please don't let this be a joke." Pastor Ron said.
"I'm afraid this is no joke Pastor Ron I really am what she says I am.  Please don't freak."
"Ok I'll try not to."
"Ok.  I'm taking the tarp off my face."  I reach down and lift the tarp.  What I see is Pastor Ron turning a very pale white as all the blood runs out of his face.  I'm afraid that he is about to scream.
"Dr... Drrrraa..."
"Yes, I know I'm a dragon.  Please, it's ok, I'm still the same person on the inside." I said trying to calm him down before he has a complete melt down.
"Drraa... Alex isssss that rrreally yyou?"
"It is." I replied back thankful that he did not scream but sorry to see that his pants where now a bit wet in one area.  At least that did go better than I thought it would I thought to myself.
"Mom, I knew coming here was a bad idea."
"Well, he did not scream, but we think we see your point about not going to Sunday school." my parents replied in unison.
"Please do come in.  You are still a Christian after all.  I'll just make sure that people are warned about the arrival of a dragon in the church before they see you."  Pastor Ron says finally relaxed.
"Thank you pastor Ron.  Sorry about the scare though."
"No, no, it's ok. I just never expected that you really were…" says Ron as he gestures toward me.
"You just pointed to all of me." I said.
"Exactly, that's just it.  All of you is, well, a dragon."

Thankfully the people that came to our church did not completely freak out but there sure were a few that wet their pants the moment they saw me.  I'm not sure how many did but I think it was five people and only 3 people actually did scream.  Thankfully they all calmed down after a while.  I was beginning to get a lot more confident that things would turn out alright.

I was disappointed that I could not teach Sunday school that day.  Ralph even came up and asked why I was not there but soon understood why I did not come down before the church service when Pastor Ron (who I am thankful, had brought two pairs of pants today) pointed me out.  Before the service started Mom and Dad told me to sit in the back of the room behind everyone.  They had brought some chairs back as well so
they could sit beside me, so did Stu.

After we went home I went back down into the basement to check on my DA.  Seeing that there was still no reply I went up and asked Stu if he wanted to go play on Halo III.  He said "Sure" so we played for about 2 hours.  When we looked at the scores I was really surprised that I had about one hundred and twenty headshot kills with zero deaths while Stu had five headshot kills and twenty normal kills with 15 deaths.  We were playing Xbox live and all the other players were impressed with my kill streak with no deaths and asked me how I did it since it's almost impossible.  I just told them I had no idea.  Even Stu wanted to know.
"Hey Alex, how is that even possible?  I have seen you play before and that's really unlikely for you, so what's going on?"
"I don't know to be honest, Stu I think it might be one of my abilities.  I'm not sure if it's common with other dragons but I think I can slow down time or something like that." I said to Stu.
"Ok, now that's just cool.  If you can do that, you should try and get the achievement.  By using this ability you could just go flying through them."
"Actually, that's not a bad idea.  I'm going to try and get a whole bunch of them if you're willing to continue playing?"
"No," said Stu, "I have had enough.  Want to try out your flying or fire breadth?"
"Sure, if mom lets us outside."
"We could go ask her, she can't keep you inside all of your life.  Bet that can't be good for you."
"What do you mean by that?"  I asked Stu.
"Well you do have wings and I'm sure that they need lots of exercise which I bet would help keep you healthy."
"True, let's go ask mom if she will let us outside."
"Ok"

When we went up stairs we found Mom and Dad just sitting on the sofa in the family room talking about what to do for school and for a career to keep me busy.  I walked in and they stopped talking.

"Hello Alex.  What's up?" Mom asked.
"Is it ok if Stu and I head on out?  We would like to test my fire breath and then see about flying." I asked Mom.
"I really don't think you should be outside.  What if the neighbors see you?  They might end up calling the police." Mom said.  She looked very worried.
"Mom it's only a matter of time until I'm seen.  Either way you look at it people in this neighborhood will find out about me sooner or latter.  I think the sooner the better." I said to Mom trying to reason with her.  
"I don't know, I just would hate to see you being run out of town. What would happen then? Where would you go?" Mom was looking even more worried now.
"Mrs White, I know this is a hard choice to make but honestly, your son is a dragon, he can't be kept cramped up inside all of his life.  I agree with him, he will be found out sooner or latter.  It's just a matter of time." Stu said trying to help me reason with Mom while Dad just sat and listened, nodding his head once in a while.  I think he was starting to understand that what Stu and I said was true.
"Alex if you really want out you can go.  Just please, for you Mom's sake don't get yourself into trouble." my Dad finally said.
"Thank you Dad.  We will try to stay out of trouble and we will be back before it gets dark."
"Take care, you two."
So Stu and I headed out the back door and I told Stu that the first thing I was going to do was test out my wings.  "So, I started flapping them a bit to see if I could get some lift out of them.  It was not until I figured out that if I went with a running start while flapping my wings that I could get off the ground.  Once I was air-born I had the time of my life, trying out loops, corkscrews, barrel-roles and my favourite… a 90 degree drop to earth just to level out five feet from the ground.  During my fun I heard Stu laughing and cheering me on.  Once I landed I asked, "Hey Stu, you want a ride?"
"Sure! Alex, you look like you're having the time of your life.  You must like flying a lot!  You just looked at peace with yourself up there."
"Thanks Stu it's actually a bit like having your own rollercoaster.  It's a lot of fun!  Climb on!"
"Ok"
As Stu climbed on I asked him to sit down and hold onto the spike in front of him so that he does not fall off.
"Ok Alex I'm on.  Ready when you are."
"Ok Stu, off we go."  I said as I started running on all fours and flapping my wings.  We flew for at least 2 hours, just having fun in the sky.  With Stu on my back I did not do any fancy stunts or drops.  I just gave him a nice smooth ride because I was afraid that if I did any stunts he might get himself impaled on the spikes that run along my spine.
"Hey Alex, this is a lot of fun but it's starting to get dark out.  I think we should head back!"
Sure Stu, besides my wings are starting to get tired."

As Stu and I head on back to our house I can make out Mom waving out the back door.  She is beckoning us to return.  Once we got into the house, Mom tells us that Stu's parents just called and asked if we could drop Stu off at home.  So Stu kept his shoes on and just headed to the truck where Dad was already waiting.  I just watched out the window as Stu got into the front seat of the truck.  It was nice to be able to get together with him.  As Dad pulled out of the driveway I watched them go until they went around the corner and were out of sight.  

I decided to go downstairs to check on my DA account.  When I got down into the basement I booted up the computer and logged on.  There was one message from RuCarNutz and I opened that up to read it.  It said:  Where would you like to meet? I thought to myself, cool, he actually wants to meet with me.  Let's think, where would a good place be?  Well, I know there is the forest behind my house and also a nice shaded forest with lots of deer where Stevenson RD North and Conlin RD meet on the other side of the airport.  I sent back a message with these choices and then added.  Unless you know of a better place. After I hit <send> I decided to go brush my fangs and then go to bed.  Fortunately I remembered which way was the most comfortable from the night before so it did not take as long to fall asleep as last night.