PT5
During my sleep, my dreams where sort of scary because one second I was dreaming about flying and then all of a sudden it was just pitch black and I felt like there was something watching me.  It freaked me out and then I heard the voice… It was menacing and had a hiss to it that made shivers run down my spine.
"Alexxx!"
"Who's there?"
"Alexxx I can offfer you powwerrrr beyond yourrrr wildest dreamessss!"
"S***, I know what you are.  I have read about your kind on DA.  I will not join you demon!"
"Ahhh, Alexxx such a poor choicccce, with me you can rule the humanssss and have them do your will issss that not worth it?"
"No I don't think it's worth giving up who I am to become something I don't want.  Now get away from me!"
"Oh Alexxx it'ssss to late to do that, for you Ssssee if you don't join me I will make your life a living nightmare and trussst me when I ssssay thissss, you don't want that."
"Why?  What are you going to do and who are you anyway?"
"In answer to your lassssst quessstion first, you sssshuld know who I am
"That still does not answer my question, and what do you mean?"
"Why don't I jusssst ssshow you!"  A figure about 7 feet tall suddenly appears out of the darkness and starts to walk around me. This figure is mostly black all over it's body but it's claws were blood red and so were the frills that ran down it's back.  It's wing arms where black but the wing membranes where blood red and badly tattered and cut.  The horns on the back of it's head where blood red and it's eyes just glowed red with hatred.  It's face was covered in what looked like a bone plating.  It's tail blade and chest where also blood red.  I knew at once who this was.
"Your Thock! I thought you were just something I made up a while ago on DA!?"
"No Alexxx, I am very rrreal and I have been waiting ever ssssince I firsssst sssshowed myself to you! Asss for your Firssst quessstion, I will create a fear in your parentssss that will make them dissssown you and throw you away.  You will have no one to live with you, and when you are feeling totally rrrrejeckted, I will create in you a burrrrden that will haunt you forrr the ressst of yourrrr pathetic life.  You will remain that way until you acccept me and fusssse with me.  Then, we will then rule the humanssss as it issss meant to be!"
"No, I will never join you! If you want to control me you will have to kill me first!"
"What a poor choice.  Jusssst a minor sssset back. Ssso be it!"
Thock lunged at me but I dodged, slicing a good chunk out of his side but he quickly recovered and made a slash of his tail against my chest drawing blood.  When Thock turned around I caught him off guard as I was I got up into his face.  With a claw against his neck he slashed at me with his claws cutting open my side and pinning me to the ground.
"Alexxx you are well trained, but not trrrrained well enough.  I will offer you one lasssst chance join me and live orrr die!  Once I gain complete contrrrrol of your body I will kill your family.  Ssstarting with your parentssss and sssso called friendssss, and I will insssssure that theirrrr deathssss are sssslow and painfull!"
"Guess again Thock!"  I thrust my tail blade up through Thock's armor plates and through his heart, twisting my tail to destroy it.  I immediately notice his grip lessen and I threw him off of me.  As I looked at him I knew that I had beaten him because his eyes were closed and blood had started to drip out of his mouth.  But something felt funny about this contact with him.  It was too easy.  I knew that if Thock was real, that he would have owned me and killed me.  From what I had written about him I knew that he would have killed me on sight.  Why did he not? Was he just letting me win or was there a more menacing plan behind this?
As I looked once again at the body of Thock to see if this was just a fake or really him, I heard his voice again.  He laughed menacingly.
"Thock! Show yourself!"
"One day I will sssshow mysssself and I will kill you! Don't think thissss issss the end boy, for thissss issss jusssst the beginning.  I will inssssure that pain and ssssufferrrring come yourrrr way! Now wake up boy, your firsssst issss waiting!"
"Great!  Of all the peo... Dragons in this world I have to have some evil dragon watching over me that seems to have a wicked sense of humour!"

When my alarm clock went off at 8:45am I woke up and remembered that today was Monday and that I had college to go to. That's when it hit me.  How am I supposed to go to school like this I asked myself?  As I got dressed in a green T shirt and black pants I was very thankful that Mom had modified all my cloths to fit me. I really was not looking forward to today.  I knew there where two options: one, everyone would look at me and freak out and I might even get kicked out by security or two, everything would work itself out.  So I headed on upstairs to find that Mom and Dad where sitting at the table just waiting for me to come up.
"Ah good, you're up" Mom started saying once she saw me coming up the stairs.
"Good morning Alex, how was your sleep?" Dad asked.
"It was good, but Mom, Dad, what am I going to do about school today?  I can't just walk in like this can I?" I asked my parents.
"Well, we were thinking about that and we thought that you should at least try to go to school.  What's the worst that could happen?" Dad said.
"But what if something bad happens and I get kicked out or worse?"
"Well if that happens just call us and we will come pick you up or you can fly home.  Speaking of which, we canceled your bus tickets seeing as how you can now fly to school and back.  You better hurry or you will be late for school.  Here's your bag and don't worry, we already packed you a lunch.  I think you will enjoy it." Mom said as she saw me out the door.
"Well at least today should be an easy day.  It's only the second day for the crane operating course.  There can't be to much work to be done, can there?"

As I took off, I headed towards the college at an altitude that I though would be high enough that I might be mistaken for a large bird from down on the ground.  I noticed how much nicer it was to just fly to school instead of taking the bus.  I just loved this new freedom.  No more people crowding the buses making a ride cramped or impossible to find a seat.  There where even days back when taking the bus where I was almost sat on by some weird looking guy.  Oh the horrible memory's of that… I don't know if that guy was homeless or not but I got out of the seat before he sat down. As I got nearer to the school I started my descent and landed in the school parking lot.  I spat out my backpacks straps from my mouth.  That was definitely the worst taste I ever had and don't look forward to doing it again.  It was massively bitter and dry and just tasted plain wrong. Now that I was on the ground I put my backpack onto my back and headed towards the main entrance.  When I got to the door I noticed a lot of people just staring wide-eyed at me.  This did not really surprise me much at all.  I would be staring as well if I was in their shoes.  It's not every day you see a 7"3' dragon walk into school.  I just pretended as though nothing was different saying "Hi" here and there, which seemed to really shock everyone, so I soon stopped that.  Finally making it to room 140A I knew this might be a bit much for Jarry to handle but I had to try.

I walked in and took a seat thankful that Jarry was not yet there.  Neither were the other students so I decided to take a look at the clock.  5 minutes to spare.  Then Jarry walked in and I just could not help myself but to say good morning.
"Good morning Jarry, please don't freak out.  I sort of went threw some massive changes since you last saw me."
"Alex you sound like you have a cold?" Jarry said as he was still looking through the papers he had in his hands.
"Sorry Jarry but I'm afraid it's much worse than just a cold.  And no, it's not contagious."
"Ok, well if your fine to ...." Jarry says as he finally looks up to see me and what I now am.
"Wha…? Stay away from me repti..." Jarry says as he passes out and faints in front of me.
Of coarse that's when a student decides to walk in and sees Jarry on the floor out cold.
"What happened to Jar... why is there a dragon in the classroom!? That is so cool! Mom and dad said that I needed therapy for three years because I thought dragons where real and here you are! You are so cool!"
"What?  Wait, you're not scared of me?"
"Well I must admit, you did catch me off guard but no I don't think I am.  More like immensely exited to be the one to find a dragon in the class room.  By the way, what's your name? I'm Fred."
"I'm Alex."
"Funny, we have an Alex in our class but unlike you he is human."
"Um well, since you brought him up, I have to admit I am him."
"Ok so if you are Alex then what did you talk about last class?"
"Well let's see… I was talking about reptiles and telling the class about my two corn snakes.  I would have kept on talking about them if I had not seen Jarry creeping out from it and decided to tell the class about my other hobbies instead."
"Ok well that definitely sounds like him but how on earth did you change into this?"
"If you would like to know it's a long story and I think we should attend to Jarry to make sure he is ok first."
"Nah, I'm sure he is fine.  Just splash some water on him.  I bet that is all he needs."
"Are you sure?  He fell pretty hard."
"Yeah, I have seen this happen to other people as well.  He will be fine."
"I don't know Fred, he could have had a concussion."
"Suit yourself. Speaking of which I think he is coming to…"
"Ughh wha... what happened?" Jarry said as he tried to pick himself up off the floor and into his chair.  "I...I thought I saw a massive lizard in the class."
"Oh you did sir, but it's not a massive lizard it's a dragon. How cool is it that we have one as a student?"  Fred said with a bit more enthusiasm than I thought was necessary.
"Wha what?" Jarry asked, a bit confused as he looked around the room and spotted me in the far corner.
"Please don't freak out or faint on me again Jarry." I said as I saw fear creep into his face.
"Wha... what happened to you? Last I saw you, you where human?"
I know but I'll explain it to you once everyone is here.  Speaking of which, I think they just arrived and are waiting outside the door."
"Come in class! I don't think it will eat you.  You're not going to eat them are you?" Jarry asked with fear clearly portrayed on his face.
"Yuck!  Why on earth would I eat them? That would go against all of my morals!"
"Morning class." Jarry said clearly and purposely leaving out the word good.
"Morning Jarry." everyone said back.
"Please take your seats and as you clearly have noticed there is a dragon in the class.  Now how he became to be such I do not know."

I began to explain the details of Saturday to the class but left some details out to try and shorten it so that we could try to get to work.  My plan did not really work out too well because people kept on bringing up questions like, how fast can I fly, what do I eat, what was it like to go through the transformation?  Fred even asked me a really embarrassing question that I'm not going to repeat and that I left that unanswered.  I knew from Fred's question and the earlier conversation with him that he must have been dropped when he was young, otherwise he would not ask those kinds of things.  By the time everyone's answers where done class was over.  This sort of sucked as far as I was concerned because I was hoping to learn something today.  I always found school fun because it kept me busy.  As I was about to leave the class room Jarry indicated that he wanted to have a talk with me.  I had the strangest feeling I knew what he was going to say.

"Alex with you being well, you know, a dragon, and a reptile I would appreciate it if you dropped the course.  Technically, school is for humans only and I don't think that you would really be able to do the work in this course.  Take a look at your claws.  They would not be able to operate the machinery.  If you would like to see what I mean by that try to operate that simulator back there.  It's nothing personal, it's just I don't think you will be able to do the job."

I walked on over to the simulator that was in the back of the class and sat down in it, putting my claws around the joy sticks.  Jarry continued, "Now here is why I said you would have trouble, there are times where you need to hit four buttons at the same time.  As you can see, you still have your thumb but you have three fingers.  I noticed that during your talk to the class and realized it will cause a problem.  If you do drop the course I will personally see to it that you get your money back.  I truly am sorry for the inconvenience."

"That's ok, I can see what you mean and not only that but my claws don't fit properly with the joysticks.  If I was to work on a crane it would have to be modified to fit properly.  Thank you for letting me know before we actually got into the work.  I'll have to think about what to do instead.  Take care Jarry."
"You too Alex"

After I left the class room only a few minutes passed by until I ran into a security officer.  I could tell this guy was having a bad day because as I passed by he yelled at me.
"Freeze! Get your hand... Claws up where I can see them, you scaly freak" He yelled as he pointed his gun at me.  "This  is Cooper I think I'm going to need back up ASAP!"
"What's your status Cooper?"
"I have a 7' tall scaly lizard in the hall way...."
"Hey, I resent that.  I'm a dragon not a lizard."
"Shut up!  I did not ask you did I, lizard brain?"
"Cooper we have two men coming to your position.  You are to use non lethal force to remove the lizard from the premises.  I repeat, non lethal."
"Copy that."
"Please, I don't want any trouble." I said, trying to remain calm.
"Of coarse you don't.  You just came in here for a good meal I bet."
"Are you nuts? I don't want to eat anyone.  I was just leaving class!"  After I said that I noticed that two more security guards had arrived.
"Cooper! What is that thing?"  The taller one asked.
"Well, it says it's a dragon.  I think it's here to eat the Students and staff."  Cooper responded.
"You have got to be kidding me!  I just told you.  I don't want to eat anyone!" I exclaimed, somewhat louder than last time.
"One more word out of you and I'll blast a hole right through your bloody head you overgrown lizard.  Now move!" yelled Cooper.

At this point I figured I would just be quiet.  I did not want to get shot and I was scared of what Cooper might do to me.  So I just kept my muzzle shut and headed in the direction they wanted me to go.

"Well, there's the door lizard.  Now get out of here before I decide to blast holes through you, and don't come back!  You hear me?" yelled Cooper now sounding more like he was showing off for the other two guards than just from anger. The other two security guards just looked at Cooper in shock at how much he wanted to kill me so I decided to bolt for the door and take off into the sky glad to be away from them.

Well that was just a perfect day, NOT! What am I going to do? I can't go to school and I don't want to be stuck inside the house for the rest of my life!  Once I got home I opened the door and slammed it shut.  That was a bad idea because it slammed on my tail which hurt a lot.  The following loud roar of pain of certainly announced to everyone in the house that I was home.

"Alex! What happened!?" Mom was extremely concerned for my safety, thinking that something terrible must have happened.
"Slammed my tail in the door!" I managed, through clenched teeth.
"Why did you slam the door?"
"I had a realty bad day!"
"Would you like to tell us about it?" asked Mom, always ready to talk things out.
"No, not really, at least not yet." I snapped back.
"You do not use that tone with me young man!"
"Sorry!"

I decided to head down in to the basement to cool off for a bit.  I knew that I needed to calm down. While I was down in the basement I just lay down and thought about what I had just done.  I don't usually snap like that and especially not at her.  What's happening to me?  Am I turning feral?  I hope not.  Ggaaahhhh!  I don't know what to do.  What to do?  If I'm turning feral the only thing I CAN do is protect those I love and the only way I do that is if I remove myself from the equation.  I'll have to leave...

Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Open up!  We are OPP.  We have reports of a large roar that came from this house.  You have ten seconds before we kick the door in!"

Then I heard my mom go to the door and let them in.
"Hello officers, how may I help you?"
"Yes, we have a report of a large roar in this house just 10 minutes ago and before that we had a report of a 7' tall lizard reported in the area.  We are investigating this incident because we believe the two reports are connected. There have also been reports of this same lizard sighted in an apprenticeship college.  It was soon escorted from there and we have reason to believe that it is now somewhere in this house.  If we find it we will remove it with extreme prejudice." stated a very deep, confident sounding voice.

"Please, I assure you that there is nothing to worry about in this house.  If you want to come in I would like to see a warrant." I heard Dad say in his most authoritative voice.

"Madame, sir, if you want a warrant here you go.  We had a feeling that we might need one.  Now please excuse us."

I heard them starting their search.  I knew that I had to get out now.  This was bad, really, really bad.  Not just for me but also for my parents.  I decided to write a note:

Dear mom and dad

I love you two very much but my time has come to leave.  At the college I was held at gun point by a security officer that seemed to really want me dead.  They automatically concluded that I was at the school to eat some of the students (which is one of the reasons I slammed the door).  Now the police are investigating my existence.  I'm sorry that it has come to this but I believe for now this is the best option.  I will try coming back in a few years when things have settled down.

I will be going by a new name while I'm gone.  My new name is Flame because I can breathe fire.

Take care and look to the skies for my return. I love you so much.

Sincerely
Your son,
Alex/Flame


After I finished writing up the letter and grabbing my I-phone, I heard the policemen saying that the upstairs was now secure.  That meant I had just moments to get out before they started coming into the basement.  I made a dash for the front door just as they came around the corner and I heard them starting to shoot at me.  I half expected to feel pain go through me but was relieved to only feel a slight thumping as if they where shooting me with pillows.  It was then I realized that I was bullet-proof. I was grateful for this characteristic and whispered a "Thank you" as I slipped through the door and took off into the sky.  I knew that RuCarNutz was on his way to Canada and I had the feeling that if I could just lead the police far enough away from the house before loosing them I might be able to hide out in the forest.  I could stay there at least until RuCarNutz arrived and then he and I could leave Oshawa Ontario behind us. By the time I felt as though I had led the police far enough the forest was now at least one hour behind me.  Night was already here.  The last beams of light had set just five minutes earlier.  I was glad that now being a dragon my sight was as good at night as it was during the day.  I could still see the very edge of the forest 20 KM away.  Except for the helicopters and air planes that were coming and going from the Oshawa airport it was a fairly calm night and I was getting tired.  My wings where starting to ache.  I really needed to set down for the night.  It was a big relief to see a nice clearing within the forest.  I also saw that there was a stream nearby.  Once I set down I took three gulps of water that was coming from the stream and looked around for the best place to lie down.  I decided on a spot a little up hill from the stream and just curled up and went to sleep.