Written by Jon Scholz
I can’t take it anymore. I have to write this down somewhere. The entire chaotic experience is making me freak out. My brothers are trying to keep me from saying anything. All because the government is trying to cover up what happened. The news has already spoken a lot about it. However, people are saying that it was all a hoax. I’m sure if we did speak out, the government would do things to us.
It’s true that us dragons keep to ourselves a lot. But, that doesn’t mean that this should be just forgotten as some kind of hoax. It was all real, I know it was. Even the man with the sword can tell you about it. He was the one that saved us after all. I’m sure even that sounds unbelievable. Especially when there is no evidence to back that up. He went somewhere into the universe beyond. So, what’s the point of even trying to show proof at this point?
Anyways, the reason I’m writing this down is because of what happened. Our government won’t let us discuss it. I don’t know why, but I won’t sit by and let it be forgotten. Let me start from the beginning.
It all started two weeks ago, me and my two brothers were in the living room. We were enjoying a nice weekend together after a hard working week. I’m the youngest, and my brother Jared is the oldest, with Alex being in between. Our parents passed away 5 years ago, but luckily my brother Jared stood up and took responsibility for the both of us.
On this day, we were relaxing in the living room playing a board game. Jared was watching TV on the couch as he watched over us. The TV was playing Jared’s favorite TV show. He occasionally looked down at me and Alex playing the board game. It was only until something interrupted Jared’s TV show with a loud beeping sound. But it wasn’t any normal beeping sound, it was the beeping sound of an EAS broadcast alert.
Alex and I both turned our heads up to the TV. Jared turned up the TV for us to hear more clearly. The beeping was loud and hurt my ears. But it wasn’t long until a voice was heard.
“This is an emergency broadcast, authorized by your local police station. Please listen carefully to this broadcast, and don’t turn off your device until this broadcast has ended.” Alex and I both stood up on all fours, and climbed onto the couch beside Jared. “If you live within the following local areas, please go indoors, close and lock all doors and windows, and do not look outside. A deadly acid fog will cover the following cities and towns. Do not make contact with this fog. Please stay indoors until an announcement is made.”
The broadcast started to show several names of cities and towns on screen. Including the same city that we lived in, Cheropilis. Jerad cursed out loud when he saw our city, before getting off the couch. He quickly started to obey the broadcast system’s message. He checked each window and door, locking them and covering the windows. Meanwhile, me and Alex glanced at each other. I could tell from Alex’s expression that he was scared.
I looked back toward Jared, watching as he checked the fridge in the kitchen. When he looked back at us, I saw worry. It only made me more worried about what’s going to happen to us. That’s when I looked back at the broadcast. The message continued, “This event will begin at 5PM eastern time. Prepare food and water until the event has ended.” The beeps continued on the television screen, signaling that the broadcast had reached the ending. Luckily, Alex was the first one to speak that gave us hope.
“It’s 4:15 PM right now, what are we going to do?” Jared looked at both me and Alex. He thought to himself for a second, before I saw a bulb light up above him. Jared motioned towards the front door carefully and in a rush.
“I want you two to stay inside until I get back, alright?” Alex stood up on the couch, his wings lifted him off and into the air as he got in front of Jared. He kept himself in the air in front of Jared.
“Woah! Where in the world do you think you’re going?” Jared stopped in front of Alex and looked him in the eyes.
“I’m going to get some food and water to stock up on. This may be our only chance.” Alex spoke again with a commanding voice.
“Oh hell no! You’re staying here, we have no idea if it’s already here or not.” Jared raised his claw and pointed toward the television screen.
“Didn’t you hear it? It said that the event will occur at 5:00 PM, we still have some time left.” Jared attempted to get by Alex. Though, Alex pushed him back from the door. Alex shook his head and crossed his arms and claws against his chest. “Let me by Alex, I mean it.”
“Or what? I’m not letting my big brother get himself killed. We need you.”
Jared rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of Alex, before tossing him onto the couch beside me. I didn’t make a move, I watched as Jared opened the door and walked out. As soon as he closed the door behind him and locked it from the other side. Alex attempted to follow him outside, in an attempt to pull him back inside. Only for him to slam his claws against the door and yell after him. “Jared! Don’t go!” He slammed the door several times, hoping for Jared to change his mind. However, nothing came of it.
The house fell silent as I sat on the couch. I stared at Alex for a little longer. Then, I rushed over to the window and checked outside. Pulling the curtain away for me to peep outside. To my surprise, Jared was right. There was no sign of the fog covering the city yet. I was able to watch as Jared got into his car and drove off. That’s when I looked out into the distance of the city. I noticed a large cloud slowly approaching the city from a distance. The cloud looked very similar to a dust storm in a desert. It’s odd to see something like that this far out.
We lived in a city with a bunch of greenery and lakes. It rained fairly commonly out here, and the weather was really nice. However, this kind of storm sounded the opposite of nice. I was scared to see what would come of this. If this really is acid, there’s a chance it will burn through any solid object, including our own home. That means, we’re going to have to find a way to protect ourselves in case it does.
I pull myself away from the window and look back at Alex. His back was against the front door, sitting on the floor. He was looking up to the ceiling, I could tell he felt ashamed and guilty. I lifted myself off the couch with my wings, flying over beside him and landing on all fours. “You okay Alex?”
Alex shook his head slowly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. I placed my claw on his shoulder and patted him. I refused to say anything in fear it might trigger him. I sat down beside him, listening closely to the outside world on the other side of the door. I glanced over at Alex, before sighing. Unsure of what I should say to him. That’s when Alex finally spoke up, catching me off guard.
“We should probably continue to block all the windows and exits.” I nodded in response, believing it was a good move as well. Alex looked over at me and smiled slightly, “If Jared doesn’t come back, we might be screwed.”
I looked him in the eyes, “Don’t say that Alex.” I got up to my claws and reached down to him. “Come on.” Alex looked at my claw for a second, before accepting it. I pulled him back up on his claws, before starting to check everything. We helped each other move everything around, putting the couches against the windows to block them. Alex checked the kitchen for every food currently available. That’s when he realized the reason why Jared went out for food and water. They had absolutely nothing to their name. The only food they had was sandwiches, spoiled meat, barely any milk, half a gallon of water, and leftovers from yesterday.
Alex sighed in disappointment, before closing the fridge. He shortly later checked up on me in my bedroom. Taking everything off my bed and pushing the mattress upright, and leaning it against the window. I didn't notice him standing at the doorway for a few minutes. Before eventually turning around, about to leave the room. I stop in my tracks when I spot Alex standing at the doorway. “Oh woah, didn’t see you standing there.” Alex chuckled and slightly smirked.
“Just checking on how you are doing.” I leave the room along with him, satisfied with everything.
Alex walked into the middle of the living room, looking at the TV. Then, his eyes wandered back over to the front door. With still no sign of Jared returning. Alex sighed sadly, feeling like Jared won’t return. I glanced over at him, “You okay, Alex?” He wiped his eyes and quickly recovered himself. He nodded shortly afterwards, looking back at me. I nod back before walking into the living room with Alex, and lie on the floor. Alex continued standing on all fours, watching and listening to the front door closely.
When the silence was about to make me drift off to sleep. I heard the sounds of footsteps outside approaching the front door. Alex was already ready to react, approaching the front door closely. That was when Jared called out from the other side of the door. “I’m here! Hurry! Open the door!” Alex moved toward the door very fast, unlocking the door and opening it quickly. When he did, he saw Jared carrying two 5 gallons of water. Three grocery bags were hanging off his wrists. Alex pulled Jared inside quickly, with me helping Jared carry the bags of food.
As Alex closed the door behind Jared, he saw the fog slowly getting closer to their house. “Oh shit!” Alex cursed out loud and slammed the door shut. He laid his back against the door, before taking a blanket and covering the bottom of the door. He locked the door and took a step back, staring at the door. He waited for several minutes for the fog to start leaking inside. However, nothing happened as he waited. He shortly sighed with relief, before walking into the kitchen.
I placed the grocery bags onto the counter, while Jared placed the jugs of water on the table. He started to paint from exhaustion. He sat down in a chair and laid his head back. Alex walked into the kitchen and checked the food inside the bags. I helped put everything up in the proper place. While Alex looked over at Jared and hugged him tightly. “Thank goodness.” Alex said with relief. Once they let go of each other, Alex sat down in a chair beside Jared. “I thought you were a goner out there bro.”
Jared nodded in agreement, “You know how I felt when I saw that thing about to swallow me up.” Silence filled the entire house, I finished packing everything up. I looked at both of them in silence. Alex decided to finally ask something important. “While you were out there, did you see if it was really acid or not?”
When Alex asked this, Jared froze up. His expression turned from relief to horror. As though he saw something while being out there. Jared didn’t speak or move a muscle. Luckily, Alex unfroze him by speaking again. “Jared?”
Jared looked him in the eyes, “Oh, what?”
“What did you see?” Alex asked again.
This time, instead of freezing up. Jared attempted to ignore the freezing up moment, “Oh, I didn’t see anything.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, nothing happened. I just blanked out there for a second.” Jared went silent again, before getting off the chair and onto all fours. “Sorry, excuse me. I need to go to the bathroom.” Jared walked out of the dining room, and started heading toward the restroom. Alex looked at him with worry, but it faded away after a few minutes.
“I’m going to take a nap, if that’s okay.” I told Alex, who nodded in response.
I decided to head back into the living room. I laid down onto my stomach and rested my head on my claws. I glanced up toward the living room window blocked with the couches. It made the room slightly darker than before. With the only light coming from the dining room fan. I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep.
I woke up to the sound of noises coming from outside. It was the sounds of scratching and faint pounding. Like the kind of pounding of hundreds of small knocks hitting the walls. I looked around the room, trying to wake myself up. I noticed that neither Jared or Alex were in the living room. Meaning that they were sleeping in their own bedrooms. The house was dark, no lighting was on. Making it harder to see anything around me.
I slowly got up to my claws, looking around the room cautiously as I attempted to find Jared or Alex. I reach one of my claws outwards, attempting to feel around as I wander the room. Once I felt the wall, I realized that I was close to Jared’s bedroom. I walk slowly over to the doorway and look inside the bedroom. That’s where I barely noticed Jared sleeping in bed. I was about to walk into his bedroom. Once again, I started to hear the sounds of pounding coming from the walls. My attention drifted toward the wall where the sounds were coming from.
The sounds continued, but I only stared into the pitch darkness of the room. Eventually, I snapped out of my staring and walked over to Jared. I reached my claw out and tapped him on the shoulder a few times. At first, Jared resisted waking up. Though, I continued to tap his shoulder a couple more times. When I did, Jared’s head lifted up and his body rolled over until he looked down at me. Right as he noticed me, he sat up in bed. Before he could speak, he heard the sounds of the small knocks coming from the walls.
He remained in silence as he listened to it closely. After a few minutes, the small knocks stopped and we were left in silence. He finally spoke up, “What the hell was that?” I shrugged, even though he wasn’t able to see it. Jared remained seated on the bed, staring out into the darkness and me. I jumped up onto the bed beside him and sat down. Jared wasn’t sure of what to say or do at this moment. He looked down at me, “It was probably nothing, I’m going back to sleep. You should too.” When Jared said this, he yawned before flopping onto his side in bed.
I watched him do this for a second. Then, I began leaving the bedroom and cautiously walked into the darkness. I attempted to search for the entrance of my bedroom. Though, I soon came to realize that I had no idea where I was going. My claws didn’t come in contact with any wall. Making me believe that I was somewhere in the living room at this point. I continued to feel around for any possible physical object to touch. Though, I heard a scream coming from outside in the distance. It didn’t appear to be too far away from where we were. In fact, it sounded like it was coming from only two blocks away.
I couldn’t move, I remained standing in the middle of the pitch darkness of the living room. I was too afraid to move. Though, I was also curious as to why the screaming occurred. Did someone get attacked? Eventually, a bright light was seen from the other side of the windows. It lit up the room just enough, that I saw that I was in fact in the middle of the living room. But not only that, but also that there was something else in the living room as well. A shadow figure, not resembling anywhere close to a dragon. It was standing on two legs, in the corner of the living room. It was like a solid black matter.
As soon as I was able to tell what I was looking at. I screamed loudly, echoing throughout the apartment building. I rushed through the darkness once again, feeling around until running into my own bedroom. I closed the door and laid against the door in fear. My heart was beating and I was panting. Before I knew it, the door received a few knocks from the other side. The voice that came from the other side, was that of Jared and Alex’s. Once I catched my breath and gave myself enough courage to open the door. I stood up and opened the door, letting both of my brother’s to come in. Jared instantly hugged me for comfort, asking what happened. While Alex stood behind Jared in confusion.