The Day The Dragon Appeared

• Ambrie Duke, Grade 4, Mt Evelyn Christian School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

‘BANG’, my twin sister and I look at each other, just to check that this terrible moment wasn’t actually going to happen. But it was real. ‘BANG, CRASH’ that really was not a good sign. I bury my head deep into my doona cover terrified of what might happen next. Carmen and Lexi did the same although Carmen didn’t get what on earth was happening. “Carmen, just try and stay sill and block out the loud noises, OK?” I had to shout over the top of all the banging and even worse, hearing the crashes of the buildings around us. My little sister Carmen answered back with muffles of cries.
“Lexi, are you OK?”
“Yeah I’m fine, twin sis. Please would you just chill out though?” She answered back, with a very relaxed tone.
“Are you serious? Our city is just about to be destroyed by ginormous, terrifying dragons.”
“What, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Because of all the warnings the city gave you I was pretty sure you would know!”
“What warnings? It’s not like I know everything like you do.”
“Please Lexi, just listen. All I’m trying to say is we are in danger and all I want to know is, are you ok?”
“Yes I am.” Lexi was now speaking in embarrassed little muffles.
The roof above their head starts crumbling, all girls scream, and the room went black.
All I remember is waking up, dust everywhere, and heaps of broken plaster surrounding me. I tried screaming out my sister’s names, but I felt like it was no use. I try lifting up every piece of rubble seeing if I can see any sort of clues to find Lexi and Carmon. Then all in a blink of an eye a beautiful, turquoise dragon flew down beside me, making the ground shake even though it was an amazingly graceful landing. It only took me a few seconds to realize that this very interesting dragon was trying to help me. He (or she, I had no idea) was pointing he’s extremely long tail to the huge pile of concrete right next to where my house was destroyed. I was suspicious of what he was trying to tell me, but in my heart I knew that this was probably going to be a great idea. So I head over to where the dragon was pointing, holding my breath with every step I take. I soon as I reached the pile of dusty grey concrete I see the exact denim jeans and blue frilly shirt that Lexi was wearing that day. Right next to Lexi’s clothes I saw the same flowery dress that Carmon was wearing. My heart starts thumping. I start lifting up the concrete surrounding the clothes, hopping I will find my sister’s. The dragon lifts the biggest bit of concrete and I can’t even believe my eyes. There they were my beautiful sisters.