Lava

• Maryam Quazi, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

“You idiot!” The other dragons always mercilessly teased poor Lava, even if he did nothing wrong. He was always thought of as a wimp, by the other dragons.


When Lava was born, his mother and father saw a fearless dragon, so they had named him a name no one had heard of. Namely, Lava. His ruby red coat, dazzling, dagger-like claws and his sapphire blue eyes made his parents very proud. Well, at the start anyway. His parents always had high hopes for him, but he would never meet them.


As a result, Lava’s mother and father were very disappointed in him and they were always telling him to toughen up and face his bullies.

“Stand up for yourself!” growled Dad.

“Yes,” snarled Mum, “It’s time you started acting like a real dragon!”


Lava sighed. He hated being at home, and at school as well. He had no friends there, and he would always spend recess and lunch sitting on the ground by himself.

One particularly gloomy day, the bullies were even more vicious than usual. At one point, Lava felt so annoyed that he left. He didn’t know where he was going, but one thing was clear. He was not going back. He had enough with those bullies. Lost in thought, Lava didn’t realise he was about to crash in front of a volcano until it was too late.

“OWWW!” he moaned, rubbing his forehead.

Suddenly, he heard a low, rumbling noise coming from inside the volcano.

Suddenly red, hot, sticky stuff started pouring out, flooding Lava’s surrounding like a flash flood. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. His throat felt numb and dry, and no matter how hard he tried Lava couldn’t move. He was frozen there to the spot in a panic state.


Just when Lava thought his death was arising, a drop of the substance fell on his tongue.


Lava couldn’t believe what his mouth was telling him. It was the most delicious and scrumptious thing he had ever eaten! He immediately filled his backpack with it, and rushed back to school.

“Hey, look!” sniggered the bullies as Lava approached them. “It’s the wimp!” Lava was too excited to be bothered about the insult. “Guys, guys, taste this!” He quickly shoved a bit of the substance down everyone’s throats. Their eyes widened in surprise at the delectable, enticing taste.


Suddenly, one of the bullies burped. Flames of fire flickered around the air, but it didn’t hurt anyone. Soon everyone in the school was devouring the liquid Lava had brought. Even his parents were impressed. At the end of the day, everyone agreed on one thing. This new food would be called… Lava.