I would often come here. Back when I was a young dragon I would just sit out on the grand, green, itchy grass just watching the fairies fly around as the big bright sun would warm my whole body, and I’d just lay there hoping my wishes would come true. I would never have thought that someday I would have someone to share all of this with.

“Sarah, did you find a spot yet?” asked Larry.

“No, not yet,” I replied with a perplexed look, wondering if I should tell Larry the truth.  

We sat down and began to unpack our lunch. I gazed at the fairies and reminisced of times when I was young. I never wanted to fully grow up and become a dragon.  I knew everything would change. I just didn’t know the change would be so grand.

As a matter of fact, I desired to tell him right then and there.  I couldn’t take carrying around the weight of the lies I had been  holding on to.  Larry had always been very generous toward me. I always thought about how he would never lie to me in the way I usually did to him. 

“What are you thinking about right now?’’ he asked me as I stayed gazing at the fairies.

              I stuttered as I tried to speak.

At that moment I was given the chance to tell him what was on my mind, but instead I replied with something along the lines of, “I’m just thinking about us and how life would have been if we never met, or what if we met earlier. Do you think we would have ended up in the same place that we are now together?”

Larry tensed up a little bit as if he had been keeping a secret of his own; he didn’t know how to respond.

We sat there in silence for about a minute, and after that Larry began to relax. “I don’t know where I would be right now if I hadn't met you, and I don’t want to think about it. I’m just elated to be here with you,” Larry said in such a soothing voice, the type of voice a caring father would use when calming down his child.

And for a moment it was like everything around us turned black. It was as if this wasn’t reality. For a moment I thought I had just been dreaming. All of a sudden, I snapped back to what was happening, but instead of Larry being there it was two unknown people trying to get back home, walking in the snow. I didn’t question any of this; instead, I started walking with them. At that moment I had felt so safe and secure. It was like I’d known those two people walking for so long, but I had just seen them, and maybe this isn’t even reality, I thought. The two people and I started walking and laughing together. I could tell they too were dragons, but for some reason I panicked and started hitting the man. The girl started giggling, and I calmed down. Now I could see everything around me; it’s still all a blur, but I just wondered where Larry had gone.

I went back home with the two strangers I met walking in the snow. They made me feel as if I had known them for years, and I could talk to them about anything. We ate at the house. It had this feel to it. And, oh, such a familiar feel but the type that’s just indescribable. Not much happened; we ate, but I didn't eat much. I don’t know why since I’m always hungry, but I guess I was just exhausted.

After eating I went up into a bedroom I had dreamed about before. It was all like a memory, a memory from when I was young. It was all so surreal, but I felt safe. I drifted off into an amazing sleep, but by the time I woke up there I was again, sitting on the grass eating my lunch with Larry. That’s when I knew I had to tell him the truth.

-Mariana Cuevas-Ruiz