Reality Bites

I don't remember much of my childhood, which in and of itself could be a blessing in disguise. My dreams seem to have blurred fact and fiction, but from what I do recall, a patrol found me covered in blood, barely clinging to life, drifting in and out of consciousness near the remains of what was once my parents. I was three then, and now that I’m turning eighteen, I can barely remember their faces. I often try to force myself to remember my childhood and how I wound up at an odd orphanage, but I am met with an impenetrable wall. I cannot remember the details of my parents’ faces, but I can, however, remember songs that my mother would sing about a fierce princess who would save us all. Growing up, I wished that I were that princess, but that was a destiny not meant for me.

As for me, now, I am turning eighteen. I was raised in what I thought was a human orphanage, like many others. I was always picked last for everything and never got adopted. At thirteen, I was an outcast among outcasts, thus providing me with many horror stories from my stint at that orphanage that I keep bottled up. Perhaps that isn't the healthiest coping mechanism, but it has kept me alive thus far. However, there is a memory from five years ago that still invades my daydreams and nightmares…I was hiding from a group of kids who teased and bullied me because I was so thin and pale. They called me a leech, a vampire, and a corpse. No matter how hard I tried to hide the hurt, every word pierced my soul. Riddled with invisible scars that I believed would never heal, I sought refuge in a fallen tree. Their constant torment was becoming too much. I wanted to curl up and die so much so that I remember praying for it that day, too. Much to my dismay, the group of tormentors found me. However, just as they were ripping my clothes off, two dragons blasted the treetops with their flames. 

Everyone ran, including me. After all, dragons are known to be one of the most powerful beings in existence, and the most menacing, too. I ran as hard as I could, but I was exhausted and tripped. I rolled down a hill, landing at the feet of a woman who was patting down a few embers that were smoldering on her dark green dress. Her eyes were kind, and her touch was warm and soft as she helped me to my feet. Her husband came over and healed my scrapes the best he could. He carried me to their modest home in the heart of the Naga Tribe. 

June and Anton, the dragon shifters who saved me, officially adopted me a few weeks later, after they obtained approval from the nobles. My new parents were farmers for the tribe and the nobles for whom the tribe served. But the lands weren't always plentiful, so I was fortunate enough to get a job in the tribe. I didn’t want to be a burden to the two people who kindly raised me as their own. I was turning fourteen, and it was acceptable that I had a job, as long as it didn't impact my grades. Instead of being happy, I let fear get the better of me, and tried to run away. Luckily, the king and queen took pity on me and gave me a job at the palace. At first, I started out as a maid assigned to clean the common areas, before the King and Queen were killed by a rival group of dragons, while on a diplomatic mission, I was promoted to be the Royal Concierge.

“Avery! Why isn't my shirt pressed,” Clint roared.

“Where is my phone? Avery, get in here now,” Conner bellowed from his room.

Shaking my few pictures on my wall, a loud banging interrupted my solitude, “Avery, get your pathetic ass out of your room and make my fucking breakfast. You had better not make me late either. You know how angry Asher gets,” Cassius threatened.

I often regret accepting my newest position as a personal servant in the palace, but it pays better and allows me more places to hide than at my old home with my adoptive parents. Unfortunately, it means that I am in contact with the Royal Trio of Clint, Conner, and Cassius Draco, all the more. They have always made my life difficult, but now even more so, as graduation approaches and their Grand Ceremony along with it. 

From what I have learned, all young dragons fantasize about their Grand Ceremony. The ceremony is the gateway to a dragon’s destiny, whether it is to ascend to the throne or find their fated mate. I have no dragon, so I have no delusions that some ceremony will determine my destiny. I am just a poor, pathetic human, counting down the days until I graduate, and then I can run away forever. I don't belong in this land of dragons. Maybe I don't belong anywhere. There have been many times that I thought about giving up and taking my own life since I came here, but something always happened to prevent me from succeeding. Maybe it is the spirits of my parents looking out for me, or I am just too inept to kill myself.

I sigh as I drag myself out of bed. I don't bother fixing my sheets. Instead, I pull the comforter over the crumpled mess. I rarely get a good night’s sleep because I always seem to wake up in a cold sweat, entangled in my sheets. I never fully remember what I dream of, though, but I assume it is my past and my parents’ deaths. Perhaps, it’s a good thing I don't remember the details. I quickly pull on a plain white dress and my tattered flats before I try to brush my knotted, brown hair. I don't bother with makeup because nothing could change my porcelain, paper-thin skin, just as nothing could enhance my flat chest. I look like a living skeleton, because I can never gain weight, despite how much I eat. My skin never tans, no matter how much sunlight I expose myself to, either. Over the years, I have given up trying to blend in. I haven’t been accepted in this world, and perhaps I never will.

Conner Draco is the most docile of the triplets, so I decided to tackle his request first. As I suspected, his phone is on the charger and not on his bedside table. Without a word, I approached him with the phone in my hand. I keep my eyes down as I extend my hand out to him. He snatches it up before he shoves me out of the door. At least he didn't ridicule me as he has done since the day I was brought into the palace. 

I decided to accomplish Clint’s and Cassius’s requests simultaneously. I might be weak and pathetic without a dragon, but I have learned to multitask and be resourceful. When you are a lamb among wolves, you quickly learn to survive. I just need to hold out until the end of my senior year and my eighteenth birthday. Then I can leave Momma June and Papa Anton with a nice nest egg, and I can retreat far from here and never see a dragon again. I just have to endure one hundred and eighty more days of school, which means twenty-five more Mondays of hell. I roll my eyes as I let out a sigh. I hate Mondays.