I don’t know if I should go home or go and see if she is in the park, walking the dog. I do know I don’t want to go home, so does it really matter what the right choice is?
I decide to go for a walk. Weather she is there or not, I need the exercise. It isn’t long before I meet her though. She is out walking the dog, just like I hoped. She seems happy to see me for some reason. I’m very happy to see her as well, of course. The difference is she is a good person, who anyone should be happy to meet. I am not.
She opens her arms as we walk towards each other. Apparently, she likes me enough to want a hug still. She must not understand what I am. I smile and hug her tightly like she deserves. It is nice holding such a graceful creature in my arms, feeling her small warm body and long soft hair.
For a while we walk through the park and talk about everything and nothing. She tells me about her day, and I listen and offer my two cents when needed. As we get closer to the end of the park, the dog starts to seem more alert, like something is coming our way. When we are a few hundred meters away from the entrance of the park, two people turn the corner. She stops dead in her tracks and grabs my arm tightly.
“Dragons!” she whispers through her teeth. I don’t understand. They look like people to me.
“Don’t look at them! Just keep walking”. She starts walking again and drags me along. I can feel her pulse pounding through her fingers where she is holding my arm. The dog is hiding her tail between the hind legs, and she is walking very close to us. I follow along, making sure not to look at the people as we pass them. She looks up and nods at them, and they greet us politely. After a few feet she finally let go of my arm and takes a deep breath.
“That was close. I’ve never seen dragons out at this time a day. I thought they were under strict curfew”. I look at her sceptically. “I’m sure they aren’t dragons though. They are just people”.
She rolls her eyes at me; “You don’t get it because you can’t really see them. I can, and they are definitely dragons”. I guess she knows best, so I leave it at that. We don’t talk much for a while after that, but eventually the conversation starts back up, and once again we can talk comfortably. I really enjoy her company. It is by far, the best thing to happen to my day. Hell, seeing her even for a few minutes is the highlight of my week.
We are passing my apartment, but I offer to walk her home, and she accepts. For some reason she seems to enjoy my company almost as much as I enjoy hers.
We are about halfway to her house when the same two people from before, show up from a small side road. They must have gone all the way through the park as we went around it. Once again, she and the dog grow tense and freeze on the spot. The two people turn away from us, only fifty feet away. They don’t seem to have noticed us at all. We start walking slowly, as we are all going the same way. I can feel she is nervous. Fearing that they will turn around and see us. She is barely breathing and every time one of the people in front of us turns their head even slightly, she squeezes my arm again. If I didn’t know any better, I would think she was ready to jump into the bushes to hide, if one of the people turned all the way around.
Eventually they turn down a small dirt road, leading them away from us, and once again she seems to relax a little.
Five minutes later we reach her home. I tell her I don’t want to go home, and she jokes that she can walk me home if I like. Only catch is I would have to walk her home after. Honestly, I would have loved walking with her all night, talking, joking, and hiding from dragons apparently. But she needs to get home to her family. We hug again. I press her in tightly and I never want to let go. When I finally do, I have to fight to master a smile for her. I don’t want her to go, but I can’t let her know just how badly I want to stay with her. We say our goodbyes, and she goes inside. For a few minutes I stand there silently watching the small house wishing I could go in there with her. Then I walk off, trying to find my way home. I’m not too familiar with the area here, but I guess I can find my way all the same. I take a detour home, just to stretch the time. I really don’t want to go home.
After a few minutes I get a text from her. She says thank you for the cosy walk, and I text her back, telling her how much I enjoyed it too. Although I can’t tell her exactly how much she means to me, I try to let her know that I do appreciate the time we spend together.
When I reach my apartment, I still don’t want to go inside. I know nothing good is awaiting me in there. Nothing bad either. Nothing is in the apartment really. Only my own loneliness.
I’m in the apartment, staring into the mirror. All I see is a hideous dragon, and I wonder, how can she be afraid of dragons, and still see a nice, friendly person in me, when I am in fact the worst of them?