a l l i e

"Who I am and what I want are a secret."

The room was dimly lit by a wobbling lamp hung from the ceiling, or so she noticed. She was lying on her back, staring at the wobbling light above her. Her mind wandered back to her stories, where she sees her character in a ship's cabin, lying on the floor while staring at the wobbling light above her.

Then she remembered; she was truly on a ship.

It was not just the light that wobbled; everything else in this room of hers seemed to be rocking back and forth.

She was on ship. Not any normal ship, but a ship powered by an energy called "steam", or so her father told her. She knows nothing of these things for her mind dwelt only in the realm of her stories and fairy tales. Nobody ever tried to talk to understand what she says all these while as she often quotes from her stories and answers to no one.

But one day, while she was off wandering in the meadows in the middle of the night, a huge shadow loomed above her. When she looked up, the only word that came to mind was "dragon". Whatever it was up there, it dropped something in her hand and when she showed it to her father, he was shocked beyond relief and then she started to explain how it happened.

"Where did it go?" he demanded.

She cringed a little from his voice, but turned away, pointing at a certain direction, "North,"

And that was how she ended up in the ship with her father. Apparently, her father was involved in a certain research regarding the "dragon" she saw. Any leads (be it myth or legend) would be of great help in his research.

They have been wandering the sea, bound for the north. For how many days, she knew not. She lost count along the way.

- - -

There was a knock on the door, and then it opened slightly. In came a young woman dressed in a certain uniform that made everything about her looked dull and boring, except for the lively expression on her face. This was Shirley, her nurse and caretaker. She was here to provide company for her when her father was busy doing something.

Truth be told, she has never seen her father after they boarded the ship.

Shirley closed the door behind her and sat next to her, "Little Miss, it's time for you to sleep, luv," she had a strange accent, but it didn't bothered her the least bit.

"Night dreams, stories unravel itself," she replied, still looking at the ceiling above her.

"No, Little Miss, night is the time when you dream and when you get up in the morning, you will find yourself a story," she smiled and carried her small little self in her arms and placed her on the bed.

Little Miss turned to look at Shirley, "Would you like to hear a story?"

The nurse looked at her for a moment; "Are you saying that you want tell me a story, Little Miss?"

She nodded.

"If you say so, but promise me you'll go to sleep after this?"

"Promise kept,"

And so, Little Miss sat up in her bed and watched Shirley's eyes as she began her story. It was about a dragon who wanted to disappear from the world when it found out that all its other brothers and sisters were no longer alive. The dragon was quick to anger but it was sad most of the time. One day, it found a girl who seemed as lonely as it was, and so, it dropped a certain object, asking her to come looking for it.

"That sounds..." Shirley yawned and rested her head on the bed, "...familiar," and finally, she slept.

Little Miss got out from her bed and walked out of her room, walking slowly and softly across the metal floor. The ship was constantly rocking, and because of this, she made sure her every step was taken carefully lest she finds herself being dragged back into her room by Shirley.

She went up the staircase and finally reached the deck of the ship. Little Miss looked around and noticed a few people gathered at the back end of the ship, playing something. She ignored them and walked to the other end of the deck.

She looked up and saw clouds. Dark clouds. Then came bright flashes that lit the skies for a brief moment.

"A storm! There's a storm coming!"

The sea grew rougher, and in just a split second, almost every member of the crew was on the deck, fixing things into place to prepare them for the storm. Little Miss was still standing there at the edge of the deck, her eyes still looking at the sky.

The huge shadow appeared again, but this time, it didn't move from above her. Little Miss's eyes widen in surprise at the sight of it and wanted to scream out its name, but she couldn't find her voice. It was looming above her, with dark clouds gathered around its body. Its eyes were red, flashing in anger.

I told YOU to find me, and not the others, human girl.

She whimpered and begged for forgiveness.

But you have come this far, and we have found each other again.

"You're not angry with me anymore?"

No. No more.

"My father...he wants to see you very badly,"

I am here before them. I am here, speaking in your mind. I am here, yet they do not notice me. The storm is a far greater existence than I am.

"Did you bring this storm, dragon?"

Yes. But only to take you when no one is looking.

"Will the storm end when you leave?"

Yes. With you.

Little Miss considered this for a moment. Her Father was most probably busy doing his work, and he won't notice her disappearing. Finally, she agreed. "I will go with you, dragon,"

The storm parted for a brief moment, revealing the dragon's true body. It roared triumphantly and its angry red eyes turned blue, soft and comforting. The dragon reached out for her.

Jump.

She spread her arms and took a few steps forward as the dragon closed in. Yet, in the midst of all that, she heard Shirley calling out to her. She was asking her not to jump. Little Miss wondered; can't she not see the dragon?

To me, human girl. To me, and the storm shall recede.

Shirley was running towards her, crying out for her. But Little Miss closed off every sound around her, and smiled at the sight of the blue-eyed dragon before her.

And then she jumped.

- - -

Ah well, yet another typical story with a similar ending, written horribly by me. But this was written in the midst of my brother and his friends shouting here and there, my sister pestering me to help her with her homework, my maid bothering me to download a song for her, my father who wants me to get a life, my mom who wants my opinion for today's menu.

Yes. I was interrupted, over and over again. *sigh*

Anyway, that story up there was from a dream I had this morning. And yes, as you all can tell, I was Little Miss. Actually, the dream scene was only the part where she was in the cabin staring at the ceiling and then it was the part where she was walking on the deck of the ship.

The scene in the story where she jumped to the dragon was changed though. In my dream, Little Miss and Shirley were thrown overboard and were both swimming until they both reached these cliffs. In that scene, they were both clinging to the rocks as the waves grew rougher. Birds emerged from these dark clouds that seemed to be approaching the two, and these birds appeared to be running away from the dark clouds.

Shirley was screaming in fear but Little Miss ignored her stupid nurse and proceeded to climb the cliffs. By the time the dark clouds drew very very near, Shirley was already gone, and Little Miss was only halfway up the cliffs. She turned back and saw the dragon.

And then I woke up.

Ah well, at least this dream makes sense. Well. A bit. I like this dream~ =D

It's something I really like to imagine myself in, to escape reality.

Oh well, class will be starting this Monday. I hope everything goes well. And this time, I'll make sure I'll score 3.5 and above. I have to. I must.