Camilla: Brother Pheasant's Journey 16

Snow everywhere. 

Dennis woke up with “the boy in the bubble” by Alec Benjamin in his head.

Punch my face

Do it cause I like the pain

Every time you curse my name

I know you want the satisfaction

It’s not gonna happen

Knock me out

Kick me when I’m on the ground

It’s only gonna let you down

Come lightning and the thunder

You’re the one who’ll suffer

He thought he was the boy in the bubble, but as it turned out, Ronald was that boy.

He still didn’t like him, but…he couldn’t even fathom what it must be like to live such a nightmare every day.

At school he saw Ronald and those boys he always surrounded himself with (they were all afraid of him and why wouldn’t they).

You couldn’t see anything strange with his face. That’s why he had covered it.

Dennis went to the men’s room and got the two glass dragons out of his pocket, held them close to his heart.

“Dragon friends, Valva, Sebastian…I ask you to help Ronald. I’ll be honest, I don’t like him. But no one should have to live like that. I ask you to help him.”

He put the Black Dragon back in his pocket and then snuck away to the lockers. 

Everyone was in class (where he was supposed to be too) so the corridors were empty. He knew which locker belonged to Ronald, there was a skull stickered on it. He knew a trick to open any locker, quickly fidgeted it open – it oozed of cigarette smoke – and put the Golden Dragon in it. Closed the locker and scurried off to biology class with a well-thought-out excuse for being too late.

Now he would have to wait and see what happened.

He could see, in his dreams, how Ronald had discovered the Dragon and quickly put it in his pocket. Dennis hoped he would let some Dragon magic in to his life. 

The waiting didn’t last that long. The next confrontation presented itself after only two days.

Dennis was late for class, again, and hurried down the hall when someone tripped him up. He fell and hurt his shoulder on the concrete floor. When he looked up, sure enough it was Ronald accompanied by only one soldier this time. 

“You’re late again, homeless boy…”

He came closer and moved to kick him, when Dennis looked him right in the eyes. He was startled and kind of lost his momentum.

“I know what you’re going through. It must be really awful. You don’t have to do this though, you know. You don’t have to be like this. There is help for you."

Something was threatening to melt inside of Ronald. The root of his heart, which was now frozen and safely numbed, started hurting and swelling and something wanted to come OUT of him. Dennis could see a world in his eyes. There was so much pain. Loneliness.

But the root pulled back, into the cold, out of the risk zone, out of the sun.

Somehow Ronald knew. He slowly put his hand in his pocket and pulled up the Golden Dragon from Atlantis. The one that would be honoured and happy to help Ronald transform his father’s darkness and come back to himself. Dennis could see that Ronald liked the Dragon, he was moved by the gift, but he couldn’t…there was no way he would show himself…he looked at Dennis, pointed to the Dragon and then threw the Dragon in hundreds of pieces to the concrete floor. Dennis saw flames when the pieces spread all over the corridor.  Ronald had chosen. The ice had spread from his heart to his eyes. 

Then Ronald turned around and came back for one final blow to Dennis’ head.

Everything went black.