[Other Original] Short Story: The Boy

"The Boy"

It was a chilling night, a boy was lying on his bed with a wet cloth that was put on his head. His body was very hot and but the cold air outside made him shivered badly. He tried to close the window but he could not see with his blinded eyes so he tried to touch the wall and felt the direction of the wind. Following the wind direction, he finally reached to the window and he took his cold and shivering hands to grab the window and shut it, but he couldn't because the window was seemingly stuck. Therefore, he walked back to his bed but he did not know where his bed was, so he touched everywhere however there was nothing his hand could touch but the cold blowing air, he suddenly sneezed and felt down to his soft bed.

Then, he took his mom sewed thick blanket and covered himself. He tried to talk but he couldn't but in his mind speaking in a very soft voice, " Mom… where are you… ". He was hoping that his mom would come beside him and sing the lullaby that he always heard for years every time before he slept. His mind began exploring the flashback memories before the war started, when he was still happily walking with his mom to the market for buying some ingredients for dinner. He looked at his mom's face smiling at the fish monger and giving the cash to him to buy some fresh salmon fish. At the moment they walked away, suddenly alarm was ringing and everyone went panic like the ants on the hot pan.

His mom quickly took him to a nearby store with the horde of running people. When they reached the store, a flying bomb stroked to the building and exploded. The explosion was too strong and both of them were fell down to the ground. The boy was in the admits of unconsciousness, his vision was blurred and what he could hear from his ear were mumbling sounds from his mum, "Do not worry, little honey boy… mom is here.. mom.. is here…"

Then, his mum humming the lullaby that he always familiar with but all the sudden the darkness covered his vision and he realized that he was still lying on the bed. He tried to remember what happened next but he couldn't, and his heart was bumping faster and faster, the blood on his vein was rushing very fast, he tried to breath but he was not able to do so. His cold shivering hands under the blanket were grabbing the bed very hard but the grip was getting weaker and weaker, he thought that this would be his last final moment, a death without a reason, a death without a talk, a death without a look, just to see his surroundings. All he could see was the red blood vein covered around his eye ball, closer and closer to the middle, for the very last moment he focused himself and opened his mouth and speak with soft voice.

"M..Mo..Mom, whe..re..are..you,..ma..a…I..want…you……I…real..ly…miss…you"

He made his last breath and his eyes came out with a tear, dropping to one of the story books he used to read. The image of a dragon from the book shone brightly and a white dragon slowly came out, the dragon was looking at the boy and it moved closer to his face. It looked at the boy and it shed its tears to the boy's face, the tears were magically absorbed into his face and the boy suddenly moved, but he was struggling very hard as the blood was rushing very fast in his vein and he still could not breath.

The dragon quickly curled around his bed and it hummed a lullaby to him. The boy was hearing his mom lullaby, and thought his mom was really beside him so he quickly shouted "Mom! Is that you?". The dragon kept humming and ignored his question, the boy started to get calm down and he no longer feel any shivers or fever but he felt a warm snake-like body was curling around him. So, he tried to open his eyes for the first time and what he saw is a magnificent white dragon in front of him, he was shocked and asked it where was his mum. The dragon showed him to the left, and he saw a small table hanging high up onto the wall, it uncurled the boy and let him to move. The boy woke up and walked over there, he saw his mom's picture, two unlit candles beside the picture and a bowl of ashes with jossticks in the middle. He thought slowly and remembered that his mom was actually from a Chinese family, this meant that his mom was


"Passed away", the boy said.

The dragon agreed and it gave the boy a necklace, he looked at it and it was his mom's necklace. The boy wondered how the dragon got it, the dragon did not answered but it somehow hint him to took the story book and read it. So, he followed and read the book, the dragon image in the book suddenly changed into another image of his mom sitting in front of the book. She was praying to the book and she said

" The dragon, the dragon of the kindness, please help me to protect my poor son, ever since the war had started, every place is in danger, the enemies are invading the city, the only way I can do is to move my son to a more safer place in my sister house. But they are chasing me, I can't stay here any longer but my son is blind and cannot talk after the explosion. I wish that You can help me to protect him from any danger, I shall sacrifice my only precious necklace for the payment."

After she put the necklace to the book, she heard loud door banging noise outside indicating the enemies were trying to breaking in and taking her away. She quickly hid the book and took her son under a secret chamber underneath the bed, and she closed the chamber at the moment they opened the door, the enemies took her away quickly and searched around the room but the secret chamber was completely hid from the enemies. As they left the room, the dragon came out from the book and took the boy on its back then escaped from the chamber, it quickly rushed through the opened window before the enemy set the entire room on fire. No one was able to spot the flying dragon in the middle of the night but her mom looked at it and smiled.


"Goodbye, my son." she happily said, before she was sent to be executed.

After the boy looked at the book, and looked back at the dragon, but there was nothing there. Where was the dragon he thought, he looked around but the dragon was disappeared. After that, the door beside him was knocked and he was shocked, thinking that the enemies were looking after him. But it was his aunt, and asking him what happened.

"I don't know", he said.

"Maybe I finally looked at my mom's face before she died"​

The…End?

There are quite a number of grammar mistakes, some i do notice, some i dont, but i just leave there because i think that what is more important is the story itself but I do welcome for more grammer mistakes comments.

Well, I actually post this up to my friends, and one of them was interested to rewrite again with the same content, so thanks to leonaskos !!!

https://leonaskos1.deviantart.com/

It was another cold night. The wind was whistling as it passed through cracks on the old board walls. The bay was shivering under his blankets. Hot by the fever he was curled up trying to maintain the ever-fading heat on his body. The window blasted open by the strong wind. The chilling ghats made him tremble. Unable to see due to his blindness he guided his hand to the window. He fumbled the wall trying to locate it by the cold coming from the outside. He finally reached it. It was stuck. He tried hard, but after a while he gave up and returned to the warm embrace of his blanket, as awkwardly as he had left. He stumbled and fell on the bed.

He curled up in his blanket. His mom had sewn it just for him. It was course and a little prickly due to the cheap fabric but also thick and warm. He opened his mouth to talk but he only heard the voice in his head whispering

"Mom... where are you?...". He prayed that she would come beside him. Like when he was little, sing him her lullaby.

That lovely familiar tune that was always able to calm and make him feel safe, as nothing could harm him. That made him think of the days before the war, when their biggest trouble was walking to the market every day. Buying fresh salmon by the man behind the bench. His dirty apron had imprinted the smell of fish but his warm smile was worth it. One day like that, as they were returning home to prepare dinner they heard the alarm. The screeching sound of the sirens was the kick off. Everyone started running in panic.

His mum grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him to a nearby store. They ran for the entrance but before they could push their way through the crowd. The screams and the sirens where masked by the roaring engine of the plain. Before he knew it he was blasted to the ground. He hit his head, now dangerously grasping at his consciousness, agonizing to make out words through the buzzing in his ears. "Do not worry, little honey boy...mom is here...mom...is here..."

She started singing that same old lullaby. His vision was now blurring. The darkness was consuming him and as the last light faded...He was still lying on his bed. The fever dreams were always so vivid, sometimes it was impossible to tell when he was actually awake. The pain in his stomach erased his doubts. He could not remember what happened after the bombs fell. His heart rate quickened. He felt the blood rushing in his temples. He gasped for air, but the cold sealed his throat. He buried his fingers in the bet, gripping as tight as he could. His strength was abandoning him. Would that be his end. Without a reason. Unable to speak a last word, or see his mother for one last time. All he could see was the blood in his own eyes. Filling his peripheral vision until there was nothing more. With the last breath leaving his fatigued body, mustering all of his remaining power he uttered:

"..Mo..Mom, whe..re..are..you,..ma..a..I want..you...I..real..ly miss you"

Now a husk, collapsed in his pillow and this blinded eyes allowed a single tear to escape. It fell on the warn out page of an old story book. The page had the drawing of a great white dragon. A bright light emitted from the page.
suddenly the dragon, now in the flesh, rose from the page and stranded midair in the empty room. It closed above the poor boys body and shed a tear on his cheek. The tear, instead of rolling down to the mattress was absorbed. After a moment the boy started moving. He spasmed as his heart pumped again and he strugled for air.

The dragon silently curled around the bed. From it's closed mouth a soft voice could be heard. It was humming that lullaby that he had heard so many times from his mother. "Mom! Is that you?" said the boy confused by the familiar sound. Without an answer, he just embraced the calm feeling as the scaly warm body surrounded him. His fever was fading and the pain had stopped. For the first time after the explosion light pierced his blinded eyes. The image of the magnificent white dragon left him in awe. After a moment, when the initial shock had passed he reluctantly asked the great beast for the whereabouts of his mother. As an answer the dragon simply pointed at the traditional
burial setup with the urn and the smoking aromatic sticks. Between them lyed the picture of his mother. Like cold water the thought hit him. She was

"Passed away" he uttered, unable to believe his own words.

The dragon nodded affirmatively passing on to the boy a small bronze locket. Many questions rose about it. How had the dragon acquired it or what it really was. Seeing the confused expression on the boy's face the dragon pointed him at the story book. As soon as his sight turned to the pages the former drawing of the dragon reformed. The ink was moving on the page now creating an image of his mother. She was on her knees, praying above the book.

"The dragon, the dragon of the kindness, please help me to protect my poor son, ever since the war had started, every place is in danger, the enemies are invading the city, the only way I can do is to move my son to a more safer place in my sister house. But they are chasing me, I can't stay here any longer but my son is blind and cannot talk after the explosion. I wish that You can help me to protect him from any danger, I shall sacrifice my only precious necklace for the payment."

As she was setting the necklace on the page she heard the first knock on the door. Soldiers were trying to bring it down. She hastly closed the book and put it with her son, in a hidden compartment under the bed. The second knock was enough to bring down the door as men in heavy boots rushed into the room. They only saw a single woman on the ground by the bed. They hastly dragged her out by the shoulders. Before the steps faded away the dragon ascended form within the pages and with the boy on his back flew out of the window as flames swallowed the room behind them. Nobody but the worried mother spotted them flying into the dark sky, and she smiled before loosing them behind the clouds.

They ordered her to face the wall like the others. "Goodbye, my son" was her last words before the rifles fired.

The boy snapped back to reality ready to ask the dragon about what he had just seen. But no-one was there. He was all alone in his room. The door opened and he turned his head, afraid the soldiers had come for him too. His aunt was standing there worried by all the noise in the middle of the night.

"What happened?" she asked him

"I looked at her last smile"

the end