Hello! I'm sure you've heard people say all too many times "This is my first fanfic plz don't h8!" This is not my first fanfic. Hate all you want. I will, however admit that this fanfic is my playground, and I don't feel bad if it turns out to be really awkward, drawn out, and somewhat pointless at times. I'm trying to improve my writing skills without having to develop too many characters. I want to get better at writing longer chapters, so tell me how I do! :)
"You have no respect for me! You have no respect for yourself!"
Yeah, well I don't…"
That's all I hear from downstairs. I'll bet that's all the neighbors hear too. Houses in the Chicago suburbs are squished pretty close together. I'm up in my room while my mother and my brother fight in the kitchen. It's already 9:00 at night; the sun has been down for about an hour now. Ash is probably getting anxious waiting for me.
I just want to get out of the house! However, I can't do that until those two finally decide to go to bed. I'm tired of their fighting. Ever since Dad died a year and a half ago, not a day has gone by without a screaming match going on. My twenty-four year old brother, Roman, thinks that he has to be the man of the house now. He was staying home until he finished junior college, and he was going to go to Arizona State for his bachelor's degree, but then dad got sick so he stayed home and got a job at the gas station down the street. Now he thinks he's supposed to take care of us. Mom just wants him to get out of the house and grow up. She wants him to just be a college kid and go to parties and stuff. She also wants him to remember that she's still his mom.
Alright, 9:02 is my limit! I'm going to use the good ol' "dramatic exit" strategy! But first, I have to get ready. I lace up my black Doc Martins with the real steel toe, put on my thermal, neon yellow, Under Armour hoodie, and grab my leather Harley Davidson riding jacket. I'm good to go!
I stomp out of my room and down the stairs. My mother and my brother take a second to wonder why I look like I'm ready to leave. Before they can ask me I scrunch up my face and yell, "I'm so sick of you guys fighting so much! Why can't you just get along? I can't stay here right now!" and storm out the garage door. I slam it as hard as I can for good measure.
Now all I have to do is get to Ash without my mom chasing after me. I pull on my jacket (February is really cold in Chicago) and get my phone out of the zipper pocket. I turn it off so Mom can't call me. I'll come home when I'm good and ready.
While I'm walking, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Elizabeth Alamanni, seventeen year old rebel. I mostly keep to myself at school, and I like to go out at night. In case you can't tell by my choice of outerwear, I like motorcycles. My dad and my brother are really into them too. I used to ride with my dad so I have all the gear, but I can't do that now. I don't have a motorcycle of my own yet, but I have something even better.
About ten blocks away from my house, just south of Joliet Road on the shore of the Des Plaines river, is where I meet Ash every night. I've kind of let on that Ash is a person, but she's not. She's my dragon. She's a foot taller than I am, and about as long as a bus. Her wings are kind of like that of a bat, and they stretch out about twenty feet! She's all black, with really pretty, gray-blue, cat-like eyes. I love her to death! She's my best friend.
I found her right after my dad died. I was hiking in the woods off the trails, and she was in the river diving for fish. When she saw me, she kind of freaked out, but looked almost relieved when I didn't make any move to get near her or go get someone else. To be honest, I was frozen out of half fear and half curiosity. She ran back into the woods on the other side of the river after staring me down for a minute or so. I had no choice but to turn around and go home.
The next day, I came back and she was still there. And the next day, and the next day. Eventually, she learned to trust me. I guess I learned to trust her too. Soon enough, Ash let me fly her. Only at night, of course. About two weeks after that, I took apart an old, broken down motorcycle and had a friend make a custom saddle for her. I added some small saddlebags that used to be on my brother's bike and a sort of handle made out of cut up leather strips from my old jacket. It works well enough.
I get to the river and Ash steamrolls me. She's always so excited for the sun to go down. That means we can finally go flying! "Alright, you nut case! You kind of have to get off me if you want to go flying!" I laugh. I give her a playful shove to the chest as she stands up a little more. After I wriggle out from under her, I pull my leather chaps out from one saddlebag, and a pair of leather gloves from the other. I won't need the helmet; the sky is perfectly clear.
Ash lays down so I can get on, then I tap her on the back and we take off. The wind in my hair is amazing! My stomach dances around and I can taste the difference in the air. I lean forward and whisper, "Take us anywhere, girl! We can figure out how to get home tomorrow!" Ash takes a slight left turn and I can feel her speed up. She's just as carefree as I am right now.
As Ash takes the lead, I get to thinking. I don't know if I want to go home. I could chuck my phone into Lake Michigan and fly until Ash gets tired. We could take care of each other in the woods or something. Or we could fly to a remote island where we would have everything we would need and Ash wouldn't have to hide! Whatever the plan is, I won't be separated from Ash.
Hours later, I regain some awareness of reality as we fly through a cloud. We're so high up now that any part of the ground not blocked by the clouds is invisible in the blackness. Right in front of me I can see the first rays of sunshine peeking over the horizon. They're so small, though, that they make no impact on the black beneath me. My watch says it's 11:26 in Chicago, which makes sense considering we're headed east. I stretch my arms out one at a time and lean forward. "Hey Ash, I think we should make a landing and take a break. I think I need a nap!" Ash groans back at me like she wants nothing less than to land right now. "Fine! But fly carefully because I'm going to try to sleep." I lean forward so I'm resting my head on the back of Ash's neck. I take the seatbelt I attached to Ash's saddle about a month ago and strap myself in. Then, I let my eyes close, and I drift off to sleep.
I wake up several hours later to the icy tingle of flying through another cloud. I sit up, yawn, wiggle a little to stretch out, and… HOLY MOTHER OF DISTANCE WE'RE ABOVE THE FREAKING OCEAN! "Ash! Where are you taking us? This is the ocean! There's no land for miles! The only chance of rest we might get is on an iceberg! What are you doing!?" I shriek. Ash makes a sound like she's laughing at me, and then just goes back to flying like this is totally normal! I guess my only choice now is to go with the flow.
I'm pretty sure we're over the Atlantic Ocean, since we were heading east earlier. The sun is directly above us now, so there's no way of telling which direction we're going now. I hope Ash knows what she's doing. By now I'm really hungry. My watch says it's already 6:45 AM at home. Except, I didn't pack any food. I figured we were going to stay in the country, or at least on land, where we could catch some fish and cook them up. Or scrounge up some change and head over to the nearest McDonald's! "Wherever you're taking me, we better get there soon, and they better have food!" I grumble. My insane dragon flicks me upside the head with her ear.
Another hour (that feels like a day) later, I finally start to see some hints at civilization. We pass over a decently large string of islands that are bound to be inhabited , but Ash still refuses to land. I lean forward: "I am starving! You probably took a quick dip for fish while I was sleeping! Let me down now!" I command. Ash finally gives in and dives down to a small island. It sort of looks like somewhere in Europe, but I can't really tell where.
Ash does her best to lay low while I try to find a place to get some food. Even just a bag of Doritos would make me the happiest dragon rider there ever was! The only true sign of civilization I can see is a three-foot stone wall that looks like it goes on for miles with a flock of sheep inside. I follow the wall for a little bit until I see an older guy sleeping against it on the inside. Maybe he's supposed to be tending the sheep or something. It's probably his property.
I do the only logical thing that one can do in this situation and wake the guy up. While I cautiously poke the man's head, I can't help but hope he speaks English! Otherwise I'm screwed. The guy absentmindedly swats away my hand. Then he realizes that he is indeed swatting away a hand, and bolts up. He's about a foot taller than me, which is a little intimidating. I try not to worry too much. Ash is only a holler away.
"What might you be doing, lass? You've got no business waking a sleeping man!" the guy shouts. He has a really thick Scottish accent. At least I know where we are now, sort of.
"Well, I'm kind of lost," I begin to explain, trying to sound as scared and little-kid-ish as I can. "I don't know where I am, and I'm really hungry! I don't have any cash or anything and my cell phone won't work and…" I trail off on purpose to make me seem a little more freaked out and in need of help.
The shepherd eyes me up, like he's not sure if I'm in as dire need as I say I am. "You look a little old to be lost. Can you even get lost on an island this size? I could walk the entire shore of Garbh Eilean before lunch!" So that's the name of the island we're on. That helps! Not.
The man is waiting for me to answer, but I'm totally caught off guard for a second. I almost accidentally tell him that my dragon took me here without warning! "I was actually on my… My boat! I was aiming for, uh, the Isle of Scalpay, but my map blew away!" Thank God my mom likes to watch odd documentaries! Thank God one of them happened to be about Scottish islands!
As far as cover stories go, mine has to be the worst, but the sheep guy doesn't call my bluff. Even though I'm clearly American. "Alright, lass! Let's get you some hot food and a new map!"
After that commences a few hours of awkward walking in silence, awkward eating in silence, and bits of one poorly made up story as to why and how I ended up on this frankly boring island. The shepherd dude doesn't once ask why I'm American, but he asks every other question in between bouts of not saying anything. "What's with all the leather? Where did you leave from anyway? Your mum let you come all this way by yourself!?" Every question gets answered with shady half-truths and really unrealistic lies. Thankfully, the guy still lets me eat his food and take his map. He probably thinks I'm a little insane.
Turns out, I made Ash drop me off in between the Hebrides islands and the Scottish mainland. I turn to the man one last time as I leave his house and say, "Thank you again so much for your hospitality! I really appreciate it!"
"Just make sure you know which direction you're going in, lass! If you go too far north, you might run into Vikings!" he warns. Obviously, he's joking. I'm not using this map for anything but trying to get back home! By now, I've gotten the chance to get a correct time for my watch. Right now it says 3:53 PM. Scotland is six hours ahead of Chicago, so it's 9:53 AM at home. Looks like I'm not making it back before my mother gets scared and calls the police!
With shepard guy not around anymore and my belly full, I can safely say that it's time to get off this island and move on! "Ash! Come on girl, it's time to go home!" I call out to my dragon, wherever she may be. Ash comes bounding out of a field of really tall weeds and throws me onto her back with her head. I have absolutely no idea why she's so eager to get back in the air again! We've only been flying for the past fourteen hours straight.
"Let's go home! Or at least back to America," I tell her. But of course, Ash doesn't listen. She takes off north instead. "Ash! I want to go home! I know I said anywhere, but this is getting a little ridiculous!" I try kicking, pulling on the saddle, and screaming in her ear but Ash refuses to listen to me! Considering that she's my only option for getting home, this is really inconvenient.