The air was nearly scalding as I drove down the road to my new home, and light was bouncing off the black pavement, stinging my eyes. I had finally turned 18, and I'd graduated from the average public high school, and it was time for me to move out. Unfortunately, all the jobs I'd manage to keep over the years hadn't gotten me much, but I managed to find a cheap enough house about 20 miles from where my adoptive family and I lived. The rumors about it must have scared buyers away, but that couldn't worked out better for me, as awful as that sounds.

The realtor couldn't have been more eager to get it off her hands, and after I'd convinced her the history behind it wouldn't scare me away, she finally told me why the house had suddenly gotten and stayed on the market.

"About 13 years ago, the couple that owned the house had decided to sell it. I'd been told they had two children, but they had passed away. However no one knew how it had happened, and after a few months, the parents decided it was time to move, in hopes they could learn to get past their loss." The woman's tired voice echoed in my head, but I tried not to feel the weight of her words get to me.

Sadly, things like this can be heard all too often on the news, and several people will perhaps never get closure, but focusing on things like that will only make you hopelessly depressed, which I could live without. I'd make this home my own, and make better things out of it.

Finally, I had pulled up to my destination; A medium sized house, made with what looked like cream colored adobe, with deep scarlet clay tiles for the roof. Grass had grown rather high in the front yard, but a little mowing could fix that. Overall, the house didn't look too old from the outside, and seemed to be in good shape despite all the time it had been abandoned. I took my time walking up the steps to the thick oak wood door, and it came open with a creak as I pushed inside.

As I walked through the halls and rooms, I noticed that things had been left behind, and a thick layer of dust covered everything. I pried open window after window, letting fresh air inside in hopes the old scents would clear up a little, and I decided that tomorrow I'd start the process of cleaning and renovating.

I finally made my way into the last room of the house when I was hit with a chill, and I realized I had found the children's playroom. The hard wood floor had a bright colored, striped rug in the center, and some toys were scattered about the room. The walls had been painted a lime green, except two sides had bright yellow wallpaper with what looked like dragons printed on it, however it looked worn, and some edges were curling and torn from the walls. As I began to walk out of the room, I stubbed my toe, and I growled, cursing softly as I cradle my foot, searching for the object that caused my pain. On the floor a few feet away was a small, dark golden box, with the same dragon pattern as the wallpaper, and had a few red gems at its corners.

I picked it up, undoing the clasp to find a dull, rainbow colored, oval shaped rock of some sort resting inside, and it looked as if it would fit snuggly in my palm. Maybe it was one of the kid's toys, like from a tv show they watched. It would explain the matching wallpaper. Shrugging, I carry it with me to the master bedroom, setting it on the end table next to the bed, and I spend the rest of the evening unpacking just enough to survive the night.

Light shines softly on my face, and I groan, willing away the morning, feeling like I've hardly slept. After a few moments I lift my heavy lids, sitting up and staring at the dark window blankly. Dark. It takes me a few moments to realize that the light wasn't from the morning, and I look over at the end table, next to the empty bowl from my dinner of raviolis rests the small box I found earlier. The light peeks from between the cracks of the box, glittering about the room weakly, and I reach to open it, finding the once dull rock glowing softly.

As I help the stone, it seemed to glow brighter, and It felt lighter than I had imagined. Iit felt as if it was pulsing in my palm, suddenly alive unlike before, and the feeling made my stomach churn. It wasn't like how things glow in the dark, especially when the box kept it in complete darkness all day, and I felt around the small chest for a latch to uncover batteries, but found none. Though inside, I realized was words inscribed in the lid that I hadn't noticed before.

"I… Wish, I wish.. " I stumbled over the words, as they were barely legible. "... with all my heart… To fly with Dragons, in a land…" I paused, trying to read the word, and noticed the stone had grown warm in my palm, brighter than ever before, and I almost had decided to drop it before the last word came to me: "apart."

The room was silent, other than the soft hum of the stone, and it was the only light. I breathed in a shallow breath, realized I was reeling in anxiety, for no reason at all, but I couldn't seem to shake the feeling away. Its just a stupid toy, and a child's rhyme, nothing to it. Maybe they made it automatically glow at night. Like a night light. I-

Then I heard it. The sound of paper tearing in a nearby room, and the air buzzed with energy. I could feel something moving within the house, and the air had gone cold, goosebumps rising over my pale skin. I was caught in place, and I couldn't think, but I found my mouth open to scream, but nothing came out. I felt what I'd imagine my soul was being torn from my body, and probably that too, dragging into a light that began to consume me, and then darkness.