A Short Story - A Quick Lesson

          I had the opportunity to attend an educator's workshop this weekend and during the session we were tasked with writing a short story within the genre our group was given. I was part of the fairytale group and decided to have a little fun with it. Feel free to read my story below and any feedback in welcomed. Thanks!

A Bit of Enlightenment

As he reached the peak of the first hill, his shadow seemingly all but disappeared. Burt was on an adventure. Young and wide-eyed, he jumped at the chance to see a real dragon. Rumors were flying that flames had been seen up at Crimson Peak in the middle of the night at all sorts of strange hours. Not once in two hundred years had any denizen of the Menscher Kingdom seen a fire blazing from the stoic mountain, let alone a real dragon. Stories, legends really, had always been told, but stories were never enough for Burt.

Burt was the one to jump into the river and ride over Brewster Falls to see the non-existent mermaids that awaited him at the bottom. Burt had been the one to break two shovels while trying to dig under Old Mr. Keebler’s tree to find the elves that undoubtedly had disappeared as he neared their workshop. How they had moved their workshop so quickly, Burt was still dumbfounded over. But Burt was also the one to rush into the library while it was aflame in order to save the town charter and his favorite book, Mystical Monsters and Where to Search for Them. A bit of a town hero, no one criticized Burt when he told of his plan to visit the dragon, feeling confident in his abilities and knowledge due to the book that he currently carried in his knapsack that swung along his right hip.

Continuing upward, Burt had hoped to reach the top of the mountain before sunset, but was realizing that hopes don’t amount to movement. He still had one more hill to traverse, but the sun was no longer in sight. Thankfully Burt was prepared for this and lit his small lantern to finish his long, but manageable hike to the top of Crimson Peak. As he neared the top, he heard a sound.

“Whoosh!”

A bright light erupted from the other side, and Burt had to wait a moment to gather his wits. A dragon, a real dragon he thought to himself. He slowly crawled back up to the top.

“Whoosh!”

Burt was better prepared this time and remained flat along the hillside and continued to slowly work his way to the top. He finally gained the courage to stand and take a look for himself. As he did, he held his lantern out in front of himself in order to illuminate the mythical monster that unto yet had never had never been seen by another Mensch. His shadow flickered behind, like a silent, cowardly companion.

The dragon was immediately upon Burt, his lantern providing an easy target for the nocturnal beast. Burt’s lantern was knocked away and Burt’s shadow fled into oblivion.

Burt fell backwards and rolled down the hill, head over heel, head over heel, a blur of stars and dust. Burt picked himself up, bloody and broken and returned home, a life lesson learned that his passed on to his children and their children after that. Don’t be fooled. Children’s authors don’t know anything about actually encountering creatures.