This is my entry for @mctiller's 24 hour short story competition which can be found here! The challenge is to write a short story in 48 hours and no longer than 2,000 words based on the topic phrase. This week's topic phrase: A little boy or girl constantly insists that they really have a pet dragon.
After their mother died, each of the five Espinosa children coped with their father Valerio's rages in a different way.
Alfonso, seventeen, spent as little time as possible at home. Pragmatic and mechanically inclined, he lived at his friend Xavier's house, where the two of them were restoring a '76 Corvette.
Hector, fourteen was stocky and handsome, with a broad, square chin and large, dark eyes. He favored his father in appearance and temperament, and they both loved sports almost as much as they despised each other. Though Valerio had beaten all all his children at some point, it was Hector who bore the brunt of his abuse. Every morning Hector measured himself by notching a mark on a pole outside their house. He was looking forward to the day he got his growth and could "pay that bastard back." His upper lip would curl up slightly as he said it and his fists would clench hard at his sides.
Susana, twelve, was very tall for her age and painfully shy. She loved running, and she was obsessed with half the boys in her school, though far too introverted to talk to any of them. She was also terrified of her father. She avoided him as much as possible, and considered it her duty to "soften" the house, to defuse any possible sources of aggravation before Valerio could react to them. And when he did explode, she did her best to shield her siblings from his wrath.
Flavia, seven, was short, pudgy, near-sighted, and creative. She spent much of her time daydreaming, and had an imaginary friend, a pet dragon hatchling named Infiernita. Though Flavia had little to say about herself, she would talk about Infiernita at length to anyone willing to listen. She claimed her "little wyrm" was twelve feet long from snout to tail, with golden-red scales, long hooked talons, a serpentine body that could "flow like the wind or coil like a spring," and a cavernous maw studded with "dagger teeth." Though Infiernita supposedly had wings, Flavia said they weren't yet big enough for her to fly. She often spoke to the creature in hushed tones, especially after being bellowed at by Valerio.
Wilfredo, five, was short and scrawny, even for his age. Before his mother's death he'd been exuberant and full of energy, always giggling at something. After she died he said very little, and always looked wide-eyed and befuddled, as though he'd just been jarred awake. When his father lashed out, Wilfredo trembled and cringed, but never cried.
Their mother, Maristella, was remembered as a kind woman who spoke very little but loved to laugh. Everyone agreed that she'd brought out the goodness in her husband. And everyone agreed: she took that goodness with her when she died.
(INFORMATION REFERENCED FROM PPD CASE REPORT 80771312-4897, filed on April 8th, 1997 by Detective Herminio Gallardo (BN71312). Detective Gallardo has since been reassigned and is scheduled for liquidation pending committee approval).
ADDITIONAL NOTES: All five children were interviewed separately with state-provided advocates in attendance. The eldest (Alfonso, 17M) was not present at the scene when Valerio died, but the other four (Hector, 14M, Susana 12F, Flavia, 7F, and Wilfredo, 5M) provided a detailed account. A summarization of their testimonies follows:
All agree that Valerio's death was preceded by a domestic dispute wherein he accused his son Hector of stealing from his wallet. Valerio then beat Hector, first with punches and kicks and then with a weighted resin statuette of the Blessed Virgin. A blow from the statuette fractured the boy's right clavicle. When Susana attempted to protect her injured brother, she was also struck with the statuette and knocked unconscious.
Hector, Flavia, and Wilfredo testify that moments after Susana was knocked out, their father cried out in distress and was then ripped in two, his entire upper body torn free from his pelvis. However, while Hector and Wilfredo insist that Valerio's head and torso simply "disappeared", vanishing into thin air as if by magic, Flavia asserts that his upper body was "bitten off." When encouraged to elaborate, she blames the act on a baby dragon named "Infiernita." Her siblings have confirmed that this dragon is an imaginary companion who Flavia speaks of frequently, especially when she's unhappy. Susana, having been knocked unconscious, didn't see her father's death, but affirmed that upon wakening she saw his lower half sprawled in a pool of blood.
The upper half has yet to be recovered. At this time there are no clues to suggest how it was removed from the scene or where it was taken.
It's also worth noting that in addition to the puncture wounds and tearing injuries along Valerio's pelvis, the coroner remarked significant thermal damage to the soft tissues and remaining organs.
Dr. Graciela Cruz had only seen Director Asquerino smile on a handful of occasions. Even then the smile had been wry and subdued, the merest inkling of a simper, his gaze still cold and serious and searching.
That morning he was grinning ear to ear, and his eyes were dancing. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. In the seven years they'd worked together, she'd often thought he could stand to loosen up a bit. Now she felt unnerved, and wished he would revert to his usual astringent self.
"My apologies for calling you in so early," he said. "But this couldn't wait." He pushed a school photograph of a young girl with dark eyes, glasses, and a scarcely-perceptible smile across the desk. "There was a bizarre murder last month in Prosperity," he said. "We brought in one of the daughters of the victim. Flavia Espinosa. Do you recall?"
"How could I forget? She claimed that her pet dragon did it."
"That's the one. We've been running the standard battery of tests on her without much success. So last night I decided to get creative. I could tell you more, but I think I'll just let the footage speak for itself."
A bank of monitors hung along the north wall of his office. Asquerino plucked a remote off his desk and switched one on. The video that materialized onscreen was paused, and looked to have been shot in one of their test rooms by the overhead camera.
A man in a lab coat was seated at a table across from a young girl dressed in hospital fatigues. Cruz recognized the man as one of Asquerino's assistants, a young man named Batista.
Asquerino hit play.
"So Flavia," Batista said, his tone congenial, "tell me more about your dragon friend."
The girl said nothing. Her expression was sullen and fearful, her lips crimped tight together.
Batista sighed. "Do you remember what we talked about yesterday? About going to see your brothers and sister? They miss you very much."
"You keep saying that but you never let me see them!" Flavia shot back, her thin voice shrill with anger.
"That's because you haven't been very helpful. If you would just cooperate, then--"
"I do cooperate!" Flavia cried. "You ask me the same questions over and over! And you never let me leave! I'm not talking anymore until you take me to my family."
The man heaved another sigh. A moment later he cocked his head slightly to one side. No doubt he was receiving instructions in his earpiece from Asquerino. The silence stretched on nearly half a minute, with Batista glancing down at the tabletop and nodding ever so slightly while Flavia glowered at him.
Then he reached into his lab coat and drew out a Beretta 92. He aimed it between Flavia's eyes.
"You'd better do as I say," he said in that same congenial tone as before "Or else I'll have to-"
Before he could finish the sentence, Batista was yanked up several feet into the air by an unseen force. It happened so abruptly that both Cruz and Asquerino jumped. Batista cried out in alarm as he flew up, and then hung squirming near the ceiling as if suspended from a wire.
"That startles me every time," Asquerino chuckled.
Bright red spots blossomed across the stark white of Batista's coat. Then, still at the mercy of that unseen force, he was flung viciously one way then the other, his body whipping back and forth, like a rag doll in a pit bull’s jaws. The pistol went off once, and then again, but neither shot seemed to strike Flavia, who'd retreated to a corner and buried her face in her hands. Finally, Batista was slung across the room. He slammed into the wall with a grisly sound that was equal parts thud and crunch, and tumbled to the floor. A crimson spatter marked where he had struck.
There was scarcely time to note the grotesque angles of his limbs before a plume of flame erupted from the air and engulfed his body A morbid hush fell then, the only audible sound the gentle crackle of the fire.
Asquerino paused the video. If it was possible, his grin was even broader than before. And although Cruz still found the expression distasteful, especially considering that they'd just watched a colleague die, she couldn't help grinning herself.
"Say it," Asquerino urged, almost giddily. "I know you're thinking it!"
"She's an Omega," said Cruz. "Telekinetic and pyrokinetic from the look of it."
"And her power is like nothing we've ever seen before. Did you see how hard poor Batista hit the wall? Did you see how quickly his body caught fire? It was reduced to ashes within minutes. Just a smear of soot."
"I suppose," Cruz said, "That she hallucinates the dragon to help her make sense of her abilities."
"Or to channel them," Asquerino said. "Obviously, there's still a lot to learn. Regardless, we have an Omega! I doubt the Russians or Americans or Chinese can say the same. Just think... all that raw power, waiting to be tapped." He glanced back at the screen. "The tricky part," he said, "will be bleeding it out of her."
A long silence followed. Cruz couldn't help shuddering as she correlated the horrific images those words conjured with the frightened little girl huddled in the corner.
But she knew they couldn't balk. There was too much at stake. The president was counting on them. They needed every possible advantage.
They had their duty.
"Not to sound like a party pooper," she said then, "but can we handle her? What if she lashes out at us? We're only a small staff here. Theoretically, she could annihilate this entire compound, and that danger will only increase as she matures. It might be best to turn her over to the military."
"No!" Asquerino snarled, his eyes flashing with sudden anger. After a moment he regained his composure and drew a deep breath. "I'm sorry. But no. She's far too important to turn over to those idiots. They wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Do we?" Cruz asked. "She's very dangerous."
"And we'll be very careful. We'll befriend her, ease her into the experiments, teach her to tolerate the pain before we bleed her. We'll bring her siblings here, so she doesn't feel isolated. And we'll help her understand the importance of the project. We have our Omega. That puts us ahead of the game. We'll just take the rest slow and careful. As long as we go slow and careful I think we'll be okay."
No sooner had he said it than Asquerino felt something hard and scaly brush his right cheek. A blistering heat gusted against him then, as though he were standing before a blast furnace, and a stench like blood and sulfur stung his nostrils.
"No," a deep and rumbling voice breathed in his ear. "You won't."
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Thanks for reading! :D And thanks @mctiller for the fun contest!