Summary: Being a storyteller is hard when your audience is an eight-year-old little sister who insists there’s proper etiquette to storytelling. Luckily, Alison is very good at what she does.
Inspiration: College Writing Competition
Date: 12/21/18
Word Count: 1,839
“Right. This story starts a long, long time ago-” Alison didn’t even get to finish her sentence before there was a loud, childish whine cutting her off with brutal efficiency. Staring down at her sister, Alison quietly wondered to herself if it was still possible to get a muzzle for the girl. She was sure that their aunt wouldn’t mind too much – she might even thank her! “Hey, you’re the one who wanted a story so badly.”
“Yeah, but you’re doing it wrong,” Katie, precocious little eight-year-old that she was, crossed her arms and stared up at Alison as if she was the child between them. Alison knew she could sometimes be stubborn herself, but she, at least, was an adult – sixteen was close enough to an adult, at least. “You have to tell the story the right way.”
“How do you know I’m telling my story wrong if you haven’t even heard it, yet?” Alison half-collapsed onto Katie’s bed, grinning as the girl bounced into the air for a half second and let out a little shriek as she did so. When she finally settled down and scurried back under blankets that were pink enough to cause bleeding eyes, Katie looked at Alison with a frown.
“You got the beginning wrong,” Katie said seriously. Alison might have taken that seriously if it wasn’t coming from an eight-year-old in an equally pink cat onesie and blonde pigtails. “You can’t start it by saying a long time ago!”
“Alright, alright,” Alison groaned, collapsing on her back so her legs were still hanging off the edge of the bed. For good measure, she threw her arm over her eyes just as dramatically. “I’ll be sure to tell it right then, Your Highness.”
“Good,” Katie huffed, Alison peeking up to watch her wiggle around and get comfortable again. It was hard to be annoyed with Katie when she smiled brightly enough to put the sun to shame. The pink hood with cat ears helped, too. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Alright, here we go. Far, far away-” The whining started again, and Alison couldn’t stop herself from bursting into laughter that no doubt echoed throughout the entire apartment – the walls, she had found, were thinner than paper. Their aunt, at least, was still at work, so Alison didn’t worry about getting scolded. “Well then how should I start it?”
“Don’t be stupid, Ally, you always have to start a story by saying the magic words!” Katie’s lecturing tone was even more hilarious considering she hadn’t moved out of her pile of blankets.
“Magic words? Now, what could those be…” Alison hummed and tapped her chin in thought, arm moved away so she could see Katie’s frustrated expression. Seeing the stirrings of what could be a tantrum, Alison sighed and pushed herself back up. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it right this time.”
Katie leaned back against her pillows with a distrustful little frown, Alison trying not to laugh. Katie had a hard time staying angry and Alison was sure she’d forget this moment by the time she woke up tomorrow.
“First, though, we have to make sure everything is done for the night,” Alison said seriously, pretending like she was going to stand up. She instead was hit with a pillow, Alison catching it and falling back. “Alright, fine, I’ll do it later. Now, where was I… Right!”
Alison smiled over at Katie and took on her “storyteller” voice, “Once upon a time there were dragons.” She never found much of a difference beyond her words being more mellow, but Katie always insisted that there was a difference. Her sister seemed delighted, now, completely relaxed against her pillows and blankets. “You’ve heard other stories about dragons, but you’ve never heard the true stories, I bet.”
Alison sat up again and, as always, was unable to sit still when telling a story. “Dragons are legends for a reason, after all. They’re great, mighty beings that can be as tall as skyscrapers.” Alison jumped up onto the bed and caused Katie to shriek in laughter, Alison raising her arms up so her fingers were near brushing against the ceiling. “They were huge! A full-grown dragon could probably sit on our entire complex and crush it.”
“No! I don’t want to find a new room!” Laughing at the words that were forced out through childish laughter, Alison spread her arms as wide as she could.
“And their wings were massive! They could stretch from one end of the sky all the way to the other and there was still some left over.” A glance at her sister’s face showed Katie was utterly captivated, eyes wide and shining. “They’re the strongest creatures in the entire world and it was only the bad ones that ever got killed – or the stupid ones. You see, dragons are some of the smartest creatures to ever exist. They could easily outsmart anyone they came across.”
“Then how come there aren’t any dragons now?” Katie crossed her arms, poking at the holes in what was supposed to be a simple bedtime story. “They’re all gone!”
“Come on, Katie,” Alison sighed, crossing her own arms and shaking her head even as she still stood on the bed. “You know all of my stories are true. Dragons aren’t gone, they’re just hiding.”
“Oh.” Per child logic, Katie easily accepted the lie and relaxed again. “Why are they all hiding if they were so strong?”
“Well, you’d get sick of fighting all the time too, wouldn’t you?” Alison carefully sat down on the bed, waiting until she was sure she wouldn’t fall before she kept talking. “They went into hiding below the earth. All those mines people dig? They found them because they were originally caves that dragons used to slither deep into the earth.”
As she spoke, Alison made her voice get quiet and creepy, leaning forward and waggling her fingers. “They slithered down and even started shedding their wings as they went deeper and deeper into the earth. Their eyes became wider and wider so they could see in the dark and their claws grew even sharper so they could tear through rock-”
“No! That’s scary!” Katie disappeared under her blankets and Alison laughed, crawling up the bed to capture her in a hug. “I said no more scary stories!”
“It isn’t scary,” Alison shook her head, kissing Katie’s cheek and grinning when the girl peeked up at her. “Okay, they might sound scary, but they’re actually really nice. You know about dragon hoards, right? They have these massive hoards full of jewels and diamonds and silver and gold. You know, there are some dragons that only collect gold? They keep all types they find, from necklaces to ore to perfectly round coins.”
“That’s greedy,” Katie huffed, squirming in the hug and moving to press herself more against Alison. “Stop making them so greedy.”
“It’s not greedy! They give their hoard away!” At the shocked look, Alison smiled and lowered her voice. “It’s the dragon’s most well-kept secret, but they give up their hoard to people who deserve it.”
“What does someone have to do to deserve it?” Katie seemed like she didn’t quite believe it – which meant that Alison wasn’t doing her job right.
“They have to be kind.” Alison looked down at Katie, hugging her closer after a moment. “They have to be kind, and sometimes nice, and they have to stand up for what they think is right, and speak up when something is wrong. They have to be like you.”
“And you,” Katie yawned, leaning more against Alison. “Do you think the dragons would leave us some gold so we can buy that new dress I wanted?”
“Maybe, but we have to make sure to be the best we can be!” Alison didn’t have the heart to crush Katie’s heart, so she could at least make it seem like she had something to work for.
“Easy.” Katie yawned again and didn’t even protest as Alison carefully helped her settle down against the bed. Another moment and she was standing up and turning her lamp off. “How’s the story end?”
“Who said it has to end?” At the grumbly little whine, Alison bit back a smile. “Alright, so the dragons are all in hiding, now, but that’s okay. They’re just waiting. Dragons live for a long, long time, you know, so they have to learn to be patient. So right now they’re waiting, but one day they’ll come back up on the surface and they’ll all live happily ever after.”
By the time the last four words were said, Katie was completely asleep and didn’t look like she would be waking up anytime soon. Alison stretched hear arms out before quietly dusting her hands together.
“Another day, another story, another victory.” She was, in her humble opinion, the best storyteller to ever be born.
Grinning to herself for a moment, Alison went through the apartment as quietly as she could and made sure all the doors and windows were locked and the only light on was the porch light. Their aunt wouldn’t be back for a few hours, but Alison was used to the routine of locking up, by now.
Double-checking everything, just to be sure, Alison finally succumbed to yawning herself as she trudged her way back to the bedroom. It was cramped with two beds in it, but they made do. Besides, the lack of space wasn’t really noticeable when one was sleeping.
Crawling into the bed as quietly as she dared, Alison just barely caught herself from yelping when she felt something shockingly cold against her skin. Digging under the covers, she pulled out a round… something.
Waiting until she was under her covers and settled, Alison carefully moved her hand into a stray beam of light that came in through her curtain from the flickering lamp post outside. It took a minute or two, but Alison finally placed it as a kind of yellow coin. It was ice cold to the touch, but it was also smooth as could be. It was probably some toy or object of Katie’s that she had lost, but it looked pretty, at least. Besides, Alison could pretend it was a “gold coin” that a dragon had given to them.
The very thought had her fighting back laughter as she tucked the object under her pillow and settled back down. While it was a silly thought, it didn’t have to be a bad thing to fall asleep to the sound of shiny gold coins clinking together and a dragon rumbling in satisfaction at the edge of her hearing. She could even pretend that she and her sister were tucked away into a warm cave and a fire was crackling and popping just a few feet away. The warmth easily pulled her down into a lull and the knowledge that a fearsome, kind beast was watching over them soothed away any worries.
No. It wasn’t a bad thing at all to fall asleep to.