The Moon Dragon

Epilogue

Life, as Sylvia found out, went on.

Her parents and the police both were completely baffled by the young, presumed-dead, missing girl from the small town turned back up in the middle of the night, found asleep on her bed by her parents in the morning.

There probably would have been a fanfare, a Welcome Home party, certainly plenty of questions from the police and everyone else. Questions she couldn't answer.

But her reappearance was somewhat overshadowed by the body that was found on the oval the same night.

Her parents sat her down, so sorry to tell her this right after her kidnapping by a person that the police couldn't find yet, a person that Sylvia couldn't describe. So sorry to tell her this, right after all the trauma that she just went through. Her grief was not something that needed to be faked.

Grace Monroe, found dead, cause of death was not released to the public.

But people talked.

It was the cryptid, they said. The one that caused the roars in the night. The thing that really caused the destruction at the school, rather than the bomb threat that it was claimed to be.

School was closed for most of the time Sylvia was gone, so she wasn't truly missed too much.

But she was told about the new beast that appeared on the night of the full moon, falling from the sky. It hid in the woods, they said. It came for its prey on nights of the New Moon, they said. Like poor Grace Monroe.

You could hear the cryptid, they said, if you stood in the moonlight and listened.

They called it the Moon Dragon.

x+x+x

Sylvia opened the door, at the knock.

Her heart leaped in her chest as she saw who stood there.

Atlan stood at the doorway, curls tousled and hit by the sun behind him in a way that gave him a halo. He wore a gentle smile, and his bright blue eyes were looking at her. Her stomach fluttered.

He held a bundle of flowers in his hand, little white ones with circular petals. White Morning-Glories. Moon Flowers.

"Hey, Vee."

She was breathless. "Hi, Atlan."

He didn't let the awkward silence linger. "How are you holding up? Not back at school yet, I noticed."

"Yeah, still taking it quietly for a while." Her face was so hot. She was probably blushing so hard. "Doctor's orders, you know." She waved a hand at the various bandages on her body.

He chuckled. "I think that's allowed." His smile made her smile. That wasn't something she had done in quite a while.

She realized she was just staring at him like an idiot, and had still left him standing on the doorway. "Oh! I'm so sorry, do you want to come in?"

"No, I won't." Now he looked nervous. What was going on? "I just wanted to ask you something. You're still getting better, and this is probably really bad timing on my part... You don't have to answer now."

Her heart was thumping so hard, she was sure he would be able to hear it.

"I don't know how true it was, when.... When Grace said that you liked me. But... I really missed you when you were missing. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I was so worried about you, and it made me realize some things. Don't say anything back now, but I need you to know that I like you, too. And I would love to go out with you sometime, if you'd like that. It's all good if you don't, but- I just needed you to know."

He shoved the flowers into her hand.

He smiled again. Hesitated. "Bye!"

Then he was gone.

Sylvia was left on the doorstep, flowers held gently, so gently in her hand. She couldn't move. Her heart sung. It was a long, breathless moment before her shocked stupor broke. She ran out the door. There he was, down the end of the street, walking away.

She ran to him, calling his name. He turned and smiled.

Life, as she found out, did go on.

x+x+x

Doctor Melissa Monroe wasn't dead.

But as she stood before a cold metal table in a cold, cold morgue, part of her wished she was.

It had taken her a few days to get out of hospital, even after the call came in about the body. When one was injured by an alien, it took a lot of quarantine before they let you go.

The same alien, the same beast had gotten out, right when she wasn't there to make sure it didn't. It broke out and disappeared, using a new ice-spitting ability they didn't even know it had.

The same ice that they found on the body, back home.

The body before her now. Her daughter.

Tears seeped and stung against the four stitched, parallel lacerations that ran through her face.

This was her fault.

The beast had gone after her daughter because of her.

That was what it was. A beast. It was a killer, a vengeful killer, loose in the world.

It would kill again, she was sure of it. And she couldn't let that happen.

As she stood before Grace's body, obscured by the loose white sheet, she made a vow on her daughter's memory.

She would find the beast, even if it killed her.

On her own life, she swore, she would make sure it never hurt anyone ever again.

END.

A/N:

The end, tada.

Uh so I do have the remaining two instalments of the Mood Dragon Trilogy planned, a completion to Sylvia and Atlan's story. Will write them if this gets enough interest.

If you made it this far thanks for reading :)