As a child, I grew up leading a sheltered life.  I didn’t have the hardships of all the other children living on the streets and I didn’t care.  The only thing I really cared about was my sketchbooks.

Nobody could tear me away from my drawings which I spent hours doodling on.  Day and night, I would labor on some fantastic drawings of dragons, horses, wolves and other sorts of mythical creatures.  Many of my friends thought of me as weird because of my shyness and love for drawing.  I couldn’t help it if I had a natural ability for drawing creatures which looked life-like.

My parents always guided me in the right direction and helped me surpass my classmates to skip a few grade levels in school.  This was another reason why everyone hated me.  I was an artist and brainiac.  

The whole family wanted me to become a doctor so I could be busy with work and make a lot of money.  I disgraced them.  The only thing I wanted to do in life was travel to faraway places with my sketchbook in tow and see the world around me.

While I was still young, I would pretend I was an animal.  I liked tigers, wolves, horses, birds and many other creatures too long to count.  I would always save the best for last.  Mythical creatures such as vampires, werewolves and dragons would be played out as imaginary scenes in my bedroom.  I always wished to be a dragon.  Not just the I-can-imagine-a-dragon-rawr, but a real, oxygen-breathing dragon with hide the color of the ocean waves crashing down fading to an aquamarine.  Its large wings would be able to carry itself leagues away, far and wide.  Piercing, golden eyes would adorn its long and angular head.  Feathers, sprouting from the crown of the head to the underside of its jaw, would give an impression of royalty.  All of this, I envisioned myself being if I were a dragon.

My dad tried to persuade me not to imagine these ‘abominations’ anymore because it was detrimental to my health.  My mom would back him up saying that I should study more and focus on getting good grades to get into a college I want.  Yeah, like I want to do that.  I did not understand why they did this to me but I secretly kept my fantasies going late at night when I knew my parents were asleep.  

Oh, if only I knew my greatest fantasy would become my greatest fear when my game turned into reality, which would haunt me…for the rest of my life.