A New Friend

A New Friend

The day seemed perfect, no school, homework done, parents gone. Everything just seemed to come together and the best way to end a great day like this is to take a hike in the nearby forest. There is a place on about half an hour up a mountain that was perfect to see the sun sink into the rest of the Rocky Mountain Range. However, the teenager didn't realize the unknown dangers of the forest just after sunset.
A bag with water bottles and a first aid kit was all the teen was taking for his trip. He wouldn't be gone long, hour and a half at the most. He slung the bag's strap over his right shoulder and set out down the forest path.
Various tweets and calls filled the forest and Redwoods with melody sound. There would be the occasional hawk that would majestically fly over in search of a new home. The path was cluttered with the orange and brown leaves of autumn along with various sticks and twigs. The path was relatively clear of any large debris. The curious teenager continued to climb with the sun at his back, lighting his way.
A few miles away an adolescent green dragon stirred in his slumber within his cave. He yawned widely as the orange sun gleamed off his sharp, white teeth. The dragon pushed himself up off the rock floor and faced the sun. He had been asleep all day from a long and tiresome flight from the North. His stomach growled hungrily which prompted him to sniff the air to see if there was any easy prey with his territory.
"Hmm, bird, squirrel, rabbit, deer, and... what's this?" The dragon thought aloud. "Human? Well, this is new."
He got to his feet and set out into the forest following the scent he had just picked up. The dragon was looking forward to finding this human; he wanted someone to talk to. It would get lonely in his cave at nights when the forest would quiet down. One thing that was hard to get over is the fact that the dragon also liked how humans taste. He only had two throughout his life and he loved it, but didn't like the fact that both of them died. They're a bit more than just deer or wild boars. They were animals that you could have a conversation with, animals that could do something with their lives other than just eat and sleep. However, that was long before the dragon learned how to take advantage of both his stomachs. One was a digestive stomach, which was used for obvious reasons, and the other was a storage stomach, which was used to store water and food for long flights.
The dragon came across a path leading up the mountain. The human scent was strong here. 'He must have just been through here,' the dragon thought. He looked up and down the path, the only sign of humans were fresh footprints left in the earth leading further into the forest. The dragon smiled and followed the path, but was interrupted by the growling of his stomach.
'There might be some deer near the path, but if there isn't… Hmmm, humans are smart, they can talk. So maybe I can reason with this human after I eat it.' The dragon grinned at his plan, 'It'll be safe and once it knows it, it might want to be my friend.'
The teen finally came to a break in the thicket of trees roughly half way up the mountain. It was a beautiful sight, the scattered clouds had turned to an emblazing orange color as the sun steadily sunk below the Rocky Mountain Range. The sun had an effect on the lake off to the left in the valley, it seemed to turn the water to a crystal blue when the sun reflected off of it.
'Wow,' the teenager thought to himself when he witnessed this sight like this. He lingered there just amazed by the beauty of it, then in the silence of the serene moment there a subtle, 'snap!' of twig coming from the path he just walked up on. This caused the teen to glance over and that's when he saw this green scaly beast standing several feet taller than him sneaking up the path.
'Oh no, he saw me. He'll try to run away now and I might not find him,' the dragon thought just before he took off up the path in a mad sprint. The human froze in shock, before he started running too. The dragon couldn't help but think how futile this was. The dragon then jumped smoothly and gracefully, almost like he was walking on thin air, until his front paws were on the human's back. He fell just as planned and the dragon quickly dug his claws around the human ensuring he couldn't escape.
"Help! Someone! Help!!" the human yelled as he struggle trying to find a way out of the grasp of the dragon's paws.
The dragon felt pity on the human, he hesitated and finally spoke, "Hello Human," the dragon said trying to seem as friendly as possible.
'What!? Did this monster just talk?' the teenager first thought when the dragon spoke to him. He hesitated again before replying back to the dragon. "Pl-Please let me go!" he shouted and stuttered in fear.
"Don't worry human, I will not hurt you. Al-" The dragon began before he was cut off by the low, but noticeable rumble of his hungry stomach. "I'm just curious," he said quickly, hoping the human hadn't heard that he was hungry.
"Don't hurt me! Please!" the teenager pleaded.
The dragon gave a mental sigh of relief when he heard this. It means the human hadn't heard the growl of his stomach. 'This is good, he doesn't know, but how do I explain to this Human that I won't harm him once I eat him, should I explain to him before… or after? I should have thought this through.'
"Quit panicking human, I wouldn't dream of hurting you," the dragon softly said and gave the human a friendly lick. The dragon was surprised; humans taste better than he remembers!
The teenager flinched and cringed at the lick. "Dragon, please, I'll do anything! Let me go!" he said almost yelling in fear. This may have been a mistake.
The dragon smiled widely, "Anything you say? Well, I could use a friend. Will you be my friend?"
The teenager looked confused, shocked even. "A what…?"
"A friend, it gets lonely in the forest," the dragon replied, starting to loosen up his grip around the human.
"Uh, yes, sure, I'll be your friend. Just let me go!" The teenager said quickly and probably didn't think it through.
The dragon picked up his paw from the human and his stomach growled for food again. He then stood up on his haunches. The dragon looked much more intimidating and taller this way.
The teenager quickly stood up and backed away some, he didn't want to stay there for a minute longer.
"Don't run, please. Friends are supposed to trust each other."
At that moment, the teenager realized what he had just committed too. He didn't know what to say, but the dragon was right, friends do trust each other. "Ye-Yeah, they do," he said stammering and hesitantly.
'This is it! He trusts me!' the dragon thought excitedly to himself. The dragon then grabbed the human firmly and brought him to eye level. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," he said as he tore the straps of the human's bag and dropped it on the ground.
The teenager had panicked at first, but was somewhat calmed down when the dragon spoke to him, "Hey! What's this for?" he questioned.
The dragon just licked him before he opened his jaws. The dragon's sharp, white teeth gleamed in what little sunlight was left. His breath was not the best, but not the worst since it had been a while since he had eaten.
"What the hell!?" the teenager swore aloud as he resisted trying to grab onto one of the dragons claws as he let go. It was no vial though and the dragon closed his mouth around the teenager.
It was dark inside the dragon's mouth. The sound of breathing was definitely noticeable. The dragon's tongue then wrapped around teenager coating him in this gooey, sticky saliva. The teenager once again desperately tried grabbing on to something knowing the impending future. But his attempts all failed. Everything was covered in this slippery saliva; it was next to impossible to get a grip on anything.
"Let me out! Help! Someone help!" the human cried. In the back of his mind, he was confused. This dragon wanted to be friends, wanted someone that he could trust and then he starts eating him. This didn't make any sense.
The dragon was wondering why the human was struggle and calling for help. He wasn't going to hurt him. He would be safe inside his storage stomach. 'I think I should have told him before, well it's too late for that,' the dragon thought as he licked the human around before tilting his head back and gave a powerful swallow, pulling the human up to his chest in his throat causing a slight bulge in it. He greatly enjoyed the struggles inside his throat and swallowed again.
The teenager struggled and yelled trying to get out of this dragon's throat. It was lost, it was lost the second the dragon had grabbed him. It's now impossible to escape the grasp and tightness of the dragon's throat, he was at his mercy. Though, he would soon find out that things could be much worse.
The teenager stopped after his feet entered the dragons throat and began the descend to the stomach. This was something that was difficult to fathom, being eaten alive. He had never thought he would be going out like this. He gave up; there wasn't anything he could do. Soon he was forced through the small entry hole for the stomach. He fell a few short inches to the fleshy floor where the dragon's heart beat could be heard profoundly. The dragon's stomach wasn't very big, it was just big enough to contain the teenager.
The teenager laid there in a small pool of liquid, quietly sobbing to himself. However, that's when he realized something. The pool of liquid he was laying in didn't hurt or sting or burn at all. That was weird, acids are supposed to dissolve flesh, so why wouldn't this. Then the last words the dragon had said came into mind.
"Human?" the dragon asked the small bulge in stomach. "Are you okay Human?"
"Why aren't you digesting me?"
"Why would I? It would be hard to have friends if you digested them. I was just really hungry and wanted a snack. You're in my storage stomach by the way."
"So you're not going to kill me?"
The dragon dropped down on all four legs and started walking down the path, "Of course not!"
The teenager sighed with relief, "When are you going to be throwing me up or something?"
"I don't know, it would probably soon though. What's your name?"
"It's Richard, you?"
The dragon thought about this, he obviously knew his name he also knew that Richard wouldn't have a chance at pronouncing it. Maybe a nickname, possibly something he enjoyed. Humans was one of them, but what about human technology. That interested him.
"Well you couldn't pronounce it, but you can call me Tech," the dragon smiled at his nickname when strayed off the path and into the forest.