This piece of silliness was inspired by a forum game on The Nasty Writing Web. It’s called Corrupt a Wish and the object of the game is for one person to make a wish, and then for the next person to ‘Grant’ it but with a little bit of corruption. For instance: I made the following wish:
Alyss: I wish my room was warmer.
To which my friend Aheila replied: Granted! A dragon chooses your bedroom as his new home. You have to feed him and deal with the dragon dung. No way are you strong enough to force him out. And he doesn’t like Basjan.
When it was my turn again, I made the following wish:
Alyss: I wish I had milk for my cereal.
Another one of my friends Marsha came to my aid: Granted. The rather ugly dragon who refuses to leave your home heard you wish for milk and since he doesn’t like Basjan…*poof* you are now going to have to try riding a milk cow.
I have great friends.
This story found its origin there. I couldn’t help myself. Minias is the property of Kim Harrison, author of the Hollows series. My story does not reflect her views in any way and I do not make any money out of it. If you’re wondering about the character Minias in my room, please read the following post.
The Dragon
It was with a great sense of relief that Alyssa finally returned home after spending three weeks living at her cousins home with the three cats, the two dogs and all of her allergies. Although she had enjoyed the space of having a house to herself, she couldn’t wait to return to her small, one room garden flat. She might barely have enough space in there to turn around in (mostly because the place was filled up with two bookcases, a writing desk, her bed, drawers, clothes cupboard, more books, a television, PS3, her geriatric dog and her horse riding stuff…) but it was hers and she liked it.
Walking up to her room, wondering why her dog wasn’t there to greet her, Alyssa was about to unlock the door when a sharp smell reached her sense. She grimaced and rubbed her nose, the burnt acidy smell almost overwhelming. She wasn’t the only person living in her room. A couple of months ago, a demon called Minias – who was fleeing from his crazy lover, took up lodgings underneath her bed, shaping the dark abyss of chaos into something liveable. She hadn’t been there personally, but she suspected that it was quite nice. Despite sharing the same space, they rarely saw each other, save for the odd occasion when Minias made Alyssa coffee as part of their original agreement. She didn’t want to know what he did in his spare time and he in turn thought that her life was pretty boring so he wasn’t interested. Lately, Alyssa was almost willing to call him friend, but it was a far stretch – especially on days like this.
“Minias!” She snapped as she threw her door open. “What the hell is that smell?!”
The demon had been visiting a NaSty friend of hers Jenn during the time that she was away at her cousins and she hadn’t thought that he’d be back so soon.
As soon as the door opened, there was a startled cry from inside and a loud crash that could only be her pile of dvd’s falling over. Alyssa gaped as a pony sized dragon flap it’s leathery wings and hiss at her from her bed where it had clearly been sleeping. It jumped to the floor and came to her, forcing her to slam the door in its face.
“What the…” Alyssa leaned against the door surprised, unable to comprehend what she had just seen. When she saw her sausage dog look at her from round the corner of the house she motioned wildly in the air. “Is that a dragon?!”
Her dog Nikki gave her a ‘Well Duh’ look and disappeared again.
Gaping at her, Alyssa stepped away from her door and opened it, taking a peek inside. The dragon, who was now close to the door, leapt at her again. Alyssa slammed the door shut just in time and stood there for a few moments, her heart beating in her chest.
“Bloody hell!” She cursed suddenly and whipped out her mobile phone. “That demon is a dead demon.” She wasn’t sure whether Minias was there or not but there was one way to find out. As she waited for the phone to connect, she heard a scratching sound from the other side of the door. “Oh no you don’t,” she muttered as she put her weight against the door. “You’re not…”
The phone stopped ringing.
“..lo?” The voice on the other side was muffled and sleep filled. Alyssa didn’t have much sympathy, her mind occupied with other matters.
“Jenn!” She snapped. “Jenn, is Minias still there?”
The panic in her voice drew through to her friend. “Alyssa?” she queried in a hushed whisper. “What’s wrong?” There was another muffled voice from the other side of the line, but Jenn obviously stood up out of bed and left the room. Alyssa took a few deep breaths to try and control her temper.
“Is Minias still there?” she queried. “I really, really need to speak to him.”
There were more sounds from the other side of the phone as Jenn put on a robe. “He should be,” she said slowly. “What’s wrong Alyssa?”
Her fellow NaSty let out a deep breath. “There is a dragon in my room.”
“Ah what?”
The dragon threw itself against the door, making a loud bang. “There is a dragon in my room!” Alyssa snapped. “A big, NaSty one with leathery wings! It’s trying to eat me!”
Jenn was quiet for several seconds before she exclaimed something loudly in a language Alyssa couldn’t understand. “Jenn!” She moaned. “This is no time for GREEK! Oh gods… It’s whimpering.” Sure enough, the scratching and banging stopped, replaced instead by a pitiful whimpering sound. Unable to help herself Alyssa opened the door a bit and looked inside again. The dragon was now sitting down on the floor, looking at her with its snake like amber eyes.
“Alyssa!” Jenn shouted from the other side of the phone. “Did you open the door?!”
Alyss made a considering sound. “Hmm,” she said and carefully opened the door a bit wider. “You are an ugly little shit aren’t you? Has Minias just left you here all by yourself? Are you hungry…” She paused. “MY FISH!!” She leapt into the room without thinking and rushed the three steps to her fishbowl. Sure enough, the tank was ominously empty.
“No!” Alyssa hollered. “No no no! Bad dragon, bad dragon!”
The dragon seemed undeterred by her tone of voice and started bouncing up and down, ecstatic with her presence. It knocked the phone out of her hand as it started rubbing against, her, sending it flying underneath her cupboard.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Alyssa said in dismay, still in shock over her fish. “Get… Get down! Get down! Sit!” She forced all the command that she could manage into her voice but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Instead, the dragon bounced back onto her bed and gave her pillow a friendly shake. Growling to herself, Alyssa fished her telephone out from underneath the cupboard, only to find that the line has been disconnected. Sighing in dismay, Alyss pushed herself up and went over to the bed to sit down, feeling that she’s established that the dragon wasn’t going to eat her.
“Great,” she muttered as she sank down next to the foul smelling creature. “Now she probably thinks I’ve been eaten.” She tried to dial the number but instead got connected to the Cellphone Lady that lived in her phone. “You have reached your call limit,” the woman said cheerfully. “Please recharge your account.”
Alyssa groaned and shook her head. “Skippy doo,” she said and looked at the dragon. “You realize your master’s most probably going to die for this right?”
The dragon didn’t seem concerned as it pulled another one of her pillows closer and started sucking on it. Alyss wanted to scold him but was interrupted by her phone. Looking at the caller id, she quickly answered it. “Jenn!” She answered. “Hi.” 
“Oh thank goodness Alyss!” her friend said. “I thought that you were eaten!”
“No,” Alyssa said miserably. “But my fish were. Where’s Minias?”
“Here,” Jenn replied sounding very relieved to hear that her friend was still alive. “I ran to find him.”
Alyss growled as the dragon nuzzled her back, sniffing her hair. “Pass the phone on and stand back, this might get loud.”
Despite the situation, Jenn giggled as she handed over the phone. There was a pause and then a very distinguished.
“Yes?”
“Minias,” Alyssa’s voice was soft and slow. “Have you been briefed on the situation?”
There was a pause and then: “I have been informed.” Another pause. “Are you… alright?” Normally, Alyssa would’ve been touched by his almost show of concern but right now, she was only angry.
“NO!” She snapped. “He ATE Rachel and Linden Minias! My room is a mess! Close to destroyed! My dog is hiding somewhere in the house and there is a big bloody ugly lizard devouring my pillows! Is it even allowed to do that?!”
“Now, calm down Alyssa,” Minias said levelly from the other side. “Getting all worked up won’t help anybody and you might antagonize it.”
There was a mini nuclear explosion in the southern hemisphere. “I’m the one being antagonized!” Alyssa yelled. “Minias? Where did this bloody thing come from?!” There was a confused sound from the dragon as he looked at Alyssa, her face almost as red as her hair.
The demon must’ve realized that he might just have pushed her a bit too far because his approach was a little bit gentler this time. “Well,” he said quietly. “You’ll have to describe it to me Alyssa, because I wouldn’t know. It’s not mine.”
On the bed, the dragon shifted and turned so that it could coil its tail around Alyss’s waist and, to her ire, it put its head over her shoulder. “It’s but ugly,” Alyssa growled as she shifted the phone to her other ear. “Bugger off you.” She tried to push the dragon away. “It’s pretty muscular, it’s got knobs on its head like a giraffe, it’s got a tail that forks like a bloody earwig insect, it’s got paws like a dog rather than claws. It’s pitch black. Yellow eyes. Why did you make that sound?”
Minias paused innocently. “What sound do you mean?”
Alyssa growled at him. “That sound that you make when you’re trying not to laugh. Minias?!”
The demon swallowed a chuckle. “I’ll have to come and look at it Alyssa,” he said. “But, it doesn’t sound hostile. Just sit tight, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Just sit tight?!” Alyssa snapped. “Minias! There… Is… A… Dragon… In… My… Room!”
“Consider yourself lucky that it isn’t a man eating butternut,” the demon said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can manage. Oh and Alyssa?”
“WHAT?!”
“I have Rachel and Linden with me. Your fish are safe.”
The young woman deflated like a balloon. “Oh,” she said slowly. “Ah.. Thank you.” She could hear Minias’ smile in his voice.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, but it’s going to take a while because you know the limitations that I have.”
Alyssa sighed and rubbed her head, feeling a pounding migraine making its way to her. Behind her, the dragon rumbled and twisted so that he could put his head in her lap. Feeling better now that she knew he didn’t devour her goldfish she felt strangely better about the very dire situation.
“Don’t get caught,” she said miserably. “And, just… Come back and deal with it. Say good bye to Jenn for me, tell her I’ll contact her later when my head’s a bit clearer.”
She switched off the phone and threw it onto her desk, looking at the dragon’s head on her lap. He seemed to have settled and was now rumbling happily. Muttering to herself, Alyssa squeezed her throbbing temples and then carefully touched the dragon’s face, feeling its warm, leathery skin.
“This is going to become NaSty isn’t it?”
The dragon crooned in response, pushing against her hand for more. Alyssa sighed again and shook her head.
“I am going to regret this day.”
To Be Continued…
Alyssa's Blog 