“Dad! Dad! Dad!” My sweet, innocent fighter of a little girl screamed in a way I’ve never heard. Of all the adventures she’s had, all the near-death experiences, all the times she had been left alone to her own devices while her father vanished, I have never seen her this scared, never seen her out of control.
“Dad! Dad! Help! Dad!”
Her voice broke my heart. I am sure it broke Dragon Father’s heart as well, as he aimed his jetpack at the voice.
The only thing I could see on the Night Planet was the circle of light around Dragon Father, as he held a torch while flying with his jetpack. He flew in a straight line towards the voice, crashing through walls without pain, crashing through a tractor and through a crane.
“I’m coming for you, Joy! I’m coming!”
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” her breathing was getting faster, but thinner, as if she couldn’t breathe.
A few more seconds, and he lit the room she was in: she had crawled out of and fallen out of a container in a warehouse full of containers. The jetpack stopped centimeters short from where she had been, and Dragon Father threw aside the torch and grabbed his daughter with both hands.
His legs on the ground, he lifted her up, hugging her, as she fell into his chest.
“I’m here, Joy, I’m here. I’m here. Everything’s good.”
Dragon Little sobbed into his chest.
“Oh, my god, Joy, Joy, you were left alone on the dark planet?”
She nodded into his chest.
“It was all so dark?”
She nodded.
“And you’re so afraid of the dark?”
She nodded.
His voice was soothing, and the more he asked, the calmer she became. The crying slowly stopped and she just held on to him, her face buried in his chest.
“And then you had to get into that box to save yourself?”
She nodded.
“And then it was even darker that you couldn’t take it?”
She nodded.
“Oh, my god, oh my god, how scared you must have been. I’m so sorry I left, I got a phone call in the middle of the night, but I got back here as soon as I could, yeah?”
She nodded. Dragon Father tried to move Dragon Little downwards, but she wouldn’t move and wouldn’t show her face.
“Joy?”
She clung tighter.
“Joy?”
She hid in his chest.
“You’re not coming out?”
She shook her head, still hidden in his chest. He laughed, then made a face seeing how panicked she still was.
“Hmmm….” he said. No doubt he saw the need to calm her down and take the fear out of her. I’m sure a plan was hatched in his mind for the thing he would do next. But I will tell you more about that tomorrow.
—Told by The Red Dragon