5

I woke up in complete darkness, but it felt like he was messaging my back. "There now, no need to worry about what's going on around you. Just relax and let these gentle hands release all stresses from you," I heard something say. I was in such a trance, though, that I hadn't given what was going on another thought. "There, now relax your body. Let the tension out of your muscles," I heard the same thing say as I started going numb. All I could feel was the steady rhythm of my heart as my mind was slowly beginning to drift. "yes, let the mind heal, and once you open your eyes, you'll see the world in a different light," the same thing said before I opened my eyes.

I was hardly able to move for a few minutes. With little more to do than ponder, I realized that it might be futile to try to get her to take me. Because, for me, their rarity didn't matter; it was their heart that did.

Over the course of that year up to around December, I was slowly starting to feel more inconvenienced by the dragon that took me into the woods on the weekly. The week before I knew it'd be too cold for her, I laid it on her. I told her how I felt like my now 7-year-old self was just being used for comfort. However, she'd brought me something from her world this time—a blanket made from an alien fabric. I'd never felt something so soft, and even though it smelled like a dragon and, for whatever reason, an alien snake, I slept with that thing around me just about every night, and I remembered how I should treasure the time I get with her.

One night though, I heard a hissing sound in my room. It was from a naga that somehow got into my room. "Kid, hey kid," I heard the naga say as it pushed me to try to wake me up.

"What, why are you here and in my room?

"Could I get some warmth from your body? I'm kinda stuck here for the night, and it's freezing."

"Might as well, I mean, I can't let a visitor suffer, especially a cold-blooded one." I let him under my covers, and I let him coil around my body.

"Aren't you scared? I could easily take you right now."

"I just need comfort. I've been so conflicted on whether or not to let one particular dragon that I've known for close to three years, one that can change color and holds me in comfort like a mother take me or look for another to take me instead," I said before trying to fall asleep in his coils.

"Follow your heart, child, follow your heart," he told me before falling asleep. Despite the potential risk, it was one of the better nights I had before I became a shifter, but upon waking up the next day, though, I heard the naga talking to someone else in another room. "Mam, I mean Nathan no harm. I just needed the warmth for the night," I heard him say to my grandma. I rushed out of my room and said: "He's telling the truth." I proceeded to catch my breath. "He gets cold as I do at times."

"Yeah, I'll be going now, but I'll come around again." He said before entering and then closing the door to my room.

"How were you fine with him in your room?" She asked me.

"I've needed new sources of comfort. Was what I needed," I replied. I headed into my room to find an odd-looking plush sitting in the middle of my room. "Why does this look like I'm supposed to fit inside of it?"

"Where did that naga go?"

"Beats me at this point."

"Right, well, I'll be... trying to figure out what happened," she replied before leaving the room.

Looking at the plush, I noticed an odd zipper that ran down its back. The length was unusual as it went from the base of the neck to its tail. I unzipped it and realized what I was dealing with. After I got everything but my underwear off of me, I began to climb inside. The fabric felt just like how I've heard people describe it. However, the plush was about 6 feet tall, and while my feet didn't touch anything at first, eventually, I felt the material adjust itself to fit my current frame, and the zipper zip moved and trapped me inside. I suddenly felt the plush hug me while I was inside of it. The plush had somehow changed its size to fit my small frame when I was in it.

"Doesn't that feel good Char? You're safe inside of me now. No need to threat," I heard the plush say.

"It does, but make sure to let me out, ok?"

"I was brought here to help you in your sorrows, Char. To help you heal and to help you follow your heart.

"That's what I thought. I'll let you hold me while I relax," I replied as I let my body lay limp inside it. The plush helped me out better than most things. I slept in it and the alien blanket. All that combined, I sometimes fell asleep for up to 10 hours. One night though, a creature I've never even heard of before somehow got into my home.