Abandonment- Dragon Cave Drabble

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The young woman looked down at the egg in her hands, then at the ever-shifting pile of loss and rejection in front of her. She swallowed, her hands shifting nervously; the egg was velvety to the touch, soft and shimmering slightly in the light. Reaching out to put it on the pile, she paused before drawing back and hugging it to her chest. The egg she'd rubbed and polished every day, promising the hatchling inside that it would be the fluffiest and most beautiful dragon the Cave had ever seen. That they'd have so many fun adventures together, just her and it. When she had first plucked it from this same pile all that time ago, she promised it she would look after it- and now she was going to break that promise.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to do this.

Glancing at the bulging bag that held her eggs- two shining bronze, one dead and cold, the other covered in a thick crust- she run her justifacations through her mind once more. She wasn't allowed more than five eggs, and these were ten a penny- weren't they? There was only so much time to get a rare and she could always get a new Pillow dragon later, when the season was over. Yes, she had to do it. She had no choice.

Leaning forward, she placed the egg on the Abandoned pile with a finality she certainly didn't feel. A strange moistness threatened to spill over her eyes, and it felt like her throat was being squeezed. "Good luck, baby." she whispered, weaving a small spell of good fortune around the egg's soft shell. Then, turning away, she made to leave. A few steps away, though, the feeling got too great and she made to walk back. She couldn't abandon her baby, she just couldn't!

But it was too late. Another was already walking away with her precious baby under his arm, bound for what fate she could only guess. It was the time of year that people bore off eggs to turn them into vampires, or hatched them only to plunge a knife into their trusting hearts and raise them from the dead as zombies. The hand on her throat squeezed harder, and for a second she hated herself.

She'd let her baby down.

It trusted her with it's life, and how had she repayed it?

She stayed at the Abandoned pile for a while, making only half-hearted grabs at the rare Marrows and Pumpkins before they were snatched away; to be honest, she didn't care anymore. She just wanted her baby back, her soft little trusting baby. Then she saw it, a little velvety egg sitting ignored among the rest. It wasn't her baby, but it didn't matter. It was a second chance, a way to make things right again. Gasping, she darted forward and snatched it, obvlious to the odd looks the others gave her.

Who snatched a Pillow dragon at this time of year?

"Oh, my little baby." she whispered as her eyes filled with tears, stroking it's cold shell. "I'm not going to let you down... Oh, no- not this time. Your my little love, and I'll look after you!"

This is baed on a true story- see my Cave for proof, if you don't believe me!