Isle of the Beasts
Short Story Version
Eric gazed out the plane window. He didn’t like flying. Not one bit. He always found it too scary, and the mere thought of the plane crashing made him nauseous with fear. “Too bad,” says his mother wryly. “You’re only eight years old. You don’t have a choice.” She said that every time, and Eric was getting frustrated. They were flying to Italy to visit his grandparents for a couple weeks. Eric was glad that he got to skip school, but that meant more homework, and he couldn’t bear to leave his friends for more than two days.
Suddenly, the plane started shaking. Eric grasped the armrest and pulled his feet up on the chair. People yelped with fear, and the annoying two-year old across the aisle woke up and started crying. “Please buckle up, we are experiencing some turbulence.” The captain reassured as the passengers started to calm down and a very embarrassed mother shushed her child, prompting it to go back to sleep.
“Mom, what’s turbulence?” Eric asked
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Its eyes were black as night, grey ridged marks like tear streaks under its eyes. The animal’s mouth went all the way down the length of its unusually long neck, and on its shoulders sprouted immense wings. Its hind legs and part of its tail were covered in what looked like tar. The light Eric saw was emanating from the creature itself. It twitched one long, tufted ear and glared down at him, shifting one huge paw. Rather than snapping at him and eating him whole, it laid its head down on its paws and ignored him, which Eric took as a sign that it was used to seeing humans around. Slowly, he crept towards its face. It stared at him through dark eyes and a deep rumbling sounded from its throat. Suddenly, he felt a connection with it, as if he could understand it. Carefully, he rested a cautious, shaky hand on its muzzle. It continued to stare at him through its jet-black