I stare up at the cerulean blue sky, lazily watching the clouds slowly drift by as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

“Look!” My sister is sprawled on her back in the grass, the emerald blades making her red hair stand out sharply in contrast.

I follow my gaze where she is pointing and see a huge cloud billowing on the horizon.

“It’s an elephant!” She breathes, amazement lighting up her small face.

I smile. “It does look like one, huh?”

She nods vigorously. “Or it could be a cheetah, racing through the sky!”

“Or a dragon,” I play along, dropping my voice to a whisper, “a huge fire-breathing dragon fleeing from Earth.”

My sister’s eyes widen. “Why is it leaving?”

“Here on Earth, people don’t have a need for dragons anymore. We don’t need them to light our fires with their scalding breath, or to protect us from harm, because we have weapons for that. We don’t need dragons anymore, so they are leaving this world, never to return.” I make my voice deep and ominous.

“Never?” My sister’s chin begins to tremble.

“They’ll come back when we need them,” I amend hastily. I gaze up at the sky, imagining ruby red, brilliant sapphire, and shining gold dragons swooping through the air. “They’ll come back one day,” I whisper. “They will. And when they come back, they’ll dance around, their scales glinting in the sunlight, their voices as loud as thunder as they roar in content. The sound will echo for miles and miles, and everyone will know that the dragons have returned.”

I glance down to see what my sister thinks of my story, but her eyes are closed, her breathing deep and even. I smile to myself and gather her into my arms, walking slowly back into the house. I glance wistfully behind me one last time and can almost see a dragon swooping through the sky.