The only thing keeping Leo in his room was his brother waiting for him on the other side of the door.

“Just come on out.”

“No way!”

“I’m not mad.”

“Then why are you still there?”

“Just come out.”

“It wasn’t my fault.”
Leo pushed the door until a hairline crack revealed his brother. Then another inch. Then two.

The door was shoved wide open.

“AHH!!!”

“Get over here!!”
Matt burst into the room, grabbing Leo in a head lock before he could dart out. Leo flailed and swung his arms, trying to escape, but it was like a bear hold a wriggling fish in its mouth. After several minutes of yelling and wrestling, Matt had one foot on his little brother’s stomach and was looking down at him with mild amusement.
“Where’s the trophy?”
“I didn’t touch it after it was broken.”
“Where is it?”
“Ou-outside. I’m sorry.”
“Go get it.”

Leo rolled out from under his brother’s foot and slunk down the stairs to the screen door in the kitchen. As he passed though the living room, the TV newscast blared “Recent reports of robberies have risen dramatically from all across suburban areas in the state. However, all of them have only been items stolen from lawns and outside the victim’s houses. Any possible suspects have yet to be identified.”

It was a cool summer night, and the rays from the back porch lights reflected lazy moths and mosquitoes floating across the lawn. Leo’s parents were out that night, so he and his brother had spent most of the time trying to not get into a fight- that had lasted about twenty minutes. Matt wasn’t a bad older brother, but he could never seem to trust Leo. Was it his un-kept hair, or his eyes that always seemed to be smiling, even when he wasn’t? As Leo walked down the steps onto the lawn, his sneakers making the boards groan, an eerie sound slid out of the trees at the border of their property. Leo froze, imaginary monsters flooding his head. Seconds later there was another, sounding at first like a moan and ending in a hiss.

Leo shuddered. I hate the woods, as he kept moving towards the swing set where his shame was hidden. This was why he had set up several recorders underneath the fake rock near the swimming pool. Every time his mom shouted at him to give the video games up for an hour and play outside, he would walk out to the rock, turn on the recorders and loop them with sounds that he had once recorded of he and his brother playing outside. He would then sneak back through the garage, and keep playing. This was one of the few things that Leo and his brother actually agreed on. She still hadn’t found out.

When he was about twenty feet away from one of the swings supports, the golden glint of the trophy disappeared. A second later, he realized it hadn’t vanished- something had moved in front of it. What happened next would never leave Leo’s mind.

Even in the dark, Leo could tell the creature was at least six feet long. At first, he thought it was a crocodile, which was strange considering that they lived in upstate New York. When it turned its head and looked at Leo, he felt the ground turn to super glue. Its head was no doubt reptilian, with a frill of horns jutting from the back of its head that covered its neck. It held its tail above the ground like a dinosaur, with a row of curved spines down its back. Its skin was scaly, but hung off its sides as if it was too big for its body. With the same moaning hiss the creature dropped the trophy and shot towards the nearest tree. It leapt off of a branch, stretched out its legs, and its extra skin spread out into a black membrane. Leo could only stare as it glided away through the trees as silent as a ghost on its bat-like wings.

For about a minute it was all Leo could do to not wet his pants. There wasn’t a sound but the chirp of crickets and the occasional distant car engine. He darted forward and grabbed the trophy, only to snatch his hand back in pain. The metal was steaming and had melted in several places where the creatures teeth at touched it.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT!?!”

Matt tossed Leo aside and snatched up the trophy.

“Ow! Why is it so hot?”

Leo scrambled to his feet.

“W-we have to get back inside and call mom and dad!”

“Don’t worry we will- when the ambulance comes to get you!”

Matt shoved Leo to the ground again and raised the trophy into the air, as if about to hit him with it.

“Stop it Matt, we need to get inside! Something kind of lizard just-”

“I’m gonna-”

It dove out of a tree behind Matt so fast Leo only had time to look up. The beast grabbed the trophy in midair with serrated teeth, taking Matt along with it halfway across the yard. Matt rolled across the ground, sprinted to the porch, and slammed the door screaming the whole way. The creature paused, turned towards Leo, and made a strange coughing sound, bobbing its head up and down. Glancing down at the trophy dropped between them, it snorted, a plume of smoke shooting from both nostrils. Clutching the nearly unrecognizable piece of metal in its mouth, it sauntered away into the tree line.

Leo blinked several times, then for some odd reason felt laughter bubbling up. He couldn’t stop for several minutes, wondering if that had been what the creature was doing after it carried Matt.

Mom and Dad are never going to believe us though, as he walked back inside, still snickering.

When their parents got home and asked what they did, the boys merely glanced at each other and walked up to their rooms. Matt never mentioned the trophy or ever threatened to hit Leo again; especially when they went outside.