Sam always had the best pranks. This one, though? This one had been one of her best, until it wasn’t. She found the cool costume for cheap and thought it looked like some of the dragon plushies the toy store sold. From there, the idea took shape, and a few days later, on her day off, Sam slunk into the toy store and found a perfect hiding spot: an empty display case. Squeezing herself inside, Sam could only chuckle at her ingenuity.

Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice her. A few customers did double takes, but most paid no attention to the “dragon plushie.” But it didn’t take long for Jenna to walk by. Sam grinned from ear to ear. Jenna was always a scaredy cat.

When Jenna looked her way, Sam made sure to look down to emphasize the costume and not her exposed face.

“Who’s saying that?” Jenna asked, visibly worried. She walked cautiously into the aisle, pushing aside teddy bears, looking for speakers or camera. “Sam, I swear this isn’t funny!"

Sam suppressed a giggle and tapped her plastic claw against the glass of the case, just loud enough to get Jenna to spin around to look. Remaining still, she watched the shadows on the floor move, watched them crouch in front of the case. “Sam, is that—”

“JENNA!” Sam shouted, suddenly coming to life, pressing her hands up to the glass, looking mean and hungry as a dragon. The short, freckled girl shrieked and fell onto her butt.

“That’s not funny, Sam!” She shouted, her face red from embarrassment as she jumped back up.

But Sam was deep in the throes of a laughing fit. “Oh, God, it was so funny! I wish I had a camera to see your face.” She started to shimmy out of the display case. But there was a problem. Her wings were a bit too big. Her plastic horns were getting stuck on rails in the top of the box. Her legs were cramped from being scrunched up too long.

“What’s the matter, Dragon? Can’t get out of your cage?” She said, with no limit to her satisfaction.

“You like pranks? How’s this for a prank?” Jenna said. She pulled a pad of price tags from her vest, wrote on it, and slapped it on the display case. “How’s it feel to be worth $20?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a good prank. You know that, right? No one’s going to…”

A tall woman, tall enough that Sam couldn’t see her face, strode up to the display case. “What a delightful draconic deal.” She said.

It wasn’t like being “bought” would do anything. It wouldn’t change who she was, she wouldn’t have to listen to her “owner.” Some sucker would just be out $20.00. But for some reason, Sam felt a rush of unease in her stomach while she began to imagine her life as someone’s plush dragon toy.

“Look, no need to buy me. Just, could you let me out of the case?” Sam asked, totally in need of someone else to get her out of the mess she put herself in.

But the conversation above her continued on, as if Sam never spoke. She couldn’t even see their faces. As if she was part of the toy world, and they were part of the human world above her.