Unicorns

~Kindle Joy Miller

They snuck closer without making a sound. Slowly peeking over a large rock, the unicorn was only a couple yards away. “Are we gonna go get her, Paul?” asked Lucas. “NO! Be quiet! It will hear you,” said Paul. The black unicorn turned around and looked past them. It had piercing dark blue eyes and a bright read horn sticking out of its head. “I don’t think this was such a good idea said Lucas slowly backing away. “Nonsense!” said Paul, “Soon we will be as rich as kings!”

Paul took some ropes out of his pack and handed one to Lucas. “On the count to three will lasso it!” said Paul. “But Paul…”

“One… Two… Three!” They threw there ropes at the unicorn with all their might. Lucas opened his eyes to see the unicorn gone and Paul looking over where it used to be and where there ropes were on the ground. “Where’d it go?” He asked. “Where do you think it went, Lucas?” Yelled Paul, “Where all the other ones went this is the fourth time this has happened and we won’t get anything if we go back empty handed!”

“Paul, what are we gonna do?” asked Lucas. “We’ll look for another one, you idiot!” Paul was ready to burst. He had been up in these mountains for almost a month looking for unicorns. They’ve only found four but they have all strangely disappeared at the last moment. His partner, Lucas wasn’t much help and Paul was ready to kill someone. “I guess we head back to camp?” suggested Lucas. “Can’t you get through your little brain? I’m not going back anywhere till I catch a unicorn!”

“Come on,” said Paul, “follow me.” There was a clearing up a head and Paul was for sure there would be a unicorn there. Nothing, the clearing was empty. Paul was about to yell at Lucas again when out of nowhere a little furry creature appeared. “Oh, my, It’s a…” Paul cut him off, “Be quiet you’re gonna scare it.” It was a Jackalope, a hare with the antlers of a deer which was said to mimic voices at night. Paul quietly pulled a net out of his pack. It was just the right size. He stepped towards the creature and the Jackalope looked up at him. “What do you want at this time of night?’ came a voice out of nowhere. Paul looked around, “Who said that?” He asked. Lucas turned and ran off screaming, “I’m not doing this anymore! You’re gonna get killed!!”

Paul looked back down at the hare. He was about to swing his net when he heard it again. “What are you doing here and what do you want with us?”

“I’m just traveler passing through” he said as he looked around again to see no one. “Well, you better get going then, we don’t want you here,” came the voice, “You have seen things you shouldn’t have seen and you have tried to capture us for your own gain.”

Paul stared at the hare on the ground beneath him. This is crazy, he thought, rabbits can’t talk. Paul picked up his net to capture the jackalope. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Suddenly a bunch of unicorns, jackalopes, griffins, wolves, fairies, and creatures of all kinds that Paul had never seen before or even heard of came out of nowhere into the clearing with the little hare. “I think I’ll be leaving now…” said Paul. He turned around and ran the way that Lucas went.

“Lucas, pack your things we’re getting out of here. I’m leaving and I’m not coming back.”

“But what about the boss?” asked Lucas, “What happened?”

“You can stay here if you want but I’m leaving, I will not go back to the boss. I’m going to go make my fortune in peace somewhere else.”

“Can I go with you?” asked Lucas, “I have nowhere else to go. I can’t go back to the boss either!”

“No!” yelled Paul as he ran out of the tent. Lucas ran after him. “Why not?” said Lucas, “If you don’t I’ll go back to the boss and tell him what you did.”

“Fine,” said Paul, he just wanted to get out of there and never see that place and those creatures again.

12 YEARS LATER

“Could you tell us a story, Daddy?”

“Yeah, Dad, tell us a story!”

“Okay… There was this black unicorn with piercing dark blue eyes and a bright red horn…”

“Dad, do you believe in unicorns?”