Story

Earth is different than it was before. It only takes humans a thousand years to discover what’s really on the planet. You would think by now we could have found cures for diseases like cancer or even just the common cold. We did, but in a brutal way. Unicorns exist. There, I said it. No, I’m not crazy. I’m not just a psycho who thinks she sees unicorns. I wish I could, then at least I could say I’ve seen one. About a hundred years ago, humans discovered the existence of unicorns. And they aren’t cute and fluffy with rainbows coming out of their butts. No, they are vicious and will attack any animal that isn’t a unicorn on sight, killing instantly with their horns. Because of stupid, yet brave people, we have studied unicorns. We learned their horns are covered in a poison that can kill on contact, but their blood is a different story. I have heard a single drop that is ingested can cure that person’s disease in a second. Including STDs, the flu, and even age. We haven’t discovered how much of someone’s age they can get back, since it hasn’t been tested on many people, other than test subjects. All of this is convenient right? We haven’t found any other cures, yet there is an animal with a cure-all. Wrong. Not only are they dangerous, but they are extremely rare to find. Hiding in secluded forests only, it’s not easy. So, even if you happen to stumble upon one, you’re probably dead. And I’m kind of glad that they are rare because all unicorns that are found and taken, are killed for their blood. They are taken to factories and slaughtered, and their blood is sold in tiny vials and sold for millions. But guess what. The average person doesn’t have a million dollars lying around for a friend with cancer. Cancer is expensive enough in the first place. I only know about these factories because my dad works at one. He was selected for the job. He doesn’t like killing them anymore than the average person, but money is money, and a single unicorn kill, since vials are sold for millions, can pay for many years in advance. And like I said, he was chosen, so how could you refuse? So, because of that, I know what the factories look like. My dad pointed one out to me on my walk to school one day. It actually just looks like a regular barn. It’s plain brown and looks a couple decades old. It’s complete with a cute farm house, crops, and “live” animals. He told me an old couple used to live there, but they were forced to evacuate by the government. They replaced everything with plastic crops, robot animals and a completely locked up house. All a nice set up to fool a passerby. It was a wrong thing to do, dangerous even, and I knew it was wrong while I was doing it. At night, I told my dad I was taking a walk around town, leaving me with a good amount of time. He didn’t think twice because I do this often. Grabbing my bag full of snacks, water and a flashlight, I set off. Except this time, I went to the factory. All my life, I had wanted to see a unicorn. Knowing that I lived so close to a factory, it would eat away at me every time I passed, wondering if there was a unicorn inside. Since unicorns are rare, my dad said most of the time, the factories were empty, only opened when one was found. A unicorn hadn’t been found in over 6 years, so I didn’t expect to find much when I got there, maybe only a peek inside the barn. I was walking along the road to the barn, and it was starting to come into view. Something was different though...the lights were on! Could that mean what I think it means? Trying to not get too worked up, I stopped in the road. Maybe it was just a yearly cleaning sort of thing? Yeah, that's the safest bet, what are the chances of me actually seeing a unicorn anyway? I started walking, but slower this time, taking my flashlight out. I finally reached the land full of the fake farm. I moved my flashlight around, trying to get a better look at my surroundings. It wasn’t much really, a two story red farm house, complete with red trim, to the right. A fenced-in grazing area for all the animals in the middle. To the left was plastic crops, corn and beans maybe? I walked forward hoping to get a look inside the barn. As I was about 50 feet away, a cow started to look directly at me and then I saw a flashing light (that wasn’t there before) on the outside of the barn. I figured this was an alarm, so I quickly veered to the left trying to find a hiding spot in the crops, and turned the light off. I hid towards the front trying to see what would happen. Just as the stalks stopped moving, the alarm stopped and a man opened the barn door and stuck half his body through the door. In an instant, a unicorn came from behind up and stabbed him through his back to his chest, picking his body off the ground. The unicorn lowered its head and let the body slide off. Then, time seemed to slow down. Its mane was blowing gracefully the soft breeze, white crystals seemed to reflect in the hair. It was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. It’s short fur seem to shimmer iridescently in the fading sun, muscles moving fluidly just standing still. It’s hooves looked to be golden, and the horn seemed to stretch forever. The horn was perfectly ivory in shade, except for where it was covered in blood. The blood started to drip and time sped back up. The unicorn started to run away, leaving bloody footprints in the dirt. I looked back at the barn and saw a rainbow splatter on the outside of the door. Unicorn blood. After that, I left and went back home, hoping not to set off another alarm. That was the first and last time I saw a unicorn. Everyday that I pass by the barn, and see the blood, it reminds me of that night. Class- Anderson