Short Story - Dark Unicorn

“Why must I go to bed at 8:00pm Daddy?” moaned Emma.

“Because if you’re not asleep by 9:00pm the dark skies will swallow you up!” her father replied. Emma’s mum gave an exasperated look and told Emma to put her pyjamas on. However their daughter had already disappeared upstairs. She had a plan.

“Night-night mummy, night-night daddy.” Emma smiled sweetly. “Good night darling, we’ll see you in the morning” chirped her mum. But Emma wasn’t going to sleep; she was staying up until 9:00pm to see what would happen. All of her friends in year six went to bed at 9 o’clock, so why couldn’t she? She might have been the youngest in the class. A ‘summer-born’ as her mother put it, nonetheless the fact that they were eleven and she was ten made no difference.

“Chapter ten.” Emma had been reading for half an hour and already she was halfway through her book. Bored, she tiptoed to her desk and took out her notebook. “I’ll start a night diary. Every night I’ll keep a record of what I do” she whispered to herself. Settling down to write, she looked at her desk clock, 8:32pm it read. Her heart sank. Already she was bored and tired, wishing she had just gone to bed. Still, she had come this far now, there was no going back.

“It’s 9:00pm!” Emma sang quietly, shining a small torch on her clock. Looking out of her window, all she could see was the ever-hopeful moon, shining down on her. Smiling, Emma hopped into bed and started reading again. Yet it was impossible to concentrate, the apprehension was too much. She waited and waited. Nothing happened. The seconds ticked by, they became minutes, the minutes became a quarter of an hour. Still nothing. So she decided to go into the garden, where she would be fully exposed to the dark night sky.

Her feet sank into the wet lawn of the family’s back garden. Suddenly, everything went black. The moon had been blocked out and she could feel a presence in front of her, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness the silhouette of a unicorn became clear. “Hop on my back and I’ll give you a ride to eternity.” Emma jumped as the sentence left the horse’s mouth. “Can you hear me Emma?” the figure looked up to where the moon had been and everything was illuminated again. “How do you know my name?” Emma croaked, petrified.  “I know a lot of things, little girl” the tone of the unicorn wasn’t menacing, it was a soft melody to Emma’s ears and she liked it. She relented, “Take me to a wonderful place, oh white horse.”

“Jump on my back,” spoke the mythical creature. Emma clambered on and they flew into the dark sky. However the Unicorn wasn’t taking Emma to a wonderful place. The dark sky engulfed them. Emma was tumbling, falling, and never coming back . . .  

Short Story - Cheating Death

I’m dying but I don’t know why. I can’t remember anything. Mum keeps reminding me of who everyone is. I forget. That’s all I seem to do these days, just forget everything I’m told. The only thing I don’t forget is my plan. That’s what’s kept me going, knowing there is hope yet.

“I love you mum, and you dad. I’m sorry for anything bad I’ve ever done and thank you for everything.” Mum hugs me for the last time. I can feel time slowing down, the beating drum of my heart stops and I close my eyes. Everything is black and I can feel nothing.

But then, gradually, I sense my whole body floating to the ceiling. ‘Oh my goodness’, I think to myself, ‘I’m on the journey to heaven. Quick! I must stop it; I know there is a way back down the ladder to the living.’ I try to wave my arms around but I have no limbs of any sort. I focus my mind on climbing down the ladder. Step by step, panic is rising, ‘I’m never going to make it.’ My mind is in a whirl. ‘Concentrate,’ I tell myself, ‘think about each tiny movement and each part of the spirit that you are.’ I begin to see, I have the use of my eyes, but I see only darkness.

I hoped my plan would work, I’ve always known that when I die I would try to cheat death and come back to life. Over the seemingly never-ending time in my confining hospital bed, I have been running the plan through my head. Mum would force a smile as other visitors gave pitying looks in my direction. Yet I would be off in my own world, developing my plan so that by the time I died, I would be prepared to steal death’s trophy of life. My confidence doesn’t last long though, a searing light blinds me. I was worried the gateway would be opened in advance; it will be harder to resist going to heaven than I thought.

I focus on the ladder again, but the sound of beating wings distracts me. A wave of bliss flows over me and I find it hard to escape the desire to float up to heaven. Yet I know I must not go and I struggle with the urge to relax and let go. I now have the sense of some hands. I move them down to a lower rung; they start to feel more like my own.  Moving my hands one after the other down the ladder, I start to descend. I have made it out of the dazzling light, I could laugh and cry.

Slowly but surely, I regain control of my body. I rush down the ladder and back into the real world. I open my eyes and out flow tears of joy. “I love you mum.”

“I love you too darling; we thought we had lost you. But you came back.”

Book Review - The Fault in our Stars

After recently reading the tear-jerker which is 'The Fault in our Stars', I decided to do a book review. For those of you who haven't read it, here is a brief summary.

A seventeen year old girl called Hazel Grace Lancaster meets a boy of the same age, Augustus Waters, at her cancer patients' support group. She has lung cancer and he had one of his legs amputated due to his illness.

They give each other their favourite books to try out which triggers both of their interest in 'An Imperial Affliction' - the book Hazel gives Gus. It has an unfinished ending which torments them both and consequently, Augustus decides to spend his wish from the genies on a trip to Amsterdam. (All children who have cancer get one wish from the charity). Whilst in Amsterdam, they hope that the author, Peter Van Houten will answer their questions.

However, when they arrive, they realise he is an alcoholic who can't be bothered with their questions. They don't let this fact spoil their trip and fall deeper in love which is only tainted at the start by Hazel's reluctance as she doesn't want to hurt Augustus when she dies.

At this point, there is a plot twist which reveals that Augustus had a scan before the trip showing the cancer has returned to his body and spread all over. After they return to America from their trip, his condition worsens until he organises a pre-funeral for himself, in which Isaac (Augustus' friend who also goes to the
support group) and Hazel say a few words.

Eight days later, Augustus dies. Peter Van Houten turns up unexpectedly at his funeral and tries to explain to Hazel what happens at the end of 'An Imperial Affliction' but Hazel doesn't want to know and turns him away. It is later revealed that Van Houten and Augustus were corresponding with each other so that Peter could write a eulogy for Hazel. The book ends when Hazel reads one of the messages Gus wrote to Van Houten. "I like my choices, I hope she likes hers." Hazel speaks aloud to Gus, "I do, Augustus. I do."

I would recommend this book to an age range of 12-18 but anyone could enjoy reading it.

Whatever you like, The Fault in our Stars definitely has a bit of your genre:

• Tragedy - Augustus dies and leaves Hazel heartbroken, "Augustus Waters died eight days after his pre-funeral."
• Comedy - Jokes are interspersed throughout, cleverly balancing out the tough main topic
• Romance - Hazel and Augustus fall in love, "I fell in love [with him] the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

Overall, I think this is one of the best books I've ever read and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did.