"Gold at the End of the Journey - Once Upon A Unicorn(Chapter 1)" by Samantha L. Papworth

The cold breeze bit Alatea's frozen cheeks and the moon shone dully upon the silent night. The streets below her window where empty, not a car or human in sight. She pulled her head back in through the window, there was nothing to view out there only emptiness and lonieless. Like the way she felt inside, that night. She glanced around her room, the feeling of welcome and belonging had long drained away. The curtains that framed her window, which where once a bright peach where now a dull salmon. The walls covered in mould and dirt over the years, no longer looked pink but now a speckled grey.



Aletea dragged her feet as she walked back to her bed, though she knew she would not sleep that night. As she walked along a sharp pain shot up her right leg. She collapsed into a pile on the carpet, her legs becoming tangled in the floor rug. A tear, combined with droplets of sweat dribbled down her face as the pain travelled around her body. "What is happening," she managed to gasp. Feeling a need to get to the comfort and softness of her blankets on her bed, she began to scramble across the room. The pain swelled, making her task more laborious. Suddenly her skin began to prickle and her arms and legs would move no longer. Her mouth became a desert, her tongue tasting dry and burnt. She glanced around the room trying to see the familiar surroundings, but her vision had gone white. All she could see was swirling white flame, she tried to blink it away but to no success. Her ears where ringing, her head thumping, This was it, I am going to die she thought.



Aletea open her eyes, golden rays of sunlight, shone dappled through her curtains, and onto the flowered bed sheets over her limp body. She breathed in the light. Was last night a dream, was she really experiencing that pain? But she had to put her thoughts on hold because the shouts of her parents petty fighting called out through the house. " Not again," she grumbled to her self, "Their more then likely fighting over what they are going to have for breakfast or something else equally pathetic."



Sure enough when Aletea walked down stairs she found them fighting over what the other was eating for breakfast. "You have too much milk on your cereal, we can‘t afford the cost of the food you eat!" her dad Mitchell shouted towards the other side of the room where Aletea's mum stood.
"No I don't!" Hali yelled back, "Nothing like you though, wasting milk in your coffee. The whole thing is milk!" Aletea glanced over at her fathers chipped coffee mug and noticed the dark brown colouring of the contence in side. It looked like he hadn't put any milk in at all.

“You are so huge Hali! I am surprised you can fit anymore of the food in the fridge in you, even with there being nothing it. Due to you and your lazy attitude,” her father over exaggerated.

Deciding to ignore her mothers answer and the rest of the battle, she waited for it to finish. Aletea sank to the bottom of the stair and looked around the room. The familiar paintings hung on the mint green walls, full of people enjoying the sunshine on their backs or talking in large groups in the village streets.



She sighed, when young she had wished she and her family could travel into the paintings. Run along the dirt roads and emerald green fields. But she had pushed that dream to the back far back of her mind when she began year three, sealing it with a big rusty lock. "Only a little kids dreams," she would say to her self at the time. Now though she would have liked to visit them, but not with her family, but by her self. There she could escape reality, find hope and peace. Everything she didn't have here, how she wished she could but she couldn't escape it. This was her life and she had to be strong, she had to face what ever came her way.



She woke from her daydream, her parents fighting stronger yet, and had even advanced to throwing objects on the floor and at each other, one eventually shattering to close to Aletea for comfort.

Bending down she began to gather the pieces of the small bear ornament, her favourite of their collection, that lived on the mantle of the fireplace. She stroked the fragments of the pink hat she had just salvaged from under her father’s foot, with a shaking finger.

Rubbing tears off her cheeks quickly, Aletea’s mind flooded back with memories of other fights her parents had gotten into, much worst then the one she was witnessing now. One of the fights had started over her father being late from work, he was hours overdue the time he usually got home, and her mother had just snapped up the chance to quarrel.

‘How could you go out to the bar when I was here making your dinner, looking after your child and cleaning your house!’ she argued, his reply was a feeble yell of, ‘I had to work late.’

She could tell her mother had been right, from the odour that lingered, but she hadn’t hated her any less for what she did next. In a rage Hali heaved the pot of boiling water on the stove at Mitchell, drenching him, pasta handing off his ears, and shoulders. Aletea watched horrified as he stumbled into the bathroom and turned the cold water in the shower on, to cool the burns. Luckily her mother had turned the heat on the water down fifteen minutes earlier, while she went to wait for him, or he would have been seriously scared.



Aletea then realized she would never have a chance to eat and relax down in the kitchen.

There might be some of that pastry left over from yesterday up in my room, she thought as she stood up, stretched and walked back up stairs. The explosion of sound slowly faded away as she wandered
towards her room, her feet making their own path.

Aletea came to her door, she curled her fingers around the nob and twisted. The door opened easily, nothing really different then the many thousands of times she had opened it before. But something seemed different, the walls, curtains, floor and furniture where all the same. It was something about the air circling the enclosed space. It was no longer musty and dry, but more fresh and fragrant. She walked over to her window to check if she had left it open before she went down stairs. She placed her hand up to the cool crystal like glass, it was still firmly shut. She turned her head slowly, viewing the room carefully. If anyone was there she would find them.



Her eyes swept over her desk and chair, her wardrobe, her bed and her dressing table. Nothing different, no flash of coloured clothing. She peeled her hand off the glass, leaving a milky white hand print and turned around to face her room. "Why am I so worried?" she asked her self with a whisper. She breathed in deeply, "Maybe its the isolation, with school out for the Christmas holidays," she said trying any explanation for her sudden worrying. She no longer felt hungry, but now a need to be out in the open. She reached her hand down and grabbed her jacket off the end of her bed and walked out the door. Not bothering to close it behind her, she wandered down the hall and slowly made her way down the staircase.



Her parents had finished fighting for now and had settled down for a breakfast of cold coffee and soggy cereal. Oblivious to the mess they had made of the room and belongings.

Aletea shook her head in dismay, honestly why do they even bother, she thought to herself as she opened the heavy redwood door, that lead outside. She hung her jacket over her bare shoulders and moved her feet down the path into the front garden.



Her honey brown hair picked up from the wind, danced slightly around her head. She reached down a hand to a flowerbed and swept her fingers through the light purple blossoms. Faerie like butterflies darted around her hand, coming to rest on her fingertips and nearby leaves. She spun around noticing the shower of white and pink flowers dangled off the ageing fence, that boarded the property. It was more then two metres high, no one could jump or climb it. This made Aletea relax, she was truly alone here.



Her head came to rest on the lush emerald green grass, her lips uttering the words of a much favoured love song. Though, along with dreaming she had also given up on love. Her parents didn’t share it, and nor did her older brother and his girlfriend, when he was alive.

Her eyes swelled with tears as she remembered his strong arms, sweet nature and boyish charm. How she missed his hugs, the laughs they shared, for he was her only way of escaping the wrath of her parents. When her parents fought, he was always there to coo words of comfort into her ear, the only one she told her secrets of life to, the one who knew her best.



Aletea cried into her sleeve as the horrifying images of her brothers death filled her thoughts.

His forehead crinkled in agony.

His breaths shortening, and finally ceasing for eternity.

Then his muscular body laying limp and idle.



She held back a sniffle, she couldn’t cry and she wouldn’t, she had to be strong, that was what her brother wanted. She sat up, the sun shining lovingly upon her skin, the sensation making her shiver. She sat there waiting for her tears on her cheeks to dry, her eyes carefully watching the scenery in front of her.



She closed her eyes, a smile flickering over her lips as she remembered the joy she and her brother shared when young. Playing knights, Aletea the good knight saving her country and people. Slowly a tear began to sneak its way down her cheek, she opened her eyes in a hurry. “No!” she shouted loudly, making birds take flight afraid of the sudden loud noise.
“Stop crying!” she said to her self through clenched teeth.



Gradually the birds returned, though they rested on branches further away from where Aletea sat. She couldn’t take it anymore, all these feelings she had felt for years, hidden away from the world because of the only thing she had left, her pride. They where becoming savage, tormenting her mind, causing her to think up hallucinations of pain, and the new smell in her room. She hated it, she just wanted to cut out her……



There she saw it, a flicker of lilac between the bushes, a large form of some sort. Aletea jumped up, and scrambled over to where she had sighted it. She had to reach it before it left, she just had to. As she moved closer, the form got further away. But she pressed on, her soft shoes digging deep into the sandy soil. Her legs itching from the long unattended grass, that grew wild along the fence.



There it was, lilac tail and mane flowing like two glorious flags in the wind. Two small delicate ears crowned its equine shaped head. Two dazzling brown pools of liquid were on either side of its long face. A straight solid purple horn escaped from its wide forehead. Muscle packed shoulders and hindquarters carried it along the dappled grass with ease. As soon as she laid her eyes on the creature, she instantly knew what it was. A unicorn. Like that out of children’s picture books.



She didn’t know why but seeing a unicorn a dozen or so feet in front of her seemed natural. That there was no reason to judge her sight, no reason to be shocked. Though she was not sure wether the unicorn might gallop away or be offended if she drew closer. But she didn’t have much time to decide because the unicorn was gone a second later. It had not galloped off, but more just vanished completely. Leaving nothing behind but memories.