Beyond the Moon: A Friendship Story

The woods were dark, the leaves rustled in the wind as I entered. I needed to be alone, and think of what I was going to do next.

A figure caught my eye, something bright. Cautiously, I approached it. It was a unicorn. A soft light glowed from its horn. It looked at me kindly and said "Would you like to go for a ride?"

I looked around at the trees, then back at the unicorn. My parents would never let me ride a unicorn! But I did want to go for a ride...

"OK!" I said brightly. The unicorn's eyes lit up as it smiled at me.

I climbed onto its back and we set off through the forest trails. The unicorn's hooves made little noise on the soft mossy ground. We traveled quickly through the night-shrouded forest, until we came to an edge of a clearing, where there was a glowing circle of light on the ground. The unicorn ran into the ring of light and suddenly we were no longer in the forest, but instead in a place that seemed like a castle courtyard. There were people everywhere!

The unicorn turned toward me, and asked: "What do you desire?"

I was so amazed that I didn't know how to answer - there were so many things I wanted to do! How could I choose just one? Suddenly, though, I remembered how sad my mother had been when she told me my father had died... and how she still mourned him all these years later. This whole time my father's spirit had been locked away in some faraway dungeon... it was unfair! And no one knew about it except for me and my mother... perhaps with this magic horse I could finally help her find peace?

"My father is gone," I began slowly, trying to collect my thoughts as tears welled up in my eyes. "Can you take me to see him?"

The unicorn nodded solemnly and turned toward the glowing circle of light at the edge of the courtyard. He ran right through it again and we reappeared once more in the darkened woods of Germany! But now there was a soft glow shining from behind a tree directly ahead of us... there was my father! He was alive! And he looked so young and strong - just as if he had never left home! He looked at me happily and opened his arms wide...

At that moment, though, something strange happened - he was sucked into some kind of vortex that appeared out of nowhere! As he disappeared into it, I heard someone cry out: "No! Not *him* too!" It was Della - my best friend Della! She looked terrible - trapped in some kind of cage with bars made of iron! Her clothes looked ragged and dirty... her hair was matted... her body covered with cuts and bruises! Wires hung from her hands where they had been tied with them above her head... she strained against them desperately trying to free herself... tears streamed down her face as she called out my name over and over again: "Coco!! Help me!!" ...and then she too vanished into another vortex that appeared beside her cage! The two vortices vanished leaving nothing behind save for two plumes of dust swirling on the ground where they had been...