The Discovery

Written for:

"The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week"  13+: Write the best POEM in 24 hours or less and win 10K GPs!

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Tyra walked next to her friend Bobby. The pair were trekking in a remote area of the Australian outback, they were laughing and giggling, finally school had ended and they had decided to go camping. Not heeding the advice of locals the two of them moved deeper and deeper into the bush land.

Bobby helped Tyra down a steep slope; she landed awkwardly and fell, taking Bobby with her. They tumbled down the hill, rolling down the hill, through bushes and over rocks and ants nest. Finally they slammed into the base of a eucalyptus tree.

They lay still for a moment. “Bobby, are you okay?” He managed a groan. Tyra climbed to her feet and turned to her friend, checking him over. He swatted her hand away.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just a couple scratches and bruises like you.” He reached out and poked her. Tyra let out a sigh of relief and stood, holding out a hand to help him up.

“Come on, looks like we’ll have to find a different way out of this gully.” They started walking slowly, both of them limping and laughing. Tyra stopped and pointed a bit further down. “What’s that?” Bobby shrugged as they limped towards the mass on the ground. She fell to her knees and brushed away the dirt covering the white lump.

“Ty, it’s a dead animal.”

“But a white one? Out here?” Tyra continued to clear away the dirt, coming to the creatures head. “It’s a horse I think… but it’s got a horn… a unicorn…” Bobby stared at her unbelieving. “I’m serious, look.” Her hand touched the horn, lifting it with the head.

“It’s probably glued on or something.” Bobby knelt down next to her and pulled out his pocketknife, gently pressing it to the creatures flesh and pressed down, her carefully carved away the layers of skin, with the creature being dead there was no blood spilling out to make a mess. He peeled away the skin. “This cant be. It’s like it’s fused to the skull.”

“Bobby, we’ve found a real unicorn, we’re going to be rich.” Tyra had a huge smile on her face. “Too bad it’s dead though.” Her smile faded.

The next few weeks were a flurry of interviews and media knocking at their doors as their story was spread across the world. Tyra watched the television as more and more unicorns were being uncovered. Nothing like this had ever been discovered, including the discovery of dinosaurs. Surveillance was set up in the area to see if any could be captured alive but nothing turned up.