The Halfling's Dilemma.

A group of friends, my lover and a stranger band together to assist in my unicorn metamorphosis. Everyone is eager about this transformation, including myself. My hair becomes what would be my horn and mane. They fashion me a tail and hoofs, piecing odds and ends together with purple ribbon and transparent thread. We walk to a park on a nice day, doing our work in the sun for a change. I overhear the stranger talking to the group about how she feels anyone could be a unicorn, but she believes it to be a form of escapism. I chime in to say it's not so much a choice of physical appearance, but a shift in your consciousness and a change of heart. She argues against me, stating it's much like when I decided to alter my sexual preference. During our conversation, no one else voices their opinion. This solemn girl refuses to recognize my feelings as sincere, which is hurtful. I glance around for support from my peers, my friends, my lover, but they remain stone-faced. I run, no---I gallop off into the wilderness, and I am not pursued. Half unicorn, half human, I glance at my phone awaiting contact from my lover, but the screen remains blank. I gaze into a pond at my incomplete horn, which teeters back and forth. I feel lost, lonely, lucid. What is a halfling to do? I wander further still, cutting through fog with my feeble extremity. It starts to snow. I nuzzle my tail into my face; my security blanket. In reaching for my phone, I accidentally drop it to the ground. The screen flashes and reboots and I suddenly realize it has been off this entire time. Once it returns to the main screen I am bombarded with a plethora of panicked text messages and misses calls from my lover. She is searching for me. She explains her silence, admitting that her lack of response stemmed from her inability to understand the words that escaped me. I hadn't realized my outburst had taken the form of the language of my half-species. But why then was the stranger able to translate my blubberings? I turn hard and trace my steps back. I must reunite with my lover, wherever she may be. I am ashamed of my lack of belief in her; my foolish run-away. In one of her voice-mails she confesses that after I fled, she stood up for me. She need not understand my unicorn-speak, for she knows the language of my heart. She feels foolish for ever doubting me, for not allowing her feet to follow my own. I am running as fast as my four legs will carry me. My mane whips through the wind. The remains of my clothes trail behind me, like a layer of unwanted skin being shed. I stop short. Before me stands my beloved creature. She has eyes like mine, sharing the same tears. I rest my head on her velvety shoulder, "What took you so long?" She pushes her face onto my own, she whimpers, "The path was long and lonesome. The trail was treacherous and scattered with shards of you. I walked on as my own body crumbled. I lost my flesh, my bones, my blood." I blink hard, fluttering my lashes on her cheek, "Then why...?" She wraps her limbs around me, "So you would no longer be the only unicorn in the woods."

The Glow.

In my dream, my ex Kyle somehow found out that I am with Dani and how happy we are together. He put me into some kind of trance and blocked her from my memory. He locked me in a dark room and kept me hidden from all others. He made me believe that I loved him, and though in the back of my mind hesitation lingered, I could not figure out exactly where it stemmed from. After being trapped under his spell for so long, I started to go mad; to search for answers. What was I doing here?
This didn't feel like happiness.
One day he asked if I would love him forever, I paused and asked what forever meant. He said, "Something eternal", then slouched over in a chair in the corner and dozed off. I paced around the room in the darkness, chewing on the words that had been left for scraps. Then suddenly it hit me. I didn't know where Dani was or she'd still have me, but I knew I MUST find her. All at once everything seemed so clear, this wasn't where I belonged--it never was.
I found a window ajar and forced it open. Kyle awoke from the noise and demanded to know what it was I thought I was doing. I screamed at him to stay back, to let me go. That I had a love out there in the untamed world and would stop at nothing to find it. I screamed how he belittled me and crawled inside my head, how I knew deep down that I did not love him and he never truly loved me. He had wanted to love me, no...he had dreamed for someone to love him, that he could be somebody's world. I bounded out the window as he fumbled after me, but I was already gone. The spell had been broken.
My love for her still beat strong within my heart. I would run until my legs crumbled so that I could find her, hold her, become one with her. The sky overhead drizzled and dripped it's darkness upon me. I hadn't a clue where my legs were leading me, but I did not cease. I COULD NOT turn back.
My dad was driving back to the house with my younger sister and her friend when they found me. They scooped me up and patted dry my damp clothes. I soon discovered the room I'd been held captive in was none other than my parents living room; he'd caged me within my own comfort. Then our search began. We drove through blackened cities and barren countryside, but to no avail.
We eventually retired in my parents' garage, thawing food from the freezer to eat and melting ice to quench our thirst. My dad rolled over a cooler and propped it up against the wall. He waited until Felicia and Lauren were distracted and then whispered to me that he might know a way for me to reach her. "I will do anything", I replied, "Whatever it takes." He nodded and led me toward the empty cooler. He explained there was a portal inside, but once within it there was no guarantee I could come back, or what dangers I would face. Lastly, I'd have to cross the threshold alone. But I was not afraid, I knew wherever she existed was where I wanted to be, and that our love would be more than all the strength I could ever wish to muster alone. So I hugged my dad and crawled inside the cooler. Right before I crossed over I saw a blinding light, brighter than any ray of sunshine, and in that moment I knew that she was the glow on the other side.