It was a cold night in October when I discovered her. Porcelain skin, dark green almost grey eyes, luscious light brown hair that it always kept high in a ponytail. Clad in a black hoodie and matching ankle boots, she was. When you angered her,  she screeched a mighty screech, and would thrash upon the floor. But when you made her sad, her eyes leaked blood and she would rain acid upon your skin. She’s a graceful beast, raging with emotion. One moment she’s happy and spitting rainbows, and the next she’s burning your hair to a crisp. If you cross paths with this creature, I wish you the best of luck. For if you make the wrong move, your fate is stuck.

It was a cold night so I had invited my friends over to have a bonfire and maybe watch some movies. They couldn’t stay for long, though, they had a game in the morning. When my friends arrived the first thing we did was have a marshmallow war. Where we would pelt eachother with marshmallows. After that was over, we gathered the remaining marshmallows and sat around the, now dying, fire.

In the middle of roasting my third marshmallow my dog, who was on a chain, went ballistic. It started with a low growl, directed to something on the other side of the fence. Then his mouth started foaming, something that only happens after he eats frogs. The part that I really don’t understand is, why Crea submitted. The only people he ever submits to are my dad and my brother, and they were both out of town. This intrigued me. So being the curious human being I am, I went to go investigate.

Right when I closed the wooden gate, it felt like somebody’s eyes were on me. My eye’s darted across my yard, in search of the creature. My goal was to walk around my home to see if there was anything, and I didn’t think I would find anything.. Boy was I wrong.

I was half way around my home when I heard shuffling noise. Instinctively, I turned my head towards where the sound was coming from, nothing. It must of been a bird. Then, out of nowhere a mighty beast latches onto my arm. “Aaaaaah!” I screamed, fearing for my life. It’s teeth sunk deeper, breaking the skin. I started thrashing, trying to get this creature off of my arm. I started seeing black dots from all of the blood I was losing, but I guess my friends heard my screams and they came running around the corner, and right when they did the creature scurried into the darkness. “What’s wrong, Ema?” they questioned. “A creature attacked me!” tried showing them the mark the beast left on me, but it was gone. All that was left was a faded

scar. No blood, no torn flesh, no nothing. And from the way they reacted I knew, I knew. That they didn’t believe me, and that’s what the beast wanted.

About a week after the- event. I wasn’t even close to forgetting, and it didn’t help that it felt like the beast was taunting me, yes, it was taunting me. It would leave little hints that it was there, and it was always there. It would leave my windows open, or turn the lights on and off until the light bulb would burst. It had me thinking I was crazy, but I didn’t tell anybody. I knew they would judge me like my friends did.. I knew they wouldn’t believe me, and I didn’t want that.

It was 3, almost 4 months that she let me think I was crazy. The moment that I knew I wasn’t, was very eventful. It was around 7 AM on a Tuesday, and I was getting ready for school in my bathroom when I heard another sound. It kind of sounded like somebody was dragging a full trash bag. This immediately spiked my attention because everybody else was asleep. So, with a heavy heart, I walked out of the bathroom through the hallway and into the living room. When I entered the sound became more clear, and I could detect where it was coming from. Behind our couch. I was trying to convince myself it was our oldest dog, Sophie… Maybe she got a hold of a cereal box. But again, I was wrong. I had never seen the beast in the light. Never did I ever think she would look the way she did, hunched over a bag of cheerios. I didn’t scream… I didn’t make not one sound. I knew who this was- and for some reason, I knew why they were here. She came to claim what was hers, as strange as it sounds. It was me.

I never realized how alone she was, or how badly she wanted a companion. Now that I’ve been living with her for God knows how long, I realized she never meant to hurt me.. She never meant to make me feel crazy. She just needed a way for me to exclude myself so she could make another unicorn beetle. We are the unicorn beetles.