Highly Commended Story - Lonely Friends

“Lonely Friends” by Gretė Dabašinskaitė, Vilnius, Rudamina 'Rytas' Gymnasium, Lithuania, is the Highly Commended story in the sub-junior category of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

Gretė is 9 years old. She lives with her mum, her dad and her younger brother. She is in class 3 at Rudamina "Rytas" gymnasium. Gretė gets high grades in maths, but she is more interested in robotics, theatre, music and reading. The last book she read was "The Balds" by D. Roberts. Also, Gretė wants to travel to Antarctica – she wishes to see the penguins one day!

Lonely Friends

Once upon a time there lived a unicorn named Rainbow and an owl called Star. Rainbow was intelligent, polite and kind. However, no one around her liked the magic powers she had. Everyone turned away... Star was an owl and everyone knows that owls are not seen during the day. As the owl was a night bird, she couldn't know about the lonely unicorn.

Once at night, Rainbow wasn't able to sleep and went for a walk around the forest. She was thinking about new things she learned at school that day. While she was going along the path Rainbow noticed a dimmed silhouette in the dark. "Who are you?" asked Rainbow. This dark and strange figure came closer and closer. "Star. My name is Star" replied the stranger. When it came close enough Rainbow recognized the owl. "Nice to meet you" they greeted each other. "What are you doing here alone in the dark forest? Aren't you afraid?" seriously questioned the owl. "Oh, I am not afraid to be alone. It doesn't matter where I am - no one likes me and no one wants to befriend me" quietly answered the unicorn. "You could be my friend" suggested Star. Rainbow smiled and thought how fun it could be to have a real friend. They could read, paint, dance, play games or just go for a walk together. "Maybe. But it's dark and we will be friends only during the night time" answered Rainbow. She felt sad and lonely again. "Is it possible to become a day bird?" doubtfully asked the owl. She knew about powers Rainbow is able to apply. "Well, I wasn't taught to use my powers this way. I think I need to ask my teacher's help" said the unicorn.

Days passed by so Rainbow and Star were continuing to meet during the nights. Both of them were extremely happy when one night Rainbow said "Dear Star, now I have skills to make you awake during the days". After that night, Rainbow and Star sincerely enjoyed their friendship every day.

Although Rainbow had wonderful powers and could make awesome things happen, she couldn't conquer the nature -still, her friend Star had to sleep 1 - 3 hours a day.