Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Old City, there was a girl suffering from writer’s block. Her ailment was silly, to say the least; her teacher had provided several very nice prompts for her to begin with that really should have inspired her. All excerpts from books or stories by experienced and just generally eloquent writers, the prompt sentences were original and descriptive, conjuring vivid imagery with each new word. And still the girl struggled.
The girl’s name was Princess Coffee Kangaroo, Coffee to her friends and Roo to her family. At the moment she was sitting at her desk in her school, the Old City Institute of Higher Education, or OCIHE. The school was a towering display of blue brick turrets perched precariously on a similarly textured and colored box that had arm-like hallways sticking out in every direction. It was a bit flashy for Tree’s tastes, but her old school, Buckingham Academy…well, don’t even get her started on Buckingham.
Inside OCIHE’s thick castle walls, Roo sat, pondering the cause of her writer’s block. Maybe this was Roo’s problem. She simply pondered too much. She didn’t do it on purpose. She would have been happy to reside totally in reality, without dwelling on thoughts and concepts beyond her comprehension. Roo didn’t make any conscious effort to think about such topics. They just sort of invaded her thoughts without any regard for her feelings or so much as a how do you do. Of course, perhaps this was the custom among thoughts. Roo didn’t know.
It wasn’t long before Roo was completely immersed int he supposed etiquette of thoughts, and if she had remained in such a state, her life may have gone on completely normally. However, fate had other plans, and Roo soon became aware of a growing pain in her right temple. After asking her teacher Miss Sakura if she could got to the office, Roo stumbled up the old stone stairs, the ache in her head growing with each step. Suddenly, a tidal wave of pain came rushing at Roo’s brain. She cried out and fell to her knees, clutching her head in agony. Then, right when she was sure she was going to pass out, the pain vanished as quickly as it had come. Roo collapse on the ground, gasping and shuddering. She lay there for a long minute. After she had calmed down and could breathe again, she shakily got to her feet and glanced around, holding her breath. When no crazed students and teachers came flooding into the stairwell, shouting and frantically dialing 911, Roo came to the conclusion that no one had seen or heard her random breakdown. Since her head didn’t hurt anymore, she slowly walked back downstairs, trembling slightly and utterly confused.
When Roo reached the lower level, she braced herself and entered her classroom, afraid that someone would say she looked strange.
What she found was a room full of unicorns.