Horn of a Rhino

Sand. A small patch of grass. And some small sharp pebbles that scraped against my thick skin as I tried to move my heavy limbs. Gravity seemed to be stronger at the moment.

I looked around but saw only darkness. I panicked. After a few seconds of panicking, I realized my eyes were still closed. The eye lids were unusually heavy, just like other parts of my body. It was as though my brothers and sisters were sitting on me.

Finally, with a strong will, I managed to open them with a grunt. A dying sun and a sandy floor covered with messy footprints came into my view.

How did I get here? I thought. What had happened? My brain was working slower than usual. But my nose was not.

A faint familiar scent reached me and I relaxed. I was so relaxed that I almost closed my eyes again when a loud voice called my name.

"Nahuel!" And a thunder-like thumping noise came and I felt the earth shook under my numb body.

"I found you!" Kaapo, a young white rhinoceros yelped happily, accidentally stepped on my tail while approaching me.

"Ouch!" I cried, fully awakened by the pain on my precious little tail.

"What are you doing here?" Kaapo asked, giving me a curious stare while I tried hard to get up.

"Give me a hand."

"Right."

When I finally got up on my feet, almost steadily, I noticed that Kaapo was still staring at me. "What?"

Kaapo tilted his head in an amusing way. "Have you finally figured out how to retract your horn?" His eyes were gleaming with excitement. Retracting our horns was our favorite joke when we were younger.

"No," I frowned. "Why do you ask?" My eyes slowly landed on the top of my nose. Now I knew why. On the top of my nose, where my horn was supposed to be, was empty.

Kaapo's face became serious. "What'd happened?"

I closed my eyes and tried to recall. I told him everything that I managed to recall, which included something tiny but sharp piercing through my thick skin, the dizziness that followed and a small group of humans came running towards me, some of them carrying weapon-like things.

"I think they have removed your horn." Kaapo commented after having some thought. "So, what now?" He said nervously. "You can't possibly wander around alone without your horn. It's getting dark and you know predators like lions are nocturnal."

"Can you take me back to our home?" I asked, as my head started to ache, still worrying about my missing horn.

"Yeah, let's go." Kaapo added. "Luckily we're white rhinos and does not live alone. We can keep you safe." He glanced worryingly at my missing horn again.

We walked silently across the safari. The light from the sun was slowly engulfed by the darkness pressing on us. Kaapo's ears never stopped twitching.

"Kaapo, will I get my horn back?" I looked up at the sky. No stars were visible yet.

He checked the spot on top of my nose and replied confidently. "Yes, it will. Don't worry. It's not too deep."

"When will it grow back?"

Kaapo paused for a while. "I don't know." He continued with a smile. "But don't worry. I'll keep you safe for now, until you get your horn back."

I smiled back. When I was about to thank him for his comforting words, terrible thing happened. There was a loud "pang" and Kaapo stumbled beside me, nearly fell on his knees.

"Kaapo!" Another loud "pang" came and blood spurted out of Kaapo's neck like a red fountain. He was on his knees now.

Kaapo bellowed. "Run!"

"I'm not leaving without you!" I began to smell the air and listened intently, hoping to locate the ambusher. I even started to look around.

"Run," Kaapo's voice was now much softer. "Please." His eyes were slowly closing.

Realized that I could do nothing to save him, I closed my eyes and focused on smelling his unique scent, hoping I could remember it forever. Then, I nudged him one last time with my dehorned nose. I turned away and ran for my life.

I did not turn back when I heard several footsteps and the noise of heavy metals bouncing against each other approached Kaapo. For I knew, when I came back tomorrow, there would be a lifeless, dehorned rhino, whose horn would never grow back again, waiting for me.