[ WP ] A young man drunk on love takes his girl out into the icy wilderness to shoot a Russian unicorn .

**'' Virgin Snow'' ** 
 
 The snow crunched beneath Simon's feet and crunched again beneath Becky's as she walked through his tracks. She struggled to keep up with his pace. Little gray clouds of mist appeared from her mouth and nose as he pulled her along. 
 
 Simon stopped and looked around, first at the bare trees that surrounded them, then up at the sky, then off in the distance. He let go of Becky and took hold of the rifle from where it was strapped to his shoulder. He was silent for a moment. 
 
 `` What is it?'' she asked. 
 
 `` I think this is far enough.'' He turned his head to look back at her. `` Have you been staying in my tracks? It wo n't work if it realizes there's more than one person.'' 
 
 `` Yes, I have.'' 
 
 `` Good. Sit down on that log. I'll be hiding over there.'' He pointed to a fallen tree and then to a nearby copse. `` Hopefully this wo n't take too long.'' Simon turned again and walked away, carefully stepping in the patches of ground where snow had already melted. 
 
 Becky took a deep breath and pulled her coat more tightly around herself. She realized she was shaking. Simon stopped and turned toward her again. She looked so small in that coat and those boots, and her shaking made it look like she was shivering in the cold. `` Relax, love,'' he said. `` Just make sure to position yourself so it's *in between* us. Just like we practiced. Alright?'' 
 
 She shivered for a few more seconds and looked down at her feet. 
 
 `` Alright?'' 
 
 `` Alright.'' She turned and walked over to the fallen tree. 
 
 By the time Simon disappeared in the copse, Becky had already taken her position. The dead tree's wood felt cold beneath her, and it creaked whenever she moved. The fact that Simon was invisible made her nervous. She had a good idea where his shot would be coming from, but anything less than absolute certainty was cause for alarm. She would just have to trust him. 
 
 Hours passed. A cold breeze picked up. The forest became a little brighter, but the sky remained a bitter, indifferent gray. The log Becky sat on didn ’ t get any warmer. 
 
 It was strange, she thought, that she was only realizing now how completely ludicrous this was. There was no unicorn here. There were n't any *anywhere*. What had she been thinking for the past month? Why did she let him take her here? 
 
 A cold gust of wind hit her again, and she discovered that she was coming out of the daze she had been in for the last half year. She had every right to be angry that Simon did n't trust her. Why could n't he believe her, if he said he loved her so much? Henry had fessed up to everything. It was all a mistake. All of it. She would never do that to him. Not on purpose. 
 
 She pulled her coat around herself again and remembered how withdrawn Simon had been afterward, how he stopped mentioning how he wanted to marry her. Until he started to talk about Siberian unicorns and medieval legends. Until he was filled with a determination that almost scared her. Scared her enough that she did n't think to argue when he dragged her on series of planes, busses, and trains to a tiny village where no one spoke English and no foreigners had visited since the Cold War. 
 
 For the first time in a while, Becky felt awake. She stood up. `` Simon!'' she called. `` Simon, I—'' Behind her, she heard a heavy step on the snow. She gasped and spun around. 
 
 The unicorn was n't as big as she had imagined. From the way Simon had talked about it, she thought it would be huge, giant almost. This was n't much bigger than a regular horse. What made it distinct was its white coat. Everything else in the forest was covered in wet spots, dirt, or mud. The unicorn shone a pristine, reflective white. Its horn looked sharp, and its eyes were big and reflective. 
 
 It looked startled. Becky froze where she stood and tried to take deep breaths. Around them, the wind stopped, and a heavy silence settled throughout the forest. The unicorn took a tentative step toward her, its hoof crunching in the snow again. Becky spread her arms out, and the unicorn seemed to relax. It paced over to her and gently placed its snout on her shoulder. She reached up to put a hand on its neck and gently stroked back and forth. It felt soft and warm beneath her hand. The unicorn nuzzled closer. 
 
 The loud crack of the rifle broke the silence. The unicorn reared up in pain, and Becky screamed. Red blood stained the ground when the unicorn collapsed, its breathing heavy and irregular. The wound just above its front leg had n't yet killed it. 
 
 Simon ran out from the trees, appearing from a different direction than the one he walked off. He was putting a second bullet in the rifle's barrel. `` Move away!'' he shouted to Becky. She did n't move. Simon shot the unicorn again, causing it to wrench on the ground before it stopped moving completely. More blood seeped out onto the snow. 
 
 Becky's hand covered her mouth. Simon stood staring down at the unicorn's body. `` Good thing I had time to move before it noticed something was wrong.'' He looked up at Becky as she started to cry. She sat down in the snow and began to weep in earnest. He tossed the rifle on the ground. `` Aw, Becky, I...'' He glanced back at the unicorn, its eyes still open even though it had stopped breathing. `` I'm sorry...'' He crouched down to put a hand on her shoulder. `` I'm so sorry,'' he said.
