The Fairytale Community's 2016 Retelling Awards [closed]

Comment Contest Results

A few weeks ago we set a challenge, 2,000 characters or less about the events of what happened at a midnight swim. The prompt was in honor of the new subgenre account, talesofthedeep, and we were hoping for some creative answers...

But you all did more than give creative answers, you brought in magic, danger, and, in some cases, scared us silly! 

After much deliberation and countess rereads of all of the fabulous entries, without further ado, here are the five entries we picked! In random order, you can find their entries and their usernames! 

writervid

"Let's go skinny dipping, Uma," he whispered. His lips quirked into a smile, and my knees felt weak. God, this boy was going to be the death of me.

"My parents will kill me," I said as his lips met mine. The kiss was hot and soft, and my skin prickled with goosebumps as his hand slipped under my shirt--an even more daring option than the one already proposed. I pushed away.

An hour later, I was on the beach, watching Sam run into the waves. The salty sea breeze swept around my body.

"C'mon, Uma!" Sam hollered before diving back into the sea like a dolphin. "At least undress!"

I carefully disrobed, trying to calm myself down. Everyone did it. It was just swimming naked. I would be fine. My parents wouldn't ground me for doing something teenagery. I would be fine.

I ran into the freezing ocean, scurrying like a sand crab. Sam whooped and whistled, making me blush. I laughed, doing dives into the waves like we did on the synchronized swimming team. I even successfully did a somersault underwater, despite the constant push-pull motion of the waves.

My head poked up out of the water. "I told you I could do a somersault, Sam," I said, looking around. All I could see were the barely illuminated waves. My heart hammered in my chest. "Sam?"

No answer. I counted the seconds until over two minutes had passed. He could only hold his breath for one. "Sam!"

After calling his name for a while, I walked out of the ocean. I needed to call someone. If Sam was missing, Sam needed to be found.

I dressed hurriedly, pulling my phone out of my shorts pocket. I scanned the waves and the shore with the light on my phone, but the only things I could see were his jeans, his Journey t-shirt, something that looked like meat on the beach, and something reddish atop the waves.

I walked towards the meat object, praying for Sam's safety. But when I saw it, I froze.

It was a...a hand. The same shade as his skin. Wearing the same bracelet he always wore.