Congratulations to Jennah Anderson, the winner of the Teen Read Week short story contest! Jennah's short story, "Finally Free" was selected from among 14 entries by a group of outside judges. Her printed story will remain on display for the public until the end of 2013. She receives a $50 gift card to Walmart which was generously donated by the Friends of the Library group (Thank you, Friends!). Jennah is a serious reader and advocate for library programming for teens. She was recently elected by her peers to the office of President of our new Teen Advisory Group. Jennah is a freshman at Litchfield High School. She enjoys reading, drawing, and is an aspiring writer. Her favorite author is Maggie Stiefvater. Way to go, Jennah!
"FINALLY FREE" by Jennah Anderson
The waves washed over me once again,
sending me spiraling towards the cove. I
knew if I didn’t get out of the water, and soon, I would die. The island my lifeboat had been headed
towards towered above me. I surfaced and
gulped in air, trying to see over the waves.
My searches were hopeless though, only revealing rocky shoreline. The waves would dash me upon the rocks and
that would be the end of little Ana Pierce.
Another wave descended upon me,
bringing me even closer to the rocks.
Something bumped my leg, but I was far more worried about the rocks than
any shark or squid that inhabited these waters.
I braced myself for the next wave, getting ready to swim under like I
had seen surfers do on TV. As I dove, I
felt the water spiraling above me. Coming
up again, I looked to the shoreline, praying for a miracle. Being this close to the rocks, if I didn’t
find anything in this search, I was a goner.
A sigh of relief overtook me as I
found the sandy cove, hidden for view when I was farther out. I began to swim diagonally towards the cove
entrance, diving under every wave, swimming closer inch by inch. As I swam closer though, fatigue began to set
in, which didn’t surprise me, I had been swimming in the storm for quite
sometime. As I began to fantasize about
land, a huge tube wave sent me crashing into the rocks. I covered my head, managing to mainly shelter
it, though I still hit pretty hard. When
the wave subsided, I was carried back out with the next waves undertow. The next one slammed me against the jagged
rocks again, and I felt a rib crack. As
I was again carried back out with an undertow, something grabbed my pant leg
and dragged me farther under. I prayed
it would be over soon, as my breath began to leave my lungs, and the world
turned black.
I woke up on the beach, facedown. I propped myself up and began to cough up
water, scaring myself with the amount I had ingested. Turning over, I sat up, and glanced towards
the island, bathed pale white in the moonlight.
I sighed as my searching showed me no one, leaving my unanswered
question as to who rescued me. I slowly
managed to stand up, annoyed with my salt sticky t-shirt and jeans. I made to move forward but I was stopped in
my tracks by a pair of glowing red eyes.
There, standing before me, is what kept all of us kids out of the
ocean. What sent shivers down everyone's
spines. And what I had been told had
slaughtered a whole towns years before on our home island. An equitum
aquæ.
A water horse.
The pitch black stallion advanced towards
me, slowly and confidently. I held
still, praying it would get bored quickly without any chase. It raised it’s slender head high and let out
a shrill sound that reminded me of the sound of hurricane wind. An answering keening came from the sea and
the stallion glanced it’s way, pawing the sand.
Looking back my way, I could see the hatred in the horse’s eye, and it
must have saw my fear. It grinned, a
gruesome horrifying smile of sharp pointed teeth, before taking another step
further.
A splashing sound drew my attention
towards the coves glassy smooth water.
The storm had subsided, though a wave was drawing nearer and
nearer. The stallion raised his head and
let out a scream that shattered the silent night. As the wave reached shore, the stallion rose
to meet it. Only then did I notice the
other water horse, riding the wave in.
The equitum aquæ met each
other with a sound like thunder, each keening their challenge to the
other. The stallions circled each other
in the sand, and I backed away closing my eyes as they rose to meet each other
again. I heard a cry of pain and the
sound of a horse running into the ocean.
I opened my eyes to see the pitch black stallion look me in the eye
before retreating to the ocean. With a
single splash, he disappeared.
I heard the champion stallion began to
keen his triumph, a scary sound sending chills down my spine. I slowly turned to look at the champion, who
practically glowed in the night light.
His main body was a rich cream color, stained on his neck with a streak
of blood, while he had pitch black stockings.
His tail swished back and forth, showing that it too, along with his
mane he was currently shaking, where pitch black. He rose on his hind legs, pawing the air in
front of him with a final scream before landing and turning to me, with his
startlingly green eyes.
I dropped to my knees and put my head
in my hands, I waited for him to kill me.
And waited.
“Are you alright?” a quiet whisper
reached me.
I glanced up, only to jump back as my
eyes alit upon a boy about my age squatting before me. “Who are you?
Where the heck did you come from?” I cried, astonished that someone else
was there.
He ran his hand through his night
black hair, raising his green eyes to meet mine. I gasped, then looked to his neck. I groaned and buried my face in my hands yet
again. “Are you serious? Am I really on this island, of all places?” I mumbled through my hands.
A quiet chuckle emanated from
him. “Yes it is this island,” he told me quietly, “they must really paint us out as
terrible creatures on the mainland.”
“Ya think? You just tried to kill another
person...ah..er..horse...or...whatever,” I responded.
“Well, for the record, he was going to
kill you. Now I need to get you to
safety, he was not pleased with my intervention. He had his mind set on killing you, and he
could come back at any time,” the mysterious boy said.
I raised my eyebrows and began to ask
a question, but his silent stare stopped me.
“No questions, but I promise I can answer them later, once you are
safe,” he told me.
To Be Continued...
