We’re delighted to publish the winning entries, and the runners up, from our 2021 short story competition. Young writers from all over Ireland competed for prizes of €250, sponsored by Tertulia Books in association with Spot-Lit EU. The competition’s theme, “Waves”, inspired work of an extremely high standard. The winners were selected by acclaimed YA author and guest judge Deirdre Sullivan. We thank all who entered and we encourage everyone to keep writing.
Ella Conway (15) was runner up in the junior category with the short story Without A Second Thought
Without A Second Thought by Ella Conway
This tale begins on Glassilaun Beach, where seagulls cry and the ocean sings, she sat on a rock with the wind in her hair and what she breathed was crisp salt air.
Fiadh had longed for a beach day like this; open, tranquil and completely empty. No matter what she was doing here, her time would never be wasted. Her dress ruffled in the wind, while she was sitting on the rock in all her solitary glory. She closed her eyes and listened to the gentle rush of the waves, it sounded so angelic and just the mere noise of it gave her a brilliant sense of nostalgia. Each memory she made here as a child was so precious and filled with happiness. As she opened her eyes, she could almost see the ghosts of her past self jumping over waves, chasing them, and even trying to climb the rocks.
Little moments of freedom were a huge part of Fiadh’s life and she feared that since she became a teenager, those innocent days had been slowly ebbing away. That feeling of fear reminded her of the many times she failed to climb to the highest rock on Glassilaun Beach. She wanted to fulfil her childhood goal while she was still young enough to find motivation to do so.
Without a second thought, Fiadh turned around to make her way up the rocks that towered above her. As she climbed higher, her worries seemed to dwindle away. She adopted a joyful countenance and grinned wide, unfamiliar of any danger. She felt free again, that was until she started to feel a slight pain in her feet, but it gradually got worse until eventually she had to see what was wrong. She realised how silly she was to have climbed the rocks as they had grazed her feet quite badly. She remembered an incident from eight years prior, when she fell on the same rocks and injured herself. She sat down to take a rest since she was in such pain; just like what she had done all those years ago.
Fiadh only intended to stay a few minutes resting, but the minutes turned to hours, until the only trace left of her pain was the red cuts on her feet.The sky had turned dark and calm as it displayed faint outlines of stars behind indigo clouds. It was evening now. The sound of wind and waves surrounded the beach and the smell of salt air was stronger than ever. Fiadh wore a dissapointed look on her face as she knew it was time to go home. She wouldn’t get time to climb to the highest rock and stare down at the beach after her great accomplishment. She smiled in spite of her failure though, as the view was so lovely. As she reluctantly stood up to make her way down, a rush of panic filled her bones: the tide had risen, blocking her way back to the sand. Fear flew through her body, it wasn’t the kind of light fear she experienced earlier, but rather, a deep, scary, real fear.
Fiadh looked down to see that her dainty sundress was torn. Her mother gifted her that dress. Saddening thoughts of her devastated mother searching the beach for her started to haunt her mind.
Large ghastly waves hit the rocks. These weren’t the gentle, nostalgic waves, these waves were catastrophic and mean. The waves were getting crueler by the second and the tide was now creeping up the rocks.
Fiadh stood silent, closing her eyes to stop the tears. She did the same thing when she was trying not to cry when she was only little. For just a mere few seconds, the sea went silent and she opened her eyes. The brief moment of calmness didn’t last long as it was soon interrupted by one of the biggest waves Fiadh had ever seen. It soaked her from head to toe. The colossal wave had made her slip and suddenly she was falling freely into the sea.
Falling was the easiest part of the past hour. The falling was peaceful. The abrupt crash that came afterwards was the most difficult part. The ice-cold water felt rock hard as Fiadh splashed into it. The pain was excruciating. Waves smashed over her head as she frantically moved her limbs to stop herself from drowning. The taste of salty water filled her mouth as she shivered ferociously. Her delicate tears added to the endless, open ocean.
As the minutes flew by, Fiadh felt almost half dead in the water, gasping for air. This wasn’t her idea of freedom. The waves were slowing down a bit. The life drained from the sea, just like it was draining from Fiadh. She thought about what a morbid death she was yet to approach and how it was almost unavoidable. She didn’t have any memories of drowning. The many occasions she previously shared with the waves had always been friendly and fun. Nothing about this encounter was friendly or fun though. She wondered what she had done to the waves to cause this quarrel. Maybe she just grew up.
Forcing herself to keep her eyes open, Fiadh saw a blurry shadow of a torchlight shine from the distance. She wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating or not. She tried to call for help, but no voice left her mouth. The light seemed to be coming closer to her. She forced her freezing self to move slowly towards the light. She noticed that the sea-level had lowered since she first fell in. Her eyesight had gone blurry, but she made out a distant figure on the rocks, that jumped into the water and swam towards her. A hand grabbed Fiadh’s hand and dragged her almost lifeless body to the rocks.
Fiadh woke up an hour or so later, still on the beach with a green, wooly blanket over her shoulders. Her mother was beside her and smiled gently as Fiadh woke up. ‘You have a rip in the dress I gave you,’ she chuckled, knowing that was the least of their worries. By some miracle, the tide had never washed away the blood stains left on the rocks by her feet, which led her mother to find her. The place was so remote that they had to wait for hours for an ambulance to arrive.
The deceitful waves Fiadh played innocently in as a child, had tried to kill her. They were the real life versions of the sea monsters she once feared years ago. She didn’t succeed in climbing to the highest rock, but after that night, she vowed to never do such a thing again. She closed her eyes, thinking about what happened earlier. As she opened her eyes, she could almost see the ghosts of her past self a few hours ago, climbing, bleeding, getting trapped and eventually, falling and struggling to survive. Of course, she had not grown too old to adventure, she had years, nay, decades left to explore the beach. She was too naive to realise that the reason she almost died climbing the rocks wasn’t because she was too old to adventure, but rather, she was not careful enough.
This tale concludes at Glassilaun Beach, where great waves crash from the freezing sea. She’ll never know how she survived, but she’ll always remember how her childhood died.
