Retell Me a Story
Winner - Alexis Devoncroix
Rapunzel
“Eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven.” Caity counted softly to herself, a soothing ritual that began and ended each day. Her brush glided through her long hair with each count, banishing knots and frizzes. Her count was one-hundred before she could braid her hair for bed. It was a long process, but definitely well worth it. No one else had hair as long or as fine as hers, Caity though smugly. Everyone else had ragged, shoulder length hair, so ugly when compared to her thigh length locks.
It was one of her few indulgences, long hair, ever since the attacks started almost a year ago. Anybody with hair longer than shoulder length was targeted, usually girls, and their entire scalp was shaven off. Nobody knew who, though a few witnesses described a hunched over figure wearing a mask. Since then, over fifty people had been attacked. By now, long hair was considered taboo; Caity was thought an idiot for letting hers grow out.
But Caity just couldn’t give up her auburn waves. She had always had long hair, always. The only time she hadn’t was when she was born. She didn’t care that her hair pulled on her scalp, plaguing her with migraines. She didn’t care that it took her almost an hour to wash, brush, or style it. She was beautiful with it, she was special.
“Ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four,” she continued to count. All around her was the peaceful silence that promised sleep and dreams. Caity finally finished her count and pushed her hair back, raising her hands to braid it and froze.
*Clink* There, that noise. *Clink, clink* She frowned. Nobody else was home, her parents had gone to dinner and the housekeeper had left hours ago. *Clink*
Standing up, Caity moved to the door, blood-red hair swinging behind her. Opening the door, she poked her head out, looking left and right. “Hello?” Her voice echoed down the hall, sending a shiver down her spine. “Is anyone there?” Nobody replied.
Angry at herself now, she stepped out, searching for the hallway light. “If you don’t answer me now, I’m going to call the police.” *Clink, clink* “I mean it,” Caity almost screamed, “This isn’t funny!”
Finally finding the light switch, she was about to flip it up when something brushed her ankle. She screamed and scrambled back to the door, slamming it shut behind her. She leaned against it, her short gasps of air filling the room as she fought to breath regularly, only to freeze again as something scratched the door. She didn’t answer, only pushed herself harder against the door. She was going to die. There was a crazy murderer, a homicidal maniac, a bloodthirsty fiend, a-
“Mrrrrroooww” The cat’s plaintive cry wailed through the door, making Caity sob in sudden relief. Her cat, it was just her cat. She turned and opened the door, kneeling to pet the little kitten.
“Jackie-boy, how could I ever forget about you?” she crooned. He rubbed his head against her fingers, purring, before strolling into the room and hopping up onto her favorite chair, curling into a ball. Caity laughed shakily and stood. She had been terrified over a cat. Shaking her head, she went to shut the door and couldn’t. Pushing it even harder, she frowned when it wouldn’t budge. Going into the hallway, she looked at the hinges, poking them curiously.
“Weird, they were working earlier.” Shrugging, Caity walked back in, intent on finally braiding her hair when a blissful voice stopped her.
“You have such lovely hair. It shines in the moonlight. Such pretty, pretty hair.” Caity spun around to see a woman sitting in her chair, Jackie curled up on her lap. “You take good care of your hair, don’t you? You brush it and wash it and condition it,” she said wistfully, “I used to be able to do that too.” She reached up to her head, drawing Caity’s eyes.
She barely stifled her shriek of horror. The lady’s face was beautiful: clear blue eyes, pale skin, full lips. But there the beauty ended. Her scalp was a glistening orb with patches of fine blonde hair spread thin over it. It looked ragged and messy, but it was what was woven into it that frightened Caity.
Hair of all colors and styles decorated the lady’s head. Brown, blonde, black, red, hazel. Rough and fine, curly and straight. They had all been tied to each other and woven throught the remaining clumps of her own hair to form a mottled blanket of hair that reached to her feet. It reminded Caity vaguely of a calico cat, but a cat had never been this terrifying.
“Do you like it?” the lady asked, running her fingers through her mane. “It’s been so hard to find hair that would work, nobody grows it long enough.” She pouted, red lips pursed tightly together. “All I want is my hair back, is that such a bad thing to want?”
Caity just stared at her, unable to formulate an answer. The lady sighed. “I know what you’re going to say, you’re going to say that I’m weird, that I’m a freak, that I’m horrible.” Tears filled those big blue eyes as she gazed up at Caity. “But that’s not true. I just want what’s mine.”
Caity moved back a few steps, setting the bed between her and the lady. “I don’t have anything that belongs to you,” Caity replied. The lady smiled happily, tears vanishing.
“But you do! All that beautiful long hair of yours. Won’t it look lovely on me?” She stood up, placing Jackie tenderly back on the chair. “My hair used to be so long you wouldn’t even believe it. It could take me days to brush it all. It was like golden wheat, the prettiest color you’d see anyone where. I was content, you know,” she nodded slightly, lost in her memory. “I was quite content to stay and my tower and just brush my hair. I had everything I needed, after all. Why would I want to leave?” She sighed dramatically and pointed a finger at Caity.
“You want to know why I left? I’ll tell you why. Love. Or at least,” she amended, “what I thought was love. It didn’t help that Charles had a way with words. ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.’” She giggled suddenly, loud and almost hysterical. “Those were his first words to me. Stole my heart immediately. But then after we got married he fell in love with a peasant. A peasant!” She spat, eyes narrowed. “He left me over a peasant, and you know what happened?” Caity shook her head dumbly. “Everyone forgot me, that’s what! They went all goo-goo over a peasant.” Rapunzel sniffed. “An ugly little thing. Had boring brown hair. Nothing like mine. But everyone liked her more.”
Caity just stared at her, mind on overload. This was Rapunzel? This mad creature was Rapunzel? It couldn’t be, Rapunzel was just a fairy tale, she wasn’t real, she was fake. To her horror, she heard herself saying her thoughts aloud, saw Rapunzel’s eyes narrow in even more in fury.
“I am not a fake!” Rapunzel reached out and jabbed Caity in the chest. “I. Am. Real.” She jabbed harder with each word. “You’d like me to be fake, wouldn’t you, like to think that stories are just that, stories. Well I’ve got news for you, girlie.” She smiled, an ugly baring of yellowed teeth. “The stories are real, and we don’t like being forgotten.”
She fished in her pocket and dragged out a pair of crimson shears, opening and closing them absentmindedly. “You’re going to help me be beautiful again, you’re going to help me become remembered again. But first,” she leaned forward, grabbing a fistful of Caity’s hair in a tight grip. “you’re going to give me your hair.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Second Place - Zerotheslayer
Sunny in Wonder Town
By, Ri-chan
Sunny Fledman opened the door of one of the four bedroom apartments at Student Housing and stepped into the hallway. “Good night,” he heard a man say as he closed the door.
“Night, Hail. See you tomorrow?” Sunny asked.
“Yeah,” responded the voice as the door shut behind the tan, blond young man.
As Sunny walked back to his apartment, he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t feel so well,” he yawned before he headed down the hall and rubbed his head again before turning and continuing down the stairs. He slipped inside an empty room and walked to the last door down the short, narrow hallway. After dressing in a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, he crawled under the covers and began snoring softly.
The next morning, Sunny woke to a bright light shining through his window. Slowly, he pushed back the covers and sat up. Feeling light headed, he wobbled over to the window and pulled up the blinds. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the grass seemed especially green. “That’s right,” he mumbled to himself as he walked out of his room, “I have to meet Hail.” As he walked over to the coffee pot, he heard a tapping outside the apartment door, and walked over to it. He opened the door and saw a familiar face. It was one of the female students, but he couldn’t remember her name.
“Good morning, Sunny,” she said as she walked past him. She wore a white, one piece bathing suit with a fluffy tail that drew attention to her bottom. Her long, blond hair covered her ears, but at the top of her head were a pair of white bunny ears. Sunny gave them a glance, and then directed his attention toward her tail.
“Do you want to come in for some coffee?” he asked as he motioned over his shoulder toward his apartment, using his thumb.
“I’m sorry,” said the girl as she jumped by, “I’m late.”
“Late for class? But it’s Saturday,” Sunny pointed out.
“I can’t talk now, Sunny. I’m really, really late!” the girl snapped as she skipped down the hall.
“Late for what?” Sunny asked as he stepped out of his room to watch her rush down the hall. The door closed behind him, and as he turned around, he realized that he had locked himself out. “Oh man,” he mumbled and continued down the hall. “Hey, Bunny Girl, do you know if anybody’s in the office?” he asked as he continued after her, but the girl disappeared through the door that lead to the stairway. When he reached the stairs, the girl was gone. Rubbing his head, Sunny mumbled, “I guess I’ll have to go find out myself.”
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a long hallway that twisted in both directions. Sunny shook his head and exited out the door in front of him. He took a shortcut across the yard and stopped at the front doors, but when he opened them, they too were locked. “Aw man,” he mumbled. “I can’t take this anymore. I gotta go meet Hail or I’m the one who’s gonna be late.” He rubbed the heel of one of his flip flops on the pavement in front of him and turned around. After quickly combing his fingers through his hair, he jogged down the sidewalk and toward the street.
“You’ve got mail!” he heard a squeaky, almost metallic voice screech at him as he ran by a local resident’s driveway.
“I do?” Sunny asked as he skidded in the gravel beside the road and turned around, but there was nobody in sight. He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. The sun wasn’t as bright as it had been when he looked out his window. He turned around, but heard it again, this time across the street: “You’ve got mail!”
Sunny glanced across the street, and then jumped as the mailbox behind him opened up. “You’ve got mail!” it said as it’s squeaky door flapped open and closed again.
“You’ve got mail!” said the mailbox outside the house ahead of him.
Suddenly, all around him, the mailboxes started to sing:
“There’s a bill from the cable company in here,” sang the one across the street.
“A check for you from your boss, your final pay,” sang the one behind him.
“A letter from your grandmother, who wants to say,” sang the one in front of him.
“A magazine telling you not to fear, but the end of the world is near,” squeaked the one across from the last, which continued, “that she hopes you’ll have a wonderful day.”
“Ah!” Sunny gasped and covered his ears. All the squeaking, singing mailboxes were causing his headache to worsen. He darted down the street until the singing faded away, and then finally slowed his pace. He glanced at an old, rusted mailbox at the end of a gravel driveway that led to a small house with a large flower garden behind it. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked.
With a loud, metallic shriek that caused the boy to wince, the mailbox popped open to reveal absolutely nothing but spider webs inside. “Oh, I see,” Sunny said as he pulled a used tissue out of a pocket on his pants. He went to remove the webs, but the mailbox snapped shut. “Oh, come on. You’re a mailbox. You won’t catch anything,” he said. The mailbox slowly popped open again with another loud squeak and Sunny wrapped up the webs and crushed a few spiders. Then, he wiped them out of the box with his tissue, which he dropped on the ground.
“Hey, do you mind?” he heard a tiny voice shout, and squatted down. “Get this thing off of me,” he heard.
As Sunny picked his tissue back up, pinching it carefully between his thumb and index finger, he noticed a small, fuzzy black caterpillar. “What’s the big deal?” the little bug asked.
“Ugh,” Sunny groaned as he leaned back, and lifted his foot to crush the caterpillar.
“What did I ever do to you?” the bug asked as it crawled out of the way and lifted up to stretch itself out toward him, “How’d you like to be my size?”
Before Sunny could answer, he began to shrink. “I’d like to see you crush me now,” the caterpillar said to him as it stretched itself over him.
Sunny backed up, turned around, and ran toward the house. “I wasn’t going to crush you,” he lied. The caterpillar watched him go, but did not follow.
Sunny slowed his pace when he noticed that he was not being pursued. He straightened his back, pulling back his shoulders, and lifted his head to take a nice long breath of fresh air through his nostrils. The scent of flowers that had sprouted up all over the garden and on the vines that tangled around the white fence overpowered him. Attracted to the scent, he continued forward, stepping through a gap between the white panels, and was almost immediately crushed by a large, pink flip flop coming down fast toward him.
“Hey!” the boy gasped, suddenly knowing how the caterpillar must have felt, “Watch where you’re stepping.” He shook his fist at the giant, who leaned over and picked him up by pinching his shirt between her large thumb and index finger. She lifted him to her face, which was covered in thick layers of heavy makeup that made her look like a clown. Her frizzy red hair added to the frightening appearance, and he gagged at the scent of her perfume, which stung his nose and threatened to suffocate him.
“What have we here?” boomed the giant in a frighteningly unfeminine and raspy voice, “It’s a little man.” She set him down on a simple white picnic table in an empty china teacup.
“Name’s Sunny,” said the little man, his tiny voice echoing in the cup.
“Care to join us for tea?” asked another woman with rabbit ears, but unlike the girl in the white bunny suit with the white bunny ears, this one had on a purple suit with a fluffy black tail and black rabbit ears that hung down to her shoulders instead of standing upright.
“I’m afraid I’ll drown,” Sunny said and held up his hands in defense, what little good it would have done as the large pot of tea hovered over him in her hands.
“Oh, just have a sip,” the rabbit girl insisted.
“No, no!” Sunny begged as she tipped the kettle. He closed his eyes and braced himself for a hot, drowning death, unsure of which would kill him first. Instead of gushing out and pouring over him, however, a simple drop of tea was gracefully released from the spout of the kettle. It dripped onto Sunny’s head, splashing over him and running down his face and neck, dripping from his hair. Slowly, he brought his hand to the top of his head, and then licked some of the bitter tea. Suddenly, he felt his stomach rumble, and began to shake. The teacup shattered, and he sat, life sized again, on the table.
“Oh no, that won’t do,” insisted the rabbit girl as she brushed away pieces of the broken teacup, “Get off the table.”
Sunny apologized and got off the table. “Now, have some sugar, sugar,” laughed the clown woman as she heaped several scoops of sugar into the teacup, until it was filled. Sunny hesitantly reached for it, but she swatted his hand away. “Oh, I forgot. You must try a little tea with your sugar. It’s simply marvelous, darling. You can’t have sugar without tea,” she insisted as she covered the sugar in tea, creating a murky brown gel. Sunny grabbed a spoon and began to stir, but the spoon became stuck and stood upright. He stopped to stare at the cup. “What’s the matter?” asked the frizzy woman, whom Sunny thought must have been insane, “Don’t you like tea?”
“Maybe he doesn’t like sugar,” said the rabbit girl.
“No, I like both,” Sunny said quietly.
“Then why won’t you drink it?” both girls asked at once.
Sunny nodded and picked up the cup. He removed the spoon, and the grainy sludge slowly dripped from it, dropping back into the cup. Silently, he set the spoon down and lifted the cup to his lips, but before he had to choke down the coffee flavored sugar, his bunny girl hopped by crying, “Oh no! This won’t do! I’m late for my date. I hope he will wait!”
“Date with who?” Sunny suddenly wondered, “Oh, that’s right. I have to meet Hail!”
“Hail?” all three girls asked, and turned their attention toward him.
“Do you know where I can find him?” Sunny asked.
“Oh yes, I certainly do, but I can’t. I have to go now,” said the bunny girl as she hopped off.
“I’m sorry,” Sunny apologized to the two other women, folding his hands together and holding them over his head, “I have to go.”
“Wait, but what about your tea!” the insane woman cried after him, intending to chase him down and force him to slurp down the dark, slimy, gritty sugar, but she stopped at the gate as Sunny ran through.
“Wait! Why won’t you tell me where Hail is?” Sunny insisted, but the bunny girl kept going a though she didn’t hear him.
The garden was larger than Sunny expected it to be. He passed what seemed like endless fields of tulips and daisies, keeping on a narrow, dusty path until the bunny girl’s footprints disappeared. As he looked around, he saw a maze of fresh corn to his right, and stepped inside. As he came to a fork in the maze, the corn to his left began to rustle. Sunny immediately found himself in the “fight or flight” position, when out jumped a large, grinning man with black hair, catlike ears, and a fluffy tail. Sunny sneezed. “Curse you,” said the cat.
“Don’t you mean ‘bless you’?” Sunny sniffed as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.
“Of course not,” said the catlike man as he held up his hands, revealing sharp claws between his paw-like fingers, “How dare you sneeze at me?”
“I’m sorry,” Sunny said as he took a step back.
The catlike man shook his head and laughed as he poked Sunny’s chest with his knuckles, “You are cursed. The king will have your head!”
“For sneezing at you?” Sunny asked and rubbed his head.
“Of course not,” laughed the catlike human, “It’s because you’re a man.”
“Aren’t you a man too?” Sunny pointed out.
“So I am,” agreed the catlike man, and then disappeared into the corn, “That way leads to a dead end.”
“Which way?” Sunny asked, but there was no reply. Sighing, he turned on the path opposite of the direction that the catlike man had run.
A stalk of corn bent forward, blocking Sunny’s path. “Excuse me dear,” came an old woman’s voice, “This old ear lends to hear. Oh my, did you just sigh?”
“What?” Sunny asked as he rubbed his eyes.
The husks began to peel off of the corn, revealing old and brown kernels. “What’s the matter, dear? Shall I lend an ear?” it asked.
“N-no thanks,” Sunny gulped, “I’m not hungry.”
“Oh my, that is not what I meant to imply,” said the corn as a small fuzzy brown caterpillar crawled from the bottom to the top.
“Hey, did a bunny girl pass by?” Sunny decided to ask.
“Oh my. No, why?” came the reply, and Sunny couldn’t tell if it was the caterpillar speaking or the corn itself.
“Thanks,” Sunny said and turned around. He walked back in the direction from which he had come, but instead of reaching the fork in the maze, he found an actual fork at a ninety degree angle in the trail. He squatted down to pick it up and mumbled, “What is this?” before he turned and kept going.
“What are you doing?” came a familiar voice as Sunny continued walking.
“Hail?” Sunny asked and began to down the path through the corn. He came to another turn, and peered around the corner.
Hail stood in a circle, surrounded by cornstalks. Sunny stepped out of the maze and made his way through the corn. He stopped to watch as the bunny girl held on tight to his friend and kissed his neck. “Don’t worry. I made sure nobody followed me,” she said, “You’re safe.”
“Sunny?” Hail asked as he gazed into the cornfield, “Sunny!”
A faint banging sound erupted into larger raps as the corn began to fold down, bowing on the ground under the feet of handsome young man. “What is this?” asked the man, who wore a crown on his head, as he stepped into the circle. He was surrounded on three sides by faceless female guards, “A man, in my kingdom? Take him!”
“No! Hail!” cried the bunny girl as each of Hail’s arms was grabbed by a soldier and he was pulled from her. They forced Hail to his knees, and the last of the three soldiers prodded him in the back with a long silver spoon.
“Sunny!” Hail cried.
“Off with his head!” shouted the “king” as he drew his index finger across his own neck. The woman raised her spoon, and Sunny happened to notice the sharp, axe-like edge.
Sunny gulped and glanced down at his fork. Without thinking it through, he raised the eating utensil above his head, and ran out to deflect the blow. As he courageously lifted his fork, it began to grow until the blade of the spoon was caught between its teeth. “Another man?” asked the “king” as he pointed at Sunny, “Take care of him, ladies!”
The two soldiers that were holding Hail down stood their ground, but the one that was wielding the spoon drew back her weapon and slashed at Sunny’s stomach. The swipe missed, but Sunny fell onto his back. As the faceless woman brought down her blade, Sunny caught it in his fork again, but the handle of the fork was slipping from his sweating hands. “No,” Sunny groaned as he began to shake. The fork flew out of his hands and clattered in the dirt a few feet away. Sunny looked up in terror as the woman raised her weapon to strike again.
“Sunny!” Hail shouted as the banging continued, “Wake up!” The blade was brought down as the last word escaped Hail’s lips, and Sunny felt himself fall off the ground. He fell as the world turned itself upside down, and landed with a crash on a gritty blue carpet.
Sunny groaned and opened his eyes. As he sat up and looked around, he was in his own room again. “I heard that,” came Hail’s voice from the other side of the door, “Hurry up, man, you’re almost late for your driving test. Don’t you want to get your license?”
“Huh, wha?” Sunny asked as he struggled to his feet, “S-sorry, Hail. Thanks for waking me up. Uh, h-hang on.” He pulled open his dresser drawer and pulled out some blue jeans and a sweater and got changed. As he opened up the door of his bedroom, Hail handed him a can of coffee and asked, “You ready to get your license?”
“Yeah,” Sunny said and rubbed his head, “Man, thanks. You saved my life.”
“Huh?” Hail asked as he opened up the door to the hallway. He then glanced over his shoulder at his friend.
Sunny opened his mouth to say something, but then Lily walked by dressed in a white bathing suit, with a fluffy bunny tail and a headband with white bunny ears. “Hey Hail, hi Sunny,” she said as she walked by, waving to them. Sunny jumped a little, and spilled some of his coffee.
“Come on,” Hail said as he grabbed his friend by his sleeve and dragged him out the door, “We’re almost late.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Third Place - 0drizzt0
Once upon a time there was a great golden dragon. Every morning he would stand upon his mountain and bellow to the world. This great bellow was a challenge to the world. The challenge was for anyone to beat him. He boasted amazing strength and speed. Since no one could ever beat him in strength he challenged the world to a great race.
This race would be from the great mountain that he lived on to the great walls of the east. Every morning he sat and challenged. Every morning the world ignored him.
Until one day he stood upon his mountain and bellowed, "The challenge is open to anyone who dares."
"I will race you." came a small voice near his head.
"Who said that?" he roared.
"It is I." Said the bird flying next to him. "I will race you."
The great dragon laughed and accepted his challenge.
The race began. The dragon taking the lead immediately. The bird falling way behind. They crossed rivers and hills, oceans and mountains. They flew so long that the dragon soon became very exhausted.
"Maybe I can take a nap for a couple days." I am way ahead of the bird anyway."
So the great dragon found a great mountain and slept. Unfortunately for dragons, sleep always ends up being a couple months long. And this was just long enough for the bird to catch up to the dragon, pass him.
The dragon woke up a couple months later. He never realized he slept so long and started flying again to the east. As he reached the end he began to laugh, because he raced a bird took a nap and still won. Although as he reached the end he saw the bird, perched up on top of the finish line, the wall of the east.
Reply
