Second Place: Short Fiction Fairytales, Romance, and Other Nonsense Sara Ratliff
Every little girl has grown up surrounded by stories of fairytales, true love, and those fated moments where Prince Charming comes and sweeps you off your feet. We all know how it goes. It is always once upon a time, somewhere off in a faraway land. For explanations sake, let’s zoom our fairytale story in on a young girl with an uneventful life, living in a small village at the edge of a grand kingdom. This young girl’s life never seemed quite complete, just like a puzzle piece was missing from her world. That is, until a courier arrived on the steps of her cottage, delivering a golden envelope which held an invitation to the holiday ball held within the palace walls. The girl, as you can imagine, was ecstatic. Okay…let’s pause for just a minute. Everyone knows it can’t be a fairytale story without the discovery of true love. You might be thinking, of course, the poor, little village girl would find her knight in shining armor at the ball; and, you would be correct in this. But, the girl in our story was completely oblivious to this fact. She hoped to meet a nice, young tradesman or some other respectable gentleman, but she must not have realized that you can’t be the subject of a fairytale without fate sticking its unwanted nose into your life. On the night of the ball, the village girl put on her best dress and began her long journey to the castle nestled along the sparkling coast. She was on an adventure unlike any she had ever known. As her carriage approached the magnificent castle walls, the girl began to worry. She saw all the beautiful people in fine silks and dresses and, no doubt, she felt very plain in comparison. Nevertheless, she gathered her courage and walked confidently through the entrance of the grand ball room, but not before running directly into a tall, uniformed man. A blush spread across her face, and as she looked up to apologize, she realized she was standing directly in front of the future king of her land. She was instantly frightened, but she saw on the prince’s face, not anger, but a large, goofy smile. He extended out his gloved hand and asked her to dance with him. She, of course, smiled and gladly accepted. It was at this exact moment that fate placed its magical kiss upon her future. As the girl and the prince glided across the floor, she saw that his eyes were only on her and not on the multitude of beautiful girls dotting the floor. They continued to dance until the girl realized she had fallen in head-over-heels in love. The prince seemed to be the missing puzzle piece that she needed to feel complete and the prince apparently felt the same way about her. As the ball came to a close, he knelt down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage. She said yes and a big wedding was held, with celebration occurring all over the kingdom. She was his queen and he was utterly devoted to her and their children for the rest of their lives. Everyone lived happily ever after. Does this sound familiar? I mean, who has not heard stories like that their
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Inscape 2020
