Fall Writing Frenzy 2023

I’m entering the Fall Writing Frenzy contest again this year! This time, I’ve written a YA piece. My entry last year was mainly dialogue, so I found it more difficult to stick to the 200-word limit this time around. I can't wait to read all the other entries over on Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez's blog!

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Unleashed

(199 words)

The mountains protect us. No creature can scale their rocky cliffs in one night. Though the watchers tell us some have tried.

The watchers keep their distance mostly, shying away from our gratitude. Once, when I couldn’t sleep, I went to the well at dawn. A watcher with mystical brown eyes pulled water from its depths. Her golden robe slipped down her wrist to her elbows. I saw the scars, deep and precise. I know the sacrifices they make for us.

The watchers are on high alert tonight. They change curfew so we’re locked away an hour before nightfall. But I don’t lock my door. I barely secure the boards on my windows. Adrenaline forces me out.

Sunlight fades and I hike the hill to the watchers’ den, ready to protect the town that raised me. Moonlight graces my skin. My body tingles, then aches. I lurch onto my hands as my back curls and lengthens. I’m not used to this form, but it’s not uncomfortable. There’s a strength in it. The strength builds inside me, needing to be released.

The watchers draw their weapons, fear coating their skin.

I throw my head back and howl at the moon.