Rebekah Abbot is a seventeen-year old writer who participated and completed the summer 2026 Story Before Time Summer Writing Challenge. Her short story, “Faerie Tale Ending,” tells of a teen boy, Shay, who discovers hidden secrets about his grandfather and a world unknown.
Read Rebekah’s story below:
Once upon a time when the word color was spelled with a u, there lived a young man named Shay. He had many friends, few relatives, and fewer admirers. Overall he was satisfied with this arrangement. Then one year his grandfather unexpectedly fell sick. Three days later he passed away. They hadn’t been close, so it came as a shock that grandfather had named him in his will.
Shay was baffled. He looked down at the note his grandfather had left to him.
“To Shay L. Ronan, I leave you my old house by the river and everything in it. You will find there are many books, and I advise you to take care of them. I know there were misunderstandings in our relationship, but I trust that all will be made clear, even if it is too late for me to be there with you.”
It didn’t make any sense! His grandfather had tried to kidnap him. Multiple times. He even got a restraining order. He really didn’t know what to think about all of this. Maybe he had misjudged him. It was hard to be sure of anything connected with him.
Grandfather had left him a lot of money too. This was exciting at first. He saw shows, went shopping, and lent money to friends which was rarely repaid. This new shiny life was quick to wear off. Shay soon realized that with money comes relentless flirtation from uncivilized females.
Every week Shay would go to the lake to swim. As more of his acquaintance learned this, more girls he knew would show up to talk.
“Do you want to go kayaking?” They’d say.
“Do you want to play cricket?” They would inquire.
Shay always declined politely, for he knew the ways of these women.
Nothing, it turns out, drives a man out of society so readily as attention. That’s when Shay remembered grandfather’s house. In just a few days he had packed his belongings and bumbled off to the estate by the river.
As Shay opened the door to grandfather’s house, moths burst forth and fluttered into the blue. The room inside was vastly different from any place Shay had been. There was definitely more bookshelf than wall. The atmosphere in the room was unrealistically breathable for such a dusty literature arena. As Shay stepped through the doorway he entered a new world. A world of secrets and insects in displays. And there was the mirror. It stood tall against the wall, looming intensely and sparking occasionally. This obviously caught Shay’s attention. It was mounted to what he guessed was a jewelry cabinet. It was locked. The phone rang. He hadn’t noticed it before, stuck to the wall. He picked it up.
“Hello.” He said.
“Hey, is this Shay?” A woman answered him. “I didn’t know you were leaving! I got this phone number from your mom. She says she might go visit you next week and I was thinking about coming with her. Y’know, just for safety. And I told her…”
The woman droned on like a bagpipe. This was Julia, Shay’s childhood friend. She was so different now that he was wealthy. Always looking for ways to get closer to him.
“Julia, it’s past your bedtime.” Shay said. He hung up.
It really was late. He tossed his belongings on the floor and went to find a bedroom. There were surprisingly many. He picked one with a nice big window and walls painted black. The bed was already made with clean sheets. He went into the bathroom to look around. There was a new toothbrush and toothpaste still in the packaging. Grandfather had been expecting company. He picked up the toothbrush and turned it over. He dropped it in shock. Very neatly sharpied on it was the name “Shay”. He checked the toothpaste box. It was written there too. Grandfather hadn’t been expecting company. He had been expecting Shay. He got ready for bed quickly and tried to get some sleep. That didn’t work. Shay soon got to wondering how grandfather had known he would choose the black room. He didn’t particularly like the room or anything about it. He tried not to think about it, but eventually he threw off the covers and went to investigate. The other rooms were spotless too, everything clean and in order, but they didn’t have any random objects marked with his name. Weird. He was troubled, but he went back to bed. After rolling around for an hour or so he managed to fall asleep.
The next day came like a tarantula. Slowly and seemingly without direction. Shay was glad to be awake though, so he got up and made some coffee. He had always been one of those people who said “don’t talk to me before I’ve had my coffee” but never drank any because he thought it was funny. Coffee was completely new to him. And weirder than he expected. He carried on because all of his great aunts swore by it.
He received several more phone calls in the course of the morning, all of which were treated with the same severity as Julia’s. This was quite tiring, so Shay fell to organizing grandfather’s books. They were splinterous and dusty, and probably worth more than the house all together. He opened the cover of an asthmatic volume titled “The How and Why of Fire: a guide for the unlovely”. A large key was drawn on the cover page. Next to it was a long and nonsensical conversation. Seemingly between a man and his reflection if the next drawing was anything to go by. He shut the book and went outside. The house looked much smaller from out there. Shay walked the short path down to the river. He found a nice big flat dry stone just out of the water where he sat down. He threw his feet into the river and kicked at any fish who approached. It was so tranquil. A nice break from whatever foolery he had been performing.
Shay did not fall into the water. This detail may seem unimportant to you, but not all is as it seems. He stayed by the river for a good part of the day. When he finally came back to the house Julia was there waiting for him.
“I was starting to think you’d given me the wrong address!” she pronounced. “Your mom will be here in an hour or so, but I couldn’t stand how slowly she drives, so I came by myself.”
Shay sighed. Then he decided politeness was the best way to proceed and plastered a smile onto his tired face. “Do come in!” He said with forced alacrity.
As soon as Julia stepped in the door she flocked about in a storm of cleanliness. She put all the books back on the shelves completely undoing Shay’s hard work. She upset a vase and a few paintings in the process. The vase shattered on the wood floor. Julia was dismayed. She slumped to the floor and scooped up the ceramic remnants. Buried in the mess she found a gold key with red gems embedded in it. She showed it to Shay. He was sure he recognized it as the key drawn in the book. The book was lost on the shelves now, but he thought he knew what the key went to. He looked up at the cabinet with the mirror front. The key slot on the side looked similar to the key in Julia’s hands. He tried it in the lock, but the cabinet didn’t open.
Something far more momentous happened. The invisible strings that held his reflection like a marionette snapped. The man in the mirror was free to move as he liked. He beckoned Shay to come inside. Julia screamed. Shay put his hand to the mirror’s surface, but he couldn’t get through. He needed the book. He knew it. He needed those words copied down into it by grandfather.
“Julia, help me find that book. The one about fire for the unlovely.” He said.
She was freaked out, but she didn’t dare to oppose him. Luckily the title had stuck with her, and she remembered where she had put it. Shay took it down and opened it to the title page. There were the words. Shay went to the mirror and said:
“The weather is decent this evening.”
“Most assuredly.” The reflection replied.
“A depressed lack of susurrus.” Shay went on.
“Never more so.” Came the answer.
“The pie tastes like scrupulous shrimp cocktail.” Shay was confused as he read this aloud, but that’s what the book said.
“I like your way of putting things.” The reflection said
“The well-shod totally cool young man has the upper hand.”
“But radishes wither in the heat of combat.”
“The satyr only departs when necessary.”
“The faerie queen will punish him with punishments.”
“Do I gain admittance?” Shay finished.
“You do.”
Shay’s reflection took him by the hand and pulled him through. Julia caught him by the ankle and came in after them.
What happened next came as a surprise. Shay’s reflection melted into some sort of guitar wielding flute monger. It was a shape shifter. The world around them was not like grandfather’s house at all. They were standing in an open field. There was a copse some way away, and on the other side was the ocean. Behind them, ever looming, was the mirror. The guardian stayed there. You never knew who might happen along on the other side. Shay wandered off toward the trees. Julia looked around nervously, but she decided to follow. She was sure she didn’t want to be alone here. In the middle of the copse there stood a beautiful young lady with flowing golden hair and a dress made of moonlight. She introduced herself as Hailow. She had come to this land as a child and had been invited to stay by the king, so she had made it her home.
“I live beyond the sea.” She said. “I came to show you the way.”
“How do you get across?” Shay asked. He knew better than to ask how she knew he would be there. This place did not work by the same rules that earth did.
“Come, I’ll show you.” She answered. The three of them walked down to the shore. They could just see the mountains on the other side of the sea, and atop the highest peak stood a golden unicorn. Shay was amazed. Something invisible was drawing him forward. Hailow could see it in his eyes.
“Get in the water.” She said. “There will be big and dangerous fish and sea monsters. The way to get past is to ignore them.”
Shay nodded. He was scared, sure, but that wouldn’t stop him. Julia however would have none of it. As Shay and Hailow waded forward she cried out.
“Don’t go! It isn’t real!” She started crying. “Nothing as beautiful as a unicorn could ever exist. It’s a trap Shay! Stay with me!”
Her noise was drowned out when his head went underwater. He opened his eyes and looked for Hailow. She was still moving forward. As he watched she became something new. A seal perhaps, but he’d never seen one in person. She moved so gracefully through the water, much faster than he could swim. He felt himself fall to pieces. The fish came at him with growls and hunger.
Shay’s mom arrived at grandfather’s house. She came in and looked around. The mirror sparked and spluttered. She hesitated slightly before taking the key out. Shay and Julia were wrenched out and flung down on the floor boards. Shay gasped with dismay. He hadn’t wanted to leave. Julia sprang up and seized the key. She ran out the door and to the river. With the energy of a swordfish and the forethought of a lemming she hurled the key into the water. She watched as it sank out of sight. Shay came running out to try to stop her but he was too late.
Everything was different now. Shay couldn’t just pretend nothing had ever happened. He wanted to go back to that land, the place with the unicorn. The key was gone now, and with it all of Shay’s hopes. Not all the therapists in the world could change that now.
Julia was humiliated by her rashness. She and Shay’s mom went to a hotel for the night because they couldn’t face his disappointment. He was all alone sitting by the river and generally bemoaning his fate. As the sun set he remembered Hailow, the seal girl. He wondered what had happened to her in the water, and if seal people really existed. He went back to the house to look for information in grandfather’s books. He took down a large volume with a promising title. ‘Fantastical Creatures: a comprehensive guide’. It wasn’t even hard to find. He opened it to the table of contents and started looking for clues. Dragon? No. Hippogriff? No. Phoenix? Still no. Mermaid maybe? Shay thought there might be other kinds, but upon reading the mermaid section he found nothing remotely seal-like. Mermaids were scarier than he’d imagined. He flipped to the index and looked up ‘seal’. This brought him to the chapter titled ‘The Selkie’.
A selkie turned out to be just what he was looking for. A person who could transform into a seal if they had a sealskin with them. He hadn’t noticed Hailow having a sealskin, but maybe he just hadn’t been paying attention. He had to wonder why she’d have led him into the water knowing he couldn’t transform like that. Maybe it was a trap. No. It couldn’t have been. He needed to get back, and since the key wasn’t an option he needed to pick the lock. The only obstacle was his lack of skill in this area. Luckily, Shay had a friend, Synthetic Tweed, who had learned to pick locks back in middle school to impress the girls.
Shay went to the phone and dialed Tweed’s number.
“*Sniff sniff* Hello?” he said.
“Hi Tweed!” Shay said. “It’s been a while. Look, I know you’re busy with the Llama farm and everything, but I need a favor.”
Synthetic Tweed sighed. “What do you need?”
“I need your mad skill in the art of breaking into locks.” Shay announced.
“Brother. You’ve called up the right strategist.” He said.
Two hours later they had the lock picked (with some help from the drawing of the key) and Shay was ready to go. He stuffed some beef jerky in his jacket pocket and went to grab his bags. He opened the door to his bedroom, but the room was gone. It just exploded or something. Oh well. There was no need to mourn. He came back down the hall. As he passed another open door he saw something that caught his eye. His bags were safe, stacked neatly by the wall. He stepped into the room to collect them. The room was quite eccentric. The walls and ceiling were painted a brilliant shade of red. A pair of red slippers lay on the carpet. ‘Shay’ was embroidered on each of the soles. This was almost less strange than the bedroom exploding, so Shay put them on without questions. He picked up his belongings and legged it to the mirror.
“The weather is decent this evening.” He said.
The man in the mirror responded: “Most assuredly.”
When Shay came out on the other side Hailow was there waiting for him. She was glad to see him. Shay was still unsure about the whole selkie thing so he asked her about it.
“Yes,” Hailow said, “I am a selkie. You are too, Shay.”
“But I don’t have a sealskin.” Shay mumbled.
“Yes you do.” Hailow said. “It’s part of you. It”s a part of who you are. Don’t forget this again Shay, because someone had to die for that.”
Shay thought about the seal, robbed of its life just so that he could have its coat. He felt kinda bad about it.
“You will understand when you speak with the unicorn.” Hailow said.
They wandered off toward the sea talking as they went.
Shay opened his jacket and took out the beef jerky.
“You want some?” Shay asked.
“Thank you Shay, but your earthly food will be useless here. You will have to leave that behind when we go.” Hailow said, gesturing toward Shay’s backpack.
Shay slipped the straps off his shoulders and left it in a heap on the dirt. They waded out into the water and started swimming. Hailow dived beneath the surface, and when she came back up she was a radiant seal. Shay dived too. Once again he felt himself shatter into a thousand pieces and fall to the ocean floor. Out of the pieces a new Shay was built. A Shay with a silvery coat and fins. A seal.
Hailow and Shay sprung though the water now with vigor. They also had to keep their eyes out for mysterious creatures. There was a coelacanth once, and what seemed to be a giant squid, but these were easy to avoid with someone there to keep him on course. And Shay did the same thing for Hailow.
They reached the other side within an hour, and there on the sand they de-transformed. Shay sat up, trying to catch his breath. Hailow spat a fish out of her mouth. Shay stood up and helped her to her feet. They turned away from the sea and started up the mountain. They struggled onward for difficult but lovely hours, always with the hope of what they would find at its peak. Up at the top the unicorn still reigned. The sunlight glinted through him and was channeled into the ground at his feet. And they were feet. He was no longer a unicorn standing before them, but Grandfather. Hailow’s words echoed through Shay’s head. “Someone had to die.”.
Shay saw now. Grandfather died.
Shay’s mother panicked when she found out that her son was missing. She flew about the hotel upsetting things and pretending to be useful. Mothers tend to do that when they’re upset. Julia wasn’t being helpful. She was sure she knew where Shay had gone, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it.
At this point it will be important to the story to mention Shay’s mother’s name. Her name was Deborah.
Deborah’s fit eventually subsided, and Julia was relieved. They checked out of the hotel and drove to grandfather’s house. The panic began anew and with redoubled vigor. Julia leaned against a wall and watched.
‘This is fun.’ she thought. ‘Watching the mother of the man I was going to marry go actually insane. Maybe it’s good that he left. I would hate to be related to that.’
The day went by without any revelation concerning Shay. Julia was getting tired of ‘all this nonsense’ so she left. Deborah wasn’t even sure where Julia went, but she didn’t follow. The moon rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure if it should be there or not. Deborah eyed the mirror suspiciously before walking outside. It was a beautiful night full of stars. The pines towered above her head. There were bird calls and the chirping of frogs and insects. An owl sneered at her and screeched his little song. “Hoo who who hoooo” Deborah shuttered. Then there was another bird. A strange one that shone with a light of his own. Flames embellished his plumage, and his eyes shone a blinding gold. Deborah knew what it was already. A phoenix. It opened its beak and let out not a bird call, but human speech.
“Deborah.” He said. “You find no joy in this.” It was a statement, not a question.
“How can I find joy?” Deborah cried. “My son is gone. Gone forever I fear…”
“I will show you joy.” he said. “Take hold of my tail feather, and I will take you to the land where joy is found.”
Deborah looked around. This was unusual to be sure, but something told her that the bird knew something special. She reached out her hand and grabbed the phoenix’s tail feather. Grandfather’s house disappeared along with the river and pines, whirling like the vapor it was.
Deborah found herself in an open field. On one side of her was the sea, and on the other was a small copse. She turned around. There stood a tall misshapen musician. She could have sworn he was a phoenix a minute ago. He nodded politely to her, then lumbered off to an uncertain ‘somewhere’. Deborah looked around calmly before walking to the copse. As you will have guessed there was someone there, waiting. A little boy, maybe about six years old, stood majestically with his cloak swirling in the wind.
“Hello Deborah.” He said with a gentle smile.
“What…how?… Who are you?” She stammered.
“I am called Jin.” He said. “I came to act as a guide to you.”
“Where are we going?” Deborah asked.
Jin pointed out across the sea toward the mountains.
“You see there?” He asked. “Up atop the highest mountain peak. There stands the unicorn, source of joy. He’s not so far away as he seems. We need only cross the water and climb the land.”
Deborah looked. He was right. She turned to him and gave him a little nod.
Deborah and Jin crossed the field to the ocean. Jin didn’t stop walking there. He kept right on into the sea. When he sank beneath the waves he seemed to dissolve. A seal surfaced and beckoned to Deborah. ‘It must be Jin.’ she thought. So she kept going. She was confusedly pleasantly surprised to find that she transformed as well. She swam up and stuck her head out of the water. Jin warned her about sea monsters and malevolent eels, but they got past sooner than you’d think.
When they reached the other side they shook themselves off like dogs. Deborah stood up and looked at the path ahead. Jin started up the mountain. Deborah took a deep breath, put on her mountain goat pants (figuratively of course), and began the ascent. It wasn’t easy, but she had someone to help her along and something to look forward to at the end of it. It wasn’t bad at all.
She reached the top with her lungs burning like a furnace, and alchemy coursing through her windpipe. The unicorn stood there, main and tail twirling in the soft wind. Deborah smiled. She knelt before him as her heart filled with joy and adoration.
“Rise.” He said. “You have done well.”
“Really it was the phoenix.” She said, “And the boy, Jin.”
“I sent the phoenix and the boy.” The unicorn said. “I prepared the way for you. Just because I wrote the story doesn’t mean the character didn’t do great things.”
The unicorn turned and walked into the fog of the morning mountain. Deborah followed, trying not to lose his silhouette. When she reached him again she found he was grandfather, her father in law, talking to someone blocked from her view. He turned and looked at her, then pulled the man behind him forward. It was Shay! He embraced her as grandfather watched, smiling.
“Come.” He said. “I will show you wonders you haven’t yet imagined.”
They let go of each other, walking side by side after him.
He showed them the fields of golden wheat, rippling, blazing, in the sun. He showed them the vineyards and wine presses. Everywhere they turned there truly was joy. Whether it was cheering and dancing or just a quiet steadfast knowledge that all would be well. There were a lot of people there. Shay was glad to see one of his old friends there. His name was Keith. Shay remembered he’d gone missing just over a year ago. Everyone at home thought he was dead.
“Come join me in my work!” Keith said.
Grandfather nodded. Shay came up to see what he was working on. Keith was building a plow.
There were piles of metal scraps, old tools, and equipment that nobody needed anymore. Keith would look through what he had to work with, consider what he could do with it, take the hammer to it, and turn it into something new. Something useful. Shay sat down and helped. The furnace burned bright, heating swords and spearheads until you could shape them with a blow of the hammer. The fire turned the metal a blinding golden orange that looked like glass blowing and smelled like burnt turmeric.
This was a world of work and never complaining. That environment is hard to come across where I come from. It was beautiful, but Shay couldn’t stay there. Neither could his mother, Deborah. They weren’t there to live, as they soon found out, but there on a visit.
“You have seen the beauty.” Grandfather said. “This was never the place for you though. Only a reflection of the true ending of your story. You will get to the end, but you’re not there yet. Today the beauty you saw was a story, a microcosm. You must go home now.”
The fumbling musician opened the door. Many friends stood around to see them off. Hailow was in the front holding Jin by the hand. She stepped forward and held something out in her hand to Shay. He took it. It was a golden seal bracelet.
“Think of us when you wear it.” She said. More of a question I think. “And remember the transforming power of the unicorn’s land.”
Shay nodded and put it on.
“We’ll meet again Shay.” She said.
When they stepped through they were back in Shay’s childhood home. Shay stood blinking in the dusty light from his window. That wasn’t real!? It had seemed so real. ‘A reflection’ he thought. Not a bad vision of the future. He could hardly think of a better one. But this wasn’t the end yet? Shay had assumed that that place was his happily ever after, the one promised to all the heroes and heroines in legends and faerie tales. In a way it was his ending. As near as he could be to it for now anyway. That place still existed. It still exists. Even if we can’t get there by walking or by train. To have been there himself made it easier for Shay to get there the other way. Through memory. And others would see it too, in story. Julia would see it in story.
“Oh my helium fruitcake!” Julia shouted into the phone. “Shay you’re still alive!? I never thought I’d see you again. I thought something must have happened to you once you went into that mirror of horrors!”
“It’s not evil Julia.” Shay objected. “You were just scared, that was all. Let me tell you what was there. It will help.”
And Shay told her. He told her about the unicorn and the towns and fields, and about what grandfather said.
“That’s insane.” Julia interrupted with. “Why would you listen to a dead man who was so insecure that he turned himself into a unicorn? That’s not like you, Shay.”
“I don’t think you really know me anymore Julia.” Shay said. “I have changed since we were little.”
And then something happened that would be remembered by generations to come. Something so deeply cringe that it was almost funny. Julia asked him out in what can only be described as the second most awkward way ever. Shay paused. He rethought what could have put him in this position. It just seemed so… off.
He thought about the ending of his story. He hadn’t seen the full ending yet, but somehow he saw that Julia wasn’t going to be in it.
Shay took a deep breath. He opened his squinted eyes one at a time, and refused. Julia was immediately embarrassed beyond expression. It had taken her weeks to whack up the ginger, and it all came to this. Julia mumbled some excuses and hung up the phone.
Things moved on for Shay. He bought a house (grandfather’s house had fallen), got a fabulous job as a tortilla critic, and later a museum tour guide. Through all of this he kept the land of the unicorn in his heart. He got married to a wonderful woman named Hailow, a girl who knew the story and lived it too. They would eventually grow old together, telling the story to their children who told it to their children, and all of them lived it.
A life on one side of the sea can be hard for a selkie. There was a swimming pool though in Shay and Hailow’s house of dreams. Deborah lived close by and came now and then to visit. She taught her grandchildren how to swim in that pool. They were never surprised when they found they were Selkies. Only grateful. They had seen their father and mother transform countless times and knew everything there was for them to know.
When Shay’s children asked him about their great grandfather Shay told them about the unicorn. There was no doubt in his mind that that was the real grandfather. The man who laughed creepily and tried to kidnap little boys was an idea Shay had made up about him. A fear for what might be. Now that was gone, and he had a hope based on the things he knew to be true.
Shay took his wife by the hand and walked to the stream where grandfather’s house once stood. Their children trailed behind them like ducklings. They found a nice big flat dry stone to sit on and dangled their feet in the water. Shay no longer looked into the water for a dream of tranquility that wouldn’t come back. They looked out beyond the water to the trees and the sparkling sunrise. To what was on the other side.
Here I conclude my narrative. Not because Shay’s story has ended, but because this is where he lies. Looking to the future, living in the present, and rejoicing over his past. This is a true story, just as your life is. You cannot walk to grandfather’s house by the river, nor can you take a train, but you can get there. You already have. It exists in faerie land, and faerie land exists in your head.
The End
