500 Words 2025/26: read a finalist's story from the 5-7 category

This story was chosen as a finalist for 500 Words 2025/26.

Remember, spelling, punctuation and grammar are not taken into account for a 500 Words story, therefore all the top 50 stories have been published how they were submitted.

The Crazy Chicken by Chloe H.

Once upon a time… ugh, too fairy-tale. Let's start again.

Not long ago, there lived a chicken called COOPER. That's right - C-O-O-P-E-R. And guess what? He was… drumroll please… CRAZY!!!…What? Not laughing? Oh, the title gave it away. Fine. Moving on.

Cooper had a lovely owner named Lucy, and they lived at 25 Chickenton Road (yes, that's a real address… okay fine, it's not, don't Google it).

Now, Cooper wasn't your average peck-and-cluck kind of chicken. No, no, no. He had ambition. He had dreams.Big ones.Cooper wanted to be… a fish.

He dreamed of swimming gracefully through the water, feeling the cool sea tickling his feathers. Honestly, he thought he was halfway there - every time he knocked over his water bowl and stomped in the puddles, flapping wildly, he was sure he was practising his freestyle stroke.

But Lucy would always laugh and say,

"Oh, Cooper, chickens don't swim!"

Well. That hurt.

So one day, Cooper decided to prove everyone wrong. He woke up before the sun did, fluffed his feathers, and strutted towards the seaside like a feathery superhero on a mission, muttering,

"Today's the day I become a fish!"

When he arrived, the beach was already packed. People were tanning, building sandcastles… and staring.I mean, who wouldn't stare? It's not every day you see a chicken walking on the beach.

Cooper didn't care. He stretched out his wings, took a deep breath, and-

Splish! Splash! Splosh!Down he went - deeper, deeper, deeper! - until THWUMP! His head got wedged in the sandy seabed.

"CLUUUUCK!!!"

Cooper kicked his tiny legs furiously, flapped his wings like a feathered helicopter, and… wait a second… he was moving! Up, up, up he went!

He felt lighter… and lighter…

Wait. Why was the water getting smaller beneath him?He looked down and realised his claws were no longer in the sea.They were in the air!

WHOOSH!

Up he went, soaring above the beach, free as a wild bird, feathers sparkling with sea spray, seagulls gawking in disbelief.

It's true, Cooper can't swim after all.He'd just accidentally invented flying.

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