Calling all creative writers! This is a column run by Liv Akers to inspire readers to write. The column includes writing prompts, pieces by the coordinators, and submissions from readers.
This month: Short stories from Nathaniel Lee and Casey Leigh
Below are a set of prompts for different styles of writing beyond journalism. The idea is that you have the opportunity to create some kind of creative writing piece inspired by one of the prompts, but your submission does not have to be prompt-related. You can submit any piece of writing you would like to share! All submissions should be school-appropriate. You can also suggest prompts to be featured in the next issue.
Here are some prompts to inspire your writing this month! If you try one, let us know how it goes. :)
1. From a reader: What rules would you make if you were in charge of the school? Tell us about a day in the life of a student or teacher under those rules.
2. From a reader: What are your core beliefs? Write a poem about how those core beliefs make you who you are.
3. Read through Ask Blair! and tell us what you would do in some of the scenarios inquirers find themselves in.
4. Describe what you believe to be the absolute best feeling in the world.
5. Use one word, phrase, or symbol to sum up your image of your closest friends. Have them guess who is who!
If you have any prompt ideas in mind that you have not seen on here yet or would like to see someone else respond to, drop them in the Google Form below and they will be listed in the next issue!
“Wake them up.” Bags were pulled off their heads and they looked around. Three men stood next to them.
“Let us go!” Yira said as she tried to stand. They were tied to chairs, and in her efforts, she knocked her chair over. One of the men stood the chair back up.
“Relax,” one of the other men said. The man who had fixed her chair pulled out a needle and injected something into her arm.
“What was that?” Yira said, her speech becoming slurred.
“A very powerful muscle relaxant,” the man in the middle said. “It will render all of your muscles useless. I recommend you don’t talk because it will become very hard.” Yira started screaming at them, but whatever she was saying was impossible to understand. One of the men grabbed Qith’s chair and pulled it closer to them.
“Since she is incapacitated, we’ll interrogate you.” They put the sack back on his head and carried his chair far away. When they took the hood off, he was in an empty room. There was a door on one side of the room and a mirror on the other.
“I know that you’re on the other side of that mirror,” Qith said. “You’re listening to everything I say. So, I’m going to annoy you so much that you want to kill me.” With that, Qith launched into various Beatles songs as loud as he could. He was about halfway through ‘Penny Lane’ when a man came in.
“You idiot,” he said. “Shut up before you wake up everyone here.”
“Tiar!” Qith exclaimed. “Are you here to save me?”
“No, I stopped by for a snack. Of course I’m here to save you.” Tiar began untying Qith. “When you and Yira went missing, we were immediately searching. She had informed us about the robot, so we knew that you had large amounts of Xandarian steel. Speaking of which.” Tiar held out the leather bag.
Qith took the bag. “Let’s go find Yira.” He held out his right hand and the ring floated off.
“Find Yira,” he said. The ring started floating out the door. Qith and Tiar followed it. When they reached a locked door, the ring waited patiently. Qith kicked the door open and they went in.
“What did you do to the guards?” Qith asked.
Tiar laughed. “I used some darts. A couple dodged the darts, so I kicked them in the throat.” They picked up Yira’s limp form and carried her out of the building. Tiar whistled and a hovercar flew up to them. They tossed Yira in the back and Tiar got in the driver’s seat.
“I’m better at driving,” Qith said as he got in.
“Maybe, but this is my car. Nothing’s happening to it,” Tiar replied. People started running out of the building.
“Perfect,” Tiar said sarcastically. He sped away and they heard cars starting behind them. As bullets shot over their heads, Qith held out his left hand. The bracelet had converted into a wrist-mounted gun. He jumped over the seats and aimed at one of the five cars. A single shot hit the driver and sent the car plummeting to the ground. Another shot hit another driver, and that car slammed into another car on the way down. He quickly took out the other car, but the final car kept dodging.
“Keep driving,” Qith called to Tiar. Qith leaped off of the car and landed on the front of the car behind them. He pulled up the hood of the car and used it as a shield as the driver fired at him. Qith summoned the sword again and used it to cut as many wires as he could. He saw another one of the glowing spheres, so he pulled that out as well. Immediately, the car dropped to the ground. Qith jumped off the car and held out his hand towards Tiar’s car. The glowing rope appeared again and it pulled him up to the car. He landed in the seat next to Tiar.
“I took care of them,” Qith said.
“Good job.” They flew across the city and landed in an empty lot.
“This is the drop-off point,” Tiar said. “I’m supposed to leave you and then lose anyone who is following us.” Qith got out of the car and took Yira with him.
“We’ll just wait,” Qith said. Tiar nodded and flew away. Qith leaned up against a tree and fell asleep. He woke up to Yira screaming things that can not be printed.
“Shut it!” Qith yelled at her.
“Where are they?” Yira screamed, “I’m gonna kill them!” Qith waved his hand and a glowing clamp appeared on her mouth. Yira kept screaming, but Qith couldn’t understand.
“This is going to be a rough wait,” Qith said.
Jason got down from the roof and ran inside. It took him a few minutes, but he finally found his mom reading a book on her bed.
“Mom, who is this?” he said, pointing at the girl in the picture.
“That’s your great-great-grandmother, Esther. That picture was originally going to be a Christmas card, but the person in the background messed it up.”
“Did they find out who it was?” Jason asked.
“No. Back in those days, photos had to be developed. They didn’t realize that the photo was ruined until a few days later.”
Jason put on a jacket and started walking out the door. “I’ll be back soon.” He sprinted down the road to Joshua’s office.
“Where’s Joshua?” Jason asked the secretary breathlessly.
“Who?” she said.
“Joshua Lee. The counselor.”
“The only counselor who works here is John Morris. No one named Joshua Lee has been employed here.” Jason froze.
“Are you okay?” the secretary asked. Jason ignored her and left. He walked home in silence. As he approached the door, Jason saw a piece of paper taped to the door. He grabbed it and read the words written on it.
Jason, it read.
My disappearance has probably confused you. I trust that you remember who I am, because of the picture. Keep the photo in your pocket or you will forget everything. I am an Eternal. Each Eternal is assigned a family. Somewhere in that family, there is an Eternal. I was assigned to your family. I have stayed near them for generations. Believe me, it’s harder than you think. I’ve traced it down to you. You are the next Eternal. Walk through the woods. If you feel like you should change direction, do it immediately. Otherwise, you will be lost. I await you at the altar.
Signed, Joshua
“No way,” Jason said. He ran down the street and into the woods. Following his gut, he took a series of turns that should have taken him in a circle. Eventually, he entered a clearing with a stone altar in the middle. Joshua sat on the altar, playing a small flute. He stopped as Jason walked up.
“I see you got my note,” he said.
“Yeah,” Jason replied.
“Shall we begin?”
“Begin what, exactly?”
Joshua stood and faced Jason. “Begin your journey. Regrettably, I will not be able to remain. Each Eternal has one successor. You are mine. I teach you the necessary information, then I move on. I am over a thousand years old. I have been around, following your family, for years. I might have the body of a man in his twenties, but I am really a thousand-year-old man. It is time for me to rest. No one will remember me except you. You will age normally until you are twenty-five. Then you will stop. What you must do is find this family.” He handed Jason a folded piece of paper. “Do not read it until I am gone. Follow them until you find the next Eternal.”
“How will I know who?” Jason asked.
“Trust me. You’ll know.” Joshua removed a chain that was fastened around his neck. Attached to it was a gold ring, which Joshua removed. “When this leaves my hands, I will turn to dust. You will then become the next Eternal. Lay down on the altar.” Jason complied.
“I hereby make you, Jason Walker, an Eternal. I give you my token, and bid you a very fond farewell.” Jason felt the ring settle on his chest. Moments later, it hung from a leather cord around his neck.
“Arise,” Joshua said, his voice ragged but still recognizable. Jason sat up and watched as an extremely old man put his hand on Jason’s shoulder.
“I await you on the other side,” he said. Joshua Lee then ended his time as an Eternal and turned to dust. A gust of wind blew the dust away. Jason brushed a tear from his eye and walked out of the clearing. He turned back to look at the altar, but it was no longer there. With that, he took a step forward and began his new life. For the next year, people would wonder what had happened to young Jason Walker, but eventually, all thoughts of him were gone.
700 years later…
Twelve-year-old Kate Collins walked along a gravel path through the park. She wiped tears away from her eyes as she sat down on a bench. A few years beforehand, her dad had died in a car accident. Some kids had just been teasing her about how her dad didn’t know how to drive. She told them to shut up and then left. Gravel crunched in front of her and she looked up. A handsome man, about twenty-five, was standing there, looking at her with a kind expression on his face.
“Can I help you?” she asked angrily.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Kate growled quietly. “Nothing.” She wiped more tears from her eyes.
“I know what happened,” he said as he sat down next to her, “and I’m sorry. Your father was a good man.”
“You knew him?” Kate asked.
“Yeah,” the man said. “You know, my best friend, died in a car accident, too. For months, I was depressed. But someone helped me see that, although life can be pretty terrible, focusing on the past doesn’t help. The only thing we can do is keep moving forward.”
Kate giggled. “That’s kinda cheesy.”
He laughed. “Maybe, but it’s true. So, are you going to keep moving forward, Kate?”
“Yeah,” Kate said, wondering how he knew her name. “What’s your name?”
The man smiled, a kind, fatherly smile. “Jason.”
