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, as well as poetry from Julia Wilson.
Note: Our June issue will most likely be our final issue of the year, so we do not advise submitting the first of a multi-part series or something that requires a sequel.
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: Rewrite a famous story (or a snippet of one) to make it more interesting to your tastes!
2. From a reader: Tell us your scariest campfire story.
3. From a reader: Write a story or poem from the perspective of a monarch or royalty, real or fictional (ie. Queen Elizabeth II).
4. Write a short story about being on a sports team, or a poem about an experience you have with being on a sports team.
5. Spring is a beautiful time of year; write a poem about or from the perspective of a flower blooming!
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!
Heat blazes in giant flames
Replica of a lit match, multiplied and placed
effortlessly in the grass
Rain of glowing embers dots the euphoric night
Paints a smiling picture of kalopsia
Lighting the sky with fiery delusion
Trap and trick anyone who dare comes near
Anyone who dare tests their courage
Falsely placed confidence
They tell you to trust them
From fire appears its dark shadow
Trapping the dry fields in icy darkness
Before plunging into the river of red
Casts a veil on a still silhouette
She remains unmoving, watching, waiting
Glaring at the fire as if it’s in her way
Her cool eyes, unlike the roaring flames
Piercing the wall between them
Sending a message perhaps
Telling it to move
Around her, the wall of fire
Still burning, still alive
It hasn’t quieted down since she arrived
But has not expanded
Trapped like a stem of thorns growing in a mirror
The roses concealed, but there
Waiting ever so silently for sunrise
Trapped in a circle of flames
The figure waits patiently for it to pass
Not shooing it away like a swarm of bees
Not running into her dreams to be comforted by
clouds
In the middle of fire
In the midst of chaos
She stays standing
Awaiting the dawn
Image sources:
https://pinterest.com/pin/1116400195101832514/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/5981411994117846/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/508906826619912192/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/211174960132793/
Note: Each image contains a hyperlink to its source.
Yira had stopped screaming within the first five minutes. Instead, she paced near Qith, stopping every once in a while to claw at the glowing clamp on her mouth. Qith was doing push-ups on the ground.
“Ninety-one, ninety-two, ninety-three,” he whispered to himself. He reached one hundred and stood. Yira started punching the tree repeatedly.
“Do you promise to shut up?” Qith asked. Yira nodded angrily. He waved a hand and the clamp disappeared. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“I’m sorry,” Qith said. “I guess you were right. I was too relaxed, and so we got kidnapped.”
“It’s not your fault,” Yira replied. “I should’ve been more focused. We both got distracted, so it’s both of our fault.”
“Attention, thief,” a robotic voice said from Qith’s pocket. “You have thirty seconds until the reactor self-destructs.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the glowing green sphere.
“Thirty, twenty-nine,” the voice said, emanating from the sphere.
“What is that?” Yira asked.
“I got it from the robot,” Qith replied.
“And you kept it?”
“Well, duh.” Yira stood and grabbed the sphere. She tried pulling it away from Qith, but it was stuck to his hand. She tried to remove her hands, but they were stuck too. They felt the sphere heating up, and continued to attempt to remove their hands.
“Five, four, three,” the sphere said as Qith closed his eyes and braced for the blast, “Two, one, zero. Goodbye fools.” A wave of green energy burst out of the sphere. Qith felt the energy pass through him. It left his organs feeling deflated. Then he realized that his lungs actually had deflated and he struggled for air. The sphere was no longer attached to his hand. He put his right hand, the one with the ring, on his chest. His lungs reinflated and he breathed slowly. Qith sat up and rubbed his eyes. Everything looked green. Everything was green. The energy from the sphere had merged with the molecules of everything it touched, infusing them with dangerous radiation, and turned them green. Qith saw a body lying a few feet away from him.
“Yira?” he said. He crawled over and froze. Her entire body was green, like everything else, but she wasn’t breathing. He touched her arm and the green disappeared from her body. She still didn’t breathe. Qith pushed life from himself, through the ring, into her. Then he fixed all her internal damage. As he finished, she began to breathe. He sighed in relief.
Qith activated his communicator. “Someone come to my location. Yira is injured, as well as myself. This is a Code Thirteen.” Code Thirteen meant that a person or persons unknown had almost killed an agent. It told anyone who heard to prepare for an assignment. It meant that they were going to war.
Note: This is based on a true story. Some names and events have been changed to accommodate the requests of the person who told me the story.
“Hey, KC, get out of bed.”
I sat up and yawned.
“We’ve got school,” said my twin brother, Caiden. I didn’t move. With a sigh, he grabbed my legs and pulled me out of bed. I rolled onto the ground and stood up.
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.
“At least you’re awake now.” Caiden left the room. I hurriedly changed into jeans and a blue t-shirt that said, “We Are GP.” I stuffed my homework in my backpack and carried it to the kitchen.
“KC!” my mom said. “School starts in fifteen minutes! You need to start getting up earlier.” I nodded subconsciously and grabbed a piece of toast.
My older brother Jake came in. “Hey, KC, need a ride?”
“Yes,” I said. I put on a sweatshirt and grabbed my viola. Caiden, Jake, and I went out to Jake’s car. Seven minutes later, I got out of the car with Caiden, dropped off my viola, and we parted ways to go to our first periods.
-----
Let me give you a little background. Though Caiden and I are twins, we’re nothing alike. He’s the smart kid, the one with AP classes, the one that gets good grades, the popular one. I’m in basic classes, I have maybe one friend, and I’m lucky if I get a B. We don’t look alike, either. The only thing similar between us is our eyes, both icy blue. We are also both good-looking, in our own way. He looks like an athlete, tall and muscular. I’m also athletic, but I look less like an athlete and more like a rebel, someone who doesn’t care about what anyone else says. That’s true, though. I like to do my own thing and not just go with the flow. Most people don’t even realize we’re related because we look so different.
I sat in my last class, Spanish, and waited for the bell to ring. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
“¡Hasta la vista!” I said as I hurried out the door. I stopped by the PAC for my viola and began walking to Riverside Park. I walked down to the river and set my stuff down. I pulled a notebook filled with my drawings out of my backpack and sat down. I opened to the next blank page and began to sketch the first thing that came to mind, a guy in a kayak. I got the body and the kayak down, and then I started on the face. Faces were my favorite because there were so many options. Sometimes I spent time just watching people to get ideas for facial features. I drew for a few moments, then I looked at the drawing. The person looked like Caiden. I hadn’t even been paying much attention, and I drew my own twin. I shook my head and finished.
“Do you play that?” a voice asked. I turned and saw an old man standing there, looking at me. He pointed at my viola case.
“Uh, yeah,” I replied.
“Would you mind playing for me?” I put my notebook away and opened the case. I turned quickly, aware that the man was watching me. Then, I stood and began to play. I didn’t have a song in mind. I was just playing whatever notes came to mind. I was really good at improv. I played for a few minutes, then stopped. The old man clapped, tears coming to his eyes.
“Thank you for that. I’ll say hello to your brother for you.” With that, the man walked away.
“Wake up!” a voice said. I was shaken awake. I was laying on the ground, head against my case. The sun had set, and the only light came from a flashlight being held by Caiden.
“What are you doing here? Mom and Dad are freaking out!” I stood and grabbed my stuff. We jogged home and I opened the door. My mom sat on the couch, her head in her hands. My dad was talking to someone on the phone. He turned and saw me.
“Never mind. He just walked in the door,” my dad said, then hung up. My mom came over to me and wrapped me in a hug.
“KC, where have you been?” my dad asked. I saw that Caiden was walking out of the room.
“I went to Riverside Park after school, and I must’ve fallen asleep,” I said.
“We’ve been calling you, the school, even the police!” my mom said.
“I was fine—”
“You could have been kidnapped! Or killed! Or—”
“What she’s trying to say is that we were worried,” my dad interrupted.
“What I’m trying to say is that you’re not going anywhere except school for the rest of the week! Month! Year!” I dropped my stuff on the ground and went upstairs to the room I shared with Caiden. I got in bed and closed my eyes. I heard my parents arguing downstairs for a few minutes, but then it stopped. The door opened.
“Hey,” Caiden said. “They’ll get over it. It’ll be fine. You just scared them, that’s all.”
“I scared them because they’re worried that I’d end up like you,” I said. Caiden was silent. I heard him leave the room and get in the shower. A few minutes later, the water turned off. Caiden came in and changed into pajamas.
“Maybe being a little like me would do you some good,” he said quietly. Then, he got in bed. A few minutes later, I heard the telltale signs that he was asleep. I waited for about an hour more until my parents turned off the lights. Then, I waited half an hour more to make sure they were asleep. It was around 10 o’clock when I got out of bed. I crept over to the window and opened it. The walls outside had narrow ledges, and I used them to climb down. Then, I started running. I didn’t know where, and I didn’t really care. I just wanted to run.
To be continued…
