Writing Competitions discussion

So the poll for our October competition is officially up and, since it is Halloween month, I've gone for mostly a bit of a darker vibe when choosing what sort of theme you guys have to choose from. So you have from today until the 9th at midnight (Eastern Time) to cast your vote on the poll!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

The results of the poll is in and it looks like the theme for our October competition is "Protecting her/him is the only thing I've ever wanted to do..."

So your story must be between 1,000-10,000 words with no sexual content in it and, of course, fit the theme above. Your story must fall within the word requirement or else, unfortunately, it will not be counted. You have from today, October 12th, till October 24th at midnight (Eastern Time) to post your story in this topic.

Have fun with it guys and hope to see a lot of great stories! :D

Lost
(1548 words)
**I just wanted to thank FallenCatalyst for helping me edit this story a bit as I was writing it and giving me her opinions and suggestions!**

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My whole life has pretty much been a big series of disappointments. Parents who didn’t care about me, dumped me off at an orphanage as a baby to be cared for by strangers. Caretakers, if you could call them that, who really didn’t care at all. Teachers who thought I would never really amount to much of anything just because I didn’t learn as quickly as the others. Probably because most of the other kids in my class didn’t live in a goddamn orphanage.

There wasn’t anything in my life that I was really attached to. I didn’t get along super well with the other kids at school or at the orphanage. I was always the odd one out, the one who got the least amount and I never complained. I thought I didn’t have a right to. I thought that this was just gonna be my life, that...that I had done something to put myself in this situation. I thought I was worthless. Until everything changed…

I was attacked by a pack of wolves on my way home from school one day, in 7th grade. The woods was the way I always went, gave me more time to spend outside of the orphanage. 4 wolves came out of nowhere and attacked me, one of them bit me right on my leg. Thankfully I didn’t feel much pain cause I passed out and woke up in the hospital. The same week I was able to go back home a couple came in and adopted me. Somehow I knew what they were from the moment I met them, and I knew what I was. What I had become and their explanation when they took me home the first night proved me correct.

A werewolf, they said I was a werewolf. Unlike other people, I wasn’t scared or frightened by this. For me it just meant starting over, starting a new life. The transition from human to werewolf was tough, I had to get use to all the enhancements in my life, better smell, better sight, stronger. It was tough and it was painful. There were some days when it was really bright that I couldn’t go out because the sun would hurt my eyes. The pain too, oh god, the muscle pains I got all throughout my body. Just the worse. However, I made it through. The couple had a son as well who became my werewolf brother, and as he always said, I put on my big girl panties and dealt with it.

Soon I met someone else. A boy at the new school I was transferred to. I couldn’t even describe how he made me feel when I first laid eyes on him. It was like everything inside of me suddenly just, relaxed. I felt all my worries go away, I felt warmer. And his voice, when he said my name for the first time, It was like the sweetest and most pure thing I’ve ever heard. When I questioned my new parents about it they explained he could possibly be my mate, someone that werewolves crave to be with, that they choose to be with their entire life. Knowing that, that I might already have met someone that I could be with for the rest of my life. Well, I just knew I needed to get to know him better.

It wasn’t easy, let me tell you. A lot of other girls at school had their eyes on him. He was tall and broad, blonde hair that sparkled in the sunlight, green eyes bright and alive. And for someone like me, a typical girl with unruly red hair and boring brown eyes, I didn't think I had a chance. But he proved me wrong. He proved to me that I was worth his time, there were plenty of other girls he could have chosen. But he chose me. While I was trying to talk to him, trying to get his attention, he gave it back to me. He was the one that asked me out first, he was trying to actually spend time with me. Me. For the second time in my life I was the one to get picked, I was the one that someone actually decided was worth a crap spending time with. For the second time in my life I actually didn’t feel worthless. I got him.

But as quick as I got him….I lost him.

My new family and I, we were attacked. By another group of werewolves that were trying to move into our territory. It had been ours for the longest time and there was no way that we were gonna give it up easily. I had been tasked with getting my boyfriend out of there, since the werewolves came at a very unexpected time. I thought I was gonna make it, I thought that we would get us to safety. But I was wrong. We were driven off the road in a horrible crash. We survived, but he was hurt. Really, really hurt.

I tried to save him, I fought like hell to get them away from him, it wasn’t enough. They killed him. Right in front of me. he jumped on one to try and help me as I was fighting. They bit into his neck, ending his life. I fought them back, killed one of them, but the others managed to get away.

That brings us here, to this moment in the woods, a dead werewolf to my right, a crashed and burning car over to my left, and my dead boyfriend a few feet in front of me. I couldn’t barely feel anything, the cold wet Earth was below me, but I couldn’t even feel it. I just stared ahead, looking at the boy lying on the ground. I let out a soft sob, tears starting to well up in my eyes and I forced my body up. I felt like I weighed 1,000 pounds and I was in pain from the beating I took, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be near him.

Step by step I inched closer and closer to the boy that I thought I would be spending the rest of my life with, finally making it over to him and I collapsed down at his side. I knew he was dead, I had known from the moment the werewolf bit him. He wouldn’t have been able to survive that. My bottom lip began to shake as I reached down to move some of his hair out of his face, smoothing it back a little bit for him. Just a few days ago we had been talking about taking him to the hair salon to get it cut, it had been getting too long for his tastes. Just remembering a moment of normalcy with him brought another sob up my throat and I shook me head as the tears fell down my stained cheeks.

“I’m sorry….I’m so so so sorry baby,” I whispered, my voice cracking as I rested my forehead down on his body. The smell of blood was thick in the air, making me nauseous, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was him. I was suppose to get him out of here, I was suppose to keep him safe! But I didn’t….I wasn’t strong enough and now he was dead! He was dead! Letting out a scream, I picked up a rock near me and threw it as hard as I could over to the body of the werewolf behind me. It didn’t make me feel any better though, I honestly didn’t think anything would at this point.

“Laura!” I picked up someone calling my name. It sounded like my brother, James. I didn’t answer back though, I didn’t even think I would be able to if I tried. My vice was practically gone, me only being able to get out whispered and sobs as I sat there with my boyfriend, the person who made me feel so alive the past few months since I had known him. He hadn’t been my mate yet, but he had been my best friend. I loved him so much….and now he was gone.

“Laura!” I heard the scream again, but this time from close behind me. I didn’t even look, just stared down at the beautiful boy on the ground below me, feeling a few raindrops hit my skin and soon it was raining hard. Like the sky knew something terrible had happened. I heard footsteps and soon felt a hand on my shoulder. James. Still, I didn’t look. Just reached down and kept on brushing the hair from my boyfriends face, tears soon mixing with the raindrops on my face.

Protecting him was the only thing I ever wanted to do. Since I met him and learned what the two of us could be, I wanted nothing more than to keep him safe. To keep him happy, keep him taken care of, provided for. But now, now I wasn’t able to do that. The person who made me feel so alive in such a short amount of time was now gone. And he might as well have taken my soul with him.

Guardian and an Angel
1991 Words
*special thanks to WeAreTheFallen for giving me one of the characters that inspired this*

———

The first time I saw her, I could’ve sworn she was an angel. I was walking past the park on my way home from school and she was sitting on a swing, eyes on the ground as she rocked gently. She honestly looked like she wanted to be alone, but I went up to her anyways against my better judgement. I had to talk to this angel. I took a seat on the swing next to her.

“Hi there, ” I greeted, smiling gently at her.

“Hello,” she answered, her voice faint and timid. She didn’t even look up at me.

Alright, I was off to a good start, she said hi back at least. I smiled a bit to myself and swung gently, lining my swing up with hers.

“So what are you doing out here?” I asked curiously, tilting my head and pushing my dark curly hair out of my face.

“Just avoiding some people,” She shrugged before continuing. “What about you?”

“Umm. The same I guess.”

I honestly was going home but I wanted to connect with her. Something about her had drawn me in and I had to know more. She looked over at me, pushing her blond hair out of her face to look at me better. The first thing I noticed were her blue- green eyes, alive and vibrant despite the bags under them and the dark circles surrounding them.

The second thing I saw was the dark bruise on her cheek. It was still purple, the edges just yellowing and starting to heal. It looked like she’d been slapped.

Anger immediately festered up in me at the sight. No. Not anger. Fury. Someone had hurt her. I didn’t know who had hurt her, hell, I didn’t even know her name but someone had obviously laid their hands on her. That was out of line. I started asking questions, wondering if she was okay, wondering who hurt her, wondering how I could make it better.

She avoided every question I asked, giving a noncommittal shrug or a mumbled answer that made it sound like it was her own fault. I frowned and apologized, thinking maybe I was pushing too far. So I let it go and changed the subject.

“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Knox.”

“Cory,” she answered softly.

“Well Cory, What do you say we actually go somewhere? You seem like you need a break,” I offered gently. I didn’t know who had hurt her but I couldn’t reasonably just let her go home on her own. What if whoever had done this was there?

I was a bit taken aback when she agreed but it calmed me too. Maybe I could get her to open up more.

“Alright. Let’s go then.” I smiled a bit at her and stood.

She stood up a moment after me. I glanced her over, having to look down at her. She couldn’t have been more than 5’ tall st the most. Which was tiny compared to me standing at 6 foot 4. I stared for a moment without meaning to, earning a weird glance from her.

“Sorry. You’re just. You’re like really short.” I commented, smiling a bit sheepishly.

“Thanks. I know.” She rolled her eyes back at me.

I shrugged and started walking beside her, bringing her back to my house. We didn’t talk much on the way there. She was looking around and I spent most of the time watching her or trying to avoid getting caught watching her. As we got close, I couldn’t help but bring up the darn bruise on her face.

“Cory, what happened to you?”

“It’s nothing, leave it alone,” she answered a bit lowly.

“It’s not nothing. It looks. It looks pretty bad.”

“All that happened was I didn’t do something right. It won’t happen again.”

“You can’t guarantee that,” I protested faintly.

“Yes. I can. Now will you please leave it alone?”

“No, I’m not just gonna leave it alone. Please? Just give me something that I can do to help you at least?” I pleaded gently.

Cory sighed and finally relented.
“There’s not much that you can do Knox. There’s no way for you to fix this.”

“I’m not asking to fix it. Not yet at least. Let me help though,” I argued, looking at her.

“And do what? Call the cops? No thanks,”

Cory shifted a bit further from me and I started trying to backpedal, get her to actually work with me and let me help. I had to help her. I couldn’t just let her go like this.

“No. I won’t involve the cops... just. Give me something that will help you personally. I’ll help you to get out. Let’s just start small.” I said gently.

She looked back to me and sighed. I could tell she was gonna give in so I remained quiet for the moment.

“Just. I. I know I don’t know you all that well yet but I’m hoping that I can trust you. I just really want to sleep. If you can just let me do that, that’s more than enough to help,” she finally said faintly.

I nodded quickly. “Yeah. Of course. My mom lives at the house with me but she’s pretty chill. You can come over and just nap if you need to?” I offered.

I didn’t think about if my mom would care or not. Or if other people would find it weird or shady. Cory wanted to sleep, my house was safe so why not let her sleep there. It wasn’t like whoever hurt her would be able to find her there too. I kept my eyes on her as we kept walking.

“Okay,” she nodded slightly to me and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I brought her back to my house and let her into my room, figuring that would be the best place. It was clean and decently neat minus the unmade bed. When I first got home, I was rarely in there, opting to do my homework in the kitchen or the living room where snacks and background noise was readily available.

“So this is my room… I hope that’s alright. I’m usually not in here right after school and the blackout curtains eliminate a lot of light. So you can sleep in here. Or the couch if you’d rather, I just think this would be more comfortable,” I explained softly to her.

“Are you sure? This is your space. I don’t wanna intrude..”

“Yes. I’m sure. You wanted a place to sleep. Here’s a comfy bed and there won’t be anyone messing with you or anything. It’s safe,” I promised.

I watched as she struggled and hesitated, staying quiet for a moment.

“Okay.. Thank you knox.” She replied, looking up at him.

I smiled and nodded.

“Yeah. Of course. If you want I can leave you alone so you can get some sleep? I can wake you at whatever time?” I offered to her.

“Can you. Can you stay in here?” She asked in response.

“Uhh. Sure. I guess so,” I shrugged at her, a bit confused as to why she seemed to trust me so much but I didn’t question it.

I let her lay down in my bed and I sat on the floor within her line of sight. She seemed to go to sleep instantly, curling up in my bed.

~~~~~

Over time, this became a routine. We’d meet up after school and she’d come over. Some days, she’d just take a nap, usually when she had some sort of new bruise. Other days, we’d just sit and talk. I learned more about her and she about me. She wouldn’t tell who kept hurting her but I gave up on trying to push it. She would only get upset when I did, even when we both knew it was getting worse for her.

I eventually asked her out and she thankfully said yes. It felt right to be with her as her boyfriend. She was here all the time anyways. We’d come home from school and I started laying with her when she’d nap, noticing how she relaxed and didn’t fidget so much when I was with her. A few times, she ended up staying the night.

Then there was one incident where she didn’t go home for a couple days. She came home with me after school, spent the night, and then did the same thing the next day without going home. When she did go home, I didn’t hear from her which was weird. I always got a few messages at least. Usually telling me that she was okay and that she was going to bed but she’d talk to me in the morning. When I didn’t hear anything all night, I started to freak out a bit. She never ghosted me, ever. I knew something had to be wrong. But I forced myself to wait until morning. I’d walked her home most evenings so I knew where she lived and I was there first thing that next morning, waiting to see her come outside and walk to school with her brother, another part of her routine that she’d told me.

I waited, pacing anxiously. I finally got up the nerve and walked up to the door and knocked, frowning when I heard someone yelling at someone else inside. I heard what sounded like a heavy slam, not like a door but more like a person against something. I froze for a second. What if it’s Cory? What if it’s my angel? I thought to myself.

That got me moving again. If it was her, then I had to do something. It was my job to protect her. I’d taken it on months ago and maybe now I had a chance to act. I tried the knob and it turned easily. I silently eased the door open and came inside, frowning at the loud yelling coming from the man in the house. I peeked into the kitchen and saw my angel in a corner, an older man cornering her, screaming right at her. Cory was cowering, shaking with fear.

She hadn’t even seen me but I was already moving. I grabbed the man and yanked him away from her, shoving him back. What I remember after that is a bit fuzzy. There was fighting and struggling between the man and I but I won. I had him pinned to the ground and wasn’t gonna move. Cory had gotten away from the corner and had called the cops, hiding just outside of the kitchen and watching with wide eyes. The cops soon arrived and came into the kitchen, putting the man in cuffs and letting me get up.

I immediately went to Cory, wrapping my arms around her tightly and letting her hide her face in my chest.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” I promised her over and over again until she slowly stopped shaking in my arms.

I didn’t let go of her while I spoke with a cop about how I was just acting in defense of Cory. Cory gave them the same story, explaining the man was her stepfather and that he’d been abusive for months now. I thankfully got away without a charge.

From the day I met her, Cory was my angel. She looked just like one and to me, she always seemed like one. No matter what was going on in her life, she was there for me and to make me smile. And in return, I was her guardian. It was my job to protect her. And if that’s all I do for the rest of my life, that way good enough for me. It’s more than enough to be her guardian. It’s all I’ve wanted to do since the day I met her. And now she was safe. She’s been safe with me ever since.

The deadline of the competition has come and now it's time to choose a winner (: thank you to those who wrote in a story. You guys have from tonight until October 31st at midnight (Eastern Time) to vote on which story you liked most. Happy voting guys! :D

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

The results of the poll are in and it looks like FallenCatalyst was the winner for this competition. Great job, your story was very good! :D thank you to everyone who voted in the poll!!