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Writing Challenges
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Short Story Competition #2
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AHHH YES! YES! YES!!! I am sooooo excited for this, I LOVE these kind of prompts!!😆😆 Ahh, Anna how is it that you always know just what kind of competitions I like?? :')
*sees dog picture* *squeals loudly*This one looks fun, I can't choose O_O
Sorry I didn't get a chance to enter the history contest D':
I'll make sure to put these on my priority list!!!
We only have 8 days till we're moving!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay I love this!!! I think ya'll know I'm going to do Prompt 5 because it has a dog........
Actually I'm having a hard time choosing between 2 or 5!!!
Cherie wrote: "I'm wondering if it's ok to do my story with some of the characters from the Hardy Boys? In their town? It will still be my story"If you still use one of the prompts!
Chocolate Cake and JuliaA man carrying a small, shabby suitcase came walked into the nearly deserted train station. Since the weather was pleasant, once he bought his ticket from the lone employee in the small building, he decided to go right through and sit outside on the platform while he was waiting for his train. Apparently it could arrive at any time within the next 6 hours. Because of his failing health he didn’t get out of his cramped suite very often and he wanted to make the most of being out in the beauty of nature while he could.
As he sat down on a bench and put his suitcase next to him he realized that there was absolutely nobody outside at all. He was all by himself which is what he was used to. He lived alone, his wife had died almost twenty years previously, they had never been blessed with children and his few friends had died long ago. That’s what happens when you survive to the age of seventy-eight.
He reached into his deep coat pocket and pulled out two things, the piece of chocolate cake he had wrapped up and brought for this particular moment and the old letter that he had been carrying with him for the past three years. It was this letter that coaxed him out of his small home and getting ready to take a train in the middle of the night. As he started to eat the cake directly from the plastic wrap, his eyes scanned the words again, although by this time he knew the letter by heart.
“Dear Malcolm,
I just heard about the passing of your wife. I know it happened many years ago, but I still wanted to convey my condolences. I never got married and I know how difficult it can be sometimes to live alone. Especially when one was married as long as you and Jean. I pray that you will find the comfort and peace that can found in the presence of Jesus.
Most sincerely, Julia”
He finished the letter and looked up and into the sky as his memory once again relived the moment when he first met Julia. They were in grade 4 and he was the new kid in the very small town his family had moved to. Julia, being the epitome of kindness, came over to introduce herself and welcome him. She was a rather plain looking little girl, but her sweetness was evident from her first words. These past years since he had received the letter from her he could barely think of anything else.
The two of them had gone through all of school together as good friends and on the day of their graduation she had confessed her love for him. But he “just wasn’t there” as he had phrased it to her in expressing his feelings. In his mind he was destined for great things or at least better things. Better than spending the remainder of his life in this small, hick town married to a plain-jane who would spend her life popping out a bustle of kids. Sure he might have broken her heart, but she was young and would get over it and someday she would marry someone who was content to live the life that she had envisioned. Although he had never actually asked Julia what kind of life she had envisioned.
As these memories flooded over him, his tears flooded over him. He put the unfinished piece of cake on the bench next to him and started feeling around in his pocket for a hankerchief.Suddenly the cake was snatched away.
“Hey! Give that back!” Malcolm yelled at the dog who had taken it. But when he saw how thin and mangy the animal was he decided to let the issue and his piece of cake go. He just finished mopping up the wet all over his face that the streaming tears had left behind.
“Not very nice of you to take advantage of a person when they are in the midst of a personal crisis.” he said jokingly to the stray mutt.
“Julia would have never done such a thing.”
Julia again. He just couldn’t get her out of his mind. Even when he had left his small town and gone off to university it had taken more of an effort than he had anticipated to forget about her. After all, they had grown up together. But once the excitement of university and dorm living took a hold of his life and he started dating a “better class of woman” he was able to completely erase Julia from his mind. What a fool he had been. A God-forsaken fool!
He was a wiz at business management and the woman he had married had a chain of clothing boutiques. She also had a chain of other lovers. It didn’t take him long to discover them, because she was much too arrogant to even try and hide the fact. And when he had threatened to find other women, Jean simply didn’t care. A total sham of a marriage. She was much too busy being a career woman to ever have a child and as time progressed and their marriage got worse, he was very glad they had never brought children into their home. It had never been a home. Just a very large, fancy, stylish building for two strangers to live in.
When Jean had died suddenly in a car accident, it was four days before he even found out about it, because they had been living such separate lives. The little bit of his heart that was still alive at that moment died as he stood over her grave. Ever since, he had been dead inside as much as the wife he had buried. That was, until he received the letter of sympathy from Julia.
As he pondered Julia and their years of friendship when they were still just a boy and girl, he recalled what had made her so sweet and stand out from all the other people he knew. It was because of that Bible she carried everywhere. He was sure it was that. So it had motivated him to go and get the Bible that she had given him the day he got on a train at this very train station and headed off to university and out of her life. She had obviously been sad, but what he couldn’t get over was her lack of anger. Her lack of bitterness for the way he had just tossed her love aside. There was no way he could do that with Jean and all her affairs. The only way Malcolm knew that he still had a heart at all, was because it was filled with hatred. He kept telling himself that Jean was dead. There was nothing to be done about it and he would have to find some way to put all that hate aside or it would destroy him.
So eventually he had headed for the Bible. As all desperate men do. But in his case, he found the answer he was looking for. And the greatest shock and wonderful surprise was that the “answer” was a person. A person who had lived two thousand years before Malcolm was ever born. Jesus. Still the answer. As if he had been waiting all this time for Malcolm to discover Him.
And through the years Malcolm had come to realize that the only thing that kept him away from Julia was his own stubborn pride. At first, Malcolm wanted to seek out Julia because he was lonely. Then he wanted to see her because he wanted her forgiveness for the way he had dumped her. Then he decided to stop wanting to see her for what he could get from her, but what he could give to her. Because when all was said and done, she needed an apology from him simply because she deserved it.
Once he came to that conclusion, he sent her an email and told her he would be coming to see her. Now they were both old people, she had never been married and had created a charity that sheltered abused women and their children. A house-mother to generations of people in need of her gentle, kind, wise, loving ways. He suddenly realized that the dog had gotten onto the bench beside him and Malcolm was absent-mindedly stroking him while he was deep in thought. He looked eye to eye at the dog and burst out laughing. Almost the dog’s entire face was covered with the chocolate from the cake he had stolen and eaten. It was good to have something to relieve the days of tension inside of him, because Malcolm never been so fearful of doing anything as he was of facing Julia. And he still had to wait for the train and the four hour journey that would take him to the city where Julia now lived.
He turned suddenly when he heard a familiar voice say,
“I see you still have a way of making new friends.”
He looked up into the face of Julia. He knew her instantly. Even with all her grey hair and wrinkles he would have known her anywhere. But he had forgotten how beautiful she was.
“What are you doing here?” Malcolm asked with amazement.
“I’ve waited for you for sixty years. I just couldn’t wait any longer.”
The two of them smiled at each other and in a fraction of a moment, perhaps the same measure of time as a “twinkling of an eye”, the bitterness in his heart melted in the warmth of a new and true love. A love that endured. A love that waited. A love that would never fail.
By Laura-Lee Rahn
WELL, EVERYONE. ARE YOU GOING TO ALLOW LEYLA AND MYSELF TO STEAL ALL THE GLORY AGAIN? We don't mind if you do. It's obvious our talent is massive. But perhaps you wish to post a short story and prove me wrong? LLR
CONTEST ENDS TOMORROW!!Thank you so much for the wonderful entries so far!! I love them, you guys!
I should mention that I was so inspired by the prompts I did BOTH #2 : an old man, a chocolate cake and a love letter AND #5: A stray dog, a suitcase and a train station. Another very enjoyable (and difficult) creative writing experience. So happy to be a part of it. But now I want to read what the rest of you have created. I'm boring. You're not. Love LL
Title: The wife and the different Earths
Prompt 2
As some always say, “aging is a gift.”
Or maybe just the opposite.
“Aging is a curse.”
I don’t know what to believe. Stuck in the mind of a 11 year old--in a 87 year old body. Well, I’m 86 years old. But my birthday is tomorrow.
That explained the chocolate cake on my desk that was brought by my daughter. Ha, funny, huh? The old man almost forgot his own birthday, he needed a chocolate cake brought by his daughter to get his rusty brain to start. Wind up. Do a test run on his memory of his life here on Earth-3.
As I mentioned, my mind is just like that of an 11 year old. My wild imagination had not certainly been burnt out by the disastrous truths of the world. Even a normal 11 year old would have lost his imagination, how could he not? War started in his hometown, and found out there are other earths in the world. Only choice was to move. Moved to Earth-2, disaster and war occurred again. Moved to Earth-3, nothing happened, and he is still there to this day.
Earth-3 is a place with no color. As if he got stuck back in the 1930’s, where everything was black and white.
And all this I just described? It all happened to me. And through it all, I haven’t lost my imagination. Even though I’m 86. I guess I’m special.
If you are someone like dear Einstein who is reading this, you may think I am talking metaphorically. But, yes, I found portals to other worlds. Other versions of your Earth. And--
Wind rushed harshly through the windows. My door burst open. I clutched my chest. A dark hole appeared in the streets. I screamed--but my 86 year old mouth refused to make a sound.
“Hello, detective. Long time, no see?” A woman jumped out of the black hole into the streets of my color-less neighborhood. Oh no. No,no,no. She opened a portal to another earth. Wait--Earth 4?
“Do you recognize me, Detective?” She said, a sinister glimmer in her eye.
“You’re--you--I never thought I’d see you again.” I stammered.
“Neither did I, Jonas.”
“That’s a first, Felicity.”
“Ha.”
“Hmm.”
Then there was terrorizing silence. Felicity, she was a warrior in the War on Earth 1. But she wasn’t fighting on my side. She was on the opposite side. When I left Earth 1 to go to Earth 2, I never thought I’d see her face again. And even when she tried to find me, followed me to Earth 2, and started another war, then I left with my daughter to Earth 3, where I am now.
“Calm down, Jonas. I’m not here to start another war.” She said.
“How am I to believe you? What? Are you going to throw me into another galaxy or something?” I replied.
“I’m here because of Ria.”
That name stopped me in my tracks.
“ Ria? ” I asked.
“Yes, Ria.”
“Didn’t she die?”
“You really don’t know your own wife, don’t you?”
A tear slipped out of my eye.
“Didn’t one of your fellow warriors kill her on the battle in Earth 1?” I shivered.
“I thought so too. But your wife lives. And she loves you.”
“But why didn’t she come with me and our daughter to Earth 2 and 3?”
“Jonas, I’m not here to listen to your problems. But she wanted me to give you this letter.”
She held out the letter.
“Here, take it. Bye, Jonas.” And then Felicity jumped back into the portal. I had a shiver down my spine. All these years, my wife was alive.
I slowly tore open the letter, crying silently that my own wife sent me a love letter.
And the first line I read:
“Jonas, I’m coming. I am coming to Earth 3. To be with you and our daughter. I’m going to try to go from Earth 1 to Earth 2 and from there go to Earth 3. So I can see you.”
I smiled, a tear running down my cheek, and for a moment, I felt my old wrinkles fade away.
My daughter’s car pulled up on our color-less driveway. She saw me crying.
“Dad, Dad! Are you okay?”
“Jane, your mother is coming.”
She grabbed my arms. “Dad, dad, mom died.”
“No, she didn’t. She’s coming here, to Earth 3 to see us.”
In the moment, I don’t think my daughter believed me. But she gave me a hug and started crying as well.
(view spoiler)
Prompt 2
As some always say, “aging is a gift.”
Or maybe just the opposite.
“Aging is a curse.”
I don’t know what to believe. Stuck in the mind of a 11 year old--in a 87 year old body. Well, I’m 86 years old. But my birthday is tomorrow.
That explained the chocolate cake on my desk that was brought by my daughter. Ha, funny, huh? The old man almost forgot his own birthday, he needed a chocolate cake brought by his daughter to get his rusty brain to start. Wind up. Do a test run on his memory of his life here on Earth-3.
As I mentioned, my mind is just like that of an 11 year old. My wild imagination had not certainly been burnt out by the disastrous truths of the world. Even a normal 11 year old would have lost his imagination, how could he not? War started in his hometown, and found out there are other earths in the world. Only choice was to move. Moved to Earth-2, disaster and war occurred again. Moved to Earth-3, nothing happened, and he is still there to this day.
Earth-3 is a place with no color. As if he got stuck back in the 1930’s, where everything was black and white.
And all this I just described? It all happened to me. And through it all, I haven’t lost my imagination. Even though I’m 86. I guess I’m special.
If you are someone like dear Einstein who is reading this, you may think I am talking metaphorically. But, yes, I found portals to other worlds. Other versions of your Earth. And--
Wind rushed harshly through the windows. My door burst open. I clutched my chest. A dark hole appeared in the streets. I screamed--but my 86 year old mouth refused to make a sound.
“Hello, detective. Long time, no see?” A woman jumped out of the black hole into the streets of my color-less neighborhood. Oh no. No,no,no. She opened a portal to another earth. Wait--Earth 4?
“Do you recognize me, Detective?” She said, a sinister glimmer in her eye.
“You’re--you--I never thought I’d see you again.” I stammered.
“Neither did I, Jonas.”
“That’s a first, Felicity.”
“Ha.”
“Hmm.”
Then there was terrorizing silence. Felicity, she was a warrior in the War on Earth 1. But she wasn’t fighting on my side. She was on the opposite side. When I left Earth 1 to go to Earth 2, I never thought I’d see her face again. And even when she tried to find me, followed me to Earth 2, and started another war, then I left with my daughter to Earth 3, where I am now.
“Calm down, Jonas. I’m not here to start another war.” She said.
“How am I to believe you? What? Are you going to throw me into another galaxy or something?” I replied.
“I’m here because of Ria.”
That name stopped me in my tracks.
“ Ria? ” I asked.
“Yes, Ria.”
“Didn’t she die?”
“You really don’t know your own wife, don’t you?”
A tear slipped out of my eye.
“Didn’t one of your fellow warriors kill her on the battle in Earth 1?” I shivered.
“I thought so too. But your wife lives. And she loves you.”
“But why didn’t she come with me and our daughter to Earth 2 and 3?”
“Jonas, I’m not here to listen to your problems. But she wanted me to give you this letter.”
She held out the letter.
“Here, take it. Bye, Jonas.” And then Felicity jumped back into the portal. I had a shiver down my spine. All these years, my wife was alive.
I slowly tore open the letter, crying silently that my own wife sent me a love letter.
And the first line I read:
“Jonas, I’m coming. I am coming to Earth 3. To be with you and our daughter. I’m going to try to go from Earth 1 to Earth 2 and from there go to Earth 3. So I can see you.”
I smiled, a tear running down my cheek, and for a moment, I felt my old wrinkles fade away.
My daughter’s car pulled up on our color-less driveway. She saw me crying.
“Dad, Dad! Are you okay?”
“Jane, your mother is coming.”
She grabbed my arms. “Dad, dad, mom died.”
“No, she didn’t. She’s coming here, to Earth 3 to see us.”
In the moment, I don’t think my daughter believed me. But she gave me a hug and started crying as well.
(view spoiler)
SO, I decided on Prompt 2! DONE!!!!!! Hope y'all like it. I AM SO EXCITED!!!
I am going to keep this open until my time tonight, so you've got a few extra hours!
Haha! I did it again! Anyway, this competition is closed!
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1. Same rules throughout the group matter here too.
2. Try to keep all entries between 1000-4000 words--I'll try not to be as strict about this one, just don't make it pages and pages long.
3. Contest starts NOW (2/4/20) and will end in two weeks (2/18/20).
4. You must use one of the prompts below in order for it to qualify.
© There will be no stealing of anyone's stories/work. We should all be mature enough to respect that if we are entering a contest. ©
This time you're allowed to base your story on anything you'd like, so long as you somehow incorporate these things in!! The things incorporated can either be just on the side and only mentioned once, or they can be the main parts of the story. You choose!
Please let me know which prompt you choose. Make sure to use all of them listed after whatever prompt you choose.
Prompt 1) A blue rabbit, a slice of cheese, and fifteen quarters
Prompt 2) An old man, a chocolate cake, and a love letter
Prompt 3) A caterpillar, a crumpled note, and the color orange
Prompt 4) A woman named Ruth, a comic strip, and a bowl of guacamole
Prompt 5) A stray dog, a suitcase, and a train station