March 24th Daily

Word Count: 200

“Dear… I’m a vampire.”

“This might just be a rumor, but I heard Lord Miles wife is a vampire… can you believe it?

“My son will be born tonight.”

“What are you going to do with the halfling?”

“I’m not wanted anywhere.”

“I’m sorry, my darling, but it’s time to say goodbye.”

“I miss my mum.”

“You’re just a disgrace.”

“I can’t take this anymore.”

“His son ran away!”

“Hmm, you’re on your own too, eh? Come one, Rookie, let me show you the ropes.”

“He betrayed me. He’s always been like a big brother to me, and he betrayed me.”

“Why in the world are you out here in this heat?”

“I can’t afford any water.”

“I’m not going back there.”

“You can come to my place.”

“Promise me I’ll always have my best friend.”

“You’re going to camp?”

“Will you be okay on your own?”

“I never meant to fall for anyone… but I think I’m falling for her.”

“I, um… I like you.”

“Someday she’s going to be gone, there’s no doubt. The worst fears are the ones you know will come true.”

“I haven’t told you this enough, but I love you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

not a daily or anything im probably going to end up using this for the writing comp idrk
—-
The Unexpected Death (825 Words)

Sophie had been scrolling through texts when she suddenly got a phone call. She didn’t recognize the number, but she decided to answer anyway.

“Hello…?” she asked.

“Hello.” a familiar voice responded from the other end of the phone. She felt like she had heard the voice before, but she wasn’t sure who it was.

“Who is th-'' she started to ask, but that was when she recognized the voice. The voice was her own. Or at least she thought it was, but that wasn’t possible. Instead she asked, “Do I know you?”

“Of course you know me, I’m you.”

Of course her first instinct was that this was some stupid prank call, but that wouldn’t explain how they had the exact same voice. Her thoughts were interrupted by whoever had called her.

“I have to tell you something.” the voice said urgently.

“W-what is it?” Sophie asked, becoming a little worried. Why would some random number call her and tell her something “urgent”.

“If you make the same mistake I did in the past then you will die tonight.”

Sophie couldn’t help snorting. “Ha, yeah right I’ll die tonight this is another stupid prank call.” She was about to hang up when she spoke again.

“You don't have to believe me, but I’m trying to warn you. You will be killed by the person you least expected to harm you.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Nice one, goodbye.” She hung up the phone. She knew it was a prank, but she couldn’t help, but feel a little creeped out. This person had been suggesting that she was her future self and she had gotten the chance to warn her past self that she was about to be killed. She didn’t need much to let the call go, but she did want a little reassurance. She walked up the stairs to her and her husband's bedroom.

“Honey, I got a strange call from someone.” Sophie told him. He sat up and looked up from his phone.

“Did you recognize the number?”

“No I didn’t.”

“What did they say?”

“Well I know it's not true and it was probably a prank call from someone, but they said they were my future self warning me that I was going to be killed by someone unexpected tonight.” She said, looking at him. He smiled at her and then laughed gently.

“You’re right, that was definitely a prank call,” he said.

“Yeah you’re right, but just one more thing… they had the exact same voice as me.” Sophie told him.

“Ha, that’s a pretty crazy coincidence.” He paused and seemed to think for a moment. “You said this person said you were going to be killed tonight right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well just in case, maybe we should be a little bit extra cautious and tell your sister she can come over tomorrow night in case she tries to kill you or anything.” he smiled. Sophie laughed.

“I mean I guess…”

“Alright I guess that means we’ll have dinner by ourselves tonight then right?” Sophie nodded. “I’ll go make dinner, how about steak?”

“Yeah, sure.”

He got up and headed downstairs. Sophie got up and went to her bedroom. She was still thinking about the call. Is that what it had been about? Had she been warned not to have dinner with her sister that night? If that was the case then she was safe. She wouldn’t have expected her sister to want to kill her and that had been what had been said. Later she heard her husband calling her from upstairs.

“I finished the steak, would you like to come down to eat?”

Sophie had gotten tired of sitting in her bed alone wondering if she was going to die that night so she was incredibly relieved to have an excuse for someone’s company other than her own.

“Of course, I’ll be right down!”

She got up and started to walk down the stairs. It had gotten dark out. Sophie couldn’t help looking out of the windows as she passed by on her way to the kitchen. You know just make sure no one was standing with a knife outside or anything.
Her husband greeted her as she walked into the dining room. He brought in the steak from the kitchen. He held the plate with the steak and looked at her.

“What?” Sophie asked him, wondering if she had done something wrong.

“Nothing.” He set the plate down then cut himself a slice of steak. “Would you like me to cut you a slice?” He asked.

“Yes please, thank you.” she responded.

He stood up and got her a plate from the kitchen then went back over to her. He picked up the steak knife and looked down at her.

“Is something wrong?” Sophie asked. Looking up at the knife still in his hand.

“You know you should have paid more attention to that warning earlier today.” he said.

a/n: aHaHa this is so bad xDD not my proudest work, but it is a speedrun! :’D
based off this /terrifying/ storm going down where i live :0

“It was a dark and stormy night.”
“Lightning is a mysterious force, powerful and dangerous. You never know what to expect from it.”
“The sound of rain scares me, Mother…”
“Hurry! We’ve got to get inside.”
“Come along, children. Don’t fear the storm.
Embrace it.”
“I wonder how many people suffer from storms like these.”
“The hearth in here is most comforting.”
“Look! The window’s broken!”
“Oh no…the water will damage everything.”
“Is that a figure, out in the distance?”
“AHH!”
“Did you just hear the thunder? That was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Mother, I don’t like this.”
“That was a soul-shattering sound.”
“Mother, there’s someone waiting for us outside.”

. . .

“It was a dark and stormy night. And it still is.”
“I wonder how long it will take to find the flashlights.”
“How much food do we have?”
“The vehicle is ready.”

. . .

“Hopefully nobody’s gotten hurt.”
“Are we there yet?”
“Lightning looks pretty! And sharp. And scary.”
“It’s a slippery slope. Or road, in our case.”
“Ah, dang it- the fridge isn’t working.”
“Be careful, darling. You never know when-“
“AHH!”

. . .

“It was a dark and stormy night.”
“At least, that’s what the case file said.”
“Video games are not equivalent to real life- you can’t trust them.”
“Yet, you have to think-“
“Hey! Look over there!”
“That’s not good.”
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“Wait, are those sirens?”
“PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!”
“We didn’t do this! Please, we’re innocent!”
“It was a dark and stormy night. One where many lives were lost.”

March 24th Daily <3
211 words
Quick thing about today's daily - it's meant to reflect stress over grades, and while I don't personally relate to most of the dialogue, I can relate in some way to the story that's being told here, and yep that's pretty much it ^^

“This is –”

“She was superlative.”

“What a failure.”

“Aced it –”

“I can’t believe she forgot –”

“Might be the most –”

“Aw, come on –”

“– the most perfect record, one that –”

“Disappointing.”

“Articulate, well-phrased.”

“– a real, lasting impact.”

“– I can’t go on.”

“I know it’s not severe but –”

“— and now I have to –”

“All this time –”

“Now?”

“Good student, straight A’s, all-around –”

“But I didn’t expect –”

“– shines like a star.”

“– everything I taught you!”

“How do you –”

“– mostly just stressed.”

“– just can’t help feeling –”

“– would die for.”

“– some relief.”

“But how could this happen, there wasn’t –”

“– if she hadn’t studied. . .”

“I did everything you asked, and yet –”

“– totally normal.”

“I don’t believe that this could be –”

“– nobody’s perfect.”

“– supposed to be perfect –”

“Oh but she was always –”

“– take a deep breath, everything will be fine.”

“Just do your best and there won’t be –”

“– if only she had listened to me when I said –”

“Whatever, it won’t have –”

“– so angry with myself.”

“Practice makes progress, you said –”

“– watch the walls come crashing down.”

Scrapped and voided, this only counts in words because I did it wrong lmho
Main Cabin Daily 3/24
Topic: Fragments of a story
Words: 233
Redirect to main page


I step outside of the house, nervously rubbing my palms together. It's about time for me to meet my longtime friend who I last saw in sixth grade. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. I bite my lip, having sudden doubts that this may not even be the right house.

In an attempt to distract myself, I look down at my phone. Yes, this is the correct address. It would be very rude of me to be looking down at my phone at such a rare event.

(TIMESKIP)

A strong breeze almost knocks me over as I leave the house, waving goodbye to Mori. A grin is still plastered to my face, even though my hair is buffeted by the wind. My skirt flaps, one end flying the other way and another glued to my body.

(TIMESKIP)

“Yup, they have,” I say.

“Are their parents still together?” mom asks.

“I don't actually know, I didn't ask them,” I say.

“Are you going to hang out with them again?” mom wonders.

“Hopefully,” I say. “I will see them again though.”

I leave mom and her many questions to go and rest and scroll through my phone. I look for Mori's account, and take a lookbook into their daily life. They seem to like vlogging very much. All of this, it's very surreal. My eyes and mind drift off.

Daily

“Gosh, this food… eyuccckkkkk.”
“How do you talk so fast?”
“I heard that there was a fire close here.”
“So… we’re not besties?”
“Why is the cafeteria so loud?”
“Wanna play cards?”
“I tried to leave class when the bell rang, but the teacher told me that the bell doesn’t dismiss me… she does.”
“We need to talk to the teachers about the cafeteria. This food isn’t cooked properly, and it could actually be a safety hazard.”
“Really? She likes Archie, of all people?”
“Don’t roll your eyes at me.”
“My dog would eat this food in a heartbeat.”
“You have nine siblings?!”
“Is that the bell to go back to class? Oh, it’s not. Never mind.”
“You guys need to STOP spilling people’s secrets.”
“No way. That can’t be true.”
“I-I thought that we could… try being friends…”
“I’m never going to finish this essay in time. I have to face getting detention.”
“Awwwwwww. Come to think of it, they would be good together.”
“What’s the fiftieth triangular number? I forgot the method.”
“Go away. I don’t like you.”
“Are you thinking of leaving this school? It’s not the best school ever, right?”
“I hope this place doesn’t catch on fire.”

Hi, it's my main-cabin daily.
Story name: The sneaky Ninjas
word count:+212 words

There is a town named Tumatakuru it used to be a powerful Ninja village.
Once a evil Ninja( Give your own name) made them forget who they were really.

Over the years, the town became a farming village instead of a Supreme village. It was a enormous advantage for the Evil Ninja( Try to imagine how it was a advantage to the Evil Ninja)

Once, the villages were attacked by a small camel which turned out of rage and turned out to be raging out of control. There was something which the villagers missed.

A Man appeared from the shadows out of no where. He then took the camel and patted it and took it with him as if it was his own camel.

Everyone was astonished, they though he was a ninja as he was dressed like one.

They followed him the entire way and happily ate some fruits on the way. They saw he reached another town where no one was there.

The doctor came and did some treatment but was strange to look.

The villagers who followed him where seen and captured for following them but knowing the truth they released him.

They told the origin of their village and determined to help them.

Dialogue story - daily 24

“I’m so excited for my birthday party! Listen, we need to invite – like – everyone. Absolutely everyone.”

“Can we get pizza?”

“No! What?! Okay, no way. You’ll be fine, right? It’s just a short walk? I can’t leave myself because everyone will be arriving, and I mean, I really wanted you here… you’re my best friend.”

“Mum! Mum, can you hear me? Eliza is going to be able to come after all!”

“No, I don’t think this outfit is going to work for me at all… ugh! And it’s only fifteen minutes to go! I’m ringing Eliza – she always knows what to do.”

“Mum, I’m sorry – yes, I have been so excited – look, I’m sorry! But Eliza never picked up and she promised she’d be here. She’d promised. No, if she couldn’t come, that’s fine, I guess, but… I’m worried.”

“Goodbye, goodbye! Thank you for coming! I love you, bye!”

“Eliza? Please? This is the fifth time your phone’s gone straight to speaker. Ugh, you’re so going to tease me for being clingy about this. Just, I know that road's dangerous – I didn’t think it would be that dark in the afternoon, okay? Just… get back to me. Please. This isn’t funny.”

“Mm… wha’s ‘at? Ugh, it’s the middle of the night! Did someone knock?”

“…Eliza?”
(221)

MC Daily No. 24

“The results are out!”
“OMG! Let me see!”
“Bet you anything Troy’s gonna get Oberon.”
“Hey! Stop barging into me!”
“Oi! I’m coming through!”
“Wait. Lila Dumb Dumbrowski is the lead?”
“That’s so unfair! I was so much better than Lila!”
“Yo, Troy’s gonna freak!”
“Well … I guess Mustardseed isn’t that bad. Is it?”
“Are you kidding me? PEASEBLOSSOM?”
“Guys! I still can’t see the cast list!”
“Let me through!”
“What’d I tell you. Troy Williams - Oberon.”
“Ms Evans is so biased!”
“So you’re saying because I’m a girl, I shouldn’t be allowed to play Puck?”
“EVERYONE, I CAN’T SEE!”
“I’m Lila’s understudy?”
“Well, goodbye Juliard, I guess.”
“Guys! Lila’s coming!”
“EEEEEEEEEE! I GOT THE LEAD!”
“I mean, next year we’re doing Into the Woods. Maybe I’ll get a good part then?”
“Well, here’s to adding to my list of miserable roles: a tree, Reporter 3 and Cobweb.”
“I mean, Titania’s awesome.”
“Didja hear that Iris is playing Puck? Toby’s not gonna be happy ‘bout that.”
“Next year I’m not gonna be here.”
“You know what I’m gonna do to Ms Evan’s face?”
“OMG. I’m Helena. Eeeek!”
“I can’t look.”
“Guys, we’ve gotta get to class!”
“Oh, man. Well that’s a bummer. I was so sure I was gonna get Demetrius!”
“Hort Newton is Demetrius? He’s as Demetrius-like as a dung heap!”
“Everyone, WE’VE GOTTA GET TO CLASS!”
“Quick! Hort’s coming!”
“Darn it. We’re late.”

———
236 words

24th Main Daily
Fractured Dialogue
216 words

“Do you like my dress? It’s from-”
“You are NOT going out tonight! It’s simply-”
“Did you hear that Jack and Kelsie are-”
“But Mum, come on, please!”
“Should we go in the pool? There’s underwater LED lights and-”
“You know the rules, no going out after-”
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever had a Pina colada before, is it-”
“If you go to that party, you’re going to be grounded for-”
“Should we go up to the DJ? I have the best song suggestion, you-”
“Everyone else is going, just this-”
“It’s like a code, so that’s what getting a drink with a red cup means, and the blue cup-”
“How many times do I have to repeat myself? I don’t know what’s going on with you these days-”
“Hey, she looks cute, yeah the one over there, can you help me out, just-”
“Please, I never ask for anything, and it’s only-”
“It’s spinning… and spinning… and spinning… and oh, look who it’s landed on!”
“It’s that stupid phone, isn’t it? I knew it would make you like this, I should’ve never bought-”
“Got any food? A snack would be nice to go eat on the balcony, the city lights are-”
“To your room. Now.”
“It’s getting kind of late, I should probably go-”

Writing Comp Entry


“Come on! Eat your food!” Nicole was babysitting a pair of cute little girls. One of them pleaded, “Nicole, can you play barbie barbie with us?” They loved barbies. Nicole said, “Uh uh, not now. Time to go to bed!”

“Awww!! Right now?”

“Yes.”

They stuffed their barbies in the cupboard and climbed onto their beds. After a few rounds of singing “Baa Baa Blacksheep,” they finally dozed off. Nicole yawned, “I guess it's time for me to go to sleep too.”

She went to the master bedroom and turned off the light. It was pitch black.
She jumped on the bed and hit her head on the pillow.

All of a sudden, she heard a clunking noise from inside the cupboard. Clank.Clank. She could not sleep…

Finally, Nicole decided to check what was in there.

She opened it and found……..

Barbie dolls! But then one of them stood up…Its pupils were glowing and eerie green and it said, “ Do you want to play with me?”

♔ 4th Weekly ♔

♕ Part 1: Characters, Setting, Freewrite ♕

Character 1: Sol
6 of Clubs: Introvert, age range 10-20
367 words

Sol is an eighteen year old girl born in Sunstream, and diligent daughter of two frail, sickly parents. She was raised in the less wealthy, lower class-middle class parts of Sunstream. Sol grew up with a strong sense of community and got along very well with the kids in her neighbourhood. She's very caring and enjoys socialising, but has a tendency to feel drained after she spends too long around other people, leading her to prize her alone time very much. Sol often helps her parents out with their work (her family sells fruits), and has learned to be quite good at advertising and being charismatic and likeable to customers.

However, she also has a tendency to be spiteful and jealous in some situations and to some people, as she has always been too focused on being there for her parents (who have still been struggling to get over the failed birth of who would hav been her baby sister, and have poor health) rather than learning to sort out her own internal issues and turmoil. She feels guilty, and mad that no one could help her mother and help her baby sister survive the birth. She also feels frustrated that she has to be the sole person helping her old, emotionally fragile parents. Sometimes, she gets mad at her dead sister despite never having met her yet before her death, thinking that without her existing her parents wouldn't be this frail. Though, Sol does know she feels this, and is too uncomfortable to confront her feelings towards the little brother she had barely met.

When in private, Sol enjoys carving fruits and wood and stone to calm down. She also likes meditating at one of the mini oasis pools in her area, and taking care of plants. When someone or something interrupts her precious private time, Sol becomes rather cranky and grumpy, acting patronisingly and using passive aggression. That is, unless it's her parents. When that happens, she tries to push the feelings down as much as she can, before going off to help them however possible. Another hobby of Sol's is writing poetry, most often couplets. These are also used to vent her feelings, sometimes.


Character 2: East
3 of Hearts: Ambivert, age range 1-10
352 words

East is a ten year old boy and young genius, who was adopted from his biological family at a very young age, just before his second birthday. He has no memory and barely any attachment to his birth family, as he has only recently found out that he wasn't the biological child of his birth parents at all. His birth parents were glad to be able to not have to use money they didn't have on yet another child, and he was adopted by two rich merchants. For the following eight years since then, East has grown up with them as his parents, gaining most likely the best academic skills out of the three main characters because his parents (the merchants) deemed to send him to the best school in all of Seasand.

To their surprise, he took to his studies like a house on fire, and has since then grown to love reading and school, especially arithmetic/math. East enjoys puzzles and doing things that stretch his mind and make him think about things, and has a vast collection of puzzles from all over the world, bought from the best merchants, from Seasand's signature philosophical puzzles, to the Ring's tricky riddles, and many others. Occasionally, he shares his puzzles with his friends when he is with them. Other than that, East is developing an interest in tinkering and machinery, and is a very curious child.

Being only ten, it's no shock that East can be immature. Growing up with rich merchants for parents, he has always been used to a somewhat lavish lifestyle, and barely has the ability to fend for himself, besides being small and rather fleet-footed. He cannot cook for himself and doesn't know how to survive in the desert by himself, and is quite blunt and sometimes complains when he can't get help with something. He also doesn't care much for his birth family, as he already has his own parents, and is only mildly curious about them. The fact that the ones who gave him the name East are his parents and not his birth family helps.


Character 3: Liis
4 of Spades: Extrovert, age range 10-20
505 words

Liis is a sixteen year old runaway who roams the alleys of Sunstream, and doesn't live in only one place. She fluctuates between several hideouts in the little nooks and overlooked crannies of Sunstream, and never sleeps in the same place for more than two nights in a row. Liis is very focused on the concept of freedom and hates being alone, though sometimes she takes this overboard and refuses to follow any sort of rules at all, even when they are beneficial to her. She can act obnoxious and cold at times, though most of this is a ploy to see if people will stick around despite everything. Despite being like this, she still prefers to be around other people to recharge, but can't bring herself to because she has difficulty trusting people, due to her and her parents's way of life making ti hard to trust people without receiving consequences in return.

Liis's parents are ex-Sandblub farmers who's business crashed horribly one day before her birth, and since then it had declined, leading them to go fully bankrupt. They tried to stay afloat by selling little trinkets they'd found around the city and with some help from family friends, but things got worse with Liis being born, and a few times they had had to resort to selling some less than legal things and conning people to try and keep the three of them capable of surviving. The more Liis grew up, the more her parents had to focus on raising her, and they slowly lost contact with the friends that had helped them. Liis grew up knowing that sometimes keeping quiet and not having many friendships and bonds would be better and help you survive, and this mentality only grew when she found out how low they were on money. So, she ran away, hoping to take herself off of their hands and make herself less of a burden.

Liis has a tendency to have a single minded, very close minded mentality, and having been thrown in prison a few times for stealing, does not like being caged or following rules. However, she still has good traits, and is probably one of the most loyal people you will ever meet. Coupled with her quick thinking and street smarts, she makes for a valuable ally.

She dreams of one day being a Sandbulb farmer like her parents, and bringing them back up the ranks. She's determined to do this at any cost. In her free time, she likes to do people-watching, practice dances she observes from her people watching to get rid of stress and adrenaline, and talking to East, who she met once when he got lost in the streets and has become friends with since. She also hangs around and blends into various semi large crowds, where she feels safer and is able to let herself recover and recharge, as she thinks that there's no way the Lord of Seasand's soldiers (called Sweepers) would try anything in such a public place.

Setting:
Warm yellow, pale yellow
299 words

The moment I saw the pale yellow colour, I immediately thought of sand. Miles and miles of sand. So, naturally, I came to the conclusion that my setting is going to be a desert. It's a very large one, filled with treacherous terrain, beastly creatures, and several little settlements, all connected together by a path in the middle of a stream, lined with cacti, and several strange but beautiful desert plants. The streams are actually quite deep, and have some amphibians and fish that are only found in this desert specifically. There is one capital city (named Sunstream) in the desert, right in the centre of it all, built with towering spires, plenty of balconies, and also home to the largest oasis in the whole of Seasand, the name of the desert.

The people who live in Seasand don't have many non-natural light sources, so they mainly still use torches, as most of the time the light provided by the sun is enough in such a big, open area. The fashion in Seasand is obviously very loose, flowy, and as minimal as can be possible while still being decent, though one signature fashion piece unique to the Seasand folk and them only is the use of Sandbulbs as decoration on clothing. Sandbulbs are the eternally glowing abdomens of large fireflies the size of your thumb that are native to Seasand. These are often used as parts of earrings, bangles, anklets, or other piercings someone might be inclined to get.

Seasand is surrounded by a ring of forest, called both the Living Ring or the Green Ring, due to the sheer amount of plants and wilglife and greens there. The Ring is home to its own people allied with the Seasand folk, but are not the focus of the story.

Freewrite:
477 words

Sol strode through the streets of Sunstream, pushing a brown wagon in front of her. Just this morning, it had been piled with fruits of all kinds, from shining-moonbites to beakfruits. Now, only a few still lay on the wagon's wooden floor, and Sol was left doing her last round around the western part of the city, just as the sun sunk slowly in the background. She turned the corner into a small ring of houses.
“Come buy your favourite fruits!” she called, then took a swig from her waterskin. “Seasand's best, all coming to your doorstep with the most favourable prices in the city!”

A head peeked out from behind a door. Sol turned, flashing her best smile at her customer.
“Tesk! Come to get your usual trickle apples?”
The man made his way across the wide street, a pouch held ready in his hand. His head covering fluttered slightly in the wind.
“Of course!” said Tesk, picking coins from his pouch. “Wouldn't want to miss my favourite fruitseller's fantastic trickle apples for the world!”

Nodding, yet still eager to be done, Sol handed over the last of the trickle apples. “Thanks, Tesk,” she said gratefully. “Here're your apples,”
“It's nothing,” said Tesk, taking them with a smile, before giving her the coins. “Thank you for the trickle apples!”

Sol waved, wheeling the wagon around and preparing to head out herself. The last few minutes of sunlight washed over them, reminding her of her parents waiting back at home. “Pleasure to provide them, Tesk!” she shouted back weakly.
He waved back, watching as she trudged out of the ring of houses. “Even more of a pleasure to buy them!” he called.

Sol spared one last glance at him as she rounded the corner once more. Gusts of wind blew at her hair and headwear, the sky darkening and temperature dropping quickly. She quickened her pace, though her shoulders sagged tiredly.
“Phew,” she murmured to herself. “Glad this is all done with,”

Passing a dark alley, Sol hurried to move past it as fast as possible, but the sound of voices caught her ear.
“Aren't you going to be cold?” asked a rather young voice. Sol frowned.
“I told you, East,” another voice hushed in reply. “I can handle it.”

Backtracking and gripping her newly lit lantern, Sol stepped cautiously closer. She peeked from behind the wall, hoping to catch a glimpse.
Two figures, one short with their back facing her, and another in the shadows on the far end. The taller person narrowed their eyes.
“Who's there?” they called out, stepping forward into the moonlight, arm protectively held in front of the shorter, younger person.

Sol's heart jumped. Wary, she stepped out into the open. The older figure frowned, holding a battered dagger out threateningly.
“Who are you?” they shot. “Why were you eavesdropping on us?”
Sol gulped.

♖ “Board Game”, Final Story
1,749 (new) words

Activities I rolled:
1. “Have the lights suddenly go out in the next scene.”
2. “Something sneaks behind your character.”
3. “Your protagonist gets gum stuck in their hair.” (I took some liberties due to gum not existing yet in this world)
4. “A surprise is waiting for your character behind a dark curtain.”
5. “Include a scene where a character starts talking to themselves.”
6. “Have one of your characters receive a note.”

Final Story:

Sol strode through the streets of Sunstream, pushing a brown wagon in front of her. Just this morning, it had been piled with fruits of all kinds, from shining-moonbites to beakfruits. Now, only a few still lay on the wagon's wooden floor, and Sol was left doing her last round around the western part of the city, just as the sun sunk slowly in the background. She turned the corner into a small ring of houses.
“Come buy your favourite fruits!” she called, then took a swig from her waterskin. “Seasand's best, all coming to your doorstep with the most favourable prices in the city!”

A head peeked out from behind a door. Sol turned, flashing her best smile at her customer.
“Tesk! Come to get your usual trickle apples?”
The man made his way across the wide street, a pouch held ready in his hand. His head covering fluttered slightly in the wind.
“Of course!” said Tesk, picking coins from his pouch. “Wouldn't want to miss my favourite fruitseller's fantastic trickle apples for the world!”

Nodding, yet still eager to be done, Sol handed over the last of the trickle apples. “Thanks, Tesk,” she said gratefully. “Here're your apples,”
“It's nothing,” said Tesk, taking them with a smile, before giving her the coins. “Thank you for the trickle apples!”

Sol waved, wheeling the wagon around and preparing to head out herself. The last few minutes of sunlight washed over them, reminding her of her parents waiting back at home. “Pleasure to provide them, Tesk!” she shouted back weakly.
He waved back, watching as she trudged out of the ring of houses. “Even more of a pleasure to buy them!” he called.

Sol spared one last glance at him as she rounded the corner once more. Gusts of wind blew at her hair and headwear, the sky darkening and temperature dropping quickly. She quickened her pace, though her shoulders sagged tiredly.
“Phew,” she murmured to herself. “Glad this is all done with,”

Passing a dark alley, Sol hurried to move past it as fast as possible, but the sound of voices caught her ear.
“Aren't you going to be cold?” asked a rather young voice. Sol frowned.
“I told you, East,” another voice hushed in reply. “I can handle it.”

Backtracking and gripping her newly lit lantern, Sol stepped cautiously closer. She peeked from behind the wall, hoping to catch a glimpse.
Two figures, one short with their (his?) back facing her, and another in the shadows on the far end.

The taller figure narrowed her eyes.
“Who's there?” she called out, stepping forward into the moonlight, arm protectively held in front of the shorter, younger person.

Sol's heart jumped. Wary, she stepped out into the open. The other girl frowned, holding a battered dagger out threateningly.
“Who are you?” She shot. “Why were you eavesdropping on us?”

“I wasn't eavesdropping,” Sol reassured, taking her hands off of her wagon and splaying them out non-threateningly. The girl with the dagger scoffed.
“Of course,” she said. She flipped the dagger around in her hands. “Like we'd believe that, right, East?”

The younger boy scowled, the dim torch light illuminating his features. Crossing his arms, he glared at his companion. “Can't you just take it already?” he complained, holding out a thick, large shawl. The other girl groaned.
“Not the time, East,” she chided. She kept her eyes trained on Sol.

Opening his mouth to retort, East found himself cut off once again. “But Liis-”
“East!” hissed Liis, then turned back to Sol. “What are you doing here?” she questioned, much to East's pouty chagrin.
Forcing herself to relax, Sol smiled. “I was passing by,” she began, treading carefully. “You know, trying to get home?”
Liis frowned. “Fine,” she said. “You can go now.”

At this, Sol shook her head. Something about this didn't seem right. What was someone as young as East doing here with Liis, without any guardians or parents with him?
“I think I deserve to ask to ask a question too,” she said. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you two be at your houses? It's sunset, won't your parents be looking for you?“

Glaring at her, Liis shoved her dagger back into its little sheath. ”That's none of your business,“ she said. East nodded vigorously.
”Yeah!“ he chimed in. Just as Sol made to reply, the torches mounted on the wall flickered. Eyeing them, she glanced around at the streets, now shadowy and dark, lit only by the torches and the light of the moon.

”Look,“ she said to them. ”Are you two lost? Or in trouble? I'm sure I can-“
The torches flickered in a sudden gust of wind. They sputtered out.
The streets flooded with darkness.
East screamed.

.

Someone was behind him. That was the first thing that came to East's mind when a hand had been shoved roughly over his mouth, to cut off his screaming. It couldn't be Liis - Liis's movements were nimble and quick, and she never breathed hotly down his neck. It could be the girl (lady? she seemed mature) who'd walked in on his and Liis's argument, but…

”Hey!“ he yelped angrily when the person holding him began to move. The hand covering his mouth had loosened slightly, but now it came firmly back. ”Gff fffof mf!“
”East?“ came Liis's panicked shout. ”East? Where are you?“
His captor stiffened. East continued kicking at anything he could get in contact with. ”Lffft mf fo!“ screamed East into their hand, feeling them pull him farther away from the girls.

”East? Is that you?“ Liis tried again, squinting as her eyes readjusted to the very dim moonlight. The torches smoked in their holders.
Beside her, Sol frowned, searching the gloom for any sign of the boy.
”Wait,“ she said, making out a shape inching behind her and out the alley. ”That's him!“ she cried, as Liis whirled around. ”Someone has him! Hey, stop!“
Liis darted after the figure, but it was too late.

They slipped out of the alley, a struggling East hefted under their arm.

With a sinking feeling in her heart, Liis watched the kidnapper blend and run off into the shadows, just as the torches miraculously caught fire once more. Her mind and heart both a panicked whirl of emotions, she spared one last glance back at Sol, then ran after them. She urged her feet to go faster, bulldozing past stalls and buildings and the few people still in the streets after dark.
”How are they so fast?“ she grumbled to herself under her breath. A shout came from behind her, in the alley she'd abandoned all too fast.

”Hey, wait!" Sol cried out in protest, moving to go after Liis. All it took was a few steps, before it struck her just how fast the other girl was going. She sighed, partly in guilt and partly in relief.
It's been a long night, she thought tiredly, turning back to her wagon and trundling through the winding, sandy streets to get back home.

.

Liis ran like she had never run before. She ran, faster than when she had decided to run away, faster than city's Sweepers were on her tail after a theft gone wrong, and certainly faster than her legs could handle. She let out a strangled yell as her control loosened, and she careened into a pot of gooflowers outside someone's door, only able to watch in defeat as her only friend's kidnapper sprinted around a dark corner, goo from the flowers she had crashed into slowly dripping down her hair.

The door of the house crashed open.
“What are you doing here, young lady?!” barked the person who no doubt lived there. Liis stared back glumly. She pulled herself up, wincing as the goo clumped and held her hair together, pulling on the individual strands and sticking together harder than the sap of the trees lining Sunstream.
“Just an accident, Ma'am,” she frowned. “I'll be going now,”

The middle aged lady in front of her squinted, then gasped, affronted. “Wait a mo',” she said. “Aren't you that wanted girl from tha' northern part of the' city?”
Liis paled. “No, Ma'am,” she replied, just a little too fast. “You must be mistaken,”
“No,” the lady shook her head. “I don' think so. You really are her! I think I'll be taking you to the compoun', I will. Good thing me husband's a Sweeper,” she smiled smugly.

“Darling!” she called into the house, despite Liis frantically trying to tug herself out of the lady's surprisingly strong grip. “Here's someone you just hafta see!”

.

The next morning, Sol woke up with a yawn and a slightly stooped silhouette outside the dark curtains separating her room from the rest of the rickety house. Blinking blearily, she raised herself up and swung her feet over the edge of her straw mattress.
“Sol, dear…” said a voice. Hastily, she pushed herself off and pushed the curtain aside.

“Mother?” she said incredulously. “What are you doing out of bed? You can- you can go back to sleep now, I'll-”
Sol's mother shook her head. She sighed.
“No, dear, it's okay,” the fragile looking woman replied, then looked up at her daughter. “You see… me and your father, we've been having a talk, and… we think you should take a break.”

Sol frowned, searching her mother's eyes questioningly. “No, don't worry, Mother, it's fine, I can-”
Her mother raised a hand. “Sol,” she said. “It'll be okay. We're feeling a bit.. better, today, see? We can handle it, at least for the morning. You've been working so hard, and we thought that, well, you deserve to have a little rest, don't you?”

“Are you sure, Mother? What if…?” Sol looked fixedly at the floor, chiding herself for feeling tempted. She could have a break next week, for goodness sake. For now, her parents needed her.
Sol's mother leaned up on her tiptoes, laying a gentle, if feeble, hand on her shoulder.
“Please, Sol…” she pleaded, at the look in her daughter's eyes. “For me? For your father?”

It was all it took to send an already tired Sol over the edge. “Alright,” she agreed, somewhat reluctantly. “…Thank you, Mother,”
The older woman smiled. “No,” she said. "Thank you, my ever-burning sun,“

.

Back in a dusty, rinky-rink compound right beside the most northwestern point of the city, Liis lay in a small cell, cramped and cooped up with the rest of her blabbering, loud mouth cell neighbours and gooflower gunk still in her hair.
”-And you'll never guess what I got in here for-!“ said one, a little too eagerly for her liking.

Liis groaned, though she made sure it wasn't audible enough to disturb the conversation. No matter what she thought, the sound of people talking did help drown out the panicked thoughts inside her. Nonetheless, it wasn't enough to spare her of attention entirely.
”Oh,“ rumbled another cell neighbour, this one the one exactly to her left. ”You're Liis, aren't you?“
She nodded snappishly.
”You know,“ whispered the inmate to her right. ”They say they're going to move you today…“

Liis bolted upright. ”What?“ she asked, shackles rattling as she moved closer to the bars. Her inmate made a sound of acknowledgement.
”Yes,“ they said, voice soft and slithery as usual. ”Said they're going to move you to the Sandbulb farms for community service, or something like that…“
She brightened. The Sandbulb farms?
”When?“ she asked.

The door leading to their ring of cells swung open with a bang. A Sweeper walked in.
”You,“ they said, marching over to her cell and unlocking her door. They pulled her up with a hard, steady hand. ”You're coming with us,“
As she was led out, Liis heard her inmate giggle.

”Now,“ they laughed. She rolled her eyes.

.

As it turned out, the Sandbulb farms were lonely. Liis wandered through the wide mini ecosystem, searching for nesting Sandflies.
”Of course,“ she tried to convince herself, as she swung her net and caught it in place. ”It could be worse,“
Plucking the glowing bulbs off of their soon to be dead insect bodies, she dropped it into a jar. ”But then again, it could also be much better,“

Groaning, Liis straightened up as a thought struck her. ”Oh, what am I doing?“ she whispered to herself, slightly hysterical. ”Talking to myself?“
She scoffed.
”Clearly, things could be a lot better. I don't know, maybe in a punishment that doesn't make me spend all my time alone?“ she sighed.

.

From a distance, the group of Sweepers supervising her frowned at each other.
”Woah,“ one whispered. ”Do you think the kid's… okay?“
The other shrugged.

.

Elsewhere, in a dark, sandy, dusty basement carved out under the streets of Sunstream, East blinked himself open, ears ringing as he struggled to get his brain in order. ”Wh- huh…?" he sputtered out.
In front of him stood a tall figure, swathed in red clothing. They smiled, before snapping their fingers.
The torches in the rooms flickered, and died out.

A moment later, flames awoke once again in their torches. A single note was left, lying on East's lap. He squinted at it in the strange lighting.

Glad to see you're finally awake, it read. I can already tell you're going to be very useful.

✦ swift shells shine by @dxckinqq - 1900 Words - Writing Contest SWC March 2022 Entry!

DISCLAIMER : This is a bit of a horror story and might be scary, so please be careful before reading! And remember, this is a fictional story so there's nothing to worry about! ^^

The weather was pleasant, the sky was starry and the moon shined joyfully whilst the birds uttered no sound. I crept past the forest shadows. My bag weighed lightly on my back, tossing and turning as I moved. I finally sat down on the rock near a beach. I gazed at the stars, which were twinkling with love, while my face was filled with tears. It wouldn’t be long until Warden would know I ran away.

No one understood me- not completely perhaps. There was an innocent cover over my face which I always held strong- and since I failed, I crushed. The cover tore away, so I ran away. I always wondered if I was adopted and and when I heard Warden the other day, saying, ‘…what about her parents?’. That was the last straw. I pulled out a blanket and covered myself, dreaming horribly about what life would throw at me next…’ The next morning, I awoke with the birds chirping with grace, the sunlight flashing over my blonde hair.

People would think I’m pretty, but that was not what I strived for : I wanted to become a writer. My stories had no morale yet, they showcased different people of different worlds fighting chaos and living happily. Whenever I wrote a story, a few months later I’d think ‘what rubbish!’. I should have known; honing my skills was what I needed. Lucky for me, my friends joined me on this quest. Some betrayed me, some stood with me. Yet, I had to leave all of them to be here. Where I was- I had no idea, Where was I going? Only heaven knew. I got up and started walking again. I always inched out of the house at night, so I didn’t mind going out more often. I was sure I was in Paris because I’d seen a sign saying ‘Eiffel tower’ . I carefully walked through the forest, hoping no one would see me. I finally reached an isolated house, with a door and broken hinges I pushed the door open as the door creaked. For a moment, it was silent. I went inside and saw two clocks standing still with a huge box in the middle made entirely out of wood. Its rusted shades shined in the sunlight and had many wires connecting to the box. I decided to go in when I heard something, a swift breeze perhaps? Yet, it sounded like lightning. I turned back around to see

“a dot, that became a speck, that became a blob, that became a figure that became a boy.”

which applied here fantastically, and was a quote by my favorite author John Boyne.

The boy simply smiled and said ‘Ness? It’s me, Juan!’. I sighed in relief as I rushed to hug Juan.

Juan said ‘I thought I’d lose you- forever.’.

I simply shook my head and raised my arm to show a sea-shelled bracelet which he gave me on my last birthday.
He smiled and said ‘do you know what date it is today?’. I thought but forgot. He smiled and gave me a box to open. It was a velvet box with a yellow bow. I opened it quizzingly and stared. It was a necklace with a blue crystal stone that moved in the brisk wind. It said ‘Happy Birthday Nesselica!’ I gave him a tighter hug and cried my eyes out. He wore it on my neck as I lay there crying on his shoulder.

He raised his finger and simply brushed the tears off my face and said ‘Let me join you- please! I love you. Please- don’t do this.’

I gazed teary-eyed at him, as I felt renewed, affection and love overflooded my heart as I leaned forward to hug him. We didn't talk that must often. It was a long passionate overdue.

After, I said ‘no- my dream..’.

Juan smiled and pushed my blonde hair behind my ears and whispered ‘am I a barrier to your dream?’.

I beamed and pulled my hair down like a candy bar and said ‘no, you are not a barrier- you never will be it’s just, I have to visit Jerome Anchovenchy, our uncle, who is a writer. I need to find out, who are our parents and my life needs to be remodeled-’

He sighed and said ‘fine, but where will you go, at least let me know!’. His hands-on his cheeks worryingly.

‘I don’t know- but when I do find uncle, I’ll post you a letter. Please forgive me for this-’.

He muttered under his breath but then gave me lacy lavender leather gloves ‘wear them, remember me.’.

I gave him the biggest smile I ever could and approached him outside. I walked past the forest again this time ending near a wolf pack, which I narrowly escaped. However I’d heard, wolf claw was a lucky charm. I held it tight as I made it to the barren land on the outside of the forest.

3 weeks later

Brr. I walked through barren lands, another forest, 3 lakes by swimming and boating. There are wanted posters all around the areas, so I left Paris and went to another place with snow-topped mountains. Believe me, it was BRRR. I walked and walked until my legs gave up. No food for three weeks, surviving by mere water was impossible. No, this could not be. My legs felt like rubber wafers and went numb as they hit the ground. My hands could feel the coldness of the snow, yet my legs remained. I dragged myself upto a nearby rock and screamed at the top of my hoarse voice and screamed ‘HELP!’ No one came, as I desperately continued screaming for help, I stayed. Uncle, I do hope you remembered me as a person. There was a rustle of leaves, crackling of wood.

I saw a girl, with a dark brown complexion with her hair decorated with leaves, her dark brown eyes shining out in the light. She had colored her nails with dark green paste, which I expected was “leaf nail polish”.

She grimly looked at me and asked ‘Are you Jerome’s niece?’.

I nodded and asked a question back, ‘And, who are you? Do you know who he is? Where is-’.

The girl raised her finger to my lips and said ‘Shh, not here, please, follow me.’

The girl took me to a leafy wall, pulled it open, and gestured me to go in. I saw a glorious village, full of people, bottles hanging on the treetops, white hummingbirds swooping around, children eavesdropping on the adults, some playing, some laughing. I gaped at the landscape and finally tore my eyes away from it when the girl nudged my arm.

‘I’m Alicia, and my birthday is today and… ’. My mind paused a moment as my mind registered what Alicia had said. She was born today! That made me feel a bit more connected to her.

She continued ‘… anyway, Jerome is my father! And you are my cuz!’.

I froze a quick second; I had a cousin! But, my mind slowly drifted to my brother and a tinge of sadness hit my heart. ‘Hey, you ok?’ Alicia asked looking at my glum face. I replied ‘Do you have a post box?’.

Alicia smiled and said ‘Question for Question? Never mind, we have a post box. Who’d you like to mail?’.

I looked at her steadily and said ‘My brother, Juan…’.

She stared at me, ‘Woah- I have a cousin brother too?! Awesome! Here’s the way to the post-box! I really must go find mummy now, but Daddy is near the milk stall next to the library which is beside the post-box.’ she said this all very quickly as she ran to her mummy.

I walked carefully and slowly due to weakness to the post-box, from where I spotted a man, with a black buttoned-up shirt, a smile just like mine, wearing some glasses reading the newspaper. He has the same blonde hair as me.

I went to him and asked ‘Uncle Jerome?’.

He spun back and stared at me a moment, ‘Lisa?’.

I shook my head and said ‘I’m Lisa’s daughter, Ness.’.

‘Nesselica? My dear, how come you are like this! What happened to the royal chambers?! Your dress is so battered and used up!’.

Something rang my ears, ‘Royal Chambers? What are those?’.

Uncle Jerome sighed and told me to come into their little tree-house to explain. This seemed important. Why had no one told me I had a ‘Royal Chambers’. Seems like it was about to become interesting. I climbed the wooden stepping stones, sliding in. Alicia and Uncle Jerome sat down, ready to break the news.

Alicia told me ‘Uncle will read out his work, it’s called swift shells swords.’. I listened as my uncle started.

‘It was an auspicious day for the bulgetaires family. They were the ruling family of ‘The Island’. A boy was born, named James. He was a handsome boy, growing up who married Lisa Appleton. Soon, they were crowned new king and queen. No one knew, who they were because The Island was the smallest place on earth. They were young, free. They didn’t know that the outside world was still dangerous. They gave birth to a son named Juan. They lived happily ruling, also having given birth to their daughter, Nesselica a few years later. They lived happily until tragically they were no more because of a car accident. Their will stated that Nesselica, Juan gets shared equally whatever their parents have. That is until they were put in an adoption center by an unknown person. No one knew where or who did this, all they knew was the person had left a note. ‘W is me, as you treated me like so, an adoption center for your kids!’. No one understood how’-

I interrupted ‘W, wait WARDEN! His name is Warden, and the adoption center was named… OH! I forgot…’ I face-palmed. Uncle Jerome nodded in thanks and continued.

‘-the children were gone. Then, with no monarch power over the land, few people fled while others took charge. But finally, The Island was invaded by some rulers and was taken under their control. Since the rulers gave mercy, they gave all the money and gold to the people and allowed them to stay and supervise. It also offered to build homes in forests, which the people readily agreed to. Since then, the rulers have searched far and wide to find Nesselica and Juan.’

Uncle Jerome locked my eyes in his. I mustered up the courage to ask him ‘Who are those rulers?’. Uncle Jerome gave a small smile ‘Me and my wife’. My hand clapped onto my mouth. We talked a bit more, and he finally told me to go and have food, as I was starting to lose energy and almost fell, so Uncle Jerome took me to get some supper. I ate heartily because we had delicious food like chicken, veggie momos, and more! I wrote a quick letter to Juan, Alicia helped. I wore his lacy gloves while doing so, remembering the love he always showered on me. I grabbed new clothes from Alicia and lay on the bed. I named my story ‘swift shells shine’. Strangely, the very last thing I remembered was screams, fires and then unknowingly, it all went black.

~ Thank you for reading! <3 Critiques, Suggestions, Comments are greatly appreciated on my profile!

A-Sad-Invention wrote:

Devastation - A Countryhumans Fanfiction

Trigger Warning: Current Events, violence, war, COVID.

“We have reached no ceasefires, ma'am.”
Ukraine was devastated by these words.
The war has been going on for eight years now. She thought Russia would be satisfied with Crimea. Wrong. And now his troops are getting closer and closer. He also weakened her with the nightly bombing. He claims he only targets military bases. But he has killed many civilians already. The economy is decreasing as well, and she felt like she was going to crumble down there and then.
But obviously, she couldn't.
She would never go down without a fight. And she had to stay strong for her citizens. She had to continue reassuring them, even when she doubts her words.
Ukraine distantly remembered the earlier days. When her brother was kinder to her, when they were a family with Belarus and Kazakhstan. That was far before. She wish it was still that way.
In the end, she will win. She'll win against Russia. He would never defeat her.
Or so she told herself.
–
“We have reached no ceasefires, sir.”
Russia barely spared a glance to the reporting official. Of course, why would there be a ceasefire? He never expected there to be one. And there will never be one until Ukraine yields her land to him.
All according to plan, he supposed. He goes on with the invasion, and soon his sister will just be another piece of land. Why should he ever care about her feelings? Power is more important. Much more.
The citizens believe he is the greatest country and most powerful; America was just attacking them through Ukraine, and Russia was protecting them. Some others believe Russia is trying to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. Ha. That's what they should believe, anyway. Although it was just another of his propaganda. Better to let them believe falsely than have them rise up against him.
Talking about resistance, there were some the other day. Obviously, he destroyed them with ease. They were all imprisoned. Well, it was their own fault for not submitting to their dictator.
He will triumph in the end. The world will be his.
–
A certain country suspects he is being watched.
Taiwan looks around the office in paranoia. He had been extremely, maybe overly careful these days. He could tell his brother wanted his land. He knew that with the attack on Ukraine, China would assume he has the right to attack Taiwan. Which is, obviously, wrong. But others' opinions don't affect him. So Taiwan is paranoid these days about an attack. Somehow, even America's promised aid doesn't help him much.
He knew that he owned microchips and many other things that everyone would surely want. But China is the one who isn't afraid to seize the country to take his products. He wouldn't be afraid to use force.
And it was a good reason for paranoia.
–
China examined the map, calculating the approximate amount of military loss if he attacked Taiwan. Not enough to destroy his entire airforce or navy. He’ll also have some missiles and nukes left. How wonderful. It just makes him even more tempted to launch an attack on Taiwan at that moment. But, of course, he had to wait. For the right moment. Taiwan’s weakest time and place.
When he does conquer Taiwan, the land ownership will immediately transfer to China. He’ll have an even larger industry. He’ll be in control of the entire world’s economy, and no one will dare question his authority.
He couldn’t wait.
–
America was in the White House, signing papers and looking at the laws Congress has approved. He rubbed his eyes, yawning. He had been hyper-working for a long time now. COVID and the war aren’t very aiding to his fatigue. He allowed his mind to drift to Ukraine. She looked terrible when he last saw her. She seemed exhausted, overworked, and hurt. She had been getting weaker, although she had not lost any land to Russia. Her flowers had all crumbled to dust, and she no longer wore a flower crown. America then thought about Russia, and over a million insults came into mind. Russia was arrogant, manipulative, violent, with no care for others.
There wasn’t really anything he could do, except to cut most trade from Russia. But it hurt his economy as well. Inflation was growing too, which doesn’t help at all. He sighed.
–
Hong Kong was pacing around a table. Stress and hyperactivity roamed her. She was a part of China, whom has put strict restrictions on her travel. Which means most flights are cut off from the outside world, people has to be vaccinated to go out, and there are many quarantine rules. That wasn’t even all. Which explains why she is annoyed about the situation. Oh, and these restrictions didn’t help. People were still getting COVID anyway. The economy was beyond broken. She sat down, burying her head in her hands, all her energy gone suddenly.
–
The world is going down, and nothing ever changes.
A woman and her child are sitting on the streets in Ukraine, staring at the empty shelves, their destroyed homes, and their empty wallet.
A man is being arrested in Russia, his dreams of stopping the war with his supporters turning to dust.
A pair of parents stare at their savings, their unfueled car, and at the empty refrigerator.
A child is crying as she hears about her cousin. She wants to visit him, hold his hand as he dies, but she couldn’t.
Ukraine crumples down. Russia smiles, his teeth glinting. America squeezes his eyes shut. Hong Kong shred a tear.
There is nothing they could do.
–

I really like this story especially the part about the economy im currently living in Russia and we don't even have mc donalds anymore.

♖ 24th of March ♖
466 words

“Why- how- what are they doing here? The general said- he said they were- gone…”
“Not all people are able to follow the light straight away, young Guardian. And those people? They need to be contained, kept safe. For the good of us, our cause, and themselves.”
“But the rebels- the rebels killed them, Captain. How can they- how can they still be here?”
“Guardian Daisy, we are in charge of maintaining and keeping the city safe and under control. We cannot simply let them roam free, not when they might cause harm to both themselves and others. And please, try to remember that-”
"Remember what? That they- that they and Calle are just my age? That they got blamed- that they got killed for something- something harmless that they didn't even do? They were just- they were just trying to escape! And now you're throwing them in prison for ‘not being able’ to follow the light instead of- instead of helping them? Trying to fix the problem? Help them finish whatever's keeping them here?“
”Please, young Guardian, try to control yourself. They were with the rebels, do you not remember?“
”They- they- I can't believe you- They were trying to escape! They were with the rebels because they had nowhere else to go! The rebellion were the ones to give them food and shelter!“
”Young Guardian, they committed a crime.“
”No- no they didn't! You- you- the Courtmasters- all of you just wouldn't listen! The whole city is sick, and they- they were only trying to survive, Captain!“
”Talking of the Courtmasters in such a way is drifting very close to treason, young lady…“
”No. No, no, no, no, no- I'm one of your best soldiers, you can't just replace me, it'll just- it'll just make things worse,“
”Guardian Daisy, I think you underestimate how replaceable Guardians are. Especially disloyal Guardians. Please, there will always be more signing up to our cause.“
”No, you- you can't-“
”I cannot what, young lady?“


”I trusted you, Captain. You, the general- I trusted this place! I thought we were actually helping, making things better, keeping everyone safe! But we aren't, are we? We're just dictators, to the rest of the city. They- they're suffering out there, Sir. They're suffering, and we're not doing anything to help them. All we- all we're doing is holding lost souls prisoner and arresting people for things they didn't do!“
”I see. So this is what you think, then?“
”Yes. I quit. I'm- I'm not working for you anymore.“
”Very well. I suppose it's time to cut the ties. Let's see if you'll be able to follow the light, shall we? Or perhaps you, too, are a lost soul?“


”Wha—!“

”Well, this is a shame. You really were a good soldier."

March 24th (Weekly)
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Part 1: Card generator story

I got 5 of Hearts and 4 of Clubs for my characters. And a green with olive background. Below is my characters, setting and my story beginning.

Characters:
4 of Clubs:

My character is called Ryan, and he is 14 years old. Ryan is an introvert that means he tend to be shy and often likes to hang out alone. Because he is an introvert, Ryan loves reading books and is very smart, however he isn't sociable and don't really have a lot of friends. Usually at the weekends or the holidays, Ryan loves to do some jogging and reading at home. Ryan may be an introvert, but he loves spending his time with the animals in the park. His favorite animals are birds, because they sing so well like Ryan, who is an excellent singer. Ryan's hobby is singing, a reason why he like birds. He sings so well he can actually communicate with the birds, but many students don't believe it, saying that Ryan is scamming them. Whenever Ryan feels down, he usually talk to the birds in the park about his problems, even though they can't really understand what he is really saying. Ryan's favorite type of bird is a pigeon, although it is banned to feed pigeons in the city he reside in, Paris. Currently, Ryan's dreams and passion is to go on an adventure with a friend or someone, because he doesn't really have one. The one place Ryan would love to go is into the forest, since there's a lot of animals residing, including birds and many animals Ryan likes. He would go there without hesitation unless he and his friend don't get lost. Ryan is afraid of the dark, especially when he's alone. Ever since Ryan was traumatized by his bully in his childhood, which he always turn the lights off and jumpscare Ryan with cut-out ghosts, he hasn't been switching off the lights whenever he went to sleep, his parents need to switch it off for him whenever he's asleep.

307 words

5 of Hearts:

Mike is a 16 year old teenager who loves to make friends, however he isn't an extrovert, instead he's an ambivert, which means he is in between an introvert and an extrovert. This is because Mike doesn't like to be involve in certain group projects, especially with Ryan, since he is really enthusiastic with studies and not hang out with friends, which to Mike is really weird, because he likes making friends. Mike doesn't really like to spend time with Ryan, since Ryan likes spending time alone, and Mike prefers to hang out with a lot of people. However, Ryan doesn't have a negative impact on Mike unlike Mike towards him. Mike's hobby is playing computer games, he likes talking to people online while playing computer games, but he isn't too extroverted to find out more about them. Whenever Mike doesn't get what he always wanted, he has a really bad habit where he punch the person in the face, giving himself a negative impact not only to himself, but to the school as well because parents of students who he hit might spread news to public or might even attempt to expel him. Mike hopes that one day, a kind person will help him be good friends with him, curing his bad habit and also make him more sociable to others, but because of his foul actions, no one wants to interact with him anymore, especially not being his friend. Even his old friends had left him, which is what Mike fears, being lonely and forgotten. Sometimes alone, Mike likes to cry, because he always look tough on the outside, but actually he is really soft, meaning he isn't actually tough at all, in fact, he is weak but he is afraid to show it. If he did, everyone might laugh at him so Mike is having a really high stress of teenage life.

315 words

622 words

Setting:

At the edge of the city, there is a forest so well known all over the area, called The Green Pixies. Nobody knows why it is named like that, many thinks it's because of the green of the trees in the forest looks like the exact same green of the pixies in fantasy story books, others say that the forest is a residual place for pixies but is widely disagreed. The reason why some people made this conclusion is because legend says that whoever enters will be changed completely. An example of a brave person, after entering the forest, he becomes a coward; a scared soul enters the forest, he becomes brave. This causes for many depressed people to enter but they mostly don't come out happy, some even die afterwards and no one knows why. The legend says that only pixies can do that, but the idea of pixies that ruled the forest has become illegal to say and anyone who says it will be executed.

167 words

Beginning of the story:

“Ryan, get off me.” Mike huffed as he pushed Ryan down, who didn't understand why Mike hates him so much, “But Mike, why do you hate me? We can just be friends…” Hearing the word “friends” made Mike even more angry and he punched Ryan on the face, causing it to bleed, “You will never shut up about having friends huh, no wonder nobody wants to be friends with you.” With that, Mike walked away, leaving Ryan lying on the floor, fighting with himself to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes. It's true, Ryan had not a single friend, not one at all, and after asking Mike to go out to the woods with him after school, he had earned a reward, a punch on the face along with bruises on the knees. Ryan tried to stand up but fell back down again, injuring his legs even more, class has started but Ryan couldn't get into class and was late.

After school, Ryan was hanging out in the park, sitting on his favorite bench and looking at the birds below his feet. He enjoyed his time alone, where no one was there to bully him, and he can share his thoughts with the animals there without being disturbed, “Hello, birds down there. I know you can't understand me but today just had been bad enough, I didn't have any friends…” Ryan sighed, not knowing there was a figure standing behind a tree, watching his every move…

The next day, Ryan decided to walk to school trying not to meet anyone. However, at a turn, someone grabbed his collar and dragged him into a room. The room was so dark, Ryan couldn't see who was the person who brought him here. After a while, the person flicked on the light switch, and Ryan got a better look who the person was. “Mike! What are you doing? Let me out!” Ryan tried to yell these sentences when Mike silenced his mouth with his fingers. “Shh, you don't want anyone else listening right? It's something you want for a long time…” Ryan thought for a while and agreed. Mike's face showed a sheepish smile, “Don't you want to go in the forest with a friend?” Ryan nodded, thinking the conversation is ending up somewhere, “I know a forest where we can go, let's go after school okay?” With that, Mike left the room which is actually a janitor's closet, leaving Ryan overwhelmed by Mike's final sentence.

417 words

Part 2: Die rolling story

Ryan quickly went to the forest, wondering where Mike had met him. For the first time in his life, Ryan had a contact number from a friend, saying “Ryan, meet me at this location.” Showing a photo of a forest that looks somehow familiar, but Ryan doesn't really think about it. Without knowing, he had arrived with Mike waiting for him, and stared at the forest in shock. It was The Green Pixies forest, where people go in will be changed forever, Ryan thought that Mike wanted to be kinder, but why him? Ryan thought, “Maybe it's because Mike knew that I want to be more extroverted?” Gathering his courage, Ryan exclaimed, “Hey, Mike! Sorry I'm late, why do you want to meet us here?” Mike sighed, “I want to be a better person, now come on, we're not wasting time.” With that, Ryan and Mike ventured into the forest.

The forest felt really hot and wet, basically the right word to say was humid. Ryan thought silently in his head as he tried to follow Mike, who was pacing super fast Ryan couldn't catch up. “Wait, Mike! Slow down please…” Ryan begged, exhausted. Mike was ignoring the calls of Ryan, the only thing he said was, “Catch up! You need to exercise more Ryan. Don't tell me you already did some jogging, that's no enough!” Ryan sighed, he knew he had to be more fit, he tried searching his way around the forest when he saw a young adorable deer, “Wow, I never actually seen a deer this close!” Ryan said happily as he went closer to the deer, and there he saw a magnificent sight. There were so many cute animals standing out to him, Ryan felt he could stay here forever when he heard a voice calling him, “Ryan, Ryan! Where are you? You can be lost in here you know!” Ryan tried calling out, “Mike, I'm right here! Can't you see me?” When a blow came to Ryan on the head, knocking him unconscious.

“Wake up, Ryan! You need to run! There's a herd of pixies coming after us!” Ryan heard a voice calling out to him, who was it? His head hit a tree trunk and he was completely awake, “Ouch… Wait, Mike. What did you say just now? Did you say… PIXIES??? They're real??” Mike nodded, pointing behind him were some pixies carrying stones, Ryan knew they were the one who knocked him out. “That's how the forest got it's name…” Ryan told Mike as they were running away, when Ryan's leg got caught in a branch, and Ryan fell into a dark cave, “Mike, help me!” Mike stopped his tracks, he knew it was over. Mike knew he cannot save Ryan unlike what the other students all thought, he was just like Ryan, a weakling, but afraid to show it. But Mike knew he needs to do something, “Mike! I'm going to fall!” The pixies were heading to Ryan, Mike knew he can't escape, so the only thing to do is… “Ryan, let go! I promise I'll catch you, you need to trust me!” Ryan was paralyzed with fear, jump off? Into the pitch darkness? Ryan started shivering, “No…” Mike was confused, “Why?” “Now's not the time Mike…” The pixies had reached on Ryan and started stoning him, Mike started to understand why the brave souls were afraid, and the scared were brave, because of these pixies that kills. “That's why the depressed die, they don't feel happy because the pixies attempted to kill them.” Mike didn't want that to happen to Ryan, even though he hated him. Without warning, Ryan let go and Mike quickly caught him, “Mike, we're falling. We're going to die.” Mike held Ryan closer to him, “Trust me, we won't die.” Mike closed his eyes, starting to think of what actually happened to his parents.

“Mike, we're going out to investigate in The Green Pixies forest to discover more about it's secrets, look after the house for us okay?” Mike's mother told him when he was still 8 years old, “Okay, Mom. Dad, promise you and Mom will come back quick okay?” Mike pleaded his father, who was a geologist like his wife, “We'll try, Mike. Now we need to go for our mission. Bye!” That was the last sentence Mike heard from his parents, because the next day, a lawyer came to his house and announced something that changed Mike's life forever, “Your parents, they… didn't make it out from the forest. The creatures, the pixies, might have murdered them.” The lawyer was executed days after the death of Mike's parents, Mike wasn't an introvert at all, he used to be an extrovert, being very sociable to friends and family. But now after the death of his parents, things changed, he still has characteristics of an extrovert, but he's more introverted. And it has influenced him to be more fit, so one day, Mike can go into the forest to defeat those nasty pixies, and snap photos of them to show proof to the public that they actually exist…

“Mike, wake up! There's something I need to show you.” Mike woke up with a jolt, seeing Ryan next to him, holding a piece of paper that was undefined. “Oh, thank goodness you're awake. I was scared that you won't wake up. For I'm afraid of the dark.” Ryan admitted. Mike decided it was time to tell Ryan about his horrible backstory, “That's why you wanted to enter the forest…” Ryan concluded, finally understanding more about Mike. Mike sighed, “I also brought this camera, so I can show proof to the authorities that the pixies exist. Got a few clear shots of them.” Mike then threw a bunch of photos on the floor, clearly showing the pixies. “Also you wanted to show me something?” Mike asked Ryan, “Yes, it's a letter.” Mike opened the letter and read it.



Mike finished reading, and Ryan suddenly had an idea, “Wait! I inherited my singing skills from my dad who can communicate with birds through singing! Let's try it, okay?” Mike smiled, “Okay, and by the way.” Ryan looked at Mike's face, “You're the best friend I ever had.”

After a while, the king of the pixies came, “Well done young man! Your bird the magpie helped me find my precious jewel mt wife gave me! She will murder me if I lost it!” Mike on the other hand was shocked, “So you can really talk to birds! I'm sorry for spreading rumors about your lies.” Ryan laughed, “It's okay. Now Your Majesty, can we leave the forest?” The king smiled, “Of course you can, since you helped me find my ring. Goodbye! And you young boy.” Turning to Mike, who suddenly got angry, “We're so sorry for your parents' death, but we killed them because they spread lies about us!” Ryan chuckled, “Guess all the misunderstanding is cleared. Mike, let's go. And you can also delete those photos since the pixies were so kind to us, they were only protecting their civilization!” Mike smiled, “Yeah, goodbye.” And they left the forest.

Ryan became more extroverted, and Mike is kinder and best friends with Ryan. Ryan was glad, for he and Mike successfully achieved their hopes and dreams in a good way.



1263 words

2469 words

♖ 24th of March - In-Cabin Daily ♖
275 words

My character Red is the picture of restrained danger. She moves with a predatory grace, yet her face is smiling, her brown eyes bright and awake (though one should not forget that they always seem that way, no matter what time of day). She wanders the woods with her bold crimson cloak and hood railing behind her, brown boots light as her feet's readiness to jump and pounce. There is no way for her to go unnoticed, but the ordinary animals scurry away from her, for they see what lies underneath the surface. The others also see, yet keep it silent. It is nothing so different from the various folks of the woods.

Though, during the nights before full moons, when her eyes glint in warning and her stance screams danger, they still avoid her the best they can, as to not draw out the beast inside. They notice her teeth, sharp-toothed, canines bared. They notice her eyes, telling you there is no place to run or hide, gleaming with the darkness of midnight with irises bright as melted gold. They notice her body, the way she stands, the way the nights before the full moons are always hardest, when she moves stiffer yet with the same elegance, when she speaks in whispers to the honey-eyed warlock in the cottage of candy, when she secludes herself in a clearing the night of the full moon.

They notice, when her nails turn to claws and her cloak is missing, and her hair turns to fur and bones rearrange to fit their new form, when she towers above most, looming behind as she slinks into the shadows.

The Witch in the Wood (213 words)

“What smells so good out here?”

“Hello, dearie. I am Luanna.”
“You look like somebody’s grandmother-”
“We don’t ask a woman her age, sweetie. But oh dear, do you look hungry. Would you like my ‘famed’ sugar eats?”

“Fixing up a slice of almond pie is a piece of cake! Metaphorically, of course. It’s quite clearly a piece of pie.”

“Good thing that eccentric old granny built a house in the middle of the woods, or I would’ve starved…”

“Here you go! Eat up, and then we can send you home!”

“No problem, dearie. If you’re not back to where you came from, you can sleep in my guest bedroom tonight,”


“She’s cleaning the pans in the kitchen now… And I think she’s really nice. She offered to let me stay in her guest bedroom. But there’s no WiFi here. And her pie is kinda bitter..”


“It’s been a couple minutes, you can go home soon,”
“I thought I could stay for the night?”

“Luanna? I’m feeling a bit dizzy- I’d been lost in the woods for hours before I found you, and that almond pie wasn’t exactly a filler- could I have more f-”
“Lua-”



If you don’t get it- hint: potassium cyanide tastes like bitter almonds.

Writing comp entry:
I didn’t have any money on me, yet Charion let me through with a glance and a grunt. “Back so soon?”
That was the first weird thing.
I made it all the way to the Judges without any problems, but I was nervous. Surprisingly, all I could think of was if I would make Elysium, not the fact that I was dead.
“Macy Holden,” the first judge said. They looked over my life, and deemed me worthy of Elysium. I let out a breath of relief.
But then; “Welcome back,” said one of the judges.
I brushed it off as a mistake. I hadn’t been to the underworld before.
But now that I knew I was worthy, I started thinking of my friends and family. Were Beth and Hercules still on the quest? Did my mother know what happened? Were the people back at Camp Half-Blood safe?
Was this all some really weird nightmare?
Actually, that would be worse. As a demigod, dreams always meant something.
As unanswerable questions and memories flooded my brain, I found myself relieving memories. Memories from a life I’d never get to live again.
I remembered a conversation I’d had with Hercules when I barely knew him.
“My mom wanted to name me after a Greek Hero,” he was explaining. I didn’t remember how his name had come up, just that it had.
“Why Hercules though? That’s the roman version,” I had pointed out.
“She didn’t want to anger Hera any more than my existence. Heracles seemed a bit too risky.”
“Oh right, you’re a child of Zeus?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I also remembered when Beth had asked me out. (being the child of Nike, she felt the need to be first with everything.)
“See you later then?” she asked.
I’d smiled, a huge, dorky grin so big my cheeks hurt. Later, she’d told me I was glowing. Literally. W0w, thanks dad.
Of course, I remembered the day I came to camp.
I’d been chased by a particularly feisty karpos, but made it to camp in time to make a proper stand. But the memorable part was the sing-along at the campfire.
With the help of Anna, a nice girl from the Hermes table, I left the dining pavilion. The campfire that night was burning high, and the mood was cheery. Anna and a camper I didn’t know yet sat on either side of me.
As I struggled to keep up with the songs, the camper beside me smirked. It wasn’t necessarily a mean smirk, more of a playful one. It said I’ve been there, and boy am I glad that I know this now, more than it did anything else, really.
I frowned at him, and he looked down at his feet. I laughed. “What’s your name?”
“Hercules,” he said. “But most people call me Idiot.”
“I’m Macy. Most people call me Macy.” He grinned at me.
But any further conversation we could have had was cut off, abruptly and unceremoniously.
His eyes widened a little, and he pointed above my head. I looked up to see what looked like a shining golden lyre, or rather, the hologram of a shining golden lyre.
More and more campers stopped singing, turning their attention to me and my new hologram. It looked a little like something out of a videogame. “Uh, what is that?” I asked Hercules.
“That, daughter of Apollo, is your dad’s sign. You’ve been claimed.” The response came from Anna, who looked oddly impressed.
Questions swirled around in my head like a mini tornado. “Is- Is that normal?”
“Being claimed? Yeah,” she said. “Just, Apollo has some history with this camp. Good history, but history nonetheless.”
I remembered- Hold on, am I in Elysium already?
Sure enough, I’d passed the Fields of Alosophel, and the grassy paradise that was Elysium stretched out before me.
As I searched for my assigned spot (did we even have those?), a girl with long, braided black hair approached me.
“Hello!” she called, then frowned. “I know thy face.”
Odd word choice, I thought to myself, then remembered that people from all time periods were still in the underworld.
“Well I don’t know yours. You must be mistaken,” I said, then cringed. That sounded harsher than I meant it to be.
“No, I do,” she insisted. “What is thy name?”
“Macy. Macy Holden.”
The girl frowned. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I am sure I know thee.” She flipped her braid to one side, and her eyes lit up. “Rebirth!” she cried triumphantly.
“Huh?” I asked, more confused than ever.
“You must have chosen rebirth!”
I paused. That did make sense, even if I didn’t want to admit it. And it just kept making more sense; why Charion let me through, the ‘Welcome back’s, why this girl remembered me, and, now that I thought about it, I felt a strange sense of belonging, like I’d been here before. It made sense. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“I’m 14,” I whispered. “Did anyone choose rebirth 14 years ago?”
The girl’s voice softened; “Yes.”

Writing Competition Entries
I have a knack for submitting old pieces of writing as my writing competition entries because 1) I can never seem to find time to write new pieces and 2) I like my old writing more :>

Fan-Fiction (887 words)
For the record, I don't ship Harry and Draco. I did it just for the irony between two characters who hate each other's guts. This is an old piece of writing from a weekly back in July 2021
Draco slapped Harry’s head more forcefully than necessary. Harry’s head catapulted forward and his face ended up right smack in the centre of the book he was reading intently.

“Hey, what was that for?” Harry grimaced as he rubbed the now tender spot on his head.

“About time you stopped reading that stupid book about magic, Potter.” Draco spat.

“I will read what I want. Go mind your own business, Malfoy.”

“Aww, you gonna cry, Potter? Wa wa, go on.” Draco teased as he mimed a crying baby.

Harry spared a moment to glare at Draco before turning his attention back to the book. Harry had always imagined a hidden world full of magic and enchantments, where people practiced magic without the rest of the world’s knowledge. And that was precisely why he was on the top of Draco’s target list.

Draco pushed himself up onto the table Harry was reading on and rested his legs on Harry’s arms. Then, he leaned forward so that his warm breath was on Harry’s face. Harry stared daggers at Draco as he withdrew his arm from under Draco’s filthy shoes. Then he shoved Draco aside and strode off.

“Aww, look who’s been annoyed, Potter.” Draco called out from behind Harry before bursting into fits of rowdy laughter. Harry exited the room, leaving Draco sitting cross legged on the table. He looked downwards in confusion as he felt the heat rise to his face and he blushed profusely. His heart was hammering painfully inside his chest and somehow, he just couldn't get Harry off his mind. He envisioned himself shoving Harry out of his way while storming off to class. Draco shook his head vigorously in extreme annoyance.

“What is wrong with me? Why does that worthless piece of scum keep invading my head?” Draco scowled while smashing his head against his desk in class.

“…you’ll be paired with Draco.” announced the teacher.

“Wait, what?” Draco thought. “Who am I being partnered with?”

“Excuse, Miss. I thought I heard you say…?” Draco inquired.

“Yes, Mr. Malfoy. You will partner with Mr. Potter for this project on book reviews.”

On the outside, Draco was burning with hatred and contempt. However, on the inside, his stomach was fluttering and doing backflips. He spun around to look at Harry sitting at the back of the class. Harry was scribbling like a mad man in his notebook, looking equally displeased by the selection.

“If you don’t mind, would you please take your seat, Mr. Malfoy?” the teacher requested.

“Now, for this book review…”

Draco drifted off into his own thoughts as the teacher droned on. Him? Paired with Potter? That was the worst, no best, no worst, no best, wait what? He was befuddled. His thoughts of the pairing kept conflicting with each other and he didn’t seem to be capable of making up his mind. Every time he brought up the fact with himself that Harry was his partner, bouts of giddy excitement would spout out of nowhere despite his firm protests that he wanted nothing to do with Harry.

Draco sighed heavily.

“Meet me at the library after school today, Potter.” Draco said with disgust. “Don’t be late if you know what’s good for you.” Draco pushed Harry’s face downwards forcefully and walked off, smirking.

The bell rang signalling the end of the school day and Draco waited for Harry in the library impatiently. Somehow, Draco just couldn’t stop himself from blushing and smiling every time he thought of Harry. Then every time he did that, he would knock his head with his fist for the absurdity of the thought. Draco was beating himself for the umpteenth time when Harry showed up.

“Uh, sorry I’m late, Draco.” Harry panted. “Some girls in the corridor refused to let me pass until I gave them all my number.” Harry continued, rubbing his head somewhat sheepishly.

Draco felt triggered.

“THEY WHAT?” he yelled. “THEY HAVE YOUR NUMBER BUT I DON’T?!”

“Hey, quiet!” Harry shushed. “What do you even want my number for? It’s not like you’re going to call your archenemy anyway.”

Draco felt the heat rise to his face and he panicked.

“You brat, of course I need your number!” he stuttered nervously, trying to save face from his sudden outburst. “How can you give your number to girls but not to your own project partner?”

Harry eyed him and Draco’s heart fluttered once more.

“H-hey! What are you staring at! You better not make me get less than an A on this, Potter, or I’ll make the rest of your time here a living hell!”

“I dare you.” Harry pressed.

After many arguments, disputes and fights, the two boys succeeded in finishing the book review, and all that remained was the presentation.

“Next, we have Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter.”

The pair walked to the front of the class, holding note cards.

“You had better not screw this up, Potter. I’m warning you.” Draco hissed.

Harry treated him to an eyeroll.

Standing side by side, the only things Draco noticed were how dreamy and pretty Harry’s eyes were, the closeness between them and the pounding of his own heart. As Harry’s lips parted to utter the first word of the presentation, Draco’s eyes drifted to Harry’s plump, soft lips and he eyed them dreamily.


Story (1985 words)
Claire crouched out of sight under a table, eyes wide in fear and her hand over her mouth. Her whole body wrecked with sobs and she trembled as she choked on the downpour of emotions flooding through her. Breathing rapid and heart beat quick, Claire did her best not to break down and to stifle her panicked breaths which were threatening to break the tense silence. Loud footsteps echoed in the corridor outside, causing Claire to freeze. Beads of perspiration started to pepper her forehead as the footsteps drew closer. As the footsteps got nearer and nearer, a familiar comforting scent wafted over to her. It was the smell of Lukas’s cologne. Claire relaxed and began to get up, grateful for Lukas’s arrival right at the intense moment. Only, it wasn’t Lukas.

Laughter rang through the air and delight filled the room as teenagers milled about, eating, chatting and picking up gifts from their Secret Santas. It was the annual Secret Santa event and all the gifts were nestled under a large Christmas tree stationed in the centre of the room. Claire pushed her way through the crowd to the tree, looking for her name. She had asked for an encyclopedia on the human body and was really excited to get it.

“Claire, Claire, Claire.. where is my name…” Claire muttered to herself as she scanned the numerous cards and gifts. Her gift was sitting right in the middle of a bunch of red ones. Claire’s eyes lit up in joy and anticipation as she noticed that it was the exact same size as the encyclopedia she had requested for. She picked up her gift gingerly and skipped back to her only friend, hugging the book to her chest.

“Oh, Claire. What did you get?” her best friend, Lukas, asked.

“Exactly what I asked for!” Claire replied, ecstatic.

“Cool, you’re lucky. Some dude thought it’d be hilarious if they gave me a dirty old sock.”

“Eww, gross.” Claire scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“Talk about it. Come on, let’s go get some food.”

The duo headed towards the cafeteria, where Claire giggled as Lukas dumped the dirty sock into the bin. They both grabbed lunch trays and started stacking their trays with scrumptious food and Christmas treats. They then sat down at a table next to Janet, the head cheerleader.

“So, what’d you got, Janet?” Lukas inquired, brushing the loose strand of hair out of the way.

“Ohh, uhh…” she stammered. “My, uh, Secret Santa is… absent!” she stuttered nervously.

Lukas poked Claire in the arm and she glanced at Janet suspiciously. Janet was unusually sweaty for a person who doesn’t sweat much, and they were in an air-conditioned room as well. She also only stammered when she told a lie or wasn’t sure of herself. Something was very fishy. Very fishy indeed.

“Pity,” Claire told her. “I’d love to have seen what you received.”

“Y-yeah. I-I guess I’d have to wait till next year. Or.. maybe when my secret santa comes to school.” Janet offered Claire a weak smile and immediately excused herself. Claire watched her as she half-ran towards the ladies bathroom.

“Is it just me, or does she seem to be acting weird?” Lukas asked Claire.

She thought about it for a moment.

“Janet was acting a little suspicious, but it probably isn’t much.”

Lukas could tell Claire knew something that she wasn’t telling him. He decided not to press her for it, because he knew she’d tell him when the time was right. So he tried to squash the niggling feeling that Janet was up to no good. He meant, why would she?

The end of year holidays came and flew by, and before long, it was the start of a new school year. Lukas and Claire were now in their last year of high school. The day started with a light sun shower resulting in a rainbow. The sky was a beautiful azure hue and the white clouds were fluffily floating in the sky. It appeared as a good omen to many. A sign that the year ahead of them would be great and abundant with exuberance. Well, they were wrong. Very, very wrong.

A stabbing pain in the stomach caused Claire to excuse herself in the middle of class to go to the bathroom. Clutching her stomach, Claire rushed to the bathroom and pushed the door open. The metallic smell of blood penetrated her nose. Why is there… a blood smell? Cautiously, Claire inspected the sink area but saw no trace of blood.

“Could it just be the metal faucets then?” she wondered, unconvinced.

Remembering the reason she was in the lavatory, Claire hurried over to a cubicle and pushed the door open. What she caught sight of petrified her. The head cheerleader Janet was lying face down on the cold bathroom floor in a vast puddle of crimson red blood. A knife was jutting out of her chest from the back and blood was soaking into her ivory white blouse. Claire fell back in shock and grasped the edge of the sink to keep herself steady. A shrill scream of horror escaped her lips and reverberated in the bathroom.

Her screams alarmed many. Soon enough, teachers and other students were rushing to the bathroom to see what was going on. All of them stood rock-solid, mouths agape in disbelief.

“Claire murdered her!” one student shouted.

“Call the police! Claire murdered her!” another shouted.

“It wasn’t me!” Claire muttered. “It wasn’t me!” she exclaimed louder this time. Tears of frustration brimming at the edges of her eyes.

None of them were listening. They continued to accuse Claire of the murder, until-

“LET ME THROUGH,” demanded a masculine voice.

Lukas pushed his way through the crowd and walked over to Claire, pulling her into a firm embrace and her tears soaked into his clothes. “Don’t listen to them,” he whispered in her ear before turning back to the crowd and addressing them.

“Perhaps you guys should find evidence before accusing Claire of murder. If she was truly the one who murdered Janet, do you really think she’d be in the state she is now? Gosh, you people. Find proof first before falsely accusing others.”

And with that, Lukas grabbed Claire’s hand and led her away.

No evidence was ever found and the murders continued. Every few days, new bodies would be discovered in both the female and male lavatories. All the victims were murdered in the same fashion. A knife in the chest.

Eventually, the unease grew too tremendous for everyone to bear and the school was closed until further notice. As much as they wanted to return to school, the mass murders were too much for everyone to handle. One evening a couple of months after the school closed, Claire received a message from Lukas asking her to meet him in their classroom the following afternoon. He told her he wanted to find any possible clues while no one was there to avoid anyone tampering with things. Claire agreed to meet him and the following afternoon, she climbed over the school gates and went to the classroom. What surprised her was that everything but the gate was unlocked but she didn’t think too much of it as Lukas was probably responsible for all that.

Claire entered her class to see Lukas sitting on a table, arms folded over his chest. He gazed up at her as she entered.

“So, where should we start?” they both asked in unison.

“Wait, why are you asking me that? Didn’t you ask me to come over?” they both said in unison once again.

At this point, both of them were genuinely puzzled. If they hadn’t asked each other to go to the school… then who did?

“You know what, it’s weird that we both don’t know who called us here, but since we’re already here why don’t we take a look around?” Lukas suggested.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Luke.” Claire replied, looking around.

“Aw, come on. Don’t you trust me? Just half an hour. Besides, don’t you want to be able to come back to school?”

“Alright, fine. But only for half an hour. The moment half an hour is up I’m going.”

They walked through the dimly lit hallways side by side, stopping occasionally to look out for clues. Despite how analytical Claire was, they weren’t able to find anything. Not one thing. Whoever had planned and committed the murders was really thorough in their job. Half an hour had almost passed and the two were on the way back to the main door when a slight breeze blew and a sheet of crumpled paper got blown onto the ground.

“What’s this?” Lukas inquired as he knelt down to pick it up and smoothed it out.

The duo looked at the sheet. It was a list of names of students in school. Their names were there too. Half the names on the list had been crossed out with red ink and as they studied those names, the realisation of whose names those were and what the list was appalled them. Right at that moment, the main door slammed shut and they were surrounded by darkness.

“Lukas?” Claire managed as she groped around for him. “Lukas, answer me!” she pleaded.

“I’m here, don’t worry. Let’s just open the door and get out. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

However, much to their dismay, the door wouldn’t budge open. The signals on their phones had been cut off as well. They hurried to the nearest classroom as it wasn’t nearly as dark as it was in the hallway.

“I TOLD YOU. I TOLD YOU IT WASN’T A GOOD IDEA!” Claire screamed hysterically at Lukas as she pounded his chest with her fists.

The word darkness kept bouncing around in her mind. Darkness.. Coffins… death. Darkness… Coffins… death. Her breaths became shaky. Then they heard something crash from somewhere else in the school. Claire yelped.

“Stay here and hide under the teacher’s table. I’ll go see what’s going on.”

“Luke, no.”

“I’ll be back.”

Claire huddled up under the table out of sight, getting increasingly fearful and panicky as time passed. Eyes wide in fear and her hand over her mouth. Her whole body wrecked with sobs as she struggled to contain her anxiousness. Her breathing now rapid and heart beat quick, Claire did her best not to break down and to stifle her panicked breaths which were threatening to break the tense silence. Loud footsteps echoed in the corridor outside, causing Claire to freeze. Beads of perspiration began to pepper her forehead as the footsteps drew closer. As the footsteps got nearer and nearer, a familiar comforting scent wafted over to her. It was the smell of Lukas’s cologne. Claire relaxed and began to get up, grateful for Lukas’s arrival right at the intense moment. Only, it wasn’t Lukas.

All she saw was the outline of a man and an unconsciousness Lukas slung over his shoulder. An evil glint showed in his eye as he smiled savagely before dragging a long, metal pole out. Claire trembled and took shaky steps backwards, until she was pressed against the windows. She had no further space for backing up. She looked back up at the assailant and all the blood drained from her face.

“Hello, Claire. I thought it’d be nice to let you know that I’m Janet’s secret santa. She got me to kill her so that no one would suspect her, and I can see that her devious plan worked very, very well.”

The man smirked at her maliciously.

“No… no…”

The metal pipe connected with Claire’s head and she let out an anguished howl before the darkness took over. The last thing she saw was the man beating up Lukas as she succumbed to the darkness and faded into oblivion.