June King

“The Archdemin Epic: How to Not Be The Chosen One” by June King

“I’ll figure it out,” I said, bored out of my mind.  The wizard slumped in his chair and covered his face with both hands before letting out a weary sigh. Karl was supposedly the best wizard around, but his magic only worked half the time and his sorry excuse of a wand happened to be a knotted twig. He blamed it on his age. I had a few other theories. “By Fandor’s beard, you will. The fate of the Archdemin lies in your hands.” “That’s BS and we both know it,” I said, raising my eyebrows at him. “You think I’m going to be able to save ...

1 like 0 comments 0

Read story

“Purple Sun” by June King

Submitted to Contest #99

*All lines followed by an asterisk are lyrics to a song called ‘Mr. Sun’ by Raffi. Credit for the lyrics go to the original songwriter. Link to 'Mr. Sun': https://youtu.be/593B-bVPWjw These little children are asking you To please come out so we can play with you Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun Please shine down on me* It was a stupid song. Especially when you considered the fact that no one had seen the sun for years. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Sometimes a helicopter pilot plunged through the covering of smothering gray clouds to che...

9 likes 5 comments 5

Read story

“Walk of Duty” by June King

Submitted to Contest #98

The what-ifs started as a game with my older brother. What if the sky turned purple? What if I lost my horse? What if I got a new tutor, one that decided I didn’t have to do lessons anymore?  I especially liked that last one.  One day, I asked, ‘What if we get to eat cake for breakfast?’ The next morning, Jericho woke me up and we snuck into the kitchen. He’d bribed one of the cooks into making a frosted delight for each of us. And so we hid in one of the little used hallways, snickering quietly at what we were getting away with. I...

7 likes 4 comments 4

Read story

“Gone Fishing” by June King

Submitted to Contest #96

The first week of summer was always the most exciting. Students still remembered the bitter taste of finals and were licking freedom off their fingers as they reached for more. County fairs and farmer’s markets popped up here and there, drawing crowds of people who wanted to forget life for a while. People drove with their windows down and their music up on their way home from cabins. Shorts and tan lines were a common sight yet again, and the neighborhoods came alive with droves of kids on bikes and scooters.  As for plans that summer...

9 likes 3 comments 3

Read story

“The Lighthouse Door” by June King

Submitted to Contest #95

I had thought that the first three letters were a scam, junk mail maybe. But the fourth letter came. And the fifth. All were the same, written in a faint handwriting and signed by a ‘Lenny O’Connor’. The last name seemed familiar to me, but I wasn’t sure where I’d heard it before. And then the sixth letter came. I sat down at the kitchen table in my apartment with my afternoon cup of coffee, ready to edit the final essay for one of my college classes. Frustration bubbled up in me, and I tore into the envelope. This one was dif...

14 likes 5 comments 5

Read story