Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 122 stories

“I killed her” by Marina Savva

Submitted to Contest #98

This includes extracts of Kathleen Raine’s poem “Passion”, and Walt Whitman’s “From crossing Brooklyn Ferry”. The water felt so loose and freeing as I stood there, feeling the flow of the river race past my feet. I walked further in, my white dress absorbing the water and clinging to my body. My thoughts crawled around my brain, tearing at it, and binding me in a state of exasperation. The cool water felt like fire as its volume scorched me the more I waded in. I couldn’t run now. All those words that had been thrown at me felt like acid...

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“Riverside” by L Serrano

Submitted to Contest #98

RiversideThe beginning of a storyThis isn’t so bad after all. Getting to see everyone without being seen, hearing everything without them noticing. I’ve been part of so many stories and, in some of those, I’ve even played a crucial role. The things I’ve seen are as infinite as the sky above me. Although, it can get very boring sometimes.Right now, I’m waiting for the next story to happen. Today, finally, the main characters get to meet each other. A girl has been coming over here to fetch water from the river, she must be watering her plants...

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“The river that brought us together. ” by Mackenzie Belair

Submitted to Contest #98

Note - Sad at the begging, happy at the end. Also thoughts of suicide, but she does survive, don't worry. I doggy paddled in the river 50 miles away from my house sopping wet. Me and my friends Jonathan and Emily decided to go and go to the river to go tubing. But apparently it was just a trap; they had made me flip over, and the seconde I was under water, they had left me. Now I only had the water and my sopping clothes to comfort me. It didn't bring much; I was cold and sure to get a cold. I was thinking about just ending it here righ...

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“The Whisper” by Cynthia Langley

Submitted to Contest #98

“What is wrong with you?!!?” Paul yelled angrily at me. Again. I hang my head in shame. The truth is, I don’t know. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I wait for him to tell me. “Every single TIME you just stand there staring off into space!” he continues to bellow. “Don’t you know how to MOVE?!” I curl my shoulders in and try to make myself small. My thoughts are a jumble of disconnected, random words. My mind is full of swirling fog. I always simply freeze as soon as my kayak touches the water. I wonder if actual decisions even exis...

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“The Journey” by Ana Pudleiner

Submitted to Contest #98

My father always told me that sometimes you have to be bold enough to take the leap if you ever want to succeed. Maybe that is why I took mine and risked everything along with it.The wind rifled through the trees, dancing with its leaves, and swaying its branches. I stood there, ankle deep in a chilled water, as the breeze played with my hair, braiding it back into what resembled a crown. "Follow the stream," Father said "And when you're done, you will understand why I told you so." Father never told anyone else to follow it. Just me, h...

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“The Singing City” by Trevor Grinde

Submitted to Contest #98

See the mighty river. Wide. Swift. Majestic. Unrelenting in its quest for the sea. Look further to its twin. Just as wide. Just as swift. Just as majestic. Just as relentless. Notice how the twins meet. Intertwining. Caressing. Melding. Two become one. The marriage of two separate births into a raging serpent of wet and bubbles as wide as the eye can see. Notice how the island climbs out of the place where the two rivers meet. Defying the strength of the current. Forcing the newly combined twins to separate once again. Listen how ...

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“Butterflies” by J.I Strydom

Submitted to Contest #98

The scenery still looks precisely the same, yet they have traveled for days. The grass still grayed by the cold winter air, and the trees the same pale green. The lonely time in the forest has begun. Winter. All the butterflies migrated down south for a warmer climate, leaving the trees with only the wind to keep them company. The only thing that lives in the forest is the winged splashes of rainbow colors. All the rest left after the war, either dead or too scared to return to the wretched forest. The remaining deer are now hiding in the ...

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“Three Companions” by Carol Keefer

Submitted to Contest #98

The river bends and turns in the forest, lush green leaves touching the water, a gentle breeze, as the boat sails effortlessly with three companions aboard—the tranquility of a summer's day.Reggie guides the boat, with the aid of the oars, an easy task except that this time is different. His thoughts drift towards another time, a carefree day spent here, but that was a long ago. Reggie should not have such feelings. He's not a natural person, but an android, with threads connected to a computer for a brain. Still, there is no ...

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“One More Rubicon” by Scott Morgan Petry

Submitted to Contest #98

One More Rubicon“How am I supposed to do this?” He looked down at the mismatched PVC legs and polymer blades where humans had feet. Human. Why didn’t he get a human to do this? They’re so adaptable. They can live anywhere, scale anything and live on near nothing. He sighed, a habit he picked up from watching archival footage of humans. Not many of those around now. But they showed him that he was far from human. He was just a metal framed conglomeration of brittle, sun-scorched plastics, held together with epoxy-coated nylon and steel n...

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“Basket of burdens” by Georgette Ball

Submitted to Contest #98

The gravel crunches under her boots and with every step the basket she carries gets heavier. This burden is not the only one weighing her down. She can feel the muscles in her forearms crying out for reprieve, but she keeps going. It isn’t until a big rock she can’t see for the basket, that she stumbles and clothes go flying, along with the laundry soap. “Shit!” she says, and catches herself from scraping up her knees by landing on the basket. Someone probably saw that and had a good laugh. Brushing off her hands, she rolls to a sitting po...

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“Unripe” by Menchie Belarmino

Submitted to Contest #98

What wakes Malaya up every morning is the loud sound of water crashing upon the metal dike a few yards from her home. And at the very moment she opens her eyes, her mom would scream loud just to be heard against the roaring water, “Go there and check!” Malaya sat up annoyed. Ever since they moved into this place, this freaking unpeaceful and lonesome but cheap place, she hasn’t had a morning of silence and gentle tweeting birds. It was always thunder-like noise knocking consciousness into her ears, forcing her to wake up. Not a pillow or a...

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“Wanderlust” by Monica A

Submitted to Contest #98

The river wandered along, flowing from somewhere far within the mountains overlooking our small village, Eastly-by-the-Sea, farther away than anyone I knew had ever been. Each day, I walked along it, down to the sandy banks where it emptied into the great sea, the morning sun shining down and glinting across the water, sending sparkles into the horizon as far as the eye could see. Dolphins swam there, gray fins visible above the waves, and jellyfish washed up upon the banks, their translucent forms bearing witness to mysterious depths no one...

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“The Learner ” by Sagarika Bhar

Submitted to Contest #98

She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, shakily. Her hands were clenched at her sides and she forced herself to relax. That's what her coach used to say. Breathe, relax and then jump.The river in front of her glided along smoothly, cutting through the carpet of grass. It was like a blue ribbon - standing out fearlessly amongst the greenery surrounding it. Its beauty was evident in the way it gracefully dodged the rocks in between it and flowed on, never stopping for anyone. It didn't look swift, but she knew better.Her eyes closed...

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“Yessira” by Daniel Zachary

Submitted to Contest #98

Serena loved the river. Serena was raised on the river. During the day, the Yessira river was a symbol of vitality in the Yushul valley. At night, however, it became much more menacing. Serena set down the oars to her rowboat and laid down, staring up into the purple sky of Yaboo. The three suns of Yaboo shone down through the vaporous atmosphere and gently touched the rippling river. The Yessira river was massive, almost half a mile wide in some spots and a quarter of a mile wide in the skinniest part. It stretched across almost half of Yab...

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“Salted River” by Rowan Taylor

Submitted to Contest #98

We live on the salted river. ‘Mimaeno’ the ancestors call it - ‘the woman who wept’. It stretches out along the horizon as far as I can see, flowing all the way from the land to the skies. The sun rises at its head and slumbers at its tail, following its movement with the same devotion as my people. I think it must wrap around the whole world, the way a snake strangles its prey. The river born from death only breeds death: the water is undrinkable and the fish who swim there are toxic. Yet we are the descendants of the river God who splint...

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Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 122 stories

“I killed her” by Marina Savva

“Riverside” by L Serrano

“The river that brought us together. ” by Mackenzie Belair

“The Whisper” by Cynthia Langley

“The Journey” by Ana Pudleiner

“The Singing City” by Trevor Grinde

“Butterflies” by J.I Strydom

“Three Companions” by Carol Keefer

“One More Rubicon” by Scott Morgan Petry

“Basket of burdens” by Georgette Ball

“Unripe” by Menchie Belarmino

“Wanderlust” by Monica A

“The Learner ” by Sagarika Bhar

“Yessira” by Daniel Zachary

“Salted River” by Rowan Taylor

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a family with a long-standing tradition, whose members all have conflicting origin stories for it.

Start your story with a character having a premonition, but no one believes them.

Write about someone who’s desperately trying to change their luck.

Write a story involving a character who cannot return home.

Contest #98

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

751

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: