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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story that begins and ends with someone looking up at the stars.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 405 stories

“When the stars align” by Leon Raymond

Submitted to Contest #51

Trigger warning: depictions of sexual abuse She must have reached about thirty-six…possibly forty-six, when the last star disappeared behind the giant mountain top and into the dark summer sky. Her sister Lindy peaked outside to ask her when she was going to come inside; as she threw the water she had just washed the dishes in from the zinc bowl. The water splashed onto the garden bed where she was hoping to grow fresh tomatoes for the family. “Has he stopped yet?” Sindi asked as she stood up from the unfinished patio where she had gotten lo...

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“Starlit” by Dianne Brice

Submitted to Contest #51

Jemma stared up at the last handful of the night’s stars. They were like sequins of silver sprinkled on the blackest of canvases. Perfectly and brilliantly placed. It was five in the morning and Jemma was too full of the jitters to sleep. She was brewing coffee and thinking of how the yard was so picturesque. Out there, were two hundred chairs arranged almost like a perfect orchestral set up; each chair with a swag of coral and white satin ribbon draped over its back. The thick grass was cut impeccably. The oak trees waited patiently with th...

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“Cricket Chirps” by Bridget Cruz

Submitted to Contest #51

A single word cut through the quiet that had settled around us. “Satellite,” my father said, eagerly extending his arm upward. He always pointed to them as they passed. Tiny specks floating through the dark expanse, out of nowhere and into nothing. My eyes watered a bit as they searched hurriedly across the path his finger traced. “I see it,” I said, matching his hushed excitement. We followed it as it steadily made its way into darkness and disappeared, holding our gaze for a second or two even after it had. Minutes passed, an hour or ...

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“Letters at Night of the Northern Lights” by Mae Charlette Bulias

Submitted to Contest #51

It was my 21st birthday on the 4th of November, 2016 when my father took me from home to migrate in Norway. I remember it was just my top-list country to visit, but now I’m really living here! My Mom and my two younger stepsisters were left in the Philippines and lived together with Jack, my stepfather.I wish to go to my favourite country because of my greatest dream to see the northern lights. Well Norway is one of the world’s top aurora destinations. Besides, the place is really beautiful. I fell in love with its beauty. The first time I s...

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“The Stars” by Zara McDonald

Submitted to Contest #51

I stood in the grass, hands in my pockets, boots crushing the frosted grass under foot, head tilted back, drinking in the night sky. How infinite the sky looked, how endless its blue void, how permanent its lights. How beautiful its stars, 7 billion light years away. How burnt out they are, dying 7 billion years ago but still burning for us today. How special it makes us humans feel, those stars decorating our sky. How hopeful it makes us feel, thinking that they are watching over us as we fulfill our destiny. How naïve we are, in all our se...

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“Star Gazing” by Manijeh Khorshidi

Submitted to Contest #51

Manijeh Khorshidi July 23, 2020 It is a summer night in Wisconsin. The clear sky invites my husband to roll out his telescope out of the garage into the driveway. And here he goes to be with those 'gates to heaven' as he calls them until deep into the heart of the night. This routine of his not only is known to me, rather it is familiar to the neighbors. They are aware of his late romance with the stars. They join him in his search of a star if insomnia visits them at night. This unwritten agreement between them has become the norm in o...

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“A New Moon” by Alex Key

Submitted to Contest #51

The corners were too perfect. They had been too perfect since the the day he arrived, stoically supporting that strong spotless glass with infallible dedication, sheltering him at every moment with those impeccable ninety degrees, warmly receiving visits at regular intervals from a devoted pair of gloved hands that destroyed any dust which might have sought refuge in their rigid right angles. He despised the corners during the day, when they joined forces with the window to ward off the most vivid and passionate components of the sun’s gene...

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“The Lifespan of a Dream” by Tammy Hornbeck

Submitted to Contest #51

The Lifespan of a Dream Written by Tammy Varner Hornbeck            He had come into her life during the aftermath and devastation of a dream dying. She had come into his life as a dream was disintegrating; both believing they would never dream again. Neither of them was young; both had past relationships and marriages whose demons continued to wreak havoc on their hearts and souls. Neither knew if they could trust again, love again, or dream again; but love would prove stronger than t...

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“Constellation” by Jessica G

Submitted to Contest #51

To Adrienne, the stars looked different when they surrounded her. It wasn’t quite the same feeling Adrienne recalled from when she was a child in the field of her back yard. Her first memory was the crisp smell of the long grass, surrounded by evening crickets as her father taught her how to use a telescope. It was her first experience with wonder. Since she could first fathom the complexities of the stars, Adrienne had scarcely brought her head back down to Earth long enough to think of anything else.   She stared up at the stars as of...

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“The Soul in a Star” by Samantha Ho

Submitted to Contest #51

Clara sat on the lonely swing set in the park on the corner of 4th Avenue. Dusk had long fallen, and the sky deepened, welcoming the glimmering lights of the stars. She leant back as she swung, and allowed herself to be swallowed up in the stars. The distance between them was limitless, but she raised her hand as if to stroke a star. She imagined the surface was smooth, like velvet, and the light shone through her hand, casting opaque shadows across the land.  It was New Year’s Eve of 2019, Clara was waiting patiently for a shooting s...

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“Written in the stars” by Reannah De Souza

Submitted to Contest #51

There they were, brightly shining in the sky, high above the rest of the world. White and glistening like diamonds in a mine. How rare and precious the sight of them was and completely untouchable by humankind. If only the clouds were not in the way, hiding them from her sight, Nove would stare at them forever. Being fifteen was hard she thought, looking away from the night sky not that she could even see anything. Once again the weather report was wrong which meant she would have to wait for the clouds to clear.  It was easy being fo...

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“Among the Garden, No One Was Found” by John Rakh

Submitted to Contest #51

Cape Canaveral, Florida, 8/27/2099: The probe is launching. The sky is tame and cloudless. All is ready for lift-off. We’ve received a signal from the Alpha Centauri Star System: “Come to paradise,” they say. At the final strikes of the clock, it was apparent that we were now delving into the undiscovered. The only thing we saw to fare us well was Orion looking down on us from above. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The final countdown is commencing: Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Lift-off! With less than a second to brace...

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“Always Looking Up” by Emilia Stokes

Submitted to Contest #51

Baby blue bunny slippers trampled the lush grass as a small body rushed through the darkened meadow. Giggles echoed throughout the field, meeting the ears of a taller silhouette, who was lugging a large blanket over one shoulder and a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck. The young man rolled his eyes and tried to catch up to the quick little blur that belonged to his sister.  Said sibling was jumping in place, rocket pajamas bouncing along with her exuberant frame. The ears on her bunny slippers waving frantically each time her...

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“Dancing Among The Stars” by Emilie Conroy

Submitted to Contest #51

Over the untamed forests of Verda, the full moon sailed across the starry sky.  Barefoot and wearing a simple tunic, Sergius stood on the balcony.  He raised his eyes to look on the moon, on the goddess Luna.  The night air hung thick with energy and magic.  Sergius felt his blood sing with the force of the celestial orchestra, a voice too loud to let him sleep. Once his people would have gathered to celebrate the ultimate waxing of the moon.  But that was before, in less civilized times.  Now the Romans left ...

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“Gobeithio” by PK Spice

Submitted to Contest #51

“Remember, the only asterism you need to need to remember is the Big Dipper.” Madrona looks up at the night sky. “Depending on where you enter, the people may call it by another name. It’s critical you understand their concept of time, and the movement of the heavens on their world. You must be able to correctly identify the day with the least light in their planetary cycle to make it back.” “We’ve been over it and over it Madrona!” Natsuki shakes her head. “I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. You’ll just have to trust that I’m rea...

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