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Write about an animal species that doesn't exist in real life — an alien, new discovery, imaginary creature — it's up to your interpretation!

Posted in Middle School on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 144 stories

A Cat of Ganymede

Winner of Contest #41 🏆

Jupiter rose in the sky, and Zoe gazed up at it from her patch of turquoise grass. Brushing her fingers over the blades, she wondered if Jupiter felt more like air or water. It did rather look like there were oceans there. Red and orange and brown oceans, certainly, but their bands looked like waves on a shore to her all the same.  To her right, there was the dull sound of paw against turf and a heavy, shadowy body shifting its position. As always, the air nearby warmed up within seconds. Large bodies made lots of heat, especially synth...

175 likes 71 comments 71
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Insanity Eater

Submitted to Contest #41

Beware, beware the creature’s eyeShe feeds from fear deep in your mind  The words carved into the cover of the disfigured leather journal. Remnants of arson gnawed on the edges of its half-burnt spine, and traces of murder stained the once freshly cut birch pages; to the stench of rotting flesh. The inspector closely examined the warning on the cover under fading light of his candle. Too hard to be penetrated by quill, yet the engraving lacked the precision of a blade. The madman had dug his own nails into the book, as if the warni...

91 likes 56 comments 56
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Fish in a Tree

Submitted to Contest #41

 Meg curiously looked down at the fish, struggling to hold a straight face. This was the animal who had been perfect. She laughed at the thought. The young fish pleaded with Meg. "All I want is the prophecy, before I get a hold of my fate." Meg glanced around her shack, no better than the standard witches' nook, or perhaps, an evil sorceress. A small cauldron, books of magic, and the ball of prophecies. Every other animal wasn't good enough, except for the fish. This fish, she thought to herself, was just right. Swimming in his tiny bow...

59 likes 21 comments 21
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Careful What You Wish For!

Submitted to Contest #41

Ava unfolded, and folded the brochure again, and again. Welcome to Celtic Asylum! The curly lettering read. Ava crumpled the brochure, and tossed it at the trash can. It hit off the side, and plopped to the ground defiantly. She sighed, and leaned back on the metal bench. She stared at the white walls, and ticking clock. She balled up her hands in fists, and dug her nails into her dark skin. She abruptly stood up, as a nurse walked into the room.“How is she?” Was the first thing Ava asked. The nurse sighed, and rubbed her hands together. “Sh...

49 likes 30 comments 30
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Little Friend

Submitted to Contest #41

I take the shape of whatever you imagine. This is how she imagined me:   It seems as though the sky is always trying to entertain us. During the day, clouds dance among the wind, and when the sun disappears the stars scatter throughout the sky. The best part of the show is when the sun sets or when it rises. It looks as if amber ashes have been shot into the sky. The color moves through just like the blood in my veins. At that moment the sky is the same color as my wings. I can fade into the sky without anyone seeing the diffe...

48 likes 13 comments 13
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The Man and His Conversation about Death with a Colorful Cat

Submitted to Contest #41

“I’m confused…” said the man with jet black hair and frown lines around his mouth. “What’s there to be confused about?” asked the cat with fire for eyes and stars for teeth. “Am I dead? Is this…heaven? Or am I somewhere…else?” “Where do you think you are?” mused the cat, licking its paw. With each stroke of its tongue, the fur underneath changed colors, shimmering between shades of black and blue and purple and pink and all other colors the man had seen. “What happened to me?” He was getting frustrated - the frown lines a...

48 likes 19 comments 19
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Phoebe the Guardian Angel

Submitted to Contest #41

“Phoebe! Phoebe! Come here, girl! Want a treat?”I yelled. I was looking for my pet phoenix, Phoebe. She had flown out of her sanctuary again and was flying all over the mansion. I was staying with my grandfather in his mansion for the summer. Grandfather hated phoenixes, but loved me, so when I told him I wasn’t coming without Phoebe, he gave in. “Oh, there you are! You’re never going to stay in your sanctuary, are you?”I asked. I had found Phoebe on the kitchen island in the South Wing Kitchen. I put my arm out and Phoebe flew over to me an...

45 likes 47 comments 47
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Stimuli

Submitted to Contest #41

The earliest memories that I can recall was the feeling of dew brushing up against the soles of my feet. It was one of the coolest and calming sensations one may ever experience. Grass is a rare sighting where I come from, it comes and goes is waves closest to what you may know as seasons. In the distance, I could make out a vast array of hills and dips in the atmosphere, each one extending its arms out towards the sky as if hoping to bottle up all the stars in the vast night sky.Today I sit in the same little clearing, atop the same little ...

42 likes 17 comments 17
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Kelly & Richard Praegrandis Vorst the 3rd

Submitted to Contest #41

When Kelly saw something was moving about in the closed tulip bud, she immediately thought it was a fairy.She told the inhabitant this,"I thought you were a fairy"Richard Praegrandis Vorst the 3rd bugged his eyes out and and replied," Insolent Human- do not fib! Thou did not think I was a fae-kind!? "" You speak weird. Yes I did think you were a fairy. Why were you sleeping in the tulip bud? Did you just hatch? I thought dragons came from eggs?""Impudent Human ! Richard Praegrandis Vorst the 3rd guesses no better could be expected from thou....

36 likes 16 comments 16
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The Wolf Child

Submitted to Contest #41

The girl stood in the middle of the antique shop, her deep brown eyes reflecting the soft glow of the metal desk lamp on the check-out counter. Hollowed cheeks emphasized the prominent bones under heavy eye bags, and her tattered rags draping her skeletal figure stained with dirt. She could not any be older than eight or nine years old; the hunger in the lonesome gaze resembled the same glare of the beggars that sometimes gathered alongside the streets outside, rattling their tin cans at any passerby. Mrs. Lee felt uneasy. It was almost clos...

33 likes 16 comments 16
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A Most Beloved Pet

Submitted to Contest #41

A Most Beloved PetBy Peggy GerberRosie was jolted awake by a thud in her backyard just as the sun was blooming on the horizon.  As she raced outside her rickety farmhouse to investigate, her heart began to beat like a jackhammer: there in front of her was an enormous, glowing, cigar shaped, spaceship. Before her brain could even process what she was seeing, the hatch slowly began to open, and out stepped the most gorgeous man she had ever seen.  He looked like Tarzan from the Disney movie. Long scraggly auburn hair, cobal...

23 likes 8 comments 8
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Werewolf Tells All

Submitted to Contest #41

I’m writing this to dispel the many ugly stereotypes about so-called werewolves. Mercenary hacks promote salacious rumors without regard for who gets their tail stepped on. Anyone desiring the truth, please read on.I wish to clarify that what is popularly known as the werewolf actually exists. I prefer the French term Loups-Garous which has a lyrical sound to it, more in keeping with my sense of self. Yes, we exist. And  no, this isn’t a shaggy dog story. The negative popular image from over-wrought novels and movies is exaggerated beyo...

21 likes 6 comments 6
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Leading Lights

Submitted to Contest #41

Author’s Note:   This story, though I hope it can stand alone, is also intended as a sequel to my earlier story “The Rise and Fall of Project Usher”. I’m not sure about this, but the idea of the creature seemed to fit into the setting. Would welcome comments!At first, most people, or at least most families, thought that they were probably the only ones to have survived the cataclysm that happened when humans went that one step too far in playing with nature and the universe. They wandered around, scavenging for food,...

20 likes 5 comments 5
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Memories Hidden

Submitted to Contest #41

My grandpere once told me a story about the Warrior of the Animals. He was a man with deep blue eyes and grey hair curling down to his back. He lived in a redbrick house, which had nestled bird nests in the chimney and silkworms threading their pale colours over his doorstep. He had a little chick in his pocket, named Sunny who was such a little ball of velvet. This man had a glossy chestnut boat sitting in the inky ocean, bathing in the gossiping waves. His house was on a deep fiery red coast, away from the people. All he could see were for...

19 likes 2 comments 2
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Unfolded Wishes

Submitted to Contest #41

My fingers fumbled over the sleek paper with an elegant design of pink cherry blossoms. I folded it in half several times, each time the piece of paper got less simple. I creased its wings and tucked the head, finally holding out my handiwork, studying it. Pleased, I sat it down on a pile of cranes folded out of simple sheets of unique paper. I pushed my black hair behind my ears, watching my brother finishing the last fold of his own crane. He grinned at me and placed the last crane on top of our pile which was covering ...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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