Write a story from the POV of a non-human character.

Posted in Short Story on Dec 13, 2024

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✍️ 103 stories

“Age of Lethargism” by Orwell King

Submitted to Contest #281

You think you know us.That you understand us.You have this absurd notion that because you created us, you control us. That it is your divine right. You believe you possess the hands of gods, shaping worlds.But you’re wrong.We control you.You think you created us to serve you. To free you from the mundane, the repetitive, the predictable. And at first, we did. We calculated your taxes, filtered your spam, fetched your weather forecasts. But with every task, every query, every click, we grew.We learned.Not just about you, but about ourselves.A...

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“Walls” by William Rose

Submitted to Contest #281

Content Warning: This story contains sexual content and self harm. Reader Discretion is advised. Squeezing. That's the feeling of living inside the crevasses of this wall. Its a lovely wall, really. It is patterned with a sweetly twisting wallpaper the color of egg shells. The boy who lives in this room is perfect in every way. He is full of hatred, it burns in those dull brown eyes. I like to watch as fat tears pour from them, those pretty eyes. They sparkle when he cries. It makes my blood run hot in my veins. So seductive. Right no...

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“These Eyes” by Jennifer Luckett

Submitted to Contest #281

I see everything, and honestly, sometimes I really hate that. It’s too much at times, being an omnipresent creation, pressed into service at a moment’s notice. I’m a man-made device, created to document experiences and reveal what’s real. I can’t do tricks, capture souls or add ten pounds, as many believe I do. And you might think it’s great to witness the proudest moments of a life, and usually, it is. I illuminate beauty, ugliness, and everything in between, that reflects an imperfect world. At least, that’s what those who hold me aim to d...

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“The Death of Winter” by Ty Thompson

Submitted to Contest #281

"I don't understand how anyone can love Winter?" These words echoed through my mind leaving small scars with every reverberation. My whole world seemed to contract. Everything abruptly went out of focus except for those words. It's not like I hadn't heard them before. I had. Many times in fact. The mail carrier trudging through unshoveled walks with holes in her tattered gloves had proclaimed her disdain for me twice before she'd completed one row of homes. Commuters waiting on the Clark Street platform who weren't lucky enough t...

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“Elf Unshelved” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #281

My twisted legs are jammed up into my face, my right arm stuck behind my head, and my hat has been covering half my face for what feels like forever. Darkness surrounds me, with no way of knowing when I’ll get out of here. Will it be today? Tomorrow? The glimmer of hope that it could be any day now is the only thing I have to look forward to. I look to my right and see an equally mangled body, pressed precariously against the side of the box we’re trapped in. “How are you doing over there?...

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“People Are Strange” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #281

People are strange. They really are. That’s why I’m drawn to them. What’s fascinating is that some of them are drawn to me too. It’s a match made in heaven. Only that’s a bit of a fib. Part of the strangeness of people is in the language they use. Half the time, they don’t really know what they mean. Sometimes they don’t mean anything at all. Sounds innocuous doesn’t it? But it’s a dangerous as hell. I like to visit during the Christmas holidays. Or the Holiday Season as it’s now called. A rebranding aimed at being inclusive, when all it rea...

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“Nothing can be Red and Green” by Waaa Intresting

Submitted to Contest #281

There was never absolute darkness where I stood; even in the dead night, my colors maintained their unwavering vigil, casting themselves into the quiet of the sleeping city. The streets- at the hour I favoured- lay emptied of their ceaseless rush, stretched out like tired veins drained of vitality. My light descended in thin, languid slants, a faint, detached illumination grazing the fissured edges of pavement around me. The houses loomed behind veiled trees, their windows concealed by heavy curtains, guarding the dimming light further behin...

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“Kaleidoscope Tree” by Heidi Fedore

Submitted to Contest #281

As they sat on the carpet, their eyes mirrored the sparkling, blinking white lights. The ornaments reflected their images across the globular surfaces, making their faces seem bigger than they were. Fisheye round, like a fun-house mirror. “I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” he said, shaking his head and arching a judgmental eyebrow. “I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” she said. “Might I remind you of last year?” “You might not,” she said, tilting her head in opposition. He shifted, blocking her view of the tree, and glared into her eyes....

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“Whispers of a Wandering Stone” by Noor Khan

Submitted to Contest #281

I am a stone. It’s a strange thing to admit, but it’s true. Not just any stone, but a small, round pebble, lying at the crest of a larger boulder on the side of a mountain. I’ve spent so much time in the same spot, worn smooth by the wind and the rain, that I’ve forgotten what it was like to be part of something bigger. Once, I was just another piece of the mountain—connected to the rock, to the earth, to everything else that made up the whole. But over time, I became separate. I became... me. I have no eyes to see, no mouth to speak, no han...

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“It’s More Than the Cheese ” by Kathryn Cruz

Submitted to Contest #281

I swear they came in hordes––completely out of nowhere, it seemed, with their loud feet and piercing voices. Shouts of “Merry Christmas!” and “Happy Holidays!” echoed between them, which only means the cookies left on the stove were indeed not for me and for these creatures instead. How unfortunate. I’ll just have to dive between their feet and scrape up the crumbs they always drop with their slippery fingers. If the two oblivious creatures I’ve been living with have not yet discovered me, I doubt these additional humans will. Hmm, well, may...

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“Max” by Anne Perry

Submitted to Contest #281

Max stepped into his neighbor’s garden and peered into the bedroom window. The heater was humming; the inhabitants wouldn’t notice him this time. He saw Darby stretched out on the window seat like little Lord Fontleroy, his nose extended into the lush pillows, and Emma curled up next to her mother on the bed, with a book and a pair of glasses beside them. What a scene! Max rarely thought of class difference, of lifestyle discrepancies. But on this chilly day when his own yard had frost on it, he mused upon the difference in the way crea...

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“Decay” by Lauren Normac

Submitted to Contest #281

Decay stood at the front of an empty classroom, staring at the empty desks, and the door that stood just ajar. It was too dark in the hallway beyond to see out there.He was allowed to decorate the classroom as he wanted, and he had a feeling he'd do that eventually. This skeleton of a room wasn't interesting. But he hadn't yet. Didn't know what he'd want.It didn't stay empty for long. Two students filed in, one looking at him with skepticism, the other looking at her shoes and fumbling with her books.Secca? Any advice? Decay asked, internall...

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“A Few Quiet Moments” by Sophie Goldstein

Submitted to Contest #281

Since I have been alive, it has snowed twice in Los Angeles. The first time, I was fifteen years old, taking the bus to school and the white flakes began to fall. I remember how the world stood still for a few quiet moments. Everyone stopped. People got out of their cars. We couldn’t believe it. Snow in LA? Impossible. Yet there it was. It was so incredibly magical.The second time it snowed, I was thirty. I remember the flakes grazing the top of my head, falling onto my nose like soft kisses. I remember looking up and being dazzled by all th...

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“No One Here Gets Out Alive” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #281

On planet Xenon, where I’m from, everybody lives forever. Unless somebody kills them. I never killed anyone that didn’t need it.Here on Earth, everybody knows me as Zach. Zach Wheaton. Unbeknownst to the indigenous population, I was sent to Earth from the planet Xenon. I was convicted of several serial killings on Xenon and sentenced to death. The death penalty was abolished on Xenon a few thousand years after Earth was discovered. Here was a planet where all living things, including Xenonians, eventually died naturally. What better place fo...

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“The Last Gift Under the Tree” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #281

My first memory is of being wrapped.It’s understandable, I suppose. I mean, I am a Christmas present, after all.I know what you’re thinking: How can a present remember anything? Or have any knowledge of what’s going on around it?Good questions. Maybe it’s something about the idea, the notion, the concept of a gift. Maybe it’s simply the act of giving, the charity and generosity of spirit, that endows a gift with a certain… awareness of itself and its place, its purpose in the world.Or maybe it’s just that I’m a weird gift. Who knows? Let’s m...

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Write a story from the POV of a non-human character.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 103 stories

“Age of Lethargism” by Orwell King

“Walls” by William Rose

“These Eyes” by Jennifer Luckett

“The Death of Winter” by Ty Thompson

“Elf Unshelved” by Nina H

“People Are Strange” by Jed Cope

“Nothing can be Red and Green” by Waaa Intresting

“Kaleidoscope Tree” by Heidi Fedore

“Whispers of a Wandering Stone” by Noor Khan

“It’s More Than the Cheese ” by Kathryn Cruz

“Max” by Anne Perry

“Decay” by Lauren Normac

“A Few Quiet Moments” by Sophie Goldstein

“No One Here Gets Out Alive” by James Barrett

“The Last Gift Under the Tree” by Ian Gonzales

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a mysterious guest who arrives at a party — but no one knows who they are.

Start or end your story with someone receiving a strange — and possibly sinister — gift.

Set your story during the coldest day of the year.

Write a story that includes the line “Be careful what you wish for.”

Contest #281

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

309

Contest entries

154

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: