Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)

Posted in Teens on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 324 stories

“The Glowing City” by Alice Rookhuyzen [STUDENT]

Submitted to Contest #63

"By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire" .... everything was, burning. I looked around. The entire city was burning. I ran, to my house. It was gone my home, my belongings, ...my life gone burned to ashes and dust. I screamed tearing through the burnt walls and door ... searching frantically!!! "MOMMY" a voice behind me shouted. I turned and ran to my three year old daughter and scooped her up. "Why are you here by yourself, where is your nanny?!!!" " I not know mommy" Buildings everywhere in sight were encased in a thick lay...

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“A red brandishing Sword” by Marjorie Kabwe

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Well, not literally. But still it was a beautiful thought. They were as crimson red, dry and brittle like my fragile heart. The sunset was a gorgeous golden yellow melting into the horizon. Everything the light touched turned into bright gold, including the shop where I had just had my favourite tea and strawberry swirl cheese cake. There was a new line of drinks the shop had introduced. I fell in love with their limited edition Pumpkin Pie latte in a heartbeat. It was warm, spicy ...

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“Brothers and Sisters of Flame” by Michael Crone

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. The greens were fading to beautiful reds and yellows, signaling Autumn was on the way. As a kid, it was always my favorite time of year. Cool evenings spent around the firepit, horror movie marathons, everything and anything pumpkin flavored. It reminded me of home and it brought me comfort. I grew up on a farm. The springs were busy and the summers were long and hot. Fall always brought with it a nice respite. When I was little I would ride the tractors to the pumpkin patches and help...

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“Flashbacks” by Julia Burrow

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I stopped at the short iron gate in front of my house and gazed up at the blazing trees wondering why autumn had decided to sneak up on us this year. I swear the leaves were still emerald a week ago, but then again, that’s how long I had exiled myself from the rest of the world. During that week of isolation, my mornings had been spent with coffee that contained only honey and oat milk and poetry books filled with other people’s miseries. I thought that maybe if I read someone else’s fe...

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“The Pyro Who Denied His Nature.” by Maya Curtis

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the were on fire, because someone had set the tree that was on my lawn on fire. At the moment I was pray that the fire, which was spreading to the grass on my lawn, wouldn't make it to my house before they put it out. Currently I was standing on my neighbor's lawn waiting for the fire men to put the fire out. While they were working on putting the tree out the fire continued to spread across the lawn, but surprisingly not toward the house it was going parallel to the house. God does hear prayers. By the ...

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“The Photograph Room ” by Cat Palacios

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire with a charring sense of prosperity that comes with being self-assured, maybe self acquitted? No that's not the word. Self-defined? Wait, how can leaves be self-defined in the sense of a poem written by Mary Shelly, where the monster is eaten up by the fire of his own longing for a lost love. No, they weren't on fire. Perhaps they were thrown instead. Thrown like the words that you threw at me about my insecurities. See, I mopped up the words splattered on the w...

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“Fatima's cell phone” by Soundarya Kose

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside the leaves were on fire. The winds were blowing harder, everything had caught fire by the heat wave generated by Fatima. She was my childhood friend, her anger had power of burning everything, atleast when it was on me. For a moment I was left thinking of the reason. Was it because I copied her homework without prior permission or because bunked class without informing her? It was eight of clock and I don't think it's late, our school time is nine. Why is she yu angry? I wondered. "Era aren't coming out?", She s...

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“The Fire and the Flames” by Dakota Sims

Submitted to Contest #63

The Fire and the Flames By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I couldn’t believe my eyes at what I was looking at. As the gray smoke filled the air off in the distance was a cloud so giant it put fear into my heart. I told myself that I knew this day would come but I didn’t know it would be so soon. The cloud was in the shape of a mushroom then all the sudden this giant gust of wind had hit me. As I looked around everything flew away or disintegrated in thin air. I knew that it was a nuke but I didn’t understand h...

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“Praying for Autumn” by Emily W.

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. It was a beautiful world of glistening colors, the red, orange, and yellow hues flickering and burning bright in the chilled wind. How long had I been trapped in that dark prison, chained down in fear by the ferocious yells of anger and spite? How long had I been cornered, trembling at the beck and call of a fickle temper? Lips scarred and torn from biting them, nails bloody and raw from the same treatment, my anxieties were visible but still well hidden. Shrouded by years of practicing...

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Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)

Submissions are closed

✍️ 324 stories

“The Glowing City” by Alice Rookhuyzen [STUDENT]

“A red brandishing Sword” by Marjorie Kabwe

“Brothers and Sisters of Flame” by Michael Crone

“Flashbacks” by Julia Burrow

“The Pyro Who Denied His Nature.” by Maya Curtis

“The Photograph Room ” by Cat Palacios

“Fatima's cell phone” by Soundarya Kose

“The Fire and the Flames” by Dakota Sims

“Praying for Autumn” by Emily W.

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a coffee shop that’s just introduced a new line of autumnal drinks.

Write about a character making fall decorations out of construction paper.

Write a story from the perspective of a bird migrating for the winter.

Write about two characters going apple picking.

Contest #63

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

905

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: