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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 Teens on Oct 28, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 388 stories

“My Map ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #39

Trigger warning: slavery, sexual assault My map hangs above me, a cloud of glittering dots in the sky. The familiar constellations tell me where I must go.  Breath coming in ragged gasps I run away from the only home I’ve ever known. Unlike Mother, I wasn’t taken from our native land across the sea. Unlike her, I’ve never tasted the freedom she missed so dearly.  All I’ve ever known was this farm and the abuse held therein. But I’ve been told stories of freedom, and now I will run.    Every night as we lay together, Mothe...

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“Leaving” by Bill VanPatten

Submitted to Contest #39

He adjusts the focus with the hint of a twist, squinting into the eyepiece. “You’re right,” he says, “that’s Jupiter, not a star.” I want to say, “I told you so.” Instead, I look at the black inkiness above, perforated with the tiniest of diamonds, and I know that some are stars, some are planets, and some are galaxies. I could name many of them for him, but I don’t. He would just think I’m showing off. And I probably would be. I zip up my hoodie, glad I layered before we left the house. I don’t know if there is a real chill in the air or if...

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“Knightfall” by Rachel Hudson

Submitted to Contest #39

Jina stood at the end of the balcony. A breeze swept her long, chocolate-colored hair across her shoulders and tugged at her gown. She clutched the ends of her sleeves and gazed up into the night sky as her eyes brimmed with tears. The stars above blurred together and melted away as she drew in a shaky breath.               “Is anyone out there?” she whispered into the night. “Is there anyone who can help me? I don’t know what to do.”     &nbs...

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“Promised Together” by S S

Submitted to Contest #39

Beneath a spray of constellations, we first met as silhouettes. We were children screaming at the presence of the other and in our guilt of trespassing, we tripped over nothing. Our pixelated shadows were indistinguishable. We scampered along the grassy mountaintops, where there were massive holes to the cavernous town below. Your feet were well practiced on slopes and cliffsides, but my library limbs caused me to tumble along the rocks. I lost my balance and fell into a hole. I didn't know we had a farm until then.  Our town was carved...

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“The Beginning : Story of ADVEKA” by Gjdhfvjkjvkl Ndhbvjdc

Submitted to Contest #39

One enchanting night, a girl watching the dark sky full of glittering stars and half moon, reminds her of something happened in past times and she spoke in a soft low voice, "this is a beginning".It all started in older days, a static child was born in an ordinary world at night and her life becomes very peculiar as she grows up. Eventually, she went to school for first time and noticed profusion of things. Her infancy goes on and her heed to know things expanded, she observed the world in a different way which makes her very odd in the swar...

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“Diamonds” by Emma Lin

Submitted to Contest #39

He was glazing at the night diamonds with longing after plucking petals off of a sunflower.Next morning, the boy mustered the courage to confront the next door neighbor girl carrying her favorite flowers: lavenders and sunflowers tie with a wheat string. He slyly handed the mini-bouquet, which the girl looked at with bewilderment.“Those are for you,” the boy said, looking at the ground. “I picked those fresh in the morning.”Mother Earth knew the boy has a strong liking to the girl and made sure to grow an abundant of flowers for the boy to s...

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“Even the Stars smile! ” by EMMANUEL UMANAH

Submitted to Contest #39

She stood straight staring at the stars, when I found her last night. Our home had become so dark with artificial lights that she longed for a natural one. And since there was no moonlight, the stars were the only flames in her universe.She had always told me that, the beauty of real things was independent on their distance, but unreal things, even in their proximity, were never felt. I could perceive that she must have dreamt even without sleeping: there was an unreal light in the house!Lucy has always been the best woman in my life and She...

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“Andy” by Loretta Schiavo Smith

Submitted to Contest #39

AndyBy: Loretta Schiavo Smith I was born under the Virgo constellation which contains Spica, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. My parents considered naming me Spica but decided it better suited our Golden Retriever. Instead, they named me Andromeda, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way; not because they appreciated myths, but because Andromeda was my mother’s focus of study at the time. Physics was my parents’ access to the universe. For me, the stars led to Vincent and Anne.       &n...

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“Dots” by Jackson Brown

Submitted to Contest #39

Mama?Yes, my child?What are those dots up in the sky?Those are the stars, Iyabo.What are they made of?They are made of our people. When someone dies, they go up into heaven and become a guardian.How many are there?Only God knows, my child. Too many to number, too many to know.But do you?Do I…?Do you know them?A few of them, yes.Which ones?See that one, right between that cloud and the moon?Yes, mama?That is your great-uncle Abioye. He was a mighty warrior. He won many of our wars for us, and he gave his life for the honor of our people.What ...

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“Sirius” by Melody Lovelight

Submitted to Contest #39

It’s late in the park tonight, only a few individuals left meandering through the concrete pathways. The night is cold and peaceful, and Lulu is most calm on their evening walks at this time. Sky is used to it by now, almost prefers it.Well, usually. Tonight, she barks loudly and sprints forward, enough force to pull her leash out of his hands. He stumbles as she runs away. She always stays by his side whenever they walk, so he hesitates for one, two seconds before chasing after her.“Lulu!” He calls as she races into the grass field. There i...

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“The Balcony” by Johnna Rich

Submitted to Contest #39

Wind silences as the white candle accompanies me onto the balcony in the city starlight. With a small creak, the door lightly taps to close the barrier of inside and out. I light the candle and sit it on the ground.   “I just was telling you,” talking to the visible stars in the city skylight, “about my date with him, I just got home and I think I found the love you and grandma had.”   My grandfather on my mom’s side passed last year. He’d been with my grandma since they were fourteen years of age and marri...

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“A Cold Play” by Juan Carlo Rodríguez

Submitted to Contest #39

-Look at the stars... They’re shining bright for you...-That’s a little on the nose, Strickland.-Sorry. Old habit.I had always thought Herbert was more Slipknot than Coldplay. Go figure. We were lying in what I thought was an old shopping mall parking lot, next to an old van and a pickup that seemed caught in the middle of mating. It was a perfect summer sky, no clouds, no moon. So I could basically reach out and grab a fistful of stars if I had that cosmic power. I had only seen a sky this perfect once, in the mountains of Venezuela. Right ...

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“This Is A Story About You” by Amanda Newson

Submitted to Contest #39

This is a story about you. You are glad, you’ve always wanted a story to be written about you. You have often wondered what it would be written like, how your story would go, how you would be portrayed, and most of all, if you survived. This story starts with you looking out of your window at the stars. They are bright, glowing endlessly in the peacock navy of the sky. You have often wondered why people say the sky at night is black, when it is not really black at all. But there you sit, wistfully, arms crossed over the stone windowsill of y...

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“Gaze Upon a Star Tonight” by Sydney Jeon

Submitted to Contest #39

I gaze upon the silver stars that joined me tonight. I am with my family. Johnathan, Mary, Carl, Carlos, Lillian, Luna, Felice, Molly, Olivia, Simon, Jackson, Callie, Sophia, Coral, mother, father, and me. My name is Juliet and I love gazing upon the stars every night. I enjoy doing this very much. Every night we make sure that there is fine weather before laying down and endlessly staring at the beautiful, silver stars, who stare right back, until we stare so long, that heavy stones attempt to make us sleep outside and we say our good-byes ...

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“A Starry Night” by Adewumi Adewale

Submitted to Contest #39

It was a starry night. Larry laid on his back on a flat rock at his backyard. He was looking up at the stars. The sounds of the city was faraway. Chirping of the crickets and beetles were all around him. The night was full of insects calling on their mating mates. Yet, all seemed silent of all city noises. His gaze was on the stars. He was having a feeling that Jane, his wife was laying beside him. It was a week now that Jane had passed away. Corona virus had claimed her life. She used to lie down on this flat rock with him to watch the star...

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