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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone fighting to change their city neighborhood for the better.

Posted in Teens on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 44 stories

“Hard Times in The Big Easy” by Dr Stafford

Submitted to Contest #85

Hard Times in The Big Easy I needed a beer. I needed a smoke. I needed a good-luck broad to blow on the dice. A week in the solitary confinement of one’s soul staring at a blank screen, typing, then hitting erase – delete, slamming the case shut, and walking away only to come back to the same blank screen – the same thoughts forming from words in your mind – knowing that once you put those words out and hit the big send button they can’t be taken back. Lives will change, the perception of paragons will shift… What I had was...

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“Watertank” by HBR Patel

Submitted to Contest #85

Tim saw the blue and red light flashing from a distance.  He shouted, 'Patrol Car, Ron.' Hearing this, Ron hid behind the railings of the top of the water tank of the town. Tim hid behind the concrete fence walls around that water tank. The police siren murdered the silence of the night. The intensity of sound was increasing, and as the car passed by the water tank, the siren sound began to decrease.  Suddenly, the car stopped, and the policeman reversed the vehicle to park in front of the water tank. 'He definitely saw us,' though...

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“Planner POV” by Devon Flynn

Submitted to Contest #85

       John hated the coffee. It was the same everywhere else, the same routine – coffee, two sugars, one cream, talk, bullshit, break, platter of fruit for snack, presentation, graph, bored, lunch, more talk, another graph, some charts, break, talk, end.              He didn’t expect to attend so many meetings when he decided to be an environmental planner. He wanted a career that reflected those concise and inspirational summaries ...

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“Change on the horizon” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #85

The City Hall meeting had been long in preparation and short on funding. But there was no alternative once Zviko had thrown her hat into the ring, rallied by well-wishers, who were unsurprisingly mainly family members. She could make a difference, the township daughter who wanted to give back to her community.Zviko had won a bursary for further education in a prestigious college, away from the slums. The long commute to her new school in the upmarket northern suburbs became an issue, negotiating public transport in the unrelenting early morn...

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“"Fighting for a change" by Ye Wint Aung” by Ye Wint Aung

Submitted to Contest #85

In every country, humans need electricity for machines and stuff we use every day. We can get electricity from generators which use water and air as fuel. Many people try to find new ways to generate electricity. The electricity services are all around the globe. People make and use wind turbines mostly because air is everywhere. Some people use water too, and some make dams to trap the water. Making dams and trapping water is a bad thing if you ask anyone. If you cut the river with a dam, the river won’t flow into the ocean or give the la...

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“FIVE BUCKS PROMISE” by Bui Buiii

Submitted to Contest #85

FIVE BUCKS PROMISE His head was too big for his body. His big hollow eyes stark and his cheekbones tight against his dusty pale skin. Crouched on the ground covered with yellow dust, this 10-year-old waited for the puppy to crawl out from under the low raised platform of his neighbor’s home. He smiled as he watched the puppy eat the gravel. How fun it would be to let it fight with the puppies of the other kids on the ground he thought. He was pretty sure his would wallop the daylight out of every other. “Looking for dust?” Bailey said. He l...

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“Knifes Are Sharp” by KENNEDY PLANT

Submitted to Contest #85

The schools here are disturbing. Crime and gangs everywhere, and I swear these teachers did not go to the proper schooling to actually teach us. From the ages two to three I lived in a big city, but I hardly remember anything. Although, I do remember the distinct smell of hot dogs and urine in the streets. But, here I am again, at the age of thirteen, in a city. Me and my family lived in a town, not a small town, but definitely not a city. After my parents divorced, which was quite recently, around two years, we moved back here again. My pa...

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“What a mess! ” by Abraham Bashaija

Submitted to Contest #85

"Swoosh, swoosh," I was once again awakened by the sound of cruising cars. I should have got used to it, but that is not how the human body works. My building stands in downtown Kampala, at the literal edge of civilization. On one side are flats, housing people a lot like me. On the other is perhaps the world's thickest slum. House upon house, tiny roads winding through. The air feels different there. Whilst the people are warm and the children are jolly, one gets the feeling that they are not safe when coursing though this part of "town." S...

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“New Generations” by Sam Ackman

Submitted to Contest #85

“Where are you going, kiddo?” “I’m going out,” Sadie replied. “I have that project.” “Didn’t you do that last night?” “It’s for two weeks, I’m only on night three.” “The neighborhood won’t thank you for your troubles.  Garbage grows in this part of town; pick some up and more just pops up in its place.” Sadie lifted an eyebrow, “It must come from somewhere.  It’s people who make garbage.” “Well aren’t you smart for a ten year old,” she smirked. “You’d think my big sister would know more,” Sadie grinned back Sadie pulled on her coat...

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“Broken Bonds” by Hailey Dixon

Submitted to Contest #85

The scorching sun drew out the energy from the small group of nefisians training beneath the sagging, blue, willow tree. A boy, appearing around the age of 14, was leading them. His tunic matching the color of the green grass beneath their feet. It was strange, though. They are called The Elite but yet none of them have noticed the shadowy, black-cloaked figure in the tree. Not even the dark mist emanating off the cloak was noticed. As the members of the Elite drew their training to a close, the shadowy figure dropped from the branches of th...

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“The Point of the Ruse” by Utsav Nag Mandal

Submitted to Contest #85

"You dirty drug mule. Running a community center in the name of social service but furthering your own little selfish agenda by selling strong drugs like LSD to kids! Typical slum-dweller!” the brutal police officer yelled at 17-year old Coleman. Queens was never a good place to be born in, especially not in the early 2000s, the unfortunate time of birth of Coleman. Coleman was a lovely young teenage boy with excruciatingly cute looks. He had a chiseled face and a lovely prominent jawline, beautiful as if hand-drawn eyebrows and lovely super...

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“The Change” by Joy Toku

Submitted to Contest #85

Growing up as a child, I knew only two people in my neighborhood. The one directly opposite my house and the one directly by my house. It has been long, and I don’t seem to remember how they look. However, I know that they both were very tall. The highest conversation I ever had with them was “HELLO” and if not hello, then a wave. One day when walking around the neighborhood with my family, we met two elderly couples who turns out to have been living in the neighborhood for about 25 years. We were all surprised to learn about how long the...

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“Getting By” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #85

I noticed something different today. Perhaps more unusual than different, I see this guy walking by here towards the river, always comin after this mangy looking dog goes by. Didn’t think much of it the first time, but like most things when something keeps happening you get the hint that you maybe should be paying attention.  I like to sit on the porch and keep an eye on the street so as it don’t get any funny ideas, like pot holes and such. Not that they bother me much more than the taxes do. Don’t drive anymore.&nb...

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“The Overnight Parking Ban” by Drew Winston

Submitted to Contest #85

Melanie lived in a small apartment building on Whitlow Street. The first time Lauren arrived to stay over at Melanie’s house it was a Saturday afternoon. She parallel parked between two other cars. She didn’t give much thought to where she would park. She was too enchanted by the new relationship. The next morning, Lauren found a fifty dollar parking ticket for overnight parking. The ticket confused her because didn’t know she couldn't park overnight. She looked around and saw that all the other cars on the street had tickets too. ...

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“Bullets Formed from Tears” by Alexis Juran

Submitted to Contest #85

The cries of people meeting their deaths are everywhere. Seth hears it no matter which way he turns. Smoke is thick in the air, the rubble of old buildings and bullet shells littering the ground. It’s pure and utter chaos, screaming and fighting and shooting and death. The city of Perlshaw has turned into a bloodbath.  It wasn’t always like this. The city didn’t use to be a symbol of tears and tombstones, but now, that’s exactly what it is. A graveyard.  Seth trips over his black, chunky combat boots. Sure, sometimes they make hi...

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🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a major city that your character has a love-hate relationship with.

Middle School – 153 stories

Write a story that takes place in the same building but in two very different time periods.

Historical Fiction – 154 stories

Start your story with the line, “That’s the thing about this city…”

Adults – 283 stories

Write about someone fighting to keep their city neighborhood the same.

Teens – 34 stories

Contest #85

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