These entries from January's challenge were selected as Honorable Mentions. Those who completed  this challenge are now encouraged to share their stories in the comments section of the "January Writing Challenge."

Georgia M.
15
UK

I stared at her.

I stared at him.

There is a wall between us, a wall of distrust, a wall of despair, but hope lingers. It is what’s making the wall crumble.

I built a wall between us, but it is slowly crumbling. He is a wrecking ball and I can’t protect myself any longer

I love her.

I think i might love him.

Love, it eats away at the darkness and fills us with light.

Love, it makes the darkness shrink for a little while, but eventually the darkness returns and it is bigger than before.

Love starves the darkness.

Love feeds the darkness.

I love her.

I think I might love him, and it terrifies me.

.

.

.

Holly
12
Australia

Haidyn

Lost for words, the pair studied one another. Xavier looked almost identical to how he did when he was younger, just much taller, and now he wore glasses. Same hair, same eyes, same fashion sense, same attitude, same Xavier. Haidyn was different. She had dyed her hair platinum blonde and had had it straightened, as opposed to her previously bushy, auburn hair. Her eyes were brighter and her teeth. She was bold in her fashion statement, socks and sandals as well as accessorizing with sunnies on the most overcast morning of the winter so far. Overall, Haidyn looked happier. Happier than she had been when Xavier had been close to her.

Back in the summer of ’05, Xavier and Haidyn had met in one of the most unlikely of places, an old abandoned house. They were around 13 years old when they met. Haidyn was new to the area and had wanted to explore. Xavier had seen her around town, and his first thought was that she was cute, her face covered in freckles, surrounded by a mane of her own hair. It wasn’t his fault that they ‘happened’ to run into each other at the said house.

After that, they talked to each other all day everyday over social media. It wasn’t ’til the end of summer when they realised that they were both attending the same high school that year, and it wasn’t until the first day back, that afternoon, that they realised they had the exact same route home, that they lived in the same building. That Xavier lived directly above Haidyn.

After that day, they were inseparable. The most amazing of friends. Xavier thought she was perfect. Each day they were together, Xavier believed that they were becoming, well, together. More than friends. But obviously, Haidyn just couldn’t, wouldn’t, see it through his eyes. She had a perfect boyfriend, Declan Martinez, and she never thought any less of him. Yet one day their continual, undying love just, died. It’s a mystery to everyone what happened, how it happened. A mystery to everyone except Xavier. Haidyn couldn’t keep her mouth shut to him about Declan’s lying, cheating butt. Xavier continually tried to convince her that there would be someone else out there, someone else perfect for her. Someone just like Xavier. But Haidyn had assured herself that she wasn’t good enough for anyone. Not good enough for Declan, not good enough for Xavier, not good enough for herself. Not good enough, full stop.

After that, they’d just stopped talking, no matter how much it killed Xavier inside. There was no convincing Haidyn she had a purpose. That she was put on this earth to be with Xavier. One day after that horrid discovery, Haidyn spontaneously moved away, Away from the drama in her life, from Declan, from him. Every day it killed Xavier to be away from her. He could still hear Haidyn’s light footsteps creeping up the fire escape to come talk to him. Sometimes they just sat there together, not uttering a word, just enjoying each other’s presence, being thankful for each other. Sometimes they’d rave about how their English teacher had assigned them too much homework. And sometimes, quite regularly, they would talk about their future. Their plans, dreams, goals, aspirations. But they never talked about their future apart. And maybe they didn’t have to.

For even if they had had a falling out, here she was. His definition of perfect standing right in front of him, pinning him in place with her murky, hazel eyes. He wouldn’t accept this as a slight coincidence. Not a chance. This was his fate. Their fate. Nothing would go wrong this time, not one thing. All he had to do was speak to her.

“Haidyn…”

 

 

 

Ishani R.
14
USA

Memories

He’s staring at me. He’s staring with the same soft, hazel eyes that stared at me on the playground in the fifth grade.

She’s staring at me. She’s staring right back at me, with those exuberant brown eyes that shyly met mine in the fifth grade, on the playground.

10 years. It’d been ten years since they’d spoken to each other. No calls, no texts, no emails, no old-school letters. Just silence. Pure silence that allowed them to delve deeper into the world. It allowed them to explore every crevice of the earth, see every star in the sky. But… while out on their respective adventures, they soon realized that they were looking for each other. And suddenly, it was a race to see who found the other first.

Today, they met. They found each other at the same time and they stopped. They searched each other’s eyes for the same flame that burned 10 years ago. After a while of staring each other down, the girl’s heart broke. The tiny flame she thought she saw was just a reflection of how big and bright her own flame was. A small tear escaped both of their eyes. He offered her a half-hearted smile as she turned and walked away.

“Our memories are always within reach,” he called out to her.

“Memories are just pieces of a whole. My time is not worth part of a whole. And neither is yours.”

She walked away.

And he didn’t go after her.