These 100-word stories were selected as Honorable Mentions. Those who completed this challenge are now encouraged to share their stories in the comments section of the "June Writing Challenge."
Kiara Sharee
18 years old
Australia
Unwelcome
The winter sun was leaving shapes of light on my carpet as it danced across my room. I’d usually find this so beautiful, but not today.
“So, you’re back again? I didn’t think you’d stay away for so long.”
The words escaped my mouth in barely a whisper, but I did not even have to speak for my visitors to hear me.
My visitors did not bother to ring the doorbell, knock, or apologise for disturbing me.
I just let them in, reminding myself that I must build a wall to keep these monsters from crawling back into my mind.
Emily Kern
22
USA
Proximity
Molly sat in her 2008 Jeep in the parking lot of his apartment complex. The angel and demon on her shoulders fought valiantly, producing arguments and counters on whether she should or should not go to see him.
As she stared at his window, her hands began to shake, her fear of him slowly returning. An overwhelming pressure within her gut screamed she was too close. The backhanded comments, predatory stares, and the evil in his eyes came back to her, and she fumbled for the key. As she drove home, she whispered a prayer that he hadn’t seen her.
Samrah Fatima
17
India
Parting
When everything had turned into blood and burnt houses and inconceivable hate, and people like me were supposed to leave the land, I would wait for him in the playground—our playground, where we used to play games with rules that only the two of us understood.
He wouldn’t come to the playground.
He might have thought that we were too ‘different’: our names; the festivals we celebrated…
But how could he forget that we always celebrated our different festivals together?
We had always been different. When did we become strange?
They said my home might change.
It actually faded.
Ashley Ward
16
USA
Dear Ex-Best Friend
Dear Ex-best friend,
After we talked, I hoped for better.
But I was wrong.
Nothing I hoped came true.
here we are,
You: the stranger I once knew,
10 year-old-you is buried in the ground.
You turned them against me, you think I lost everything
but you are wrong.
The only person who lost, is you.
A real friend would stand with me through the rain,
So maybe I didn’t really lose a thing,
And I am free.
—your loss
For a moment, the envelope balanced in her hand.
Three heartbeats later,
She lit a match, and watched it burn.