Welcome to the final week of the Spring Writing Challenge!
It’s the final week! This has been such a fun challenge. You’ve all done so well with your stories. There are so many interesting and unique ways you have taken the prompt. It’s now time for the final week, so let’s do this one last time! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.
So, without further ado, here’s your final prompt!
Week Six Prompt – The Character Prompt
Write a story about a character that experiences a rebirth
Wait…what’s a character prompt?
A character prompt is a prompt that’s about a specific character. It doesn’t matter where your story takes place or what’s said. What matters is that your story must be about a character who experiences a rebirth.
Before you start writing, we have some important rules for you to follow.
Writing Rules
1. Please keep the content of the stories you post to a PG rating. Please avoid real curse words. Violence/fighting should be limited and purposeful. Please do not include any spice.
2. Your story must be 1,000 words or less, and must contain the prompt to be counted for the challenge. You’re not required to post it in order to “win” the challenge, but if you want it to count for your team, your story must be posted by Sunday at 11:59 PM ET, and you must include your team name.
Remember to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and post your story as an “answer” to this question, not a “comment”. 🙂 You’re all doing such a great job! I’m so proud of all the stories you’ve posted.
Happy Writing!
We’re so glad that you participated Juli! 🙂
ETA: Team A
I really had to cut a lot to fit this in under 1,000 words. I’m not sure if it is even understandable :/
Zee’s Return
by Michele Lieske
“Welcome to the city of Hevel, the land of freedom!”
Dressed in rags, gray-skin dull, pointed ears sagging, eight-year-old Zee huddled in a crevice of broken brick between two run-down buildings as she remembered the voice from right after she was snatched. She had gone against the rules, shieldless, and opened the gate on Alphega when the tall man begged her. The next thing she knew, she was in that dark room on Hevel. Her first memories of Hevel were the dark, especially in comparison to Alphega where everything was brightly lit, both buildings and carriages made of colored glass and crystal. The walls of the Hevel room she had been taken to were black with tiny windows hardly letting in any light. Zee wrinkled her nose at the memory of the stench of old trash, rotting food, and sweat.
“Here you can do whatever you want, no one is allowed to make you do anything!”
No more chores or bedtimes? That sounded good to Zee and she had smiled up at the man, following him out the door.
Now she shivered in the cold. Hevel no longer stunk as she had long adjusted to the smell. The darkness was normal, even in the daytime, with the haze that permeated the city. Zee thought about Alphega as she jumped out and snatched bread from a smaller kid walking by. She never would have done that there. She liked doing whatever she wanted. Or at least she had at first. She’d lost track of how much time she’d been here, but her clothes were now rags and her stomach grumbled even after wolfing down the stolen bread. She shivered as she scanned the shoddy apartment buildings on either side of her little crevice shelter. She had tried to commandeer one of the apartments but found she was no match for the adults and learned the hard way what would happen anytime she tried.
At least the light doesn’t burn my eyes here and no one tells me what to do. Zee tried to cheer herself up. It was no use. Tired of fighting for everything, shivering, hungry, and cold, Zee squeezed into her crevice between the two buildings.
Here I’m free. Zee bitterly repeated to herself as she sank into despair. I’m only miserable because Alphega won’t share. She remembered her lessons from when she first arrived. Alphega had all sorts of resources but wouldn’t share with Hevel unless it, too, restricted freedoms and followed Alphega’s laws, like submitting to the king and not stealing, and other restrictions Zee couldn’t remember. Hevel refused and so Hevel suffered. I hate Alphega and it’s king. Zee thought as she drifted to sleep despite her shivers.
A commotion on the streets woke Zee. That wasn’t unusual but this commotion was. Zee peeked out and saw two women and a man dressed in shining clothes, carrying the swords of the king and the uniform of his Tsaba. What are they doing in Hevel? Zee wondered. Looking closely she saw that they weren’t even Alphegean. Their skin wasn’t gray and their ears rounded instead of pointed. The oldest of the trio, a woman, made eye contact with Zee and walked over to her. Crouching down, the woman held out her hand,
“Zee?” she asked.
Zee didn’t speak, only eyed her warily. The man, no boy, he was younger than both women, also crouched down by her.
“Zee, we’ve been looking for you. The king loves you very much and has sent us to rescue you.”
“I don’t need rescue!”
“You look hungry and you need new clothes. I think you need a rescue,” the boy-man smiled.
“I don’t want your restrictions! If Alphega wouldn’t hog the resources, we’d be fine.”
“Honey, Alphega doesn’t hog resources” the woman spoke.
“Then why do we lack?” Zee asked defiantly.
“The resources come from the king himself. If you reject the king, you reject all of him, including the resources he provides.”
Zee furrowed her brows. That actually made sense.
“Why are Alphegeans locked in then?”
“They aren’t locked in, the gate is to keep the evil rulers of Hevel out. You were inside Alphega and opened the door remember? Nachash wasn’t able to open the door from the outside. When you opened the door to him, he took you. Are you able to leave Hevel?”
Zee’s mind whirled as she followed the three to the only path in and out of Hevel. Arriving at the path between two decrepit buildings, Zee found she could not pass. Something prevented her from leaving.
“Which city prevents its citizens from leaving?” the younger woman asked as Zee struggled to enter the path.
Zee’s eyes were opening. She had believed a lie and now she was helpless, stuck. The younger woman reached out her hand and took Zee’s. The older woman and the young man unsheathed their swords and started swinging them at something Zee could not see. As they made their way through the path, the younger woman tugged Zee’s hand and led her through. Zee could move freely when led by this young woman. Eventually they reached the other side and journeyed across the dessert to the gate she had foolishly opened all that time ago. An older man, dressed like her three escorts, rushed out with a shield in his hands.
“Your parents have given permission for us to give you the king’s shield” he said with obvious joy on his face.
Zee held still as he lifted the shimmering shield and placed it on her.
“Zee, bear this shield, commissioned by the king, forged by the prince, and delivered by the courier, now yours.”
The shield shimmered and whispered to her of the king’s love for her. Even as they all entered Alphega and she was reunited with her parents, she heard the shield telling her of the king’s love and the prince’s great deeds on her behalf. She felt like a new person. She felt reborn.
This is very interesting. Thank you!
When the new prompt arrive, my first thought is, Oh no! What am I going to write to make that work? But the Holy Spirit ALWAYS shows up and I get an idea every time. It amazes me. Thanks for a thought provoking six weeks.