Welcome to Week Three! Can you believe we’re at the halfway mark for the challenge?
You all did so well with your stories last week! There were so many interesting and unique ways you interpreted the prompt. It’s now the third week, so it’s time to do it again! Will your story have aliens? Zombies? Maybe it’ll have a dragon in it! Whatever you decide, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.
So, without further ado, here’s your next prompt!
Week Three Prompt – The Starting Sentence Prompt
Write a story that starts with the
following sentence: So this is what drowning feels like.
Wait…what’s a “Starting Sentence” prompt?
A sentence prompt is a prompt that uses a particular sentence. It doesn’t matter where your story takes place, who’s in it, or what’s said. The only thing that matters is that your story must start with this sentence: So this is what drowning feels like.
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!
Will you notice if someone is like 1-25 words over the 1000 word limit (asking for a friend hahaha)
what if i accidently posted my story as a comment last week lol? does it still count?
Hey Izzy and Ava,
If you accidentally post your story as a comment instead of an answer, you should get an email to alert you! It will still count for points for your team, but no one will be able to vote for it.
And, to answer your question for your friend 😉 As far as word count, for your story to count for the challenge, it does need to be 1,000 words or under. Great questions!
Team A (Herbert)
Watery Betrayal
So this is what drowning feels like.
Blaze sunk into the green-grey jaws of the ocean depths, a firestorm of burning metal all around her. She stared, unpanicked, at the city’s reflection, bent and warped above her, an inferno of chaos. The briefest moment ago, she’d been standing on one of those round docking bay platforms, dodging the plasma fire pinging off their ship, and guiding her comrades to safe positions to shield themselves.
And then he’d showed up. Kalen. His red cloak whipping around him in the fierce wind. His plasma sword already drawn and held to the side, waiting for its master to choose the next target. His eyes not choosing Blaze.
And death had whispered in her ear.
Blaze’s chest burned, from both lack of oxygen and from the memory. She gritted her teeth and screamed. . . the burst of air bubbling violently from between her lips. . .
Kalen had locked his dark gaze on Kimi, Blaze’s youngest comrad. A war-hardened teenager who somehow always managed to see the light at the edge of endless space. A child who had lost everything and knew she couldn’t have it back but still told her team every day, “We got this.” And it was that girl who Kalen had walked toward, through smoke, through ash, through flame. To twist a knife only a brother can twist.
And for the third time in her life, Blaze’s world had collapsed.
Her vision spotted. She couldn’t breathe. This was her time. God was merciful to let her go now.
A memory bubbled up from the dark recesses of her mind. She was eight. Standing outside the perimeter of the pandemic zone, waiting for the woman in gray–a stranger–to take them to their closest living kin. An uncle she’d never heard of on a distant metropolitan planet. That day was the first time her world had crumbled. Kalen had taken her sweaty hand in his and said, “We’re gonna make it. We’re smarter than those grownups think we are. Someday we’ll get a ship, and we’ll go where we want and live with whoever we want. Just grow up with me first.”
She’d given his small hand a weak squeeze and, trusting him beyond reason, had said, “I’ll grow up with you if you don’t get sick. No dying, okay? You’ll stay with me, Kal?”
He’d nodded. Apparently trusting himself beyond reality. “We’ll be like Uncle’s boat, always anchored to the same seabed, but we can still go somewhere else if we want to. We just gotta grow up first, Blaze. That’s all. We just gotta grow up.”
Blaze’s eyes burned with tears. She hadn’t even known it was possible to cry when underwater. That little boy. . . her only anchor in a collapsing stable environment. . . the one who had never minded holding her sweaty hand. . . he’d burned all the goodness out of her life. But a new surge of determination suddenly coursed through her. Because there was one thing left he hadn’t destroyed. He’d failed to dissolve the Clue, the organization she’d built up since she was a teenager. The Clue still lived on in pockets across the span of the star system, trying to fight off the evil reigning terror through Kalen and his conspirators.
And they needed Blaze’s help.
Newfound determination spurred her arms into action. She clawed at the water above, her legs kicking with fierceness. Death would not claim her yet. Her lungs burned with building pressure, her chest tight with pain as she fought upward through the green-gray water.
A shredded drone’s blue eye-piece flickered several times before giving up. A sheet of scorched metal slammed into the water above her. She sluggishly dodged it by inches, the light from above closer and closer to her outstretched arms.
Suddenly, she broke the surface. Coughing. Choking. She struggled to draw air into her lungs. She looked up at the city of smoke and falling debris. The hangar bay platforms were still intact, but several of the ships were destroyed. And on the edge of a burning tower’s skywalk stood a figure clothed in red, his shoulder length blond hair whipping in the wind.
Blaze gritted her teeth and looked at the floating chaos around her. She grabbed a broken platform and hauled herself onto it, her arms screaming in protest. Something in her side stung. Looking down, she saw blood dripping from a tear in her suit. With a groan, she dropped her head back onto the platform and stared at the gray sky.
Her heart burned with silent rage for one final confrontation with Kalen. But today, that chance was too far out of reach. They would meet again. On equal ground. And on that day, she would make sure he knew he should have killed Blaze before Kimi.
Hey team, I haven’t written anything serious in about 9 years so I’m super rusty😬. But there was a redemptive scifi story I’ve wanted to write since I was a teenager so I tried my hand at this scene. I’m a little embarrassed to post it because I’m so out of practice and have been disconnected from any writing community for so long.
Hey Revan, your break from writing certainly doesn’t show! This scene was so immersive, I’d love to see more written about Blaze and Kalen!
That means so much, Hannah! Thank you for the encouragement.
Wait so if we like accidentally post our stories as a comment here, will it count or be ignored?