2021-2022 School Year: Week 1

8/16/2021

Prompt:
This quote from Nietzsche is about cultivating purpose and its transformative power. Tell a story about a character who changes his or her story not by changing their circumstances but by changing how they perceive those circumstances.

Word Count:
120-150 words

Submissions:
-Leave your response in the comments section. If you are interested in reading past submissions, you can find the stories there as well.

Expectations:
-Remember that you are writing for the King's Academy community. Please be respectful of that community.
-Respect the word count
-Your work should have a title--this is not part of your word count.
-Include your full name and word count at the end of your submission.
-Have fun with this challenge.

Deadline:
22:00 Tuesday, September 21st

Photo Source:
http://www.simplethingcalledlife.com/success/live-can-bear-almost/

12 Comments

Tala Hajjiri link

9/16/2021 04:39:39 am

The Unknown Hero

“Would you leave me alone you Hunter!” Screamed a girl named Cristina to her Shepherd “I need to go to college you will make me late!” Cristina says before shutting the door in front of Hunter, Hunter goes to the widow and looks at the house in front of Christina's house he sees some of dangerous object pointing at cristina, Hunter rushes to the front door and opens it, hunter rushes to Cristinas front door, and taps on it Cristina gets out of the car and hunter grabs on Cristinas pants leading her inside the house “Leave me alone! I will be late!” Cristina says pushing Hunter, Hunter barks several times, it goes silent, before a gunshot hits their kitchen wall, barely missing Cristina, Hunter drags Cristina to the back door, Cristina and Hunter run and Cristina holds Hunter and both jump the fence and run safely.

Christopher Pultz

9/21/2021 11:09:37 pm

Tala,
Thank you for this. Sometimes we are not fully aware of what's important in a given situation, and sometimes we need the Hunters of the world to drag us to safety. Thank you for sharing this.

Mar

9/19/2021 01:14:19 am

The first violin began to play the first notes. And so as the others joined him, the piece began to come into focus, galloping around the room and surrounding me with a steady precision. I became transfixed by him, his back like a plank as he rooted himself to the chair. His hand guided the bow, steady even as his other hand tickled the strings. The violin seemed to protrude from his neck like a branch from a deep mahogany trunk. His eyes pierced the paper as they furrowed in concentration. He seemed utterly destroyed by his music, crumbling under the weight of the G notes only to be reborn seconds later by the light tone of the sharp A’s. Oh to find beauty in what one has created, to be utterly humbled and uplifted by it. To find beauty not through observation but through creation.

Mar

9/19/2021 04:09:53 am

I accidently published the earlier version , this is the fully finished one.

Mar

9/19/2021 04:08:11 am

The lights went down and the world seemed to come to a standstill. Like a knife through butter the first notes began to cut through the silence. The first violin led the rest as they became one crescendoing sound. I became transfixed by him, his back like a plank as he rooted himself to the chair. His hand guided the bow, steady even as his other hand tickled the strings. The violin seemed to protrude from his neck like a branch from a deep mahogany trunk. His eyes pierced the note paper as they furrowed in concentration. He seemed utterly blown by his music, crumbling under the weight of the G notes only to be reborn seconds later by the light tone of the sharp A’s. Oh to find love in what one has created, to be utterly humbled and uplifted by it. To find beauty not through observation but through creation.

Christopher Pultz

9/21/2021 11:15:36 pm

Mar,
Thank you for your submission. A musician has the ability to change his or her circumstances simply by changing the note. This was a lovely and graceful take on the prompt. It reminded me of one of my favorite pieces by a Hungarian author Istvan Orkeny. The story is "Thoughts from the Cellar. " You can check it out here:

https://www.magyarulbabelben.net/works/hu/%C3%96rk%C3%A9ny_Istv%C3%A1n-1912/Gondolatok_a_pinc%C3%A9ben/en?interfaceLang=en

Congratulations on being this week's winner.

Zaid Khleif

9/21/2021 02:13:16 am

The Alien Invasion

The next day was the alien invasion and Kratos didn’t have time to prepare, he trained overnight. He was very stressed but, while he was rambling to himself his friend came and calmed him down. They started thinking of ways to stop the attack and then it him, Kratos thought if he could fly up and stop the source, he could stop the invasion. Before the invasion started, he went up and found the mothership, he went back down and called his friend to come help him take down the aliens before the invasion. After half an hour they found an entrance, they started slaying the helpless aliens, many of them were able to flee but Kratos’ friend was very fast, so he went to the aliens and slayed them, Kratos and his friend went back down to Earth safe and sound and the invasion didn’t happen.

Zaid Khleif,

150 Words.

Natasha Bazadough

9/21/2021 02:15:01 am

Her Burning Heart

She was the nerd, the coward, the loser. She had a heart of gold and had the brightest smile even in the darkest times possible, she had the power of destruction; fire. She was an outcast for being so powerful and although she never used it, they saw her as nothing but pure destruction but yet she was always the main target of bullying.

She was too pure to hold a grudge on anybody for letting her down, right?

She wasn't.

3 kingdoms burned to ash. And because of the cause of her hurting heart, millions of people perished.

She's only 19 and her heart is against the world.

After all, they’re all filthy people, why would she ever listen to any of them anyway?

Mohammad

9/21/2021 02:25:47 am

Title: Learning English at King’s Academy

Hello, my name is Muhammad Elayyan

Before I came to King’s Academy, I had a difficult relationship with talking in English. Then I changed my thinking for the better, so I said to myself why I do not know how to speak English and learn other words in English. I can memorize English songs in order to be diligent and set an example. For those who want to learn English so that I can talk to people and teach them terms in English, and be an assistant to my brothers in the future. But Iearned that it is not impossible. When I entered Kings Academy, I started to learn English and about new cultures. Now I am getting better everyday.

Aysen Koprulu

9/21/2021 02:29:18 am

Changing Lives

Sam always tried to stay strong and become a doctor to heal sick people, but she couldn’t succeed. Sam needed money to get the supplies that she needs to succeed. She studied all day, but that wasn’t enough. Sam gave up on her dream until one day she met Elly Mario on the street, who gave Sam all the money in her wallet, under one condition: when Sam gets on her feet, she’ll help someone in need. Sam listened to Elly and finally achieved her goal. One day Sam checked the foreclosure listings, she saw a name that she would never forget. Elly Mario, a name that changed her life. Elly was getting evicted from her home, and Sam helped her and told her an important lesson she learned from her. We should help people in need because when we give, we always get more in return.

Marah Mu'men

9/21/2021 05:47:10 am

Micro - Flash Fiction Competition Entry:

Look at the bright side
She quietly sobbed while staring at the abyss, a lifetime of work destroyed within seconds, countless nights of laughter evaporated into thin air.
Ruby spent endless days weeping and hoping for her old life to return, but deep down she knew nothing would be the same.
One night, Ruby had a vision, she skimmed through a flashback of events from when she was young and she remembered what her mother would always say: “Stop moping and start working, a better tomorrow will only come when you want it hard enough.” The next day she woke up with a surge of energetic determination, willpower and most of all purpose. She realized the opportunity she had. Ruby remembered how her town was vague and unaccepting, she now knew that she could rebuild it to be a loving, accepting community she’d dreamt of.
Remember when one door closes, another opens; don’t reject that.

150 words
Marah Mu’men

Christopher Pultz

9/22/2021 05:42:50 am

Thank you to all of this week's contributors. In order to keep the competition moving from week to week, we have to be strict with the weekly deadline. As a result, stories submitted after the deadline were not eligible to be this week's winner. I did enjoy each take on the story, and we look forward to seeing more work from you in the future. Keep writing.

Try Out Your Words