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Prompt 1: A moment of unexpected kindness between two characters who are usually at odds with each other.

John looked over at Beth, the woman who made his skin crawl. He thought about moving closer to her, because he was beginning to see his breath form small puffs in front of his face. The cabin was growing increasingly cold, and there was ice on the windows. Beth, on the other hand, thought only about moving away from him. She wouldn’t warm up to him if he was the last one on the planet. She’d rather freeze, but—she wouldn’t want to leave without ever seeing her dad again. After all, she was his one and only sunshine, and who would help him decorate his Christmas tree this year? She knew he wouldn’t dare start without her.

“Let’s just get warm by sitting close to each other,” John suggested, not able to bear the pain of bending his fingers any longer.

She rolled her eyes, then smiled sarcastically. After thinking of her dad again, she threw her hands down to her sides like a toddler and said, “Fine. But don’t touch me too much.”

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Prompt 2: A character discovers a hidden talent during a challenging situation.

“The rock, it’s blocking the way!” Rufus said, trying his best to push it out of the way so he could escape.

“Is there anything on your side that you can use to move it?” his brother, Cole called from the outside.

He looked around the cave to see if anything was big enough, but the cave was empty and there was nothing but dirt around him.

Cole knew Rufus was afraid to be alone in dark places, but he also knew he would never turn down a dare. In fact, they played truth or dare more extreme than anyone else has ever played it. When one person chooses “truth” that person often has to do something horrible and then tell the truth about it despite the consequences—to the cops. The dares were worse. They were always something that caused the player to either experience PTSD or find themselves in some serious trouble. Their parents had forbidden them to ever play it again when one of their dares went too far and killed their only little sister, Sher. She was ten, and it was her first time doing one of their dares. When Sher died, Rufus swore he would never play the stupid game again, but Cole teased him, and he said yes to shut him up.

What a stupid thing to do, Rufus thought to himself as he sat on the dirt ground in the middle of the tiny cave that was getting smaller by the minute. He grabbed onto the flaps of his blue jeans that were sticking out past his skinny legs. Then he pushed his wet reddish nose into the top of his arms, which were crossed over his bent knees. His nose was red because he had been crying, thinking of his sister and fearing the same fate.

“Are you finding anything?” Cole asked, frantically kicking at the big rock that kept his younger brother captive.

Rufus ignored him. After all, it was all his fault why he was stuck there.

“Rufus? Can you hear me?” Cole called out again.

“Stupid Cole,” Rufus muttered under his breath, turning his head to look at the small row of ants that were trailing past his busted-up red and white sneakers. While looking at the ants, he noticed something strange—he could see every detail on the ants’ bodies without needing to be close up. He saw the antennas and their little feet marching onward. He could even see the small puffs of dirt swirling up under their feet as they stepped.

“How is this possible?” he asked himself aloud, standing up. Even when he stood up, he could see them as if he were down amongst them.

Then suddenly, he heard a whisper come from a deeper part of the cave behind him. This was normally the kind of thing he’d be afraid of, but for some odd reason, this time—he wasn’t.

“Go to the light,” the voice whispered.

“Light? What light?” Rufus said, walking toward the voice.

“Go to the light,” the voice whispered again, and then he felt a quick whoosh of wind pass him.

“I see no light,” he said, confused. But once he looked at the big rock that was blocking his way out again, he saw a small blue sliver of light coming from a crack in it. He slowly inched his way toward it, being careful not to step on the long trail of ants, which were still marching past.

He slowly reached his index finger up to the light, but then quickly pulled it back when he felt warmth radiating from it.

“Go to the light,” he played the whispering voice’s words over in his head as he slowly lifted his finger to try again.

“Here goes nothing,” he squeezed his eyes shut and put the tip of his finger on the blue light. After a few seconds of standing there with his eyes still shut, nothing happened.

“Well, that was a bust,” he said, removing his finger.

“Go to the light,” he heard the voice say again.

“Huh, I did that. Nothing happened!” he said, getting louder and growing frustrated because he hated small spaces. He was terrified of ever being trapped anywhere where it felt like the walls would close in on him.

“Go to the light,” the voice whispered again.

“If you say that one more time, I will—” he stopped in his tracks. His sister, Sher, was standing right in front of him.

“Sher? Is—Is that you?” he asked, stunned, but walking toward her.

“Go to the light,” she whispered, pointing behind him. He turned to look, and the little blue light had taken over the whole rock. Now the side of the rock he saw was all light.

“Wow, that—” he turned back around to Sher, but she was gone. “Was amazing, Sher.” His voice trailed off at the end of saying her name.

“Well, Sher. Either you want me with you or you want to show me something cool—so here goes.” He walked over to the light and touched it with his hand this time. As soon as he touched the warm blue light, it quickly absorbed into his hand.

“What the—” he stepped back and looked at his arm, which looked normal, then back at the rock. The light was gone, and it was just a rock again.

“That was a trip,” he said, shaking his head. He went to feel the rock again to see if it was still warm, but as soon as he went to touch it, the whole thing turned into dust.

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Prompt 3: A character finds a mysterious object that changes their life in an unexpected way

Ugh, I hate my hair. It’s so bright and yellow. That’s not me at all. I wish my parents would just let me dye it already. I want it to be black, dark like my soul.

This emo stuff is pretty cool. I should have gone goth ages ago! Emily thought to herself while looking in the mirror at her all-black outfit.

“Now I just need one more thing to make this the perfect gothic-girl-gone-bad outfit,” she said aloud, grabbing a black choker from the corner of her bright pink dresser. She put it on, admired herself once more, and then walked out of her room with her backpack half slung over her shoulder.

“Why are you dressed like a psycho?” her brother, Dylan, asked, picking up his spoon and carelessly dropping it back into the bowl of cereal, splashing milk around.

“Why are you dressed like a little dork?” she snapped back in a mocking, whiny voice.

“Hey, come on now. Don’t talk to your brother that way,” their mom, June, said as she placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Emily who was sitting at the dinner table.

Emily stared at the plate for a moment, studying it, before pushing it away.

“He started it,” she muttered.

“But you’re older. You should be setting a good example for him. Anyway, eat your breakfast. Your eggs are getting cold,” June said, returning to her morning tasks.

“I can’t eat that, Mom, I told you last night,” Emily replied, pushing the plate away more.

“Here she goes again,” Dylan, who was twelve, said, placing his empty bowl in the sink.

“Shut it, dork.”

“Mom, Emily called me a dork,” Dylan whined, drawing out each word dramatically.

“Emily, stop calling your brother a dork. And can you please eat your food?”

“Mom, this food was made from living things,” Emily said, looking down at the plate with disgust.

June, who had been running around trying to juggle several things at once, stopped and placed one hand on the counter and the other on her hip.

“That’s where food tends to come from, yes,” she sighed.

“How can I eat this? It’s not humane,” Emily said, standing up and scraping the food into the trash can next to the kitchen island.

“That’s because they’re not human, dummy,” Dylan teased, laughing as he grabbed his backpack and headed out the door.

Emily ignored him and not wanting to argue, June sighed then handed Emily a ten dollar bill to buy whatever she wanted at the school’s snack bar.

At school, Emily couldn’t shake a weird feeling she had since getting there, though she wasn’t sure why. It felt like she was forgetting something, like there was something important she needed to do but she remember.

She ignored the feeling for most of the day, but as lunchtime approached, it grew stronger and stronger until she could no longer dismiss it. Now, it felt like something was calling to her, and she decided to investigate it.

She wandered around the school, letting the strange sensation guide her. She walked in one direction, and if the feeling intensified, she continued that way; if it weakened, she turned in the opposite direction.

The stronger the feeling became, the more certain she was of where she needed to go. Eventually, she found herself in a part of the school grounds she didn’t recognize. It was beautiful, and everything seemed more vivid—the colors, the light, even the air.

She continued to walk, marveling at the yellow butterflies and the bright sun casting rays on the vibrant green grass beneath her feet. She was mesmerized until she arrived at a large tree standing alone and surrounded by other trees which formed a neat half circle around it. It stood out, taller and more majestic than the rest.

On one of its roots lay a yellow mirror. Curious, Emily picked it up and stared into it. She couldn’t believe what she saw.

“Is that… me?” she asked aloud.

“It sure is,” a voice said from in front of her.

Emily looked up and saw a woman, who looked like a queen from a fairytale, over by the tree. She wore a crown made of twigs and leaves, and yellow butterflies floated lazily around her head. It was as though she was floating, not walking, because Emily couldn’t see her feet that were covered by the beautiful long yellow gown she wore.

“Who are you?” Emily asked, lowering the mirror.

“I’m Queen Harriet, keeper of the tree,” the queen replied firmly yet gracefully. Emily stepped back a little and gazed up mesmerized by the brightly colored green leaves on the tree. They were the most beautiful leaves she’d ever seen.

“I—I’m…” Emily stammered, looking at the queen again.

“I know who you are, Emily. Who do you think called you and led you here?” the queen said calmly. Emily was shocked that the queen knew her name.

“How do you know me?” Emily asked, but before the queen could answer, a loud rumble shook the ground beneath them.

“What’s that?” Emily asked, dropping the mirror in fright.

“There’s no time,” Queen Harriet said, picking up the mirror and handing it back to Emily.

“Guard this pathway with your life. It’s too late to explain—they’re coming.”

The queen looked nervously behind her, then back at Emily.

“I don’t understand. Who are you? Why me?” Emily asked, growing more frantic by the second.

“Look at me,” the queen said. “This is a pathway, one of three. It leads to worlds that are not your own. These worlds are special, and each must be protected by special people. Like you.” Queen Harriet slowly pushed the back of the oval shaped mirror up that was in Emily’s hand up to her face.

She glanced back into the mirror and saw the same reflection as before. She had a crown of twigs on her head, just like the queen except for the blue butterflies that flew gracefully around her crown.

“No, but I’m not a—” she began, but when she looked up from the yellow mirror again, the queen was gone.