Prompt: Write a story or depict a scene from the perspective of an inanimate object.

Winner: Reagan Riley

Title of Work: "More than just a clock"

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick

I never stop ticking. 

Whether it be the first minutes of a life 

Or the last few minutes a person will have on this earth,

I never stop trudging. 

I move at a consistent rate.

Even if you reset me, you can never regain time that has been lost.

Oh! What could have been in the time you miss,

What regret you must feel for all those moments: 

The ones you waste on your phone 

The ones you waste rejecting your own body

The ones you waste in isolation, crying over something you won’t remember tomorrow.

But what good times you get to have! 

Smiling, dancing, laughing,

Even I have fun watching you

wishing one day I could climb off this wall

And smile,

And dance, 

And laugh.

But for now,

I belong on your wall.

Counting away your minutes and watching you rush out the door when you notice me.

All the regrets I wish I could have,

all the pleasure I wish to gain. 

But you get to enjoy them 

So enjoy them.

Live your life as if the ticking sometimes stops,

And you can breathe.

Learning to love yourself in the moments you regret the most 

Finding in life, where the ticking ends, and pureness begins.

Because I am filthy, full of a detrimental history,

So become the pureness as you desire to be 

And watch the ticking of your life begin to fade.

I’ll keep my persistent pace, 

But don’t worry about me

My circular shape and numbers to twelve is all I’ll ever be.

But to you, I am a life:

The dash between two years on a gravestone. 

So fill me with fun,

Because all I really am is a dash mark. 

How will you use me? 

Prompt: What lies at the center of our earth? Create a story about what lies beneath the earth's crust?

Winner: Tyler Wadlington

Title of Work: "What Lies Under the Earth?"

Under the earth lies another world filled with water. This world is the deepest part of the sea, and creatures of various sizes, colors and shapes swim freely. Some fish are miles long and have millions of teeth with skin as thick as leather, but others are only inches wide with no teeth and travel in packs. Although the smaller fish are harmless by themselves, they can take down a fish 10 times their size when they are in a pack. A certain group of small fish were called the Shambas, and they ruled the underwater world until a massive fish with metal skin and teeth like needles thought he should try to take over. He gathered some of his other fish friends and started on the journey to take over. The big fish all lined up in front of the Shambas’ palace and yelled their war cry for all of the Shambas to hear. The Shambas gathered their army and faced the larger fish in the open sea, where the Shambas had the advantage of free swimming and grouping up. They fought for days and days until finally the Shambas were defeated. They just did not have the ability to stay in groups while there were dozens of big fish to kill. Therefore, the big fish claimed the power and decided to name themselves. After arguing about it, they decided to name themselves the United Fish of the Underworld. They created a government where your vote’s influence is based on the fish’s size, so the small fish could never rule again. The United Fish have ruled since then and are starting to explore the overworld. They have sent fish to swim in the overworlds’ sea and report back about what they know. So far they have not found much, but if they keep looking, they will soon discover us humans. This could cause another great war and will be the downfall of one of us. Until then, we will both live our own ways.