Writing Contest! (ANNOUNCED WINNERS)

Dream Weaver

    Father picked you up with the scruff at your neck and brought you into the den for the night. Mother wandered off the night prior and still hadn’t returned. He curled up to sleep before his ears perked up to hear you crying missing your mother. He sighed and curled up around you. You looked at him with pleading eyes seemingly asking him to bring her back.

    “I cannot bring your mother back the way you want her,” Father said with a small choke, “but I can bring her back to you in a different way.” Your blurry eyes lifted up with confusion and hope.

    “This is the story about how your mother and I decided to start a pack. It also explains why you yet have a name,” Father began with his tone shifting from sadness to excitement.

    “Your mother and I met during a fight between our two original packs. My pack was trying to take over her pack's territory because we were too large. The fight went on for many days until she and I were the last two left. We were covered in blood and wounds from the many wolves left dead around us. You can see one of mine right here on this paw. Mother gave it to me. Anyways, we were the last two survivors of our packs and the last two standing. If it wasn’t for her going into...uh...well she and I had a change of tone being the last two survivors.”

    “It was a temporary truce at the time. Neither of us really liking each other but using each other to survive. For five days we were hunting and foraging together without saying a word to each other. Until the day that both of us talked about how we viewed the world around us. I was bored of not talking and asked her why she buried the hooves of the animals we killed. She was quite shocked by this and said it was something they always did so the forest would grow more. I did laugh in her face and she bit me for it. She made fun of me about thanking each kill for providing food for me. We then had some....aggressive tussling to prove who was the strongest.”

    “This tussle made us talk more about how we viewed the world and the differences between us. We both discovered that neither of us thought about our dreams much. We both decided to start talking more about dreams we had recently and discovered that they were strangely similar. Mother often dreamed of a place where snow was ever falling but was never more than a paw deep. She often would run through it and play in the snow in her dreams. Mother was very playful with you and she was like that after we put our differences aside. I had dreams less playful and heartening. My dreams were often that of terror or disaster. I told her I often dreamt of running in a forest of dead trees being chased by a cruel giant deformed wolf.”

    “Mother often would wake me up during these dreams to goof off and make me laugh to calm back down. When I snuggled with her I didn’t have those dreams and often shared hers with her. Then one night I fell asleep before she did and our dreams mixed. I was scared and on edge as she was sharing the dream with me. I thought my nightmares had followed me into the real world. She looked around and saw the snow on the ground but none falling. She also saw the dead trees and looked at me freaking out. She started laughing which startled me a bit. Then she said I looked like a hissing scared cat. I am sure I made myself look like that more so when the creature of my dreams stood behind Mother. I whimpered like a scared pup when she turned around all cheerful with her raised tail standing proud to the giant hulking wolf-like creature that was snapping trees from their roots.”

    “The giant creature arched his back so his neck could reach the ground. His glowing eyes felt like they were looking into my deepest fears. She stood there head and tail raised like it was nothing to fear. The creature chuckled in a deep voice that sounded like muffled thunder. The massive creature opened its mouth and words came out without moving its jaw. It said it controlled all dreams and put them together like how a spider lays its web. Your mother looked it straight into the eyes and said it sounded like a dream weaver. The creature tilted its head and smiled, which looked creepy honestly, and took the name for itself. Dream Weaver then looked at her and said that she is stronger than she looks and that she will eventually share her dreams with her children. Dream Weaver then looked at me and said that I would never be alone in my dreams and that it was available to talk to at any time I needed advice there. He then told us the news that we were expecting a single child in our first litter. He then told your mother her name would be Mother and that I would be Father.”

    “After that, we both woke up. Sure enough you were born a few months later. I had asked Dream Weaver what to name you and it said that your dreams would tell what your name would be.”

    This confused you and at the same time made you admire your mother a lot more. Father gave your head a lick and fell asleep pretty quickly. You closed your eyes and were happy to see Mother ready to play with you in the woods with falling snow no more than a paw deep.

My entry: Click here for Google Doc!

reserving a spot here

Here's my entry! c:

The Spider Weaver

Reserving a spot!                         

Savin me a spot : )

Okay.  From the moment I saw the image, I knew the story I had to write... It has no title, because one can not put a title on such things.  (1277 words, and I feel they are the right ones to tell the tale.)
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Lyra always found herself having internal battles, between her Logic, her Emotion, and  her anxious Overthinking.  For years, Emotion was kept locked away, hidden from everyone and everything.  All of her life experiences had taught her that Emotion only led to trouble.  Instead, it was Logic who ruled.  Logic was the protector, the provider.  It could justify, it could explain, and it didn’t need to feel anything to do so.  Logic strategically planned, and didn’t need things like hope, or love.  It preserved their most basic needs – survival.  For most of her life, anxious Overthinking was never really an issue.  Logic kept it in check.  The moment it started to babble about nonsense, Logic quickly proved it wrong, and Logic proceeded ahead, while Overthinking shrank into nonexistence.  Logic was of a gifted mind; strong, bold, and quick.

From the outside, anyone who looked at Lyra would say she was cold hearted and driven.  And it was true.  Lyra’s logic saw what it needed, and didn’t allow Emotion to get in the way of reaching the end goals.  Logic had the confidence that educated intelligence provides.  Logic wanted to be the best, achieve the most, and be noticed for this.

All of that changed the day Lyra met Kepler.  Kepler’s mind worked quite similarly to Lyra’s.  Logic, goals, driven. But for both of them to reach a position of being “the best”, they had to work together.  They had to be a team.  At first, it was easy for Lyra's Logic.  Logic found this challenge fascinating – and working with someone else who had similar logic made it addictive.  They made a formidable pair. Lyra found herself enthralled by the hurdles that she and Kepler faced and overcame together.  And through this, her Logic continued to remain a force no one would dare question.

And that was when it happened…  Logic was so consumed by the challenges ahead, that it didn’t notice that Emotion started to sneak out of the cage.  First, just a little bit at a time.  Logic still had no clue that it was happening because it was so focused on the problems it was solving.  Happiness was the first sign that Logic noticed.  True happiness.  Logic was perplexed by it.  Happiness was something so unknown to Logic, that it didn’t know how to react.  So, Logic didn’t.  It felt… good.

Then, Emotion started to show empathy.  This hit Logic like a bolt of lightning.  How could it be, that not only was there Emotion, but that it cared about outsiders who had no positive contribution to them?  It was the growing empathy that broke the door on the cage that kept Emotion locked away.  The cage broken, Emotion ran wild.  It had never had freedom to feel anything, or everything, and so, it hadn’t learned to manage itself.  Emotion leapt and bounded through the place Logic had created.  It ran full speed, breathing in the life it had never known.  It was a dance of the most primal feelings exploding outward.  

Emotion was so busy trying to take it all in at once, that it didn’t notice that there were borders to this place.  It didn’t take long for Emotion to venture out of Logic’s safety into a strange new world. Gone were the walls, the safe grassy fields.  It wasn’t long before Logic found that there was just too much going on to hold any sort of control over it.   For a while, it seemed as though perhaps they could both exist in this new arrangement.  There was no way to lock Emotion back into the cage, now that it had tasted the freedom of joy, happiness, and love.

Yes, love.  Lyra had found herself feeling the deepest of feelings for Kepler.  And, it seemed as though Kepler may feel that in return.

Love was a powerful feeling for Emotion.  Logic knew that Emotion had to have guidance through this unexplored territory.  They approached everything together, Logic leading, Emotion following closely.  For months, they traveled through these new lands.  Logic grew to realize that Emotion is a necessary partner in life.  Going through the journey without Emotion, Logic would have never discovered this new place.  As they traveled, their footfalls matched closely, Logic finally accepting that somethings do not need to be explained, they just exist, and that’s ok.

It was in this moment that Lyra felt she understood what it meant to truly live.  

But, things soon changed for Lyra and Kepler… Kepler’s goals were bigger than her own, and this placed him in a new direction, one that she could not follow.  Suddenly, they would no longer be a team.   Lyra’s Emotion suddenly realized there was more to life than joy, happiness, and love.  There was also fear and great, great sadness.  This completely shattered Emotion.  Looking at the mournful mess, Logic knew that this was why Emotion was supposed to have stayed in the cage… it wasn’t to hide it, it was to protect it.  Desperately, Lyra’s Logic tried, but it couldn’t ‘fix’ this problem.  

Logic started to lead the way back to where this journey began, with Emotion mindlessly following.  If Emotion could be caged once again, Logic could go back to the job of simply protecting, they could be what they once were.  Life would be ok again.  Through the strange lands, they retraced their steps.  Emotion was broken, and Logic was exhausted.  

Weaving their way through the darkness, they encountered something that Logic had completely forgotten… anxious Overthinking.   With Logic and Emotion having been so preoccupied, Overthinking had silently grown into a fierce, formidable beast.  A demon, that was larger than life itself.  Emotion, already being in a compromised state, cowered from it.  The more Overthinking taunted, the more fearful Emotion became.  The fear that enveloped Emotion froze it in place.  

Logic knew it needed to regain control over all of this -Now.  It knew none of this made sense.  It knew that everything Overthinking was spewing out was wrong.  But Emotion was so deeply affected by it, that Logic couldn’t seem to both comfort Emotion, and overpower Overthinking at the same time.  

So, it approached the monster…

While Emotion remained overcome with fear, Logic looked boldly at Overthinking, and simply acknowledged what it had to say.   It listened.  It let Overthinking scream out its rage.  And, Logic realized that Overthinking wasn’t entirely wrong.  There were some underlying truths to the tales it told.  In fact, Logic realized that Overthinking was a protector, too.  Overthinking was what had given Logic the fuel to keep Emotion safe for all of these years.  Without Overthinking, Logic would never have planned out the best approaches to problems.

Overthinking continued to speak, and it realized that there was no fight from Logic.  Logic was listening, as if to an equal.  As it finished speaking its mind, Overthinking softened its rage, and in turn, it bent to listen to Logic, respectfully.  Logic took that moment to point out the things that were real.  But, it also pointed out why those things couldn’t lead to the outcomes that Overthinking predicted.  Logic began to speak of ways to ensure those scary outcomes were preventable.  Logic's reasons were just and true.  

Emotion listened from a distance, and Logic's words brought peace.

As Overthinking accepted these reasons, his form began to change.  Large scary fangs and claws retracted.  His enlarged body grew smaller.  Eventually, his existence mirrored those of Logic and Emotion.  The three were equal parts of the same soul.  Lyra's soul.  Logic welcomed Overthinking, and the three journeyed back together – not to undo what they had done, but to start over and experience life together.

ooh this seems really interesting, i'll be writing one! :D

Ahahaa posting in the nick of time, in a true procrastinator's fashion.

TW: mild descriptions of blood and death

Linky link

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hoar·frost / ˈhôrˌfrôst / n. a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc. It forms on clear nights when conditions are such that any heat is eaten (syn. devoured, absorbed) by the cold faster than it can be replaced from nearby sources, such as wind or warm objects.

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Full story can be read here <3

Final word count: 1258