An etiological myth, or an origin myth, explains how something came to be the way that it is today. Write an etiological myth in the form of a story or poem. ...

They were children the first time the words crossed her lips.

Years later, Elowen could still remember the way her cheeks had ached with laughter as the two of them crouched behind an old wheelbarrow. William had been clutching a firecracker in one sweaty palm, a shaking flint in the other. She recalled the nervous glances he’d cast around the town square, anxious that a passerby would rat out th...

Write a story about a thief that steals something intangible. ...

As the moon sinks, the mob rises with the day

Both peasants and noblemen enter the fray

Hundreds approach the city’s pulsing heart-

They’ve heard the games are about to start

Within a ring of stone, with arches grand

Once exalted heroes will take their final stand

At the promise of such splendors, the crowd excites

As a brave soul prepares for a new day’s fights

The gladiator hears the crowd and...

When the clock strikes midnight, the gates fling open wide

I cling to my wallet and leave behind my pride

We crash forward like waves on rocks at the dawn’s first light

My phone dies while trying to scroll through the sale site

Blinded by the brilliant lights, I begin to chart my course

I bump into someone and coffee goes down my shirt

The air is charged with cries and laughter, as the thrill i...

A retired circus performer opens their long-forgotten equipment trunk and finds something unexpected inside.

...

I had been blindfolded for so long that the dirty cloth was now adhered to my eyelids with dried blood and seawater. A bead of sweat trickled down my back as I shifted against my bindings. The sunburn I felt forming on my extremities was my only clue of the days passing by.

An insect landed on my lip, and unable to swat it away, I tried once again to get my bearings rather than fixate on my disco...

In some other life, across distant shores

Or in gleaming galaxies not yet explored

Perhaps in flowering fields under brilliant skies

Maybe fate would take us by surprise

In another life, we’d have the time

And all the stars would fall in line

In another place, far from earthly strifes

Maybe you would be my love, my life

Sometimes I dream what could have been

If we’d been brave and let each other...

In the dark when all seems lost

The spark of hope succumbed to frost

We reach for something to hold on

When we feel our dreams are gone

Some cling to memories as they depart

To glue the cracks within their heart

Others turn to faith to guide the way

When life seems to have gone astray

Some look to materials to fill their soul

Is there ever enough to feel whole?

Food, jewels, art, cars, shoes

By ...

Write a scene where a single act of kindness has a domino effect....