A variety of stories and free verse pieces that are feel-good and lighthearted. Some of the stories are inspired by a photo, which will be placed at the end of the story so you can imagine the story first.
The average word count is about 360 words...
Voices both in his mind and outside would say, "You should get out more. Get off that screen, your brain will rot. It's time for the real world, Alex."
But he didn't want to face the world. How would an anti-social young adult who "refused to live outside his imagination" as the teachers would say, be the least bit successful?
Alex felt like he had no place. He considered being a video game designer, but coding made his eyes cross. He was okay at math, okay at English. But where does "okay" take you?
A month ago, Alex had reluctantly signed up for some general education courses for the fall semester of college. Introduction to American Literature, Geometry 101. A lecture here and a lab there. He would have to take these classes to even consider anything unique or remotely interesting.
He sighed and tugged on his hood. The hill he was standing on provided quite the view of Downtown, dazzling lights twinkling and winking in almost a mockingly cheerful way. The cool fall air rustled the remaining leaves of a nearby maple tree.
He felt like this first stage of college was as pointless as completing the first ten tutorial levels of a comprehensive game. His phone pinged, signifying an email. It was probably the college sending something about financial aid. But when he checked, an 8-bit window glowed with the message, "Quest 1: Orientation. Press A to accept Press B to decline."
Flabbergasted, Alex pressed "A" to accept, curious of the outcome. He looked around and his jaw nearly dropped as he caught sight of a green glowing arrow hovering slightly above the building he recognized to be his university. He glanced at some other nearby pedestrians to see if others were noticing the arrow, but everyone continued on as usual.
He stepped forward slowly, watching the green arrow. It remained in its position, unmoving. Alex's phone now read "Go To: University of Copperton" A small smile formed at the edge of his mouth, and his heart rate increased. "I can do this," Alex thought, "I will get this quest done and level up."
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