Jasper Segner - John Marshall High School

Words as sweet as honey

A touch as soft as silk

Gentle hands that graze my skin like an autumn breeze

Love as fierce as the summer sun

Eyes like burning embers

Julianna Ellis - Veterans Memorial High School

Everything started going wrong when he showed up in my life. My family started to hate me, my brother hasn’t forgiven me, and my parents don’t even like me anymore. If they do, it's with hatred and disgust in their eyes.

Ava Hernandez - John Marshall High School

Hurried fingers erased the atrocity on the Google Doc, then hovered fretfully over the white screen that beamed in the otherwise darkness of the room. Despondent eyes, captive by the desire to sleep and the simultaneous urge of fruitless motivation, met a mirror warily.

Megan Richardson - East Central High School

He lost his trust in the world within a single night. It was cruel and disgusting, its maw open wide, taking everything and anything it wanted without any regard for you. It didn’t care who you were. It didn’t care about all the sins you’d done to stay alive that long.

Ezra Ventura - John Marshall High School

Looking through the scope on his hunting rifle, Ralf watched the young buck. Its antlers brushed against some of the lower hanging branches as it approached a small stream that snaked along the ground. Ralf’s gloved hands tightened around the wooden grip of the gun.