Fall, 2023 Athena’s Quill

It began with a door, a door in my bedroom wall that should not exist. The day was cloudy, gray and dark. My spirits hung [...]

The sky is blue—or, at least, I perceive it as blue. The clouds are gray, holding hands with the endless sky. The trees cover the [...]

As a general rule, I like sleeping. I’d be much happier if I was allowed to sleep in until at least noon. This is, admittedly, [...]

One of the main goals of Teen Writer’s Lab is to encourage flexibility and cooperation in writing. Every week, we do “prompts” that may involve [...]

Mud is no longer my enemy. I drag it down my face as it pools in my eyes and snags on my forked eyelashes. My [...]

I am sad. They will try me for that too, but I am already going to be executed so it does not matter. I don’t [...]

A picture suggests a thousand words and many different stories! Some of students’ favorite pieces this semester began from photo prompts during our webinars. The [...]

Six-year-old Lily lay on the ground with her favorite fairy tale book,  The Enchanted Orange Tree, leaves scattered all around her. She had seen it at [...]

The abandoned carnival was so silent you could hear a pin drop, if not for the sloshing waves before me. The blue water was calling [...]

Chapter 1 Rory had a curse. Some would call it a power, but his mom called it a curse, and what his mom said, went. [...]

Chapter 1: The Wormhole Welcome to America – I mean Nowhereville – where nothing interesting ever happens and everything is forever the same. I am [...]

When my parents said they were sending me to boarding school, they must have meant military school. Or psycho’s school. Or maybe even Masochism Mansion. [...]

Prologue  A flame feebly glowed in the distance. It wasn’t very bright at all, nor was the flame strong. It couldn’t handle wind or rain, [...]